A December Bulletin Board Idea That Will Get Your Students Writing!

Here is a quick, easy and eye-catching December bulletin board idea:

Dear Santa:

Have students practice their writing skills by composing a letter to Santa.

Gather children in front of the board and brainstorm a “wish list” of things they want for Christmas and write them down.

Have them select two things.  Choose a form letter you like, and run off copies.

Have students use red or green markers or crayons and printing as neatly as they can, fill in the rest.

They can also color in the holly at the top to add a bit of pizzazz to their paper.

Click on the link to view/print a Dear Santa Letter for December bulletin board ideas.

If you like, tell your little ones that they will be making two copies: one to send to Santa and one for your December bulletin board.

Mount their letters on red and green construction paper.

Cover your bulletin board with white paper and scatter their letters around the board in an interesting pattern.

Add a triangular piece of white paper on the top of the bulletin board so that the entire board looks like a huge envelope.

If you want to add a bit more pizzazz print off my jumbo stamps, cut the edges with a pinking sheers, mount them on hot pink, turquoise, lime green and neon yellow construction paper and dangle them from the ceiling with fish line, over the top of your bulletin board.

Click on the link to view/print Christmas stamps for December bulletin board

You could also dangle tissue paper, or white tag board snowflakes that you can buy pre-cut at any party store.

Using an Ellison die cut machine, cut Dear Santa letters out of black construction paper and stick them in the middle-center of the triangular part of the white envelope at the top of your bulletin board.

For a teachable moment, have them put the second copy of their letter in a large manila envelope and show them how you properly address an envelope. 

I do a mini lesson of how to address our valentines when we walk to the post office in February to mail them. If you do that too, this would be nice recall.

For more December bulletin board ideas scroll down to the next article.

Behavior Modification For December

The snow will soon be flying, temps will dip, and the wind will blow at a fierce rate, making recess not so fun.  Keeping little ones cooped up can add to a sometimes crazy day, when children are excited about snow, the season, holidays, Santa and whatever else they may be celebrating or participating in.

To keep things running smoothly and my students on their best behavior, I try to have a few fun-filled behavior modification techniques that I incorporate into my day,  no matter how filled with energy and excitement they are brimming over with.

I've compiled my favorites in this free booklet entitled December Behavior Modification.  Peruse through it to see what fits your needs and teaching practices.

I hope you find some helpful tips to make your days stress free and less frantic and frazzled.

I'd enjoy hearing how you handle the month of December and any behavior tips you have! This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

May you have a delightful December!

Have Fun With Dolch Words!

Since the CVC word Bingo Cards were such a tremendous hit, I decided to make sets of Bingo cards for the Dolch words as well.

Here's what to do:

Run each set off on a DIFFERENT color of construction paper. This way you can tell that those color cards deal with a specific set of  25 words.

Laminate and cut out the cards.

Make an extra white set to cut into pieces.

There are 25 words per set.  Because of the FREE space, there are only 24 words used on each card.

Glue the white pieces onto the matching color construction paper for each set of Dolch Bingo cards.

These pieces will be the cards that you draw so that students can put their “markers” on their bingo cards.

Keep the pieces in Snack Baggies.

Put the matching Snack Baggie in a file folder with the matching set of Dolch bingo cards.

Dried beans are an inexpensive “marker”.

When your students have learned those Dolch words, challenge them to a higher level and move to a different set of cards from the next grade level.

For an explanation of 2 other fun things to do with the cards, click on the link to check out the CVC Bingo article!

After the game, award certicates to all participants. 

Click on the links below to view/print the Dolch Word Bingo Bonanza's of your choice.

Pre-Primer Dolch Word Bingo Bonanza,

Kindergarten Dolch Word Bingo Bonanza,

1st Grade Dolch Word Bingo Bonanza,

2nd Grade Dolch Word Bingo Bonanza,

3rd Grade Dolch Word Bingo Bonanza 

I also have a 53-page Dolch Word Help book that includes traceable word cards for all of the Dolch words from the pre-primer through the 2nd grade lists, as well as traceable cards for the Dolch noun, with matching picture cards + a story that includes all 220 words!

Click on the link to view/print a copy.  Dolch Word Help Book

Pop back tomorrow for bulletin board ideas!

CVC Words On A Roll-Another FUN Way To Teach CVC Words!

Run off copies of the game boards on card stock and laminate them.

Click on the link to view/print a copy of the CVC Game Boards. 

There are 5 different game boards using 222 different CVC words!

For a nice group activity, print off a double set, so that all of your students can play with a partner at the same time.

You’ll also need dice and tokens.

Students choose a partner.  Give each child some sort of token to use to move around the board, a mini racecar is fun even for girls.

I sometimes use a Skittle or M&M and then let students eat it at the end of the game as a sweet treat.

I like to use large foam dice to keep the noise level down.  They also stay on the table better.

There are five different game boards.  Have students swap if they finish before the timer rings, or make the game last longer by taping two game boards together.

Children take turns rolling the dice. Whatever number they roll they move their token that many spaces.  When they land on a word they must read it. If they can’t, they move back that many spaces.

Just a “heads up” to remind students NOT to pick up the dice until their partner has READ the word, or they might forget what number they rolled and not know how many spaces to go backwards, if they are unable to read the word.

If their partner lands on the same word square that they do, that player must go back 3 spaces.

If they can read the word they land on, they can move ahead 1 space as a reward.

The game can get more interesting and even silly if you add the rule that if they roll a 6 they yell “Six & Switch!” and they take their partner’s place if it is to their advantage. i.e. their partner is ahead of them.

Show students that there are "short cuts" on the game board, so that if they land on a word that has another path under it, depending on the number they roll they can opt to take the "short cut" to get to the finish line quicker.

Play continues ‘til one child lands on the smilie-finish line or when the timer rings the child who is closest to the finish line wins the game.

To make the game last longer, you can tell the students they have to roll an exact number to finish.  i.e., if they have 1 space left to go out, they must roll a 1.

Give everyone a sticker for participating and a CVC Champion bookmark to the winners.

If you missed the FREE 101-page CVC Word Bingo Bonanza or the 338 traceable CVC word cards in past articles, simple scroll down to check them out.  

Since the CVC Bingo cards were such a tremendous hit, check back tomorrow, for 60 FREE Dolch Word Bingo cards for each of the 5 Dolch word lists from Pre-primer through 3rd grade!

More CVC Word Tips

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

As promised, I just finished some more fun activities to help your students learn CVC words.

Cutting & Gluing:

I like to have my Y5’s cut and glue things every day. This fine motor activity strengthens their finger muscles and helps prepare them for those sorts of “testing” activities in kindergarten and first grade.

Thus, Cut & Glue Letter Tiles For CVC Words was designed.  It’s a great way to reinforce consonants and vowels, as well as spelling.

Encourage your students to guess the CVC word by looking at the picture clue, then have them say each letter as they spell, cut and glue the tiles to the word boxes next to the appropriate pictures.

After they are done, have them read and repeat the word.  What a fun way to reinforce a variety of concepts.

Have your students TRACE the letters with a variety of colored markers to make things even more interesting and enjoyable.

Click on the link to view/print a Cut & Glue CVC free sample skill sheet.   

Click on the bolded book to check that out.  Cut & Glue CVC Words

There's also a certificate of praise included in this booket. 

If you missed the FREE 101-page CVC Bingo Bonanza Game Book or the 338 FREE traceable CVC word cards in Teaching CVC Words part 1 and CVC Words part 2, simply scroll down to check these articles out! 

Be sure to pop back tomorrow for 5 FREE CVC board games (CVC Words On A Roll!) including a championship bookmark to give to the winners. 

More Fun With CVC Words

As promised, here is another creative way to get CVC words into your students' heads! Play BINGO with them.  I’ve made up 9 sets of word cards with 20 different cards in each set, using 225 CVC words.

Here’s what to do:

Run each set off on a DIFFERENT color of construction paper. This way you can tell that those color cards deal with a specific set of  25 words.

To give your cards more pizzazz, add a star or smilie sticker to the center “free” space.  The stickers you choose for each set could also vary.

Laminate and cut out the cards.

Make an extra white set to cut into pieces.

There are 25 words per set.  Because of the FREE space, there are only 24 words used on each card.

Glue the white pieces onto the matching color construction paper for each set of CVC Bingo cards.

These pieces will be the cards that you draw so that students can put their “markers” on their bingo cards.

Keep the pieces in Snack Baggies.

Put the matching Snack Baggie in a file folder with the matching set of CVC bingo cards.

Each week play with a different set of words.

Dried beans are an inexpensive “marker”.

Other fun things to do with the cards:

Run off an individual page (two cards per page) to send home with each child so they can play at home with a parent.

Child can cut up one card and play with the other.  The object here is simply to look for the word and put a marker on it, filling up their entire card as a great review of those words.

Another fun game to use the cards with:

Play “Cover & Match”. Run off a set of words on two different colors of copy paper.

Laminate the paper and cut out the words.

Put the set of colors in two different Snack Baggies.

Children choose a partner and take turns rolling a dice.

If they roll an even number they get to take a CVC word tile out of their bag, read it and find the matching word on their bingo card, which they cover with the tile.

If they roll an odd number they lose their turn.You could also play that if they roll an even number they get to place 2 CVC word tiles on their bingo card.  If they roll and odd number, they get to place 1 CVC word tile on their bingo card.

To make things even more interesting, you could add that if students roll a 6, they have to remove 1 of their CVC word tiles from their Bingo card.

Top it all off by awarding certificates.  I've included 2 kinds.

Take a few seconds and register, so you can print or download this 101-page FREEBIE. Afterwards...

click on the link to zoom to the shopping cart to view/print/or download.

If you're already registered, or a subscriber, simply login and click on the link CVC Bingo Bonanza

More CVC Stuff...

If you missed the previous blog article with 338 CVC word cards and more ideas, simply scroll down to check it out!

As always, if you have any ideas you'd like to share,  I'd enjoy hearing from you. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

I design a lot of things around what my readers and subscribers need help with, that's why I went to work on CVC words, so if there is something you've been searching for, or need help with, feel free to contact me about that too!

Fun Things To Do With CVC Words

Several of my subscribers asked me to design some things involving CVC words.

The first thing I wanted to do was compile a list of CVC words.

CVC Helper Books:

I wanted to come up with at least 100 words, but once I was on a roll the list topped 300!

They are in an alphabetical list entitled 338 CVC Words complete with traceable word cards, 21 letter cards, a student’s personal word checklist and a certificate of praise.

Click on the link to view/print this fun CVC word helper book.

I thought it would be fun to make picture cards for as many of the CVC words that I thought would appropriately trigger a response from a child, so CVC Picture-Word Cards was born.

Students can play Memory Match games with them, a “Flip” card game and “Go Gar” (Go Fish).  They also make an adorable Itty Bitty Booklet of CVC Words.

Directions, tips, and a certificate of praise are also included with the 87 picture cards and 79 word cards.

Click on the link to view/print this fun addition to your CVC bag of tricks.  CVC Picture-Word Cards.

Have your students become ABCDe-tectives:

Because my Y5’s LOVE becoming ABCDe-tectives, and searching for words, I made CVC Word Finds  as yet another enjoyable way of reinforcing CVC words.  Click on the link to see this fun-filled 35-page book complete with and ABCDet-ective CVC certificate of praise.

Word Scramblers is another way my students continue their detective roll. This CVC book has 19 skill sheets where the letters are mixed up.

Students enjoy unscrambling them.  Click on the link to take a look at this interesting way for your students to have fun learning CVC words.

Keeping with the detective theme, children enjoy de-coding the “secret” letters by solving the number codes that reveal a CVC word.  There are 56 words in this “way cool” CVC De-Coder Skill Sheet Book. Click on the link to take a look.

Read & Write CVC Word Sentences:

If you want to work on reading and writing skills along with CVC word recognition, then CVC Reading and Writing with 70 simple sentences, using 140 CVC words, including “write a sentence using a word bank”, is something you’ll want to check out.

I also have 2 fun CVC skill sheet booklets available as well.  CVC Volume I has students fill in a CVC word to match the picture. Click on the link to view/print a copy.

CVC Volume II has students match the word to the picture. Click on the link to see a copy.

Finally, if you’d like to build vocabulary and stretch your students CVC word bank, I’ve made up a list of unique and unusual CVC words that your students might not be familiar with.

This book includes a checklist, 136 word cards and definitions.  Who knows, there might be a few on here that may be new to you as well!

Click on the link to view/print Unique CVC Words

Coming Soon:

Stay tuned for CVC picture puzzles, crossword puzzles, and two board games coming this week!

Why not become a subscription member and be able to get all of these CVC materials + all of the TeachWithMe products for an entire year? Click on the link to find out how.

As always, if you have a tip to help teach CVC words, we’d enjoy hearing from you! This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Teaching the Difference Between Vowels and Consonants

Discovering that letters are divided into vowels and consonants are fun for my students to learn about.

I teach them a vowel song to the tune of B-I-N-G-O so they have that concept nailed by the end of the day.

Click on the link to view/print a copy of the Vowel Song.

I also hang up a set of vowel posters and then let them sort tubs of plastic letters, and numbers that I have collected over the years. 

They enjoy sorting them into two piles: one for numbers and one for letters.  When I’m sure they aren’t confusing them, I’ll have them sort the vowels from the consonants.

Speed Games: 

My Y5’s enjoy “Speed” games.  This is when I have them do a skill sheet as fast as they can.  Some take the full minute, others are done as quickly as 15 seconds.

Playing in this game-like fashion relieves tension and anxiety and prepares them for future timed-tests that the state mandates as they get into higher grades.

I reward everyone with a sticker.  The first 3 done correctly, get to choose their stickers.

One of their favorite “Speed” games is to circle the vowels and underline the consonants in a themed drawing.

I have a booklet: Vowel & Consonant Help, filled with 10 (One for each month from September through June).

These skill sheets also double as “I spy an upper or lowercase letter” that your little ones will enjoy playing, when your students are working on letter recognition.

Click on the link to look at the booklet.  The book also includes an upper and lowercase bookmark where students trace the vowels in one color and the consonants in another. 

Afterwards, these can be laminated and used as “I Spy” game strips as well. You'll also find a certificate of praise to reward your students with after they have learned their vowels!

More Fun and Games:

Another helpful booklet is entitled A Little Bit Of This and a Little Bit Of That. 

It's FREE and 136-pages long!

Chock full of interesting vowel and consonant help, your students will enjoy vowel and consonant "searches", Bingo Dot the consonants or vowels, letter puzzles, alphabet wheels, a long and short vowel booklet + long and short vowel writing skill sheets. 

My Y5's really love making a rip and tear vowel booklet, or pinching a golf tee and poking holes around a letter (Pinch & Pokes) to not only help with letter recognition in this fun way, but strengthen their finger muscles at the same time. 

All of these vowel/consonant and letter activities are included in this FREE book. Click on the link to view/print this booklet.  

Nature Pattern Strips

Before the snow starts to fly and everything is gone with the wind or buried, get some exercise and fresh air with your class or send a note home to parents to take a nature walk with their child.

While out and about have students spy patterns on their journey, i.e., leaf-twig-leaf, mum-tree-mum etc.

Arm each child with a large baggie and have them collect 3 of a kind of two different things, so they can return and make an ABABAB nature pattern.

I glued mine to 5 ½ x 12 strips of fall-colored scrapbook paper that was cardstock stiff.  You could also cut strips of colored tag board, use bulletin board border or sentence strips.

Using tacky glue, students arrange their treasures in a line in an AB pattern.  Let dry over night and then collage on a bulletin board.

This activity is lots of fun for them, so be prepared for your students to want to do more than one.

For cut and glue pattern activities take a look at my Pattern Booklet.

Come Blast Off With Me!

My Y5 standards have students learning to count from 10 to 0; other states have kindergartners needing to count backwards from 20.

No matter what number you have to start from, here are a few tips to help you make that easy and fun!

Transitions:

I use counting backwards as a way to transition.  Whenever I need my students to go from point A to point B, I tell them, “Let’s do it before I get to zero.  Count down with me: 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0!” They enjoy this, and scamper to achieve.

We countdown every time I have them line up.  I also have my students countdown while we wait for children to finish up in the bathroom.  We’ll countdown and clap, countdown in a whisper voice, countdown in a deep-monster voice, countdown and hop, countdown and balance on one foot, or countdown slowly and finish really fast.

Blast Off!

Their favorite way to countdown is when they are gathered on the carpet.  I have them pretend that they are rockets.  They crouch down and then when we get to zero, they yell, “Blast off!” jumping as high into the air as they can.  I tell them I’ll be watching for who jumps the highest.  They are highly competitive and really want to be the highest “blaster rocket”.

Activities: Rocket Art Projects:

Since my students are also learning to identify and write numbers, as well as learning to count backwards, I combine learning all of these standards with 2 quick and easy rocket art projects.  They can be found in my 50-page Fun Activities Countdown Booklet.

Blast Off Skill Sheets:

I also have them do several tracing countdown skill sheets, and “Zap” the numbers in sequential order in I Spy the number games as well.  After we’ve traced/zapped all of the numbers, we countdown together and they “blast” out of their chairs.

To change things up a bit, they do a similar activity with bingo dot markers in an ABAB pattern.  These countdown skill sheets are also found in the  Fun Activities Countdown Booklet.

Blast Off Bookmarks:

I’ve also made horizontal countdown number line bookmarks for them.  After students have traced the numbers, countdown as a whole group and blast off.  Click on the link to view/print the Blast Off bookmarks

Use these number strips and have students glue them to party tweeters.  I purchased jumbo ones at The Dollar Store. 

It’s just another fun way to have students working with, and recognizing this number sequence.

You can also use these strips as an "I Spy!" game and give children a token or M&M to move down the line as they countdown. They can eat their treat to fuel their rockets, after they finish blasting off.

Blast Off Games:

Blast Off! Is a spinner game using a brass brad and paperclip.  Children play with a partner and take their rocket to the moon counting down as they go.  This game is also in the Fun Activities Booklet.

Another fun game your students will enjoy playing is Sequence Yourself. Print off and laminate the “Blast Off” cards.

Cut them out and pass out numbers 20 to 0 or 10 to 0 depending on your standard.  Since children enjoy picking a card and holding it, I’ve included “Blast Off!” cards as well as rocket cards.

Set a timer for 5-minutes and instruct your students to get into “Blast off” order starting with 20 or 10.

Everyone else remains seated holding their blast off or rocket card.  Children are all in a crouching position.

Begin the countdown.  The student holding that card bounces up, then the next, ‘til you get to zero and then everyone still remaining crouched, jumps up as everyone yells “Blast off!”

Click on the link to view/print the Blast off cards.

Blast Off Booklets:

I’ve included covers for the cards incase you want to run off copies so that your students can make an Itty Bitty Blast Off book.  Click on the link to view/print a copy of the traceable Blast Off cards.

These cards come from the 25-page Come Blast Off With Me! booklet packet.  It’s an adorable easy reader that students enjoy making. They choose a rocket, fellow astronaut friend, planet, and even a new alien friend!  It also includes 6 graphing extensions for math fun.

Blast Off Certificate:

Finally, give everyone a certificate of praise to encourage their efforts.  Click on the link to view/print a copy.

Why not become a subscriber and be able to download all of these activities. Click on the link to see how.

As always if you have a tip for teaching your students how to count backwards, I’d enjoy hearing from you.  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it