Word Mats for October {Proud to be Primary}

Hi everyone! It's Elyse from Proud to be Primary. 

I'm excited to be back sharing October Word Mats with you! 

Word Mats are similar to Math Mats and take the same format, but cover ELA standards.

Word Mats for October provides a lot of practice on many different language skills. 

I created Word Mats so that I had something to give my students to practice the ELA concepts that we needed to know on a daily basis. I wanted each page of this resource to provide an abundance of learning opportunities, as well as the necessary review that is needed in order for students to retain an understanding of ELA skills and standards. 

Here is the breakdown of a Word Mat.

Each Word Mat is different and each month touches on almost ALL of the Common Core Standards for Language for first grade. It will also work as ELA review for second grade and for those in Kindergarten needing a challenge. You can be confident that your students are learning and practicing the necessary skills in ELA each month!

ELA Skills Covered in Word Mats

*Rhyming Words - Word Families
*Printing/Handwriting
*Nouns
*Verbs
*Pronouns
*Adjectives
*Prepositions
*Sentences
*Capitalization
*Punctuation
*Commas
*Spelling
*Phonics
*Vocabulary
*Sight Words
*Opposites
*Blends
*Digraphs
*Vowel Teams
*Final -e
*Letter Sounds - initial/medial/endings
*Vowels (short & long)
*Affixes
*Root Words
*Categories
*Compound Words

Another reason why I LOVE these mats is the low-prep aspect. They are print and go style printable sheets that lend themselves well to many uses. 

Copy Word Mats on card stock and laminate. You could also put the pages inside a wipe-off cover. Give students a dry erase pen to complete the Word Mat for that day. After they complete a mat, they simply clean it off and give to someone else to complete. They work great for your literacy center and during your fast finisher time.

You can print Word Mats on seasonal colored paper. You can keep them stored for each month ready to go.

A cover page is provided in each Word Mat pack with the option of creating a booklet for your students. These booklets work great for morning work time or for homework packets to send home with your students each month. Parents would love that!

Do you use Interactive Notebooks? Well, look no further...Word Mats are perfect for your math journals or interactive notebooks! 

Simply, change your printer settings to print off a smaller, scaled copy of a Word Mat. Follow the steps below!

Word Mats work great, as well during your small group time! 

Another option for keeping Word Mats and other ELA activities all in one place is to use a three pronged folder. I love using these types of folders because my students can keep them in their book baskets or desks and they are easily accessible when needed. 

You could make a copy of the monthly Word Mats for each students to place inside their folder and use for morning work and homework.

Here is close-up sample of a Word Mat. Each mat has a spot for your students' name and the date. Each Word Mat is clearly represented with the ELA concept (heading) at the top of each section. The instructions are below the headings and important text is in bold to help students complete the activities. Seasonal and related graphics are used to clearly represent the questions.

For the next 3 days (September 28th-30th), Word Mats for October will be ONLY $1. 

Click HERE to buy NOW!

Word Mats for September is available HERE. 

Thanks for shopping with me!

I'd love to stay connected with you! Head over to read my blog Proud to be Primary, like my Facebook page, pin me on Pinterest and check me out on Instagram!

Building Fluency

HI THERE!  It's Shanon from OCD in First!  I hope that you guys are enjoying your summer break!  Here are a few ways we build fluency in first grade. :)

Playing Games to Build Fluency

For me, it's always about having fun while learning.  I love to incorporate games into EVERYTHING!  WAYYYYY back when, I used to buy all of my games through companies like Lakeshore, but now I make my games so they fit exactly with words and concepts that I'm teaching.  So, in this post, I'm going to share a few games we play to help build fluency!

SPOT THAT WORD!

Our Spot that Word game is an all-time favorite!  It's a fast-paced game that builds fluency without the students ever knowing it!  You start with a deck in the middle of the students (we play with a maximum of 4 students because it can get too loud with more than that).  Each student picks one card.  Then the goal is to find your one match with the middle card before anyone else finds their match.  Every card has ONE match!  Don't ask me how it works... but it does!  Check out a freebie of the game if you are interested.  Click on the picture to see all of my Spot that Word games.

MATH FLUENCY!

We are no longer allowed to have "Math Centers", but I still believe that games help build fluency, so we "Fit them in" however we can.  Our board games, I Have, Who Has games, and Scoot are among our favorite classroom games.  

If you've never played I Have, Who Has... you're missing out.  Some teachers do this whole group, but last year we found that students actually like it more during center time as a group of 2-4, so that's how we play it.  Students divvy up cards, turn them all face up, and begin.  As they say their card, they turn it over.  If they can get through the entire game with all cards face down, they win.  Many times they turn over an incorrect card, but don't find out until they get to a point where they can't turn over any other cards.  If this happens, they have to start all over again.  There are many different ways to play this, but that's how they usually play.  

WORD FLUENCY!

I've created a 36-week long curriculum that has 10-15 sight words each week for our students to learn. So with those words, I created games for the students to play to build fluency.  We have our game boards with sentences that are fill in the blank with the words, we have fluency strips to practice the sentences, we have flash cards to practice the words, we have I have, Who Has games to practice the words, and we have Build a Sentence to practice our words.  

In Build a Sentence, students have word cards in a pile.  They also have an envelope that tells them each sentence they have to build. One student reads the sentence, while the other student tries to find the words to build the sentence.  Two groups are usually playing, and they are racing to see who can finish all of their sentences first. 

I am constantly amazed at how incorporating games into our day has helped my students with word recognition and math fluency.  It does take some time to get everything situated (printed, laminated, cut, and stored), but in the long run, IT IS SOOOO WORTH IT! 

The two fluency games below are ONLY $1.00 for THREE DAYS! 

Graduation Time: Editable Certificates

Hey friends! It's Keri from Enchanted Kinder Garden.

Has the end of the year been as crazy for you all as it has been for me? We only have 7.5 days left and it's SUMMER! I've been prepping for the end and updated some little graduation certificates that I made for my grade level last year. The great thing is that I finally got them uploaded to my store. They are my dollar deal for this month!

For the next three days, you can get this EDITABLE graduation OR certificate of completion resource. You can change the title to suit the needs of what grade you teach. You will also be able to edit all of the text. There are 12 different options to choose from.

Last year, I sent home one similar to the three kids and ALL the parents LOVED them. These are extremely cute to frame as well. This year, I've made one similar to this one below.

For the NEXT three days, you'll be able to get these EDITABLE certificates for only ONE dollar. Make sure you share this post with all your teacher friends!