In our class, literacy stations are a very important part of our routine. One of our stations is always focused on word families. I found this quote I wanted to share with you, this is why I believe it is so important to have one center focused on word families.

"Research shows that strong readers are able to decode new words by comparing them to known words rather than by sounding them out letter by letter. The best way to separate between good and poor readers is repeatedly found to be their knowledge of spelling patterns and their proficiency with spelling-sound translations. That is why reading lessons that include phonograms, also called word families and chunks, are a highly effective way to help young children acquire and implement these kinds of reading skills and strategies."

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/441165

I have been working on updating my Word Family station to make it less work for me. I decided to make a workbook that students will use throughout the entire year so all I will have to do is change the poster hanging at that station.

Here is a look at what the word family station looks like in our class: 

(Important Note: We do Literacy Stations 3 times/week)

 At the station I hang a "poster" with most of the words from that family. (We call it a poster, it is a normal size page, I can't afford to make these all poster size)

Day 1: Students practice reading the words from the poster and then they use their workbook to color the picture that goes with the family. They are given a list of real/nonsense words. Students read, cut, sort and glue the real words onto their picture. 

Day 2: Student practice reading the words from the poster then get their workbook out. Today students will write sentences for the words in the focus family. I vary the amount of sentences students need to write depending on where we are in the school year.

Day 3: Students finish their workbook if needed. Students read their sentences to a friend then they can play the word family game. My word family games vary each week sometimes they play word family tic-tac-toe, BANG, build the words with magnets, write the words with whiteboards, you get the idea. 

So I just posted the long and short a word families. I included the posters and work book pages for the following families: -at, -ab, -ad, -am, -ap, -ag, -an, -ack, -and, -all, -ay, -ail, -ake, -ame, -ar, -art, -ash, and -ate! 

Yep, that is 18 families! WHEW!

AND

I just posted the long and short e word families. I included the posters and work book pages for the following families: -et, -ed, -en, -ew, -est, -ell, -end, -eck, -eat, and -eck!

I am starting the long and short i family next. Stop by my store to check out this packet and if you think of any short or long families I missed let me know and I would be more than happy to add them :)

Sunday FUNday!

Hello All! I wanted to quick post a Sunday FUNday FREEBIE! Last week I uploaded a Hershey Kisses Addition Unit to TpT and here is a little game from that unit that you can download for free.

In this game your students will be given two different colored Hershey Kisses and use them to play Tic-Tac-Toe! FUN RIGHT!?! 

If your kids enjoy this game they would love the entire unit packed full of addition games with Hershey Kisses. Enjoy the freebie, be sure to stop by next week for another Sunday FUNday Freebie!

Linky Party

I wanted to link up with Doodle Bugs Teaching Linky Party with 5 random things from this week. I am on maternity leave so I will do my best and try to throw in something academic related :)

1. Shawn T. from Insanity has become one of my best friends. I don't want to make everyone out there jealous but we hang out everyday! :) Seriously his work out program is tough and I am trying to lose this baby weight so Shawn T. and I spend a lot of time together. 

2. I just finished "The Memory Thief" by Emily Colins for our Book Club on Saturday. It was a quick read, I would give it 4 out of 5 stars. 

 3. I posted 2 new units this week! I uploaded a Hershey Kisses Addition Unit and a 3D Shape Fun Unit. 

4. We took some pictures at the park this week, these are my BEAUTIFUL girls. My oldest is in kinder and my baby is 9 weeks old, aren't they precious?!

5. I stopped by school on Friday to pick up a few things from my classroom and my neighbor friend informed me that we now are required to take 15 more hours on Math CORE training AND 15 more hours of ELA CORE training before summer, WHAT?!?! So I just signed up for classes and I am trying to get myself to excited about it since they start next week! AAHHH!

Hershey Kisses Addition Unit

Its FINISHED! I just posted my Hershey Kisses Addition unit to TpT! I am so glad that I am done with this unit, it has not been good for my diet. As research :) for this unit, I bought several bags of Hershey Kisses and have quickly been devouring them as I have been working. For every few pages I finished I rewarded myself by eating a few kisses, I know it is so bad, but I could not help myself!

Anyway, the unit is packed full of addition materials. I did not make it Valentine related at all so that it can be used throughout the year but I did include a cute little craft and I have to say this little guy would make a perfect Valentine bag for your kiddos. Simply glue him onto the front of a paper bag and DONE!

Some activities that are included in this addition unit are:
The adorable craft mentioned above
Ten Frame math mats, manipulatives and practice pages
Number Bond math mats and practice pages
Number line poster, math mats, practice pages, mystery messages
Kiss Hunt Addition Game
Sums of 5-9 printables
Sums of 10 Mini-Book
Grab and Graph Game
Roll and Color Game
10 page Kisses Addition Math Journal
Concentration Game
and a few fun extras!

Time to have a giveaway! Follow my blog and TpT store and you could be a winner! Simply leave me a comment right here telling your favorite type of chocolate :) and don't forget to leave me an email address! I will randomly pick three winners and announce them on Wednesday! 

The winners are Pauline, Lori and Bridget! Thanks for following my blog I just emailed you the unit! 

Hershey Kisses Unit! - COMING SOON!

Hello All! Yes, I re-designed my blog AGAIN! I can't help it, I go to others blogs are they are just so cute and then I get inspired to make mine better so...truth be told, I have decorators ADHD and I am constantly re-doing and changing things, ask my husband! 

I was just taking a break from creating my next unit, I am so thrilled about it and wanted to share! I should have it finished and posted Sunday, follow my store and you will be notified as soon as it is ready! 

I just finished creating the clip art images, I am so thrilled to be taking a leap into creating clip art, its just another way to keep those creative juices flowing! I still have so much to learn, but it is fun!

Have a wonderful Friday all! 

3D Shape Fun!

As promised I am back to share my newest 3D shape product. WOW! I feel like I have been working on this packet FOREVER! One reason this took so long to create was because I took my first leap into creating clip art because I was not able to find any cute 3D shape clip art. This resource has TONS of cute stuff and I am so excited to share it with you!

This 36 page 3D Shape Fun packet includes 6 posters to teach 3D shapes and one 3D shape attribute poster to help students with the vocabulary terms.

A 3D Shape/Color BINGO game with calling cards and 7 different BINGO boards.

 A student book to learn about the 6 3D shapes, concentration game, 3D Shape Sort with Data Analysis and an "I Have, Who Has 3D Shape Game" WHEW! Stop by my shop to check out this fun packet!

Getting Ready for February

Hello All! I apologize for my blogging hiatus, I was super busy HAVING A BABY! We welcomed our new baby girl into the world on November 18th and she has been all consuming. I am so in love! Now that we are on somewhat of a schedule, I have been able to get some work done during nap times. So it's back to work!

So I had a huge desire to create this packet, let me explain...Our school is very old and it is an outside school so when we walk out our doors we walk around these grassy courtyards to go everywhere. Well, these courtyards are home to MANY gophers and the kids are just convinced they are groundhogs! Many times as we are walking to specials the gophers will come out of their holes and the kids, as you can imagine, go WILD. We have had to convince them that they are going to "scare away the groundhogs" if they don't be quiet, so then we have a class tiptoeing down the hall, whatever works, right! I am sure the groundskeepers don't appreciate our little "groundhog" friends but it works for the teachers :)  
 So in honor of the upcoming holiday and all the little "groundhog" critters at my school, I have created a Groundhog Day Fun Packet with math, literacy and art activities. Some of the activities included are

• Mystery Messages from Punxsutawney Phil
• Graphing and Data Analysis
• Groundhog Probability
• Groundhog Ten Frame
• Roll and Cover Addition Game
• Groundhog Vocabulary
• Tree Map and Circle Map
• Word Search
• BINGO 

  AND 

This really fun Groundhog Art project and Fact Book! WHEW! That should keep our little kiddos busy! 

 

  I just bought the book "Groundhog Weather School" so cute! Full of factual information about groundhogs while still having a fun story.

 

I began an new adventure of creating some clip art because I was not able to find any cute 3D shape clip art so I will be back soon to share some more with you!

Happy Groundhog Day!