February Compound Words, Inquiry Lesson and a FREEBIE

February is the perfect month to incorporate compound words with your lessons.  "Groundhog" and "mailbox" are two seasonal words that students will see in February lessons.  

Do you incorporate inquiry activities with your lesson plans? If you have some stuffed animals like the ones in the picture, you could use them for an inquiry lesson. This is an activity for students with prior knowledge of compound words.

Set the stuffed animals on a small table where you will teach the lesson later in the day. Stuffed animals are a kid magnet. Great tool for building interest and getting your students' interest. Your students will notice the stuffed animals as soon as they walk in the classroom. Tell your class that they can look but not touch your "little friends".

If you save this lesson until the afternoon, your students will begin the inquiry process on their own. At recess and lunch, you may overhear your students trying to figure out how something that they play with could be used by a teacher for a lesson. What are they studying (skills) that is like the animals? How are the animals alike?

Ask you students to jot down their ideas about how the animals are alike in their journals or a white board when you begin the lesson. Next, put your class in small groups and let them discuss their thoughts with each other.

Let one person from each group share the findings of the group. Then write the names of the stuffed animals on your white board or a chart tablet. Tell them to LOOK at the words to see if the WORDS have something in common. Discuss with their group. Let one person from each group share the findings of the group again.

TEACHER TIP:
"Hummingbird" was not one of the first few words that I wrote on the list. Some of my classes in the past have confused a 2 syllable word with a compound word. With a lesson like this, some students will begin to count syllables when they see the list and assume syllables is how the words are alike. That works until they get to the word "hummingbird". Going through this process solves the syllable-compound word problem.

After the lesson, you can continue using the stuffed animals:

• Team mascots
• Classroom management tool: pass out a stuffed animal who is working quietly, turned in high quality work, listening attentively during lessons, or any other behavior you want to reward.
• Tell your students that they will pretend to become one of the stuffed animal. Then your students will:
• Name the animal character - i.e. Bessie Bluebird, Gideon Groundhog, Buddy Bumblebee,Huxley Hummingbird, Sachi Seahorse, and Liona Ladybug
• Write pen pal letters to the animal characters

If you don't have stuffed animals or have the time to gather them, you can do the same type of lesson with books. The following books have a compound word in the title:
You can click on the (affiliate) link for more information

• Heartprints by P.K. Hallinan
• Sunshine Makes the Seasons by Franklyn M. Branley
• Cleversticks by Bernard Ashley
• Scooby-Doo! Valentine's Day Dognapping by Gail Herman
• Substitute Groundhog by Pat Miller
• Underground Homes by Jeff Bauer
• Dim Sum for Everyone by Grace Lin
• Harriet Tubman by Susan Washburn Buckley
• Titus's Troublesome Tooth by Linda Jennings
• Uptown by Bryan Collier
• Barefoot: Escape on the Underground Railroad by Pamela Duncan Edwards
• The Runaway Wok by Ying Chang Compestine

Give your students extra practice with compound words.  Students can either look for compound words in books (like the books above) or you can give students a topic and see how many compound words they can make about the topic.  The picture above are compound words about Valentine's Day.

If you want to make the making words more hands on and engaging for your students, cut the cover of a folder in 3 parts.  To do this flip folder activity:

1. Students lift the first flap and write the first word of the compound word.  
2. Close the first flap.
3. Lift the second flap and write the second word of the compound word.
4. Close the second flap.
5. Lift the third flap and write the compound word.
6. Close the third flap.
7. Go to the next line and continue making compound words.
8. Write a sentence using at least one of the compound above.

Let's Make Compound Words can be found here.

Do your students need more practice?  Let's Edit: Compound Words is an activity that students practice identifying compound words, grammar and writing skills.  This is perfect for morning work or homework.  You can get a free copy of a Valentine themed page in the preview file here.




Sources to make my blog post graphics can be found HERE.
Click HERE to read my blog's disclosure statement.

0

Handwriting, Numbers, and Valentine's Day

Once upon in the world of teaching, students were sent to the chalkboard to practice what they were studying. Writing on the chalkboard was a useful tool. Teachers could watch students work math problems before they began their assignments. Mini reteach lessons would happen before students began their assignment. Students learned from other students when they watched other students work on the chalkboard. One fringe benefit of sending students to the chalkboard that teachers may not have realized was the handwriting benefit. Students use different muscles when they write on a vertical surface.

INDEPENDENT HANDWRITING CENTER

You can set up a handwriting center with your easel. Students can pull up a chair and practice writing word wall words, spelling words, numbers, or math facts. Students are writing on a vertical surface and practicing academic skills at the same time. Win! Win!

Do you incorporate music with your lessons? You can use songs like the one in the picture above as a brain break or part of a math lesson. Want to involve your students a little more? Either cut out hearts or use ones like the felt ones in the picture above. I found them at the Target Dollar Spot.

Glue small hearts or put stickers on each big heart.

You can put the hearts on a ring to store them or flip through the ring of hearts when your class sings the song.

You can also pass out the hearts to ten volunteers and let them stand in front of the class holding a heart.  Each time the class sings the number on their heart, students will lift their heart.

Students can trace the songs for handwriting practice. You can get a FREE copy the song plus the heart number flipbook.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Sources to make my blog post graphics can be found HERE.
Click HERE to read my blog's disclosure statement.

0

FREE Fill Your Bucket - Valentine's Day writing center

Have you read the book, “Have you Filled a Bucket Today?” by Carol McCloud?  I highly recommend you read it if you haven’t already.

This book is perfect for this time of year.  Have you noticed a change in your students' behavior lately?  Too many days spent inside for recess plus colds and viruses can make students irritable.  They often spend more of their time tattling than doing their classwork.  
This book will help your students make an attitude adjustment.  Your class will begin to look for the positive instead of focusing on the negative.  

This book can be used a variety of ways. Use it with your lesson about metaphors. Or set up a "Share the Love" writing center.  There are writing papers and cover included with this FREE packet so your students can be bucket fillers.

BLANK FORM: This would be perfect for a pen pal type of activity.  Each week, let students draw a name out of the hat, and write a note to fill their classmate’s bucket.

FORMS WITH PICTURES: Classroom teachers are often shown appreciation during the holidays by parents.  There are many people like crossing guards, cafeteria ladies, reading specialists, librarians, P.E. teachers, and custodians  who help our students, too.  These staff members are often overlooked.  Why not use these forms to fill their buckets?  You could set this up as a writing center.  Staple the notes together in a book and put it in their mailbox for a nice little surprise.  Click HERE to download the freebie.

Looking for more tips?  Check out my February Pinterest board.  Click on the picture below.

Fern has a few tips to share with you, too.  Be sure to hop over to her blog!

Each week, Fern and I will share a teacher tip. We love to read teacher blogs and the latest teacher idea books and hope you do, too!  Stop by Fern's blog and my blog each week for our latest tips.  We hope you will share your ideas, too.  

How do you show appreciation?

Looking for more ideas?  Click on the pictures below.

An InLinkz Link-up

Sources to make my blog post graphics can be found HERE.
Click HERE to read my blog's disclosure statement.

3