Rules for Syllabication

It's about time, teachers...that we really teach our students the rules for syllabication. Knowing those rules helps children to decode words in reading and to determine correct pronunciations.  It helps them to apply spelling patterns in their writing and to make their writing easier to read.  And, of course, it is a component of the Common Core Standards.  

For years, I have used old fashioned, plug & chug practice.  It may not be creative, but it surely is effective.  Following are a few samples of my syllabication unit for primary students:

This unit includes 12 rules for syllabication.  Each rule has a full page of practice on that rule only.  Repetition is an effective teacher.  Also included are several pages of mixed practice:  

After mentoring scores of student teachers, I can say with certainty that they benefit greatly from taking a refresher course in the rules of syllabication.  The vast majority of my student teachers comment positively about working through this unit.  They they boldly take a blank copy with them for future reference and as an addition to their teaching files.

My unit, Friendly Frog's Syllables Book, is 17 pages long. It's available on TpT or TN.  

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Writing Center Graffiti

It's about time, teachers,... that I admit I am a word collector.  I {heart} words.  I {heart} interesting phrases.  Although I do not feel a need for an intervention, I will (gulp) admit that as a child I used to read the dictionary.  

This love affair with words has continued throughout my adult life and I strive to share my passion with my students.  That is what led me to create a graffiti wall in my writing center.  

My graffiti wall is simply a bulletin board dedicated to posts of interesting words and phrases.  Both the students and I can write words on strips of paper and post them on the board.  At the beginning of the year, I demonstrate this by extracting words and phrases from our read-alouds to post on the board.  Before long, my students are pointing out the words they find interesting.  I invite them to copy them and post them on our graffiti wall.  Students who "catch my fever" even bring phrases in from home.

I've forged an alliance with the computer teacher to further spur our graffiti.  When he introduces fonts to my class, he uses some of our graffiti wall words.  Using the SmartBoard, he gives our words "life" by applying cool fonts to them.  You should hear the ooo-s and ah-s! Naturally, there is a marked increase in graffiti after that lesson!  

As a corollary to our graffiti wall, I have a "tired words" board.  We put overworked words to bed and list alternatives on the foot board.

This, too, gains momentum over time.  Before the year is over, we have a dormitory of beds with tired words!

Both of these boards have improved my students' writing markedly.  They are easy to accomplish and the payoff is huge.  Try it.  You'll like it.

Mad about March unit FREEBIE

It's about time, teachers....for spring!  At least we can hope.  Yesterday there was snow on the ground; today it's 66.  Gotta love March weather in the heartland!

Speaking of March, I have launched my thematic unit, Mad about March, for primary grades. You can find it on TpT and, now, on Teachers' Notebook.  The unit includes ELA, Math, HOTS, and music curricula.  The ELA activities are:

And here's a FREEBIE from the ELA portion of the unit:

The math portion of the unit includes:

If you like what you see, blow on over to my TpT store or  my Teachers' Notebook store.