Let’s talk about the Tryin’ Lion and Skippy Frog reading strategies. I like to talk about these two strategies together because they go hand-in-hand. Keep reading to find out what I mean.

What is the Tryin’ Lion and Skippy Frog Reading Strategy?

Tryin’ Lion and Skippy Frog reading strategies are for children who have mastered the other Beanie Baby strategies. Sometimes children can try every strategy and still struggle to figure out the word. That is where Tryin’ Lion and Skippy Frog come in. 

Tryin’ Lion tells us to try a word. Ask yourself, “does this make sense?”

Skippy Frog tells us to say the first sound and then skip over the word. Hop back and read the sentence again.

Introducing the Chunky Monkey Reading Strategy

The reason for using Beanie Babies to help teach reading strategies is because children find it easier to remember the characters than just the name of a strategy. And with remembering the characters, children can then make the connection to the reading strategy. It’s a win-win!

I refer to each Beanie Baby as our “Reading Buddies.” Whenever I introduce a new reading buddy I follow this routine:

• Show students the actual Beanie Baby and introduce them by name.
• Explain the reading strategy that this particular Beanie Baby wants us to remember.
• Model using the strategy. I display an appropriately leveled text on our smartboard for this.
• Give children a reading buddy  “watch” to wear. This gets them excited and wanting to use their new strategy. You can see a picture of my son rocking the Eagle Eye watch below!

• Do a group activity that encourages children to try the new strategy.

Chunky Monkey Reading Strategy Activities

So now let’s talk about the kinds of activities we can do to help support the Tryin’ Lion and Skippy Frog reading strategies.  Here are some examples.

1. Using Context Clues to Complete the Sentence

Part of being able to “try a word that makes sense” is understanding context clues. With this activity, children read the sentence and then use the picture card that makes the most sense to complete it.

2. Fill in the Blank Activities

I love these sentence strips with one missing word. There is no one answer, so it allows children to think and be creative. The goal is to make sure that whatever word they write in the blank, makes sense within the sentence.

3. Hop the Word

This is a fun activity that gets kids up and moving while also working their brains! I place the lilly pads on the floor in a line to make a sentence. One word is covered by a frog. Children have to hop next to each word as they read it. When they get to the frog, they have to jump OVER it. Once they get to the end of the word they must go back and try to figure out the covered up word.

Tryin’ Lion and Skippy Frog Visuals

Providing visuals is a helpful tool for children. I like to hang up posters, provide desk plates, bookmarks, and more, to help children easily access our reading strategies.

Teaching Children to Use this Reading Strategy

When it comes time to start working on these strategies with your students, there are a few things you can do to guide them.

• Remind them to try all of their other strategies first
• Model getting stuck on the word and exhausting all other reading strategies
• Model trying a word and asking “does this make sense?”
• Use Skippy Frog to check your guess by reading to the end of the sentence and then going back to check your guess
• Do activities that help reinforce this new reading strategy

I typically follow the above at the start of our guided reading lessons. This provides an opportunity to remind children of important strategies, but it also gives me a chance to work closely with individual children.

2. Buddy Badges: When I catch students using their reading strategy, I give them a Buddy Badge. Buddy Badges go on a chain and they say “I was caught using Tryin’ Lion”. Children can wear these Buddy Badges during reading groups and reading time. Throughout the rest of the day, they have a place to hang them in our room.

3. Self-Checking Charts: Another way to incentivize students is by providing self-checking charts. These charts are to be completed and filled in by the students themselves. Whenever they catch themselves using a strategy, they color the reading buddy in.

What’s Next?

While working with children in small groups, make sure to collect data so you understand which children need more support, and which are ready to move forward.

It is imperative that you find a system to help you monitor and track reading and comprehension progress. This will help you determine the next steps and plan the appropriate reading lessons to help them grow.

Taking notes during one-on-one reading conferences doesn’t have to be difficult. It can be a matter of jotting down keywords or phrases.

For me, these are the main things I want to collect data on:

• The date, name, and level of the text they are reading at the time of the conference
• The strategies they are using independently (with or without success in deciphering the word).
• Specific decoding observations. Example: “Attempts to sound out words but struggling with blending the sounds.”
• Specific comprehension observations. Example: “Answers recall questions easily”
• Goals and next steps. Determine what you want to work on with this specific child in order to push them to the next reading level.

Here’s an example of the sheets I use to track this information.

The post Tryin’ Lion and Skippy Frog Reading Strategies appeared first on Mrs V's Chickadees.

Let’s talk about the Chunky Monkey reading strategy. Using Beanie Babies to help students remember key strategies is a great guided reading tool. Chunky Monkey teaches children how to break apart words to make them easier to decode. There’s a few ways to do this, so let’s get into it!

This is part five of a six-part blog series. If you haven’t already, make sure to check out the other posts.

1. Tracking Words
2. Eagle Eye
3. Lips the Fish
4. Stretchy Snake

What is the Chunky Monkey Reading Strategy?

The Chunky Monkey reading strategy helps children break apart larger words. They look for “chunks” that are easier to read individually and then blend it with the rest of the word. Here are some examples of different ways you can use the Chunky Monkey reading strategy.

Introducing the Chunky Monkey Reading Strategy

The reason for using Beanie Babies to help teach reading strategies is because children find it easier to remember the characters than just the name of a strategy. And with remembering the characters, children can then make the connection to the reading strategy. It’s a win-win!

I refer to each Beanie Baby as our “Reading Buddies.” Whenever I introduce a new reading buddy I follow this routine:

• Show students the actual Beanie Baby and introduce them by name.
• Explain the reading strategy that this particular Beanie Baby wants us to remember. It would sound like this:

This is Chunky Monkey. Sometimes there are big words that are hard to read. Chunky Monkey reminds us to look for chunks in the word. Chunks are smaller words hiding inside bigger words.

• Model using the strategy. I display an appropriately leveled text on our smartboard for this.
• Give children a Chunky Monkey reading strategy “watch” to wear. This gets them excited and wanting to use their new strategy. You can see a picture of my son rocking the Eagle Eye watch below!

• Do a group activity that encourages children to try the new strategy.

Chunky Monkey Reading Strategy Activities

So now let’s talk about the kinds of activities we can do to help support the Chunky Monkey reading strategy.  Here are some examples.

1. Finding Smaller Words Withing Large Words

With this activity, children have to find a smaller word within the original word. I laminate these boards so that they can use dry-erase markers. This allows us to use these over and over again, and with a variety of guided reading groups.

2. Consonant Blends and Chunk

I love these banana puzzles for our phonics centers. It allows children to work with consonant blends while also working on breaking up a word.

3. Chunk the Digraphs

These no-prep worksheets are a great way for children to practice breaking up words by separating the digraph from the rest of the word.

4. Compound Words

These cards are a perfect guided reading warm-up. We use these to practice breaking up compound words.

5. Word Endings

We use no-prep worksheets to help identify word endings. This helps children practice breaking up the word so that it is easier to decode.

Chunky Monkey Visuals

Providing visuals is a helpful tool for children. I like to hang up posters, provide desk plates, bookmarks, and more, to help children easily access our reading strategies.

Teaching Children to Use this Reading Strategy

When it comes time to start working on this strategy with your students, there are a few things you can do to guide them.

• Remind them that big words don’t have to be scary, because we can often find smaller chunks within them
• Model getting stuck on the word and using the Chunky Monkey reading strategy to decode it
• Have children ask themselves, “Does this word make sense?”
• Do activities that help reinforce this new reading strategy

I typically follow the above at the start of our guided reading lessons. This provides an opportunity to remind children of important strategies, but it also gives me a chance to work closely with individual children.

2. Buddy Badges: When I catch students using their reading strategy, I give them a Buddy Badge. Buddy Badges go on a chain and they say “I was caught using Chunky Monkey”. Children can wear these Buddy Badges during reading groups and reading time. Throughout the rest of the day, they have a place to hang them in our room.

3. Self-Checking Charts: Another way to incentivize students is by providing self-checking charts. These charts are to be completed and filled in by the students themselves. Whenever they catch themselves using a strategy, they color the reading buddy in.

What’s Next?

While working with children in small groups, make sure to collect data so you understand which children need more support, and which are ready to move forward.

It is imperative that you find a system to help you monitor and track reading and comprehension progress. This will help you determine the next steps and plan the appropriate reading lessons to help them grow.

Taking notes during one-on-one reading conferences doesn’t have to be difficult. It can be a matter of jotting down keywords or phrases.

For me, these are the main things I want to collect data on:

• The date, name, and level of the text they are reading at the time of the conference
• The strategies they are using independently (with or without success in deciphering the word).
• Specific decoding observations. Example: “Attempts to sound out words but struggling with blending the sounds.”
• Specific comprehension observations. Example: “Answers recall questions easily”
• Goals and next steps. Determine what you want to work on with this specific child in order to push them to the next reading level.

Here’s an example of the sheets I use to track this information.

The post Chunky Monkey Reading Strategy appeared first on Mrs V's Chickadees.

Sounding out words is one of the most important reading strategies you will teach your students. My favorite way to help children remember this skill is to introduce them to Stretchy Snake. Stretchy the Snake tells children to stretch out each sound in the word. Using Beanie Babies to help students remember key reading strategies is a great guided reading tool. Let’s get into it!

This is part three of a six-part blog series. If you haven’t already, make sure to check these out:

1. Tracking Words
2. Eagle Eye
3. Lips the Fish

How Does Stretchy the Snake Help with Sounding Out Words?

Stretchy the Snake reading strategy is all about sounding out words. Stretchy the Snake reminds children to stretch out the sounds and then blend them together. This reading strategy works really well with new readers who have a solid understanding of letter sounds. 

In order to teach children how to sound out words, they must know their letter sounds. You will also want to introduce other reading strategies prior to this, such as Eagle Eye and Lips the Fish. These strategies are great for our new readers, but there comes a point when you need to do more in order to decode words. That is when we teach them how to sound out words. Remember, you want to start with the easiest form of words there are for students to sound out, and that is cvc words. If you want to know more about cvc words (consonant-vowel-consonant), make sure to check out these posts before you read any more.

Introducing Stretchy the Snake Reading Strategy

Using Beanie Babies to help children remember their reading strategies is an excellent technique. They tend to think of these characters as their reading buddies. And with remembering the characters, children can make the connection to the reading strategy. It’s a win-win!

I refer to each Beanie Baby as our “Reading Buddies.” Whenever I introduce a new reading buddy I follow this routine:

• Show students the actual Beanie Baby and introduce them by name.
• Explain the reading strategy that this particular Beanie Baby wants us to remember. This is what it would sound like:

This is our new reading buddy and his name is Stretchy the Snake. He wants us to stretch out each sound until we can hear the word.

• Model using the strategy. I display an appropriately leveled text on our smartboard for this.
• Give children a Stretchy the Snake reading strategy “watch” to wear. This gets them excited and wanting to use their new strategy. You can see a picture of my son rocking the Eagle Eye watch below!

• Do a group activity that encourages children to try the new strategy.

Sounding Out Words Game and Activities

So now let’s talk about the kinds of activities we can do to help support the Stretchy the Snake reading strategy.  Here are some examples of Stretchy the Snake reading activities.

1. Sounding Out CVC Words

One reading strategy I teach my students is to touch each letter in the word as they make the sound. After touching each letter and making the sound, they drag their finger under the letters as they blend them together. This helps them with tracking and not omitting any letter sounds.

Below is an example of a guided reading warm-up that I use while teaching about Stretchy the Snake. The snakehead images are a visual reminder for children as to where they should put their fingers. The arrow reminds them to blend the sounds together to form a word.

2. Sounding Out Words Phonetically

Here’s another Stretchy Snake reading strategy activity that I like to use in small groups. It’s the same concept as the above activity, but slightly harder. Children will look at a picture and stretch out the sounds to write the word.

I’ve laminated these boards so that we can use dry-erase markers and then wipe them clean. This allows us to practice over and over again.

Stretchy the Snake Visuals

Providing visuals is a helpful tool for children. I like to hang up posters, provide desk plates, bookmarks, and more, to help children easily access our reading strategies.

Teaching Children to Sound Out Words

When it comes time to start working on sounding out words with your students, there are a few things you can do to guide them.

• Remind children of all of their reading strategies
• Model getting stuck on the word and trying prior strategies. When those don’t work, stretch out the word to sound it out. 
• Have children ask themselves, “Does this word make sense?”

I typically follow the above at the start of our guided reading lessons. This provides an opportunity to remind children of important strategies, but it also gives me a chance to work closely with individual children.

What’s Next?

While working with children in small groups, make sure to collect data so you understand which children need more support, and which are ready to move forward.

It is imperative that you find a system to help you monitor and track reading and comprehension progress. This will help you determine the next steps and plan the appropriate reading lessons to help them grow.

Taking notes during one-on-one reading conferences doesn’t have to be difficult. It can be a matter of jotting down keywords or phrases.

For me, these are the main things I want to collect data on:

• The date, name, and level of the text they are reading at the time of the conference
• The strategies they are using independently (with or without success in deciphering the word).
• Specific decoding observations. Example: “Attempts to sound out words but struggling with blending the sounds.”
• Specific comprehension observations. Example: “Answers recall questions easily”
• Goals and next steps. Determine what you want to work on with this specific child in order to push them to the next reading level.

Here’s an example of the sheets I use to track this information.

The post Sounding Out Words With Stretchy Snake appeared first on Mrs V's Chickadees.

Let’s talk about the Lips the Fish reading strategy. Using Beanie Babies to help students remember key strategies is a great guided reading tool. Lips the Fish is a key strategy for your new(ish), readers. It involves teaching children to get their lips ready to make the first sound of the tricky word. Let’s get into it!

This is part three of a six-part blog series. If you haven’t already, make sure to check out parts 1 and 2.

• One to One Correspondence
• Eagle Eye: Using Picture Clues

What is the Lips the Fish Reading Strategy?

Lips the Fish reading strategy is about getting your lips ready to make the first sound. This reading strategy works really well with new readers who have a solid understanding of letter sounds. This works especially well when paired with the Eagle Eye reading strategy. Children should practice looking at the illustrations, and then the first letter of the word they are trying to decode. When paired with appropriately leveled texts, this can be very beneficial in figuring out the tricky word.

Here’s an example of a book I use with children when I first introduce the Lips the Fish reading strategy.

The combination of Eagle Eye and Lips the Fish can make decoding tricky words a breeze! With this introductory text, children have the Lips the Fish image above the word they should try to decode. In some cases, Eagle Eye is enough to help children read the word. However, there are instances where a picture can possibly represent more than one word. For example, looking at the images below, if children are only using picture clues, they may mistake the gorilla for a monkey. However, if they start to make the initial sound, they can self-check themselves and know that it is not a monkey.

Introducing the Lips the Fish Reading Strategy

The reason for using Beanie Babies to help teach reading strategies is because children find it easier to remember the characters than just the name of a strategy. And with remembering the characters, children can then make the connection to the reading strategy. It’s a win-win!

I refer to each Beanie Baby as our “Reading Buddies.” Whenever I introduce a new reading buddy I follow this routine:

• Show students the actual Beanie Baby and introduce them by name.
• Explain the reading strategy that this particular Beanie Baby wants us to remember. It sounds something like this:

“I want to introduce you to our next reading buddy. This is Lips the Fish. Lips the Fish reminds us to look at the first letter of the word we are trying to figure out so we can make that sound. She tells us to get our lips ready.”

• Model using the strategy. I display an appropriately leveled text on our smartboard for this.
• Give children a Lips the Fish reading strategy “watch” to wear. This gets them excited and wanting to use their new strategy. You can see a picture of my son rocking the Eagle Eye watch below!

• Do a group activity that encourages children to try the new strategy.

Lips the Fish Reading Strategy Activities

So now let’s talk about the kinds of activities we can do to help support the Lips the Fish reading strategy.  Here are some examples of Lips the Fish reading strategy activities.

1. Initial Sounds in Words with Pictures

Find pictures that could be perceived as two different words. For example, garbage or trash, jet or plane, bunny or rabbit.

If you haven’t taught children about Eagle Eye yet, make sure to check out this post before you go any further.

Below is an example of a guided reading warm-up that I use while teaching about Lips the Fish. Children have to look at the picture to help them figure out the word. However, the images on the cards can be perceived as something else, so it is imperative that they self-check by using the initial sound.

2. Using Lips the Fish in Sentences

Here is another Lips the Fish reading strategy activity that I like to use in small groups. It’s the same concept as the above activity, but slightly harder. Children will read a sentence and use both the picture clue and the initial sound to figure out the tricky word.

Lips the Fish Visuals

Providing visuals is a helpful tool for children. I like to hang up posters, provide desk plates, bookmarks, and more, to help children easily access our reading strategies.

Teaching Children to Use this Reading Strategy

When it comes time to start working on this reading strategy with your students, there are a few things you can do to guide them.

• Have children take a picture walk prior to reading
• Remind children to look for the pattern in the text
• Encourage them to track words on the page
• Review Eagle Eye and Lips the Fish
• Model getting stuck on the word that doesn’t match the pattern and using the illustrations to figure it out. Check your guess by now using the initial sound of the unknown word.
• Have children ask themselves, “Does this word make sense?”

I typically follow the above at the start of our guided reading lessons. This provides an opportunity to remind children of important strategies, but it also gives me a chance to work closely with individual children.

2. Buddy Badges: When I catch students using their reading strategy, I give them a Buddy Badge. Buddy Badges go on a chain and they say “I was caught using Lips the Fish”. Children can wear these Buddy Badges during reading groups and reading time. Throughout the rest of the day, they have a place to hang them in our room.

3. Self-Checking Charts: Another way to incentivize students is by providing self-checking charts. These charts are to be completed and filled in by the students themselves. Whenever they catch themselves using a strategy, they color the reading buddy in.

What’s Next?

While working with children in small groups, make sure to collect data so you understand which children need more support, and which are ready to move forward.

It is imperative that you find a system to help you monitor and track reading and comprehension progress. This will help you determine the next steps and plan the appropriate reading lessons to help them grow.

Taking notes during one-on-one reading conferences doesn’t have to be difficult. It can be a matter of jotting down keywords or phrases.

For me, these are the main things I want to collect data on:

• The date, name, and level of the text they are reading at the time of the conference
• The strategies they are using independently (with or without success in deciphering the word).
• Specific decoding observations. Example: “Attempts to sound out words but struggling with blending the sounds.”
• Specific comprehension observations. Example: “Answers recall questions easily”
• Goals and next steps. Determine what you want to work on with this specific child in order to push them to the next reading level.

Here’s an example of the sheets I use to track this information.

The post Lips the Fish Reading Strategy: Using the Initial Sound appeared first on Mrs V's Chickadees.

Let’s talk about Eagle Eye as a reading strategy. Using Beanie Babies to help students remember key strategies is a great guided reading tool. Eagle Eye is a key strategy for your new readers. It involves teaching children to utilize picture clues when they can not decode a word. Let’s get into it!

This is part of a 6 part series. If you haven’t already, make sure to check out Part 1: How to Teach One to One Correspondance 

What is the Eagle Eye Reading Strategy?

The Eagle Eye reading strategy is about using picture clues to figure out the unknown word. This reading strategy works really well with new and non-readers because their texts allow for it. They typically have only a few words per page, made up of mostly sight words, and follow a pattern. Each page typically has one “tricky” word on it. That is where using the pictures comes in.

Here’s an example of two pages from a book where Eagle Eye would help children figure out the word that doesn’t match the pattern.

On each page of this book, it says “Get the (insert ingredient).” Both words “get” and “the” are sight words, but they also follow a pattern. Guided reading texts for new readers often follow a similar layout.

With the understanding of the pattern, and the ability to use picture clues, they can read this book. The picture clues help them to figure out the tricky words, such as “tomato” and “pepper.”

Introducing Eagle Eye Reading Strategy

The reason I love using Beanie Babies to help teach reading strategies is because children find it easier to remember the characters than just the name of a strategy. And with remembering the characters, children can then make the connection to the reading strategy. It’s a win-win!

I refer to each Beanie Baby as our “Reading Buddies.” Whenever I introduce a new reading buddy I follow this routine:

• Show students the actual Beanie Baby and introduce them by name.
• Explain the reading strategy that this particular Beanie Baby wants us to remember.  In this case, it would sound like this:
  • “I want to introduce you to one of my reading buddies, his name is Eagle Eye. Eagle Eye helps us remember to look at the pictures when we get stuck on a tricky word. He tells us to use our eyes to look at the illustrations.”
• Model using the strategy. I display an appropriately leveled text on our smartboard for this.
• Give children an Eagle Eye reading strategy “watch” to wear. This gets them excited and wanting to use their new strategy.

• Do a group activity that encourages children to try the new strategy.

Eagle Eye Reading Strategy Activities

So now let’s talk about the kinds of activities we can do to help support the Eagle Eye reading strategy. We want children to understand that illustrations are there for a reason. They help give meaning to the story. They can also help clarify words for us. Here are some examples of Eagle Eye reading strategy activities.

1. Picture Walks

Picture walks are when children flip through the book prior to reading and examine the illustrations. This is a helpful strategy for a few reasons. It helps to activate background knowledge. Children can become familiarized with the topic of the text prior to reading. It can also act as a way to engage and elicit excitement for the book.

2. Matching Pictures with Words

Any activities that have children practice matching pictures to words will help solidify the importance of picture clues.

3. Practice Sentences

Have children practice sentences where one word can be figured out by looking at a picture. This is a great warm-up activity idea for guided reading groups.

Visuals

Providing visuals is a helpful tool for children. I like to hang up posters, provide desk plates, bookmarks, and more, to help children easily access our reading strategies.

Teaching Children to Use the Reading Strategy

When it comes time to start working on this strategy with your students, there are a few things you can do to guide them.

• Teach children to recognize the pattern in the text
• Take picture walks
• Encourage them to track words on the page
• Model getting stuck on the word that doesn’t match the pattern and using the illustrations to figure it out
• Practice looking at words next to pictures

I typically follow the above at the start of our guided reading lessons. This provides an opportunity to remind children of important strategies, but it also gives me a chance to work closely with individual children.

2. Buddy Badges: When I catch students using their reading strategy, I give them a Buddy Badge. Buddy Badges go on a chain and they say “I was caught using Eagle Eye”. Children can wear these Buddy Badges during reading groups and reading time. Throughout the rest of the day, they have a place to hang them in our room.

3. Self-Checking Charts: Another way to incentivize students is by providing self-checking charts. These charts are to be completed and filled in by the students themselves. Whenever they catch themselves using a strategy, they color the reading buddy in.

What’s Next?

While working with children in small groups, make sure to collect data so you understand which children need more support, and which are ready to move forward.

It is imperative that you find a system to help you monitor and track reading and comprehension progress. This will help you determine the next steps and plan the appropriate reading lessons to help them grow.

Taking notes during one-on-one reading conferences doesn’t have to be difficult. It can be a matter of jotting down keywords or phrases.

For me, these are the main things I want to collect data on:

• The date, name, and level of the text they are reading at the time of the conference
• The strategies they are using independently (with or without success in deciphering the word).
• Specific decoding observations. Example: “Attempts to sound out words but struggling with blending the sounds.”
• Specific comprehension observations. Example: “Answers recall questions easily”
• Goals and next steps. Determine what you want to work on with this specific child in order to push them to the next reading level.

Here’s an example of the sheets I use to track this information.

The post Eagle Eye Reading Strategy: Using Picture Clues appeared first on Mrs V's Chickadees.

Teaching students how to track words from left to right and use one-to-one correspondence is the first step in teaching them to read. By providing them with the ability to read the correct number of words on a page, we are preventing omissions and additions to sentences. This is the first step you should be taking with non-readers. Welcome to my Teaching Children How to Read Blog Series. This is your first stop!

When I first started teaching kindergarten, I quickly realized that I was the sole person responsible for teaching these children how to read. And that’s when the panic set in! Where do you even start? Where is my step-by-step manual? Guess what? There is none! So I buckled down and read every blog post, looked at every teaching manual, and worked my behind off to figure this all out. I’m putting everything I learned and put into practice into a series of blog posts. I’ll break down each strategy and show you how to teach it and examples of ways to practice it.

What is One to One Correspondence?

One to one correspondence is when children say the same number of words that are printed on the page. They understand that printed text and spoken word have a connection.

How Do We Teach Children About One to One Correspondence?

The best way to help our new readers practice tracking words is to have them touch or put a finger under each word as they say it.

To introduce this concept, we practice counting the words on the page. If there are 4 words on the page, then we should only be saying 4 words. Once children understand that connection, we practice touching each word as we say it.

One way to make this fun and engaging is to introduce “Reading Fingers.” Provide a prop to encourage them to track each word. I personally love to use witch fingers as a reminder to touch each word. Eyeball rings are another great option!

Practicing One to One Correspondence in Guided Reading Groups

Small groups and guided reading are a great time to practice tracking words. Using hands-on activities before you jump into reading is the perfect way to practice this skill. I love these Tracking Word Cards.

These cards come in sets that each follow a pattern. There are also picture clues for the words that are not sight words. This allows children to focus solely on practicing one to one correspondence, without having to worry about decoding unknown words. These cards work great for non-readers and children who are reading on a level AA-D.

The dots underneath each word are a great visual to help children with one to one correspondence. Watch as one of my students uses these cards during a guided reading warm-up.

This strategy should be taught first to your non-readers before any other strategy. You can (and should) teach this while teaching also teaching phonics skills (FREE Phonics Pacing Guide HERE).

If you’re looking for some activities to help with this strategy, make sure to grab this resource now!

Up Next-Using Picture Clues

The post How to Teach One to One Correspondence appeared first on Mrs V's Chickadees.

Progress monitoring and student data tracking are an ABSOLUTE MUST as an educator. It doesn’t matter if you teach general education, special education, or intervention groups, you are responsible for monitoring the progress of each individual child. This can be time-consuming and incredibly overwhelming!

After ten years of teaching, I can now say that I have perfected my method for progress monitoring. But wait…let me remind you again, this happened over a period of TEN YEARS! This was not something I decided I was going to do and then it just happened. There was a big learning curve for me. Between figuring out what progress monitoring tools to use, time management, and then actually doing something useful with the data, I spent a lot of time trying to make this work.

But guess what guys? I am now officially obsessed with data. Yup, that’s right. I.LOVE.DATA! By mastering progress monitoring, I have made my life as an educator so much easier. Writing report cards and IEP reports is a breeze. Holding parent-teacher conferences is straight forward and simple. Differentiating for my class no longer makes my head spin. The list of advantages goes on. So I am here to tell you all about it, and to help you with this process as well.

What is Progress Monitoring?

The progress monitoring definition is when we assess children to monitor their academic growth and struggles in specific areas. Progress monitoring includes collecting data that can then be used to drive instruction.

Who Should Track Student Data?

If you are an educator, and under the impression that you don’t have to progress monitor, you are wrong! Whether you teach general education, special education, or anything in between, you should be progress monitoring your students. It will help you develop a deep understanding of each individual’s strengths and weaknesses. In turn, this will help you optimize your teaching and target the specific needs of your kids.

When Should I Progress Monitor?

You should be collecting data as often as possible. Remember, it doesn’t always have to be a formal assessment. Informal data collection can be just as helpful as formal data. However, be consistent about when you collect formal data. For example, I always progress monitor, my students, using the same assessment at the start of the year and then at the end of each semester. This specific progress monitoring tool assesses them on all of the key skills for phonics and math that I want them to master by the end of the year. By being consistent with this, I can easily track growth, pinpoint struggles, and get a clear sense of where instruction should be going with my class.

Where Should I Track Student Data?

I’ve administered one-on-one assessments during center time, on the floor in our classroom library, out in the hallway. Anywhere you feel will give you fair results, go ahead and collect that data! Don’t worry about having a perfectly quiet room or finding the perfect environment. As long as your surroundings are not distracting, you can progress monitor.

Why Should I Progress Monitor?

Well, because you can’t successfully do your job without this. I don’t say this as a blanket statement. I say this as someone who stunk at progress monitoring and then worked hard to master it.

Let me share a specific event that is forever etched in my brain. It was my third year teaching (second year in kindergarten) and I had an IEP meeting. I walked into that meeting feeling great. I felt like I would make a great impression on the principal and social worker who was involved in the meeting. The social worker, a lovely lady, ran the meeting. She started with some vague questions, which I nailed, but then she got down to the nitty-gritty. She asked how many sight words this student knew. I said, “She knows her sight words.” Yup, that was my response. She asked about her reading abilities. I said, “She’s a level C.” I had nothing of actual substance to share. The responses I gave were not only vague but useless!

How can we come up with goals and plan for her if I’m saying things like “she knows her sight words.” It was after that meeting that I decided I had to really figure this out. Let me tell you, sitting in a meeting and saying “On November 13th, this student could fluently read 34 sight words.” Or, “On January 20th, Ella could fluently read 7 out of 10 cvc words. This was an increase of 4 words since her last assessment in December.” Concrete facts make for great meetings, great IEP’s, happy parents, and happy teachers.

Student Data Tracking Examples

1. Have an all-in-one progress monitoring assessment

The best thing you can do is have an all-in-one data tracking assessment. One resource that you can use over and over to monitor growth, identify areas of weakness, and collect necessary grade-level data. By doing this you will eliminate the need to hunt for an assessment when it’s time to progress monitor. It’s also really important that you are consistent with the assessments when you are tracking key skills.

Here’s a peek at my go-to data tracking assessments:

This particular resource comes with progress monitoring sheets for key phonics and math skills (available for kindergarten, first and second grade), progress monitoring forms for teachers, and a year-long digital tracker.

It’s important to know what you are going to use so that you are never scrambling to find something to monitor your students. It is equally important to have consistency in your assessments when collecting data.

2. Have a Student Data Tracking Plan

Student data tracking should be happening on some level daily. However, those big assessments, the ones you use to determine small groups, rti decisions, goal setting, etc…those should be well planned.

Student data tracking can be time-consuming, so make a plan for when this will happen. Having a plan at the start of the year will allow you to carve out the appropriate time to properly progress monitor all of your students all year long.

3. Use your Progress Monitoring Data to Drive Instruction

Curriculums are great and all, but do they know your students on an individual basis? Certainly not. I have found every curriculum I have worked with, problematic in one way or another. Although my list of complaints is long, my biggest one has to be the lack of differentiation available. So now imagine that your curriculum does not offer ideas for differentiation AND you are not exactly sure as to where each individual student stands. How would you plan proper instruction? You have to be able to pinpoint the exact area each child is at, so that you can properly plan out whole group and small group lessons.

An easy way to manage the data you collect is to use a file folder and post-it method (as shown above). After completing our progress monitoring phonics assessments, I looked at which skills I had to focus on for each child. Inside of a file folder, I wrote the phonics skills and placed each student’s name (on a post-it) in the appropriate column. Now I know who to bunch together for small groups and what to focus on with them. Once a child masters the skill they are working on, I simply take their post-it, and move it to the next column and small group.

4. Begin Monitoring Progress Towards Individual Goals

Progress monitoring in special education is imperative and an everyday task. Proper data tracking allows you to write IEP goals and then work towards mastering them. I use a digital tracker that once the information is put in, color codes into green, yellow, or red. This allows me to easily identify specific information. If I’m looking to see which skills as a whole my class needs to work on, I look for a column of majority yellow and red. If I’m looking to see which skills my class as a whole has mastered, I look for majority green. The same goes for individual students. My color-coded system helps me directly identify where I need to focus my attention on each child, and allows me to work towards their goals.

5. Keep Families Informed

Lastly, remember to keep families informed. Share this data with them. Provide them with suggestions for what they should be doing at home. By providing families with clear and specific information, you help them to better understand their little learners.

If you’re struggling to find data tracking assessments, check out these products below. These are tried and true and have changed the way I teach!

Grab your data tracking assessments here today!

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Are you tired of hearing “I’m done, now what?” when your students complete a task?  Establishing this one routine for fast finishers in the classroom will not only make your life sooooo much easier, but it will also maximize learning time. Keep reading because I’m about to share my favorite teacher tip with you, and it’s called “I’m Done” folders!

In this post, I’m going to explain what my system for fast finishers is, how to set it up, how to introduce it to students, keep it differentiated, and more!

What Are “I’m Done, Now What?” Folders?

I’m Done Folders are simply that, folders that contain work for students to complete when they finish an assignment. Simple right? And with these few tips, I can help you create a system that goes smoothly from the start of the year all the way until the end.

How To Set Up “I’m Done, Now What” Folders

Provide each child with a folder and a place to keep them. My students worked at tables, so they each had a seat sack on their chairs. Their I’m Done, Now What Folders were kept in those seat sacks. This ensured that once they completed a task they had easy access to their I’m Done work. It also helps to eliminate a lot of unnecessary moving around the room, since children do spend a lot of time at their tables.

I used a large incentive chart to keep track of how many packets each student completed. I write their names down the left-hand side and place stickers in each space once they complete a packet. Later on, I’ll share how to provide incentives to students to encourage them to actually work on completing their given packets.

Creating Work for Fast Finishers

Okay, so you have your folders, you’ve designated a spot for the kids to keep them, and you know how you track their work. Now let’s move on to actually creating the packets that will go inside of these I’m Done Now What? folders.

Here are my criteria:

• No-Prep Worksheets: Remember, this system is to make your life easier, not harder. Look for no-prep resources that you can just print, staple, and put inside of a folder

• No Cutting: You don’t want worksheets that require any cutting. Look for sheets that can be completed with just a pencil and/or crayons. The reason is, children will have limited time in spurts to work on these printables. With cutting activities, it is easy for children to lose pieces and waste time looking for them later on

• Repetitive Directions: Look for printables that have the same directions on each page. This will allow you to model one page for the students and then have them complete the rest independently. If you include printables that have a different set of directions on each page, children might need help as they reach each new page, which prevents them from working independently.

If you follow these suggestions, you will be able to create packets that not only allow children to work independently, but also practice key phonics and math skills

Differentiating Your I’m Done Folders

As with everything else, differentiation is important with your I’m Done Now What Folders.

Why You Should Differentiate Your No-Prep Packets

• The Pace At Which Children Work: Consider who is going to have more time to work on these packets, verse who will barely have an opportunity. Use this knowledge to determine the number of printables you include in someone’s packet. Children who are constantly completing their assignments should have larger packets. Our children who struggle to complete given assignments should have a much smaller packet. These children will not have as many opportunities to work on this, and we don’t want them to feel as if they are falling behind.
• The Skills They Need to Work On: Each student’s packet should be focused on a skill they need a little more support on, yet can still complete independently. Use your progress monitoring data to determine which skills you want each child to work on.

I use these Data Tracking Assessments and Digital Tracker to help me determine which phonics and math skills I want each child to work on.

When it comes to setting expectations for your I’m Done, Now What Folders, you want to model and remind at the start of the year. Before students begin any task, remind them that when they finish, they should take out their folders. Model the way you expect them to work on these tasks. If you continue to remind students of perfect opportunities to pull out these packets, it will eventually become a habit.

Lastly, you want to provide incentives to your students to actually encourage them to do additional work. I implemented a reward system for the completion of three I’m Done Now What packets. And since my packets were all differentiated to meet the needs of each individual, all students had a fair chance at the prizes.

I used a large incentive chart to track the completion of each packet. Each student’s name is written down the left side, and the number of packets along the top.

With each completed packet, they get a sticker next to their name. Once they complete three packets, they get to pick a prize from the prize box.

Here’s a quick video where I explain all about I’m Done Folders:

If you implement this classroom management plan in your room, I am confident that you will not regret it!

You can grab a full year of Kindergarten I’m Done Phonics Worksheets here!

The post I’m Done Now What? appeared first on Mrs V's Chickadees.

CVC words are one of my favorite phonics skills to teach. Below are 7 amazing cvc word activities and resources that you can grab for FREE!

Each title and picture is linked to the free cvc word resource, so feel free to download them all!

If you about to dive into cvc words, you might also like these posts: The Ultimate Guide to CVC Words, CVC Words in 7 Simple Steps

1. FREE CVC Word List by Michelle of Mrs V’s Chickadees (me!)

When it’s time work on cvc words, you’ll want to have a nice variety of words available. It’s important to have a list of cvc words printed so that you can make sure you are practicing new words with each activity. Without my list, I always find myself using the same 3-5 cvc words (cat, hat, fat,mat). I’ve compiled a list of cvc words that you can download for free here! Just print and use!

2. CVC Board Game by Rachael of Literacy for Littles

Looking for a fun way to practice CVC words? This construction themed board game is an engaging way to let beginning readers practice decoding and blending simple CVC words.

3. Pop the Balloon Guided Reading Game: CVC Words by Alisha of Missing Tooth Grins

Pop The Balloon! is a fun guided reading game where students read the words from the bottom of the card to the top to essentially “pop” the balloon. Students read each word and when they get to the top, they clap their hands and go “pop!”

4. At Word Family Activity by Michelle of Teaching Superkids

At Word Family Word Work Set includes various hands-on activities to engage your students. This set once introduced has many independent activities as well.

5. Lemonade Themed CVC Word Work Center by Ashley of Just Reed

This fun center will help students practice creating and reading CVC words. Lemonade has three ingredients (lemons, sugar, and water) just like a CVC word has three parts–a beginning, middle, and ending sound. Students determine if the words are sweet (REAL) or sour (NONSENSE). You can add Spelly Straws to this center for a fun hands-on twist!

6.  Dinosaur CVC Center by Kim of Live Laugh I Love Kindergarten

Practice reading and matching CVC words with this fun dinosaur themed center! Get some extra CVC writing practice with the Dinosaur CVC worksheet!

7. Phonics Brochures by Aris of Sailing into Second

These short vowel phonics brochures are the perfect way to practice phonics skills. Each phonics reading passage includes an engaging topic and 2 comprehension questions that assess student learning. This is perfect for a close read or text-based evidence practice.

I hope you find these free cvc word resources helpful! I have some other cvc word posts and resources that you might like as well. You can find them by following the links below:

• The Ultimate CVC Word Guide
• CVC Words in 7 Simple Steps
• CVC Dry Erase Boards
• CVC Unit: Worksheets and Centers
• Stretch and Blend CVC Cards

The post 7 FREE CVC Word Activities & Resources appeared first on Mrs V's Chickadees.

Grab a list of cvc words to use with your class during any lesson or activity

Are you working on cvc words with your kids? If so, you are in the right place! I’ve compiled a list of cvc words for you to use when it’s time for your phonics lessons and activities. Keep reading and grab your free copy below!

You might also like these cvc word blog posts: The Ultimate Guide to CVC Words, Teaching CVC Words in 7 Simple Steps

When it’s time work on cvc words, you’ll want to have a nice variety available. It’s important to have a list of cvc words printed so that you can make sure you are practicing new words with each activity.

List of Short A CVC Words

-ab words: cab, lab

-ad words: bad, dad, had, lad, mad, pad, rad, sad

-ag words: bag, gag, nag, rag, sag, tag, wag

-an words: ban, can, fan, man, pan, ran, tan, van

-ap words: cap, gap, lap, map, nap, rap, sap, tap

List of Short E CVC Words

-ed words: bed, fed, leg, red, wed

-eg words: beg, leg, peg

-en words: den, hen, men, pen, ten, zen

-et words: bet, get, jet, let, net, pet, vet, wet

List of Short I CVC Words

-ib words: bib, fib

-id words: did, hid, kid, lid, rid

-ig words: big, dig, fig, pig

-in words: bin, fin, kin, pin, tin, win

-ip words: dip, hip, lip, pip, rip, sip, tip, zip

-it words: bit, fit, hit, lit, pit, sit, zit

List of Short O CVC Words

-ob words: cob, mob, rob, sob

-od words: god

-og words: dog, hog, log

-on words: son, ton, won

-op words: cop, hop, mop, pop

-ot words: cot, got, hot, jot, lot, not, pot, rot

List of Short U CVC Words

-ub words: cub, pub, rub, tub

-ud words: bud, mud

-ug words: bug, hug, mug, pug, rug, tug

-un words: bun, fun, run, sun

-ut words: cut, gut, hut

So now that you have these lists, let me share some of my favorite cvc activities and printables. I’ll link everything that way if you see something you like you can grab it for your class.

CVC Word Games

A great way to practice with consonant-vowel-consonant words is to find activities where students will build them with varying manipulatives. For example, you can…

1. Have laminated cards that have a picture and a cvc word with a missing letter. Using the picture as a clue, children can use a dry erase marker to fill in the missing letter.

2. Provide a picture and three empty boxes. Using alphabet magnets children will build the cvc word that matches the picture.

3. Have picture and alphabet cards. Children pick a picture card and then build the cvc word with their alphabet cards.

Below are pictures that show examples of the above-mentioned activities.

CVC Words With Pictures

It’s also really important to provide pictures when you first start working with cvc words. These pictures will help students begin to internalize the process of segmenting and blending three sounds to make a word. Hands-on activities for this can include…

1. Looking at a cvc word and three different pictures. Using their letter-sound knowledge they will sound out the cvc word and identify the picture that matches.

2. CVC word puzzles are another great way to practice. Having a picture clue will allow children to figure out which pieces belong together.

CVC Word Printables

Lastly, I like to have printables ready for my fast finishers, homework, and just as an extra resource to help children build fluency with reading and writing consonant-vowel-consonant words.

If you think your students would benefit from any of the activities shown above, you can grab them here:

CVC Word Unit

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