Today I'm sharing a new October math resource. October is CRAZY... Fair Day, Fall Festival, Parent Teacher Conferences, school pictures, field trips, and, of course, HALLOWEEN! I'm hoping this new math resource will make your life a little easier and give your kiddos some fun & engaging math practice.
The Halloween math problems are set up as task cards so you only have to make one copy of the problems. Students work through the problems and record their work/answers on individual recording sheets. Depending on your kiddos, you may choose to do ONE problem a day for the entire month of October, or you may decide to do a couple a day the week leading up to Halloween. Another idea is to set up a classroom scavenger hunt. When students are out of the classroom for Specials, grab some tape, and hang the task cards around the room. When the class returns, each kiddo gets a clipboard and a recording sheet. They have so much fun hunting around the room and working through the problems. Just getting up and moving makes it more engaging!
These would be ideal for Problem of the Day during morning meeting or for math journals. Your kiddos may need help reading the problems, so you may choose to work through them together and think aloud as you model how you solve the problem. Students can work on a dry erase board or solve the problem on their individual recording sheet. These would also be great for math centers or small groups. So many easy ways to make math fun in October!
Today I'm sharing a fun and easy sight word activity and {FREE} printable.
This game is perfect for a quick review of sight words. Teachers can use this activity in centers/stations or in small groups. Parents can also use this activity at home to practice the weekly sight words with their child. I found these dry erase foam blocks at the Dollar Tree! I've seen them at teacher supply stores over the years, but I'm always shocked at the price. I couldn't believe it when I found these at the Dollar Tree for a buck!
If you can't find them at your local Dollar Tree, you might be able to purchase them online.
Use dry erase markers to write the sight words on the cube. Record the same words on the bottom row of this FREE printable.
Player one rolls the dice and writes the sight word in the appropriate column. Kiddos can also use markers, pens, or colored pencils to "rainbow write" the words.
For more sight word activities, ideas, and games, head over to this blog post. Check out this blog post for suggestions on organizing and storing sight word flash cards.
Sight Words...We know they are important, and we know children need a lot of exposure, practice, and repetition to master sight words. There are 220 Dolch Sight Words broken down into five sets (Pre-Primer, Primer, 1st grade, 2nd grade, 3rd grade). This breaks down to about 40-50 per list. That's a lot of cards to keep organized! Let me help you get a grip on those flash cards so you can spend more time playing sight word games and having fun with the words.
1. Organize words into three sections: "New Words," "Words I Can Read," & "Tricky Words"
-New Words: These are the new words that the child is currently learning. You might also store a stack of upcoming words here.
-Words I Can Read: After a child masters a sight word, move it to the section titled "Words I Can Read" so the child has a set of words he/she feels confident reading. It only takes a few seconds to flip through these words. It will make the child feel good about how many words he/she has learned.
-Tricky Words: It may be a word the child is currently working on or one from the past, but there are always a few "tricky words" that need special attention. Give those words the special attention they deserve. TRICKY WORDS. 😎
2. Organize flash cards in a Dollar Tree photo album
Hit up your local Dollar Tree and buy some photo albums/brag books. These are perfect for sight word cards. If you are a parent, you might buy a couple books. You could organize "New Words" in one book, "Words I Can Read" in a second photo album, and "Tricky Words" in a third. The best part is you can easily move the flash cards from one book/slot to another by sliding them out of the photo slots. If you are a classroom teacher or if your child is just starting with sight words, ONE album per child is plenty.
3. Recipe Card Box/Index Card Filing Box
Here's another cheap storage option... an index card filing box/ plastic recipe box. I would still suggest sorting the words into the three sections previously mentioned. You can paperclip them to keep the groups separated in the box.
4. Coupon Organizer/Accordion Pouch
Coupon organizers/accordion pouches are great because they are made with partitioned sections. It's an easy way to keep sight words stored AND organized. (Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, etc. or September Words, October Words, November Words, etc.)
5. Target Pencil Clip
Target always has varieties of these cute "clips" in the Dollar Spot.
This works best for a parent or homeschooler. Clip the sight words into sections: New Words, Words I can Read, & Tricky Words. Take down the cards you want to practice or play a game with, and then simply clip them back in place. Perfect to hang near your child's bookshelf or desk at home!
Hope these ideas for organizing and storing sight words will help you in your classroom or homeschool. If you are a parent helping your child study and learn their sight words, HUGS to you for being so awesome!!!
Last week, after a meeting at church, I chatted with a sweet friend. She asked me, "Liz- what in the world are SIGHT WORDS, and do you have any ideas for how my daughter and I can practice them at home?" (Her cutie had just started Kindergarten...) Before long, a few other Moms joined in on the conversation, and I knew right away I wanted to write a blog post sharing EASY and FUN sight word activities that parents can do at home with their kiddos.
Just as parents help their child study for a weekly spelling test, they can also help their child read and review their weekly sight words. This blog post is filled with ideas for PARENTS to help their children practice and review their sight words at home to compliment what the teacher is doing at school.
Sight word activities at home should be...
1. Tactile/Hands On
2. Games/FUN
3. Visual
You want your child to have an opportunity to build, touch, and experience the sight words so that his or her brain can make a connection between the letters and the word itself. It's all about exposure, repetition, and practice.
Spray some whipped cream or shaving cream on the counter or table. Have your child spread it out and then practice writing his sight words. Provide a flashcard or list for reference. It's all about practice, repetition, and exposure to the words. Don't worry if your child needs to look at the word list.
3. Sand/Sugar letters
Get a school supply box or cookie sheet with edges and fill it with play sand or granulated sugar. Have your child practice writing sight words in the sand with his or her finger. It's all about the touch! *Hint: You do not need very much sand!*
4. PlayDoh
Flatten a piece of play doh and use a toothpick or skewer to write sight words in the PlayDoh. Kiddos can also form long snakes with the PlayDoh and then build the words with PlayDoh.
5. Build the Word
Build the word using magnetic letters, cut up pool noodle pieces, alphabet cereal, or with yummy items from the pantry!
Brynn had a blast with this pool noodle sight word activity. Such a cutie.
Make a set of playing cards with index cards using the words of the week or the words your child needs to review. (2-4 per word) Deal the same number of cards to each player and then leave a "Go Fish" pile in the middle.
7. Memory
Make a set of playing cards using the words of the week. (Two per word) Place all of the cards upside down. Each player flips over two cards and reads the words aloud. If the words match, the player keeps the pair. The player with the most matches wins. *If you child has A LOT of words to learn, start with just a few and then add more to the memory game as they become more comfortable with the words. Your child will be extremely frustrated if they have 20 cards in the game and they can't read any of them, so start simple.*
8. Hopscotch
Grab some chalk and make a hopscotch board in your driveway. Fill in the week's sight words, and have your child hop across while practicing the words. While you are outside enjoying the weather, let your child decorate the sidewalk or driveway with all of his or her sight words.
9. Hide & Seek Sight Words
Write the weekly sight words on sticky notes. When your child is not looking, hide the words all over the house! After you hide the words, let your child loose to go find all of the hidden words. For extra practice, your child can write the words after he or she finds them. This game is so easy and endless fun!
Tip: Collect found words on a clipboard.
10. Printable Board Games
I love this editable game from Playdough to Plato. It's FREE! I love that you can type in the words that you want on the game board. So cute and fun for practicing new sight words. (If you don't have a TpT account, you will need to sign up to download the freebie.)
11. SWAT Game
Write all of the weekly sight words on index cards. Grab a fly swatter. Yes, a fly swatter. :) Call out one of the words. As quickly as possible, your child SWATS the word with the fly swatter. Silly fun! If your child is struggling with ALL of the words, just start with 2-3words. Add a few more words as they become more familiar with the words.
12. Sight Word Password
Kids love secret passwords. Use this love of passwords to help learn sight words. Pick the trickiest word of the week and make that the "password." Write it on a big piece of construction paper and post it somewhere in your house that gets a lot of traffic (i.e. the bathroom, the fridge, the pantry...). To enter the pantry, everyone in the family must read the password. Hearing Mom, Dad, and older sister say the "password," as well as looking at it and making a connection with it throughout the week will help your child remember it as well. Remember, it's about exposure, repetition, and practice.
If you are a teacher, please feel free to share the link to this blog post with parents in a weekly e-mail, class newsletter, during Parent Teacher Conferences, etc. Please e-mail me at TheHappyTeacherTPT@gmail.com if you have any questions.
If you would like to download the sight word cards I used, visit my TpT store.
