I Heart Inflectional Endings

Hello Everyone!
I am so sorry I haven't posted anything lately...battling a crazy cough and cold. I think I'm finally on the upward swing though! Yahoo!
Today we reviewed inflectional endings. During D-5 I combined our "wordwork" and "work on writing" into one hands on visual where kids were practicing inflectional endings, and creating a seasonal heart!  We brainstormed and charted things we loved and created a little poem about those things. We read the sentences to be sure the endings were in place and then wrote the poem around a heart shaped piece of scrapbook paper.  Here are a couple of pics.

If you have a heart for inflectional endings and need a quick printable, click here!

Hope you are all staying healthy!!

Stay tuned for more fun! Thanks for stopping by!!

Joyfully!

Nancy

Cross Checking

Hello Everyone!
Next week we will be introducing the concept of cross checking in reading.   Cross checking is a strategy for helping kids think while they read.  Do the words (and sometimes the pictures) match with what they are reading? When they get to the end of a sentence, stop and cross check. Does it look right? Does it sound right? Does it make sense.  Kids should be aware of mistakes when they are reading.   The Sisters of Daily 5 and CAFE have a little hand movement they do while teaching this strategy, but my team and I wanted a little visual as well. This is what I came up with.

 

You can get your free printable

HERE!! :)

 

Let me know if this is at all useful to you. I love to read your comments and suggestions!!

 

Have a wonder-filled weekend, everyone!!  Thanks for stopping by and peeking through our little window!!

Joyfully!

Nancy

3 ways to read a book and D5 independence charts

Hello Everyone!
Super quick post today!  One week and counting until those little cuties come bouncing in!!  I wanted to redo my  Daily 5 Independence anchor charts and "3 Ways to Read a Book" charts, so I created a chevron set and a western set. Chevron for my sweet new team mate and western 3 ways for me! :) Just sharing in case you need new ones!
Preview:

Daily 5 Independence charts, chevron style??? Click here for your free download.

"3 ways to read a book" 2 different designs??? Click here for your free download!

That's all for now!!  I have to get all my folders and notebooks set up!
Have a great rest of the weekend!
Joyfully!
Nancy

Star Studded Word Work

Hello Everyone!

 Just a quick post tonight again! Gearing up for parent conferences. And a warning that pics of my kids are going to be fewer as we are in  full blown Daily 5 and guided reading group mode. I don't always think of grabbing my camera.  I do know that my kids think I always have my camera handy and can snap a pic anytime, so the quality of work is almost always high! Hmmmmm. I hope they keep it up even though I probably won't be snapping as many!!

Anyway, this week we are doing a study of the sweet little objects we see in the night sky. You guessed it...stars. We are also working hard on the s blends including sl, sp, and st. So, as you know I have to integrate, integrate, integrate!  Today for Daily 5 word work I had a Teacher Treat for the kids.  They got to choose some fun sparkly "STar" foam stickers (thank you to the mom who donated them!) to attach to black paper, and then practice their choice of st words to write in chalk.  What fun!  

Great job, kids!!

Have a star studded night!!
Joyfully!
Nancy

Eat Your Words-Lucky Charms

Hello Everyone!

Just a quick post tonight...Getting ready for our annual Chili Cook-Off tomorrow! :) Should be fun!  Today we practiced our short u words during our Daily 5 Word Work time. The kids love it when I incorporate an edible component to our practice. Finding something to go along with short u was tricky! But, alas! Lucky Charms to the rescue!! I got lucky because Lucky Charms is not only an example of a short u word, but we are also learning about the moon this week and it just so happens that Lucky Charms has moon shapes! That crescent moon turned on it's end makes a great u!  Some of the kids used the rainbows and the horseshoes for u's as well! Way to go kids!

 

 For your free printable, click here!

Wish us Luck for our Chili Cook-Off!  I think we've got the best recipe!! :) Thank you, Leila's Mom!!

Have a good night everyone!

Joyfully!

Nancy

 

Shhhh! We're building our Stamina!

Hello Everyone!

I hope I'm not interrupting and interfering with your own stamina building! :)  But I just had a quick post about our stamina work.  Stamina for our first graders is the ability to stay focused long enough to hear the directions, follow through with several steps of those directions, read for greater lengths of time, write for greater lengths of time, and even sit in one spot in the cafeteria for 30 minutes! Today we specifically talked about stamina in our reading and writing and why it is important to build and grow our stamina. Just like athletes practicing their sports in order to get better and stronger, students need to practice reading, writing, focusing, etc.  We talked about when we are doing our Daily 5, we are adding a few minutes each time.  We are building our own Stamina!  We are going to be stronger readers and writers!! As the kids were working today, I told them I was going to look for those whom I could tell were really working on building their stamina. As I found those kids, they were rewarded with a stamina strip (just a little paper bracelet), as well as being rewarded with work done completely and growth of focus on reading and writing evident. 

Here's a little poster we have hanging in the room! :)

Earning a Stamina Strip!

Building Stamina by reading to someone for a little longer!

Love the strong man building his stamina!

For your own copy of our Stamina poster, click here! :)

Now you can go back to building your own stamina! Thanks for stopping by!!

Joyfully!

Nancy

Eat Your words- Skittles!

Hello Everyone!

Just a super quick post tonight! Crazy busy weekend coming up!  

This week our sweet little firsties practiced the short i sound by brainstorming all the words they could think of with ip, in, and it in them.  We practiced with rainbow words, stamps, magnets and...Skittles during Daily 5 Word Work.  My teacher treat for  word work practice one day was to write the short i words, write them again with the "taste the rainbow" colors of Skittles and then use a skittle for the dot above all the short i's. "Skittles is the best short i word ever," said the kids!!  What a sweet way to practice some sweet words!! 

Click here for your own sweet "Eat your Words" printable!

Have a sweet weekend!!

Joyfully!

Nancy

An Fan and Apple Jack Words

Hello Everyone!

Welcome to our wonderful first grade world!  This week we are working hard on the short a chunks. Word work during Daily 5 is one of my favorite places to add some pizazz! This week I added some "Teacher Treats" to my choice board.  One of the choices was to make an "An Fan."  The kids wrote their choice of /an/ words on paint chips (I did ask the sweet WalMart employee before I took so many of them!) traced over them with a sharpie and then punched holes in the other end for a brass fastener to fit through.  I think they turned out beautifully!  They had to find a friend with whom to read and spell their /an/ words from their "An Fans."

Another "Teacher Treat" from our Word Work Choice board this week was "Apple Jack Words."  This time the kids had to write their choice of /ap/ words on a recording sheet and use a, Apple Jack for the a in each word.  So much fun and memorable.  I think they will always think of /ap/ words as "Apple Jack Words!"  

 

For your free printable, click here! :)

I am sure my kids will be ready for their first Spell Check on Friday!!

Joyfully!

Nancy