Trick or Treat: Sight Word Fun for Bigger Kids

Once upon a time, I was a student teacher in first grade.  I loved every minute of it.  I think if I ever went down to the lower elementary grades, first would be it.  I worked with an amazing mentor teacher, and still use a lot of the tips and tricks she taught me in my room today.  :)  

One of many things I picked up from my days in Room 604 was was a Halloween themed sight word game we played with our first graders with their Kindergarten inventory words, Trick or Treat. 

All of their kindergarten sight words, or as our district calls them inventory words, were put in a pumpkin with a handful of trick or treat cards.  As students play, they grab a card from the pumpkin, if they can read it, they get to keep it.  BUT if they get a trick or treat card, they either get a chance for more cards (treat) or loose cards to the pumpkin or another classmate (trick).  The student with the most cards at the end of the game is the winner. :) 

My fourth graders this year have some pretty low fluency scores, so I've been purchasing/creating resources to use during our ELA intervention block (about ten-fifteen minutes) to use with my class.  So I created a bigger kids version of the game my firsties loved so much when I was a student teacher. 

We played a few rounds as a whole class the past few days and my fourth graders LOVED it.  They are so pumped to play in small groups during our ELA intervention time over the next few weeks.  Especially the treat cards, they loved collecting as many cards as they could. :) 

We've been working with the 4th One Hundred Fry Words, but this resource includes games pieces for the 3rd and 5th One Hundred Fry Words as well.  If you're interested, I have added Trick or Trick {Fry Word Game for Bigger Kids} to my Teachers Pay Teachers store.  It's on sale until midnight tomorrow, 10/18. :) Just click on the cheerleader to check it out! :)

I've also had a couple people email about how I store my Halloween Themed Graphic Organizers that I blogged about a few weeks ago.  I just put them in a binder like so. 

 Then I put the binder in the tub I keep my seasonal books in for easy access.  My kiddos having been loving the extra practice with various comprehension strategies and story elements, and I have too. :)

 We also started our Boo Ha Ha center rotation today! So grateful for the sweet grandma of one of my kiddos who assembles all my centers for me! :)

I hope you are having a great night friends! :) The weekend is in sight! :)

Rockin' Through the Fry Words and Phrases

In preparation for my upcoming move to fourth grade, I've been reflecting a lot on the time I spent teaching third grade and recently interviewed for a summer school program in my district for struggling readers who are entering fourth my district. 

In the interview I answered a lot of questions about my experience teaching full language arts inclusion during the four years I taught third grade. It was an experience that I LOVED, and it also got my brain ticking on what I could next year in my classroom, as I'll be doing full inclusion in ELA again. 

Something that stuck out at me when thinking back on my experience with my friends on IEPs, and my struggling readers in general, was that many of them did not have a strong sight word vocabulary.  When supporting them in small groups, most words they needed help on while reading were sight words, think Fry and Dolch list words.   Of course many of my other students knew how to read tons and tons of the first 600 fry words, but could probably not spell many of the sight words they can read. 

There is so much focus on sight words in kindergarten and first grade in my district, but not so much in second, third, or fourth grades.  Which is the exact opposite of what my kiddos needed, and I'm very guilty for not including it in my instruction like I should have.  Sweet former students, I'm so sorry. :(

The inspiration struck me the other night for a resource that I can't wait to use next year, and hopefully in the summer program I interviewed for as well!

Oh my goodness, this file is a big one! I took the rockstar theme and ran with it, creating a 100+ file to support my kiddos at school, and at home, in developing their sight word vocabularies in the older grades.  I included large flash card for the fourth 100 fry words and phrases to use in the classroom in various games and centers, suggestions for the their classroom use are included.

I also created take home flashcards for the fourth 100 fry words and phrases, which are perfect for parent helpers and at home practice. Again, I included a sheet for ideas for their use as well.  

I also included a fry word sound check for you you to be able to assess your kiddos on their fry words, and an award to present to them once they have mastered all the fourth 100 fry words. 

 

I'm so excited to use this product in my classroom, and to eventually create similar files for the third hundred, fifth hundred, and sixth hundred.  I'm especially excited to use the cards for whole class games and activities, not just with my struggling readers!

If you would like to check out my Rockin' Through the Fry Words and Phrases for the Fourth 100 Fry Words and Phrases, it is available at both of my shops.  

 Teachers Pay Teachers

Teachers Notebook

Tomorrow I have a fun window shopping post lined up to share with you!  :)  I saw the rough sketch of my new blog design today, and LOVED it.  I can't wait to share it with y'all!