A Letter ID Game for the Entire Year!

As a Reading Teacher who works with Kindergarten students who are below grade level, I tend to work on letter and sound identification throughout the entire school year.  One way I do this is by playing a fun pocket chart game all year long that they just LOVE!  

Here is how to play:

~  Display the target letters on a pocket chart.

~  Choose your picture to "hide" and place it behind one of the letters.

~  Have your students take turns pointing to one of the displayed letters and naming it (and the sound sound).

~  If identified correctly, remove the chosen letter to see if the graphic is hiding behind it!

Here is a close up of the game in use in my classroom:

It is really, very simple!  I will use the same letter cards but change the graphic to go along with the seasons or holidays of each month!  The kids love trying to find the hidden picture!  (The first round of each new month is really fun because I don't tell them ahead of time what is hidden!)

Another nice thing about this game is that I always have it displayed in my pocket chart.  So if I have an extra few minutes here or there, we play a quick game.  The kids have fun and it is reinforcing their letter-sound knowledge! 

I created a document that puts all of the letter cards and pictures together in one download.  The download includes:
-  Cards for the 26 upper and lower case letters.
-  12 pictures to correspond with monthly holidays and/or seasons to hide behind the letter cards.

The uses of this game are endless!  I personally use it with sight words, sight word phrases, and CVC words.  It could be used with numbers, math facts, vocabulary words, etc...  Have you played this game before?

Ladybugs Letters and Sounds Game

Need some new games to help your students practice letters and sounds?  Many of my students are still working to master them, so I created these cute upper and lower case ladybug letter cards and currently use them with my students in two different games.

Teachers Notebook
Teachers Pay Teachers

One of the games is called, "Ladybugs".  It is a simple card game where you mix up the letter cards and additional playing cards into a pile and place facedown (or put them in a cute Spring themed container).  The students take turns selecting a card and naming the letter and/or sound, or follow the directions written on the card.  Once all of the cards are selected, I flip through each student's pile of letters and have them name the letters or sounds to practice fluency.

The second game is "Find the Ladybug".  This can be played on the tabletop or in a pocket chart.  I use a pocket chart and play this game if I have a few moments to spare before our group time ends.  The kids love it!  This is the same game that I posted about here.  Head over to that post for directions and pictures!

What are some things you do to help your students master their letters and sounds?

I Have, Who Has Blending and Rhyming

Hi all!  
Do your students like "I have, Who has" games?  Well, since I work with small groups of children, I wanted a quick activity where they could practice blending their sounds and also reinforce their rhyming skills at the same time, so I created these two games.  

The two games are identified by the color of their borders, one yellow and the other pink, with eight rhyming pairs each.  Each game creates a loop, so the last question is answered by the first answer set on the table.  The students are encouraged to work together to determine the correct answers.  Directions are included! 

Click on the picture to download.

 

I also have another "I have, Who has" game to help reinforce rhyming.  This game is much longer and includes 24 rhyming pairs.  In this  game, there is no text for the students to read.  They match the rhyming pairs using only pictures.

Click on the picture to head over to my TPT shop!

Have you ever heard of LoopWriter?  It is a program you can buy/download that can create looping games just like these.  They also have a FREE "I have, Who has" rhyming game with pictures.  You can access that here.

Thank you!

Snowman Letters and Sounds

At school, we just completed our AIMSweb Benchmarking.  
Most of the kiddos had a great deal of difficulty with Letter Sound Fluency (LSF).  If you are unfamiliar with AIMSweb, this is where the student is presented with a random series of upper and lower case letters and they need to produce as many sounds as they can in 1 minute.  

When I assessed them with my Letter-Sound Assessment to see exactly what letters and sounds they knew, I found that many of them simply didn't know many letter-sound correspondences.  So they really need a boost in this area.

One game that I like to play with my kiddos is the, 
"Hide/Find the ____" game.  
This game has been around for years and years, but I just love how you can make simple changes and the kids continue to love it each and every time they play it.

I didn't have any fun alphabet cards to use for the winter season (well, none that wasn't currently part of an activity I would be using), so I made these Snowman Alphabet cards to place into a pocket chart and play, "Hide the Penguin" to reinforce letters and sounds.

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How do I play, Hide the Penguin?

Well, do you see that little penguin above?

He is the little guy who I hide behind the cards.

I simply place the letters I want to reinforce  into my pocket chart, as seen below (I play this game with sight words too).

  I then hide the little penguin behind one of the cards.

The kiddos take turns naming a letter and/or producing a sound trying to find the penguin!

Have you played this game before?  Do your kids like it as much as mine?

If you are interested in my Letter-Sound Assessment, you can find it in both of my shops!

Teachers Notebook

Teachers Pay Teachers

Plinko Anyone?

Have you ever heard of the game Plinko?
(I immediately think of The Price is Right, what about you?)

Well, have you ever thought of combining Plinko and Phonemic Awareness?  I sure hadn't but Lakeshore has!  They created an engaging game to help your little literacy learners develop their ability to isolate initial and final phonemes along with producing rhyming words!  

Their Phonemic Awareness Plinko game is a cute game that sits right on top of a table.  It includes 90 illustrated wooden chips with pictures of single-syllable words.  The players take turns dropping a chip and watching it drop down, bounce off the pegs, and then land into one of three categories:

Say the beginning sound
Say a rhyming word
Say the ending sound

Paige loved playing this game.  In fact, the first thing she wanted to do this morning was play the game!  She loved watching the chip fall down into one of the three slots.  In addition to the saying the beginning or ending sound she also named the letter that produced the sound.

I am always looking for fun ways to engage the children as they practice strengthening their foundational skills and was thrilled to be able to give you my honest review this product.  I would definitely recommend it and look forward to using it with my students!

Sight Word Find (Search) Update

Just wanted to let everyone know that I updated my 

Let it Snow Sight Word Find 

to include a kindergarten version as well as the first grade.

I kept the pictures the same and just changed the words.

I also changed the name from 

Sight Word Search 

to

Sight Word Find. 

I thought Sight Word Search sounded too much like a word search...you know where they circle the words?  It was bugging me and I needed to change it!  LOL!

Click on the picture below!

This Sight Word Find addresses the following Common Core Learning Standard:

K.RS.FS.3c:  Read common high-frequency words by sight.

~ Enjoy!

Sight Word Search-Let it Snow! FREEBIE

How good is your eyesight?
Is it really good?  
Well, do you think you can you read this?

I have hidden 18 teeny, tiny words in this picture to help provide some extra practice for my first grade students with their sight words.  They will be using magnifying glasses to search and find the words and then write them on the recording sheet!
Click on the picture to download the FREEBIE!
Also, please let me know what you think!!
Thanks and enjoy!

Don't forget to check out some other wonderful Freebies!

Love Bug Letter Identification

I just LOVE my newest product!  Not only because it is geared toward Valentine's Day, the day to celebrate love, but because it is a LOVE BUG theme.  Do you have a love bug of your own?  My daughter loves to cuddle and snuggle, so I have always called her my little love bug!!

Here is what is included in this letter identification pack:

-  Upper and lower case letter cards with cute little love bugs!  (I made these smaller than I have in previous packs.  I thought I would try to fit more on one page to save paper and possibly some ink.)

-  Upper  and lower case letter matching worksheets with hearts.
-  Upper and lower case Letter Mix-Ups.  This is where all of the letters in the alphabet are listed in random order all over the page on other cute love bugs.  (This is a new inclusion to the pack, previously I have separated them.)

Click on the picture blow for the shop of your choice!

Oh!  I almost forgot to mention that I used my own graphics in the pack too!  No, I didn't create all of the cute little love bugs.  Those were all created by the My Cute Graphics.  Instead, I created the hearts shown on the worksheets for the students to color in.  

~ Enjoy!

Snowman Love Sight Words

This morning I have been busy creating and uploading a new product that you can use throughout the winter months and even Valentine's day, to help reinforce the basic sight words our kindergarten students are learning.  

(Let me just add that I didn't make it to the gym this morning....oops!)

 It includes 45 of the earliest sight words separated into 5 different sets along with worksheets to go along with them.  

(The words are listed in the order in which my students are introduced to them through the reading series my district currently has in place.)

Each set of sight word cards contains 9 words.  I labeled each set as A1, A2, A3, A4, or A5.  (These labels are also on each card, so that they can be separated easily if the cards are mixed.)

There are also 8 different worksheets for the students to find and match the words.  Each set has a worksheet (a total of 9 words on each page) and there are also worksheets where two sets are combined (for a total of 18 words on the page).  I also provided 2 blank worksheets for you to create your own combinations or for the students to write the words in the blank hearts.

As always, click on the picture below for the shop you prefer!

Enjoy!

Don't forget, I also have a giveaway going on until tomorrow!  (I forgot how fun it was to have a giveaway and have enjoyed reading your comments and meeting new bloggy friends!)

http://www.mycutegraphics.com/

Christmas Tree Letter Identification

O' Christmas Tree, O' Christmas Tree
How lovely are your letters...

For those of you who are enjoying the letter identification activities I have been creating, I just uploaded another one using Christmas trees and Christmas lights!

~ Enjoy!!

Gingerbread Letter Identification

I just created a new letter matching, recognition, and/or identification activity for you with a gingerbread theme! 

There are both colored and black and white sets of upper and lower case letter cards with a little gingerbread men.  Along with the cards you will find two separate worksheets with the alphabet written in either upper or lower case form on gingerbread houses.  You can use these worksheets along with the cards for students to match and identify their letters.  Since the entire alphabet is written on one page, these worksheets could also be used as alphabet boards.  Some suggestions for use are also included.

Enjoy!

ABC Jump Up-Letter and Sound Identification

Here is a fun little game for your students to practice identifying their letters, but will also get them up and moving called ABC Jump Up! 


I included three sets of cards:  
upper & lower case letters together
just upper case
just lower case.
I also included a set of stick figures.  
(Now please don't laugh at the stick figures....I couldn't find any clip art I liked, so I drew my own. LOL!)

Here is how you play:  depending on the level of your students, place the cards of your choice face down. Include as many stick figures as you see fit. One at a time have students select a card. If they choose a letter, have them name the letter, produce the sound, and/or a word that begins with the letter. If they choose a stick figure, that player has to return all of their cards to the pile and everyone has to stand and jump up!
Kids LOVE this game!

(What do you think?  Do I have a future in designing clip art?  LOL!!!)

Also, in case you missed it, Kristen over at Ladybug's Teacher Files also created her own clip art.  Click on her blog title to see the adorable trees she created and is sharing with everyone for  FREE!!  I have actually already used one of her trees on the cover page of my Christmas Letter Identification pack!


Thanks so much!!

Snowman Letter Finds and Mix-Ups

I created a set of snowman Letter Find and Letter Mix-Up activities to help our littlest literacy learners match and identify their upper and lower case letters.  The download includes snowmen with upper or lower case letters listed in alphabetical order on the Letter Find pages.  The letters are all mixed-up on the Letter Mix-Up pages.

These are just like the turkey and fall versions!

Click on the pic for the shop of your choice!

Thank you!

Snowman Letter Identification

I had a wonderful follower contact me to see if I would continue to make letter identification activities for each season.  Like her students, my students will also need practice and reinforcement with their letters and sounds throughout the year, so I am more than happy to!

So to celebrate the upcoming winter months, I created a snowman version of my letter identification-matching activities to help our littlest learners match and identify their upper and lower case letters.  (This is very similar to my Pumpkin Letter Matching-Identification and Monster Match activities.)  The download includes upper case and lower case letter cards with cute little snowmen on them.  There are also two student worksheets which list the entire alphabet (either in upper or lower case form) for students to match and color.  I also provided some suggestions for use.

You can find this set of activities in both of my shops.  Please click on the pictures below to access the download:

~ Enjoy!

Gobble, Gobble! FREE Gameboard

Hi everyone!

I just uploaded a Thanksgiving themed gameboard.  

I couldn't decide if I liked the orange background or not, so I went ahead and saved (and also uploaded) both of them.  

Click on either picture below to access both

This gameboard can be used to practice any type of skill you are working on!  My students will use this to practice their letter identification and various phonemic awareness skills!

What will you use the gameboard for?

Thank you!

Turkey Letter Finds and Mix-Ups

Gobble, Gobble!

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, I created a set of turkey Letter Find and Letter Mix-Up activities to help our littlest learners match and identify their upper and lower case letters.  The download includes turkeys with either upper or lower case letters listed in alphabetical order on the Letter Find Pages and also with the letters mixed-up on the Letter Mix-Up pages.

These are just like my Fall Letter Finds and Mix-Ups!

Because my students know just a few letters, I have yet to use the Letter Mix-Up pages with them.  Instead, we have been using the Letter Find pages as an alphabet chart to learn how to sing/recite the alphabet, pausing at the end of each row.  This is helping them match the letter name to the letter along with developing one-to-one correspondence.  When finding certain letters I name, if they do not know it, they are learning to start at the beginning and recite the alphabet until they find it.  This is a strategy they can use in small-group with me and also in their classroom when they look at the alphabet displayed.

Animal Syllable Cards

Since today was my first day back to school, I thought I would share these 39 Animal Syllable Cards to help your littlest literacy learners develop their ability to hear one, two, three, and even four syllables in words.  


(Click on the picture below to head to TPT to download.)

I did provide some suggestions for use, but they can be used in so many ways!  I would love for you to leave a comment to let me know how you will be using the cards!


I hope everyone has a happy and successful school year!  I can't wait to share ideas with all of you throughout the year!


Enjoy!

I Have, Who Has Rhyming game!

I just added a new I Have, Who Has Rhyming game to my inventories at Teacher's Notebook and Teachers Pay Teachers.

In this game, the students match 24 rhyming pairs using pictures. What better way to reinforce rhyme than to have the students work cooperatively!  

Please note:  this game is different than the FREEBIE I posted about here.  The I Have, Who Has Rhyming FREEBIE does not include pictures.  Instead, the students need to blend the sounds to read the words and then match the rhyming pair.

Thank you!!

Christmas in July!!

Happy Holidays!!

To celebrate Christmas in July, I have posted some new activities in my Teacher's Notebook Store.

Skating Party is to help reinforces letters, sounds, sight words, math facts, or whatever you would like to target in an activity I called, Skating Party.  This is just like previous activities I have posted (Road Race, Take a Hike!, etc...)

Winter Wonderland  includes 2 games in 1 download to help reinforce the Fry Instant Sight Words.  I separated them out by the 1st 100, 2nd 100, and 3rd 100, so there are three separate downloads.

Now you can add your link and join in the fun!!

Fluency Practice-Sight Word Phrase Cards

Here is an activity I use with my small groups to help reinforce sight words, fluency, and reading with expression using the first 300 sight words from Fry's Instant Sight Word List (1980).  According to Fry, the first 300 words represent about 67% of all the words students encounter in their reading.  

I broke the phrases up into sets of 100 with 20 phrase cards for each set of 100.  Each phrase/sentence has a punctuation mark at the end to help encourage students to read with the appropriate expression.  I also give suggestions in the download for how to use the cards such as, "Phrases Around the World" and "Guess My Punctuation." 

While instructing, I spend time discussing the importance of punctuation and what happens to our voices when we see a period, question mark, and exclamation point at the end of sentences.  It always surprises me how many students think that when they see an exclamation point at the end of a sentence that it means the character is yelling.  In turn, I always reinforce that exclamation points mean to read with some type of emotion, and when reading within a text they need to think about the context to see what type of emotion it may be.  When using phrase cards, I allow them to use whatever type of emotion they feel comfortable doing.  

(We also play another game where the students select an additional card naming an emotion.  I did not include the emotion cards, but perhaps they will show up as a freebie sometime soon!!)

Thank you!

Enjoy!