Morning Work & Dictionary Practice

I've been working my fingers off trying to get a few new resources finished up for the classroom so that when I return things can be a little less hectic.  Does anyone else do this?  I'm notorious for spending my "breaks" working to get ahead.  I'm not sure if it helps since I still feel like I work non-stop when I return, but I can't imagine if I didn't??  Geez!

One of the things I've worked on this year (and just finished up the last two quarters) are my Morning Work PowerPoints.  I LOVE these because...

1) I can have them up on the board even before the kiddos walk in
2) They review a little bit of everything
3) There's nothing to be copied!!!!!  The kiddos just complete the tasks in a composition notebook.
4) They follow the same format so the kiddos know the routine and can complete them independently

Here's a little sneak peak of the format and what is included....
I'm telling you, these have literally saved my life this year!  Okay...maybe not my life, but my mornings!!  I don't have to worry about searching for an appropriate morning work task, making sure I have it copied, explaining the directions over and over and over as children filter in!  They are available at Teacher's Clubhouse, if you're interested.  But, keep in mind that our PowerPoints are PC Only!

I've also been working on a few Dictionary Activities since we're still practicing using dictionaries.  The kiddos have mastered ABC order to the millionth letter thanks to all the fun games and activities we've used, but they can still use a little more practice on Guide Words, so I created a practice/assessment and this fun little craftivity.
You can pick these up at the Clubhouse for $0.99!

Speaking of dictionaries, did you realize that common core states that students should be able to use digital dictionaries?  Just in case you aren't familiar with Little Explorers Picture Dictionary, let me show you a bit about it....it's an oldie, but a goodie! :)

Little Explorers is part of Enchanted Learning, but you don't need a membership to access it!Yippee!!  You will notice a rainbow stripe across the page that contains the alphabet.  Just click on the letter of the word you'd like to look up and it takes you to that page of the digital dictionary!
The screenshot above is from the "m" page.  Notice it is a PICTURE dictionary, so even if students don't know some of the words, they can use picture clues to figure them out - love it!  If students find what they're looking for, they can click on the word or image to go to a much more in-depth page about that topic.
Here they can even print out a diagram of the macaw!

Some of the letters with a ton of words (like "s") can be a little tricky for students at first!
Since there are so many words that begin with "s" this letter has multiple pages.  Notice at the top this page says "sa" and then there's a stripe underneath with other "s-" pages.  Students will need to put those abc order skills to test and navigate to the correct "s" page to find his/her word.

But here's my absolute favorite part about this site!  They have free QUIZZES that you can use with your kiddos!  Let's take a look back to that first page....

See that almost-hidden-so-much-you-could-almost-miss-it-link in the screenshot above?  Just click on that and it takes you to a TON of ready to use quizzes using this online picture dictionary!!
This screenshot is tough to see, but there are all kinds of categories from animals to science topics to geography!!  I love to pull these out during a unit...fore example, if we're studying mammals, we can hit that science topic and dictionary skills at once!  WIN-WIN!

There are different types of quizzes for multiple levels (Find-It vs. Look It Up!).


Happy Dictionary Digging!!

6 comments

  1. Great idea of not having to make copies especially with all the budget cuts!

    Shelly
    Smiling and Shining in Second Grade

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  2. Nice job with the power point, this is pretty great! Yep, I work during break. Crazy, aren't we?!

    Amy Howbert
    Little Miss Organized
    amyhowbert1@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  3. LOVE the idea of having morning activities in PowerPoint form! Thanks for sharing.

    Jessica
    Teach on a Limb

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  4. It's nice to know I'm not the only one who keeps working during break.
    If you don't mind answering a technology question.. how do you keep your Powerpoints from being altered once they are purchased? I use something similar in my classroom for math and I can't figure out how to post it without someone being able to change my work.

    Thanks
    Michele
    Coffee Cups and Lesson Plans

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  5. I also do morning work from a power point slide I LOVE IT!!!! and your dictionary bee is too cute!!!

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  6. Wonderful unit! I love it. Just wondering, do you check each students work each day or do you check as a whole group? How do you moniter their work?

    Thanks,
    Paula

    ReplyDelete

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