Blending Practice

Alright, we have made it through the introduction of the first 26 phonograms!  Wahoo!  Now we also finished our phonogram review and have started to dig deeper into segmenting and blending to read.
I love this time of year.

There are many different ways we teach blending in Kindergarten.  Each teacher has his/her own unique way (or a way your basal tells you ;) ) to intro blending.  If your like me, you probably sneak some blending into each lesson LONG before you explicitly teach it.  Sneaky sneaky!  I love giving my kids an opportunity to hear something being used while I am thinking aloud - even if I have not explicitly taught it yet.
We do TONS of blending activities as a class. We do TONS of blending with to sound words.  We do TONS of blending with simple CVC words as a group before I 'release' them!

The way I introduce it in independent practice is with our Underwater Words station.  This station is a great transition from sounds to words.

I break the cards into groups. (I use six groups in my room).  I introduce a new group of cards as the kids get more comfortable with the phonograms we have been learning in class.  Most of the groups include a few phonograms and some simple words using those phonograms. 
At this station, the kids can pull a card down and say either the sound or blend to read.  If he/she can read it, he/she can keep it.  If the card cannot be read, it goes back onto the board.  The kiddo with the most cards at the end is the winner!

I just attach some magnet tape and stick them to a magnetic surface.  My students LOVE this station.  They espcially love when I change out the set of cards.  Challenge time!


I also created a couple other blending games.  In Alien Words, the kids are practicing blending simple CVC words.  Some are real words and some are nonsense words.

The cards can be placed face down.  Each player will take a turn to grab a card.  If the card is read/blended correctly, the student can keep the card in his/her stack. If the card was not read correctly the player puts it back in the pile to be read another time.  If you are playing with your students, you can read/blend it correctly and then put it back in the pile.  If a player pulls our an ALIEN all of his/her cards must be read and placed back into the pile.  BUMMER!

The words in this pack sequence from simple to complex to fit the needs of all my learners.

We also use a game called Bubble Gum Words.

Students will get a chance to decode words and decide if they are real or nonsense by sorting them into the appropriate squares.
Also included in the pack is an accountability worksheet – a great way for you to manage student participation while you are working with another group.

I love blending.  I hope you love this activities and kind find a use for then in your classroom.


What is your favorite way to have your kiddos work independently with blending?

Thanksgiving FREEBIE!

I hope you have been following the I Do, We Do, You Do! FB page during my 30 days of Project Gratitude!
This is a special time of year when should take a few extra minutes to remember all of the things we have to be thankful for.  It is so easy to get busy/distracted, but try and take a step back each day and be thankful for all that you have around you.

Our smallest learners tend to be thankful for people rather than things.  I love to read this poem with my kiddos each year and make a hand-print turkey!  Get your copy of this FREEBIE here!

They love their mom and dad (and grandmas and grandpas and aunts and uncles and...) so we send this home so that parents are reminded of these tiny little blessings in their lives.

I just print this poem on construction paper (free at my school) and have then write their names on the bottom.  I call them up and paint their hands.  They love it!  I paint the palm and the thumb brown for the body and the fingers fall colors for colorful turkey feathers.

After they are dry, I take a sharpie and draw feet and a beak. 

sorry it is up-side down, I can't get them to flip

I hope you and your kiddos love this poem as much as we do!

Workstation Time!

Wahoo!  I so pumped - we are working independently!

We have been working towards 'real' workstations for a while now.  We started building stamina by working as a class [independently] for 10 mins, then moved to working in smaller tables groups, then to small groups and finally to our workstation buddy groups!  Yay!
It was wonderful walking around the room and observing the kiddos working in their small groups.  I loved it.  I am hoping to pull small groups starting Monday!

I use a pocket chart to manage my stations.  The kids rotate twice each day and work there way through eight stations each week. *We have a 1/2 day on Wednesdays, so no time for stations! 
It was kind of crazy when I was trying to figure out how to rotate them, so I created this chart that helped me.  Now, I don't use the chart.  I am able to just gather the cards in my hand and move them around.

I created these station cards to go in the pocket chart for easy management and rotation.  They have the station title and a corresponding picture.

I just LOVE using these!  I have included over 20 different types of cards - library, poetry, big books, housekeeping, writing, etc.  I have also included a few blank cards so that you can add special stations for your room!

If you are looking for station ideas and ways to keep your kids accountable during station time, you should check out my Workstation Pack!  I created station posters and accountability sheets to help manage my kids while I am working with a small group.


Also, it drives me insane when you ask a kid what he/she did at a station and he/she says, "nothing" or "played"... Ahh!  Come on, I did not create all of these wonderful learning experiences just for you to say, "nothing"!

The station posters and worksheets include:
-write the room (primary line and bottom line)
-listening
-blending
-nonsense word
-pocket chart
-writing
-blocks
-puzzles
-word quilt (word wall)
-library

Not only can the worksheets be used to manage accountability, but they can also be used as an assignment (for a grade), an assessment or as a checklist for workstation incentive.

I hope you can use these!

Don't forget to check out the I Do, We Do, You Do! FB page and follow my 30 days of Project Gratitude!

Project Gratitude!

What are you thankful for?

A friend of mine recently challenged herself to post things she was thankful for each day for 30 days in reference to 'Project Gratitude'.  After reading her posts about this wonderful idea, I began to search the web for "Project Gratitude" - holy smokes, there are so many people doing great things. If you have an extra minute (ha!) you should Google it and see the great things happening all around you!

This time of year it is easy to get side-tracked with our crazy kiddos, lessons, crafts, decorating, bills, baking, parties... ahhhhh!  EVERYTHING!  I want to take a few minutes every day and jot down/remember all the great things in my life.  I am going to post daily about a few things I am thankful for on the I Do, We Do, You Do! Facebook page and encourage you to do the same.  Please hop on over, check it out and add a few things of your own!

Remember, there are things all around us EVERY DAY to be thankful for.  If you are having a difficult time getting started, be thankful for these wacky guys and their funny 'Gratitude Dance' :)



What is something you are thankful for RIGHT NOW?

Bad Blogger Sale :/

Oh my goodness.  I have been neglecting my blog and TpT store.  I feel horrible.  Last night, Mr. I Do, We Do, You Do! even asked me about the last time I blogged or created. :/ BUSTED!

So... I am going to have a sale to make up for my neglect!

Buy 2 products from my TpT store and you can pick one for free!  Just email me at IdoWedoYoudo@gmail.com with the two items you purchased and make a note of the one you would like for free!
The free item must be of equal or lesser value.

I promise I will get better at blogging and creating!  Things are finally getting back to normal!

SWAP

It is time for some product swapping brought to you by...

I had the wonderful opportunity to be paired with Mrs. Brinn from

I used her Alphabet Vacation.  This activity was great.  There are many different ways you can use it.  You can have the kids bring in items (the way in which it was created), bring in items yourself OR make it a treasure hunt!  <-- This is what I did.

Her product comes with a great letter you can send home to parents telling them what is going to be happening in class and asking them to participate.

I was not sure how it would work out in my tiny room with each kid bringing in a suitcase, so I improvised!  Gotta love that!  Her activity lends itself so easily to an alphabet treasure hunt.

So, when the kids came to school the Monday after we finished learning the first twenty-six phonograms, our alphabet was missing and this is what we found:

Of course we needed them!  How could we continue learning without them?!  So, the hunt began!
As we go through our alphabet a the second time, we are focusing on isolating sounds.  Each day we review a new sound.  Each day we need to hunt for our review phonogram.  How else will we be able to learn more about/with the phonogram if our alphabet is on vaca?!
I tried to find places around campus or in our room that begin with that phonogram.  For example, the first sound we needed was /t/. 

When we were reviewing /l/, we found that tricky phonogram in the library.

Since our adventurous letters packed up and headed out for some R&R, we had to get our passports ready.  Each kiddo is responsible for getting five 'stamps' on his/her passport.  Sometimes we find phonograms as a class and sometimes we find them as a small group.  Once, there there was a sneaky letter in someone's backpack - sneaky /r/ found her way into the backpack of a girl whose name begins with that sound.

This week a group of kiddos found the /p/ vacationing on the playground!

As we were searching, we found /p/ and a cup full of /p/ stamps.

Whenever we find one of our vacationing letters, we glue them in our passport.  I had also considered printing them onto labels since Mrs. Brinn's template is perfect for that, but I thought we could use more experiences with glue.

Since this is only our first week reviewing the letters, we still have lots more to find.  I plan on getting very creative... think props!  I will be sure to post more pics and keep you updated!

The kiddos love this activity and look forward to going on adventures every day.  This has really helped motivate them to go through the alphabet a second time.

Be sure to check out Mrs. Brinn's page and hear her take on the Alphabet Vacation!

[Oops,] I Did it Again...

You know you are humming the Britney Spears song!  Okay, maybe you're not, but I am! ;)

So, we started writing journals.  In years past it has driven me NUTS when they kiddos can't seem to write on the 'next blank page' no matter how much I preach it.  I would look through journals weeks later and find pages have been skipped or an entry from November is right next to an entry from February.  Ugh.  I can only blame myself - what am I NOT doing?  Well, I love the way the ribbon is working out with my math books, so...

I glued them into our journals! I will be sure to let you know how they work for us.  I am hoping we have the same luck success with book marker.
Wish me luck and easy grading when I go back through them!

I also created this simple journal cover template.

It will print to be half of an 8.5x11 page.  Enjoy this fun and easy FREEBIE!
We use primary writing journals, so I just let the kids color in their own cover and taped them on sideways.  You can always shrink or enlarge to better suit your likes.

Seriously though, I am still hearing that Britney song!

Have a great Wednesday!

Math Books

Oh my goodness.  cRaZiNeSs!  This past week has been so busy - good busy.  My mom was in town and we got to have a mommy/daddy vacation!  I loved it!

Back to business.  I was going back and forth FOREVER about how to manage our student workbooks in math.  This is the first year my school has ever given us a kindergarten student consumable.  I was nervous.  How the heck was I supposed to find the page EVERY day for EVERY kid until they learned to count past 10?!

(that's a lot of pages!)

Well, I love how my planner has a special bookmark that is attached so I started thinking of ways to attach something to the student books.

Voila!

I cut and glued a long piece of ribbon to the back cover of each book.  I think I measured it to be about 3-4inches longer than the book.

I thought that it was going to take FOR.EV.ER. but it actually moved very fast.  My kiddos love it and think they have something really special!  After a week or two of use, they are pretty good at it.

Hopefully you can use this idea in your room.  I purchased 3 spools (is that what they are called) of ribbon and only used 1 1/2 of them for 24 books.
In hindsight, I wish I would have bought a thicker ribbon.  Kids can be rough!

Happy Birthday!

It is my birthday, so I am throwing a TpT sale!  Stop on over and pick up a few things!

Giveaway - Day 5!

It has been a wonderful giveaway, but all good things must come to an end.  Boo.

Today is the last day for the I Do, We Do, You Do! 5-day-giveaway!  You can win some really great products today.  I want to thank all the wonderful ladies who donated products to the giveaway to help me celebrate.  I am so excited!

For the grande finale, I am able to throw 6 products into the mix!

Kristen from

has donated her Apple Themed Literacy Centers

Sandy from


donated her Math Racers Addition Facts

Mandy from



is going to let you pick anything from her TpT store!  Gotta love that!


DeAnne from

has donated her Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy Math Tub Activities

Marie from


has donated her Story Elements Posters and Practice

...and I wanna give you the pick from anything in my TpT store!

Thank you so much for being an I Do, We Do, You Do! reader.

To enter this fantastic giveaway, just follow this blog and the I Do, We Do, You Do! Facebook page.  Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Have a great day!