I am so excited about the new vocabulary program that we are using this year.  I developed this program over the summer which utilizes Vocabulary instruction practices that I have been using for years with the Fry Vocabulary list that my district has adopted.  All of these components are available at Silly Sam Productions at TpT.

The Black Sight Words are divided into groups of 5 for 40 weeks.  That utilizes the 1st 200 Fry Words.  Along with those Large display cards I also have Flashcards for students to take home for homework and practice each week.  The Fry list of words would be impossible to use independently to "build" sentences.  So, I designed the Color-coded Nouns, Verbs & Adjectives program to accompany the 5 sight words each week.  There are 2 Red Nouns, 2 Green Verbs and 2 Blue Adjectives provided with the Fry Sight Words each week.  We have large display cards for our pocket chart in class and a Flashcard version for students to take home.  If color printing, or copying is not an option, students can color-code their words themselves by coloring the words, or simply drawing a red, green or blue box as a border for their words. 

On Mondays we introduce the new Sight Words, all of the first graders are responsible to learn those.  The words are also put into alphabetical order each week.  We also use a yellow square to highlight those words that begin with a vowel.  Students create their own sentences as part of our routine.  The nouns, verbs and adjectives were created to compliment the sight words so that sentences may be created by using this week's words as well as any previous words.  Occasionally, a word may be needed that has not yet been introduced, but that is the exception. 

The Nouns, Verbs & Adjectives program provide so many things for our weekly Language Arts program. 

1. Words for making sentences with the Sight Words for that week
2.  Weekly Grammar practice in identifying and sorting parts of speech
3. These words can also be added to the sight word list for more advanced students as a differentiation.

Instead of a Word Wall: In our classroom, wall space is in short supply, so we use our big, beautiful window shades to post our words.  We call them WINDOW WORDS!  I laminated an alphabet chart with Vowels highlighted in yellow.  Each week we simply pull down the shades and add in the newest sight words.  In black for consonants and yellow highlights for vowels.  Shades are raised back up, and all students have a great view of their sight words for referral.  The Nouns, Verbs & Adjectives are also added to the Window Words and are of course color-coded.

As part of the Vocabulary Program, I also created Color-Coded Pocket Chart sentences using each week's Sight Words & Nouns, Verbs & Adjectives.  These sentences can be copied each week for sentence/vocabulary practice.  As a differentiation, students can create sentences using all of the Nouns, Verbs and Adjectives.  The sentences provided use all of the Sight Words and the Nouns, Verbs & Adjectives as needed.

On Mondays, after all of the words are introduced, we play Smiley Bingo.  This is a Vocabulary Game that I created when I first started teaching.  This is also available at Silly Sam Productions.  There are 3 color-coded bingo boards.  Students may copy their sight words in pencil, then trace with a black or dark crayon.  The yellow box board has 6 boxes, an x can be placed in one so that only the 5 new words need to be used.  The green bar box has 9 boxes, for the 5 new words and 4 from last week, (we choose the easiest word from last week to say goodbye to).  The blue box board has 12 boxes and students copy the 9 sight words and fill in the other boxes with nouns, verbs and adjectives.  Then clues are given to find the words and children use a yellow crayon to highlight the box with their word.  Every time they have 3 words in a row, they draw a Smiley Face.  By the end of the game all of their boxes are colored and they have Smileys all around their board. 

We are loving our Vocabulary Practice this year!!
1st 200 Fry Vocabulary Cards Large Display
1st 200 Fry Vocabulary Flashcards & Smiley Bingo Game
1st 200 Fry Vocabulary Words Color-Coded Activities BUNDLE
1st 200 Fry Words Activity: Nouns, Verb & Adjectives Cards to Build Sentences
1st 200 Fry Words Activity Nouns, Verbs & Adjectives Large Display Cards
1st 200 Fry Words Activity Nouns, Verbs & Adjectives Pocket Chart Sentences

Here is our Color-Coded Lunch Count Board.  Our colors are coordinated with the Cafeteria Colors to match Lunch Choices. Blue is Hot Lunch, Yellow is the Alternate choice, Red is for Pizza offered every day, and Green is the Expressible Cold Lunch.  Students wear a colored wristband to lunch which alerts the Cafeteria Staff to which lunch they chose in the morning.  Our Lunch Count Helper is responsible fro writing the equation every day and clearing the magnets to set up for the next day.  When we call a lunch choice, students put their color wristband in the lunch-box, put a magnet in the correct choice and put their nametag with their lunch-code in the box as well, (until they memorize their code).

This is Fun!! We take a Nature Walk around the school. Leaves are starting to fall and we decide that catching a falling leaf before it hits the ground is good luck! We are learning about the 5 Senses in Health.  On our Nature Walk, we stop and close our eyes several times.  We listen and feel.  At the end of the walk we stop at the Garden Table, it was donated to our school in memory of one of our wonderful Kindergarten Teachers that was killed in a car accident.  We close our eyes again, and I put a little treat in everyone's hand so that they can "taste" on their walk.

Back in the classroom we brainstorm what we experienced.  What we could see, hear, smell, taste and touch.  After the brainstorm chart, students write about their Nature Walk, using the prompts on the chart.  We saw, We heard, We smelled, We tasted, We touched.  The stories come out great. Then we hang them up to share on a bulletin board.

The Reading Corner
Lots of Leveled Books
We select 5 books for the Reader's Workshop Bags on the back of their chairs each week.
The Bags were a wonderful gift from my Student Teacher last year!

This Crayon Bulletin Board Pattern is a Freebie at Silly Sam Productions at TpT

My Learning Colors Wheel is something new that I added to Silly Sam Productions this summer. I was looking for a simple way for students to monitor their own learning process and a way for them to communicate that to me.

My district was piloting and now implementing the Marzano model of Teacher Evaluation.  Within this model and many others including Danielson, is the philosophy that students need to be aware of their own learning process.

We have had posters displayed for classroom reference in the past.  Some teachers were using a desk model with a clothespin or paper clip.

I was trying to come up with something that would be simple and durable and had moving parts, but not ones that could be so easily separated.

Since this is my "Catch-Up" entry for this year, I am happy to report that the My Learning Colors Wheel has been a tremendous success!! My 1st Grade colleague is also using this as well in her classroom and our principal has commented on it in both classrooms.

I do recommend a reinforcer under the brass fastener, but it has been working beautifully!

I saw a brilliant pin on Pinterest this summer, where the deskplate nametags were laminated and fastened to desks with Velcro strips. I did the same with the wheel. That makes it portable so that students can bring it to the rug for whole group instruction, or to a table for small group instruction. They turn their wheel to the color they feel they are at right at their desks, or they can remove the wheel from the strip and hold it up for me to see all their colors during a lesson.

My students love this and are very honest about their learning.  We talk often about how confusing things can seem when learning something new.  Also, that learning anything takes lots of practice and that is how we start to understand and put the learning into our Long Term Memories.  My students love to track their learning through the colors.  Sometimes I have a student tell me that they started out in Yellow, and went all the way to Blue by the end of the lesson.  I can highly recommend this model.  You can find it in Silly Sam Productions at TpT if you are interested.

Oh my goodness! It has been crazy busy around here and I have been having a hard time finding enough minutes in each day for all of the wonderful new things that I would like to do. This is going to be my "Catch-Up" for my Laugh and Learn With Silly Sam Blog.
 These photos show my classroom during set-up time in August '13.  It typically takes about 2 weeks to set up my classroom. We are restricted to the hours of 7am-3pm. It is hard to get there too early, because of making arrangements for kids to get together for the day. That usually does not start at 6:30 am. I would love it if the building could be open till 11:00 pm like it is the rest of the school-year. That way I could bang out the room in 1 or 2 marathon days.

 

         Question: What are the hours that you are able to get into your school to set up? I would love to know if my district is typical.

                       Well here is the room all finished and ready for First Graders! We had a wonderful first day!!