A True Interactive Word Wall

Many of us Super Teachers have had Word Walls in our classrooms for years and years now. I have had one since forever! However, I have never found the Word Wall to be truly interactive for my students. Have you?

Of course, we practiced our words daily, and reviewed most of the words on a weekly basis. I would smile proudly when I found my students referring to the Word Wall during Writer’s Workshop but I always had this niggling suspicion it truly was not benefiting my students. Until I switched things up a bit and now it is TRULY INTERACTIVE!

You’re going to LOVE it!

8 years ago…
When I taught kindergarten, I had a traditional word wall. Later, I was sure that I included my students’ names and their pictures (adorbs! -not pictured, of course). Shortly after, I began to include Word Family Houses. This was a HUGE stepping stone for me. The FIRST step toward an interactive Word Wall. Here is a photo of my first Word Wall:

I thought I was so clever including the Word Family houses for short vowel sounds above our Word Wall! I mean, I was, right? It was great practice for my kinders. But was it truly interactive? Not really. We placed our sight words and our word family houses on display and simply looked at them on occasion. That’s it. A pretty bulletin board that took up A LOT of valuable wall space. So, the desire to create a TRULY interactive Word Wall was born.

3 years later…
Now, being a first grade teacher and since having begun my journey with differentiated Spelling lists with the help of Words Their Way (learn more about this journey HERE), I found the need to focus more on phonograms rather than letter sounds. So, I switched up my Word Wall. It then evolved into this:

Notice the post-its around each Long Vowel house! Yes! Those are words written by my students as they hunt for words in their decodable books that contain the current Spelling pattern they are studying! A bit more interactive, right? Yes, I was getting closer to having a truly interactive Word Wall.

But I still was not satisfied. So, the pursuit for a truly interactive Word Wall continued.

I spent a huge amount of time this summer working on individual Word Family houses for EACH phonogram. For example, there is not just ONE word family house for each long vowel sound but, FIFTEEN long vowel houses-one for EACH phonogram! Here is a glimpse of “Long Vowel Lane”:

I must ask you to take a closer look at one of the houses. Notice the windows are the exact same size as a 3x3 post it. Notice how the graphics all contain that ONE long vowel sound for ONE phonogram. In fact, you might even tell a story about the words that live in that house together. Here is a closeup for you to take a better look (click to enlarge):

Now it gets exciting! Since I differentiate the spelling lists for my students using Words Their Way, we mainly focus on one phonogram a week. If I am working with 4-5 different Word Study groups, that involves 4-5 different Word Family houses!

Just WAIT! …it’s coming…

First let me explain our Read to Self routine.

When I am working with my small guided reading groups, the remaining students are assigned differentiated Word Study assignments for Word Work AND Read to Self.

As a Read to Self assignment, I provide my students with decodable readers so they can practice reading words according to that specific spelling pattern. They hunt for words, record them in their “Gumballs Collection” (a notebook that contains a page for each phonogram -we call them "gumballs"-I’ll explain this further in a bit) and they prepare a post-it to share their learning with the class during “Share”.

You are going to LOVE this…

After our Daily 5 center rotations, I provide my students with the opportunity to share their learning from their Read to Self assignment with the whole class. This provides the whole group with the opportunity to learn from each other. Which will expose them to 4-5 different phonograms!

My above-level students will have an opportunity to review what they have previously learned when an “on-level” or “below-level” Word Study group presents their learning.

On the flip-side, my “on-level” and “below-level” students will be exposed to new phonograms that the above-level groups present (a bit of frontloading!)

It’s a win-win!

After the children share their “gumball”, we display their learning by adding their post-it to our Word Wall. We place them on the house windows or below the house for all to see and learn from. The children feel so proud to see their work displayed on the “Wall”.

To learn more about how I manage our Read to Self assignments and Share Time, please visit this blog post:

Disguise Read to Self as Word Study

Would you take one more peak at a house? I want you to notice one more thing about our Word Wall:

They are color coded! Be still my teacher heart! What teacher and student doesn’t enjoy color-coding?

You are going to LOVE this too…

My students benefit from using a color-coded system for our spelling patterns that we like to call "gumballs". The color of the houses matches the color-coded system!

This simple color-coding strategy has proven to be a HUGE help to my students when identifying phonograms in their reading AND applying these spelling rules in their own writing! I cannot begin to explain how well this works for my students and how much they enjoy it. I urge you to try it!

There are SIX different Word Wall sets available at my TpT shop.

You can find them HERE or by clicking on the image below.

The complete set is also bundled up for your savings:
The Interactive word Wall BIG Bundle

I truly hope you have found this information helpful. Be sure to try the color-coded system to help your young readers identify spelling patterns in their reading and their writing! It helps tremendously!

Reader's Workshop: The Reading Mat

The Reading Mat will provide your students with a visual reminder of how to keep track of what they are reading and build stamina! This system will also encourage your students to reread and build their fluency!  Oh, yes!

Begin by adhering the “My Reading Mat” cover page to the top of a file folder. The “Stop” and “Go” mats are adhered to the inside of the file folder.

Students begin by placing their stack of books on the “GO” side of their mat. They place the harder texts at the bottom and the easiest on top (to be read first).

When they finish a book it gets placed on the “STOP” side of the reading mat.

When all the books are read, students then “make their way back” as they reread their books, each time placing in on the “Go” side of the mat. This will encourage your young readers to stay on task and avoid returning to the classroom library to peruse for additional books. This will encourage them to reread to build their fluency.

Here is a closer look at The Reading Mat in action:

It is also helpful to provide your students with a post-it so they can tally how many books they have read during independent reading to keep track of their growth. This will help them set goals and take ownership of their reading growth!

If you would like your own copy of The Reading Mat, you will find it here:

Reader's Workshop: The Reading Mat

Classroom Library Labels: Freebie!

It's that time of year again and as teachers we are torn between soaking up the last days of summer vacay and prepping our classrooms and resources for another school year!  Let it be a great one!

To help you get your year off on the right foot, here is a freebie for you!

Classroom library labels by reading level and by author & themes!

These leveled classroom library labels will help you organize your collection of books.

60 labels included:

Leveled labels from A (1) to R (40)
Fiction labels for series and Author Studies
(please see preview to view the complete collection)

Sorting your library by reading level promotes reader's confidence and growth. These labels measure 3x3". I have also included author study bins.

 You can find them at the shop:

Leveled Classroom Library Labels

Enjoy!

Summer Reading Goals & Paper Chains

 

These last couple weeks of school are just flying by with all the hustle and bustle of our End of Year celebrations. I am so very proud of all that my firsties have accomplished this school year.

The end of the year brings such a flurry of emotions. Excitement for summer, inspiration for a new school year, relief, stress, and the anticipation of less stress. Woot!

However, with that, the last day blues may start to kick in and you begin to worry that your young readers will forget all the wonderful strategies you taught them throughout the year. The dreaded "summer slide"...

To help combat this fear, my students set reading goals for themselves to help hold them accountable. We created Summer Reading Goal Paper Chains!

I began by telling my students the truth of what happens to students over summer break….the “summer slide”. They were appalled by this news. I asked them what could they do to avoid such a phenomenon. I happily received a smart answer: READ during the summer.

At this point, my students began making statements that they were going to read EVERY day. But then others piped in, and said they may not be able to do that because of family vacations and of course some of my firsties have a summer birthday so they would be too busy to read on that day (they are too cute).

This led to discussion of how many days long our summer vacation is. So, we counted: 76! We had a serious discussion of what was an acceptable number of days to read since summer was a busy time with their families.

At the primary level, I found it best to measure reading by days rather than by the number of books since there is a great variation in their reading levels. Some students are reading chapter books while others may still be approaching grade level standards.

They then began to set realistic reading goals for themselves and recorded them on a Summer Reading Goal Sheet (available HERE at my TpT store):

Summer Reading Goal Paper Chain

Then the crafting began. We made our paper chains to match the amount of days we planned to read.

I heard them counting by 1s, 2,s and making their chains in groups of 10. I also heard them discussing what books they would read:

“This link is for a nonfiction book about sharks, I want to learn more about killer sharks!” 

“This group of 10 links is for The Magic Tree House chapter book I am going to read because it has 10 chapters…I’ll read a chapter a night!”

This is music to a teacher’s ears!

Not only does the Summer Reading Goal Paper Chain serve its purpose to motivate your young readers to continue their love of reading over the summer, it took them a good hour to create them! It was a great end of the year craftivity! Not that I want to kill time or just throw busy work at them. They truly enjoyed making their paper chains and they were completely engaged in creating them for a great length of time! 

My firsties took these Summer Reading Goal Paper Chains home to their families.

As they read each day over the summer they plan to rip off one link. This colorful paper chain will serve as a visual reminder for them during summer break to read, read, and read some more... and avoid the "summer slide"!

This is a great visual reminder for parents as well; of the value of summer reading.

If you are looking for a Summer Reading List for your students, be sure to visit For the Love of Teacher’s article on Get Your Summer Read On- Reading List & Tips. She offers some great recommendations for favorite reads for kids of all levels, as well as tips and suggestions to provide your students and parents to help avoid the “summer brain drain”. You can read it HERE.

If you would like to read more about our End of Year celebrations, visit the blog post:

Fabulous in First Memory Books with a Growth Mindset

Happy Summer Reading!

Fabulous in First Memory Books

It's that time of year....
The end of the school year!

9 months ago, we all hoped it would fly by... ...and here we are again... another school year under our belt! I hope yours was FABULOUS!

We have so much to celebrate! Not that the school year over...well, of course that too ...but all that we have accomplished.

There is something about teaching primary students; you see such tremendous growth from the start of the school year to the final end. You may have students who struggle with letter sounds and by the end of the school year they writing paragraphs!

There is so much to celebrate!

Each year, I put together a Memory Book for my first grade students. Usually I create the book cover for each of them. But this year, I decided that I would create a template for my firsties to use and give them step by step directions on how to assemble the pieces.  

It looks a bit like this. Only you will have to imagine a 7 year old's smile on that cover. I included my own school photo to protect the identity of my firsties. You get the idea...besides it was a great year...I'm feeling fabulous too! Teehee.

If you would like to download this free template, please visit my TpT store at:

First Grade End of the Year Memory Book Cover Freebie

What's Inside?

I have found some really great resources at Teachers Pay Teachers and I have compiled them all in a three prong folder. Each day during the last month of school we add a page to our books.  

To help my first graders celebrate their learning this school year, I found this great resource from Love, Teach and Learn. They are called Growth Mindset Posters and there are endless possibilities for their use in the classroom.  

First, I had my students work in small cooperative groups and brainstorm all that they have learned as readers and writers. 

I was so pleased with how they collaborated; they took turns recording their ideas, they also helped each other sound out and write the words.

Mostly, I was astonished at how much they could vocalize all that they learned this school year. Take a look at this!

When they were finished meeting with their group, I gave them their own copy of the Growth Mindset T-chart for them to record their own learning as readers and writers. I was pleased as punch as I saw them roaming the room copying words and ideas from the anchor charts that hung in our classroom all year to remind us what good readers and writers do.  

Several of my students had asked for a second t-chart to record their ideas! Again...my fabulous firsties made me proud!  

I am pleased with how this page in their Memory Books turned out! When they look back at their first grade year as a young reader and writer they will remember how they learned how to:

Check it! Do a double Check!

Scoop up words!
Take a sneak peak!

Use time order words! 

...their lists went on and on!

The Growth Mindset Posters by Love Teach and Learn were an awesome addition to our Memory Books. My firsties can refer to them all summer and remember all that we learned. Be sure to add them as part of your End of the Year celebrations with your kiddos...it's perfect for all ages.  

Which reminds me, I must share another great End of the Year activity with you! The Summer Reading Goals chain! You're going to love this! Click HERE to read more about how my students set summer reading goals!

But for now, this FABULOUS first grade teacher needs some shut eye so I am ready for our last week of the school year!

Ocean Life: Nonfiction Reading and Writing Unit (Determine Importance)

Students read nonfiction to LEARN and to become experts on one topic of study. Most importantly, they celebrate what they have learned by sharing it with others.

Students love to read nonfiction text almost as much as they love to learn about ocean life.

31 different ocean creature templates are included in this resource:

1. Sticky note template for each ocean animal
2. Publishing paper for each ocean animal (one blank page for additional space)
3. Poster for each ocean animal.

Retelling nonfiction text can be difficult for young readers. However, using the Most Important Words (MIW’s) strategy allows students to determine the importance of what is read.

Assign your students with a nonfiction text on a chosen topic. Allow them to peruse the Table of Contents to decide what they wish to learn about.

After reading the chapter, have the students reread to determine which words are “most important”. 

Provide your students with the fun sticky notes included in this resource. Be sure to limit your students to 6 post-it notes to challenge them to record true MIW’s.

Once they have chosen their MIW’s have them practice retelling what they have learned using the MIW’s recorded on their sticky notes.

Now, celebrate their learning by creating a class book on Ocean Creatures using the publishing paper included.

Ocean animals included in this resource:

If you would like to download this resource, please visit my TpT store:

Ocean Life: Nonfiction Reading and Writing Unit (Determine Importance)