Tag: sight words

Progressive Phonics

Kelly Tenkely6 Comments on Progressive Phonics5351 views

What it is: Progressive Phonics is a fantastic, free all-in-one reading program that I learned about from @rmbyrne on his blog Free Tech for Teachers (honestly, some days I wonder why I bother with a resource sharing blog…he is amazing!)  This site is totally FREE, as in every single download is available for $0, all that is required is registration.  Progressive Phonics provides books that can be read on-screen or printed out.  Books include alphabet books, beginner phonics, intermediate phonics, advanced phonics, and handwriting.  In addition to phonics rules, Progressive Phonics teaches essential sight-words (phonics rule-breakers).  Each book includes a PDF version of the book, and accompanying activity sheets such as handwriting worksheets, a word search puzzle, flash cards, and a five-minute memory game.  If you have access to iPads or iPod’s for your classroom, these FREE phonics books can be downloaded and put into the iBook bookshelf for reading.

How to integrate Progressive Phonics into your curriculum: Phonics is one of those things that a reading program either excels at, or falls flat with.  Using the Treasures reading curriculum, I was always disappointed by the lack of real phonics work and often supplemented with sites like Starfall.  Progressive Phonics is another resource that would make a fantastic supplement.  If you use a standard reading curriculum, take a look at the Progressive Phonics books and align them with your current curriculum.  For example if your current curriculum has students practicing short vowel “a”, find the corresponding phonics rule in Progressive Phonics.  Because these books are free to download, they are excellent for printing out and sending home with students for extra reading practice.  The accompanying printable games, flashcards, and puzzles will keep your students practicing that skill in and out of the classroom.  Books can be printed out and assembled as a traditional book, read on the classroom or lab computers, or transferred onto a mobile device such as the iPad or iPod Touch.  This collection of phonics resources is a must see!

Tips: One thing I really appreciate about this site is that each book comes with a page count and an approximate time to print.  I remember spending hours printing Starfall books on an old school printer, wondering if I would ever finish.  The approximate printing time lets you know what you are in for before you hit print.  Each book is offered in two formats, one is a print friendly version that has been designed to use as little ink as possible.  So smart!

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Progressive Phonics in your classroom!

Spell with Flickr

Kelly Tenkely4 Comments on Spell with Flickr2618 views

What it is: Spell with Flickr is a site that has been around for a while but I was reminded of it again this week when I used it with my students for a project.  Type any word or name into the Spell with Flickr website and the site will pull letter pictures from Flickr to spell out the word in pictures.  You can click on each letter to get a new picture and when you are satisfied with your picture word, you can drag and drop the word onto a desktop to use later or you can copy code to embed on a website, blog, or wiki.

How to integrate Spell with Flickr into the classroom: Spell with Flickr is a simple but neat website to use in the classroom.  Students can use Spell with Flickr to type in and practice their spelling words, to create titles for reports, to spell out their name for an auto biography poem, and to practice letter recognition.  Teachers can use Spell with Flickr as a fun way to create titles for bulletin boards, classroom signs, to make a unique word wall, or to make an alphabet banner.  Spell with Flickr can also be used on wikis and blogs making it perfect for fun titles.  Create an alphabet book, phonics blends book, or sight word book out of Spell with Flickr pictures.  

 

Tips:  If you aren’t happy with the pictures that were chosen for your letters, click on the picture for a new one. 

 

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Spell with Flickr in your classroom.