Bright Idea for Small Group Word Work

Primary teachers do a lot of small group word work activities especially during guided reading time.  I was feeling stuck in a rut so I decided to mix up my word work activities.

The first activity that I do with my students is called "What's Missing?"  For this activity I use a whiteboard.  I show them our focus word (when) that I wrote on the whiteboard and then I will hide the board and erase a letter.  When I show the word to my group, they tell me which letter or letters is missing from the word.  The students get so excited about this game and I will often have to remind them that they don't need to shout.  They are only shouting though because they are excited about the word.  I love that they are learning to read and write the word and they think it's a game.

The second activity that I like to do is called "Mix & Fix."  I have letter cubes, but you could also use letter cards or even magnetic letters.

The students use the focus word for our lesson.  We mix the letters.

Then they make the word and show the teacher while reading the word.

Then they do it again.  I usually have my students do this about three times before putting the letters away.  With using these letter cubes, I tell them they have to use the lowercase letters and not the uppercase.  This helps when it comes to writing the word.

One last activity we do is called "Cover & Write."  Each student gets a whiteboard and marker.  They write the word they just mixed and fixed.

After they write it once, they cover the word with their hand and write it again.

I have my students write the word three or four times depending on how much time we have within our small group time.

I hope you enjoyed these small group word work activity ideas.  If you would like other great ideas you can follow me on Instagram or Facebook.

Don't forget to check out all these other bright ideas too.

An InLinkz Link-up

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Let's Play a Sight Word Game

I recently created a couple of new sight word game packs that are based off of the sight word game "Crash."  As a result, I have had quite a few emails asking how to play this game.  This post should explain it and clear up any questions you may have!

I am using the version that my students are currently using (Winter).  You can find my year long packs here.

 Start with all the cards of your chosen theme placed face down.  I just let my students put them in a pile like this or you could have them stack them up.  This is just easier and faster.  :)

You can play with at least two students, but I wouldn't play with more than four at a time.  I make multiple "decks" if I am having more than four students play.


First student chooses a card and reads the sight word on the card.  If they can read the word, they get to keep it.  If they cannot read the word, the card goes back into the pile.

Then the next student takes a turn and follows the same steps.

If a student draws a "crash" card, (in this case a snowflake card) the student puts all their word cards back in the pile, but keeps the "crash" card.

Continue to play the game until all the cards have been played.  I usually just call that the end of the game and let the students play again, but you can let the students count their cards and whoever has the most can be the winner.  I don't particularly like letting them count to find a winner because it creates some unwanted drama with my kiddos.  ;)

I have created a pre-primer and a primer version of this game.  Each set includes 14 different themed versions of this game.  I teach my students how to play the game and then I can easily switch it out with different themes and different sight words as they progress throughout the year.

I use this as a center or as an activity for early finishers.  The students know exactly what to do and how to play.  I absolutely love this game!

If you have any other questions, please comment below and I will answer them for all to see.  Someone else may have the same question as you!  :)

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Peek at My Week: Arctic Animals

It is Sunday again which means I am busy finishing to prepare for our first week of Arctic Animals.

Right now, my class is really needing some work with sight words and CVC words so that is the biggest part of my literacy centers this week.

We will be focusing our literacy and science time this week on arctic animals.  The first part of the week will be penguins and then we will learn about walruses and possibly polar bears too if time allows.

For writing, we are using Lucy Calkin's Units of Study program.  We are taking two days for each lesson because, well, that is what my students need.

In Math, I am using Deanna and Deedee's awesome Math Units.  I am loving the flow of these and my students are learning so much!

Without further ado, here are my plans.

My students were struggling with sight words so I created a year's worth of sight word games.  The best part???  It's the same game (based on the "Crash" game), but with 14 different themes.  I teach the students the game and then they are able to play all year long.  Once they master a set of sight words, I just switch out the words with new ones.  I love how it creates a sense of independence because they can play it by themselves, but the best part.....they love the game and it helps encourage them to learn their sight words.

If you are interested in any of these products, just click on the image.  I hope you have an amazing week.  I am just hoping we get to have school all five days.  Last week, we had one day that school was cancelled and all the other days I had about 1/4 of my class gone each day due to the weather.

I am ready to get back into a normal routine as I know my students are too.

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