I am ALL about making my life easier! That is why I decided to make monthly word work packs this year! I will have all I need for the month stored in a bag and each year I can just pull that bag out, add the activities to the word work center, and I am good to go! During rotations, I am pulling my reading groups, so I knew these activities had to be ones that met the Common Core standards, but were easy enough where students were able to complete them totally independently--no distracting my reading group unless blood or fire is involved! ;)
Here are some activities that my students completed last month.
Sorting colors
Matching upper and lowercase letters
Matching letters with the correct beginning sound picture
We also did lots of name writing! Here the student is writing and drawing some of her friends.
They also used the same name cards to sort their friends by the number of letters in their name and they spelled their friends' names with magnetic letters. All meaningful activities...and yes, we made it through September with little to no distractions!
I received a couple questions asking me how I set up my word work center so I figured I would share it with you. Hopefully this is not a disappointment, because the center itself is really nothing special, but it works for my class!
1. Magnetic Letters. These are used for a variety of activities in my word work packs.
2. Where I store most of the magnetic letter activities. In the picture you can see the sight word mats. They will use these mats on our magnetic white board and they will find the correct letters to spell their sight words. There are a bunch of mats to choose from. I also have the letter mats, CVC mats, and more stored here! You can find some freebies on TPT.
3. Word work cards. This is the best 'go to' when the students finish a different word work activity before their center is over.
4. Students will use these whiteboards and dry erase markers to spell words found on the word work cards. They can also use the dry erase markers for many of the other word work activities instead of using magnetic letters. The dry erase markers wipe off lamination easily with a tissue.
5. These bags store all of the monthly word work activities. The bags contain the 'I Can' sheet and all the materials needed to complete the center.
6. Handwriting cards
7. Bucket used for letter, letter sound, or sight word games found in my word work packs.
8. Materials students would need to complete an activity sheet. I usually don't give an activity sheet at this center. Most of the activities are all hands on/collaborative; however, there are times when I want them to record their findings. Inside the pencil case I have pencils, markers, and crayons.
9. Play-doh stampers. These are another great alternative for some of the word work activities. Instead of using dry erase markers or magnetic letters, students can stamp the letters with play-doh!
My students already started their October word work activities. Here they are filling in the missing letters.
And here, they are recording their CVC words!
Here is an October word work freebie to get your kids ready for Fall!! (Anyone else love candy corn? I really like the pumpkin candy corn!!!)
Enjoy!!
