February 2013 - Blog MakeTakeTeach

St. Patrick’s Day Digraph Activities

admin February 23, 2013 No Comments

St. Patrick’s Day is soon approaching! My goodness, this school year is flying by. It’s kind of fun how we measure our school year by the coming and goings of the holidays. So far this year we’ve had 10 snow days! Can you believe it? 10! When you live in the great white north you never know what can happen. We have 6 snow days built into the calendar (yes, that’s true) and anything over that we have to make up at the end of the year. With winter not even over, we may have to go well into summer. Anyway, here’s a little digraph activity I whipped up on one snow day morning. What you’ll need to do is

[Read More...]

The Need for Explicit Vocabulary Instruction

admin February 11, 2013 No Comments

This year we are working on expanding our RtI efforts to upper elementary. Reading First so nicely laid out the expectations for quality core instruction for K-3, but we are finding that we are having to dig a little deeper into the research to find what effective literacy instruction looks like at the upper elementary level. Explict vocabulary instruction and reading comprehension strategies are recurring themes in our reading. Although very important in K-3 instruction, vocabulary and reading comprehension take center stage in upper elementary. So with this in mind, I pulled out my favorite vocabulary resource book, Bringing Words to Life, along with other resources on vocabulary, to help guide us. What is vocabulary? The following is the National Reading Panel’s

[Read More...]

Short Vowels Cue Cards

admin February 5, 2013 No Comments

Some of our little readers are still having trouble confusing those short vowel sounds. We certainly see this in their written work. I’m hoping these cue cards can help. Simply print the cards, cut them out and place them on the desk or table. They serve as a visual cue to help with correct use of the vowel when writing. Of course, not every student will need the cue card; just those students who are still substituting one vowel for another. Click the following link to download FREE short vowel cue strips Vowel Prompt Cards If you are working with short vowel sounds in your small group intervention, the Vowels Sticks and Vowel Snatch are two great activities for teaching these

[Read More...]

St. Patrick’s Day Digraph Activities

The Need for Explicit Vocabulary Instruction

Short Vowels Cue Cards

Follow Us

Popular Posts