Back to School Time Savers -- Sponge Activities

No matter how carefully you plan your teaching day, there will inevitably be an awkward minute or two that needs filling.  It could be when you are waiting outside the music room for your "special," having arrived early because your class made it through the halls without having to stop for traffic or behavior control.  Maybe you find yourself with a few idle moments while waiting for all the classes to file into the auditorium for an assembly. Perhaps you lined up for lunch 2 minutes early.  For whatever reason and whenever it happens, do you have a plan for filling those moments?

Maximize those intervals with "sponge activities." You know, something that absorbs the time while doing what you have dedicated your life to -- exercising young brains.   

If you have been working on rhyming words, ask individuals to name a word that rhymes with ----. Give your class extra practice with counting and cardinality (per the CCSS) by asking them to count on or count backwards from an arbitrary number.  Reinforce whichever operation you are studying in math by tossing out some equations.  

Reinforcing concepts and facts is wonderful and worthwhile. But have you considered trying brain exercises?  

If you teach young children, a popular sponge activity is to clap and/or snap a pattern for your students to copy. Coincidentally, your charges have to be careful listeners to replicate your pattern. That's always a desirable goal.  

20 Questions and I Spy work well, especially if you are not in your classroom.  In our never ending pursuit of sight word recognition, you could institute "Spotlight Words."  To do this, turn out the lights, hand a large flashlight to one child, and ask him to shine the spotlight on a specific word wall word.  

If he spotlights the correct word, then he hands the flashlight to another student and directs her to find a different word wall word.  Play can continue as long as you wish.  This is my flashlight of choice.

Another sponge activity involves categories.  This can be related to content area subjects. For example, ask your students to name animals native to a rain forest, a desert, etc.  Other category ideas are foods you can eat raw, foods that start with "k," clothes you should NOT wear this time of year, a noun that names a place, verbs that describe what you are doing in P.E., a word with a suffix, an adjective, a 2 syllable word, a compound word, a country that starts with B, etc.  The longer you work with categories, the more fluent you become in flinging them at your students.  Simultaneously, your students will become more fluent in their thinking.

If you are a neophyte or simply trying to brush away the cobwebs from the summer, you may want to have some teaching aids handy.  My favorites and, more importantly, my students' favorites, are Hink Pinks, et al. and Triads.  Both of these word play activities can be made on cards that are handy to grab and/or carry in a pocket.  [BTW, I'm a big proponent of teacher tool belts for this.]  

Teacher tool belt

Imagine just pulling a card from your tool belt and instantly engaging your students' critical thinking.  

These are samples of Hink Pinks, Hinky Pinkies, and Hinkity Pinkities.  Currently, there are 23 Hink Pink products in my TPT Store that are ready to print and cut apart.  Place a stack in your tool belt and you are well armed for any fallow moment.  If you are not familiar with Hink Pinks, you can read about them here.

These are Triads cards.

Again, they are print ready to make life easier for you.  There are 8 triads units in my TPT Store.  If you are not familiar with Triads, read about them here.  Either of these activities will cause the cogs to start turning in your kiddos' brains and that should be your goal every day.
   

What are your favorite sponge activities?  Please leave some comments and/or links below.













Until next time...

Let's Talk Turkey

It's about time teachers ... for Thanksgiving!  So let's talk turkey - Let's Talk Turkey Words, that is. This is a new product I've posted on TpT and TN. Because I have so very much to be thankful for, I have listed it for FREE!

As you probably guessed, Let's Talk Turkey Words is a language arts activity.  It is perfect for literacy centers, small group instruction, and as an activity for fast finishers.  There are letter tiles for 4 seasonal words -- Thanksgiving, Pilgrims, turkey, & Mayflower.  Each word is in a different color to assist you in getting the right letters to each student.

The goal is for students to create as many words as they can from the letters in their set.  At a center or in a small group, giving each child a different set of letters has proven to discourage Billy-the-Borrower from simply copying his friend's list of words.  

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.

Used for differentiation, this activity readily accommodates the differences in word generating abilities.  You can make the task more challenging for your higher functioning students by - 

• denying them the right to make words with less than 3 letters 
• requiring 2 or more syllables
• allowing them to use common suffixes, such as -ed, er, or -ing, despite not having those letters before them
• giving parts of speech parameters (5 verbs, 7 nouns, 3 adverbs, 4 adjectives, ...)
• etc.

Copy the letter sets on cardstock, laminate, and cut apart.  A recording sheet is provided. This product is CCSS aligned for you.  You're welcomed!

You can get Let's Talk Turkey Words on TpT or TN.  While you are there, check out my other turkey centers and activities:

and my original book, Where is the Thanksgiving Turkey?  It is an emergent reader perfect for practicing chunking and phrasing.

Check out Classroom Freebies Manic Mondays

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Where is the Thanksgiving Turkey?

It's almost turkey time, teachers!  In response to requests by some of my wonderful followers, I have created an emergent reader book for the time leading up to Thanksgiving.

The text is simple, predictable, and supported by the pictures.  Each page follows this pattern:

The turkey is [preposition or prepositional phrase] the [object].

The prepositions may not be familiar to your students.  However, they should be decodable, using the finger masking technique described in my last blog post.  That is, use finger masking to help your students find a recognizable chunk.  For example, on the following page, inside may be unfamiliar to your students.

However, in should be a familiar word.  By covering the rest of the word, you help your student focus on something known.  

Remind your student to quickly check the picture for a clue.  Then direct her to start the sentence again, drawing your finger back as she reaches the masked word.  Repeat this procedure, as necessary, with the other prepositions she encounters.

Where is the Thanksgiving Turkey? also provides the opportunity to work on phrasing and fluency.  Through both direct instruction and modeling, teach your students to phrase as follows:

/The turkey is/   /inside the barn./

/The turkey is/   /in the leaves./

The pattern lends itself perfectly to 3 word phrases, with one exception:  

/The turkey is/     /on top of/     /the pumpkin./

I think it is always wise to put something in that is a little unexpected.  After all, we do want our students attending to the text.

Now is the time to hop over to my TpT store to get your copy of Where is the Thanksgiving Turkey?  It is copy ready in black & white.  Your students will enjoy adding color to the pictures.  It is currently selling for just $1.

There are some great linky parties that you should check out:

• Margaret @ iHeartLiteracy is hosting a linky party for FREE Literacy Resources.  Hurry over there!  Who doesn't love FREE Literacy Resources??

• Linda @ Primary Inspirations is hosting a Turkey Time linky.  There are scores of resources there for you to peruse.  I bet you'll gobble them up!

Until next time...

Word Work, the Reading Recovery Way -- Pt. 9

In the course of your word work, teachers, it’s now time to introduce flexibility for spelling patterns that change sounds.  To this end, make 3 words with the same spelling pattern, but differences in sounds, e.g. come, some, home.  

Say the words for your student, pointing out that the spelling pattern is the same.

Now, make 3 more words with a spelling pattern that changes its sounds, e.g. bear, wear, near.  

It’s time to put the task on the child.  Ask her to say the words.  Then ask her if they are words she has heard before.  If she is able to correctly pronounce all of these words, she is demonstrating flexibility.  If, however, she struggles with this, demonstrate for her how readers try different sounds until the word is familiar.  

If the student struggles with flexibility, you can also address the issue in text reading. For example, Marianne Berkes' book, Over in the Ocean: In a Coral Reef, is a counting book that rhymes.  Such a book is great for flexibility because it give your student inherent clues for using flexibility.  On the following page, two is a tricky word with an unusual spelling pattern.

When your student pauses at two, quickly cover the text with your hand and ask her what would make sense there.  

If you receive a blank stare, ask her to reread from the beginning of the page.  When she reaches two, insert the /t/ sound for her and wait for two to pop out of her mouth.  Most often it will pop out.  If, however, it doesn't, remind her that this book is a counting story (there is even the numeral 2 on the page) that also rhymes.  Reread with her from the top of the page, thereby pushing her to read more fluently.  When you reach two, again give the initial sound.  Now it should pop out of her mouth.  If, by chance, she still does not produce two, point to the numeral on the page.  Then, have her reread from the top yet again.  

After she reads it correctly, draw her attention to the word two, and ask her if two makes sense there.  Then ask her if the word looks like it could be two.  Assuming she answers affirmatively to both questions, reassure her that, indeed, it does say two, even if it doesn't look like to or too with which she is familiar.  If she still struggles with this text, it may simply be too difficult for her.  Toss it aside and choose another book.

As always, stay with this task until you are confident she understands it.

The time has come to end this series about Word Work. Hopefully, it has been helpful to those of you working with emergent readers.  The complete text, including points not covered in this blog, is available in my TpT store.

Now that we are in the holiday season, everyone tends to feel a time crunch.  In an effort to ease the stress, Melissa at Mrs. Bushnell's 4th grade blogspot is hosting a holiday linky party. Check it out!  It just might save you lots of planning time.

While you are blog hopping, be sure to check out 3 fabulous giveaways.  Stop by Teacher's Toolkit where Wendy is having a huge giveaway to celebrate 200 followers.  (I'm donating a product of the winner's choice.)

Jennifer at Live. Teach. Create. is having a giveaway, too.  (I'm donating Poetry Possibilities - Fall.) Take a minute to enter.

Nicole at One, Two, Three: Math Time is hosting a monthly giveaway.  Her November giveaway has more than 40 teachers donating products.  (I'm also offering Poetry Possibilities - Fall for this giveaway.)

Until next time...

Luck o' the Irish FREEBIE

It's about time, teachers . . . for  a St. Patrick's Day FREEBIE.  Luck o' the Irish is a creative activity I designed for my G/T students.  It challenges 2 of the 4 traits of gifted children: fluency and flexibility.  [The 4 traits are: fluency, flexibility, elaboration & originality.] Despite developing this activity for GATE, I have used it very successfully with 1st graders in a heterogeneous classroom, and with 2nd - 5th grades in enrichment pull-out classes.  The results of this activity always amaze me.

Following is the assignment sheet that I send home, giving my students 1 week to complete it.  

I encourage my students to enlist the help of their families.  It creates a wonderful home-school connection, giving overly zealous parents a constructive focus for interacting with their gifted children.  (If you've ever taught G/T, you know what I'm talking about!) Projects like this are terrific for helping shy children speak before an audience. Similarly, it prompts children who have oral communication deficits to practice their communication skills.

When the children present their projects the following week, reward them with a participation certificate.

Sure, and you'll love this project.  You can find it in my TpT Store or my Teachers Notebook Shop.  Did I mention that it's FREE?

This product is part of a larger product, Destination Imagination.  

You can find Destination Imagination here or here.