Short Vowel Sounds

This week we are going to be talking about short vowel sounds in the classroom. I have made a mind map that we are going to go over in the classroom. I am also going to post a link to it on this blog so parents can see it as well and talk about it with your children. I am also going to post some links you can explore with your children about the short vowel sounds. Using a mind map is very beneficial to the children. Instead of the children just listening to me telling them what short vowel sounds are, they get to see the word examples of short vowel sounds, along with pictures and videos to watch on short vowel sounds. Mind maps also make it easier for students to recall the information. And they are seeing examples, pictures, and videos and it helps them make the connections to recall the information better. Enjoy exploring and learning!

Mind Map

Between the Lions Short Vowel Sound Game

Starfall Short Vowel Sound Matching Game

A Little About Myself

Here is a word cloud about myself. In the word cloud I have put some of the things that are very important to me. God and my Family is very important to me. I am married and have to beautiful girls. We live on a farm and have all kinds of animals. I have always wanted to be a teacher ever since I can remember. I love teaching children and watching them as they grow and learn. In my spare time I enjoy spending time with my family. Both of my girls compete in rodeos and show their animals at the county and state fairs. So we spend a lot of time doing those things. I also love to do crafts and take pictures.

As you can see, word clouds are really fun to make and you get a lot of information from them. Word clouds are really good to use for every, and especially visual learners. We will be using word clouds in our classroom this year. We will be making a couple of word clouds using our site words and post them around the room. The more the children see the site words the better. We will also be using a word cloud to show another way of showing information on a graph. The class was asked about their favorite color and then we charted the information. Now we are going to make a word cloud to show the same results. The color that was liked the most will be the biggest. Likewise, the color that was liked the least will be the smallest. We will also make a word cloud about the book we are reading when we finish the book. Those are just some examples of the way we will be using word clouds in our classroom this year.

Raising Lifelong Readers

Reading is an important part of every child's life. We want children to become lifelong readers and have a love for reading. The best way to do this is to read to your children. Children love to be read to. There are many benefits that children receive when we read to our children. When we read to them we are increasing their vocabulary and modeling reading strategies and behaviors. Make sure your children see you reading as well. Children will want to read if they see their parents reading. And reading together makes for great family time. Happy Reading Everyone!

http://www.sheknows.com/parenting/articles/959195/how-to-get-kids-to-want-to-read   

Click here for an interesting article on raising a lifelong reader.

Here is a Powtoon I created for the different types of reading. 

Four Types of Reading Powtoon

http://www.powtoon.com/p/eJvprtpHzoU/ 

A Powtoon Presentation can be very useful in the classroom. They can be used at the beginning of a lesson as an introductory to get students engaged and ready to learn. And they can be used to help with a lesson in the classroom. Students would love to watch a video of a lesson they are learning.