Focus on Alphabet Centers Part 2

I wanted to highlight some other alphabet centers that my kiddos have been using.  Please click over to the original idea to check out their tips!

Alphabet Spoons

from Golden Gang Kindergarten

Pattern Block Alphabet
from Confessions of  a Homeschooler

Tactile Letters that I picked up at a random little outlet/thrift store

Sandy Letters Game I made up
Put letters (could use foam, magnet, tiles, whatever) in a sand pail.  The students scoop, say the letters they get, and then color them in on their recording sheet.  Unfortunately I can't post the recording sheet due to the fonts terms of use.   : (  But you can easily make your own!

Now on to a cute story that is still alphabet center related.  I wanted to make a set of alphabet mats that have circles on them to change out easily.  Like using cheerios, little cookies, daubers and more.  I put one circle on the top of the A and had to go do something else.  I came back to this.

My almost 6 year old did the A (notice the little "v"s in the outline from using command v incorrectly). My 3 year old did the a (using the command v a little too well).  I think my daughter will be ready to help me in a few years!

Hope you found some ideas you can use and please so the original posts so love!

Focus on Alphabet Centers Part 1

This year we are going to start our day in Literacy Centers.  At the beginning of the year that will consist of alphabet centers.  I thought I would share what mine are looking like for now and show you where to find some of them.  Please excuse the pictures; I took them quickly to give you the idea while I was filling them!

Clothespin Uppercase/Lowercase Match

from Growing in PreK

Animated Literacy Uppercase/Lowercase Memory Game

from me (sorry I can't share because of the graphics)

Letter Geoboards

from Making Learning Fun

Highway Letters

from Making Learning Fun

I used these little cars from Dollar Tree because they are so little they require the kids to use their fine motor more than normal sized cars.

Please visit the sites linked to check out the activities.  They have some other great ideas too!

I will show some more of my alphabet centers next time!

Hope you find something you can use!!

Making Progress and a FINALLY!

I've been going in after staff development this week to work on my painting project for an hour at a time.

These are my cubbies (minus the dividers) halfway through using actual paint.

Here is another shelf completely done using spray paint.

I should note that this is probably NOT the best plan.  I am tiny and cannot move the shelves that far, nor can I leave the shelves outside overnight.  So I am painting in my room...that is this big (you are literally seeing half of my room in this picture)...with no windows...well you have probably figured out the problem.  One of my coworkers walked in and about died.  We argued about whether or not is was a good thing that I could not smell the paint at that time.  Well....you get the idea.

So now there are two shelves done and 3 or 4 more.  But it's progress.

I'm REALLY excited about this next part.

I finally found SCENTOS markers!!!  These little (really kindof big) guys are the cutest.  Each one has a different scent!  They remind me of the Mr. Sketch markers I loved as a kid only way cuter!  The best part is that they were only 88¢ at Walmart!  I know!  I was beyond excited.  I may or may not have spent a lot of time digging through the bin to make sure I had one of every color.  Don't judge.  You know you would too.

I saw this idea over at Crisscross Applesauce in First Grade.  She had this great Spell It, Smell It freebie.  Head over and check it out.

I asked her if I could tweak it a bit and share with you.  So here is my version.

I have a variety of letter manipulatives in my word work area that the students can choose to use in the Build It section.  Then use the Scentos markers to write it in the second section.  You can grab my version in my TpT store or my TN shop for FREE!

I'm also looking forward to using these to mark the tops of their papers.  It will make it that much more fun!!

Enjoy!

Easter Egg Word Families Sheet (freebie)

Everyone has seen the Easter egg word families on the web or on Pinterest, I'm sure.  It is certainly not a new idea.  One of my coworker asked oh so nicely if I would make a recording sheet for her set.  I was happy to oblige.  Since it was all made up, I thought I would share it with you all.

The simple idea is to write with sharpie on plastic Easter eggs.  On one end, you will write the word ending (at, an, it, etc.)  Then there are a couple of options for the other end.  You can write a different letter on each long end to have students match to make a word.  Or you can write multiple letters around the long end and students can twist to match and make a word.

For the recording sheet, the students will write the real words on the eggs in the correct nest.

 

Click on the picture to go to my TN shop and grab it for free!

As always, if you want the editable version so you can add your own word families, leave a comment with your email address or email me.

Let me know if you are able to use this!

Rainbow Writing Sight Word Sheets (freebie)

Here is another set of the sight word sheets for those who are interested.  I will be working on more of the preprimer and primer dolch words.

*If Google Docs isn't working, it is free in my Teacher's Notebook store as well!

Leave a comment if you can use these!

Gumball Machine Word Work (freebie)

I saw this idea over at Shari Sloane's site, Kidscount1234.  I changed mine a bit because I prefer my word work sheets to have little to no extra wording and I wanted to have some extra spaces for them to write in.

Basically put whatever words you want on the decorative gems like you can buy at the Dollar Tree.  Put them in a gumball machine.  The students get a 'gumball' out and write the word on their sheet.

Boggle Word Works (freebies)

My K team purchased these from Oriental Trading.  We have not gotten them yet and I am a little worried after reading the reviews.  I think I will work on finding some Boogle games at garage sales or thrift stores this summer.

Here are some activities I made for word work. 

First is a letter sheet.  I am going to have them color in the letter once they find it on the game.  They can see how many tries it took them to find them all.  To differentiate this, I made an uppercase and lowercase sheet.

I also made a word find one.  I do not plan on having specific rules for them (i.e. letters touching, etc.) but just if they see the letters they can use them.

Write Stamp Decorate (freebie)

I saw this idea on Pinterest so I had to make up a version.  The idea is that they would write a word (my kids will do a word off the word wall), stamp it, and then write it and deocrate the word however they want.

**OOPS!  I forgot to add my signature before.  If you downloaded it already please click the picture above and save the new one please!

*On a side note, does anyone know how to embed google docs now?  I can't change it to the older version anymore.  HELP!

Alien or Earth Words (freebie)

This is not a new idea by any means.  I just made up a different sheet to fit my preferences.  I have some foam dice that have blue letters (consonants) and red letters (vowels).  I used to use cubes and make my own however with paint or markers.

Enjoy!

Newspaper Sight Word from K: double stuffed

Check out K: double stuffed.  I love this sight word activity.  Students look through a newspaper and find sight words. Then they write what they find on the recording sheet (free download).

Click the picture to check out the idea and get the free download!

You'll want to have plenty of time to peruse her fabulous blog!  Talk about addicting!

Sight Word Highway (freebie)

Yet another word work idea from Mrs. Morrow's that I tweaked. 

Print and laminate some highway letters.  I got mine from here.  I actually printed mine two per page so I would have double of some of the letters.  Have the students build a sight word and then drive their car over the sight word highway they built.  After driving, they record their words on this sheet; although you could skip this step.

Have you had enough yet?  : )



Link a Sentence (freebie)

Here is another activity similar to the last one from Mrs. Morrow. 

Print and laminate the word cards on cardstock.

Have the students build sentences using the words and linking them together with plastic links.

I am also going to leave some blank cards and a dry erase marker so if they need to write a different word they can.

Link a Word (freebie)

Here is another activity from Mrs. Morrow. 

Print and laminate the letter cards on cardstock.  I printed two sets so there will double letters if needed.

Have the students pick a word from the word wall and build the word by linking the letters together with plastic links.  Then they record their word on the recording sheet.



Popcorn Word Bottles (freebie)

Another activity that Mrs. Morrow sent to me.  I found some different clipart and inserted my words. 

To make them, I copied these popcorn words and laminated them.  I would recommend putting the words on both sides of the picture because it can be difficult to get it turned just right to see the words.  I put them into water bottles filled with corn kernels.  I wrote the number on the lid of the bottle and superglued them shut.

**UPDATE - I actually found that the "Naked" juice bottles are awesome for this (and incredibly yummy).  I also switched to popped popcorn to make it be less noisy when they shake the bottles.

The students color in each word as they find it in the bottle and record them on the lines.

As always, let me know if you would like the publisher version.



Sight Word Hangman (freebie)

Mrs. Morrow posted some great popcorn word ideas on her blog.  She was nice enough to email me some of the templates and allow me to tweak them and share them with you.  So here is the first of hopefully many popcorn word activities.

I attached this to a file folder and laminated it for durability.  I am having my students use dry erase markers to trace over the body part on the person, cross out letters used, draw lines for the number of letters, and write the letters in the word.  They are going to use any of the words on the word wall.



What kid doesn't love computers? (freebie)

Here is another word work that I have for my kiddos.  They practice their sight word spelling by typing! 

I have the computer monitor attached to a file folder.  Then I laminated it and taped the ends closed.  I store the word cards inside the folder.

I use an old keyboard with the cord cut off so my kiddos can actually type with the real thing.  I included a printable keyboard in the download though if you prefer.

If you would like the publisher version so you can modify the words, just let me know!

Enjoy!

I like Dr. Seuss Sentence Building (freebie)

Here is the one I am using this week.  Again I am printing front/back.

Phone Secret Code (freebie)

Here is another word work activity that I put together.  I used the keypad (found in the printable) and glued it to construction paper.  Then I cut out a cell phone shape.  I added a plain white paper screen.  I laminated the phones and the sight word cards.  I put a dot of Aleene's Tack It Over and Over glue onto the screen (optional).  The students pick a word card and put it on the screen like they are getting a text message.  They record the word and use the keypad to figure out the 'secret code' that matches the letters.  My kids really love the little flip phones!




Here's a picture of what mine look like.  I color coded my cards to match my phones so if a card gets lost I know where to put it. : )



Click the picture for the download.

If you would like the publisher version to be able to change the word cards as needed, please let me know.


Enjoy!



Cat in the Hat Sentence Building (freebie)

I made these up really fast for my students to use after we read The Cat in the Hat.  I copied mine front/back to save paper.  I will probably be making more of these to go with the different themes that we do.

As always, please let me know if you need anything!

Enjoy!

Give This a Try (freebie)

One thing I love about teaching is that everyone is so willing share.  After blog stalking for quite some time and benefiting from what others have posted, I have decided to try to give back and share my ideas and printables.


So to start off with, here is a sight word activity I made to use during Word Work.  I put mine on the outside of a file folder and laminated it.  I taped the ends closed and put the recording sheets inside.  I tied a mini magnifying glass to the folder.  The students are to look at the words with the magnifying glass and write them on the recording sheet.


I hope this works  : )


Click the picture to download.

If you would like the publisher version, let me know and I can email it to you so you can change the words to fit your needs.