Field Trip and Word Work

Yesterday we went on a field trip to Charles Town Landing.  My kids LOVED it!  It tied in nicely with what we're studying now and was a lot of fun.  I enjoyed it a lot more than our field trip to the aquarium, because everything was so spread out and it was easier to keep my kiddos with me.  I may have had some kids try to take off escape really excited, but it was fun.

A few weeks ago, the director of the intervention program I teach visited my classroom for a full morning because they were concerned my students weren't getting enough ELA minutes.  It's incorporated into Science & SS, but she said I really needed to incorporate the components of reading during S.S., like word works, vocabulary, & fluency.  She is so sweet and kept saying "I know everything I'm telling you is more work."  Well, yes, it is.  But, I want my kids to get what they need.  Plus, this is SO much better than what I was worried she might say which was:  You need an ELA block and won't be able to teach both Science and S.S. every day.

So this week, we started our new S.S. block.  My kids really like it (so far).  I split them into two groups:  a low group and a high group (blue and red groups to them).  My high group always starts with word work.  This week, they sorted based on sounds (ea and oo), sorted vce and non-vce words (they also had to write why the e was important), and filled in the blanks on sentences with oa words.  My low group worked on matching words to picture (ee, oo, & oa words) and sorting vce and non-vce words.  So far, they are going well.  When they worked with me, we worked on our Native Americans assessment and discussed how we can use a piece of text (our book) to help answer questions.  We also reenacted (with raffle tickets and M & Ms) how trade went with the Native Americans and Europeans.  Then, they wrote about how the Native Americans felt in their S.C. History Journal.  Next week, we're going to be using a rebus to learn about the different groups of settlers in S.C.  We only have 2 days of school, so I'm hoping we'll be able to finish this rebus because I'm pretty sure we're behind in S.S. so we've got to move it!

Here are the documents I made.  I had a different font, but it won't show up on scribd for some reason.  I used Pea Heather Michele and smiley monster from Nick and Amanda of course.  Well, I fixed that problem by saving it as a PDF, but now it shows up all funky on the preview, but it should download correctly.  I'm not sure if this is something you could use, but it might be helpful!

Ea Word Sort

ea

oa

Oo Word Sort

oo

Picture Word Match for Journal

Vce Word Sort

vce

Congrats to those of you who have next week off!  We have Monday and Tuesday so it shouldn't be too bad! 

P.S.  Can you believe this Clemson game!  LOVE IT!  I just hope we can whip up on them next week and make it 3 years in a row!