Phonics Spinners

I have always coveted those plastic phonics spinners that allow students to create three or four letter words.  BUT... there are a lot of things that I covet, and you have to draw the line somewhere, right?

Here is a really cheap, low-tech way to create your own phonics spinners.  They are not as durable as the plastic ones, but the price is right.  I used styrofoam cups, which you can get a hundred of for a couple dollars, and Sharpies.

It's simple.  Just write the letters you want on each cup, stack them, and spin!  I've pictured sets I've made for s-blends and CVC words.

These are great for a literacy station.  I've included some recording sheets on Google Drive in case you would like to use this.

Do you buy a lot of high-end tools for your classroom, or do you go the DIY route?  I used to buy a lot of stuff, but decided to cut back.

xo, Ally

Library Binders

When I first started teaching, I was sorely lacking reading materials for my library.  I think this is an obstacle that most teachers face.  We were particularly in need of books that were on my students' reading level -- the books in my first classroom were a mishmash of K-3 storybooks, so a lot of the material was way over my students' heads.

We use the Treasures series, and it came with some student resource books.  It would have been too cumbersome to make copies of each poem and story, but then I realized that all of our resource books are on disc!  I popped the disc into the PC, pressed print once, and I had a wealth of new reading material for my students!  I put each page in a sheet protector and the sheet protectors in a binder.

Since then, I've procured many books for our classroom library, but the Library Binders are a favorite among students, so I still use them.  I think that the short poems and stories are less intimidating than a full storybook to some struggling readers.

We have about a dozen different Library Binders from various things that I've collected.  I even put fluency charts and sight word sentences into the binders for students who want to practice their sight words.

If you decide to try this, sheet protectors are cheapest at warehouse stores like Sam's Club and Costco. You can also get cheap binders there, but you might do better to check out all the school supply clearance going on right now!

xo, Ally

Sight Word Necklaces

I'm popping in today with something cute and quick that seems to help my kids out with sight words.

I give you... sight word necklaces.

We make them on Monday and wear them throughout the week.  I wrote the words on each pumpkin, but I let my kids color and cut them out.  I actually had each of them make two... a little insurance for those necklaces that will get lost or ruined during the week.  We taped the yarn on the back, and that seems to be holding up pretty well.

Of course, because tape is involved, these necklaces are very exciting to my first graders.  They love to compare words, and I love that they are looking at their sight words so regularly.  They also LOVE to talk about their sight word necklaces to people who are not in our class, like the lunch ladies and the second graders across the hall.

(By the way, each kid gets a different necklace each morning.  I just pass them out randomly.)

Now, these pumpkin necklaces are cute, but I have to admit that I've just written the words on plain old notecards in the past.  Yes, PLAIN notecards.  Not even the cute colored ones.  We've got to do what we've got to do.

If you want a copy of my pumpkin blackline, you can get it here on Google docs.

Product Spotlight: CVC Nonsense Word Fluency Charts

So, CVC words have been our lives for the past couple weeks. We've been eating short vowels for breakfast and consonants for lunch. Or something like that. Sorry. We had a birthday party today (cupcakes!) and I'm still a little incoherent.  

CVC words. I spend the first six weeks of school hitting them hard before moving onto blends. I like to use a lot of nonsense words when teaching CVC.  It's funny, because I didn't see the point of nonsense words my first year of teaching.  Now I love it, because I saw how they force the students to use their decoding strategies.

The thing is, a lot of my students come to first grade with no blending skills... and many of them haven't mastered letter sounds yet. We have to do some intense intervention in order to master CVC words within the first six weeks.

These fluency charts have made intervention time a lot easier. No, they are not cute or crafty, but they give me results. RESULTS, ya'll!

These have two uses:  intense, quick, individual practice and assessment.

For practice, we just read the charts.  I know that sounds pathetically simple, but that's the beauty of it.  I pull students individually during Daily Five/Literacy Stations, or even during independent work... whenever I can find a spare minute.  I give each student one or two minutes to read as many words as they can.  I scaffold, address any issues (trouble blending, confusing letters), and make note on what issues to follow up on later.

It's intensive practice, as the kiddos are exposed to a lot of words in a short period of time. They get a lot more practice reading from this than they do with any game or activity that requires them to wait for a word... or wait for their turn... they just get to read, even though the words aren't real.

For assessment, I give each student one minute to read.  On a separate sheet, I mark any mistakes they may make.  I count how many words they read correctly, and we graph that together.  We also set a goal for the next reading, which I write on a sticky note and attach to their graph.  This is great for RTI, tiered interventions, or any type of regular assessment that requires graphing/tracking data.

Now, my favorite part of this pack is the comparing vowels file.  A lot of my students mix up their short vowel sounds, especially a/e and e/i.  Practicing with only two sounds help them differentiation between the two.  There are also charts that contain only one short vowel sounds, which is great for beginners.

The kids actually love them.  It surprised me at first, because like I said, they are a little lacking in the cute-department.  I think the key to their success is that the kids like to see results (RESULTS!) too.  We graph their progress, and they looove to see their bars rise.  I also think they appreciate the simplicity of just reading.

You can check them out here in my TPT store.  

Word Work Idea #3 - Chalk

Today's word work entry is chalk.  Yes, boys and girls, we're going back to basics today!

When I was a kid, my chalkboard was actually one of my favorite toys.  I looooved drawing with my chalk.  I also looooved keeping my toys clean.  One day, I decided that I couldn't live with my dirty, dusty chalk anymore.  So, I took my bag of chalk to the bathroom, filled with it water, and gave my chalk a bath.

Oh, those pieces of chalk looked so shiny and new!  No more icky dust muting those lovely colors.  Of course, I was very disappointed to find out that you cannot draw with wet chalk. There may have been a tantrum tears shed.  Happily, the chalk was nice, clean, and dry a couple days later.

That story has nothing to do with word work, but I thought it was amusing enough to share.  :)

Chalk as a word work station is pretty straight forward.  Sometimes simple is better, so the students can focus more on reading and writing.

At the beginning of the year I have my students practice writing Word Wall words or words from their personal word lists.  Later in the year they graduate to using words in sentences.

I bought a set of chalkboards from Lakeshore Learning (search for 'chalk lapboard').  However, you might be interested in making your own chalkboards with chalkboard paint.  There is a cool tutorial on how to make your own boards -- and even your own chalkboard paint -- here at A Beautiful Mess.  In a pinch, you can use pieces of black construction paper (they even erase somewhat cleanly).

I store chalk in those teeny tupperware containers... you know, the ones that come with every set but are too small to fit any actual food in?  Each busy student gets their own little container, which helps to keep things neat.

I almost feel silly including such simple ideas on my word work list, but I definitely think that it is worth going back to basics sometimes.  Just remember not to wash your chalk!

How to Make a Whisper Phone

I first encountered "whisper phones" when I was student teacher.  My (amazing) mentor teacher used them during her small group time.  It was love at first sight... I instantly knew that I wanted an entire class set.  I went home, looked them up online, and balked at the price tag.  

Way to break my heart, whisper phones.  Luckily, Home Depot was there to pick up the pieces.

I was pretty sure that I could DIY a whisper phone with PVC pipe.  I showed a picture to my dad, and he said that a piece of PVC and two elbows would do the trick.  You can see the pieces that I used above.  Each bit was under a dollar, and the total cost was about $2.50 per phone, if I recall correctly.

Once you have your pieces, all that is left to do it fit them together.  Instant whisper phone, and a very durable one at that.  This will be the fifth year that I put my DIY phones to use.

Of course, if you like to make your projects more Pinteresting...

You can add some patterned masking or duck tape.

I only did this to one of my phones.  We'll see how it works out.  While I think it's super cute, I'm not sure how practical it will be.  I like to take my phones home often to run them through the dishwasher.  First-graders are germ factories, so regular washing is necessary.  I just pop the pieces apart and arrange them in the top rack.  I'm pretty sure that the masking tape is not going to hold up to washing, so you might want to keep that in mind.

I intend to use the decorated one myself during modeling sessions.  I learned the hard way that I have to model, model, model, have them model, and then model some more.  They're just so fun, you know?  It's hard for a first-grader to resist using one as a megaphone.  After a few modeling sessions, I let my students use the phones under supervision during small group sessions.  Once I'm sure they can handle it, I move some to our reading stations.

For anyone wondering what all the fuss is about, here's why I think these phones are wonderful:

1.  They force students to listen to themselves.  It's easy for a student to ignore their own voice or let it fade into the background.  These put their own voice right in their ear, so they can hear what their own reading sounds like.

2.  Quiet.  Students need to read aloud, but it can be very distracting to their neighbors.  The phones allow reading aloud and a quiet environment to coexist.

Does anyone use these in their classroom?  Did you splurge on a store-bought version or DIY it?  Made it pretty or kept it simple?

Word Work Idea #2 - Foam Puzzles

Here's the second installment of my Word Work series -- cute foam puzzles that I use for literacy stations.

My students loooove puzzles.  I have a few sets of phonics match-ups and sound-it-out puzzles from Lakeshore Learning, and I love them.  But the selection is somewhat limited and the prices add up.  The cost is a big factor when you consider that pieces are bound to get lost... those babies aren't going to last forever.  Not in first-grade hands!

So, in addition to my store-bought puzzles, I make my own foam puzzles on the cheap.  The foam is more durable than anything I could laminate.

I bought the big foam sheets this time due to color preference.  If you buy the smaller sheets, it makes for less cutting.  I got 12 sheets for $5, so I'll get 72 puzzles out of this pack.. not a bad deal!

I just use a ruler to make straight lines...

...then I cut the foam up.  These pieces are about 6x6 inches each.

Next, I cut each square to make a "jigsaw."  You can use waves, triangular, or boxy cuts.  I don't put a lot of thought into how I cut.  At first, I worried that I might cut two puzzles the same way.  But since then, I've made lots of these puzzles, and I just don't think it's possible to make the same exact cut twice!

Now, the fun part...writing!  You can use Sharpies or 3D paint for this part.

I didn't have time for the 3D paint to dry, so I opted for Sharpies this time.  I like to test on a scrap to pick the color.

Today I made puzzles for sight word practice.  Each puzzle has a phrase that contains one of the weekly sight words.  (The phrases come from my Sight Word in Context pack.)  Write the phrase on the top and the bottom.  Make sure that you don't run out of room!  I almost did here.

Next, I cut the bottom into individual words.

Tada!  Instant center that kiddos love!

You can use these for way more than just phrased reading.  Here are some ideas:

Math Facts
Spelling Words
Sight Words
Capital and Lowercase Letters
Beginning/Ending Sound Matchups

I'm sure there are a ton more.

Has anyone crafted any classroom items out of foam?  Is anyone as obsessed with Sharpies as I am?  I swear, I have at least 70 Sharpies...

Crafty Lessons - Apple Time! (Freebie)

I don't know what it is about apples, but it seems that kids love learning about them.  I think it's because an apple is such a familiar item, so they already know a lot about it. That may be why so many teachers use apples as a beginning-of-the-year theme.

Here's an adorable apple craft that I have made with my Firsties, along with a pack of freebie printables at the end.

I looove paper plate crafts -- paper plates are so affordable, and they can be turned into so many things!  This time, we cut the plate on both sides so that it resembled an eaten apple.  (I recommend having your kiddos mark where they are going to cut -- the curved cut can be difficult for them to eyeball.)  We used one of the cut-off pieces to make the leaf, then cut a rectangle out of the other scrap to make the stem.

I think it would be awesome to glue real apple seeds in the middle instead of drawing them.

Then, their favorite part... which happened to be the most educational part!  We labeled the parts of the apple with Post-it flags.  You could also give each child a regular Post-it and cut it into strips.  (It seems that we forgot to label the flesh!)

We did this activity after reading a bunch of apple books all week.  I also have a pack of apple printables available for free in my TPT store.  The pack includes 4 graphic organizers, writing prompts, and apple stationary.  Nothing fancy, but I wanted to pass it on!

Word Work Idea #1 - Consonants & Vowels (Freebie)

I'm starting a series of blog posts called 50 Word Work Ideas... which I think is pretty self-explanatory.  I hope that it will be a great resource for teachers who are looking for word work activities for centers, Daily 5, interventions, etc.  I plan to post a new idea every Wednesday.

This is the first installment -- it's a simple activity that doesn't require a lot of prep work.  I've included a freebie mini-poster at the end.

This activity reinforces the concept of consonants and vowels.  It's also great spelling/phonics practice.

First, have the kidlets create a key. I let the students pick their own colors, but they must create a key to show which color is for consonants and which is for vowels.  Making a key is a very big deal in our class, and I spend a bit of time modeling and explaining the concept.

Students should write their words with a pencil, then go over that with a crayon or marker.  You might have students use the word wall, spelling list, etc, as a source of words.

Very simple, but effective.  Plus, markers make everything fun!

Here is a mini-poster/instruction sheet that my students use for reference.  You can download it for free at my TPT store.