Guest Blogger - Caitlin from Kindergarten Smiles

Hi all!! I am Caitlin from Kindergarten Smiles and I am so excited that Jeannie has allowed me to guest post on her blog today!! 

Recently, I have heard so much information  on the Daily 5 and I am even participating in the Daily 5 book study this summer.  In my classroom I currently do literacy centers/workstations with my students while I am pulling reading groups, but I am interested in the idea of changing. Many centers that I am already doing with my students during this time, fit right in with Word Work and Work on Writing.  

Some ideas:

* Students can spell words with magnetic letters

* Students can spell words with pipe cleaners

* Students can rainbow write words (always a favorite in my class)

* Students can cut letters out of a magazine to spell words

* Students can stamp words

* Students can use bingo dabbers to spell words

* Students can form letters with play dough to spell words (or cut them out of play dough with letter cookie cutters)

That list can go on, and on, and on...you can pretty much add anything you have to this center! I originally had my students using the word wall to spell words; however, somewhere in between their center and them looking at the word wall they lost focus!! I now have word cards on a binder ring that they use. I printed out 6 copies so multiple students can be working at once. My cards look like this:

I have kindergarten and first grade sight words on my rings, I think it is great for the students to see and spell both!

If you would like your own cards just click on the picture above! I added in a couple different versions in case you don't like my rainbows :) or in case you have a specific theme in your room. All you need to do is print them out, laminate them for durability, punch one hole in the bottom of every card, and add them onto a binder ring!

I also have some 'fun' cards at the back of the ring. They include color words, number words, and words with pictures for the kids to spell...

If you would like to grab a copy of these just head on over to my blog, Kindergarten Smiles and you can download them for FREE.

HUGE thank you again to Jeannie for allowing me to post today. I hope you all were able to get something new for your kids out of my post or you at least enjoyed reading it :)