Word Work Ideas

Hello friends!! It's been a long time! 

I never anticipated the HUGE change I would feel when moving grade levels. At the end of last school year, I had second graders.. second graders who were almost ready for third grade!! Fast forward through the busy but lazy summer.... I meet my new (WONDERFUL) class of firsties - but they seem to be a bit more like Kindergarteners!! This all translates to me, feeling a bit crazy! 

I absolutely love my first graders, I love teaching first grade, it's just taking a while to adjust. 

Anyway, my firsties seem to need a lot of practice with word work. I've set up stations and a rotation for my kiddos to use during my guided reading time. Each rotation is about 15 minutes, with about 4 students at each station. 

My rotations include:

• Read to Self
• Read to Buddy (or "stuffed buddy" - they love this!)
• Listen to Reading - Listening center and Computers on ABCya or Starfall
• Wikki-Stix
• Magnet Letters
• Salt Boxes
• Letter Stamps
• and most recently PLAY-DOUGH!!!!

So my post today is to walk you through the recipe that I used to make my play-dough!

Ingredients include: 

1 c. White Flour

1/4 c. Salt

2 Tbsp. Cream of Tarter

1 c. Water

1 Tbsp. Oil

1 tsp. food coloring

Combine all ingredients in a pot on medium heat and stir. 

It will start looking nasty and clumpy [yes, that's the technical term ;)] It kind of smells at this point too! 

It will only take 3-5 minutes before it starts to clump into one solid ball.

Turn out the ball of play-dough onto a floured table-top. Knead the ball to work out the stickiness; use floured hands. The color will lighten up.

Each "batch" made one large ball or two orange-sized balls of play-dough. I made three batches [purple, green and blue] and separated each batch into 2. 

I packaged each ball into a separate zip-lock bag. I am looking for the *PERFECT* sized containers to store these in; ones that are easy enough for 5, 6, and 7 year olds to open and close on their own. Students will use play-dough to spell out their spelling and word wall words. This play-dough is "edible" but NOT tasty... so hopefully to deter students from snacking while they spell!