Word Work Linky

I am linking up with Hilary at Rockin' Teacher Materials for a Word Work Linky. She read my mind! I have my word work center mostly up and running and even took pictures to share! This is my motivation to download the pictures and get them up.

I split word work time between sight words (Dolch Words), Words Their Way Word Study, and spelling (based on Dolch Words). I start introducing materials to the students by teaching the kids how to use each material and how to take care of it. We practice by using class names and my rule is that each word must be practiced 3 times. They say the word, spell it, and say it again each time they practice. Here are the materials:

	Letter beads to string on a pipe cleaner. Wikki Sticks/Bend-a-Roos Magnetic Letters
	Magnet Boards Letter stencils Mini-white boards
	Marble/Rainbow Pencils Sign Language ***NEW Color change markers by Crayola I also have printed computer keyboards that I have laminated so the kids can practice “typing” their words.

I store two items for practice in each of the blue buckets on the bottom shelf. When students have word work time, they grab a bucket and go practice their words – either from their sight word list, their spelling notebook, or Words Their Way sort words. I change what I assign the kids to work on. I try to pair up one building activity and one writing activity, and I change them out every other week or so to keep the novelty fresh.

The upper shelf holds our Dolch Sight Word Games. I color-coded the drawers and materials to match the list label on the outside. Some of the games are Battleship, Go Fish, Connect Four, Pig and Stop, Bang (or some variation of it), Roll, Say, Keep, bingo, and probably a few others. A lot of the games came from The School Bell’s Dolch Kit:

Other games have been modified from games I have found. I have a few games from blogs that I need to get printed and laminated to add.

Once I get spelling up and running, I will share whatever I decide to do with that this year. I am thinking of combining our mandatory spelling words (we have 42) with word lists from Words Their Way.

When I work on words during guided reading, I have a few tricks. First, I found a Plexiglas sign holder at Staples for about 6 bucks. I had wanted a whiteboard to use during guided reading to break down words and teach strategies, but was having trouble finding one. I wanted something that stood up, but was small enough to not be in the way. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE how well this works!!! It is the perfect size!

I also use letter tiles for making words activities. I covered 4x6 pieces of recycled cardboard with the grippy shelf liner and put the letters we will use on them. The letters do not slip around and I can stack the boards in a basket for the group lesson. No pictures right now.

Sometimes I use word strategies that apply to a given book and sometimes I use a book that has a sequence of building words that gets the kids to think about how changing letters changes the sounds in the word. I will have to find the book at school to add the title.

Now that I am thinking about it, I have a few more things to share. Maybe I will add a few more posts later, but I think this is enough for today. I hope someone finds some useful ideas here!