Not very fancy--just nerdy

This month I'm giving you a glimpse of my teacher-nerdiness and a peek at just how "Not-very-fancy" my life truly is! Visit the Show and Tell Tuesday link up for more great classroom tidbits. 

My little girl somehow got really excited about Valentine's Day. This is the best I could do for a celebration. I cut out some hearts and she taped them to the door. I suppose someday she'll realize how incredibly inadequate this truly is, but for now she's thrilled.

School has been taking a lot out of me lately. When I get to my car and find a frosty windshield, I just turn on the defrost and wait. It's about the only rest I get all day, so I just enjoy it, but I feel ridiculously lazy.



I have been teaching my students the three sounds of "ed" for years, but I have never really understood the rule. It seemed that there should be a pattern, but I never knew. This is the story of my discovery.

I showed my students this digraph video about Mr. H and his 4 girlfriends: Miss S, Miss C, Miss W, and Miss T. In case you're curious, Miss T was actually is ex-girlfriend. Whenever they saw each other, they would stick out their tongues. Sometimes quietly and sometimes noisily. I used it as a springboard to explain the difference between voiced and unvoiced consonant sounds. This is helpful for kids because they often have confusions with reading and spelling sounds like d/t, v/f, s/z, p/b, etc. It also helps them learn to whisper!

Later that week I was explaining the sounds of "ed" to my reading group when it dawned on me: The /d/ sound and the /t/ sound are the same, but /d/ is voiced and /t/ is unvoiced.

Then I started looking at my word lists and realized the rule:

When a word ends with an unvoiced sound, the "ed" says /t/, like "asked." When a word ends with a voiced sound, the "ed" says /d/, like "called." When a word already ends with /t/ or /d/, the "ed" says /ed/, like "wanted" or "added."

I was, and still am, way more excited about this discovery than any person should be.

After my discovery, I updated my Monster-themed Reading Strategy Posters to include the poster above. The set of 18 strategies for emergent readers can be found in my TPT store.



 ***UPDATE: a day or two after I published this post, I heard this Grammar Girl episode (see what I mean about nerdy?) about the -ed ending. She talks about some of the exceptions to the rule, incase you are as abnormally interested in this as I am.***





Recently some of my colleagues were intrigued when they saw me cutting and pasting to make some large printed posters for my classroom. For some reason many teachers are unaware that single page PDFs can be printed and assembled into larger posters. If you've been wondering how to do this, pin this post so you don't forget! It's easier than you think!

Open the PDF print window.

See the little button that says "poster?" Click there and adjust the tile percentage. To enlarge this landscape single-page to a 4 page poster, I used tile scale 185%. You can see how it will look by clicking in the viewing window. Clicking on the viewing window will give you alternating views of the whole poster and individual pages. For some reason I'm able to use tile scale 210% on portrait pages. It is a bit of a pain to assemble these nicely, but it can certainly be done.

Head over to Forever in Fifth Grade to see what other teacher-bloggers and showing and telling about this month!

If you found this post to be interesting or fun, I'd love for you to connect with me!

Not Very Fancy Show and Tell from First Grade

Today I'm sharing a few bits and pieces from my classroom and life. I've got a bit of spontaneous greatness, some adorable student creativity, one of my favorite reading strategies, and a piece of advice I got in the teacher's lounge. Visit the Show and Tell Tuesday link up for more great classroom tidbits. 

We learned to add and subtract 10 from any number a couple months ago. This week I tried to introduce a game using the skill to some of my more advanced students, and it became very clear we needed some serious review. I set the game aside and broke out the cubes. After a quick lesson, most of the kids seemed to be remembering. When it was time for my next group, something came up and my attention was needed elsewhere. Not sure what to do, I handed the cubes to a couple kids and asked them to teach the next group what I had just taught them. It worked beautifully! They were engaged like this for the whole group time!

Our building is slowly transitioning from PBIS to Responsive Classroom, which I've written about before in posts about morning meeting and teacher language. During this transition, our official school-wide expectations have been a bit ambiguous. Recently we rolled out "BARK." (The bulldog is our mascot.) B-believe in yourself, A-Achieve new goals, R-respect our community, and K-keep it safe. To help my kids remember, I put some motions to the words. Believe in yourself is giving yourself a hug. Achieve new goals is climbing a ladder. Respect our community is clasping your hands in front of your chest. Keep it safe is just making your body into the shape of a K. We went over these at the end of the day before packing up, and one of my students got really into it. She decided to do "the K walk" all the way to her locker. Her best friend joined her. The next day, it caught on, and I had 20 kids doing the K walk to their lockers. It made my week!

I had a major breakthrough with a couple beginning readers this week. I broke out these CVC word blending roads, and they started decoding! They were so proud of themselves! This strategy has never failed me! Once kids have their letter sounds, this bridges the gap to decoding. If you have a couple kids you think would benefit from this, you might want to check out my post, Teaching Tips for Blending CVC Words.

I'm concluding my show and tell with a non-school related picture. This is my dog, Java (named for coffee, not computers). He's about 14, and not doing so well. He can't see anymore, and his hearing is not great either. Unfortunately, he's also starting to have a little bladder trouble. I tried getting some dog diapers, but he took them off or they slid off. I was talking to one of my teacher friends about this problem, and she suggested a bandana. I folded up a cloth baby diaper for a little extra absorbency, and he kept it on! It definitely looks cuter than a dog diaper! Teacher friends are such awesome resources for all of life's challenges. 

If you found this post to be interesting or fun, I'd love for you to connect with me!

Announcing an Old, New, Borrowed, and Blue Sale

The New Year seems like the perfect time for a sale. An Old, New, Borrowed, and Blue sale probably makes it sound like I am confusing weddings with New Year's, but really I just wanted to share some of my favorite products and give you an opportunity to get them at a discounted price.

The Old

One of my first Teachers Pay Teachers creations was my Math Challenge Task Cards. This is actually more like a bundle of 9 task card activities. Each activity has a different skill: counting on by 1s, counting on by 10s, writing your own story problems, multi-step adding and subtracting, open-ended problem solving, and more! 

The half-page recording sheet is for 1 card.

Most cards require quite a bit of work. My students usually do just one card a day. With 130 cards, this will definitely keep them busy! This product has always been one of my favorites, and it has been through a massive update since it was originally published. It's something you'll be able to use for years to come.

The New

Making Sense out of Non-Sense is one of my newest activities. I am really proud of this one! I think it  makes the idea of reading nonsense words seem much more sensible. For lots of the required testing we do, first graders need to read nonsense words with short vowels. 

It is pretty hard to think of real words to make using only short vowels, but my students just aren't ready for some of the more advanced phonics. For weeks I actually felt I was being haunted by the task of finding two-syllable words made entirely out of short vowels! I was jotting down words on scraps of paper by my bed and making lists on my phone. Once I had tons of words, I crossed out all the words the average first grader wouldn't know. What was left I turned into 5 unique sets of 12 words for students to build and record. I suggest introducing this in whole group or small group. 

 The Borrowed

I'm not exactly borrowing anyone's product to put on sale, but I do want you to know about the #happy2016 code. Lots of wonderful first grade teachers will be having wonderful sales to celebrate the New Year. You can easily find these sales by typing  #happy2016 into the search bar on Teachers Pay Teachers. This sale will go until January 4.

 

The Blue

January is usually when we get really serious about the silent e rule. If you follow a systematic phonics program, you probably spend a week on a_e, then a week on i_e, etc. I created these I have, who has? silent e games to follow this sequence. The first set only uses the a_e spelling pattern. The next set reviews a_e, but adds i_e, so the sets get gradually more difficult. Since classes are different sizes, you can print a 24 card or a 30 card set. I find it best to play this game in small groups (giving each student several cards). That way students don't get bored waiting for their turn or tune out as soon as their turn is over. 

 I LOVE this clipart from Teacher's Gumbo and Teaching in the Tongass

May your 2016 be filled with joy.

If you found this post to be interesting or fun, I'd love for you to connect with me!

Teaching Tips for Blending CVC Words

Even with a reading endorsement, college did not teach me how to teach first grade reading. The specifics of phonemic awareness and phonics instruction weren't part of any courses I took. In this post I'm going to give you the essential information about how to teach blending, a crucial skill for learning to read, to every student including those who really struggle or are still learning to speak English.

This information combines knowledge gained from at least 2 professional development trainings, some extensive online research and personal experience. I'll also introduce a fool-proof activity designed to help students learn to blend CVC words once they are ready to transition from blending sounds to blending letters.

Teachers used to commonly tell students to "sound out" words when they were stuck. This phrase is vague. It's better for teachers to explicitly state the skill students need to use. Often what we mean to say is, say the sounds in order and blend them together. However, if a student doesn't know how to blend the sounds together, neither prompt is going to help them read this word.

To decode words, students need to know how to blend letter sounds together.  They start by just blending sounds.

What is blending?

Blending is a phonemic awareness skill: combining individual sounds, or phonemes, to make a word. The phonemes are the sounds produced by the letters, not the letter names. When getting started, the students are not looking at any letters. They are only blending sounds they hear the teacher say.

Blending vs. Segmenting

Blending is the opposite of segmenting: it assists with decoding words. It is the process of putting isolated sounds together to make a word.

Breaking a word down into individual sounds, or phonemes, is called segmenting. Segmenting is what you would do to assist with spelling. It's a completely different skill, but it is easier to teach. There is far more information about teaching segmentation than there is about teaching blending.

Blending is the key skill students need to decode words. Teachers need to segment words in order to give students the opportunity to blend them. To blend sounds, students listen to each phoneme, or individual sound, in order. They may echo the sounds slowly at first, then they get faster until they can say the word normally. 

How do you teach blending sounds?

Blending sounds is a pre-reading skill, like segmenting. Students first develop blending as a phonemic awareness skill. When they have a strong understanding of letters and sounds, they apply the skill to their reading.

Students begin learning to blend sounds using CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words. This works because there aren't many sounds to put together. It also helps that many CVC words are very concrete, so they are words young children have experience with and can picture.

Students often need direct teacher support to develop their ability to blend sounds. There are some letters that are easier to blend than others.

You can make blending easier by using words that begin with longer consonant sounds because the initial sound can be stretched out and you can smoothly shift from the consonant sound to the vowel sound. Consonants with long sounds are f, l, m, n, r, s, v, z. They are good initial sounds because they can be stretched. For example, it will be easier to blend s-a-t and f-i-t than to blend d-a-d and b-e-t. When you say a sound like /d/ or /b/, it's short and abrupt; you can't flow smoothly into the next sound.

What do you do if students have trouble blending sounds?

If a student isn't able to blend 3 sounds, try combining two sounds for them. To make blending easy for students, use words with long initial consonant sounds. Blend the first two sounds for them, then leave a pause and say the final sound:  zi—p, fa—t, si—t. The shorter the pause, the closer you are to saying the word, so the easier it is for students to blend the sounds.

It's rare that this would be impossible, but if you get a blank look, model a few times. You could also put out a few pictures representing CVC words. For example, display pictures to show log, dip, fin. (Note that these words are very different. None of them start with the same letter, and none have the same rime or final sound.) Tell the student these pictures are to give them clues about the word you are saying. Use words you are confident the student has heard. If working with an ELL student, you may have to talk about the words before giving them the sounds. When ready, say," lo--g. "

This is to give the student a chance to experience success. If they can't be successful with this, back up and focus on phonemic awareness skills like identifying the first sound in a word.

Continue using picture support with words that are more similar, like fin, fog, log. (Notice that this group has words with the same beginning letter and words with the same rime.)

This procedure should not take long. If one lesson isn't enough, they need to go back and work on simpler phonemic awareness skills.

When students can easily figure out that "zi--p" is "zip" and "fa--t" is fat, start using short initial consonant sounds like "di--m" and "pa--t."

Once they can consistently blend with this technique, switch the part of the word you're blending for them. Start isolating the first sound and blending the second two sounds for them.  Go back to using words with a long initial consonant sound. For example, the teacher can say z--ip, f—at, s—it. Eventually, move on to words like "d--ip" and "t--en."

When students can consistently finish blending CVC words with the teacher doing two of the sounds for them, they are ready to blend all 3 sounds on their own.

Say segmented CVC words for the students: z—i—p, f—a—t, s—i—t. (Notice that once again, we switch back to words that start with the long consonant sounds.) If you treat this like a mystery and call it a secret code, it really boosts enthusiasm.

How to teach phonics blending

When students know most letter sounds and can blend 3 isolated sounds with teacher support, they are ready to decode CVC words independently. They need to be very solid with all their consonant and short vowel sounds because they are transitioning from phonemic awareness to phonics.

They are not only dealing with the sounds now, they are also mentally converting symbols--letters--into sounds and blending those sounds together to make meaningful words. Doesn't it sound incredibly difficult when you put it that way? That's because it is incredibly difficult! Fortunately, we can make blending easier for students by making it more concrete.

Drawing a simple road with the letters from a CVC word stretched out across it makes blending concrete for beginning readers.  

Students can use an actual toy car (or pretend any small object is a car) and say the sounds as they drive the car along the road.  Like with phonemic awareness, it’s easier if you start with the longer consonant sounds. It also helps to keep the vowel sound the same and introduce new vowels gradually. 

Short vowel sounds in CVC words

Usually, short vowel progression goes something like this: a, i, o, e, u. In my experience, i and o are the easiest for kids. I suspect this is because they are common and more consistent in how they sound than a.

It is extremely common for reading textbooks to start out with -an and -am. This seems logical because an and am are usually taught as sight words, so you are starting with word chunks that the student should be familiar with. However, if you listen closely to these words, you’ll notice that the /a/ sound (at least with my Midwestern. US accent) isn’t the same as the short a sound as in apple that beginning readers are taught. Students have trouble getting the word because they use the “apple” sound and it doesn’t sound like a word they know. I suggest avoiding words that end with -am and -an for a while. Start with chunks like -ag, -at, -ap, and -ab. 

Effective phonics blending practice

To give students lots of engaging practice with blending, I created a self-checking activity, Blending CVC Words, that they can work on independently. Sometimes this activity gives students their first experience putting together their phonics knowledge with their phonemic awareness knowledge.

Click on the picture to see it on Teachers Pay Teachers.

When they drive their car across the road and say the sounds to themselves, they suddenly realize that they know what the word says. They can flip the paper over to see a picture of the word and confirm their success.

This is the moment first grade teachers live for. The moment that they realize: I can read words! They aren’t just remembering the words; they are actually figuring out what the word is by using their letter knowledge and blending skills. Talk about a powerful moment!

Teaching in a high-poverty, ELL school in an urban district, I had a 100% success rate with this system for teaching students to blend sounds and decode words.

The full activity contains 65 words with accompanying pictures for students to practice decoding.  If you want a sure-fire way to teach your students to blend CVC words, look no further. It’s incredibly engaging, effective, and easy to use.

How to Inspire a Love of Words With Poetry

My favorite things about poetry are that kids LOVE it, and it can be used to teach so many skills! Use it for phonics, phonemic awareness, fluency, comprehension, writing, and vocabulary. It can even be used in content areas like science and math!

In my classroom, I have my students collect their poetry in a 3-brad folder. In the beginning of the year it takes a bit of time to show them how to use the brads, but I think it's worth it. I used to use spiral notebooks and have the kids cut the poems out and glue them in. I've found the folders to be much simpler. I also like that it gives the kids an opportunity to illustrate.

During the month of April I've been giving my students a new poem everyday. I have tons of poem books, so I often just type them quickly so the kids can have their own copy. First Grade W.O.W. has an excellent poetry pack you can download for free. I keep them pretty plain because I want the kids to deepen their comprehension with illustrating. Sometimes I direct the illustrations to help solidify new vocabulary or help them remember words that are hard to read.

I usually choose something for them to highlight with crayon. Sometimes we use different colors to highlight different components. 

We look for:

word chunks

beginning blends

word endings

parts of speech

vowel teams

repeated words or phrases

rhyming words

contractions

Sometimes I just ask, are there any words of interest? Students tell about words they find interesting and explain their thinking. Students suggest words from the word wall, unfamiliar words, words with silent e, and words that they like. 

When I introduce a poem, I read it aloud first. Then we echo read. I ask the students what they notice, and they share their observations with the class. (If you get super excited about the good observations, you start to get better observations. )

I love to act surprised by their ideas. 

"What?! You found 4 words with silent e. And we're learning about silent e right now! What a coincidence!"

Kids love to read poems with funny voices and act them out. You can use cards from I Love 2 Teach for fun voice ideas.

* ICYMI  I often post videos of poems and songs on Movie Clip Monday.*

If you found this post to be interesting or fun, I'd love for you to connect with me!