Freebie February

Remember that this product is FREE for just 1 day.  Grab it while you can.

In this product, there are 16 rules for dividing words into syllables. Each rule is clearly stated on a full sheet bearing colorful, pirate  graphics. An example word is provided for each rule and those words are all thematically related.  

This product is aligned to the CCSS.  Did you know that EVERY elementary grade level has one or more standards associated with syllabication?

Other syllabication products you may like:

 

Merry Math Centers

It's about time, teachers, for some Merry Math Centers...

How Many Ways? -- Christmas Edition 

is an interactive bulletin board that can be used as a math center, an anchor activity, or a challenge for fast finishers. Similar to Boggle, the challenge in this fun, open-ended exercise is to reach a target number in as many different ways as possible. It provides instant differentiation by allowing the teacher to choose between 2 processes (counting or basic operations), as well as the choice of which and how many operations to use.  

This activity is CCSS aligned.  It requires students to think critically while practicing math skills.  It's a great way to keep your students engaged during this exciting time of year!

Scrattle: The Christmas Edition is a learning center that combines word work with computation; individual effort with competition. Using a set of letters, each student creates words. They then determine the value of their words using the Scrabble™ letter values. Then partners engage in a battle wherein they compare their word scores using >, <, and =. The winner is the student with the most >s.

SCRATTLE can be played by students with simple addition capabilities, as well as those skilled in solving mixed operations in complex equations. Three different recording sheets are included, providing instant differentiation. 

SCRATTLE is CCSS aligned.  This product contains 2 sets of letters; one set in color, one in black & white. It also includes 3 recording sheet templates.

Reindeer Squares are square arrays also known as Latin Squares. In mathematics, they are used for statistical analysis. If they seem familiar, they should; Sudoku is a 9 x 9 Latin Square.

Use Reindeer Squares to teach your students deductive reasoning and problem solving while disguising it as lots of fun. Begin by demonstrating how a 3 x 3 array works. Then up the ante with successively larger arrays. This is a great activity for differentiation. It also works well in centers or as a sponge activity. It is perfect for the fast finisher.

Coming soon ... centers for HOTS.

Literacy Centers to Light Up Your December!

Merry Monkeys is a literacy center focusing on antonyms. It is CCSS aligned for grades 4 and 5. However, I have used this center with advanced 1st graders!  So, really, any grade level could enjoy it.

The 48 cards challenge your students to find pairs of antonyms.  It can be a simple matching exercise, or you could have small groups play Go Fish with the cards.  Also included are labels for your file folder.


In Gingerbread Compounds, your students will mend the broken gingerbread cookies by finding the parts that make compound words.  There are 12 cookie tops, 12 cookie bottoms, 3 work mats, labels for your center folder, and 2 recording sheets.  

Despite the Santa hats on the cover, this center is holiday neutral. None of the graphics the children use have the holiday images, except on 1 form of the recording sheet. (The other form maintains the neutrality.) Thus, if you are doing a unit on gingerbread men, fairy tails, or plain old compound words, you can use this center at any time of the year. Gingerbread Compounds is CCSS aligned and best suited for grades 1 - 3.



I really love the gingerbread graphics from Pink Cat Studio, so I used them again for Contraction Cookies. In this CCSS aligned center, your students will match contractions with their component parts.  

This center is also holiday neutral. There are 3 cookie sheet work mats, 24 cards to make 12 contraction pairs, center labels, and a recording sheet.


Your students will determine how many syllables are in the holiday themed words in Friendly Frog's Syllable Sort. Included are 3 work mats, 18 picture/word cards, labels for your folder, and a black line recording sheet.


  

Check back soon for December math centers and critical thinking centers.

Literacy Centers for Turkey Time

It's about time, teachers, for some literacy centers especially created for this time of year.

Your students will love working on vocabulary, parts of speech, synonyms, rimes, making inferences, and interpreting data while having fun with Thanksgiving Hink Pinks, Hinky Pinkies, and Hinkity Pinkities.  

If you are not familiar with Hink Pinks, et al., you are in for a treat.  Hink Pinks are riddles wherein the clues lead you to a 2 word answer. Each answer word must have just one syllable and the 2 words must rhyme. Hinky Pinkies are 2 word rhymes with 2 syllables in each word. Hinkity Pinkities are rhyming word pairs with 3 syllables each.  For example:

The answer to this riddle is raise maize.  

This product includes 20 cards with Thanksgiving themed clues and, naturally, an answer sheet. Copy the cards on cardstock (pink, of course), then laminate them for years of use. I recommend solving several clues together to ensure your students’ success. This activity is CCSS aligned.

Turkey Drumsticks uses Thanksgiving vocabulary to practice constructing compound words. Students search for two drumsticks that form a compound word when joined together. They place the pairs on plates until they have found all 9 compound words. 

A recording sheet is included. The recording sheet requires students to write the compound words they found and apply them to the context of the sentences.

Turkey Tails requires students to focus on the long and short vowel sounds of a & e. 

After determining the vowel sound of the word on each tail feather, they will place the feather on the turkey with that vowel symbol. The words used are taken from the first 200 words on the Fry lists. 

This center contains 4 full color work mats, 28 full color feathers, labels for your center folder, and a black & white recording sheet.

Let's Talk Turkey Words exercises your students' abilities to be fluent and flexible in thought and oral language. It will also inform you about your students' command of common spelling patterns and sight words.  

Give each student the letters for one of the 4 seasonal words. Challenge them to create as many words as they can using that set of letters. A recording sheet is included.  This center is CCSS aligned and it's FREE!

Scrattle: Thanksgiving Edition is a learning center that combines word work with computation; individual effort with competition. As in Scrabble™, students use a set of letters to create words. 

After recording their words, they calculate each word’s score using the Scrabble™ letter values. Then they engage a friend in a battle wherein they compare their scores using >, <, and =. 

The student with the most > wins the battle! BTW, Scrattle derives it names from SCRAbble + baTTLE. 

SCRATTLE can be played by students with simple addition capabilities, multiplication abilities, as well as those skilled in solving mixed operations in complex equations. Three different recording sheets are included, providing instant differentiation. This center is also FREE!

It's about turkey time, teachers!  Fill your centers with turkey goodness.

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Critical Thinking & CCSS -- Are They Compatible?

Way back in 1983, the National Commission of Excellence in Education described the U.S. as a “nation at risk.”  That report fostered an opinion that American students, and by extension, American education, were deficient.  The NCEE findings further explained that the demise could be attributed to a failure of education to foster critical thinking.  Predictably, critical thinking became a buzzword in education.

Picture the one room schoolhouse a century ago, presided over by a ruler wielding marm who imparted information and content.  That wisdom was returned by rote.  Students were passive receptacles who dutifully practiced their times tables on slates.

Fast forward to the 1980s when that NCEE report shocked a nation.   There was an immediate focus on providing critical thinking skills to active learners.  The shift to knowing how to think versus rote recall was dramatic.  Starting in kindergarten, teachers began asking open ended questions, encouraging collaborative problem solving, and allowing children to make decisions.  

 

Now, in the 21^st century we have a new buzzword: CCSS.  Over and over, I have heard elementary teachers complain that strict adherence to the Common Core State Standards has supplanted the creativity that was a hallmark of early education and limits the opportunities to teach children how to think.  I wonder if the sense of urgency the CCSS imparts precludes the chances to encourage students to be problem solvers.  Is strict adherence to timelines robbing our students of time to learn critical thinking?  Are they mutually exclusive?  What do you think?

You may be interested in these critical thinking products in my TPT Store:

 

More Back to School Time Savers

While there is no magic recipe for setting up your room and preparing to meet your students, there are many things that can ease you into it. I have a few suggestions for items to include in your backpack that may help alleviate some of the stress of going back to school. 

If you teach emergent readers, you know that word work is an essential component of reading instruction.  As a Reading Recovery teacher, I have spent years honing this aspect of literacy education. You can reap some benefits from my experience by perusing my 8 part blog series that starts here.  You may also wish to check out Word Work: A Guide for Teachers of Young Children.  

If blank bulletin boards bother you, download these FREE writing posters that coordinate with 6 Traits of Quality Writing. They can stay up all year!  Did I mention that they are FREE?

As students progress in reading and writing, an essential skill is breaking words into syllables.  Syllabication skills are included in EVERY elementary grade level of the CCSS.  As a literacy specialist, I have come to recognize that many struggling readers and writers do not have a good grasp of these skills.  Take some time to teach syllabication. The return is huge!

To help you with this task, I have several editions of Rules of Syllabication products that make excellent bulletin boards and/or center anchor charts.  The rules in each of the following are the same; the graphics and size of the posters vary by theme.

You may also like the Under the Sea Edition Bundle which includes the rule posters from the Under the Sea Edition above and a delightfully animated power point presentation.

As you are preparing centers and small groups, you may find the following syllabication activities helpful.  Friendly Frog's Syllables Book and Friendly Frog in Outer Space are both well suited to small group instruction or independent work.

Friendly Frog is very popular with my students.  Hence, he is a frequent visitor to our centers. The kiddos are always excited to see him back.  You can find these centers here.

Until next time...