Free Word Work Activities

Word Work Freebies

Here is a collection of freebies to explore a variety of literacy activities with your students. Be sure to check out the activities that explore long vowels, dictionary skills, and oddball words

Short Vowel Freebies

Free short vowel activities just for you! These activities compare words with short vowels. These free activities include: word sorts with and without pictures, interactive notebook activities, and a set of exit tickets to assess student comprehension.

Word Sort Centers

This pack includes a center for sorting ‘short a’ and ‘short i’ words. There is a memorable character associated with each vowel sound. ‘Short a’ is Abby the Alligator. ‘Short i’ is Isabel the Iguana. Get this set of centers here for free!

Print & Go Short Vowel Word Sorts

Try these no prep word sorts. Use these printables for a quick & easy short vowel word sort. There are multiple formats to meet the needs of your students. Get this set of word sorts here for free!

Interactive Notebook Activities

This set includes a variety of interactive notebook activities with varying degrees of support. Choose the set that works best for each child. Get these free interactive notebook activities here.

Exit Tickets

This is a set of Exit Tickets to use as a quick assessment tool with your students. You can use these exit tickets as a very quick way to assess the needs of your students. Since the tickets can be graded in a very short amount a time, they allow you to constantly assess each student’s strengths and weaknesses. You can use these tickets to find the students that need more instruction time with a concept.
I have included 4 different exit tickets to assess student ability to listen for and identify short a and short i words. Choose the ticket that best fits the needs of your students. Get these free exit tickets to assess short vowels.

More Literacy Freebies

I’ve added more literacy freebies to use with your children. There are a variety of free learning activities that are sure to thrill your students!

Long and Short Vowels

Are you moving onto long vowels? Check out these free long and short vowel word sorts! These word sorts feature ‘Abby the Alligator’ and ‘Jake the Snake’. They include a simple cut and paste word sort and a word sort in a game format.

Looking for more activities to explore long and short vowels? Check out this Free ‘Frog and Toad’ themed learning activity. See it in action and get it for free here. There are DIY directions to create your own Frog & Toad here.

 

Many kids need tons of practice with long and short vowel sounds. Give them the practice they need in a variety of fun formats! Get all of them in a money saving bundle here.

Dictionary Skills

Get kids motivated to explore parts of a dictionary with this fun activity. Each student will create a word entry and definition. They will use the dictionary format to define themselves. After creating the dictionary entries, put the entries together to create a class dictionary. There are extension activities that students can use to explore the parts of their class dictionary. Motivate your students by letting them create and explore their own dictionary! Get the class dictionary for free here.

Oddball Words:

Words with Inconsistent But Common Spelling-Sound Correspondences

Oddball words can be very difficult for young children. They look the same as other words with the same spelling pattern, but do not have the same sound. For example: have/gave/save & does/toes/goes.

Use these fun task cards to give students practice identifying the oddball words. Students will read the three words and identify the word with the inconsistent spelling sound correspondence. Get your free copy of the task cards and recording sheets here.

 

Free Animal Movement Cards

Get your kids up and moving with these free Animal Movement Cards. There are 26 free animal action cards, one animal for each letter of the alphabet. Kids can explore different letters and types of animals as they get their wiggles out in the style of each animal.

Use Animal Action Cards Many Ways

Movement cards are so much fun to use with children. It helps them wiggle and move their body, but in a very purposeful way. By giving their brains a break and allowing their bodies to warm up, children are more able to learn. Focus and attention is improved AND they are enjoying themselves! Why not try out this set of adorable animal action cards and let me know what you think?!

Animal Action Cards Work For:

• Morning Meeting
• Transitions
• Letter Studies
• Animal Studies
• Just for fun!

Get your set of Free Animal Movement Cards here.

More ‘Move & Learn’ Fun

Here are some more ways to get your kids up and moving, while they learn.

• Kids will join the ‘March of the Penguins’, as they march around the alphabet. See it in action here.

• Kids will learn skip counting or numeral identification as you jump like a frog! See it in action here.

• Kids will move up and down a number line to practice number identification, addition, and subtraction. Plus, it ties in to the Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Donuts! See it in action here.

 

 

DIY Storytelling Gloves

Storytelling Gloves: DIY

January 6, 2017 by lauraschachter@gmail.com (Edit)

Storytelling gloves are a powerful tool to enhance and guide the telling of a story. As a storyteller, I sometimes get sidetracked along the way and it is immensely helpful to have the pictures to keep me on track. This post provides you with quick & easy directions to create your own set of storytelling gloves, in adult or child size.

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What are Storytelling Gloves?

Storytelling gloves are simply a set of gloves with Velcro attached to the fingertips. Adding Velcro to the gloves, allows the you to attach pictures to the glove as you tell a story. They are a wonderful prop to add to your bag of tricks, either as a teacher or a parent. Create a set of child sized gloves and you’ve provided your child with hours of magical fun!

Why make Storytelling Gloves?

The short answer- they’re awesome!

These amazing gloves can be used in so many different ways. Make them with the intention of using them as a prop for the adult storyteller, or create them for children to use to improve and enhance their own storytelling.

Use for Retelling Well Known Stories

When creating the pictures to use with the gloves, I often create sets that go along with well know stories. I’ve created storytelling activity packs that contain all the images for the gloves, plus finger puppets, ideas for using with a magnetic board, and differentiated response sheets. Check out a fairy tale pack here.

I will often have two different sets of pictures, one for adult and another for child storytelling. Child sets will usually have less pictures, so that the choices are not overwhelming. Child sets always include the main characters of the story and may also include a picture of the setting or any special props from the story.

My sets for adult storytelling may include more pictures. There may be different pictures of the same character that show how the character changes throughout the story. Usually adult versions will include more pictures of various props from the story, allowing the storyteller to visually highlight certain parts of the story.

The collections of images are a powerful addition to the retelling of a story. A storyteller can use the pictures to guide the story. As an educator or parent, use the storytelling gloves to help identify elements of the story. Children are able to use the images to identify specific characters, setting, and to help recall specific events from the story.

Use to Create a New Story

Storytelling gloves can be used in a very different way- to create a brand new story. When using the gloves to create a new story, provide the storyteller with a variety of images. These images can be in the form of pictures, foam, small plastic objects, or anything you can dream up! 

I love using storytelling gloves in an open ended way! Then the storyteller can create their story, by choosing specific pictures or randomly select the images to create the story. Some children will flourish with this activity and go on to create fantastic masterpieces of fiction. It is fascinating to watch children and adults weave stories out of the wisps of pictures.

How to Create Your Own Storytelling Gloves

Very little is needed to create a set of storytelling gloves! Just gather up a few supplies & a hot glue gun, and in just a few minutes you will have your own set of storytelling gloves.

Materials

• Hot glue gun & hot glue sticks
• 1 child or adult sized glove
• Velcro
• Pictures to use with the gloves

I’ve used all types of gloves: dollar store gloves, gloves my children have outgrown, gardening gloves, and even the bath scrubbing type of gloves. When using gloves with children, I tend to prefer the stretchable gloves from the dollar store or child sized gardening gloves.

Tip: Use erasers, little plastic figures, felt or foam figures, or any other image with the gloves. As long as you can get the Velcro to adhere to the object, you can use it with your gloves!

 Step-By-Step Directions

1. Gather your materials.
2. Cut out small squares of Velcro to attach to the glove. I always use the soft Velcro on the glove and the rough Velcro on all of the pictures. Being consistent will benefit you, because you can use any future sets with your glove.
3. Hot glue the soft velcro squares to each finger tip of the glove. You can even hot glue squares to the middle and bottom of the glove.
4. Hot glue the rough Velcro squares to the backs of any pictures or objects that you want to use with the gloves.

Optional: Create a bag or container to hold all of the supplies. In my storytelling center, I used a small gardening bag & gloves that I got from the Target dollar spot last spring. Look around for creative ideas. I would love to hear about what you find!!

Want to print out all ready made story sets?

I’ve already created storytelling activity packs! Head over to my store to check out the available storytelling sets! I will be adding more sets, as I create them. As always, I love requests, so send your requests my way by emailing me here.