Tag Archives: word work

I SEE PUMPKINS! Meet the “little ones”…

I SEE PUMPKINS! Meet the “little ones”…

My hubby, AKA  Farmer Without a Farm, is growing
pumpkins!
In our backyard.
On the fence.
Across the lawn.
In EVERY garden we own!
And FINALLY…Yes, I say FINALLY…

WE HAVE PUMPKINS!

2 to be exact!
Meet the “little ones”.
Clara the colorful…
She is turning ORANGE the fastest.
Sidewinder SAM.
He is growing SIDEWAYS ON my ladder!
Just like the “STEPS” he can take to grow!
HAHAHA
Pumpkin  HUMOR 🙂 
And this is Junior!
Junior is was growing in our garden at school.
I work at a TITLE 1 school…someone STOLE him!
RIP junior.
You would have made a great  PIE!   🙂

To help my FIRSTIES get into the FALL  SPIRIT…

I have brought out the FALL GOODIES!
 Remember…it’s 95 degrees in NORCAL this week…
hard to feel “FALLISH!”

Fall BUNDLE

Falling for NOUNS ( Common Core Grade 1 )
and
FALL Fluency
BUNDLED TOGETHER to save $$
FALL  THEMATIC   UNIT
Includes:

Reading-
Reading Passage
Comprehension Printable
Reading Response Printables
Vocabulary Pocket Chart Cards
Poem ( And Cut a part printable )

Writing-
Spelling List Forms
Word Family Charts
HFW Lists
Journal Pages & Covers
Interactive Journal Pages
Flap Book Graphic Organizer

Assessments-
BPST printable
Fluency Assessment
HFW List

Grade 1 / 2

AND…
BRING ON ANYTHING  
HALLOWEEN “ish”…
Finally,
MORE TASK CARDS
These are  ADDITION ONLY!
Good starting PACKET
Now…If I could just get the PUMPKINS
to
CARVE THEMSELVES!
( I Hate the SLIME!)
Oh, well.
Stay COOL my FRIENDS!
Wendy

GAME CHANGER!!!

VOCABULARY BANNERS

I love it when SOMETHING WORKS!

YESSSS!!!!

I have

discovered, learned, and found a BETTER WAY!

I LOVE  BANNERS

Obviously…

So  Does  PINTEREST!

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/211317407494866485/

and so…

I needed some vocabulary words for MY classroom.

Different ones for EACH MONTH.

FAST & EASY for me.

High Interest for Kiddos.

TADA!

Vocabulary Banners

I have a

GAME  CHANGER

for YOU!

Tie a triple KNOT!

Yes, a TRIPLE KNOT…and staple it to one side of your board ( or window ).

Measure side to side. Add 3-4 inches!

Tie another triple knot and staple it to the other side.

( I measured to make sure both sides were LEVEL.)

I know…those of you who know me… I NEVER MEASURE!

EYEBALL  IT!

But…I want to do this ONE TIME…not taking down the yarn until the END OF THE YEAR!

Staple BOTH sides of the KNOT!

The Knot will HOLD the yarn. NO SLIDING!

 

HERE IS THE 

GAME  CHANGER…

After you have laminated the banner ( OR TAPE THE TOP EDGE BEFORE

you HOLE PUNCH!)

Use a hole punch to make two holes at the top.

I went down about ( No measuring there ) a 1/2″.

THEN…

SLIT THE HOLE TO THE TOP!

( SEE  the  PICTURE )

WHAT??????

“NO! Then it will fall off!”

NOT!

No one is pulling on these. They are for

LOOKING…NOT  TOUCHING!

What this does is allows you to

change the BANNER page

without having to

remove & put up a new string!

JUST CHANGE THE BANNERS!

YESSS!!!

Alternate sides when you add the vocab. cards.

I wanted an ODD number…

so I could have 1 in the middle.

Add another layer.

Same  directions.

I cheated in the middle layer.

Stapled the middle card ( so the arch would be close to the others).

TADA!

WONDERFUL Vocabulary words at my writing center for kiddos to use!

BIG pictures…spelling…variety

for ELs, independent work, & everyday writing!

And I can change them each month…

IN A FLASH!

Just change the cards…not the string!

Here are  my

  vocabulary banners

And so…

A GAME CHANGER

for me!

 

Wendy

 

 

HI Ho, HI HO…It’s OFF to Sight Word Work we go!

High-Frequency Words…or  Sight Words

Sight Word Work

(depending on your generation..) 🙂

Back in the “OLDEN DAYS” when I became a teacher…

( um…Let’s just say in the late 80’s..)

I was taught to work on HFW (High-Frequency Words) DAILY!

These are the words my students would see in their daily reading.

Some can be “sounded out” and some JUST HAVE TO BE MEMORIZED!

In order to memorize a word…

a student MUST work with it at least 30 times!

WHAT???!!!!

Each word???   YEP!

So we do…DAILY!

Now the list of grade level high-frequency words is ever changing.

You can see FRY WORD LISTS, DOLCH word lists, CURRICULUM word lists…

BUT the main focus is NOT on the LIST,

BUT WHAT YOU DO WITH IT!

Again…to embed a word into a first grader’s BRAIN…

they must work with it at least 30 times!

(Some kids more..some kids less)

HOW??

READ…WRITE…SPEAK
Say it with me, “READ, WRITE, SPEAK”

OK. Now the work begins. PINTEREST!

High Frequency Words

 

High Frequency Words

 

High Frequency Words

 

 

High Frequency Words

 

High Frequency Words

 

These samples came from Pinterest..

MANY, MANY, MANY boards to help YOU

create a class list &

MANY, MANY, MANY

different activities to help your kids

WORK WITH HFW!

They need to practice DAILY!

I myself, am a KINESTHETIC learner…HANDS-ON!

NOT a SUPER fan of worksheets.

( Yes..we do some..I AM ONLY HUMAN!)

Thank You PINTEREST!

High Frequency Words

 

High Frequency Words

 

High Frequency Words

 

Sight Words

 

And so you see…Practice..practice..practice..

This year my class is a One-to-one classroom with ipads!

(THANK YOU TO WHOEVER DREAMED OF THIS!)

My newest LOVE is an app called

“SHOW ME!”

Ipad app Show Me

 

It’s an individual interactive whiteboard!

We play word games, I SPY, word ladders, etc.  each on their own tablet…

and then SWISH!

CLEAR ALL…and we start again!

We do daily practice for about 10 minutes.

That’s about ALL they need in a “chunk” of time 10-15 minutes.

Later in the day…they each have individual word rings.

I have sets available in my store or you can search TPT for others.

Here’s a sampling…

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Roll-Read-Color-180-Sight-Words-First-Grade-3728976
Roll. read. cover – Sight Words from 1stgradefireworks

Roll, Read, Color

TPT 1stgradefireworks

Happy HFW..Snowman Style

High Frequency Words Tpt 1stgradefireworks

 

High Frequency Words Tpt 1stgradefireworks
Fry First 129 Words
High Frequency Words Tpt 1stgradefireworks
High Frequency Words Tpt 1stgradefireworks

Available at:

1stgradefireworks TpT Store

And so…

HI  HO 

HI  HO

It’s OFF to Sight Words

WE GO!

Enjoy! 🙂

Sight Words for Word walls

Those CRAZY Word Walls!

WORD  WALLS

I can honestly say, in my 27 years in first grade,

I have “redone” my word wall

probably 26 times!

My dilemma is always the same…

How to put them on the wall so kids can

access them ( at ANY reading level!)?

At first, I thought “A..B..C” order.

Then, I thought “by curriculum unit..week 1..week 2, etc”.

Next, I thought ” phonics sounds ..short a..short e…etc”.

Last, I thought “they don’t even LOOK at IT!”

and so…

I WAS  FRUSTRATED!

What to do?  What to do?

ASK  THE  KIDS!!!

 

So what do THEY want?

What will THEY use?

What do THEY want it to look like?

And they TOLD ME!!

They helped me “SOLVE” our Word Wall “PROBLEM”!

Baby eyes wide open

WHAT? You want ME to help SOLVE our WORD WALL PROBLEM???

My Word Wall 

Now our word wall has sight words we use for 6 weeks

( 1 unit of our curriculum).

 

These words will be in our stories 

AND 

on our TESTS!

 

We study them EVERY day ( at Morning Meeting ) 

AND

we play I SPY with the words wall DAILY!

The kids practice with each other, too!

Partner Practice…yippee!

We use our chromebooks, write on our desks with whiteboard markers, flash cards to take home, and we play LOTS of word games!

 

My WORD WALL focus’ on sight words.

I teach vocabulary words, but those go on our focus wall for weekly connections. 

This year…I am adding personal word walls to their writer’s workshop folders. 

 

They will add words THEY need to use in THEIR writing.

 This was last year when we did WAY TOO many 

words at one time!

 

Now…LESS  IS MORE

"W" words on word wall

Word Wall by ABC order

word wall

Large Word Wall by ABC order

word games

Sight Word games from the Word Wall

Lots of games to practice our “words”.

I have some games and products

 to help with WORD WALLS.

Check them out!

So to Conclude…

When putting up word walls, fewer WORDS at one time is BEST!

Teach to MASTERY!  Review!  Practice!  Be consistent!

PINTEREST HAS A MULTITUDE of resources to help.

I found these:

To download the editable version of this product, Click Here!This free word wall is colorful, simple, and perfect for back-to-school! This download includes:- Word Wall Banner- Alphabet Letter Cards- Fry's First 100 Sight Word Cards- 10 Color Word Cards

         Especially Education  

Word Wall - Using magnets to make the word wall accessible to the students. Great for Writer's Workshop and other writing activities!

       All Students Can Shine

A Sunny Day in First Grade: Weekend Warriors: Moving Word Wall!

    A Sunny Day in First Grade

Grade 1 Word Wall... 222 Word CARDS!

222  SIGHT  WORDS from 1stgradefireworks

Here are MORE ways to help your students learn to READ

I hope this helps your students become BETTER readers and writers!

Leave me a comment. How are things going? Anything I can do to help?  🙂

Wendy   1stgradefireworks

 

vowel kids

Welcome the VOWEL KIDS!

I would like you to meet my newest friends!

The vowel kids!

This is KATE. ( long a)

 Her twin sister is Anna. ( Short a )

Anna left us for a short “vacation”

…so I can use her picture for LONG A!

Thank you to Nikki from MELONHEADZ for the cutie pies!

We took each vowel family and did some writing!

We brainstormed words ( see the word box) 

that have our phonics pattern for the week.

 Then we did an interactive writing .

( see my BALANCED LITERACY packet, 

if you haven’t done INTERACTIVE WRITING)

The kids decided on her story. And then…

WE  WROTE!

Meet the vowel kids

Meet the Vowel Kids

They were so cute! Best editors ever! 

 

After we finished…

they critiqued. 

 

They decided yellow was too hard to read.

 

They said that handwriting is very important,

 if you want others to read it.

 

They said spelling is important. It can change the meaning.

 

And lastly, writing large and spacing our words,

makes it easier to read. 

WOW! They were listening! 🙂

And so …each week for the next 4 weeks

I will introduce another friend.

Long e, Long i, Long o, and Long u.

 

We will chat, create, and write!

I Love my JOB!

If you are looking for more

writing ideas..

Stop on by!

Daily Language Practice

Balanced Literacy

Write ON!

1stgradefireworks

Balanced Literacy

Helping kids EDIT their WRITING

CHRISTMAS in JULY?? YESSS!!!!!

I LOVE CHRISTMAS!

Ok..I said the “C” word!

As  of  TODAY ( July 6 , 2016)

there are

172 days

until

CHRISTMAS!

YES!!!


I need to  begin my Christmas lists…

and then

 SHOP! SHOP! SHOP!

But … that’s  another STORY! 🙂

To help out with the whole “giving to others” MINDSET…

My friends and I

 at

iTeach Linkies

are “GIVING” to YOU!

Each of us is having a 20% off sale in our TPT store!

My store is 20% OFF  EVERYTHING…Bundles & BTS TOO!

AND…

I have a FREEBIE for YOU!

Check out my COMPLETE

BTS Word Work Packet

AND  THERE  IS

MORE!

Each of us has added a FREEBIE in the link up for YOU!

Click on each one for FREEBIES..

Check out my friends’ stores too…ALL of us are 20% OFF!

WOWZA!

 Check out your wish lists & stock up EARLY!

AND

We are having a HUGE  GIVEAWAY!

blog3

Who wants to win:

 One of three (3)-  $50  TPT Gift Certificates

 ( ME–I DO!  I DO!)

AND

A   $50  TARGET Gift Certificate    ( ME–I DO!  I DO!)

AND

A $100 TEACHING IN THE TONGASS CLIP ART Gift Certificate

ME–I DO!  I DO!

You can’t win , if you DON’T ENTER!

Good  Luck!

Here you go:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

No More , How Do You SPELL..??? and a FREEBIE

Spelling.
( I know..I cringe at that word.)
Making sure each word is “perfect”.
Students who STOP writing a wonderful story,
because they can’t remember HOW to spell a word.
Just one word.
And then..they stop writing! UGH!
They ask themselves,
“What does it start with?”
Oh..I dunno…so where do they look?
What do they do?
ASK  THE  TEACHER!
NO!
Those DREADED words…
“HOW DO YOU SPELL…????”
Ugh!
We have gone over letter sounds, word families, vocabulary, picture prompts, word walls, word lists, dictionaries, pictionaries, and so on..and so on.
And still they ask.
So what is a teacher to do??
PINTEREST!
( The place where ALL questions CAN be answered!)
And so I search…
SO MANY CHOICES!
( And don’t EVEN get me started on WORD WORK!)
And so…what’s a teacher to do?
Create MY OWN!
My district has adopted a curriculum.
I have 18 boxes waiting for me to unpack!
My PD for this new curriculum is 5 days before I have students!
I probably won’t have time to REALLY dig into the program.
Surface teaching for a few weeks!
BUT…
My kiddos are ready… BEFORE I AM!
And so..
I create!
Here are a few of my newest
SPELLING   creations!
( I do have access to the word lists…so I am using them!)
If you do not have
CA   JOURNEYS
DO  NOT  FRET!
The word lists in this program can be used anywhere, anytime!
Homeschools, interventions, homework, practice pages!
Here is KINDERGARTEN

Here is  FIRST  GRADE
And  Grade  2

All of the lists are printed in black and white.
SAVES  ON  COLORED  INK!
( I print mine on colored paper!)
I print one copy for the student’s desk.
A little tape on top..and voila!
Instant word wall for writing!
(NO MORE …HOW DO YOU SPELL…)
The other copy I send home for homework each MONDAY!
They have to read & practice each night.
Spelling tests on FRIDAY!
I give “rewards” for 80% correct or higher!
I don’t expect perfection…just effort in their work.
I add these word lists to SPELLING CITY on our ipads.
(If  you don’t have SPELLING CITY for ipads…GET IT!) 🙂
They practice EVERY DAY!
They also must use the week’s spelling words in their journals.
They read their journals to a partner.
WOW!
 Spelling, reading, writing, word lists, &  homework!
I think we’ve got this!
I hope you can use my new SPELLING Packets!
GOOD FOR ALL LEARNERS!
Leave me a comment
which grade level you would like
 and I’ll pick someone on
 SUNDAY Night,  June 26,
to send a FREEBIE to!
Good Luck!

How to Survive SPRING FEVER.. & a FREEBIE!

SPRING has SPRUNG?

No!

Not THAT SPRING!

This SPRING-

I LOVE SPRING!

Flowers, baby animals, warmer weather!

Ahhhhh…

 MY HAPPY PLACE!

As we enter the “ending” phase of our school year,

I just wanted to share some

SPRING THINGS

from my store that might help your students

survive

SPRING FEVER! 🙂

Now, as my kiddos start daydreaming about

skateboards, baseball, and swimming pools….

I need a”little something” to bring them

BACK to ME!

These help me a lot!

I hope they help YOU too!

All are available in my TPT store:

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/1stgradefireworks

and

My EDUCENTS store:

http://www.educents.com/1stgradefireworks

Here’s a little FREEBIE to help get you started:

So..

WHAT KINDS OF THINGS 

DO YOU USE 

TO  HELP WITH 

“SPRING FEVER?”

Leave me a comment & let  me know! 🙂

Bunny BUNDLE & Giveaway!

I am CHEAP  FRUGAL.

NO.

CHEAP!

I want the most & best things for the LEAST amount of money!

Who doesn’t?

SO…to help out my VERY TIRED, & VERY BROKE

teacher & homeschool friends…

 I have

BUNDLED   IT!

I took my favorite BUNNY packets

and BUNDLED them

FOR YOU!

It’s a

BIG

Bunny

Bundle

So WHAT’S INCLUDED????

ALL  of this in one FANTASTIC BUNDLE!

If sold seperately…

almost $20!

BUT BUNDLED…

$9.99

ALL of this for $9.99???

WOWZA!

 The BUNDLE is  available in both my TPT and Educents stores!

https://www.educents.com/1stgradefireworks

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/1stgradefireworks

OK…

WHO WANTS TO WIN 

A  BUNDLE FOR FREE???

YES!  FREE!!

Follow my blog..leave a comment with

 ONE thing you are doing for SPRING!

and, please leave your email!

( So I can send it to YOU!)

 🙂

 HOP to it! HAHA

I will choose a winner on Saturday, March 19,2016.

Meet Babbit the Rabbit!

Meet Babbit!

HOPPY SPRING!
Tee Hee..
Just a quick introduction.
Wanted to introduce you to
BABBIT  THE  RABBIT!
Babbit LOVES to play BANG!
If you have NEVER played…
Print & laminate ALL cards.
Place ALL cards in a pile in the center of the group.
I have 4-6 players at a time.
Player 1 takes a card.
If they can read the word, they keep it.
If they cannot, it goes to the bottom of the pile.
Some cards have you pass a card to the left or right.
Watch out for the BANG! cards.
If they get the BANG card, they put ALL their cards at the bottom of the pile,
The winner is the player with the most cards when the pile is gone!
Here is a sample!
Available in my TPT & Educents Stores!
Hoppy Spring!