Five for Friday September 30

I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday. Thank you for hosting, Kacey!

       

I love all the Facebook Live videos I've seen, but I just can't do it.  I have never been great at speaking in front of people (over the age of 5...) .  Maybe some day. For some reason writing ideas here feels safer for me.  

I love Dr. Jean's Facebook Live videos- because I always get great ideas that I can use right away.  She packs the ideas into Facebook Live, just like she does into her conferences, one great idea right after another.

I loved Dr. Jean's paper bag trees.  She gave so many great ideas about how to use them.  Since we're working on learning letters in our names now,  I found these wonderful letter leaves from TypeInspire.  

After the children made their tree, they cut out the leaf letters for their names to glue onto the branches.  Another fun, easy, pretty, Fall way to reinforce names and letters. 

One way to reinforce those sight words is to write them on... pretty much everything!  This little sweetie had a ball making these blocks say, "You I love."  "I love you."  "Love you I."  Her little group building with these blocks thought it was the funniest thing ever making those silly sentences- and I was thinking, "Now you all know "I," "love," and "you!"  

I always start the year off with this quick little activity. I've shared it before, but it really works for getting the children pointing to each word and realizing they can READ!

We have been working on our sight words and one to one correspondence, pointing to each word as we read. This was a good activity for both.  First, I modeled the activity for the class.  I pointed to each word and decided where I liked to go.  I cut out the environmental print word and glued it onto my paper.  When I was done with the "I go to" side, I pointed to each word as I read the page.      

Then, I turned it over and did the "I like to" page on back.  

                                  

This was great practice not only for reading sight words, reading environmental print, and pointing to each word, but also for cutting, using a glue stick, and completing the activity independently.  They had a ball. 

I printed out the writing on one page, front and back, and then gave each child a sheet of places to go and things to do.  They could choose their favorites.  When each child finished the activity, he/she had to read their paper to a friend and then to me. They also had to read it to someone when they got home.  The conversations about the places and activities were so much fun to listen to at the tables, too.  

Click HERE if you would like a copy!

We are also working on learning the difference between a letter, word, and sentence. I had the children come up to the chart and choose one of the cut out pieces I had on the table and glue it into the correct spot after we talked about what a letter, word, and sentence each were.

Later in the year, I like to reinforce this lesson, and have the children write a letter, word, and sentence under the correct heading.  This time of year, I'm happy with them choosing one and gluing it on.   I wrote a post all about my Letter-Word-Sentence lessons HERE.

This picture is right beside my desk at school.  It's me in kindergarten.  It's just a reminder for me to never forget how I felt when I was five.  What was special to me?  What was I worried about?  What made me happy?  What made me sad?  I  think every teacher should keep a picture of them at the age they teach by their desk. 

By the way, that is my favorite nightgown.  I remember being so excited when it was warm enough for me to wear it again. And- of course, I was probably looking forward to the Tooth Fairy visit.  And my hair growing out a little bit...

When I introduce letters and sounds, I use a combination of working with all the letters and sounds, all the time- as well as giving each letter two special days.  We constantly work on hearing letters and sounds in words, and my class LOVES going through flash cards fast/slow/with silly voices and telling me the letter and sound.  I always over-exaggerate "o"- like they are at the doctor's saying "ahh,"with their mouth shaped like an "o,"  "u"- like they got punched in the stomach "UHHH,"  "m" like something is delicious- "mmmmm!" "i" - where they wrinkle their nose and say "iiiii" (like something is icky).  We have lots of fun with this and they actually ask to do it.  I usually fly though cards for letters and sounds each time we gather on the rug.  It's also a good time for the kids to settle.

When I focus on each letter for two days, we really give that letter some special attention as far as learning the correct formation, recognition, and sound.  I made 3 activities that I use each day for letters.

I just redid my Kindergarten/Pre-K Letters and Sounds Prezi.  I use this every day.  I just leave it up on the Apple TV (or Smartboard- we used to have Smartboards!) all day.  I show the videos to introduce the letters.   Then, we use the songs and games as brain breaks to reinforce the letter names and sounds any chance I get.

One of the first apps we use in the classroom is the QR Code Reader.  My children love QR Codes, and I love that it makes videos and stories so easy to access.  Now we are using our Alphabet QR Codes a lot.  I found 5 videos for each letter.  They're from ABC Mouse, Have Fun Teaching, Sesame Street Podcast, Storybots, and KidsTV123.  I've also included 16 other fun alphabet/phonics songs for the children to listen to, learn from, and enjoy!

Last year, I sent this book of Alphabet QR Codes home with a few students who just needed some reinforcement.  They LOVED it.

Finally, I made these Alphabet Poems for the children to illustrate.  They are quick, little poems that give the children practice pointing to each word as we read, finding letters and sight words we know and they can highlight, and drawing illustrations to go with text. I also wrote poems for "sh," "ch," "br," and "wh."  In the packet, I included 2 different fonts, and then one set with no illustrations in the text at all if you'd rather have it plain. 

I really loved this video, because there are times at school that I feel behind already.  Week 3.  And I don't have to.  Neither do you!  

Have a wonderful weekend.  Thank you for stopping by!

Throwback Thursday- Chunky Monkey

I am linking up with Cara for her  Throwback Thursday Linky Party! 

I haven't been blogging for to long, but I decided to repost my Chunky Monkey Reading Strategy post, because today I was out, yet again, searching for Eagle Eye beanie baby type things for reading buddies!  You know how it is when you teach, there is always something weird in the back of your mind to search for when you are shopping!  Anyway, no luck.  Oh-well-  I had a LOT of luck shopping for STUFF- just not them.  Here is my post:

I was trying to decide what would be best for my first post, and finally I decided to share what we have been working on in our classroom this past week: 

                                      The Chunky Monkey Reading Strategy!

This is the first year that I have used the "Beanie Baby Reading Strategy" posters in my classroom, and I have to say it has worked beautifully! The children really relate to the animals and remember the connections I want them to make. They love it and I love it!  I have this on our front wall.

 

I also made and laminated these bookmarks for each child to keep in his/her reading bag that goes home and lots of extras to use at school. I found them on Pinterest and LOVE them.  http://pinterest.com/pin/18507048438535880/

 

 

 

I was able to find all animals (except for Eagle Eye) at the Dollar Store or Ollie's (for the frogs!) so that I could buy 5 of each for the children to use during independent reading for reading buddies. They aren't the real "beanie babies" but close enough for a dollar!   I usually have a group of 5 at a time in beanbag chairs reading independently for a center, so I rotate these buddies to have different ones out as we talk about them to reinforce the strategies. They are great for practicing fluency as the children read aloud to the buddies.   I am still looking for those Eagle Eyes. (How ironic!) 

 

We spent a lot of time early in the year  using our Eagle Eye to notice details in illustrations, in the classroom, details in patterns, details everywhere!  Look and Find books were great practice to help remember to use our Eagle Eye.  We learned about Lips the Fish as soon as I felt the children had a good grasp of the letter sounds and were able to get those lips ready for the beginning sound of a word they saw.  Stretchy Snake came along next to help with both reading and writing of those CVC words we came across. Stretchy Snake and Mr. Slinky were really good friends for s t r e t c h i n g  words!  Now we are focusing on Skippy Frog and Chunky Monkey as the children see bigger words in the C,D, and higher level books.  Tryin' Lion is always sort of in the mix as well.  (I didn't even put up Flip the Dolphin or Helpful Hippo- I just didn't want to overwhelm the kids- They are cute, too, and maybe another year I will decide to!)

 

I sent home a Parent Note in each reading bag explaining the Chunky Monkey Strategy. I told them that as the books their child reads become more difficult, finding "chunks" of letters to help their child figure out a word is a huge help.  For instance, "teacher" looks like a BIG word, but when a child realizes that he/she knows "t" then "ea" then "ch" then "er," it makes reading it easier.  "Sounding out" words letter by letter no longer works with longer words, like it did for shorter words like "cup." (CVC words.) I wrote that chunking  was also a great help for writing words, and that we practice clapping syllables of words and then trying to write it by the parts we hear.

 

For our whole group activity on the rug, I started off with two Cars movie scene pictures that  I printed out. One I cut into 8 strips. One I cut into 3 strips.  (The bottom one is just 3 bigger "chunk" strips. I put it together in this picture for the children to see what the picture was supposed to look like.) I put magnets on back so I could use the puzzle on my dry erase board.

 

 

I asked the children which puzzle would be easier to put together.  They guessed correctly! YAY!   But of course some thought the 8 pieces would be very easy to do...

 

So I called up one brave student to try as the rest of us counted to ten. 

After a great effort, he didn't make it.

 

I then mixed up the 3 piece puzzle and had another student try to complete this puzzle as we counted.  Ta da!  He finished before we counted to six.

 

 

Next I put up a puzzle of letters. You can see Chunky Monkey's little legs and arms in the upper corner looking on as we work! :)

 

 

After I let the children try to figure out what word I mixed up, I tell them it is "teacher."  I do the same activity as with the Cars puzzle to have the students see which puzzle is easier to complete, the one that is  letter by letter or the one with chunks.  The children love to try to complete it quickly, but the chunks always win. :)

 

 

This was a GREAT visual for the children to see how chunking helps them read and figure out words more quickly. In fact, a couple of my girls were so clever, they saw two words they could make with the chunks!

 

Next, I call some children up to hold letters.

 

Then... we "chunk"  them and read our word.  

 

 



 

 

They loved doing this!  They also loved the word, because earlier we had watched the Word World episode "Sh Sh Shark," where everyone is afraid of Shark, except Duck who doesn't know about the "Sh" chunk and calls him "S-hark."  I love that episode.  :) 

We played around with other chunks and made new words with the "op" chunk.  The kids had so much fun, we could have done this all morning. 

 

We made hops, tops, stop... you get the idea! :) 

 

Then we did a quick interactive writing activity circling chunks in words I wrote on the board and reading the words together.  Some of the words I used were:

 

napkin, market, blender, crash, dinner, and bonus words... helicopter and impossible!

 

My kids felt very accomplished after reading these grown-up sized words, or "25 cent" words as my friend calls them.   

 

I have lots of Word Wall Roll games that I had out for Independent Centers for the children.  I had a big bag of the blank wooden cubes, so I made lots of word family sets of Word Wall Roll to have on hand.  Some days, I have 5 or 6 of the different word family games out for the kids to play.  Each time a child plays, he/she gets a set of 6 small stickers (I have hundreds of these pre-cut.).  The word that is rolled and written the most  is the first winner! Then they keep playing to see what word comes in 2nd, 3rd...  This is my "an" word family game. 

 

 

(As you can see, this game has been used and "loved" a lot! )

 

I also have Number Roll games and the usual Sight Word games.  I do like the idea of just numbering the words and rolling dice to see what number comes up,  and what word to write.  That saves making the different worksheets.

 

I like using the wooden cubes because  I can make game sets of specific words (or numbers)  a child is having a hard time learning, and send the game home with the child.  When you add stickers to ANYTHING, it becomes fun!  ;)  

 

We love to play Smart board games as small groups or during rug time , and we watched some videos about word families and blends.  I put some of my favorite Chunky Monkey activities together in a Prezi that I use on my Smart board.  This way, I have it up all day and if we had a few extra minutes to watch a video during snack or play a game before outside recess, I have it all set.  Under the "Ideas for  the teacher" part is a link to some great word family/chunking worksheets.

 

Here is my Chunky Monkey Prezi.

 



 

This is a part of my Kindergarten Letters and Sounds Prezi  and my Beginning Reading Prezi from my TPT store.  If you haven't used Prezis yet, they are fun to check out.  The ones I made to use in my classroom are basically interactive posters that zoom into links.  I searched the internet to find the best sites, games, activities, videos that would normally be a "favorite" and compiled them into big organized favorite collections. 

You can find all of my Prezis at my TPT Store.

Thank you for sharing my Chunky Monkey adventure! Don't you feel like you need some Ben and Jerry's Chunky Monkey ice cream to go with this post? I do! 

 

Thank you for visiting and Happy Teaching!

Carolyn