Making Words

Wow!  The last two weeks have flown by, and I haven't posted anything!!  So, it's Friday afternoon and next week is Spring Break (woohoo!) and I have a treat for you if you like lessons on making words.  I love making words with my students, and I really wanted to find a way to incorporate my SmartBoard to make it more fun.  After much thought, this is what I came up with:

This is the third screen on the file (the first one is the "cover page" and the second one contains all the directions for making words).  When the students (or you) touch a white box, it will disappear to reveal a picture representing the sound.  For example, under the /h/ box is a hippo.  Students have their own set of letters on their desks so they can follow along.  You will find the letter strips in a file under the paper clip icon (see below).

This is what the screens look like.  The letters at the bottom can be moved.  The lines indicate how many letters the word has, and the blue pull tab off to the side contains the answer.

I tell my students the word they need to make, and then I call on a student to come up and make it on the SmartBoard.  When everyone is finished, you (or a student) will pull on the blue tab to the left to reveal the correct spelling of the word along with some picture support to help understand what the word means.

 When all the words have been made, they try to make the magic word (a word that uses all their letters).

After they make the magic word, I have them discard their letters, and then we talk about the word families that we made.  I have volunteers come up to the board and group the words into families.  The words in the picture below can be moved by touching them.

The last screen is for extending the lesson.  I have my kids get out their whiteboards, and challenge them to spell new words using the families that we just learned about.  When everyone has it written, someone touches the picture to reveal the true spelling.  In the picture below, the words are spill, twist, chill, and bright.

If it looks like something that would interest you, and your students could use a lesson on short and long /i/ patterns, click here to get it!  You do need to have notebook software (and a SmartBoard) to download - I'm sorry if you don't have one yet (start bugging your principal!!).