Memories! Light the Corners of my Mind. (Memory Words that is!)

The, Way, We, Were............

Oh, wait.......those are memory words!

I don't know about you, but sometimes I just think I need to "drill" those memory words into my students memories.  So I felt like I just "HAD" to create some memory word flash cards for the SUPERKIDS 2nd grade words. (If you do not use this curriculum, these cards can still be used.  You can just reorganize them into how your curriculum uses them or as supplemental words.) I like to use these words for flashcards, games, word work, word races, etc.

Here are the first two units:

Unit 1

Unit 2

That should get you through the first 8 weeks of lessons.

Enjoy!  Please let me know if you are able to use these ideas and materials. (It encourages me to create more.....!)

SUPERKIDS "Candyland" Unit 2

If you did not see my previous post on the SUPERKIDS Curriculum Candyland Unit 1 game, please find it here.

I want to thank Rowland Reading Foundation for giving me permission to use the clip art of Golly.  I know how much my students love him. Just by including the image of him on the cards, I think my students will want to play the game even more.

I wanted to get at least the first two units up before Friday so that anyone trying to prepare for the beginning of the year would be able to get them printed and ready.  Since some schools start earlier than we do (August 27th), I wanted you to have at least 8 weeks worth of games to begin.

Here is Unit 2.




Hope you enjoy!

SUPERKIDS Unit 1 Candyland Game

I have been trying to think of ways to improve my students word reading skills.  Many of my students have difficulty with the pattern words from our curriculum.  I wanted to find a fun way for them to practice these words.

Then I found..........................................CANDYLAND by Hasbro!

Mel at Seusstastic Classroom Inspirations has created Candyland cards with skills to replace the actual cards in a Candyland game. (If you need a Candyland card set for other adoptions, or specific skills............see Mel because she has many wonderful sets!) I thought maybe this would be just the way to have my students practice their "SUPERKIDS" pattern words, too.  So if you are a "SUPERKIDS" teacher, here is Unit 1!



Remember............you WILL need the game.  I was lucky and found mine at Goodwill for $1.99.  If the cards are missing...........oh well, since you will be replacing those anyway! (Mine actually were all there!)

I plan to work on Unit 2 soon.  (I actually have Units 3 and 4 finished, I just haven't had my Unit 2 manual at home.)  So make sure that you follow my blog if you are interested in the next units.

I hope that you can get some use out of these game cards.  It is just another way to add fun to an already FANTASTIC curriculum!

Focus on GENRE

I think it is very important for students to understand different types or genres of the books that they are reading.  Several years ago I discovered Beth Newingham's wonderful Reading Genre materials.  I loved how she posted the signs to help her students learn more about each genre.

Ms. Newingham did not have signs for every genre that our curriculum covers.  Since I wanted my students to learn about the genres for the Book Club books that are found with our SUPERKIDS curriculum, I created posters that have  "our books" pictured and that have the genres that "our books" cover.  As I introduced each book, I introduced the genre.  We talked about what would make a book fall into that genre.  If we had already read a book from that genre, we would review that.  By the later part of the year, my students would sometimes bring their own personal library books to me and tell me about the genre.    Often when we would go to the library, they would also try to find library books from a genre that they especially enjoyed.

These posters can also be used by any teacher because these are books that students could encounter in any classroom or library. 








I hope that you can use these posters in your classroom to help your students "Focus on Genre"!

Our SUPER Reading Program!!!!

Our school uses the most wonderful reading curriculum in grades K - 2!  It is called the SUPERKIDS Reading Program.  If you are not familiar with it, you should check it out.  


Hopefully, even those of you with a "mandatory" curriculum, can get some ideas on ways to structure your reading time from the way the SUPERKIDS program is set up!


This curriculum was created by the Rowland Reading Foundation.  Pleasant Rowland, the creator of the American Girl Collection, established this foundation after she retired from American Girl.  As a former primary teacher, she dedicated herself to improving reading in the primary grades.  She is still VERY active in the foundation today! 


I have taught 2 of the 3 levels of this curriculum and it is the BEST!!!!  The characters are introduced in Kinder and they grow up each year.  The students LOVE them!  They talk about them as if they are classmates.  

  


The day starts with an editing exercise.  Students are given a sentence to edit and correct. This is a set of editing mark reminders that I post on a small pocket chart in my classroom. At the beginning of the year as I teach each mark, I post it on the chart.  By the end of the year, they know how to use all of these marks.






After they edit their sentence, they are then given a short journaling topic to write on. At this point, they have practice with their memory words.  We practice 6 - 8 of their current and past memory words.  They then have 2 - 3 dictation sentences to use for practicing memory and pattern words. I usually have them try to do this like a "test" and then go over them together to help them focus on patterns and mistakes that they have made.  I teach them "tricks" during this review.


The 2nd grade teacher in the SUPERKIDS is named Ms. Blossom and she teaches the students "tricks". These "tricks" are taught using the Word Work Book.  The students learn the tricks and then practice them on the Work Book pages.  My students seemed to really pay attention when Ms. Blossom told them about "tricks" for remembering their words and grammar.


The students then read their decodable reader.  In this decodable reader are stories about the SUPERKIDS, a group of children that are their age and go through the same day to day experiences that they might face.  The SUPERKIDS have daily experiences both positive and negative that the students can relate to.  Character education is also taught using the experiences that the characters face.  The students read two pages each day and practice fluency as well as comprehension with these stories.


At the 2nd grade level, Nonfiction is taught through SUPER magazines.  Each magazine has a variety of different articles and stories about a given topic. The students spend two weeks on each "magazine".  The students not only learn to read nonfiction, but are also introduced to poetry and graphic novels in each issue.  I created Info cards for my focus board about each of the SUPER magazine issues so that the students would know what we are focusing on during that two weeks. 

After spending two weeks reading nonfiction in the SUPER magazines, the students spend two weeks reading quality literature.  They read BOOK CLUB books.  My students were so excited each time a new book was introduced.  They could not wait to get their hands on these books!  Again I created Info cards for our FOCUS board for the titles of the Book Club books.  







All of these books are AR books, so my students test each week that they are reading book club books.  I created a sign to hang near the computers so that they would know the test number for each book.  If your school has AR Universal, then these posters should work for you also.






This curriculum also has a complete writing component.


My students made tremendous gains in their Reading levels due in great part to this wonderful curriculum.  


Any time we have had questions about anything regarding this curriculum, the support has been there immediately.  I cannot tell you how easy this foundation is to work with.  I know that they are open to any and all suggestions and each year they add new and more wonderful additions.


Unfortunately, many teachers do not have a choice in the curriculums that they are expected to teach.  If you do, I would highly recommend looking at this SUPER curriculum!