Practice the -ing Suffix with My ‘Green Spider and the -ing’ Game

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My daughter is a second year reader. I taught her some foundational phonic skills last year in Kindergarten and she knows all of her Dolch High Frequency Words. She can read simple books and we are progressing forward with more difficult text. With all of that being said she was still struggling with the ‘-ing’ suffix. She tried to sound out each letter every time she approached a word in a sentence that ended in -ing. So I created this game and matching word book to teach her about the -ing suffix and how it sounds with some common words she sees in a lot of books.

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The pieces for the matching game can either be used as such or glued into a file folder to create a file folder game. I had my daughter pronounce each word as she selected it and its matching ‘-ing’ partner card. For example as she picked up ‘smile’ she would say ‘smile’ then she looked for the matching ‘-ing’ word. When she found ‘smiling’ she would say ‘smiling’. We followed up the game with the matching word book. I read the word bank words to her and explained how the book worked by writing the matching word for each page on the blank line to complete each sentence. After she completed the pages in the book she read the book to me!

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She was so excited about the book that she read it to her dad when he got home from work AND her brother and sister! I LOVE IT when she gets excited about reading! I really feel like I have done my job as a home-schooling mom when my children want to share what they have learned with others!

I included the common core standards that this set covers in the set as well as teacher notes to guide you through the grammar rules that apply to the words that are used in the set.

Common Core Standards:
1st Grade: RF.1.3f Read words with inflectional endings.
2nd Grade: RF.2.3d Decode words with common prefixes and suffixes.
3rd Grade: L.3.2e Use conventional spelling for high-frequency and other studied words and for adding suffixes to base words.

‘SH’ as in Fish Game to Practice the ‘sh’ Digraph!

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My daughter is reading on her own but still struggling a bit with some phonic rules. One of the digraphs that was giving her trouble is the ‘sh’ sound. No matter how many times I explain that ‘sh’ makes the ‘quiet sound’ and put my finger to my lips and say, “Shhhhhhh.” She still attempted to sound it out when in the context of a book.

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So I decided to create this game to practice the ‘sh’ digraph while reading words that begin and end in the sound. I also created a word book to help her remember the words and the spelling of the sound by writing it out in a simple book format. The game and word book also cover the common core requirement RF.1.3a which states “Know the spelling-sound correspondences for common consonant digraphs.”

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Once she completed the game and the book she was no longer trying to sound out each letter for ‘sh’! Yay! Now to move onto the other consonant digraphs like CH and TH! Look for those game and book sets coming up soon!

‘OW’ Sounds Matching Game and Booklet

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My youngest daughter is in 1st grade this year. We went over the basics for reading already and she has a good foundation, but she has a few phonic letter combinations that give her trouble. ‘OW’ is one of those letter combinations. I like to practice these problematic sounds as a game so I came up with this matching game.

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The ‘OW’ sounds game practices the two sounds for ‘ow’. Students match the words containing the letters ‘ow’ to picture cards with the same sound (flower and bow.) There is also a ‘challenge’ to match words containing these letters to the picture cards. This game can be used individually, in a learning center, as a small group or as a file folder game. Everything is included to make the game self-correcting so it can be used in your literacy center too. A word book is included with this set to review concepts and to practice writing ‘ow’ words. All pages are full color with an easy to read font.

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My daughter used the booklet as extra practice. I asked her to say the words as she wrote them and then we talked about which picture the word would match with (the bow or the flower—depending on the sound in the word.) I hope that you will find this game useful for your young reader too.

This game covers the common core standard for Second Grade: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.2.3b which states: Know spelling-sound correspondences for additional common vowel teams.

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Teaching Reading Comprehension in a Fun Way!

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Reading comprehension is one of the most difficult things to teach a child. Eventually, most children understand how to read and learn to read allowed fluently through decoding the words and mimicking tone and inflection that they have heard others use. But how do you teach a child to understand what they have read? That is more difficult.

Breaking the text down into chunks and discussing or asking questions about each section can help some children to analyze as they read. When a child can’t answer a comprehension question a teacher will ask the student to look back into the text to find the answer to teach the child how to skim and re-read text for specific content.

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I plan to teach these concepts on a first grade level to my 6 (soon to be 7) year old by using matching, file folder, and pocket chart games. One game that I recently created is called ‘Three Little Monsters‘. This set includes 24 colorful printable game pieces and a printable 9 page activity booklet to help children practice reading comprehension in a fun way.

The Three Little Monsters game asks beginning readers (Kinder., 1st, Second Grade) to decode a sentence then to find the key elements in the sentence to create a match. The booklet asks the student to read a sentence, find the picture of the character in the sentence, and create an illustration that demonstrates understanding of that sentence.

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Starting comprehension questions at a ‘one-sentence-at-a-time’ level and making it fun through game play is just what beginning readers need to gain a fundamental understanding of the techniques used for reading comprehension. Check out the game on my Teachers Pay Teachers Store or by following this link: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Three-Little-Monsters-Reading-Comprehension-Game-and-Activity-Book-849003

Sudoku 4 You- A Wall Hanging Sudoku Game

sudoku 4 you game

Last year I made a Boggle Wall Game for my children to play. The kids LOVED it and their friends did too. I found children visiting on playdates in our classroom playing Boggle! I felt great knowing that they found the game fun and it was educational too!!! So this year I decided to change the wall game board into a Sudoku board! I am hoping that the kiddos find this one just as fun!

I created a small 1/2 sheet of paper with several sudoku grids on it so my children could problem solve several times to find the correct answer. You can either create your own or print empty 4×4 grids here. I printed them off and hung them in a baggy near the game so my kids can simply grab one and start solving. I also hung an empty baggy on the wall under the game so they could place their completed grids in it for me to see!

I can see how this game would be great in a classroom for kids of all ages. Here’s where to get some FREE sudoku puzzles and answers to make this game easy to set up.

Get the directions to make the game board here! Need more sudoku puzzles? Here’s a book that has number and picture puzzles with directions on how to play sudoku! Don’t worry the answers ARE at the back of the book! Finally you can print large numbers and cut them out to place into the pockets of the game board or you can just write large numbers onto note cards! Have fun—and yes, adults can play too! 🙂

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Landmark Challenge Pocket Chart Game- A Social Studies Game

Landmark Challenge Pocket Chart Game

This game is all about learning about key landmarks around the world. I found these great flashcards in the Target dollar bins. But if you can’t find them you can buy them here or print US Landmarks for free here.

I simply wrote the names of the landmark on a note card cut in 1/2 lengthwise. The back of each picture flashcard has the landmark’s name and some facts about the landmark so this game is easily created and self-correcting! Yay! I am starting a new social studies series with my kiddos this year called The Story of the World and I thought this game would be a natural activity to gain some perspective on places of importance around the world.

There are enough cards that I can rotate these out on a bi-weekly basis and have almost enough cards to make this game last all year!

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Time Matching Pocket Chart Game

Time Pocket Chart Game

My first grader learned to read basic time last year. But I want her to review what she learned in a fun way. I found these great flash cards that have digital and analog time printed on them in the Target dollar bins. If you can’t find them you can print off FREE cards here and laminate them with clear contact paper to make this game.

I used a pocket chart from the Target dollar bins but you can buy one here. Just write the correct answers on the back of one of the cards (either digital or analog) and you have a self correcting game! This time matching pocket chart game is perfect for learning to tell time in a fun way. Start off with hour and half hour cards. Then move onto quarter hour cards. For even older children you can move up to telling time to the 5 minute mark!

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Penguin Consonant Blend Pocket Chart Game

Penguin Match Pocket Chart Game

Learning through game play makes learning more fun. I love to make pocket chart games to hang around our home-school classroom to help with ‘dead time’. Dead time is when one child has a question but I am working one on one with another child. (I home-school 3 children in 3 different grades.) I simply ask her to do a ‘sponge’ activity (an activity like a wall game or folder game that ‘sucks’ up dead time) until I can get to a good stopping point with the first child.

This consonant blends game makes the perfect activity as a pocket chart game. The game play is easy. The child simply matches the penguin with the letters of the consonant blend to the penguin with the picture that shows an object with the same consonant blend beginning sound. Write the correct answers on the back of the picture penguins and you have a self correcting game! Don’t have a pocket chart? That’s okay play this game as a memory match game instead. Either way consonant blend sounds have never been more fun to learn!

Here’s the link to the FREE printable on Teacher’s Pay Teachers: Penguin Consonant Blend Cards

Here’s a link to a pocket chart on Amazon: http://amzn.to/19C0DUF

Here’s a link to clear contact paper to laminate your pieces (no machine necessary) on Amazon: http://amzn.to/16DfSLH

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How to Create Kid-Friendly Workspaces that Keep Your Kids Busy All Day Long!

We have two times of the day when we watch TV. In the morning just after the children wake up and at night just before bed. Other than those times we have a no TV policy. So my kids need to find lots of things to keep themselves busy all day. Here’s how we set up our home so that there aren’t a lot of “I’m bored!” statements.

art cabinet for kids
Art cabinet
I have an entire cabinet in my laundry room dedicated to arts and craft supplies. Ziplock bags full of stickers, feathers, pom poms, and yarn. I have drawers full of construction paper, glitter, pipe cleaners and googly eyes. I have a shelf devoted to paint, brushes, water containers and rags. My children always have access to this cabinet. We have dedicated a counter in my kitchen to art (when I am not using it for cooking.) This is the counter most painting and craft projects happen. I have taught my children to wear smocks and we keep those hanging on the wall where the children can reach them. I have also taught my children how to clean up. My children are 11yo, 8yo, and 6yo–> my six year old is very capable of taking out the paint/craft supplies, doing art, then cleaning up==> all on her own!

Organizing Toys
Toy Bins
We purchased an IKEA cube shelf a LONG time ago to organize the toys that we have. I bought plastic rectangular ‘shoe’ bins with lids to contain the toys on the shelf and make for easy transportation to the living room (or elsewhere.) And I labeled each of the bins with masking tape with written words and pictures of the item (When my children were toddlers and they couldn’t read, they could look at the pictures and know which toy belonged in that container.) This system was adopted from a preschool daycare philosophy and we found it made finding toys and cleaning up toys very easy. Toys tend to get lost in toy boxes and missing/broken pieces make toys less attractive to kids. By adopting this preschool philosophy of toy storage we have been able to maintain the quality of our toys ==> some for more than 11 years!

DIY 3 person desk
Work Space
We have a toy room where we keep most of our toys. This room is kid friendly with a kid-sized table, stools, area rug and lots of kid artwork on the walls. This is where we display all of our masterpieces and conveniently this system allowed me to maintain more ‘adult’ decor throughout the rest of the house! Bonus! Since my children were toddlers we have always had an art area. There is an easel set up with a paper roll in our toy room now, but when they were small I had an art table with a roll of paper on it and markers and crayons readily available. When they were toddlers I assisted them with painting and we did a TON of painting outside. In fact I kept an easel outdoors during their younger years! Now they paint either at the easel or on the counter in the kitchen ==>and even outdoors sometimes. Today they are painting a scene for a movie they are shooting called “The Secret Woman.”

Painting Outdoors

Creating kid-friendly work spaces and teaching your children how to use them is key to keeping your kids ‘working’ all day on creative activities. If your toys and arts/craft supplies are organized at the child’s level and your children know how to use them AND clean up, your kids will surprise you with how busy they can be all day long. You will never (okay==> almost never) hear, “I’m bored.” AND best of all your kids will surprise you with their creative, innovative ideas!

DIY Milk Crate Seats!

DIY Milk Crate Seats!

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5 Minute Learning Centers: Scrambled Sentences Pocket Chart Game

pocket chart scrambled sentences

This game is so easy to make. I found the mini-pocket charts at Target in the dollar bins! But you can buy them here from Amazon==> Mini-Pocket Chart Link. I bought the sentence strip paper at my local school supply store but you can buy it here from Amazon==>Sentence Strip Paper.

Next you just make up a story that is eight sentences long. Here’s an example:

I am an Artist

Painting is fun.
I like using color.
The brush is soft.
The paint is squishy.
I mix the colors.
I make shapes.
I use an easel.
I hang my painting.

Just print the words for the sentences on the sentence strips and cut them out. The pocket chart on the left is for the mixed up sentence. The pocket chart on the right is for the correctly arranged sentence. One of the great things about this game is that it is self correcting. If the sentence makes sense and the story sounds correct the player has achieved the correct answer!

A new scrambled sentence game can be used for each theme or change of season. One game but it can be used all year with a new story each time! I use this as a center activity when I need to get some one on one time with my kiddos. Older kids can even make up a story for this game. The possibilities are endless!