Driving into Word Study

Word Study is one of my favorite times of the day.  It is that beautiful point in the day when I get to watch my students learn new words right in front of my eyes.  My kiddos are excellent at using their Good Reading Habits to work through new words, but explicit teaching of new vocabulary, on my part, is still extremely important.

I have love taking my kiddos' leveled readers and pulling specific vocabulary to not only support that current book, but to support their develop of background knowledge.  Hameray Publishing came to the rescue yet again, with their amazing books.  Big Wheels at Work has been the perfect addition to my readers' book bags.

During our sneak peek of the book, we explored the tricky words.  Throughout our small group, kiddos matched the "stretched out sounds" (word attack strategy) of each word to the correct spelling of the word.  They placed the cards in the different parking spots as they matched the up.  This activity allowed my students to use the visual representation of the sounds to practice each word.

Students then drove their monster trucks into the parking spots of each tricky word found throughout the book.  They loved being able to "drive" into each word thus practicing each word again.  

You can grab this parking lot and sound matching cards here.  

As you can see, I love working on words with my kiddos.  Do you love working on words with your students?  What is your favorite time of day teaching your students?