Well, now that I’m home for a few days I
can finish sharing some clever ideas from my visit to MO last week!
Letter Looker (Julie Jones, Lebanon, MO)
Twist a pipe cleaner to look like a
magnifying glass. Use it as a
“letter looker” or “word looker” to frame letters or words on charts, big
books, and classroom print.
*Use overhead color tiles to cover high
frequency words. It’s a “magic
reader”!
Punctuation Detectives (Michelle
Landers, Nixa MO)
When children work on their little take
home reading books they have to be “punctuation detectives” and highlight
punctuation marks.
Period – circle red – red means STOP
reading.
Comma – circle green – green means take a
breath and keep on reading.
Exclamation point – circle orange – orange
means be excited!!!
Question mark – circle purple – purple
means be curious.
Capital letters – underline blue – blue
means the letter is a capital because it’s the beginning of a sentence or has
an important name.
Dolch words – yellow – highlight yellow
because it is a popcorn word.
Yeah! You know this word
already!
Spotlight on Reading (Vickie
Spencer, Butler Elementary)
Use this idea to line up and learn. Turn the lights off and then pass a
flashlight to one child. That
child shines the flashlight on a word and reads it. She then passes the flashlight to another friend. Children continue reading a word and
passing the flashlight to a friend until all have read a word and lined up.
Talking Strips (Brandi Housewright,
Cuba, MO)
For classroom talkers, cut small strips of
paper and put them inside an envelope labeled “Talking Strips.” When children feel the urge to talk out
loud they can write a sentence or draw a picture of what they want to
share. You can share these
together at the end of the day.
Microwave or Crock Pot (Robert Reed,
Springfield MO)
Take two file folders and glue a picture of
a microwave on one and a crock pot on the other. Write children’s names on craft sticks. If they feel confident about a strategy
they can put their stick in the microwave. If they are not sure, their stick goes in the folder with
the crock pot.
*Instead of a high five, give a wi-five
across the room.
Swimming Pool Fun Noodles (Judy
Buckley, St. Louis, MO)
Cut noodles into 1” sections with a steak
knife. Write letters or numerals
on the sections with a permanent marker. These can be strung on a rope or broom
handle and used for patterning, alphabetical order, making words, numerical
order, etc.
Sound Show and Tell (Angel Brown,
Morrisville, MO)
As children share items ask them, “What
sound do you hear when I say ____?”
After they say the sound write the letter on the board. Continue writing letters as students
sound out the word. This can be a
little time consuming so maybe have 5-8 students do this each week.
Give Me a Toe
Instead of having children give you a high
five, ask them to “give me a toe” as you touch feet.
Foam Hands (Cheri Rummens, Mansfield
Preschool)
Cut hands out of foam and write “left” and
“right” on them before taping them above the calendar and flag. Remind the children to look and see
which hand they should place on their heart before they do the pledge.
Who Let the Letters Out? (Becky Nuenschwander, Lakeland
Preschool)
Get a dog bowl, small stuffed dog, magnetic
tape, and magnetic letters. Attach
the magnetic tape to the dog’s nose.
Place the magnetic letters in the bowl and let the children use the dog
to “eat” the letters.
*You can also use this idea with magnetic
numerals and shapes.
Class Facebook (Laura Caudle,
Buffalo, MO)
Take the children’s picture the first day
of school and make an alphabet facebook.
Run off a copy for each child. Use it throughout the year to sing ABC’s,
learn alphabetical order, read each other’s names, etc.
Rainbow Alphabet (Joni Swagerty,
Neosho, MO)
Put the letters of the alphabet on the wall
using the different colors in the rainbow. A (red), B (orange), C (yellow), D (green), E (blue), F
(indigo), G (violet)…. Point to
the letters each day as you sing the ABC’s. Name a color and then look for the letters that color. Can they make the sound and then think
of words that begin with that sound?
They can also look for letters with circles, little lines, big lines,
etc.