It's FREE Smart Board Sunday Short A Vowel Game

Do your students need practice with their short "a" word families? Here is a sneak peek at the FREE Smart Board Download.  Don't have a Smart Board.  Look at the bottom for the PDF version and use them as a paper version for literacy centers, guided reading, or in your students' book boxes for extra practice.

 Click here for the FREE Smart Board Download for the Short A Vowel Rapid Naming Activity.

Click here for the FREE pdf version to use as word work in literacy centers, during guided reading, in book boxes, or as homework practice.

Word Work with Post-it-Notes

Word Work Tip of the Week:  Add post-it-notes to your word work stations.  Encourage your students to make more words.  Your students will be motivated to write and write.

Portable Magnetic Word Family Word Wall
Students can remove a word family and take it to other stations for working with words.

Small Portable Word Family Walls
I make many small portable word walls.  These small word walls encourage my students to look for words they know to help them spell words with the same word pattern or word family.

Differentiate by adding post-it-notes to the center.  Students can make new words by adding blends, digraphs, suffixes, or prefixes.  They also can use the words in a sentence. When center time is over, students place their post-it-notes in their word books.   

Student samples of their post-it-note words and sentences.

Use the students' work samples as a guide for mini-lessons.  Ex:  takeing - teach student about taking off the "e" and adding "ing."

Read with Someone or Reading with a Friend

Isn't it exciting when your students want to read all the time?  My class does a modified version of the Daily Five.  We have a separate time when we "Read to Self" after lunch everyday.  My students also have the option of "Reading to Self" during Readers' Workshop. What I discovered is they love this special reading time, and we have really increased our stamina throughout the school year.  I use this time to fit in listening to children read independently.  There is nothing more powerful than getting a one-to-one uninterrupted glimpse of a student reading.  I usually spend 5 minutes with each student, giving me a chance to listen to 5-6 extra children read each day. We have built our independent reading stamina to 35 minutes during the month of February.  Some students could go for longer periods of time, but my struggling readers need more anchored support.  When our "Read to Self" time is up, I switch to "Read to Someone."  They finish out this time by reading with a friend.  So we are now reading for 45 minutes each day.  They love their "Read to Someone" time, and it is a great way to build a classroom reading community. 


Procedures are a MUST for any program to be successful.  My students have the option of sitting on the floor, laying on reading mats, sitting at their tables, reading under our tables, or in our hallway (privilege).  I first encouraged the "sit by your friend" when they read, but everyone had a different reading style or what was "comfortable" reading.  So as always, I made up a song to a familiar tune to help us learn the correct procedures.  This song is to "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes."  At the end of the song, I say, "Where does the book go?"  They chant, "In the middle!" Here is a picture of our anchor chart:

 Click here to download these FREE anchor charts. 

Click here to view:  "I'm Working on My Strategies to Read" for the Smart Board, Interactive Whiteboard, or student computer on my TpT store.

Don't have this technology yet?  Use the mp3 song and book set from my TpT store.
"I'm Working on My Strategies to Read" mp3 Song
"I'm Working on My Strategies to Read" Book Set
The book set includes a big book version along with an independent reading book, 1/2 size books for book boxes or guided reading, and a single page version for homework folders.  You can also use the big book version to create 11X17 anchors charts for your reading wall.

Independent Reading Book
8 1/2 x 11

"I'm Working on My Strategies to Read" from the CD "Growing Dendrites by Kathy Griffin" (c) Copyright 2011

It's Great to Be Reading "Other Word Families" YouTube

Teachers often ask which song/multimedia file from "Growing Dendrites" is my favorite. Well, that's a difficult question because I made them all for different reasons. The 2 versions of "It's Great to Be Reading" have a significant impact on teaching my students the reading strategy "Look for the chunk."  We sing both versions of the song, which gives them 10 different word family anchors to help transfer the strategy:  If you can read _______, then you can read _________.  It also works the same way when applying it to spelling.   If you can spell ________, you can spell _________. 

As we do word studies in our classroom, the children apply the song to other word families that are introduced.  For example, "ent" makes the sound of "ent."  Add a "t" and you have "tent."  Add a "w" and you have "went" . . .  "bent and cent and dent and silent." So as they are busy working during Readers' Workshop, I often hear them singing this song to read other words in the classroom. That's when I know a strategy is working for my students because we ultimately want them to be able to transfer their learning to other areas and also be independent with this strategy.  Sometimes our students just need an anchor as a connection to other words.

Here is a video of how I use it in my classroom. This song works on the word families that contain "ank," "ink," "ight," "ice," and "ay."

Wiki Stik Making Words

Not a fan of Wiki Stik and the sticky mess?  Cut your Wiki Stik into strips and place inside a black binder.  Have the students sort by color and place back on the inside of the folder when finished.  Close the binder, put in a plastic tub, and never have to worry about them drying out or getting all stuck together.

"and" makes the sound of "and." Add a "h" and you have "hand."  Add a "b" and you have "band."  IT'S GREAT TO BE READING AND SPELLING!

Have your students make words with Wiki Stick.  Don't like to clean up the mess after centers?  Have the students build the words on black clipboards.  When they are finished making words, have them put their clipboards in the tub with the binder above.  No more mess and it becomes a more manageable center.

If you can read . . . you can read . . . .
If you can spell . . . . you can spell . . . 

Write a story with the word families.

To purchase "It's Great to Be Reading" for the Smart Board, IWB, or student computer click on the link below:
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Its-Great-to-Be-Reading-for-the-Smart-Board-or-Computer


To purchase the "It's Great to Be Reading" book set for independent reading, guided reading, "Just Right Reading," the listening center, or as a song folder for homework, click on the link below:
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Its-Great-to-Be-Reading-Books


To purchase the "It's Great to Be Reading" mp3 song for whole group or for the listening center click on the link below:
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Its-Great-to-Be-Reading-Song


Thanks for stopping by!

It's FREE SmartBoard Sunday Balloon Pop

I have loaded some new games for FREE on my TpT store to help teach the "Outlaw Words," or sight words that do not follow the phonics rules. Here is a quick look at the games.  Have a great school week and enjoy 2 new whole group and literacy centers on me.

See if you students know which words are behind the balloon.  Read the word on the balloon.  Guess what words are underneath.  Pop the balloon and see if you are right! This activity complements the song "The Outlaw Words" from my CD and multimedia files from "Growing Dendrites with Kathy Griffin" (c) Copyright 2011.

View of what is behind the balloon after it has been touched. Directions: Click on the balloon.  Read the word.  When finished with the page, touch the balloon to reset it to the color.

Click on the balloon.  Read the word.  When finished, touch the balloon to reset it to the color.

Directions for The Outlaw Words Balloon Pop Game

Spelling the Outlaw Word "water."  Student has the option of figuring out the word by the letter arrangement or can click on the clue button to see the word and correct spelling. The red bar tracks their time.  Click on the edit button to remove the timing option.

Spelling the Outlaw Word "your."  Student has the option of figuring out the word by the letter arrangement or can click on the clue button to see the word and correct spelling. The red bar tracks their time.  Click on the edit button to remove the timing option.

Spelling the Outlaw Word "what."  Student has the option of figuring out the word by the letter arrangement or can click on the clue button to see the word and correct spelling. The red bar tracks their time.  Click on the edit button to remove the timing option.

Want to change the words?  Read how to edit the file on the first  page.

Directions Page

To get the FREE download of The Outlaw Word Balloon Pop Game click on the link below:
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Outlaw-Words-Balloon-Pop-Game-for-the-SmartBoard


To get the FREE download of The Outlaw Spelling Word Anagram game, click on the link below:
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FREE-Outlaw-Words-Spelling-Anagram


To purchase the multimedia file for the SmartBoard, Interactive Whiteboard, or computer, click on the link below:
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Outlaw-Words-for-the-Smart-Board-or-Computer

To purchase the activity pack, click on the link below:

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Outlaw-Words-Activity-and-Game-Pack

To purchase the book set, click on the link below:
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Outlaw-Words-Books


To purchases the mp3 song, click on the link below:
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Outlaw-Words-Song

Take the "We Work With Words Challenge"

Take the word work challenge with our classroom!  We are keeping track of the number of words we read/spell during Reader's Workshop/Literacy Centers and are pushing ourselves to grow more dendrites in reading and spelling.  The goal for our class: To read and spell more words. We do not do traditional spelling tests at our school.  Instead, we provide lots of word work activities for our students to do including word sorts to look for patterns.  Our brains are pattern seekers, and my students are learning to find patterns everywhere, even in print.  As my class says, "Patterns, patterns, EVERYWHERE!"  Try this simple phrase with your students during whole group word work, reading, or anytime you are looking at print:  "What do you notice?"  Get a glimpse at what your students notice about words, how to break them apart, and how to put them back together.  If you want to join in on the challenge, leave your city, state and track the number of words your students read/spell daily, weekly, or by the month. Or just say, "We're taking the challenge!"  My students are ready for some competition.  How about yours?  Think of the learning that can take place.  My students write the number of words each day on a post-it-note and turn it in.  We add them together with a calculator during math stations.  Then we chart them on our board.  We have decided to make a Word Work Graph to track our progress.  I can't wait to hear from you, and your classroom's success.  You can show them this video clip to get them motivated.




Or you can also purchase the multimedia file "Word Work Chant" from my Teachers Pay Teachers store for the Smart Board, Interactive Whiteboard, or computer for $3.00.  Just want the song/chant/and rap version?  I have the mp3 at my TpT store for $1.00 and the book set for $2.00.


http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Weve-Got-DendritesWord-Work-Chant-for-the-Smart-Board-or-Computer
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Weve-Got-Dendrites-Word-Work-Chant-Books

The Outlaw Words YouTube Example

Here is an example of how I use "The Outlaw Words" from my CD "Growing Dendrites with Kathy Griffin" on my Smart Board.  I use it during whole group time and as a literacy station during Readers' Workshop.  During Readers' Workshop, I turn the volume down and have the children work with the print only.  After surveying my students, this is their favorite multimedia file.  I do believe it helps them with those harder words that don't follow the phonics rules.