Easter Hink Pinks Freebie

Eggs-actly what you need for spring -- a fun, challenging, activity that develops vocabulary, practices parts of speech, eggs-ercises synonyms and rimes, all while using Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS).  I'm not eggs-aggerating; I'm talking about Easter Hink Pinks & Hinky Pinkies.   

If you're not familiar with Hink Pinks, you are in for some egg-citement! Hink Pinks are riddles for which the answer must be a pair of rhyming words with just 1 syllable in each word (hink & pink each have just 1 syllable).  Similarly, Hinky Pinkies are riddles with rhyming word pair answers, but each answer word must have 2 syllables (Hinky & Pinky have 2 syllables each).  For example:      

 

                      

Hink Pink clue: superior bird home  

Hink Pink answer: best nest             

Both you and your students will be egg-cited about learning when it’s this fun!  

These riddles and their cousins, Hinkity Pinkities, have been staples in G/T education for decades.  They eggs-ercise  brain muscles your students didn't know they had.  As a teacher, I eggs-perience great satisfaction when I witness that "AHA!" moment in a student.  

The best way to understand Hink Pinks & Hinky Pinkies is to try them for yourself.  So, try these:

                                            

                                           

   

If you're not eggs-actly sure if you solved them, check back tomorrow for the answers. Until then, I hope you have an egg-cellent weekend.

                     

Groundhog Day 4.0

This is the last post about Groundhog Day, I promise.  Words and word play are really my thing.  I love enticing and intriguing my students to increase their vocabulary through fun activities.  My students and I just love Hink Pinks, Hinky Pinkies, & Hinkity Pinkities.

If you've never encountered Hink Pinks, etc., you are in for a treat. Hink Pinks are rhyming answers to riddles. The answer is a Hink Pink if both answer words are supposed to be just one syllable. If the riddle calls for 2 syllables in each answer word, it's called a Hinky Pinky. You've probably already figured out that 3 syllable answers are Hinkity Pinkities. Several years ago, my enrichment students begged to know what a 4 syllable answer would be called. Never having encountered one, I let them name such pairs. Voila! Hitinkity Pitinkities were born. Then, of course, I had to quickly create some riddles with 4 syllable answers. Good brain exercise for me!

I have created some Hink Pinks, etc. especially for Groundhog Day.  You are invited to try them with your class. Here are a few to get you started:

I've designed my clues to be on cards that I can use at a literacy center or at a large or small group meeting.  Note that the "Hink Pink" logo appears on the cards so that students know what number of syllables to be thinking about. In the above examples, the answer to #1 is deep sleep. #2 is bright light. Pretty fun, huh?

Now try Hinky Pinkies and Hinkity Pinkities. (Sorry, no 4 syllable answers for this holiday.)

The answer to #9 is rehide inside. Muddy buddy is the solution to #10.  

#17 is prediction description, although I would also accept prediction depiction. Furrow burrow is the answer to the last one.  

Your students will love working on vocabulary, parts of speech, synonyms, rimes, making inferences, and interpreting data when they are disguised as fun. Mine clamor for more everyday.  

You are welcome to download this freebie here. If you visit my store, you will see that I'm a bit obsessed with these word riddles. There are currently 24 more Hink Pink products listed here. All of these products bear the same logos on the cards and are print ready. I recommend copying them on card stock and laminating them before cutting them apart. Then you will have ready-made fun for years to come.  Enjoy!

For economy, you may be interested in these bundles:

Groundhog Day 3.0

One of the things I love to do with my students is immerse them in poetry because it offers so many teaching possibilities. Naturally you can focus on poetic structures and poetic devices.   But have you ever used poetry to teach reading skills? Because poetry is usually short and the message concise, it's a perfect venue for studying vowel sounds, contractions, punctuation, parts of speech, syllables, rimes, inflections, ....  The  possibilities are almost endless.  It's always good practice to relate these skills to what is being read.  Practicing skills in isolation may transfer to reading skill building; then again it may not.  

Each poem has reading skills already built into it.  All you have to do is look at it with a "reading skills eye."  Thus, if the poem is replete with a particular consonant blend, use it in a guided reading lesson about that blend.  If the poem has a sprinkling of contractions, devise a review lesson about contractions using the poem.  As an example, look at the following poem, noting that it has several compound words in it.

Due to the structure of a poem, it is easier for young children to locate the compound words.  If you reproduced this poem on sentence strips for use in a pocket chart, that would facilitate  identifying the compound words as a group.  With a little magic and masking tape, you could make the compound words come apart.  Alternately, you might focus on the punctuation and how it helps the reader to read with expression.  Or, you might choose to conduct a mini-lesson on the inflections -ing and -ed.

As a reading specialist, I highly recommend using poems for guided reading lessons and review lessons.  It has always been a favorite activity of my remedial students if for no other reason than they had less text to conquer.

While wearing my other hat, enrichment specialist, I developed Poetry Possibilities for my colleagues with teaching points identified for them.  For example, the Possibilities  for the above poem include:

As item #3 indicates, poetry can also be a launchpad for differentiating instruction.  Gifted and talented students deserve and require our attention, but it can be quite taxing to provide extensions for them.  I have dedicated most of my career to creating challenges for G/T children.  Most of my products on TpT reflect that commitment.  I hope you will go here to check out my critical and creative thinking products.

If you are interested in more seasonal poems with teaching points and skill suggestions, visit my TpT store here for February poems and possibilities.  You may also be interested in Black History Month Poetry Possibilities.  Just a word of caution: reading poetry is principally about creating enthusiasm for reading.  Take care not to defeat that goal by always turning poetry reading into a skill drill.