Too Many Activities, Not Enough Space

Earlier this month I shared that I was putting away my word study centers and focusing on more reading response and comprehension. I usually have the activity cards hanging on clothespins that are hotglued on my walls...

My walls were looking a little trashy and crowded though so I needed a new way to organize them.  I headed out to my trusty Dollar Tree to get inspired. I decided that I would put all of the activities about a topic in one clear container together.  Now the students can just take the whole tub to work on which is better because it will be more productive for them to work on several related activities instead of a bunch of different ones.

The activities in the tubs are a variety of homemade things, purchased games, and tasks dowloaded from websites such as Pinterest, FCRR, and The Third Grade wiki.

Figurative Language Fun

Once again I discovered some fun new practice activities for my students on FCRR and The Third Grade Wiki! Each site has a section for figurative language resources. I also found a simile Bingo game on the Collaborative Learning website (which is from England so some of the similes are odd in America).

My students have been working with similes and metaphors, so that is what I focused on in this center for now. I will add in more elements later. One is a matching game, one is sets of scenarios with questions, and the third is the bingo game.

Making Inferences

Making inferences is a skill that I have my students practice all year.  I put together my two favorite resources, FCRR and The Third Grade Wiki, and was able to create a center that gave students multiple ways to practice this skill. If you have not visited either of these websites, do yourself a huge favor and set aside some time to browse...you will not be disappointed!

Some of the activities in this center are simply scenarios with questions glued to construction paper or paint sample cards, laminated, and held together with a binder ring. A couple of them are games that have a board, cards, and chips to cover the spaces. My independent readers work with partners, while my lower readers work with me in a small group setting.

orange-2nd-3rd grade reading level

purple-4th-5th grade reading level

The set of inferencing cards above came from Pinterest. I can't find the blog from which I downloaded it.

hotglued clothespins on the wall to hang the activities

Sight Words from the Sunshine State

If you are a teacher and are not familiar with The Florida Center for Reading Research please do yourself a huge favor and go to the link now. They have amazing instructional materials for students in grades K-5. I give them full credit for the materials found in the sight words center I am about to share with you.

FCRR has basic fluency practice sheets for students with passages, but I have third grade students who still have not mastered the Dolch sight word lists. There is an activity on the FCRR website that uses common phrases instead of whole passages or individual sight words. 

There are two versions of this center. For the first one, I put each phrase on a card so students could practice them like flash cards. There is a record sheet where they can keep track of how many cards they can read in 1 minute. My students use a simple turn-over timer from an old board game. For the second version, I put the phrase papers in a sheet protector along with the record sheet so students can keep track of their practice. This second version let's them practice in the familiar left to right sweep. My strategic readers enjoy this activity and are always asking to practice.