Tuesday, February 21, 2012

My BIG word PROJECT

Our Word Wall

Whew! I feel like I have been working on this project for months when in reality it has only been a couple of weeks, but it was in my thoughts some time before I actually began.

In our home we have more beginning readers than advanced readers. Actually we only have one advanced reader, and that is my oldest kiddo: Lyllian. She doesn't even need to be told to read during the day, because she always picks up a book at some point. Since I have so many in the beginning stages I have been trying to come up with a way to display the words they are working on, but still be able to separate their reading levels. After some internet searching I finally came up with our customized version of a word wall (pictured above). I have labeled it "The Word Worm Wall", and used several cute worms/bookworm clipart to decorate it. I was going to try to make it fancier (i.e. magnetic, velcro...something) but ended up going for simple: a poster paper glued to a piece of cardboard box (we have plenty of those around). Then I decided on the categories I wanted to display for them, and how I could also put something up for my advanced reader so that she wouldn't feel left out. I decided on these: (from left to right) Sight Words, Build a Sentence (tips for checking: capitals, spacing, punctuation and also commonly misspelled words), Letter Sounds (for phonics lessons), New Words to learn (Vocabulary), and Parts of Speech (yes... I spelled "speech" wrong on my poster. Everybody makes mistakes I will change it before they notice I promise! ).

This was being created at the same time that I created the Pirate Word Work activities and word cards for my son. Boy O Boy did that open up a flood! It inspired me to create similar activities for my girls...each with a different theme (of course) and make it into our own tailored Word Work curriculum. This also allows each to know which "word cards" belong to them on The Word Worm Wall. 

When God sends me blessings in the form of inspiration on how to teach my Kiddos....I just can't stop until I get it done! I spent many late nights either working or laying awake thinking about working!

Now I get to share these blessings with you!

I don't think I will be able to get it all in this one post. But I will begin now and hopefully post the rest throughout the week. 
(If you don't want to wait you can go to hslaunch, the link is on my left side bar, and find my freebies there!)


Warning: I am not perfect (as seen above with my spelling errors). I try to proof read and give correct information, but sometimes I get it wrong. So if you find mistakes...just ignore it  or send me a kind note so I can fix it. Also, I am no perfectionist and there are a lot of crooked and uneven things in my work. There comes a point when I say "That's good enough". If it will get the point across and looks appealing, I call it good. After-all, I have made these primarily for my family, but choose to share them. If you do like what you see-EXCELLENT- save it or print it for use in your home or classroom!


First up is.....(drum roll please)......................


The cutest preschool worksheets EVER! (okay, I have seen many cute things out there....probably on your blog.)



My little preschool girl is the girliest of girls if you have one of these then I am sure they would love for you to make them a workbook with these pages.  


I have printed off several of these pages (front to back) that she will use each week to practice the letter we are on. Currently I am starting with only the letters in her name. She is so excited to be learning to write her name! I am focused more on letter recognition and being able to write it. We are going over the letter sounds too, but not too focused. I just want her to begin to understand the importance of letters. Once she has that we will be moving into our phonics program. 

Since she is learning her name I made this page to go in the workbook as well:


Download these worksheets here for FREE!

For extra practice and games I made these little blank cards to match:

Download these blank cards here  for FREE!

These are for writing letters, words, or numbers on as needed for flashcards and learning games. So far I have just made some with the letters of her name on them. Since there are two of each picture card I made two of each letter in her name (she has 6 letters in her name so it worked perfectly). We laminated them and she cut them apart. Now she can play: 
Memory Match- turn over one card at a time to find all the matches
Letter Search #1- Scramble up the cards face up. I ask her to find a letter.
or

Letter Search #2 - Use an alphabet strip or poster (we used our strips that came with Happy Phonics)
Mix up the cards and place them face down. Have her draw a card, identify the letter, find it on the strip (or poster), and then place a marker to cover it up (we were using some little Easter erasers). I had all of her card in the pile so there were of each letter. She had to find the matching lower-case letter when it was drawn the first time, and then when the same letter was drawn she had to find the matching capital letter.

I would love to hear about what kinds of "name games' you play with your girly girl!

Bonus
To help us remember what she needs to practice everyday I created this Daily worksheet to put in her work binder. I have just slipped it into a page protector so that I can write the letter of the week in the box. I wrote her name at the top so she can see it everyday, and use it as a model to spell it with her letter cards.

You can get it here for FREE!


And that's all Folks!
Well, at least for today. I have two more Word Work themes to share with you. One is geared toward 1-2 grade and the other toward 5-6 grade. Plus a few extras. I already shared the 2-3 grade level with the Pirate Word Work in an earlier post (go here to read about it in the posting and get the links for downloading). One of the extras is a cover page for the Pirate Word Work!


Have you created something super special for your preschool girly girl? Leave me a comment and tell me about it or give share the link!

Happy Day!





2 comments:

  1. It is funny how each child advances on their own.Brianna is a very advanced reader, she just finished The Hunger Games trilogy, and she understood it. Justin has re-read the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series at least a half dozen times, and I still struggle to get him to find interest in other things, he is now reading the Percy Jackson series, and then there is Josh, who mostly refuses to read on his own, yet randomly sounds out difficult words and claims he can't read! Eventually they all get it, and I just hope to pass on my love of reading to all of them! If you have any ideas on books for boys do pass on, that is something we struggle with as they get older.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow! Sounds like they are doing very well with their reading. I find that the less I push, the more accepting they are of learning a concept like reading. Reading is one of those things that is everywhere, so it is easy to "sneak" it in, and they don't even realize it is happening. Ephraim has struggled a bit but I am very happy with how far he has come this year. He is finally working on reading a chapter book on his own. The book that has sucked him in is on of the Magic Tree House series. It is just challenging enough that he is learning new words but not being discouraged by the amount that he doesn't know. As he gets more confident we have books like: The Mouse and the Motorcycle, How to train your dragon, and a set of the books by Roald Dahl (James and the Giant Peach etc.). Lylli was so excited to hear from Brianna!

    ReplyDelete