Word Work Centers: Part 1

Yesterday I showed you my word work center bookcase with all 12 word work centers.  Today I am spotlighting 4 of the word work centers we use & hope that you can take these ideas back to your own classroom!

This center is boggle boards, which the kiddos LOVE.  I change the rules for my firsties and tell them that they can use any letters from the board to make words.  The letters don't have to be touching each other and they can reuse a letter in a word, even if it only shows up once on the board.  {This can be modified for older grades}  This word work center is awesome because it works for both English & Spanish.  YESSSSS.  The students write the words that they find in their Daily Five journals.  Today, I taught this center and I reminded my kids that they can look on the word wall, all over the room, and in their dictionary to find words and see if they can make them on their boggle boards.  I can't remember where the boggle boards pictured came from, but here is a link to some free ones on the TpT store.

The next center is a making words center with paint sample cards.  {Yes, I got these for free at Walmart}  Again, this center is great because I can easily make an English and Spanish version.  The kids move the card up and down to make words, and keep track of them in their Daily Five Journals.  I took a picture of two of my Spanish examples and one English sample.

Moving right along to my next word work center.  For this one, I have a set of vocabulary cards with the word and the picture.  {In the picture they are in Spanish, but this works for English just the same}  The students use the letter tiles to make the word and then write the word accompanied by a picture in their Daily Five journals.  Super easy!  Sorry about the awful glare...

The last center idea came from my Word Work pack on my TpT store {available in English and Spanish}, which I will be giving away at the end of this series of posts!  It is called Rainbow Roll A Word.  The students pick a word from the word wall, anywhere in the room, or their dictionary.  They roll the dice to find out what color marker to write each letter with.  You should have heard the Oooohs and Aaaaahs over this center today.  They are stoked, and it is super easy to put together!

If you have questions about any of the centers, please comment & I'll answer them ASAP.  More word work center ideas to come in the next few days!  Oh, and be on the lookout for a giveaway :)

Word Work Center Ideas: Intro

This week, I will be teaching my kids how to use the Word Work centers in my classroom, so I thought it would be a perfect time to introduce them to the blog world too :).  Here is a picture of my word work area:

There are 12 word work activities for my students to choose from during the Daily Five.  Most of them are done with partners, and we spend 20 minutes per day in each center.  {We only do three centers per day, and the students pick a Daily Five Bookmark to determine which centers they will do that day}.  The green containers came from the Dollar Store & Hobby Lobby, and the bookshelf was only $15 at Walmart.  More info to come soon on the details of each activity!

Math Problem Solving {Freebie}

We have a huge emphasis on our campus this year on math problem solving.  I spend a lot of time during the fall semester teaching my firsties how to solve math problems so that I can "set them free" to do it on their own in the spring.  I have found that teaching them a fairly simple process works well, although I have always done it verbally with them.  My group this year really needs visuals, so I decided to create a paper version so that they can refer to it while we are solving problems.  You can download it in English or Spanish through google docs!  I was thinking that I will cut out and laminate the steps, and then put them on a ribbon.  I will use a clothespin to show which step we are doing when we are solving problems whole group.  Another teacher friend of mine laminates all the steps together with a small space in between, and then folds them up and unrolls each step as the class completes it.  Also a very cute idea.  How do you do math problem solving in your classroom?

P.S.-- If you downloaded my free Johnny Appleseed unit in English or Spanish, thank you so much.  I am ecstatic that it has been downloaded over 2000 times!! Makes my week :)

Advice Please!

I got an email from my district today telling us that if we create a project on donor's choose, we will immediately get $100 donated toward our product.  A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!  I definitely want to jump on this opportunity, but need some advice about what project to create.

I have some students this year that could really use some additional resources to help them with reading in Spanish {both at home and at school}.  So my question for you is:  Do you know of any great resources that would help struggling first grade readers in Spanish?  I would love any suggestions--  Ready, Set, Suggest!!

Daily Five Freebie {In Spanish}

Do you use the Daily Five in your classroom?  I LOVE it!!  I always start out the year with the I-PICK lesson about the importance of choosing a just right book.  In the book "The Daily Five", Gail Boushey and Jean Moser suggest using shoes to teach this lesson.  Just as you must choose the right style and size of shoe for your foot, you also must choose a book that is on your level and that you are interested in.  I love to bring in my husband's shoes {size 13, I might add} and trip all over the classroom to bring home the point.  I also show a flip flop and ask if I should wear it to work, a dress shoe and ask if I should go running in it, etc.  The kids get so into the lesson.

I have found, though, that the I-PICK acronym doesn't make much sense to the Spanish speakers.  I decided to brainstorm & came up with the acronym PIES.  It goes great with the lesson that I teach about shoes, and translates well into Spanish.  Click here to grab your very own copy in Spanish.  I love finding new Daily Five freebies in Spanish!

Johnny Appleseed Day

Did you know that September 26th is Johnny Appleseed Day?  We are looking forward to celebrating it in first grade by tying it in with our language arts curriculum.  We will focus on the book "Johnny Appleseed:  A Tall Tale" by Steven Kellog and will do several activities related to character traits and verbs.  I created a mini unit that we will be using with our students, and I would love for you to check it out in English or Spanish!  Oh, and BTW... its free :)  Do you have plans to celebrate Johnny Appleseed Day?

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