First Five for Friday of 2016

OK so it's Saturday, but its about as on time as I'm ever likely to get! Time for my first link up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for 2016 (hopefully I will make it a bit more regularly than last year!)

1

Last year my TA covered a shoe box for me to make a treasure chest and I found a cheap dustbin in one of the local shops. Now with the help of some laminated coins, I can play Buried Treasure with real and made up words using the focus phonemes that week.

2

Our story this week was 'Farmer Duck' and we learnt about helping each other and working collaboratively. Here is our finished display that we collaged together!

3

At my new school, I've been introduced to a great programme called 'Hairy Phonics'. Whilst it's no Phonics Play, it is highly enjoyed by my class. They are fascinated by the hairies we collect as we practise the different graphemes and play the games. It has a fairly limited range of games, however, I do like to get it out occasionally for whole class on the interactive whiteboard or individual work on the laptops. Has a game dedicated the practise for the Year 1 Phonics Check as well. And it's currently a free app on Google Play.

4

A resource that I simply can't do without now, magnetic boards! Used multiple times a week during whole class phonics, I also have it out on a table for independent word making practise. 

5

A resource mentioned in my previous post, the Happy New Year hat (updated for this year!) courtesy of A Cupcake for the Teacher. Always fun to start off a week with a bit of hat making and a lovely way to reinforce the new year for the children. 

Now after what seems like the longest first week back after the Christmas holidays ever, I am off for a massage (discount voucher came through my post box this week, yay!)

A little book talk

Am slowly catching up with my regular link ups, and today its the turn of Mrs Jump's Book Talk.

The book I'm going to talk about today is 'Shark in the Park' by Nick Sharratt.

This fun, brightly illustrated and rhyming book is a great read-aloud, but I've used it specifically as part of one of my Phonics lessons for the phoneme /ar/. It's the story of a boy Timothy and what he sees through his new telescope that he mistakes for a shark. Every time the children spotted the /ar/ sound they had to read the word. They became very enthusiastic about the refrain by the end of the book!

Inside there are cut-outs to mimic Timothy who is looking through his telescope, but each time is revealed not to be a shark by turning the page. Although the last page also got my class very excited! 

Additional ideas for this book include making your own telescopes, rhyming pairs games, predicting what else Timothy might mistake for the shark and of course, a soft toy shark being hidden around the classroom/playground! 

There is also a sequel Shark in the Dark, which I'm on the look out for! 

What books do you recommend for Phonics teaching?

Letter reversals b and d

Quick blog post about a product I created for a couple of my littlies who are still struggling with recognising the letters b and d. This is a simple sorting activity, although can be extended in several ways. Click on the images below to visit my store.

A quick and simple activity that could be used in a centre or as intervention work to target specific children. Cut (and laminate) the letter cards, including some that are blank for you to write your own in your handwriting, and ask children to sort onto the appropriate mat. There are mats with and without the guidance letter (clipart gives clues to the correct letter for each mat). You can extend to asking the children to write their own b's and d's either on the mat or on the blank cards. You could also ask them to label the pictures.

I am considering making these for other common letter confusions such as p and q and i and j, but will wait to see how popular this product is! Any other suggestions of letters that frequently get confused?

Acing that phonics check

If you teach in a UK school in Year 1, you will be familiar with the oh-so-popular Phonics Check that has to be done in June. Not one of my favourite things as a teacher, but since it has to be done, obviously I want my kiddies to do the best that they can in it.

I'm a great believer in drip feeding or spiralling the strategies they need to be able to pass. Below are just a few of the activities that I use over the year.

iPad app 'Check Your Phonics' by Pearson Education

This app (unfortunately paid) generates both real and fake words. 

Lollypop word sort 

I made this product so the children could sort the real and not real words.

'Reading Robot' on Phonics Play
There are some other good themed games on here which are grapheme-specific, which generate selections of real and fake words such as 'Buried Treasure', 'Planet Pluto' and 'Dragon's Den'.

Flashcards from SmartKids

I have a box of these for each Phase so I can use throughout the year. 

Buried Treasure also from Smart Kids

Again, I also have this game for multiple Phases.

Monster Names

Since the 'real thing' will involve fake words with monster/alien pictures beside them, I get them used to reading 'names' of different monster characters. (You can find this product in my TpT store).

Three-in-a-row

For this game, I split my class into teams (usually 2/3) and they take it in turns to roll my large whiteboard dice to find a word for their team to read. Then they circle it on the board. The first team to get three words circled wins. (My current class are ace at the reading, but a lot to work on with strategy to win!)

And of course, lots and lots of shared, guided and individual reading!

Lollypop lollypop oh lolly lolly pop!

I have a new product just in my TpT store today to celebrate the TpT 3 million teachers sale which is on for only 2 days! You can get up to 28% off! Click on the image below to go to my store!

Graphic from Creative Clips

It's a lollypop-themed word sorting game. This is a game aligned to the UK Letters and Sounds in that I've created words for the different Phases, however, it will work for any children who are still needing practice in sounding out and blending words.

I've included a mixture of real and made up words to ensure they are not reading them solely as sight words, but are also using their sounding and blending skills. Much needed practice for the Year 1 Phonics Check!

Phonics is one of my favourite subjects, any ideas what I could create next?

Anyway, I'm off to see what bargains I can grab in the TpT sale... remember it is only on today and tomorrow (USA time). Check out the linky party below to see what everyone else is buying/selling!

Five For Friday (or Saturday!)

One day I'll actually manage to post this on a Friday...

1

Ordinal numbers for the Chinese zodiac race. We ordered the toys! Then a bit of cutting and sticking to ordinal up the animals.

2

Chinese New Year decorations - goldfish! This was something I adapted from several ideas I found on Pinterest and the internet as I had managed to use my entire red tissue paper supply up for Remembrance Day poppies back in November and so decided to use up all my orange and yellow instead!

3

We went outside to practice our phonics skills. Chalk writing to make it that little bit more exciting!

4

Using some my version of a freebie I found from Make Take and Teach r-controlled vowels. The children had to choose the correct sound and clip, turning over to check their answers with a coloured dot behind.

 5

I'm the Featured Freebie on Teaching Blog Addict! So so excited as it was only my second time linking up there!