Five Minute Time Filler

I am sure you have experienced those times when you have five minutes until the bell rings and if you do not fill it with an activity, chaos will surely follow!  This game is perfect....no prep, basically no materials, and once the students learn how to play it, it can be played over and over again.  In our classroom we use the smartboard but it can also be played on the chalkboard or a large easel.  I write a three letter word and then highlight the letter that needs to be changed.  For example, in the top photo I wrote kit and highlighted the k.  A student will need to think of a word that keeps the it ending but changes the first letter.  The student I selected responded with sit.  I then highlighted another letter in sit that needs to be changed and so on.  I hope this makes sense.  It is a great game and so easy to play.  The sad thing is the only title we could come up with for the game is the One Letter Change Game.  So that is the title we use in our classroom!

Blending Books

 I love Blending Books!  I made several Blending Books for our classroom.  Basically, a Blending Book is made using a three ring binder and index cards.  As we learn our sounds throughout the year, we add the cards to the book so that we can blend the sounds into words.  All of the consonants are placed on white index cards and the vowels are placed on yellow.  The index cards can then be turned to make new words.  These books are cheap, easy to use, and so effective in teaching children to blend their sounds into words.  I use these books at group time and during guided reading groups for extra practice too.

 

Browsing Bags

      Every student in our classroom has a Browsing Bag.  The Browsing Bag has books that are on each student's guided reading level.  These are books that have already been worked on in our guided reading groups and have been taken home to read with family.
       The Browsing Bags also have a Red Word ring which are high frequency words that the student needs to know how to spell by the end of first grade.  One or two Red Words are added weekly to the ring.  The yellow Browsing Bag word ring is a ring of sight words that the student needs to be able to read quickly by the end of first grade.  Five words are added each week to this ring.
   The students use these Browsing Bags every day during our Daily Five literacy block.  The students use these bags during the Read to Self portion of Daily Five.  Often our Word Work activities will focus on our Red Words too.  I love these bags because it helps keep us organized and I know that every student has materials that are appropriate for their reading level. 

Word Rings

My son brought home this darling Cat in the Hat from school the other day.  I just thought it was too cute!  I also love having a little guy to get ideas from his great teachers.  My mind has been lacking in creativity lately!







I also tried to add up the other day the cost I spend on those little rings you can buy at the store.  I use them for word rings, vocabulary rings, math rings, etc.  They keep all of my student's words organized and words can be added and taken away as needed.  The students keep the card rings in their Browsing Bags so when we have our quiet reading time the students are not only reading their browsing books but also the card rings.  I have seen a really nice improvement in sight word recognition because the students are practicing them daily.