reading Archives - Whimsy Workshop Teaching

Tips for Teaching Letter Sounds

October 28, 2018 by Whimsy Workshop Teaching Leave a Comment

How do you teach letter sounds?

Teaching letter sounds can be tricky, and takes a LOT of daily practice. I try to use as many different approaches as possible so that I am addressing the many different learning styles in my classroom. I use songs, videos, books, small group intervention, and whole group lessons.
Here are some ideas for you to try!

LETTER SOUNDS: VIDEOS
Below are some videos that my students enjoy.
Click on any picture to watch the video with your class!
Jack Hartmann [Read More…]

Reading Lessons and Intervention Made Easy

August 11, 2018 by Whimsy Workshop Teaching Leave a Comment

This post is all about teaching reading, and it also contains a FREE alphabet printing activity for you to download!
You may have seen my recent post about my HUGE teaching dilemma last year: a new teaching partner who had no experience with teaching primary math! How could I make sure that my new partner stayed on track without spending HOURS talking about math lessons, planning, intervention and reporting?

My solution? I had the idea to make a whole year of paperless daily [Read More…]

Math Daily Warm Ups and Intervention Binder

July 22, 2018 by Whimsy Workshop Teaching 4 Comments

I had a BIG teaching dilemma last year.
My teaching partner was new to first grade and didn’t know ANYTHING about teaching math at this level. I needed to keep my math lessons organized through the school year, and I was worried our math lessons would fall behind or not be as effective when I wasn’t there.
So the question was…. How could I make sure that my new partner stayed on track without spending HOURS on the phone talking about math lessons, [Read More…]

Online Stories for Book Companions

February 2, 2018 by Whimsy Workshop Teaching Leave a Comment

WHY USE BOOK COMPANIONS?
Book companions allow teacher’s to use one story to practice a number of core reading and writing skills.
In my classroom, it ensures that I continue to use literature to explore things like story structure, sequencing, character traits, letter writing formats, comprehension and more. We can also have fun with stories using partner plays, comic book writing, and art projects.
Using book companions keeps all the lessons focused and organized, makes my planning easier, and makes assessment simple because [Read More…]

Making Phonics Fun and Interactive

July 29, 2017 by Whimsy Workshop Teaching Leave a Comment

Teaching phonics can become a bit monotonous day after day, but there are lots of ways to keep it engaging!
Here are a few examples of the ways I’ve tried to keep phonics lessons interactive, hands on, and FUN!
Phonics instruction can also be differentiated with a little creativity.

BUILDING WORDS & SENTENCES
This activity allows for differentiation because the tasks get more complex as you work down the page. Some students will only be required to print the letters and build the [Read More…]

Animal Writing Flap Books

November 5, 2016 by Whimsy Workshop Teaching 4 Comments

Do your students love animal research projects?
It’s a great way to introduce non-fiction writing, and it can be a source of pride for students who feel very “grown up” because they are doing research! However, this enthusiasm can be dampened if emergent writers are not supported with reading materials at their level, and so long as the information sources are not too overwhelming.

This is why differentiating your non-fiction materials for emergent writers is so important.
Here are some tips for implementing your [Read More…]

Time Tested Early Literacy Strategies

July 1, 2015 by Whimsy Workshop Teaching Leave a Comment

Does your early literacy time sound like this:

Teacher, how to you spell….?
“What does this word say?

When early readers hear the answer “Just sound it out”, do they really know what you are talking about?

Do they know what that means?

How can we support them further with the risk-taking involved in early reading strategies?

So many students feel anxiety when left on their own to read, and as we know, this anxiety greatly impedes their ability to process information and focus.

Over the last [Read More…]

Integrated Learning In Primary

January 5, 2015 by Whimsy Workshop Teaching Leave a Comment

There’s a lot of attention on integrated learning. Many schools are moving away from the traditional “single subject blocks” model to a multi-subject, project-based model.

Here’s a quick video from Edutopia to explain the benefits of this approach.

Click for Introduction Video

Project-based learning is perfect for this kind of approach. Why? Within each project there are multiple problems to solve. Each problem is drawing from knowledge in various subject areas.

Our school adopted Genius Hour as another way to facilitate project-based integrated learning. [Read More…]