Small Group Work and a FREEBIE!

Wednesday is always a day the kiddos look forward to because it is Small Groups Day.  Every Wednesday, I group the students and give them a full hour to "play games".  At least, that is how they see it.  Actually, they are working on special skills that need a little tweaking.

This week, I had the groups work on Parts of Speech (Nouns, Verbs, & Adjectives),

Place Value with Horse Race,

Spelling and Phonics skills with Versatiles,

and Computer Skills with ABC Ya!

One of the skills that I discovered very early on in the year that needed A LOT of work was Parts of Speech.  My sweeties really had a tough time naming nouns, verbs and adjectives within sentences.  So I pulled together this activity.

I pulled out my noun, verb, and adjective word tiles that I got from Wal-Mart a million years ago. 

The students were to draw a tile out of the bag and write the word in the correct section on a worksheet. 

Here is a sample of what the first group had going so far.  

Click the worksheet or here for the FREEBIE!

This shows a group working on Place Value using StrataDice from Box Cars and One-Eyed Jacks.  If you would like to learn how to play the game the kids are playing, you can read a post I did on these last year.

This is a quick pic of a student working with VersaTiles.  I discovered VersaTiles (an ETA product) years ago when I was a tutor for Sylvan Learning Center.  These are a great way for your students to work on important skills without killing a bunch of trees.  I will be doing a post soon on this incredible product and it's uses in the classroom.  

Finally, the babes had a chance to get on the computer and play some learning games through ABC Ya!

This week I let them choose which games to do, but soon I will be giving them direction on what to be working with.

Like I said, we have an hour for these activities, so I usually give the groups 20 minutes to work and then we rotate to the next station.

That's all for now!  Be sure to grab that FREEBIE for your own parts of speech activities!

~Stacy

 

A (late) Tried-It-Tuesday {FREEBIE} and Classroom Quick Tip Linky Combo!

Today I am doing a double-linky.  First, I am linking up with Holly at Fourth Grade Flipper for her weekly "Tried-It-Tuesday".  With the school days winding down, I am always on the lookout for quick but engaging activities.  I found this great FREEBIE by RaRaDT on nouns, verbs and adjectives. 

 

This quickie, but goodie has the kids making a flip book and thinking of their own nouns, verbs, and adjectives.  I extended the activity by having the kids write short stories about the different locations, making sure to use the words they came up with in the story they write.

 

 

Here are a few shots of how the different students sorted their words for the flipbook.

 

 

 

Now for the second link-up today.  I am linking up with Jean over at Diving Into 2nd Grade for her new Quick Tips Linky.  This is just a great idea.  Obviously, we bloggers are happy to share the great activities we create in our rooms.  But these simple tips and tricks are what really make a classroom tick.

 

This is my "I'm Busy . . ." light. 

 I got this push light from Dollar Tree {a teacher's BEST friend} and then wrote on the face with a Sharpie.  

Tell me if this sounds familiar:  You are helping a student with a question at your desk.  Other students begin to wander up and get in line to ask their own question.  Pretty soon, half the class is at your desk getting chatty and disruptive, not getting ANY work done. 

Oh, yeah.  I think we've ALL been there.

 

So begins the reign of my "I'm Busy . . ." light.

I keep this light at my desk.  Whenever a student comes to ask me a question and it seems the answer may take longer than just a few seconds, I push this baby on.  My other students know that when this light is on, they may not come up to my desk at the moment.  Whatever question they have can wait, and they are to contiue working on the rest of the page.  When the light goes off, they can come up for their turn.

 

It has made a big difference in the disruptions in the room during work time and I've noticed I have more patience for the next student because I didn't spend my time shushing the other kids in line. 

 

~Stacy