Whimsy Workshop Teaching

Whimsy Workshop Teaching

Teacher Clip Art, Literary Resources, Classroom Ideas

Sound Wall Quick Activities

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This post answers the most common questions I have received about quick daily activities to use with a sound wall. I hope the answers in this quick guide are helpful to you!

Sound Wall Activities

Question: What are some quick activities to use with a sound wall?

Answer: Here are some quick ideas to reinforce phonemes:

Activity 1: Invite students to become Phoneme Detectives and hunt for focus phonemes in short books. This activity is particularly effective with a partner.

Activity 2: Make personal [Read More…]

Sound Wall: Consonants

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This post answers the most common questions I have received about arranging consonants on a sound wall. I hope the answers in this quick guide are helpful to you!

Sound Wall: CONSONANTS

Question: How are consonants represented on a sound wall?

Answer: Consonants are categorized as nasals, stops, fricatives, affricates, liquids and glides, as shown below. These categories refer to the way the sound is made. For example, some sounds are formed with bursts of air, while others are a smooth sound. [Read More…]

Sound Wall: Teaching Tips

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This post provides teaching tips to use with your sound wall. I hope the answers in this quick guide are helpful to you!

Teaching Tip 1: Take It Slow

Question: How should I introduce my sound wall?

Answer: Very slowly! A completed sound wall (especially with word cards) can be overwhelming for students. I like the idea of covering most of the posters with a “lock” picture, then revealing the phonemes as they are directly taught. Even after revealing the poster, you [Read More…]

Sound Wall Vowel Valley

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This post answers common questions about arranging vowel posters in a vowel valley on a sound wall. I hope the answers are helpful to you!

PHONEMES & GRAPHEMES

Question: How are phonemes and graphemes represented on a sound wall?

Answer: A sound wall is visual reference for students where each of the 44 phonemes in the English language is represented by an anchor picture and graphemes connected to that sound.

VOWEL VALLEY

Question: Why are vowel posters in a V-Shape on the sound wall?

Answer: [Read More…]

Setting Up A Sound Wall

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Making Sense of Vowel Valley

When I first saw a sound wall I was …confused. After teaching reading intervention for 25 years, I didn’t understand why letters were posted in a V-Shape. I also wondered why there were pictures of mouths everywhere! Fast forward to the present time… I now view sound walls as an integral part of reading and writing instruction. I’d like to share with you what I’ve learned so far.

PS: You can download a free quick guide [Read More…]

5 Tips for Free Boom Cards

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Confession time: When I first heard of Boom Cards my thought was, “I can’t learn another new thing right now!” But when distance learning became a reality, I decided to give myself 20 minutes to read and learn, and then decide if it was something I wanted to try.

Guess what? TOTALLY worth my time! And I think there’s a good chance you might agree with me! I’m going to break it all down into a few small steps so [Read More…]

Instagram Archive

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Looking for a clickable link for something spotted on my Instagram account? Click on the images below!

MORE FREE DOWNLOADS

You may also be interested the FREE downloads in the posts listed below!

I hope you find some helpful resources!

Free Downloads: First Grade Writing

Free Downloads: Simple Art Templates

Math Centers: Free Downloads

Free Directed Drawing Videos: Students Draw Along

Free Letter Sounds Song Posters

Free Educational FUN Math Videos To Play In Class

Free Math Posters Collection

Free Poetry Collection (20 pages)

Free Online Stories Collection

Free Directed Drawing and [Read More…]

Guided Spelling Ideas

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It can be tricky to support your emergent writers who are tackling spelling. Early writers may have a delicate confidence when it comes to spelling, and they often don’t realize that guessing and making mistakes is an important part of learning. 
It’s our job as teachers to explain that they are not expected to know how to spell every word! Always take time to let your students know that you’re looking for the effort and the attempt. Our mantra is “Make [Read More…]

Phonics Strategies and Ideas

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Phonics: Classroom Practice
Much of our phonics instruction comes from our daily practice. Most of the activities are embedded into PLAY. Apart from some direct full class and small group lessons (including guided reading lessons), most of our phonics practice takes place through game boards, sorting, word building and creative writing.
Here are some specific ways to find phonics practice happening in our classroom.

PHONICS BOARD GAMES
The easiest to prep, and a big class favorite through the whole year is phonics game boards.
I have [Read More…]

Phonics Posters – 5 Ways To Use Them

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I recently updated my classroom phonics posters to match my classroom decor. There was nothing wrong with them – I just wanted an update to match my new themes.
That got me thinking about ways I could use them to teach about phonics.

Here are some ideas I came up with in my classroom:
BE THE TEACHER CENTER
My students LOVE to be the teacher! One of my most popular centers is also the easiest to prep for. Students get a fancy hand pointer [Read More…]

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