Well, now that I’m home for a few days Ican 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 amagnifying glass. Use it as a“letter looker” or “word looker” to frame letters or words on charts, bigbooks, and classroom print.
*Use overhead color tiles to cover highfrequency words. It’s a “magicreader”!
Punctuation Detectives (MichelleLanders, Nixa MO)
When children work on their little takehome reading books they have to be “punctuation detectives” and highlightpunctuation marks.
Period – circle red – red means STOPreading.
Comma – circle green – green means take abreath and keep on reading.
Exclamation point – circle orange – orangemeans be excited!!!
Question mark – circle purple – purplemeans be curious.
Capital letters – underline blue – bluemeans the letter is a capital because it’s the beginning of a sentence or hasan important name.
Dolch words – yellow – highlight yellowbecause it is a popcorn word. Yeah! You know this wordalready!
Spotlight on Reading (VickieSpencer, Butler Elementary)
Use this idea to line up and learn. Turn the lights off and then pass aflashlight to one child. Thatchild shines the flashlight on a word and reads it. She then passes the flashlight to another friend. Children continue reading a word andpassing 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 ofpaper and put them inside an envelope labeled “Talking Strips.” When children feel the urge to talk outloud they can write a sentence or draw a picture of what they want toshare. You can share thesetogether at the end of the day.
Microwave or Crock Pot (Robert Reed,Springfield MO)
Take two file folders and glue a picture ofa microwave on one and a crock pot on the other. Write children’s names on craft sticks. If they feel confident about a strategythey can put their stick in the microwave. If they are not sure, their stick goes in the folder withthe crock pot.
*Instead of a high five, give a wi-fiveacross the room.
Swimming Pool Fun Noodles (JudyBuckley, St. Louis, MO)
Cut noodles into 1” sections with a steakknife. Write letters or numeralson the sections with a permanent marker. These can be strung on a rope or broomhandle and used for patterning, alphabetical order, making words, numericalorder, etc.
Sound Show and Tell (Angel Brown,Morrisville, MO)
As children share items ask them, “Whatsound do you hear when I say ____?” After they say the sound write the letter on the board. Continue writing letters as studentssound out the word. This can be alittle time consuming so maybe have 5-8 students do this each week.
Give Me a Toe
Instead of having children give you a highfive, ask them to “give me a toe” as you touch feet.
Foam Hands (Cheri Rummens, MansfieldPreschool)
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 seewhich hand they should place on their heart before they do the pledge.
Who Let the Letters Out? (Becky Nuenschwander, LakelandPreschool)
Get a dog bowl, small stuffed dog, magnetictape, and magnetic letters. Attachthe magnetic tape to the dog’s nose. Place the magnetic letters in the bowl and let the children use the dogto “eat” the letters.
*You can also use this idea with magneticnumerals and shapes.
Class Facebook (Laura Caudle,Buffalo, MO)
Take the children’s picture the first dayof 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 wallusing the different colors in the rainbow. A (red), B (orange), C (yellow), D (green), E (blue), F(indigo), G (violet)…. Point tothe 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 thinkof words that begin with that sound? They can also look for letters with circles, little lines, big lines,etc.
