1-2-3 Come Make An Alphabet Wheel With Me  

Alphabet Wheels are a quick, easy & fun way to practice letters, and build the vocabulary needed to give an example of a word, with that beginning sound.

They feature 7 nouns that begin with that letter, and come in black & white, as well as full-color, so that you can use a colorful one for an independent center and use the black & white pattern for a whole-group or individual word work activity, where kiddos make their own.

Alphabet wheels are perfect for letter of the day/week activities. 

I've also tried to use popular themes so that you can revisit the wheels or feature them with your apple, leaves, gingerbread, turkey and snowmen etc. themes.

Another idea, after children have gone through the entire alphabet, is to have them make their own alphabet wheel that starts with the first letter of their name.

On the back of the wheel they can write the other picture words along with their name: “Kk is for kite, key, kangaroo, king, koala and Kaiden!”

I've also included a worksheet where students trace & write the words then put them in alphabetical order. 

So that you can give them a try, the first alphabet wheel, "A is for Apples and..." is FREE.  It's today's featured freebie as well.

I had a request for "bundling" the alphabet wheels.

I’m always happy to bundle up packets particularly for the alphabet, so you can get a nice price break and save more.

I’ve bundled 13 alphabet wheels A-M together, then another bundle for the rest of the letters N-Z., so instead of being a dollar each if bought separately, they are now only .50 cents.

Well that's it for today.  Thanks for stopping by.

We've been having some chart-topping temps again for September, so it's time to go water my garden.

Wishing you a happy-go-lucky kind of day. 

"Be a rainbow in someone's cloud." - M. Angelou

1-2-3 Come Do Some Apple-Themed Vocabulary Building With Me

Apple-themed week, continues with some interesting vocabulary building activities.  Part of all of the themes that I did with my Y5's, included the vocabulary that they needed to learn that would help them understand apples, pumpkins, butterflies etc. 

The science aspect of what we studied, provided a plethora of new words.  Having children label the parts of an apple, is a quick, easy and fun way to reinforce a few of them. 

To visually show the "peel" or "skin" of an apple, I made this "craftivity" as a flip open.  The "skin" is flipped off to reveal the inside of the apple.

Students add a bit of color, cut and glue the words, or write them.  If you look closely at my sample, you can also see the front that says: Kelli's apple, as an interesting way for students to write their name. Click on the link to view/download the Label An Apple Craft.

Another way I reinforced vocabulary was for students to write the words.  To cover yet another standard, I often had them put the words in alphabetical order. 

I designed a sweet apple knOWLedge bookmark, with a list of apple related words on it, plus a worksheet on the side for students to write the words in alphabetical order.  Click on the link to view/download the apple vocabulary bookmark. 

Word finds are also fun for students.  These not only reinforce vocabulary, but help increase spelling skills.  This one features 18 apple-themed words. Click on the link for the apple word find.

No matter what grade I taught, I always encouraged my students to use adjectives in their writing to make things more vivid, and to incorporate them orally when they were describing something.  

Having children think up words as they use their senses to feel, taste, and smell an apple, also helps increase vocabulary. 

As they share the words that they come up with to describe their apple, list them on the board. 

Use the  apple adjective worksheet before or after your brainstorming.  I've included a completed sample that you can also share. Click on the link to view/download the apple adjective activities.

As a part of our science requirements, we also studied the 5 senses, which fit in perfectly with adjective use.  I challenged my students each month to increase their use of adjectives by using all of their senses when describing something. 

To make this easy, I designed a simple and quick worksheet for them to fill in each month.  I called these Sensory Word Anchor Charts.  Each month I chose a different word that would be appropriate for that time of year. 

For example, for September, I used an apple.  Click on the link to grab a copy of the monthly sensory adjective writing. 

Finally, another way to build vocabulary and increase writing skills, is by teaching antonyms and synonyms for the words that your students use and are learning. 

In keeping with the apple theme, I made up antonym apples with synonym leaves.  Cut them into puzzles to play all sorts of matching games. 

The apples provide 132 words to help build student vocabularies.  There's also a blank apple template to fill in with whatever, plus 80 synonym leaves with 2 blank leaf templates. 

Encourage students to make up some of their own antonym apples and write in synonyms too.  For more practice with antonyms, be sure and check out my list of 290 antonyms.  I've included a cover in this packet, so that students can make their own antonym word booklets.

Thanks for visiting today. Time to clear the clutter on my desk and in my mind.  I'm off for a walk to soak up some sunshine, with the tail-wagging Chloe. (My black poodle pup!)  The air smells so fresh from the down pour last night.  Wishing you a happy day.

 "If a child can't learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach them the way they learn." -Ignacio Estrada

57 pages!

Miss Nelson is Missing, is one of my all-time favorite back-to-school books.  It's also a perfect book to tuck into your sub folder. The packet includes a variety of writing, language arts and reading activites.  Plus some adorable "craftivities" to review even more standards. This packet will be free for an entire year, after which time it will be up-dated & included in my 203-page jumbo Miss Nelson is Missing Literacy & Math packet in my TpT shop. 

6 pages.

There is so much new vocabulary associated with teeth.  I've included an alphabetical list of 101 words associated with dental hygiene, several dental hygiene word searches, plus a dental hygiene word journal, where students can write new words as well as their definitions.

3 pages:

Another way to emmerse students with new vocabulary, is by searching for words in a word find.  Here are 2 word searches for Martin Luther King Day (1 for lower el, as well as an upper el version).

4 pages.

Mazes are wonderful higher-level thinking activities, that help exercise student brains.  They are nice to handout to "early finishers" or run some off and tuck in your sub folder.  There are 4 pumpkin mazes from easy (for PreK) to more difficult.

19 pages. Common Core State Standards: RF.K1a, RF.K1c, RF.K3c, L.K2a, L.K2b This booklet will help your students identify winter clothing words and the order clothes should be put on to get ready to go outside.

1-2-3 Come Be A Word Wizard With Me

As you go through the year, you add lots of words to your word wall.  We sometimes take for granted that because we've covered a set of words for a while, that they will have stuck in our students' brains. 

This is not necessarily true for some children; that's why it's so important to review these words on a daily basis. 

To make this more fun, a few minutes before lunch, or just before we got ready to go home, I'd turn off the lights and choose a Popsicle stick with a child's name on it. 

They got to turn on my neon laser sword and read a group of words. Then they'd point to the words and everyone would say them together.

When they were done, they'd choose another student to do the same, 'til time ran out.

My students LOVED doing this.  I'd also play "flash a word" with a flashlight.  The room was dark and I'd suddenly flash the light on a word.  The first one who identified it, got the flashlight.

Being able to recognize words is a Common Core State Standard: (RF.K.3c)

I'd often use our word wall for Daily 5 Word Work activities.

When all of the office supply stores are having huge loss leaders in August, I'd buy a class supply of notebooks. Most of the time these were only 10 or 15 cents each.

My Y5's felt very "grown up" getting a notebook and enjoyed practicing all sorts of writing activities and recording them in their notebooks.

I had my students become word wizards, which helped them enjoy vocabulary-building activities even more.

In the Word Wizard packet, I've included a cover for your students to glue to their notebook.

They can give their covers more pizzazz, if they draw or glue a picture of themselves as the word wizard.

Have children think of 4-5 adjectives that describe themselves. They write those words around their wizard.

Every day assign a numbered activity for them to do, with words from your word wall, or give them a choice of what activity to choose.

I've included a list of 51 activities that can easily be repeated with different words on another day.

This packet is a quick and easy way to cover "word work" for your Daily 5 activities.

There's also a certificate of praise to hand out at the end of the year when students have completed their notebooks.

Click on the link to view/download the Word Wizard packet.

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"The happiest people don't have the best of everything, they just make the best of everything." -Unknown