Daily Five: Writing & Word Work Activities

Hi Friends!
Today I'd like to share some new activities for the Daily Five
Work on Writing & Word Work.  I taught first grade last year and looped to second grade with the same kids and wanted to change up some of my Daily Five activities.  These activities are NOT the only writing or word work activities we do each day.  I have a 60 minute Writer's Workshop and a 30 minute Word Work block in the morning.  My Daily Five takes place in the afternoon every day of the week EXCEPT Wednesday.

Here are my Work on Writing activities:



On Mondays, students write about their weekend.  I ask them to pick one thing and write about it.



On Tuesdays, students write a letter to our Student of the Week. I collect all the letters and put them together in book form and give it to the Student of the Week to keep. 

 

 



On Thursdays, students write in their Science Journals.  I have an object for them to observe that goes along with our theme.  They draw the object and write about it.



On Fridays, students can go to our Writing Center and choose an activity there.

 











Here's how I store the Work on Writing materials:





Here are my Word Work activities:

 

On Mondays, students play a game called Roll & Write.

They roll a die, find the word for the number they rolled and write it.  The goal is to roll and write until one of the columns is filled.  That word "Blasts Off."  You continue to roll and write until all the words "Blast Off." 

 



If you don't like the idea of kids rolling dice on their desks and making lots of noise, you can cut pieces of rubber shelf liner for them to roll on.



On Tuesdays, students write their words with scented markers.  I use Mr. Sketch scented markers.  Walgreens had them on sale for $5.00 a box in August!!   I store each set of markers in a Lock & Lock container.  I got them on QVC. 



On Thursdays, students use magnetic letters to build words.
I bought some heavy duty cookie sheets for this center.  I put the letters they need at the top and they build the words at the bottom.  I used a Sharpie to divide the two areas.  I include a list of words on the cookie sheet.



On Fridays, students work in their Vocabulary Journals.  They pick 2 words from our vocabulary word list for the week.  They write them, use them in a sentence, and then illustrate. 



My students love all of these activities.  I plan to change them up as the year goes on.  I'll share some more in future posts. 

Word Work & Giveaway!!

Hi Friends!

Do you have a center for word work?

I've seen a variety of ways to practice sight words, spelling words, or other important words.

Here are some of these ideas.

1.  Read, write & stamp the words

2.  Use playdough to make the words

3.  Build the words with magnetic letters

4.  Write the words in a salt tray

5.  Put shaving cream on a surface and write the words on the shaving cream

6.  Cut up the word and put it back together

7.  Make rainbow words by writing the word in one color and then going over it with other colors

8.  Smelly words - use scented markers to write the words

9.  Write the words on a dry-erase board with colored markers, on a chalkboard with

colored chalk, or on a Magna Doodle.

10.  Write the words outside on the playground with chalk
11.  Use craft sticks to build words
12. Use Wikki Stix to build words
13.  Use dot stampers to make words
14.  Cut letters out of a magazine to make words
15.  Use an old computer keyboard and have students type the words 

I could go on and on, but I wanted to share something new I added this year to my Word Work

     Center.  They are called  GIANT Pipe Stems.  (I'm sure you are all familiar with pipecleaners.)     The kids have to bend the stems to make each letter of the word. 

 I've also used them in math to make numbers and shapes. 

 You can use them for letter sounds.  For example, ask you students to

make something that begins with the letter "b." 

 Kids can bend their stem to make a balloon or a butterfly, etc.
There are lots of ways to use these GIANT Pipe Stems in your classroom.

My students really liked using these this year, so I'll keep them in my Word Work Center

for next year.  I'd love to hear what you do for word work in your classroom.
****************************************
Now for my giveaway...I am going to give away one package of Giant Pipe Stems.
Here's all you need to do to enter:  Follow my blog, leave me a comment telling me
you are following my blog, tell a blogger friend about the giveaway,
 and include your email address in case you win!!
 I will post the winner on June 9th.  Good luck!!