Classroom Picture 4

This is the rest of my circle time board.  The red pocket chart will include our spelling and vocabulary words.  The board that it is attached to is our reading concept board (a requirement from our reading series).  Our first theme is back to school.  The green paper is for the when you come in routines.  The yellow paper is important procedures to know during the day (e.g. bathroom signal).  The red paper if for the end of the day routine and packing up procedures.  As we go over these routines and procedures the first month I will add more to the lists.  Later these procedures will be posted in another location for the duration of the year.

I have also included the bus safety poster.  This will be taken down so that there will be room to display student work.  The spelling chart will include everyone's name the first week.  I will add everyone's name to the word wall when we go over what the word wall is.

The blue pocket chart will have various uses throughout the year. The most frequent will be word sorts, alphabetizing spelling words, sight word practice, and cut apart sentences.

I wish I could tell you where the cut apart sentences idea originated but I have been doing it since I taught in Arizona ten years ago!  I think it came from a training/workshop by our wonderful Title I teachers.  To do this activity the students tell you a sentence to write (I guide them into adding descriptive words).  I write the sentence on a sentence strip or long paper.  We practice reading the sentence together several times.  Then I cut it apart the sentence and they read each word.  We mix up the words and the students help put it back in order.  I do this activity often during small group instruction.  Each student has their own sentence so that they can manipulate the words.

I also teach children how to check their work and edit with this activity.  Each student either has a paper to write on or a dry erase board.  I flip over all the words so that they cannot see them.  The children write the sentence from memory.  Once they have written it we flip over one word at a time.  If the word is correct they leave it alone.  If they wrote it incorrectly, then the draw a line through the word and write the correct spelling above it.  I teach them the editing marks as we go along and the different types of mistakes. 

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