One of the most challenging thing I am finding with 1st grade students in intervention right now is they do not know how to write the alphabet (in order) in a quick and automatic way. On a daily basis I give them a blank piece of paper and ask them to write the alphabet (and there are no references in my room to look at) and fill in 1 or 2 of these sheets.
I created a variety of quick fill in the boxes alphabet sheets to share with you.
https://www.ginapepin.com/_files/ugd/5fe563_73b93a3f14ad495b8778654b102b2104.pdf
or
https://www.ginapepin.com/blank-20
How do you build automaticity of the alphabet with your students?
Innovative instructional strategies:
What are some of your favorite instructional strategies?
One of my absolute favorite strategies for reading fluency - and even oral language development - is utilizing silly voices! I have created over 200 voices for educators and families to use! Teachers and families can take advantage of early literacy reader's theater scripts and implement repeated readings using a variety of these voices. It is SO much (more) fun to read or speak in a silly voice!
Voices provide skill development in prosody, inflection, word attack, and so much more!
Check out these FREE resources at: https://www.ginapepin.com/apps-1/teaching-resources
Does anyone else use ESGI to help assess their students? What assessments do you find most useful in Kindergarten?
Aa professionals we need to be at the table where decisions are made about our profession.
Since I'm in the land of fractions right now, I thought I'd share my favorite teaching math meme! It honestly never fails! You feel like you've seen all the light bulbs go on and then this happens!
The United Way in our area just shifted their focus and formed a School Readiness team… and we attend Summits every couple of months. Do you have anything like this in your area? What are they focusing on?
One thing that I hear teachers say is that they do not teach to the test. I feel that if the test is assessing the standards, and you are teaching the standards then you should teach to the test. I use the released test to show the students how questions are worded and how to look for patterns in the format. I liken the test as playing a game. The more a person knows the rules of a game, the better they will do. Likewise, the more a student understand the testing structure, the better they will do.
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Not a question per se, but I wanted to share a book I’m reading this year that I think is a struggle for all teachers in the area of mathematics instruction.
“Underestimated and over- scaffolded” is what stood out to me and mostly because I know that I am guilty of both as a teacher.
Has anyone read this book?
How do you teach students in grades K-2 on how to explain their work? I give my students sentence stems with the words first, next, then, and last. I also teach sequencing to help keep my students organized.
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What are the first science topics or units you teach in the new school year?
Tis the season...for progress monitoring! We use MAP testing in our district for elementary students and one of my favorite ways to encourage them to meet their goals is to first meet with them before the test and discuss what they feel their strengths are and what is something that they'd like more help in. For MAP, they receive their score at the end so I love to write a sticky note (or put it at the top of their scratch paper) what their goal score is so they know immediately if they met it or not. I will also put an encouraging note beside it to remind them how awesome they are.
What are some ways you encourage your students to meet their goals when taking tests?
When I am teaching my students trick words, I make sure that I teach them ways to remember the words. For example when I teach my students how to spell the word together, I teach them that the word has the words to, get, and her in it. After a month or so my students are able to teach each other tricks to spell words and begin to identify words or parts that they see in certain words. They are so proud of themselves and are very confident.
