Rhyme Time

For many of my students, the "light bulb came on" in regards to rhyming right before Christmas break! For others, they are still really struggling with identifying rhyming words :( 

Luckily for me, I teach right next door to a pretty smart lady who has her students do a rhyme/doesn't rhyme T-chart during literacy workstations. This way, students are only comparing two words and listening for a rhyme instead of looking through many different cards to try and find a match.

So simple yet so genius right?

Inspired by this idea, I made these ovals on a wall Humpty Dumpty rhyme/doesn't rhyme cards for the kiddos to sort. I tried to make the words that did not rhyme pretty obvious (i.e. basket/horse) so that it would be a little easier for the students who are really struggling. 

 

Along with reading TONS of rhyming books, practicing rhyming during whole group, small group, and workstations, we also sing this little rhyming song whenever we do any sort of rhyming activity:

(Tune: Do you know the Muffin Man)

_____ and _____ are rhyming words,

Are rhyming words, are rhyming words.

_____ and _____ are rhyming words,

Their ending sounds alike! Hey! 

The kids love the song because it's catchy (and they get to yell "Hey!" at the end) and I love the song because after the 1st couple of days of singing it, students can tell me that rhyming words have an ending that sounds alike. 

Do you have any tips or tricks to help students identify rhyming words?  

 

Humpty Dumpty "Egg-speriment"

This week, the students performed a Humpty Dumpty Under Pressure (how strong is an egg) "Egg-speriment." We made a prediction as to how many hard back picture books we could stack on old Humpty before he cracked.   

 

Most students hypothesized that we could stack 10 books on Humpty before he cracked.

In the end, we were able to stack 13 before....

Poor Humpty Dumpty! I when I removed the books, I had one kid say, "Yup, we definitely wouldn't be able to put Humpty Dumpty together again. They were right..." I assume "they" are all the King's horses and all the King's men! Haha

We're Baaaaaaaaaaack!

Well, we all survived the 1st week back from Christmas break! :) It was a jam packed week, introducing a brand new theme with all new math and literacy workstations; but the kids get so excited when they are able to do something new! I love when I am explaining a new workstation and I hear them say, "Oh, I want to do that one!" Here is a little peek into some of the activities we did this week:

During math, students did this roll and graph workstation, 

They played "Memory Match" using Little Bo Peep and her tally mark sheep.

 

They extended Little Bo Peep patterns and then used colored cubes to copy the patterns. 

 

 Students matched Jack to his candle stick using links. Below was how I was having them do it until...

One of my smarty pants kids was like, "Look Mrs. Alexander! I matched it with 4 chains since it has the number 4 (etc.) and I even made a pattern!" Needles to say, that is how everyone else was asked to complete this workstation from that point on. I just love it when my kids teach me something new!

 

Fast finishers completed one of these number order puzzles. They get so excited when they see the picture coming together!

During Literacy, my students completed this beginning sounds workstation.

Depending on their skill level, they either put the Nursery Rhyme letter lines in ABC order and matched uppercase to uppercase letters, had to fill in the missing letter, or matched lowercase to uppercase letters.

They also worked with nursery rhyme vocabulary by strining the words with letter beads,

or rainbow writing the words. I got this free printable from http://acupcakefortheteacher.blogspot.com/ and I just love it! For every vocabulary word, the kids roll the die, and then write the word in the cooresponding color. It's a great way to add some variety to any kind of writing!

 

At this workstation, students read the nursery rhyme, pointing to each word with a "special star pointer." Then, they retell the nursery rhyme using the pictures on the felt board. Finally, they spell some of the vocabulary words from the nursery rhyme on the organizer below and count how many letters are in each word.   

 

Here is one of my kids favorite workstations! I "hid" these sight word cards around the room and they get to walk around with a clip board and recording sheet reading and writing the room. For those who are ready, I challenge them to use these sight words in a sentence. For others, I just have them practice reading the words as they record them in a list in their literacy journal. 

 

 The kids also completed this ABC order maze. I was just having students trace their path using Wiki Stix but my amazing mentor teacher that I shared these workstations with,  showed me that she was having them match ABC beads to complete the path. GENIUS! This way they are not only working on ABC order, but also matching uppercase to lowercase. Using tweezers to get the beads also works on the fine motor skills!

 

Finally, the Amazing Ants made this cute little Humpty Dupmty crafty. I just love all of the different expressions on Humpty's face!! Too cute! 

 

All of these workstations (and MORE!) can be found here on my TPT store!

It was kind of nice getting back into our routine. Next week we start one on one testing so I tried to enjoy our "normal days" while they lasted!

Christmas Break Wrap Up

Well Christmas break, we had a good run. :) Tomorrow it is back to school! I am thankful to be blessed with a job that I love and thankful to be given a two week break in the middle of the year to recharge! I am also very thankful that we have a work day tomorrow to get everything ready for the kids!

 

Preparing to get "back to the grind," I tried to get a few things accomplished this weekend that I had wanted to do over the break (and put off until now).  

 

1. I found lots of vegetarian meals and alternatives that I can enjoy. I have been a vegetarian for almost a month now and have found that while I am really enjoying eating meatless meals, it does take a little more planning, creativity,  and prep work. Tonight I had creamy potato soup and caprase-inspired grilled cheese! Yum!

2. I took down all of our Christmas decor and replaced it with our everyday goods. I even made a new "everyday" wreath for our poor naked front door!

 

3. And finally, I started my Nursery Rhyme word problem of the day cards. I will hopefully finish these tonight but if not, I am not too worried about it. I probably won't introduce the "Magic Envelope" until later this week, so I have a few days to get them just right (more on that later). 

While I am looking forward to seeing all of my co-workers tomorrow, I am definitely not looking forward to the early AM wake up and braving the cold weather! Happy 1st Week Back! :)

Officially Online + A Freebie :)

I have been relaxing and sleeping in working hard over the break creating math and literacy resources for our upcoming Nursery Rhyme Unit. I am so excited to share these new activities with my kiddos next Tuesday but until then, I am equally excited to have them up as my 1st products on Teachers Pay Teachers! I have a several Nursery Rhyme themed literacy and math activities that I really hope you will find useful in your classroom. 

This is the first item I have made for sale so if you do check them out, I would love to hear some feedback on what you like and what I can improve!

Here is a freebie to get you started and give you a little preview of my full literacy and math Nursery Rhyme pack!

Welcome!

Welcome to my little blog! Over the past few years, I have been blessed to work with some pretty incredible teachers and have learned so much from them. I love sharing ideas, activities, and printables with other teachers and I am hoping to be able to do that through this blog. Although I have gained a great amount from my co-workers (not to mention Pinterist) I know I still have so much to learn! My hope is that this little blog will provide a networking opportunity to connect with, and learn from, knowledgeable teachers all over the globe! :) I am excited to start this journey of sharing, learning and growing with all of you!