Recording Apps for Fluency

Here are two apps that you can use to record your daughter to help her improve her Oral Reading Fluency.  iTalk is an app for the iPhone and One Minute Reader is for the iPad.  Both apps allow your child to record themselves reading a short passage that they can then listen to and then re-record trying to improve each time they re-read it.  They need to strive to be accurate when they read, reading the words as they are written and not adding/omitting any.  Once they feel confident about this skill, they can then pay attention to their phrasing and use of expression.

Educational Games

I was reading through some old workshop materials this weekend and came across a link to a website that I already had listed under my "Math" tab on my blog.  It is called Gamequarium and it has many more components to it than just math including some reading activities.  Here is the link and I am adding it to the "Reading" and "Fun Activities" tabs too! Gamequarium Link  First Grade Friends - note that there are links to sight word lists and phonics games:)

Keep on the Sunny Side!

We began this year with an uplifting chapel featuring our students, and musicians Mrs. Stephens, Mrs. Miller, and Mr. Landaiche (my husband!).  We all introduced ourselves and sang "Keep on the Sunny Side" (adaptation of a June Carter Cash version).  I hope this school year that we will all try to "keep on the sunny side, always on the sunny side, keep on the sunny side of life, it will help us everyday, it will brighten all the way, if we'll keep on the sunny side of life."

Here is a link to some websites that are listed on the Learning Specialist's page of the school website - check them out!
Summer Websites

Have a Happy First Day of School!

I hope that all of the Lower School students have a great beginning to this 2013-14 school year! The first day of school is a day filled with many "first's" - new classmates, new grade level, new teachers (and for the first and third graders first time in a new building!).  I am posting an activity directed toward our super new first grade class that is a fun way to practice writing sight words.  Try it out and let me know what you think of it!  (Also, don't forget to click on the tabs at the top of my blog for links to additional educational games and activities.)

Go Sight Word "Island Hopping"!

by Julie Williams 

First grade readers spend hours and hours on “sight” words—you know, the ones that show up constantly in books, and that often don’t follow regular spelling rules. You can always use flash cards, but as your kid will tell you, these can get old … fast!

Here’s another way to go. All you need is chalk and some pavement for this silly, fun, and practical game. A parent can play with one child, or for more fun, try it at a playdate or birthday party with a whole group of kids divided into teams.

What You Need:

• Colored chalk
• Stretch of pavement
• A few index cards and a permanent marker
• 1-8 first graders
• Stopwatch

What You Do:

1. On one end of a paved surface, use your chalk to draw a circle big enough for a few kids to stand comfortably inside. For fun, invite your child to decorate it a bit, perhaps with drawings of palm trees or shells. This is “Shelter Island,” and it’s your home base. The object of the game is for each child to hop across a stretch of pavement to land safely on the island. Here’s the catch: the area all around may look like plain concrete, but today, it’s “Crocodile Sea,” and there are going to be snappers all around!
2. Now draw a series of roughly circular 12-inch blobs between you and the island, leaving about a foot between each one. Each blob is an “island hop” that can guide a lively first grader to safety. On each “island hop,” have your child help you write a sight word that he is studying. (Your teacher may have given you a list; if not, see below for common first grade words.) Draw enough blobs so that there can be several routes to the island, but try not to make any route longer than about four hops (at least at first).
3. While kids finish decorating the island and practice some hopping, take a minute to scope out some routes. On your index cards, write out five or more different routes of about four words each that a child can hop continuously before getting to the island.
4. Time to get to the island! How fast can your child make it? Can all his friends make it, too? Pull out a card, call out a route, and let the leaping begin! If your child needs coaching on words, that’s fine: the whole idea is to practice those sight words … and get home safe for dinner too!

Common First Grade Sight Words:

The, you, she, said, that, do, for, they, two, be, go, mother, little, was, box, by, into, his, had, like, him, her, as, baby, this, with, what, out, father, then, came, come, when, some, have, there, about, from, who, girl, work, make, them, an, around, long, once, saw, eat, away, how, three, children, name, new, over

Julie Williams, MA Education, taught high school English and History for seventeen years. For the last six years, she has worked in elementary classrooms while earning on a master's in school administration. The mother of two young sons, she has also been a leader on her local PTA.

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Welcome Back!!

Greetings to all as we wrap up our summer adventures and start a new school year.  I had a wonderful summer of travel and I even got to celebrate my birthday in June with my family in London, England!  We first toured the south of France along the French Riviera and the Alpes Maritime where we stayed in a remote French village on the side of a mountain.  We then took a high-speed train to Paris where we saw the sights and ate delicious food including the best "hot chocolate" that I have ever had!!  Next we took the "chunnel" which is a train that goes under the English Channel to London.  I felt right at home in London because I lived and worked over there for a short time 28 years ago!  We did lots of walking and eating and we even went to an event in which Queen Elizabeth II was in attendance.  We ended our travels visiting with friends in northern England in the city of Manchester.  I also made several trips to Louisiana and Alabama to visit with family and friends.  This was my kind of summer and I hope that you all had a great one too!

A photo of me and my daughter in the little village where we stayed in the south of France (La Penne, France).

A view from the city of Eze, France overlooking the Mediterranean Sea.

Here are some fun activities to get your creative juices flowing again and I will see you all soon:))

Word Game
Wacky Web Tales
Phonics Game
Math Soccer Game
Math Games
Clock Game
Brain Busters