PENGUINS Anyone??

One of the bonuses of it being winter is that it is the perfect time to study penguins!!  I was lucky enough to stumble upon this great FREE penguin clip art created by Kathy Law from the First Grade Parade.  Since I work with many students who are beginning readers I wanted an easy reader that actually gave the kids some information about the tuxedo wearing birds:)  I couldn't find one that I liked so I decided I needed to create one!

 

I decided that I needed to frontload my students with the concepts in the book so I created vocabulary cards with pictures.  I am hoping that this makes the reading of the actual text a little smoother.

Since it is always important to get the my students writing I created  Penguins can, Penguins have and Penguins are sheets.

I am very excited to use my new creation with my kiddos tomorrow!  I have been so bogged down with testing I feel like I have not taught in a month!  I will be so happy to be back in a normal routine.
I will send a copy of my Penguin book to the first three people to leave a comment! 

Are your students WORD DETECTIVES?

 As an intervention teacher one of the things I do on a routine basis in K-2 is teach phonetic concepts.  Our district uses the Fundations Reading Program to teach these skills.  I am not someone who can follow the manual word for word and function!  I would go CRAZY!  Therefore I create some of my own things to increase student understanding of the concepts being addressed.  I just finished a WORD DETECTIVE Pack for LEVEL 2 Fundations that allows students to hunt for concepts such as CLOSED syllable words during a word work center.  This allows students to get additional practice with these concepts/words.  I like this because I work with the at-risk and identified students who need all the exposure to skills/concepts that they can get!!  Here are some pictures of my WORD Detective pack LEVEL 2:

                          Click here to go to my TPT store to and view this pack!
         The 1st person to leave a comment about the packet can have it for FREE!

Can a BIG PIG Really Teach Phonics?

BRRRRRRR!  It was so cold in our building today but that of course did not stop learning from happening;P  

One of the things I enjoy doing is to use the smartboard to introduce and reinforce phonics (Fundations) concepts.  So today I did a SHORT i word family lesson for kindergarten.  I teach the kindergartners that word families are like a real "family".  They "look" the same and they "sound" the same.  Last year I felt like I won the lottery when I discovered Hooked on Phonics had a series of videos that reinforced short vowel word families thus enter THE PIG BIG video!  I love it and the kids love it and a total bonus is it teaches the "ig" word family.

Later in the afternoon, I reviewed the "double vowel" syllable type with my second graders.  It is the 5th syllable type we have learned this year.    Right now we are working on ai/ay words combined with one or two other syllables like "entertain".  I teach the kids to break the words into syllables by scooping instead of straight lines so that it is clear where each syllable begins and ends.  The students then identify the different syllable types which ultimately aides in the decoding and spelling process.  Of course I also have another fun video to accompany my "double vowel" lesson called When Two Vowels Go Walking.  

Thanks for listening to my ideas on teaching phonics!  How do you teach your phonics (Fundations) lessons?  I would love to hear your ideas!  

$25 Dollar TPT GIVEAWAY!

I am having a GIVEAWAY to celebrate a much needed long weekend.  Enter now to win a $25 gift certificate to TPT so you can buy any goodies you have been longing for but haven't made it off your wish list.

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A FUNdations lesson full of love!

In first grade we have just begun our journey of teaching the students to recognize a closed syllable.  It is the first of the syllable types introduced in level one Fundations.  We teach the kids to look for one vowel that is followed by one consonant or more consonants which make the vowel short.  Click the LINK below to get the closed syllable sort to practice the concept with your kiddos!  ENJOY!!

Click HERE for FREEBIE 

It's FREEBIE time..........

If you are like me you are always looking for ways to enhance your students' sight word bank!  So I created TRICKY TURTLE which allows students to practice their sight words or trick words.  The words in this game are the Fundations level K-1 trick words.  Enjoy!!  I am linking up with FREEBIELICIOUS in a New Year freebie linky!

Click HERE to go to FREEBIE post!

Click here for the FREEBIE!

Happy New Year!

Life is finally getting back to normal after the holidays!!  I just posted FREEBIE items on TPT to bring in the new year:)

 

Click here to go to my TPT store!