Seusstastic Classroom Inspirations: June 2013

I'm linking up with the fabulous one & only Cara from the First Grade Parade! This is a very popular post from last summer when we did a Daily 5 book study. Hope you get some ideas friends!

This is by far one of my favorite parts of D5. My students have loved all the activities I've made for them. I split up this chapter because I have so many ideas that I have used for writing & word work & wanted to share them with you! I do work work activities based around spelling, vocab, seasonal, word wall, amazing & sight words. First I show them some but not all the materials they can use during word work. They must know where to find the materials and where to put them back independently. Then I go over the following chart.

Click on the pic to take you to your freebie Work on Writing/Word Work packet.

Now I'd like to show you some of my ideas for Word Work. You have to make it fun & exciting for them. Make things so they don't even realize they are learning. My kids would fight over going to Word Work & it was because I always had different things to offer. Their VERY FAVORITE Word Work activity is the following games I developed.

Here is how I store all the different games. I might change the baggies to soap boxes this year.

Here some of my tutoring students playing Candy Land. We tutor 2 days a week in the morning & this gives my lower students an opportunity to play my lower level games.

This is during Word Work. I simply give them the game for the skill we are focusing on. I have 70 (more to come) games so they are always working with the skill of the week. During review weeks I throw in an old game as well.

Click on the Candy Land link at the top of my page to take you below!

This is a small snippet of my Candy Land page. There are 70....yes 70 different games! I have any Language Arts or Math games you would ever need. I even have Houghton Mifflin, Treasures & Scott Foresman games available. I know those games aren't all the way complete but they will be...I promise.

My kiddos BEG....BEG....BEG to play with this during Work Work. It is their FAVORITE thing to do during Word Work time. They even want to play this during indoor recess. Seriously, they don't even realize their learning...they think their just playing a game. They get to play this at least 2x/week during Word Work. I even loan out games for tutoring, to take home, RtI, ELL & Reading Recovery.

I added math games that I will be adding to my new math stations this year. Last year we were required to do a 90 minute literacy block....that is why I developed this product. This year we are required to have a 60 minute math block. Hopefully the kids don't have to use the bathroom or go to the nurse because there will be no time for that nonsense (insert sarcasm).

This is an oldie but goodie. I used our die cut machine & made this game called "Crash" with their sight words. I made some for Kindergarten, 1st & 2nd grade words. This is also a good filler game as well.

I had all these containers filled with activities that were basically collecting dust. Not since D5!

These are just blocks from the $ store & they made words with them (Real & Nonsense).

One side would be real words & the other side are nonsense words.

I had to take this pic! One of my little nuggets came up to me & said...."I swear I didn't do it on purpose!" Me: "Give me a sec I want to take a picture of this".....him "Please don't put this on the blog!" I have a classroom blog! He said his mom will recognize his arm! I miss him!

Here are a ton of bingo games, mostly from Lakeshore that they played once a week depending on the skills we were working on.

This is a $ store shower curtain..I have 8! I wrote all the kindergarten words by quarter on 4 & then did the same thing for the 1st grade words. Then I label a freezer size baggie & place each shower curtain in it. When they are ready for new words then I just place a new "curtain" in the tub for word work. The kids toss a bean bag on a word & read it. This can also be used for sight words or amazing words...the possibilities are endless! I have math fact "curtains" as well.


The red tub on the left is where I store my Scott Foresman sight words sticks. Check those out here. I put all 80 spelling & HFW's per unit. I used a different color for each story & printed then out on labels (Avery 8167) & just stuck them on popsicle sticks & placed them in a recycled Crystal Light container. Very easy for the kids to use & put back during word work. The green lily pads have sight words on them. They place these around the room & "hop" on them as they say the sight words. The popcorn container is something I got through Scholastic or Highlights...I think. I also made a set of football & baseball sight words to use during word work. They LOVE all these games! Here are some of the games in action!

These are also from Lakeshore! The kids really loved making words with these!

I basically have every set of these Lakeshore quiz show games. They also have digital games now as well. Check them out here.

These are from Lakeshore too....surprise! They are unscrambling sentences during Word Work.

This is a digital version of a Working with Words game from Lakeshore. They have games for vocab, grammar, reading, word work, & phonics! Check them out here! I have them all!

I spent so much time printing, cutting & laminating this year! I also put out seasonal centers once a week. My favorite centers come from the ladies at Made for 1st Grade. Check out their store here. I store all my centers below. I actually have to switch to bigger drawers since I was such a psycho buying centers on TPT. Seriously....I bought so many! I have a sickness I tell you!

These colorful magazine bins from IKEA store all sorts of Daily 5 goodies! As we come upon a skill I just take the bin over to the word work station & shift stuff around..model it for my little nuggets & they are good to go for the week!

Next is these cute little pretend iphones & ipads from Dragonflies in First! The kids thought they were sooooooo cool. I would have them "text" their spelling words & then write them.

I asked our tech department if they had old keyboards & they did! I would have them type their spelling words if they got finished with an activity early.

NEXT, is my "game organization". I make games & I have also purchased MANY from Kathy @ First Grade Ala Carte...her games are AWESOME! Anywho, I was going slightly INSANE with all the games I purchased & made so I needed some kind of organization because my bins from above were EXPLODING & I had no more room for anything! At our school we have started to tutor..ugh...& a half of my grade level coworkers tutor in my room so I needed to get all this stuff organized so that we could easily pull it out of a drawer, bin, shelf etc. with ease.....2.5 seconds after we walk in the door! So this is what I came up with.....

This is my Language Arts binder. I put all the game from Kathy or myself in sheet protectors. In the back of each game is where the cards & answer sheet or any accountability sheets are stored. We can easily pull out the sheet protector & leave the binder OPEN & simply put it back in it's place when we are done.

This is a binder that I have divided by vowels, digraphs, blends, & sight words. I laminated each game that I bought from Kathy @ First Grade Ala Carte or that I made & hole punched it & placed it in this binder. The only thing these particular games need is a die or dice & game markers for each player.

Check out Kathy's store here!

Here is a drawer full of game markers..........

And here are the dice...of course they have a choice :o)

I found this for $10 last summer at a garage sale! Be jealous. This is where I store some of my materials for Word Work.

Click on the pic for your freebie!

When they use the "stamp-it" sheets they just grab a stamp pad & stamps & do their thing. This can be used for weekly spelling words, vocab, seasonal, amazing or sight words.

I found this container in the tool section of Walmart & just slapped alphabet stickers on it to keep my kiddos organized. I used to have the letters all in one tub...well guess what happened?!? Yes, they spent half the word work time trying to find the letters they needed..ugh! So this has solved that problem!

More word work rotation sheets........................

Stop drooling! I love school supplies like I know all of you do. My students love the choices they have with all of these school supplies to rainbow write. There are thin & thick markers, crayons, glittery crayons, colored pencils, highlighters, gel pens, smelly markers & those pens with the funky tops

Have you ever seen this game????? It's called HEBANZ...CHECK IT OUT HERE! it's actually a cute game but I just switched it to make it more educational. I use the sight word cards that you see in the background for this word work station. You can easily create your own flashcards using index cards. This can even be used for math facts! Check my kids out in action........

I know...HOLY CUTENESS! Here is how it goes....the boy in the grey sweatshirt is "it". The children starting with the cutie pie in the blue shirt spell the word on his headband & he has to guess his word. If he guesses he picks the next person to be "it" & then they spell their word. After everyone gets done then WITHOUT looking they flip their card over & start over until it's time for a new card. Great way to review or learn new sight words on a weekly basis...don't ya think?!!?

Holy guacamole was that a LONG post! It took FOREVER! I hope I gave you some ideas for word work! You wouldn't hurt my feelings if you left me a comment :o) Oh, the first five to comment with their EMAIL can choose any Candy Land game from my store!