Tricky Words

I am pretty excited to report that my first grade reading groups are making tremendous progress this year. We've spent the past month learning how to say the sounds in words and being able to put those sounds back together! A few days ago they started to realize that some words are trying to "trick" us! We stumbled across the word "away" and it didn't sound right! 

I created two posters (below) in which we've been adding, "Words We Can Sound Out" and "Words We Know by Sight". (Please excuse the font selection on these posters, as I was in a hurry and don't have much to select from on my computer at school!) I spent some time talking to them about how those "tricky" words are going to be the focus of the rest of first grade and that I'd teach them tricks to figure out those words. Every time we come across a new word, they get pretty excited to write it on a Post-It...

Today I wanted to see how they did when we talked about these tricky words a little bit further. I read aloud to them, "The Two Greedy Bears" by Mirra Ginsburg...Which happens to be one of my favorites! I told them there was a "fancy" word in the story that we were going to figure out the meaning. (The word was 'sly').

If you haven't read this story before, two bears argue over how to divide their food into equal parts. A fox comes along and purposely divides the food so that one piece is bigger than the other. In order to make the pieces equal, she takes an unequal bite...until two small tiny pieces are left.

The kids realize that the fox was trying to trick the two bears...she was being sly!

I told my kiddos that many times words we come across are sly. We can't always say each sound in a word...someone decided to make reading tricky!

We took a Post-It off of one of our charts and tried to determine if each letter was saying their sound. If they did say their correct sounds (like in frog /f/ /r/ /o/ /g/) then it is NOT a sly word. If they didn't say their correct sounds like in my, then the word is sly and we determined the letter or letters that were making it tricky.

Next week we will be generating a list of words that contain the sound /oe/ as in home. My goal for them next week is to see that there are many different ways to represent that sound. (If you'd like to see more on how I teach this, head on over to ReadingResource.net!) I will be posting our progress over the next few months!

The first quarter is almost complete and I couldn't be more proud of my first grade groups!

Hump-Day Freebies!

A few days ago I was preparing for a presentation with all of my pocket chart word sorts spread all over the place...In the midst of sorting through baggies and baggies of words, I wondered why I never have created a "Word Wall" around the sounds that I'm teaching my kiddos? Why do I display words by their beginning letter? (It's definitely not how I teach…)

And...Because I've been stuck in my apartment because of this…

I created a 'lil freebie. No more "Word Walls" for this girl. Say hello to "Sound Stations".  In this download, you'll have the 16 vowel headers that look something like this:

…And over 300 word cards that look something like this:

Just head on over to Katie's TpT Store to download "Sound Station: Headers and Word Cards" for FREE! 

I also have been looking for just the right vocabulary tools for my 3rd Graders…after looking and looking and finding nothing, I decided to create a special dictionary of my own! I purchased one-inch binders for each student and printed all of the pages in this download. The first few pages are "tools" that can help them (Synonyms, Antonyms, Tier Words, Parts of Speech). I'm working with the lowest 3rd Graders in my building and they NEED as many visuals as they can get...

 

I wish I had a better pic of a student binder, but again, I'm stuck in my apartment. This is a rough sketch of what a sample page might look like. Please excuse my attempt to draw a fox! 

When it's completed, it would be filed behind the "P" tab! 

I hope you find this as helpful as I have…be sure to head on over to my TpT Store to download it for free.

Stay warm, friends!

A Little Sight Word Flip It Overview!

Available Now in your iTunes Store!

 

Quiz, Quiz, Pass...Freebie

A few years back I created a CVC game that I played with my firsties at the beginning of the school year...I'm pretty embarrassed about the graphics I used for it, which is why I'm hesitant to post the link on here...but I promise you, I'm in the process of revamping it! (And no, I won't use Word graphics. Bible!) If you really can't wait for the revised version, you can head on over to ReadingResource to snatch the original!

Since my reading intervention kiddos are able to read short vowel sounds, I decided it was time to step it up...Here's a long vowel version! It's a pretty simple game to play whole group (and even better for my reading intervention kids). Simply give each child a card and tell them not to let anyone see the backside of the card (the picture). They will find a buddy and have them try to read the word. Check the answer on the back of the card. Then it's the other person's turn to share their word. Once each person has "quizzed" their buddy, they switch cards and move around the room to find a new buddy. 

Below is a sample of what the pages look like...I made this black and white to have some of my colored ink! 

 

If you'd like the free copy of Quiz, Quiz, Pass (Long Vowel) head on over to my TpT Store...Please be sure to leave some love...Hope your students enjoy it as much as mine do!

Sound Pictures

If you follow our website ReadingResource.net you know that Katie and I use the term "Sound Pictures" often to refer to letters because technically, letters are "pictures" for sounds and the term "sound pictures" cues kids into the nature of what letters do...they stand for sounds. 

We also use the terms "Advanced Code" & "Code Variation" to describe when two or more letters represents a sound and when one sound in our language can be represented more than one way.  (For further info on advanced code and code variation, visit our Reading Activities II Page at ReadingResource.net)

Here is a one pager that demonstrates what I am talking about: Vowel Code Variation

The power of using controlled word lists that are organized by sound to improve reading decoding is undeniable. 

I'll demonstrate with two quick videos...

Video #1: Cold Read

This is my second grade friend Aaliyah working on words that contain the Long E sound. Watch her first attempt at these words and then read on...

 

Video #2: After Highlighting the Advanced Code

You can see in Video #1, Aaliyah truly struggles to read accurately.  Her word attack strategies were poor, she often guessed and I certainly did not prompt her to read the words from left to right. I gave her no corrective feedback at all.  Now watch what happens no more than 5 minutes later after I highlight the advanced code and all the code variation (spelling patterns) for the Long E sound.

Big difference huh?  By simply using a controlled word list and highlighting the advanced code, her accuracy goes up, her word attack skills improve and her confidence is higher!   

That is what we like to see. 

Remember...

The advanced written code causes more reading problems than you can possibly imagine.  By teaching it explicitly and systematically to your students  you can truly can see remarkable reading gains in a short amount of time. It also helps to have such a hard worker like Aaliyah.  I heart her!

To learn more about teaching the advanced code and to download the FREE Advanced Code Word Lists I used with Aaliyah (one for every vowel sound), head over to the Reading Activities II Page  at ReadingResource.net. 

We hope our resources help some of your students too!

(Long Vowel) Guess Who? Game

It's taken us a few weeks to finish this {free} download...but we hope you'll find it worth the wait! 


If you liked playing with Lite-Brite...

Or perhaps you remember playing this in school...right?

Or Katie's personal fav...

Then you'll love our new twist to Guess Who! And yes, this is Katie's old skool version!

Long Vowel Guess Who Template

If she was smart, Katie would've taken a picture of her kids actually playing this game when school was in session, but she didn't...So you'll have to take a peek at the FREE DOWNLOAD! There are four different long vowel version of this game (Long A, E, I, & O). We left out Long U because there weren't enough vowel combinations for this sound to make this game work!

Long Vowel Guess Who Template...It's Free!

The game is set up just like the regular Guess Who? with the exception that the cards contain words, not faces. To play, opponents will ask questions like, "Does your word have 'ay' making the Long A sound?" or "Does your word contain the sound /s/?" The first player to have one flip-frame left & correctly guess their opponents "Mystery Word" is the winner! 

If you like this game, please drop us some love! 

Word Detective Monkeys: Long Vowels

Last week I made a "Long A Search" for my first graders (again, I forgot to take pictures of them) and they loved it! 

We spend quite a bit of time learning the various letter combinations for the short and long vowel sounds. I wanted to mix things up a little so I posted Long A words around our classroom & school. They had to determine the letter combinations (a-e, ai, a, ei, eight, & ey) and write it on their "Word Detective Monkey" answer sheet.

We've posted a FREE DOWNLOAD for the "Long U" on TpT. There are 3-4 words for each vowel combination. We've also added Long A, Long E, Long I, and Long O!   

On Friday, all of the first graders at my school took a mini field trip over to the high school in search of Long A words. (Luckily most of the rooms we invaded were parents of students in my classroom!) Here's a pic of 75 students invading Mrs. Ladowitz's science class! 

Since my kids have been learning about nouns, I made it a little more tricky for them by having them place the words into the category of person, place, or thing. Here is the FREEBIE if you'd like it for your classroom! 

Long A Sound Search FREEBIE!

Please leave us a comment on TpT if you download our Long U Freebie...Let us know what you think! :)

Short "e" Mouse Paint Uno

It's been a while, but we've added a new product to our TpT Store! This is a great game to introduce early readers to the idea of basic code (letters that say their appropriate sounds) and advanced code (letters that are in groups of 2, 3, & 4 that represent the sounds in our language). This game contains 8 pages of words with the short "e" vowel combinations "e, ea, & ai".  

Click here to purchase "Mouse Paint Short e Uno" on TpT!

"Short e" Spider Web

Help children learn to recognize the different vowel combinations (e, ea, & ai) that can represent the "short e" sound with this 2 player game! A fun activity kids can use during literacy centers!

Download It Here!

Sock Monkey Concentration

Just getting ready to teach the "short o" sound in the next couple weeks...Thought I'd get a jump start on creating some new games! I will be adding this game to my Daily Five "Word Work" Station! Enjoy, friends.

Sock Monkey "Short o" Download...Click Here!