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Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Pocket Chart Station

This week, I added a new station in my classroom for kindergarten and first grade. The Pocket Chart Station! It was a huge hit! And it's really easy to set up and, the best part of all - I don't have to make copies, or collect work to grade! It's a win/win!

This week, my first graders are working on long a. At the pocket chart station, I have some long a word family header cards and lots and lots of word cards for the children to sort.



I am so sorry about the quality of these photos! There was a terrible glare and I couldn't seem to get rid of it. I don't have any pics of the children sorting the cards because I was conducting reading groups at the same time. After the children sorted the cards, they practiced writing the words on white boards. I am not using recording sheets because I want the pocket chart station to be a place where the children work collaboratively to read, sort, match, etc. I also didn't add pictures to the words (except for the compound word pack) for two reasons. First, I want the children to focus on actually reading the words, not matching them to pictures. And, second, I was able to add tons and tons of cards for each phonics skill because I didn't have to worry about finding pictures to match the words. 

The cards you see above come from my new Pocket Chart Activities series. 
This is the long vowels edition.


All the popular long vowel word families are in this pack. Just print, laminate, cut out, and use the cards all year long. I put mine in labeled baggies and I store them in a plastic container.

I also made a contraction edition because contractions are not something you teach once and forget about. I feel that it is important for the children to practice contractions all year long. I love knowing I have an entire collection of (cute) contraction cards to use whenever I need them.


There is also a blends and digraphs edition.


I bought a blends/digraphs pocket chart set at my local teacher store and was so disappointed that not all the blends and digraphs were included. No worries here! I included all digraphs, l-blends, r-blends, and s-blends. And since I didn't include a clip art image of each word, I was able to include tons of words. Students can sort blends and digraphs all year long. 

And, finally, here is the word families edition for kindergarten.



We've been working on sorting short a word families.






The children sorted the cards and then wrote some of them on white boards. This set includes all the word families known to man. Again, I bagged them and store them in a container for quick and easy access. No more hunting for cards. 

Now I have a very comprehensive system for teaching CVC words/word families. You can find most of what I use here. There is a good mix of whole group activities, small group activities, worksheets, games, and more!

And, last, but not least, I made a set of compound word cards for the pocket chart too. This is another skill that needs to be taught all year long. Since there are 111 compound word cards, they can easily be used all year long.


And I'm not done creating pocket chart activities! I have a few more editions up my sleeve. Can you think of any you'd like to see? Leave me a comment with any suggestions you have! Thanks!

8 comments:

  1. Sort based on number of letters, syllables, prefix/suffix root word, verb, noun, adjective, noun/pronoun just a few ideas......

    Chelsea
    Kickin It Whole Brain In Texas

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  2. Chelsea,

    I love them all! Thanks so much!
    Lori
    Teaching With Love and Laughter
    luvyorkies@gmail.com

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  3. This is such a great idea! I'll have to try and modify this to use for my fourthies! Thanks for sharing :) Have a great rest of your week!

    Amelia
    wherethewildthingslearn

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  4. I love how kids love the simplest things (like a pocket chart!). Your pocket chart activities are so neat. I love the idea of writing the words on a white board as opposed to a recording sheet. I'm sure your kiddos will have a blast!

    -Amanda
    Teacher At The Wheel

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  5. I have pocket charts, but I don't use them near enough. Thanks for sharing your ideas. Your packs look terrific!
    Kelly
    I'm Not Your Grandpa, I'm Your Teacher

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  6. Thank you for sharing your ideas! I bought your Kindergarten Word Family activities. My kiddos LOVE them!

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  7. Wow, this is the first time I've been over here. LOVE your ideas!

    ReplyDelete
  8. LOVE this idea.... ready to scope out your website for even MORE wonderful ideas! :)

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for taking the time to comment. I love to read them!

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