What are Hink Pinks?

It's about time, teachers, for Hink Pinks!  If you have ever used Hink Pinks in your teaching, you know how much kiddos love them.  If you are new to Hink Pinks, you are in for a treat!

WHAT ARE HINK PINKS?

• Hink Pinks are word riddles.
• Hink Pinks are fun word riddles.
• Hink Pinks are fun word riddles with rhyming answers.
• Hink Pinks are word play.
• Hink Pinks are fun word play that expands vocabulary.
• Hink Pinks are fun word play that expands and extends students' vocabulary.  
• Hink Pinks are fun critical thinking exercises.
• Hink Pinks are fun critical thinking exercises that help students learn to interpret data.
• Hink Pinks are fun critical thinking exercises that help students make inferences.
• Hink Pinks are fun critical thinking exercises that help students draw conclusions.
• Hink Pinks are fun critical thinking exercises that teach students to analyze new information.
• Hink Pinks are serious learning disguised as fun.

HOW DO HINK PINKS WORK?

• Read the clues.
• Think of a 2 word answer.
• The answer words must rhyme.
• Each answer word must have just 1 syllable.

For example:

Did you figure it out?  The answer is barn yarn.

HOW DO YOU USE HINK PINKS?

• as a literacy center
• Place several Hink Pink cards at your literacy center.  Direct your students to work cooperatively or individually; whichever works best for your group.  Encourage research by placing dictionaries and thesauri at the center.
• as a warm-up activity
• Settle your group and direct their focus by collaboratively solving several Hink Pinks at the outset of your lesson.  This works particularly well if you are conducting a pull out or push in program.
• as a sponge activity
• We all face those awkward few minutes when our lesson ends early and we cannot move on to the next part of our schedule because of time constraints.  Or we arrive early at a special class and must wait patiently for a few minutes.  Carry a few Hink Pink cards with you and use the time to challenge your class.  Any time is a good time for critical thinking!
• as an anchor activity
• Engage your students' brains the moment they enter your classroom by posting a few Hink Pink clues each day.  Train your students to work on solving them while you take attendance, lunch count, etc.  Then discuss the answers at your morning meeting.
• as a fast finishers' challenge
• The biggest disadvantage to this use is that the children love them so much, they may rush through their work just to get time to solve these riddles.

ARE THEY CCSS ALIGNED?

Yes!

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.2.5 Demonstrate understanding of word relationships and nuances in word meanings. 
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.2.5b Distinguish shades of meaning among closely related verbs and closely related adjectives. 
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3.5 Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships and nuances in word meanings. 
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3.5b Identify real-life connections between words and their use. 
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.4.5 Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.4.5c Demonstrate understanding of words by relating them to their opposites (antonyms) and to words with similar but not identical meanings (synonyms).
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.5.5 Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings. 
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.5.5c Use the relationship between particular words (e.g., synonyms, antonyms, homographs) to better understand each of the words. 
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.6.5 Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings. 
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.6.5c Distinguish among the connotations (associations) of words with similar denotations (definitions).

WHERE CAN I GET HINK PINKS?

You might have already guessed that I have a few Hink Pink products in my store.  If you want to try them before you buy them, several sets are FREE!  

     

If you like Hink Pinks, I have dozens of them and most have been combined into money saving bundles.  Check them out!

$1 Words FREEBIE

Do you ever shop at the Dollar Store?  I have to say that I rarely do so, but my sister shops there a lot and gets some of the most amazing bargains.  Recently she picked up some lovely gift bags, greeting cards, and even some baby socks for my soon-to-arrive grandson.  Hmmm, I may have to schedule a trip soon.  

In the meantime, her shopping foray made me think about $1 Words.  If you teach intermediate students and/or G/T students, you HAVE to do these with your students!  What??? You don't know what $1 Words are!!!!!

Settle in while I educate you, because it's about time you teach it.  

A $1 Word is any word that has a value of exactly $1 when its letters are added together using the following chart of values:

There is a book by Marilyn Burns about $1 words available on Amazon for $11.92.  It has gone out of print from time to time, so if you are interested, there are currently 8 available.

As the title indicates, it is a riddle book that leads children to $1 words through pictures and riddles.  I love that because too often teachers assign their students to find $1 words without any hints.  Please don't do that to your students.  It completely overwhelms them and makes them frustrated.  How exactly would YOU approach an assignment like that?

Ahh, but I have a solution to offer.  I have composed over 400 clues that can be copied and distributed to your students.  

Try to solve these:

Undoubtedly, you reached for a calculator.  Did you use a thesaurus or dictionary?  Perhaps not; it is the 21st century, after all.  But, those are options you will want to offer your students.  It's a great way to get them to learn about a thesaurus!

In the spirit of the 21st century, however, you can introduce them to thesauri on the computer.  My personal favorite resource is a Reverse Dictionary.  It allows the students to type their clue and then receive a list of words that satisfy that clue.   [Please be aware that the Reverse Dictionary is a dynamic site.  You will get different lists each time you try it with the same clue.  My warning is that, as a dynamic site, it will, rarely, give an inappropriate word.  I have not yet found a way to prevent this.  So, you may wish to preview the list before you set your student free to peruse it.]  

Try the Reverse Dictionary yourself here.  Now, arm your students with a calculator (excellent practice) and their list of possible words.  Then sit back and watch.  It is soooo very rewarding when the 1st $1 word is found!  The successful detective is bound to spring up shouting, "I found one!  I found one!"  Now all the other students will be doubly determined to find one for themselves.

These clues would make a great math center.  They could also be given out as a sponge activity.  In my school, however, I use them as a grade level challenge.  (I'm the enrichment teacher who runs a pull-out program.)  My 3rd graders can hardly wait for the annual challenge to begin!  I think it may be the highlight of their year.  :o)

Pitting each class of 3rd grade enrichment students against the others brings out a flurry of activity that makes the entire rest of the school stand back in awe.  Enrichment students  beg their classroom teacher to allow them to come to me to get 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 are probably curious about the Bonus Buck above.  Quite simply, that clue has 2 possible answers.  I reward the students with 2 points if s/he can find both answers.  Check back tomorrow for the answers to the clues.

In the meantime, if you are intrigued by $1 words, you may wish to check out my $1 Word products.  Begin with the freebie:

You can find it at my TpT Store or in my TN Shop.  It will give you a much more complete understanding of the competition I run and 45 FREE clues!

Before I close, I found the following linky parties that you may be interested in checking out:

Donna at Math Coach's Corner is having a math linky party.  She has it divided into grade levels for your convenience.










Jeannie at Kindergarten Lifestyle is having a K - 2 linky party.  Check it out, too!