Teachers have to make tough decisions regarding standards each day. Specifically, this involves how much time to spend on the different content students need to learn. Some of the material is important to know but does not require much time. Other material is imperative to understand and needs reinforcing throughout the entire year. One of these topics involves phonics. Honestly, teaching phonics is a crucial way to turn students into successful readers and writers! Thankfully, the Phonics Word Search Bundle [Read More…]
Sound Wall Quick Activities
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
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
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
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
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
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
Looking for a clickable link for something spotted on my Instagram account?
Click on the links and images below!
See All SOCIAL SKILLS: Click HERE
See All DIRECTED DRAWING VIDEOS: Click HERE
See All SOUND WALL: Click HERE
See All PHONICS CENTERS: Click HERE
See All MATH: Click HERE
See All SENTENCE BUILDING: Click HERE
See All WRITING CENTERS: Click HERE
See All ART: Click HERE
See All POETRY WRITING: Click HERE
See [Read More…]
Guided Spelling Ideas
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
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…]
