Here are the pictures I promised yesterday showing the new things in our Literacy Work Stations–as always, if you have any questions, please e-mail me at fuzzlady77@hotmail.com

This is Handwriting Work Station–I added some dry erase slates, some of those Magic Slates (the kind that use static to help you write), and some alphabet writing task cards.

These are the practice cards in use! 🙂

An update to the Word Work Station–this is the “-at” family game.  It was very simple to make, I just printed off the sheet from Word/Excel and wrote “at” on 1/2 of the dice and several other letters on the other (s, m, h, p, b, r). To play the children take one of each kind of dice, roll them and if it is the first time they roll that combination, they record it at the bottom.  After that, they write the word they rolled in the box above where it belongs.

I also added one for the “-an” family as well.  I decided to go with these two because I had already added the word family tins to the station, so they would be familiar with the words, just in a different format.

This is another addition to the Word Work Station.  The children can make various words, and I asked them to write down any words that they make and share them with their partner.  They then need to try to sound out the words and bring it to me to read.

I added several new things to the Games and Puzzles Station.  We have two ABC puzzles, and ABC coloring mat that came with our new handwriting things, and ABC picture cards for the children to match (Letter to Picture).  Also I included Alphabet Lotto for the children to play.

This puzzle really could go to Puzzles and Games, but I put it into ABC Work Station instead.  

This is the rest of ABC Work Station–The blue pencil box has an alphabet puzzle inside, then the ABC rubbing cards, and a small pocket chart I got at Wal-Mart a few summers’ ago.  The children can take the words in the bag on the left and match them to the letters in the bag on the right in the pocket chart.  I also added a set of Alphabet stamps and an ink pad (the paper is 1/2 sheets) and the children are able to stamp words and letters that they know.

Did you notice the colored dots on some of the things?  I labeled the materials in some of my Stations to reflect the levels at which my students are currently at.  There are three levels currently and a dot was placed on each of the children’s name cards in the pouch to reflect the level they are at.  I left enough flexibility in the plan, so that I can change levels if needed throughout the year. When the students go to ta Station, they simply look for materials with a dot that matches their card.

I added several of these sheets to our Overhead Work Station.  I made them with a permanent marker and transparency sheets.  The children place them on the overhead and then fill in the missing letters.

I also had some time during our parent/teacher conferences last week to re-organize my Parent Volunteer Materials.  I used the same “dot” system as for Literacy Work Stations.  I put the children into fluid groups and labeled their sticks with a dot.

When the parents come into help, they just take the sticks from the pocket correlating to the day of the week, look at the dot on the stick, and choose a game or activity that correlates:

We also have a new guest in our room:

See him?  It’s Lucky a box turtle! 🙂  Does anyone know a good way to get rid of fruit flies?  They are hovering around his cage and I feel so bad for him! 🙂

Today we worked on the Little Red Hen, started to read Cook-A-Doodle-Do by Janet Stevens, made a Little Red Hen book that the children cut, colored, and stapled and then took home to help retell the story there.  We also finished our Predictable Chart, “I will help…”.  I have some good helpers in my room! 🙂

We also made patterns with foam shapes and halved sentence strips:

See you tomorrow!

Kristen 🙂