My Sights are on Sight Words

I think we've talked sight words before, but I've made a new FREEBIE 

so I thought we'd talk about them again.

For the past several years our school has used Saxon Phonics to teach phonics. 

It also comes with its own list of high frequency words. So, that is the list we have worked off of. The approach that the program uses can get rather dull (ok very boring) and since we practice sight words EVERY DAY something has to be done to draw in the crowd.

We normally do a whole group "drill time" in the mornings.

It might consist of flash cards (standing up, sitting down, monster voice, whisper voice, etc), 

sight word bingo, or an "I Have, Who Has?" game.

I will try anything to capture their attention and get them to engage 

when we are practicing our words.

(Free copy - just click on it)

After the words are introduced they are stuck to the word wall.

We also have sight word activities of some sort in at least one center.

We've done concentration, order the "I Have" game on the carpet, flash cards, stamp the words, write the words (with pens, markers, crayons, colored pencils), alphabetize the words, put the words in sentences, word searches, and the list goes on and on. 

I have a semi-new plan for next year (yep, already thinking about it). 

I'm skipping the Saxon list and plans and strictly using the Dolch Word Lists.

I love that it is already leveled and I can easily check my kids and track their progress.

The rest of the plan is still in the works:)

I am ALWAYS looking for great new ideas for ways to practice these words.

I would love for you to share any ideas that are working for you.

I've made a TON  of flash cards and "I Have" games with all different themes,

just because I change the picture and they think it's a new game. LOL

Here is a new set of flash cards that I've already made for back to school.

It's yours to grab if you can use it.

This set is preprimer dolch but all 5 levels are available in my store for purchase.

Be sure to leave your great sight word ideas, my kids will appreciate it.

The Reading Olympians Blog Hop

Get Ready for Bloggy Olympics!!!

Join The 3AM Teacher, the Reading Olympians, and over 80 SUPREME education bloggers as we take you through a tour of the Reading Olympians Root Study Program!!

I was so excited to try out this program in my 2nd grade classroom. 
Here is a quick look at some of our activities. 

We used the section called Jr. Poseidon. I chose this section because it contained exactly what we were supposed to be covering that week in phonics. Worked out great for us! 
It included the roots 

less, ful, graph, auto and tri.

We started out by viewing the included booklet "Making Words."

Rather than make copies of the book, I pulled it up on my computer and showed it to them on the big screen. The booklet was a great review of prefixes and suffixes and how to make words with each. I loved the puzzle pieces which are an excellent visual for students.

After reviewing the booklet, I divided the kids up into 5 small groups. I gave each group the root that would be their focus. I told them that they would be in charge of learning all about it and then teaching the rest of the class. 
(You know they love doing our jobs. LOL) 

Next, I gave out the chants (we called them raps, because who doesn't want to be a rapper?) and had them glue it on the back of their card. So they had their root on one side and their rap on the back.)

As they were practicing, I overheard a few of them already talking about words they knew that contained their root.

The next step was the journal & journal pages. 
(This journal is just a simple 3-pronged folder with the cover glued on and pages inserted.)

I had them complete the definition section and then go looking for words around our room that contained their root. They looked on all of our walls, asked their friends, and dug through dictionaries.  

They were very engaged and so excited when they came up with a new word to add to their word list. As they finished, I had them choose one of their words to illustrate on their journal page. The journal pages were then  added to the journals. 

Our next activity was making a graphic organizer. They each illustrated a small word card. Each picture was glued on chart paper under the correct root. (Wish I had made them label these with the words. Next time, right?) The organizer makes a super reference to hang in the room.

There is a worksheet included in the packet and I had them complete the worksheet to see how they were doing so far. I was thrilled to see that 16 out of my 17 kids scored at 100%.

And then, on to their favorite part.... each group took turns sharing their root, its definition, words from their lists, picture cards and last but not least, THE RAP! They thought this was the COOLEST!

They were great, attempting to use their best rapper imitations and keep the beat. Hilarious!

I had my students complete the quiz at the end of the study and I was happy to see that almost every child made 100%. 

I think Reading Olympians is a great packet. My kids were very engaged. They loved the activities, teaching each other, and especially the rapping! 

Hope you will check it out.

Discover the program IN ACTION in more K-6th grade classrooms as you Pass the Torch!! Get ideas, discover the progression of the program, and enter the Raffle for a chance to win ONE of the three prizes listed below!!

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Flat Stanley Fun

This week we finished reading Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown. My kids LOVED it! I know that most people use this book to have him travel around the country/world to different places and track where he has been, collect pictures, etc. but we felt that we had covered our "traveling" with Christmas Around the World. So, we used Stanley a little differently. We only have 2 science standards to cover for the human body, and who has a body that you would want to talk about? Flat Stanley! The book only has 5 chapters, but we stretched it out over 2 weeks. We covered several CCSS in reading, writing and our state standards for science. We kicked off the unit by reading Parts. It is so funny! A must read if you never have. It made a great connection with Flat Stanley (things that cannot happen to your body). 

Our Science text has very little information in it, so we supplemented with many different nonfiction books, including this one.

And then the activities began.......I bought this great puzzle from the $1 section at Target. It has became a HUGE hit in our Research Center.

They used the book and puzzle to make their own skeleton.

Our Science standards cover the brain, heart, lungs, stomach, muscles and skeleton. We divided up into groups and made ourselves "flat.". They traced the shortest person in their group and then added the parts above.

One of our reading focus skills was "setting" so we talked about all the different settings where we could place Stanley. We discussed things in each setting that are flat and imagined Stanley being those things. Here are a few they come up with. I LOVE these!

Since they are loving Stanley so much, we are planning to do Stanley in Space for the next 2 weeks. It should be out of this world:)