Easy to Prep Individualized Letter Name and Sound Games

We are working diligently on letters names and sounds in our classroom.  On Tuesday, while we were playing our Name that Letter game (see below), one of my kindergarteners came to the letter P and said, "Miss Gill, I know this one. " My thoughts, "YES.....YES....YES!" I even think there might have been a fist pump in the air. I was so excited. Anyway, the kiddo then says, "It's the letter Poo!" Ha! So close.

Here's a look at the Name that Letter game. The object of the game is to clear your card. We use just basic letter cards for this. I teach capital and lowercase letters together so these cards are a mix. We say all of the letters together a couple of times and then cover our letters with these clear colored chips. I then work my way around the reading table and "steal" chips from the kids. If they can read the letter under the chip, I keep the chip. If not, the chip goes back on the letter and they have to practice it until I come back to them. I also use this game for letter sounds and sight words. The kiddos love it and I love that it is very individualized, easy to plan for, and fast paced.

Another game we play is Roll and Read. The object of the game is to roll the dice and read/say the letter that corresponds to that letter. I got the mat from Primary Essentials from her R-Blends Roll and Read freebie. For this game, we are currently using magnet letters. If the kiddos can read the letter, they replace the letter with a new letter. If not, they practice the letter and keep it on the mat until they roll the number again and are able to read it. Just like the chip game, this game is very individualized, easy to plan for, and fast paced. I also change this game as we grow in our reading skills. Currently we are doing letter names and sounds, but soon it will be replaced with different phonics skills and sight words.

Take Learning Outside: Bean Bags

Here's day 2 of Taking Learning Outside. Yesterday, we discussed the merits of sidewalk chalk. Today, I found some cute bean bag games I want to share with you.

Toss and Add: Toss bean bags into number circles and add up the points you earn. Great for adding numbers and you can make it as easy or as challenging as you want. This would also be a good game for adding money. Just put a picture of the different types of money in the circles and the kiddos have to add up how much money they earned for their tosses.

 

Same idea but with bowls. This would be easier to already have prepped to take outside.

 

Letter Toss: Here's another idea with numbers but I am thinking switching this up and doing letters. Kids have to draw a letter out of a bag and throw their beanbag to that letter. I like the idea of using the planting bases. These would definitely not be blow away by the wind. Again, it is also nice to already have something prepped to take outside.

 

Match Up or Add Up: Throw the bean bags to match the number. Great for early number identification. You could also have to throw the bags to add up the numbers to make a certain numbers i.e. if you wanted to make 8, you would have to throw the 3 bag on the 5 mat. 

 

Spelling Pass, Letter Pass, Counting Pass: Have kiddos stand and face each other and pass the bean bag back and forth. Every time they catch the bean bag, they have to say a letter from the word they are spelling i.e. if the word is cat; kiddo 1 says "c" and passes, kiddo 2 says "a" and passes back, kiddo 1 says "t", kiddo 2 says the whole word and starts a new word. This would also work well with kids saying the alphabet from A to Z or counting. 

 

How to Make Your Own Bean Bags: Click on the picture below for the directions on how to make bean bags for your classroom.

 

If you don't want to make your own bean bags here are some cute Letter and Phonics based beanbags from Brookstone. These would be great for spelling words, sorting consonants and vowels, as well as matching upper and lowercase letters.

 

That cat is too cute for x-ray!

 I love these. I didn't even know these existed. These would be so great for a math station or a shape hunt.

 

 Tell me you thoughts! How would you or how have you used bean bags with your kiddos?

Priscilla

Take Learning Outside: Sidewalk Chalk

The beginning of the school year is always tough on kiddos and teachers. We have to start getting up earlier and the day feels so long. Here are some easy and fun ideas that I am going to work into the first couple weeks of school to continue learning but add some movement and teambuilding into the day. Click on the pictures to go to the original links. :)

Write and Read: What an easy way to practice sight words, spelling, letters, math facts. I love it! I'm picturing kiddos drawing out words or letters out of a bag, reading the word/letter,  and then writing it on the sidewalk. Their partner then has to read all of the words/letters on the sidewalk before it is his or her turn.

 

Spelling Hop: How fun! Write all of the letters of the alphabet on the sidewalk and kiddos have to hop to each letter to spell the word. This would help with spelling, letter recognition, and alphabetical order.

 

Roll a Number: Drawing a number line on the sidewalk will help kids with their number identification and counting skills. This would also be fun with a giant dice. Have one person roll for the kiddos playing. You could also have a dice that has addition and subtraction symbols on it. The possibilities are endless!

 

What's my Number: Here's number identification in another way. Hop and say the number. This would be a great activity for kiddos who have trouble with reversals i.e. 14 and 41.

 

Solve It: Call out a math problem and have kiddos solve it on the sidewalk. Then, your class can talk a "Gallery Walk" and see how everyone reached the answer.

 

Here is also a link to 30 Sidewalk Chalk Games to play with kiddos. What sidewalk chalk activities do you do with your kiddos?

 

Priscilla

Sight Words!

Well... I've been doing a lot of thinking about sight words. I've been thinking about how hard they are for kids to learn, how hard it is to make practice time meaningful, and realizing that sight words are so key for the success of our beginning readers. Phonics is fabulous! Reading strategies make the world go round! But without sight words, kids still struggle with reading.

With that said, I have decided to dedicate a week to sight words. Some of these will be my own ideas and others will be amazing ideas I have found through the methods of "Beg, Borrow, and Steal."

This is my Preprimer Sight Word Practice Unit that I create to give students additional work on sight words daily. We go over the word together, spell the word, act out the word, and use the word in sentences with a partner before I even have the students work on the word independently. My kiddos have to complete the daily word before heading to their Daily 5 rotation.



Here are some additional tips on how I use the pages with my kiddos.

I tried to copy a page and put it in paint, it looks a little grainy and is lopsided. Oops! If you click on the tips picture, you can see all of the text boxes. :) Anyone have a better way to convert word documents to pictures without using the snipping tool?!

Happy Monday,

Priscilla