Saturday, April 16, 2011

Brainstorm...

Okay ya'll... I need your help! My team and I have discussed what's going great with Daily 5 and what is kind of running out of gas. Our consensus is that we need some new word work choices.

Here is what I have already had in my boxes at one point or another:

Bendaroos      Clay      Letter tiles    Mini chalk boards    Stencils    Markers    Magnetic Letters   ABC Silly bandz

 




 



Now what??? One of our teammates (whom we miss dearly already... recent maternity leave) started using dabbers. Her kiddos write their word study word in pencil first (fairly large) and then use the paint dabber to go over it. I'll be looking into adding this one but I'd love some more ideas for all your fabulous bloggers out there!

OH! ANDDDD how do you keep your clay from drying out? I put clay into coffee-like lids and put them in ziplock baggies. This didn't work too well since a portion of my munchkins are unable to shut ziplock bags independently, then they would try to revive it with a wet paper towel and next thing you know, mud word work rather than clay word work!


 THANKS in advance to anyone who has some fantastic ideas for my team.... we need to shake things up :)


8 comments:

Katie said...

I was using all the things you mentioned too and felt like it was loosing its appeal. So I actually added a few of your items on your blog. In one of my drawers I have the huff and I'll puff activity. The kids LOVE it. I also made a bingo card with our kindergarten sight words on it. It is similiar to yours and I also have some CVC word card that I got through Lakeshore. Adding these 3 things have made word work a "hit" again. I

Shannon said...

Katie- I'm glad you liked some of the things I made and I am even more excited that your kiddos love them!!! Let me know if there is anything you'd like made, I'm always looking for new ideas :)

Kari said...

I do not do Daily 5 in my classroom, I have been thinking of starting next year though so I love this brainstorming idea. We do have a clay center. I keep the clay in the smallest Ziploc plastic container bowls, the ones with the blue lids. The children can easily snap the lids back on so the clay doesn't dry out.

Learning with Mrs. Parker said...

My kids love homemade playdoh. It lasts forever and doesn't dry out as quickly. Here are 2 posts I wrote about Daily 5 and word work.

http://learningwithmrsparker.blogspot.com/search/label/sensory

http://learningwithmrsparker.blogspot.com/2011/01/word-work.html

I notice that kids can't be at Word Work more than 20 minutes. Perhaps, something new like scented markers to write or dry erase boards to write around the room.

Shannon said...

Kari- Thank you for the fantastic idea! I am super excited to add clay/playdough back in this time with success... why didn't I think of those little tuperware thingies. Doesn't matter, that's what is so awesome about blogging and the internet :)

S Parker, I agree about the time limit. My rounds tend to be 15-17 minutes so it works well in our room. Do you know of any other brand of scented marker besides mr sketch? Just looking for a lower cost that's all. I'll be jumping over to read your blogposts, thanks for sharing.

Katie Mense said...

Here is an idea I have posted on my blog using bubble tubes (you can get them in the dollar bins at target right now:)
http://littlekinderwarriors.blogspot.com/2011/04/bubble-tubes-literacy-center.html
Some other ideas that we use are light brights-Have the kiddos write sight words on black construction paper with a white crayon and stick it on the light bright. Then they can build the word with pegs and light it up!
Geoboards are good too! If they have a few geoboards that can use rubber bands and build words.
I also ran across this blog that has free alphabuilders to print out and use! These are great to use all year! At the beginning of the year they can use them to practice building letters and later they can use them to build words! Here's the link:
http://confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com/2009/11/my-printables.html just scroll down to alphabuilders.
Hope this helps!!!!!
~Katie
Little Warriors

Brooke said...

My kids' favorite word work station right now is Stamps. They have a recording sheet with a 3 column table. The first column has the words, the second column is for "Write it" and the last column is for "Stamp It". It helps them to read the word, write the word, and then do something fun to create the word.

Another favorite is finding sight words they know in the newspaper and highlighting it. I cut all of the newspaper pages in half so it's a manageable size for them to use.

Stephanie said...

I don't do daily 5 but my kids do lots of word work type activities. I have posted about a few on my blog. One thing my kids love is "foam dough" I don't know if that's what it is called. I also have some cool letter beads that they like.

Stephanie


MrsKellysKindergarten
stephaniekelly03@gmail.com

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