Miss Vericker's Adventures

Showing posts with label phonics. Show all posts

Reading Snapshot: Diphthongs!

Monday, May 8, 2017

T.G.I.F! I don’t know about where you all are, but here it’s Friday afternoon and it just started down-pouring. Not a bad time to curl up on the couch with my laptop and a snuggly blanket and introduce my first ‘Reading Snapshot’. Teaching reading is my PASSION! Obviously, duh. Probably every K/1^st/2^nd grade teacher out there loves it, but I am seriously OB-SESS-ED. Nothing makes me happier than planning out each group’s week of lessons. Is there any better feeling than finding the PERFECT activity for your kiddos on TpT?

I was gearing up to do a diphthong unit with my little ones. I just finished covering digraphs and wanted a similar high-interest unit for DIPHTHONGS. Unfortunately, TpT came up dry. I didn’t love the unit I used last year and found that the kids were bored with the all the worksheets. After about 15 hours, my Diphthong Mega Pack was born! Woo hoo!

Here is a “snapshot” into my finished product on diphthongs this week...

We start off with the flash cards. I do a fun little activity where I literally throw the flash cards at the students. They have to catch the cards, read them, then identify the sound being used and the letters that make up that sound. For example “Coin, /oy/ oi”. This takes about 10-12 minutes. I only focus on one or two sounds per day.

Next up, we create word sorts. I pass out a few (6-8) word cards per child. DIFFERENTIATION OPTION: For my support group, I will tell the students specifically how to sort the words. For example, 1. Sort the words by matching letters (all ‘oi’, ‘oy’, ‘au’, ‘aw’ ‘ou’ or ‘ow’, in one pile). OR 2. Sort the words by matching sounds (oi/oy in one pile, aw/au in one pile, ou/ow in one pile). My target group can create their own sort as long as they can explain it to the group. And my enrichment group creates two separate sorts independently and explains their rationale to the group. This activity is another 10-12 minutes.

The second day we will again review with flashcards, but this time we will practice using my hysterical Hollywood Voices packet. We are in stitches laughing every time we use this game. They are just so stinkin' comical, especially when they do the 'opera singer' or 'Queen of England". Each child picks a diphthong flashcard and a Hollywood Voice card then has to read the card in "character". We also throw in a little “fun” sheet or two on the second day, like Spin/Roll-a-Diphthong.

The third day is some good old “I have, Who has?” games for review. Depending on his or her ability level, each child is responsible for anywhere from 2-5 cards. And again, some worksheet fun.

The last day is GAME DAY! We play either diphthong BINGO or Connect Four.

{Even I play} Woo hoo! Party Time!

So, that about sums up this week's edition of 'Reading Snapshot'. I intend to make this a weekly installment of a little glimpse into my reading groups each week. Hope you enjoyed it and if you think this is something you would like to try in your class, pick it up here!

Have a spectacular weekend :)

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Hey, Hollywood! EOY

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Oh my WORD. Who is ready for the year to be OVER? This coming from the girl who bursts out crying as I write reports and put the final "we have cherished our year with xxx. We will miss him/her dearly and wish XXX all the best in second grade" because I know I won't see my littles next year. I am in a weird place of wishing the year was over about 3 days ago, yet also wanting to freeze time and capture every little smile, laugh, story, lunch, morning meeting we are sharing together as a class. For. The. Last. Time. :( Such a conundrum. I think if there was a way to not make reports due at this time of year, it would make everything a zillion times easier. Anyone else out there do narrative reports? 20 students x 5 subjects at a page each = 100 pages worth of narrative reports. Luckily they are due 4 hours (right down to the wire) so I can finally BREATHE and get back to my newest passion- blogging and teacher instagram :)

Anyway, I wanted to share a little lifesaver that has been getting me through reading groups this week... Wait, reading groups this week? I didn't plan any of those! I'm reporting and assessing, DUH! ...'cause that's how every teacher wants to spend the last few moments of the year with their kiddos. YEA RIGHT.

Luckily, this activity kills two birds with one stone. My Hollywood Voices activity practices fluency and gives lists of short vowels, word families, diphthongs, digraphs, vowel teams and 150 sight words which means that while we are playing away, I am secretly assessing them on their mastery of these concepts.

The young readers snatch up a word list (you can differentiate by separating the easy from harder lists) then pick a Hollywood Voice card. They then have to read the word list as that particular character. I guarantee this will have you and your littles rolling on the floor laughing.