Whisper Phones

When you can hear yourself say a word or sound it out it wills tick much better than just saying out loud. With a "whisper phone" or the finger trick your kids can hear themselves sounding out words and be able to blend words much better. I am excited that our class was gifted a set of whisper phones and sound changing flip books from Donors Choose.

The whisper phone is a gadget that looks like a telephone. It is hollow and my kids hold it up to their ears and read and/or sound out CVC words. As they say them the sounds go directly back to their ear and is amplified because of the tunnel. I love them and my kids do too! They are so excited to read and use them.  You can order a set from Lakeshore Learning or you can create your own using PVC pipes:
1. Cut your PVC pipe approximately 3 1/2 - 4 inches long.
2. Attach an "elbow" pipe to each end.
3. If you like you can wrap the long piece with washi tape or duct tape to make them colorful.

Sight words when we line up!

The more my kids see sight words, the more they will practice reading those sight words. I try and put them in different places around the room so that they are always available for my kids to see. I have a file called "Sight words" on my desktop that we review every day so that my kids can practice reading them. As we learn more words I add them to new slides to practice. We sing the sight word song on YouTube EVERY DAY to practice spelling and reading their sight words. Just search for "Sight word rap" and you will see two different versions.

The more they see them the more they will practice and read them! So, one thing I have done is put down dry erase tape where my kids line up. I put one strip in each block all the way up to fifteen blocks. When my kids line up they see the sight words while they stand in line. I hear them saying "I'm standing on 'with'" or "You're standing on the color word 'orange'" as we line up to go somewhere. It's just another way to give them a little more exposure to their sight words. I can change them to words we are working on that week or words they are having trouble with.

sight words sentences

Sight words are something my kindergarteners have to know in order to begin reading emergent reader text and become fluent readers. Sight words make up about 50% of the words we read. Developing fluency is anothe important skill and the best way to do that is to practice reading. My kids practice reading the same emergent reader text for an entire week.

When I was browsing Pinterest (go figure) for sight word ideas I saw a post with phrases and sentences for kids to practice and get timed on each week. I decided I would take my sight words each week and make up sight word sentences to send home with my kids to practice. On Thursdays and/or Friday's I will have them read the sentences aloud to me.

We introduce two new sight words each week and the sentences get progressively more difficult. Here is a copy of the sight word sentences I have used or will be using in my class. These cover about 4-5 weeks of practice. Here is a a list of the sight words covered in this set. It is the same progression used in Reading Street (we dont use the basal but follow the sequence of sight words so we can use the leveled books).

I
am
the
little
a
to
have
is
we
my

I downloaded this awesome poster on TpT for FREE as a quick reference and highlight the words as we do them. You could also send it home with your kids to practice.

Click here to get  a copy of the sentences I made for my kiddos!

Name Practice for Kindergarteners

One of the first things I do with my kindergartener's is help them recognize, write and spell their names. Some of my kids come into kindergarten knowing how to do this very well, whereas some may come to me and cannot even recognize their name when it is written down.

For the first two weeks I will use their names in the place of sight words in their word work center. Whatever they would normally do with their sight words, they will practice with their names. This is a good way for my kids to learn how that particular center works and what to do with a low amount of stress in learning the words. So later when we are practicing words there, they can focus on the word more than logistics of that center.

One of the first things I did was put all of their names on a small sentence strip. I got a pack of 30 at the Dollar Tree and they are perfect for this. I then cut the names apart. Make sure you put enough space in between the letters for cutting. Then I put them into a sandwich bag. I stuck a label on the front with their name so we can see what the finished product would look like/spell. This is really easy to do and simple. I made 14 last night in about 45 minutes.

The next thing I did with my kids' names was dot them out on the sentence strip. Again, I used the small ones from Dollar Tree. I dotted their names and then next week when they return with their photgraph/internet agreement I will take their pictures and attach them to the ends. I will laminate them and cut them out. They will use a dry erase marker to practice tracing their names. 

Finally, I have a box of beads with letters on them that I will let them use to practice making their name with. They will string the beads and this also helps develop their fine motor skills as they thread the bead. I got this image from Google, but these are the kind of beads I will use. You can get them at Wal-mart, KMart, or Hobby Lobby.

The first week we staggered in our Kundera and they got a chance to play with and make their names with the name bags I made (above). Here are some pictures of the name bags in action! 

Sight word search in real text

Putting your sight words to use is one of the greatest things you can do for your kids. Flash cards and repetition can be good but kindergarteners get tired of it. Honestly, I do too. We receive these magazines at our school each month. They are themed and tell about events at schools in the area. We reviewed some words today and then I had my kids find them in the newspaper and circle them! So simple. So awesome!

Shaving cream- number practice, clean desks

Kindergarten babies get real excited really quick but they also get really bored really quick too... Writing numbers to fun songs and poems but hey like it even more when they get to write it in shaving cream! I may do this again with sight words!!