I’m linking up for the second week in a row (woohoo!) with Tara for Monday Made It! The past few days I’ve spent rather unplugged while my amazing and sweet cousin from California visits with me and my babies. It’s been SO nice to have this time with her and my boys, especially now that summer school is done. DONE. DONE! (Can you tell how excited I am?)
So — while I haven’t spent a whole lot of time on school-related things these past few days (and last week while I was tying up loose ends with summer school), I did manage to give my classroom alphabet a facelift and FINALLY bundle it as requested. It’s been a HUGE undertaking, but I’m really happy with the results.
I also made two things for my upcoming kiddos that I think are really important: a personal word dictionary and word wall. Why both? You might be asking that — and I have an answer! I use both with my kiddos because they need both. The word wall is for those high frequency words that we learn in whole and small group, words that they frequently need to spell correctly. We use our word dictionaries for those words that we do not use as frequently, but students still wish to spell correctly (and I’m so glad they want to!).
I’m planning on shrinking down several sets of my alphabet posters. {This is SUPER easy to do just from the print menu.} I plan on using them for a variety of tasks.
- Some of my students will use the smaller (four to a sheet) cards for letter-recognition practice. They can play a “war” rapid-fire style game to help their letter-recognition become automatic.
- Some of my students will use the smaller cards not for letter-recognition, but for word sprees! Their partner will show them a card and they will list all the words that they know the begin with that letter while their partner tallies the number of words they know. They’ll take turns and see who can list the most!
- I’ll be printing the cards half-size to use as word wall headers on my cabinet, and yet another set of half-size posters to use at my small group table.
- The blackline versions will be used as morning work the first week — students will decorate their own poster and it will be used in a “letter of the week” display where we’ll do whole-class word sprees, a vocabulary focus, etc.
In second grade we begin the year honing our print handwriting, and by the beginning of the 4th quarter we start the transition to cursive. I change our alphabet at the front of the room from print to print and cursive during the 3rd quarter so students are exposed to cursive before we begin to use it. I love having both displayed, as it really helps the students naturally incorporate more cursive into their daily writing.
This year I’ll be also using the cursive blacklines to help students practice their cursive — they’ll trace the laminated copies with whiteboard markers at our handwriting center.
I’ve posted all nine versions of the alphabet {primary print, cursive, and both in rainbow brights, rainbow chalkboard, or blackline} as well as three bundles — primary print, cursive, and print/cursive — on TpT. As always, they are discounted 50% for the first 24 hours, a total STEAL as each file includes a personal dictionary AND word wall for your students!
I’m also giving up copies on Facebook and Instagram, so head on over to enter to win your choice of bundle!
I’ll leave you with a few of my favorite photos from the past few days. We traveled the short distance north to Washington, D.C. to spend the day there and take my cousin to all the places we went as kids. It was a BLAST and truly makes me feel blessed to have D.C. as my backyard.
Happy Monday! And good luck to those of you that are already back-to-school!
Creativity to the Core says
July 28, 2014 at 11:11 amI love the idea of shrinking the posters and printing them for centers. Why have I never thought of that!?!? Such a simple, but wonderful, idea.
Meredith
Creativity to the Core
Sarah Plum says
July 28, 2014 at 7:39 pmIt's GREAT! I'm going to do a post with some of most often-used printing tips and tricks, because it REALLY helps you get more out of your purchases.
Haley says
July 28, 2014 at 3:58 pmYou have been busy!! I love having an alphabet strip with both cursive and print for my second graders to see… it's such a hard transition to go from print to cursive!
Haley
Owls and Lessons, Etc.
Sarah Plum says
July 28, 2014 at 7:39 pmIt so IS! They have to be ready to do it both visually and with their fine-motor skills… some of them aren't ready even by the end of second grade, but we'll see!
Carol B says
July 28, 2014 at 7:25 pmI like to transition from print to cursive about halfway through the year as well. I start by writing things they'll recognize in cursive… like the date and the agenda so that they kinda already know what the word should be.
Sarah Plum says
July 28, 2014 at 7:38 pmThat's a really good tip, Carol! I always write my name in cursive, and I also transition their nameplates to cursive around that same time.
Ginger Snaps says
July 28, 2014 at 8:16 pmThose are so cute! I love D.C.! What a fun trip!
Ginger Snaps
Sarah Plum says
July 28, 2014 at 8:39 pmIt's a GREAT city! I am so spoiled by being able to drive 40 minutes to all of those free museums — it's an experience I wish everyone had access to that easily!
Brandi says
July 29, 2014 at 5:21 amI love the cursive and printing option. That is such a good idea! I'm adding this to my wishlist!
Brandi
Swinging for Success
Follow me on Facebook!
Sarah Plum says
August 2, 2014 at 3:37 amThanks for adding it, Brandi! Make sure you enter my giveaway for a $10 TpT gift certificate — you can use it during the sale!