Words Their Way

Have you ever found yourself looking at a resource you have been using and wondering if there is something better out there? This year I found myself asking that question when it came to the spelling program I was using. Don't get me wrong, the program I had been using might work great for someone else but I found it didn't quite work for my teaching style. I had heard a lot about the Words Their Way program and knew a couple of other teachers in my school had been using it so I decided to give it a whirl. Like anything else it is still a work in progress to get the hang of everything involved but I am slowly getting the hang of it.

If you haven't heard of the program before take a look at it here. What I love most about it is that it works with kids at their level. It starts off with a diagnostic spelling test that identifies students strengths and needs. Using this information students are placed in groups based on where they are at and then off they go. The other great thing is that students practice their spelling words independently with only a little guidance from the teacher which means I can help out the students that need a little extra guidance. One thing I have learned about this program is that it requires a level of organization in order to make it flow smoothly so I figured I would show you how I organize it in my classroom.

 First of all to keep the word lists organized I colour code my groups and then copy their weekly lists onto corresponding coloured paper. This way I can simply grab the next week's spelling packet and know exactly what list goes where. In my district we send our printing to a central printing office and it takes a few days to get there and back so I always make sure to have more than one week at a time. When I get my lists back I take a few minutes to organize them into weeks and then store them in my handy green drawers (I love Ikea!).

  

Now for the teaching portion:

On Monday I hand out the sorts to the students and they get busy cutting it out. I give each student two copies of the sort - one for at school, and one to bring home for practice. For the classroom activities each child has a plastic envelope to keep their supplies organized. These envelopes have their name and a coloured square in the corner so I know whose envelope it is and what group they belong in. In each plastic envelope are the following materials:

- an envelope to hold the cut apart sort

- a journal for students to write down their sorts and record their word work activities

- a dry erase bingo sheet (more about this in a later post)

- a laminated keyboard

As the groups are cutting out their words I begin calling groups over one at a time to the learning carpet. Here we quickly go over the sort for the week, read through the words, and go over any teaching points needed for students to understand the patterns.

 Once students have finished with me they take their words and complete the sort on their own. They then begin working on two other "must-do" activities: a written sort where they record their sort in their journals, and three sentences which each use at least one of the spelling words. We only work on spelling for about 15-20 minutes a day so completing the "must-do" activities usually takes our Monday/Tuesday.

As students complete the required activities they bring me their journals so I can check their work. If their written sort and sentences are done correctly they can begin working on earning a spelling bingo by completing different word work activities with their words for the week.

When students complete a bingo activity they show me and I sign off on their bingo sheet. For every bingo they earn the students earn a ticket in a weekly draw for a prize.  If they complete the entire bingo sheet they can earn five draw tickets. We usually keep the bingo sheets for a month or so before erasing them and starting over again. Check out my Word Work and Spelling Bingo post for more info on the activities and draw prizes. 

Finally at the end of the week students are given a spelling test of randomly selected words from the week's sort. I give the students an independent writing or reading task based on lessons from the week to complete while I am giving the spelling tests to each group. Most of the time students are able to work quietly and independently without help and I can quickly call each group over to the learning carpet and give them the spelling test. 

The first couple of weeks were a little chaotic and required some teaching and reteaching and reminding of the expectations during our spelling times. By now the students have gotten the hang of it and it is working like a well-oiled machine. As always there may be some squeaks and kinks to work out with certain students but as long as you are consistent they will eventually get the hang of it. 

Wow! Another long post - I seem to have a hard time keeping things short but hopefully this will give you some insight into how to potentially run Words Their Way in your own classroom.

Activities Like... New Ideas... and Kind Hearted-Teachers

Hi all I am linking up late to the We Are Thankful Linky Party over at Blog Hoppin'. It has been a crazy couple of weeks and I have kind of ignored blogging so now I am trying to play catch up by doing a 3-in-1 post for this linky. I am Canadian so technically Thanksgiving has already passed for me but I loved the idea of sharing some ideas with the attitude of being thankful. I have learned so much from being connected to other bloggers and stealing borrowing ideas to use in my classroom and it has been wonderful! I am so thankful for all those who take the time to share their lessons, ideas, and wisdom by blogging. Thank you!

Activities like math centers get my students excited for math, keep them practicing basic skills, and allow me to teach in small groups using math rotations. This is my first year doing math centers and math rotations and my first attempt in September was not as smooth as I hoped. Since then I have taken a break, regrouped and set up some new centers.  I have been working hard over the last couple weeks to get my new math centers set up and organized. Finally they are ready to go and I am so excited! Now as we start our next math unit I can jump back into math rotations and differentiate my lessons. Hooray for being able to teach my students in small groups based on where they are at while the rest are kept focused and busy with math centers!!

All my centers activities fit neatly into one container and can simply be laid out during center time.

As I was putting my math centers together I was trying to figure out how to keep everything together with the little space, time, and money that I have. My centers in September were kept in basket containers but I found students had a difficult time knowing where everything went when they were putting things away. I have found a cheap and easy method for keeping centers small, compact, and easy to move from space to space.

Students take the plastic sleeve to their desk with their center packet and have all the materials they need.

My new idea for organization in the classroom is using plastic page protectors to keep everything together. We have been using these for our spelling program so students can keep all their spelling materials together in one spot. These plastic envelopes are great because they are durable, clear (which I find helps students keep their materials neat and tidy), and can be written on. In spelling my students are placed in different groups based on where they are at so I simply coloured the top corner of their plastic sleeve so they know what colour group they are in. It is such an easy way for me to pull out their stuff and know immediately what group they are in, what they have been working on, and where they need to go next.

The coloured blocks on the corner of the packet let me know what group the student is in.

I have also used these for all my new math centers which is great because all the centers materials fit in two baskets and take up way less room. Students simply grab the plastic sleeve for their center, take it to their working area and get to work. All the materials are kept in the plastic sleeve which is kept closed with a paperclip. I know they don't look that pretty and there are a lot of containers, plastic drawer stands, and other great ideas for centers however I have limited wall space in my room (lots of cupboards) so I like to keep things small and compact. Best of all they are inexpensive so if one of the plastic sleeves gets ruined I can simply replace it with a new one for about $0.15.

This center contains vocabulary cards, play money, a dry erase crayon and dry erase page to write on.
 Everything a student may need to complete the center.

Finally as my contribution to the Kind-Hearted Teachers part of this linky I am including some of my math center pages as a freebie. Many of my materials are from other teachers so I don't feel like I can share them but if you are looking for some great math center ideas please send me an email or leave a comment and I will gladly direct you to some of the places where I found my center ideas.

Thanks to Blog Hoppin' for this wonderful opportunity to link-up and share!

Budding Bloggers Linky Party

I am so glad I found this Linky Party over at I {heart} Recess! It is such a fantastic idea to connect new bloggers with each other and with other bloggers who have been doing this for a while longer. One of the things I am learning to love about blogging is the chance to connect to other people, and more specifically other teachers. I am really excited to check out the other blogs and see what they have to offer!

1. While stalking Pinterest for new classroom ideas I stumbled across the wonderful world of teacher blogs and fell in love. I have spent hours (just ask my husband) pouring over these blogs, reading and discovering what other teachers do. I felt inspired by all the pictures of classroom, tips, freebies, and good ideas that I thought I would give it a try.I have only been at it for a couple months but so far it is a great way to share a piece of myself as a teacher and to learn from other teachers as well. I love being a teacher and am very passionate about what I do and I definitely enjoy having a way to celebrate and share it with others!

2. I don't think I have a favourite subject. (Yes, I was that kid in class.) If I had to pick one though it would probably be Science. I am of the opinion that getting your hands dirty is a key part of childhood and I love giving students that chance in my classroom. I enjoy seeing kids excited about what they are learning and I find that Science lends itself to a hands-on approach so well. Besides let's face it... experiments are a blast!

3. The foundation of my teaching style can be found in the book of Proverbs: "Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not turn from it." I see each of my students as individuals who have been set apart for a purpose. It is my job to not only teach them the curriculum but to provide them with skills, attitudes, and habits that will allow them to be life-long learners. Doing this requires me to build relationships with the students, get to know their strengths and weaknesses, and do my best to differentiate their learning accordingly. I also think learning should be fun and enjoyable. I do my best to get students excited about what we are learning. As I mentioned before I love hands-on learning, moving around the classroom, and trying new things. And if we get a little messy in the process it's even better!

4. Three interesting facts about me:

My family lived and volunteered for a year at an orphanage in Mexico when I was 16. While we were there I had the chance to help teach English in the school. I guess it got me jump started on teaching!

I am slightly obsessed with elephants ever since I had the chance to ride one for 3 days at an Elephant Conservatory in Thailand.

I love to make music by singing, playing piano, and playing guitar!







5. I don't have a TPT store but am happy to share anything you may find on my blog that looks interesting or useful to you if you send me a message.

Butterfly Life Cycles

I have been looking forward to the grade three life cycle unit all year. I got the chance to raise butterflies with my students! I am a little bit of a nature nut and love anything that has to do with being outside or learning about the world around us. Most of the students hadn't really been up close and personal with any insects (other than mosquitoes and flies) which made that much more exciting.

 It was a lot of fun to watch as they grew from caterpillar, to chrysalis, and finally to butterflies. The whole class was excited to see the changes taking place. I had never done this before and couldn't believe how much the caterpillars grew in the first week! Best of all, it was so easy to take care of them which means my students got an awesome learning experience and I didn't have to do a lot of extra work each day.

When the caterpillars arrived the students all got a butterfly journal so they could keep track of the caterpillars progress through pictures and journal entries.

Here are some examples of entries the students completed. It was a lot of fun to have the kids come into class each day and head straight for the caterpillars or butterflies to check for any changes.

 As we watched them grow we read books and did some research to make sure we understood what was happening and to help us predict what might happen next.

I love, love, love using hands on learning whenever I can and our butterfly release party was definitely hands on. The sun was shining today so we headed outside to set our butterflies free. Of course we couldn't let them go without some pictures first.

Doing this was so simple and I am so grateful to have experienced teachers around who can give me the heads up with stuff like this. I had all the kids stick their hands in a bucket of sugar water and then put their hand into the butterfly habitat.

 If they hold still it doesn't take long for one of the butterflies to come looking for a sip of the sweetness. The kids had a blast and we got some awesome pictures!

Thankfully I had some help from another teacher who knows how to handle a camera. For most of the kids this is one of the closest experiences they have had with nature and it made for a great and memorable way to say farewell to our little buddies!