IT'S ABOUT TIME, TEACHERS, for PUNS!

 

A PUN is a delightful literary device that can inject humor into writing. PUNS provide word play with homophones or homonyms.  

Create a research activity with these task cards. Using print or electronic thesauri and dictionaries, students will hone research skills and build vocabulary. All of the following resources are available in print and digitally on TPT Easel.

TRY THEM BEFORE YOU BUY THEM!

The challenge in this FREE activity is to create a word that sounds similar to BUMBLEBEE and fulfills the clue on the task card.

With these 40 task cards, students are asked to find a word that ends with –ANT and fulfills the clue.

This set of 40 task cards requires your learners to find a word that contains the /bē/ sound, or similar, and fulfills the clue.

Inject some fun into your lessons with these PUN TASK CARDS!

IT'S ABOUT TIME FOR THE 4TH OF JULY!

Let's celebrate America's independence with a patriotic FREEBIE! SCRATTLE combines word fluency with computation; individual effort with competition. It's easily differentiated for any elementary grade level. Your learners will quickly learn to eschew easy words in order to win the "battle." They may even beg to play again!

These patriotic resources are on sale this week.

IT'S ABOUT TIME for BECAUSE OF MR. TERUPT and ONE DOLLAR WORDS

 

Have you ever shared Because of Mr. Terupt, by Rob Buyea, with your class?  If you haven't, I beg you to try it. Intermediate students will enjoy the novel because of its authentic characters and realistic action.  Year after year, my learners sprint to the library to secure the sequels; Mr. Terupt Falls Again, Saving Mr. Terupt, and Goodbye Mr. Terupt.  It warms my teacher's heart to see these tweens have such enthusiasm for reading.

(I'm not an affliate receiving compensation for Mr. Buyea's book sales.  I just love them!)

Mr. Terupt introduces his students (and mine) to ONE DOLLAR WORDS. So fascinating is this concept that I embraced the challenge to find words worth exactly $1 and promptly found more than 600! (Full disclosure: my tech mogul son wrote a program for me, but he was fast.) The challenge is to find words worth exactly $1 when the letters are added together using these values:

Lots of teachers throw this challenge out to their learners.  So, give it a try.  Can you find a ONE DOLLAR WORD?  I'll wait...

Frustrating, isn't it?  Just think up a word, calculate its value, and determine that it does NOT equal $1. After several attempts, you lose interest and turn to some other endeavor. 

BUT, I have a solution for that!  And, as a result, year after year after year, my students cannot get enough of ONE DOLLAR WORDS.

My solution was to write clues (>450) that will lead to the words.

In doing this (frantically, to stay ahead of my enrichment students), I discovered that ONE DOLLAR WORDS can incorporate myriad skills and learning in several disciplines.

MATH

Obviously addition computation is a necessary skill. But the math work does not end there.

• Allowing your charges to use calculators will hone their proficiency with those tools.
• Children will quickly determine whether their word is greater than or less than $1 in value.
• Astute learners will recognize that common prefixes and suffixes have a specific value. They can quickly compute the change in a word's value by adding or subtracting that value. Some of my students even created an anchor chart for quick reference.

• Some learners will employ multiplication when they recognize that a possible word uses a letter multiple times.

LANGUAGE ARTS

Vocabulary is clearly key in this pursuit. Your pupils will search for synonyms and may be introduced to new and novel words. There is so much more involved, however, once your scholars begin paying close attention to the clues.

• Answers should match the clues in tense, singular/plural, and parts of speech.
• Base words, prefixes, and suffixes will quickly seize the focus of the word sleuths.
• Some clues offer a hint; the answer is a compound word.

RESEARCH

A variety of research tools will help your pupils.

• dictionary
• thesaurus
• internet resources

Not only will these tools offer tremendous help in finding the target words, but they will also assist with correct spelling.

CRITICAL THINKING

The problem solving, reasoning, and strategic planning involved in decrypting the clues rank high on Bloom's Taxonomy and Webb's Depth of Knowledge.

Because I conduct a pull-out program for 3rd  - 5th grade enrichment students, I employ a friendly competition.  Pitting each grade level class against the others brings out a flurry of activity that makes the rest of the school stand back in awe. My students beg their classroom teachers to allow them to come to me for another clue as soon as they solve one. This is spurred on, of course, by my public display of each team's score on a daily basis.

You can read more about THE GREAT $1 WORD CHALLENGE in the products available in my TPT Store. TRY IT BEFORE YOU BUY IT! with the free version.

If you love ONE DOLLAR WORDS, you can find 10 products in my store.

IT'S ABOUT TIME for a HASHTAG SALE!

 

You don't want to miss this hashtag sale on TPT! #NEWSTART23 will bring you $1 deals to start your new year off right. The sale is just 2 days - 12/31 & 1/1 so don't delay.

My offerings are:
PRESIDENTIAL TRIVIA TASK CARDS

ONE DOLLAR WORDS 3.0 

Both resources are perfect for your intermediate students.

TEACH SMARTER NOT HARDER Part 3

 It's about time, teachers, to teach smarter not harder.

When I was in Reading Recovery™ training, one concept that was ingrained in me was to teach with a sense of urgency.  That has carried over into all of my teaching and has prompted me to try to maximize both my teaching activities and the learning of my students.  In other words, I try to teach smarter, not harder.

To that end, I created One Dollar Words Challenges. Using these with my 3rd - 5th grade enrichment students proved to be smart teaching that incorporated computation with vocabulary development, grammar with research, and editing with Higher Order Thinking Skills.

The challenge is to find words that have a value of exactly $1 when the letters are added together using these values:

Just blindly striking out to discover a $1 Word couldn't be more frustrating to students.  So, I created clues to lead them.

Give each student a clue, a table of values, and a calculator.  Then send them off to find their words.  A thesaurus is an enormous aid to this pursuit and can be used in print or digital form.  [Be aware that digital thesauri can, on occasion, produce objectionable words for children.] 

Before long, students will discover the value of base words, prefixes, suffixes, plurals, participles, ... The skills honed include:

• addition computation
• vocabulary development
• parts of speech
• base words
• prefixes & suffixes
• participles
• singular & plural
• compound words
• spelling & proof-reading
• dictionary & thesaurus
• calculator
• internet research
• critical thinking
• problem solving
• cooperative learning

Teaching just can't get much smarter!

This file is FREE so you can try them before you buy them.

You can find 6 more units here. Additionally, they have been combined into several bundles which will save you money!

Come back soon for more ideas about WORKING SMARTER NOT HARDER.

The ABCs of Architecture

It's about time, teachers, for the ABCs of Architecture.   As an enrichment specialist for my district, I work with students in 2nd - 5th grades. The focus is not limited to academics. My fourth graders endowed with artistic talent embarked on an architectural adventure that resulted in a published book. It was an awesome experience for all involved.

Two local groups, the Preservation and Conservation Association (PACA) and the Historic Preservation Commission (HPC), asked me to conduct a project in which elementary students would learn about local, historic buildings.  In the process, they hoped to impress upon the students the value of preservation. They offered to subsidize a field trip for my 4th graders, complete with chaperons from their groups! How could I possibly say, "No?" 

My students began with a study of basic architectural elements, such as lines, shapes, textures, and form. Inspired by Diane Maddex's book, Architects Make Zigzags, Looking at Architecture from A to Z,  we made it our goal to produce an alphabet book about architecture found on historic buildings in our hometown.  

The next step entailed finding an architectural term or terms for each letter of the alphabet.  What followed was a flurry of old fashioned research as my charges constructed an impressive list.  We only had to stretch to find a term for X, settling on railroad crossing.  You may have just done an eye roll, but I was quite proud of my students' reasoning. They learned that our community grew around a railroad crossing for the Illinois Central railroad.

Armed with their alphabetical lists and sketchpads, we embarked on a bus and walking tour of the downtown region.  Can there be anything sweeter to a teacher's ears than the zealous exclamations of 9 & 10 year olds as they recognize a cupola, gargoyle, or keystone?  While our hosts gave us facts and fascinating stories about the buildings on our tour, my students sketched.

Back at school, the 4th grade crew drew pen and ink illustrations of the elements they sketched.  They composed the text explaining their terms and identifying the buildings upon which they were found.  PACA and HPC provided enough funds to allow us to professionally bind several copies of our books.  Those copies can now be found at the city library, our school library, in the offices of PACA and HPC, and in the city building. Each student received a copy fresh off the school's copy machine.  

Following are some excerpts from our book:

And finally, here are some of the comments my students had at the end of this project:

In my opinion, this project was the embodiment of enrichment.  

Until next time...

If you love enrichment, you may be interested in these units: