This week I thought I would share some books with you that are near and dear to me. I love to collect books that include some kind of word work within them. Let me explain to you what I mean!
1. There's an Ant in Anthony by Bernard Most- Do you know this book? This is my favorite book to use when teaching your students the reading strategy of finding little words inside big words. All of the print is written in black but every time the word ant appears within a word, it is printed in red. This lends itself quite well to brainstorming a list of words with ant in it. But be sure to have your red and black markers in your hand when doing so!
2. Well Bernard Most must have thought he was on to something good here. Thirteen years later came another book with a similar format called Can You Find IT? And you guessed it (no pun intended), the hidden word is it this time but it's not color highlighted. This sure is a great follow up to Anthony as this is a skill that emergent readers work on all year long. This I believe is out of print but you can pick up a copy online that is used perhaps. Mine actually came from Half Price Books many moons ago! It's definitely worth the search.
3. Cock-a-Doodle-Moo by Bernard Most is also a fun one that is different from the previous two titles. Here a rooster is having a difficult time waking up all the animals and so the cow decides to help. Only the Cock-a-Doodle-Doo doesn't quite come out right. All the animals are snoring too in this story so you will see zzzzzz's all over the place.
4. The next title on the list is Word Wizard by Cathryn Falwell and it is still in print. In this book, a little girl is looking at her cereal letters in her bowl, which rearrange to make new words. What fun you could have with some Alphabits cereal!
5. The Alphabet Keeper by Mary Murphy- Another fun one. The alphabet keeper keeps letters in a cage but the letters get out and swirl around making all kinds of new words.
These books are all a great way to incorporate a little word work into your day, while teaching your students that little words make up big words. Word Work was a part of my classroom routine often when I was a homeroom teacher. And it still finds it's way into my Intervention Room too. I have recently started updating my word work products in my store. They are now available in a Growing Package and are super engaging and useful for students in K-3. I've used this activity with every grade level in between and you can't go wrong. Take a closer look at this product because you can get it at a very low price right now. I will be adding April in the next few weeks so the price will go up each time a new month is added. Next week I will be blogging about how I use this product with my groups so stop back for more information!
OK....now back to the puppy! I thought it would be fun to offer some puppy advice to the hubs since this will be his first time having a puppy. Please humor me and offer him one of your wisest tips in the comments below.
And finally, check out some great alphabet and/or word work ideas and products from my TPT teacher author friends. And teacher author friends can offer puppy advice for the hubs as well.
Until Next Time,