Dec 18, 2014

Surviving Brick Johnson

When we get back from the Holiday Break my 5th Graders and I are going to be reading Surviving Brick Johnson by Laurie Myers. To view our Padlet Wall where we will be posting our predictions, connections, "aha's", etc. scan the QR Code below.
 

Dec 8, 2014

Phonological Awareness Using the SMART Board

My kiddos love this quick and fun activity and it is extremely beneficial for building phonological awareness.
I open up a blank SMART document then write one CVC (consonant/vowel/consonant) word. I highlight one letter of the CVC word then call on a kiddo to substitute another letter for the highlighted letter. They then write a new word and highlight a letter and on and on. The students take turns and try to make the words longer. You can find several activities similar to this on Pinterest by searching WORD LADDERS. Disclaimer: I have some shorties in my group so we tend to write a lot of words near the bottom and they LOVE to play with colors and fonts.
Again, the kids love it and it requires NO prep, yet reinforces phonological awareness...I'd say that's a win-win!

Dec 5, 2014

Padlet

My little ones have been using Padlet A LOT! We use it to post answers to discussion topics, sort words and sounds, to make predictions about texts, etc. Here is just one quick example of how one of my groups posted and sorted words with short vowel sounds.  I created this image in ppt. then used it as my wallpaper for a new Padlet. More posts to come as to how we are utilizing Padlet in our lessons.