Smartboard Screen Saver Labeling

Hello from the Redroom,
During Daily Five word work, we use the screen saver  on our Smartboard to label objects and write a sentence from the words we used.
Here's how it works:
Find a screen saver for your computer (the one that is hooked up to your Smartboard) and project it up on the Smartboard.
We were doing a unit on hatching chickens in the classroom, so I found a screen saver that had hens, roosters, and a farm scene. The words were, hen, rooster, beak, comb, feathers, barn, grass, sky.
I made flash cards with the words,  and students used the expo marker to write the words in the appropriate place on the Smartboard.
Students had fun labeling the picture and coming up with a sentence using the words which they wrote at the bottom of the Smartboard.
There are millions of great screen savers that can be used. You can enhance student vocabulary with words from a unit or concept words.
Give it a try!
Melanie Weinlein

Sentence Construction

During the Guided Reading segment of our Daily Five, students are responsible for composing a sentence like the sentences they read in the Guided Reading book.

For example: we read a story called Bigger (B level book) by Liza Charlesworth. The sentences on each page reads like this: The dog is bigger than the cat. The cat is bigger than the mouse. etc.

I then ask students to compose a sentence in the same fashion. I write their sentence on a sentence strip and cut out each word. If I have 4 people in a guided reading group, we will have 4 different sentences. Then I pass the words out to the students at random. As I ask for the words to one of their sentences, students must supply me with the correct word. Then we read the sentence together, and the student who came up with the sentence takes the sentence home for practice.

The benefits are:

• students comprehend what is in the story and can compose a sentence on their own.
• students recognize sight words.
• student recognize that the first word in a sentence has a capital letter.
• students recognize the last word in the sentence will have a punctuation mark at the end of the word.

I found that students were able to have a deeper understanding of the story using this method. They also are very engaged in coming up with their own sentence. Student worked together to supply the correct words in the sequence they needed to be in.

Give it a try!

Melanie Weinlein

Using Turtle Diary in Daily 5
Hello Everyone,
Many of you may be familiar with using www.turtlediary.com from being in the Compuiter Room with Mrs. DelGallo. Here is what ewe are doing in the Red Room that has really been helpful during Daily 5 ELA time.

Go to www.turtlediary.com
Click on Kindergarten
Click on WORD BUILDING:
CCLS: RF.K.1b, RF.K.3a, RF.K.3c

• words to know are at the top of the scrambled letters.
• students have to find the letter and click on it in order.
• once the word is completed, pink slime starts to fill a container.

Benefits of the game are letter recognition, students can hear the letter sound and hear the word when completed, and they squeal with delight as the pink slime fills the container.

Click on BOOKS:
CCLS: RF.K.1a, RF.K.1c, RF.K.3c.
There are leveled books from Pre-K and beyond.
Today, I put a book from the Pre-K level on the Smartboard for my guided reading group.
Students used a pointer to point to the words as they read them.
After I had students come up and circle sight words that they knew.
Benefits of reading on the Smartboard are that students were engaged with the screen,
and liked being able to interact with the board by circling the words.

There is a LOT to do on Turtle Diary. You and find many different ways to help students struggling with ELA and MATH concepts. Try it. You may be surprised as to how well your students respond.

Melanie Weinlein