Poetry Interactives

April is National Poetry Month so I have been looking for some great poetry interactive activities to share with everyone. My favorite go-to book of poems is Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein. To make reading fun, I would let my students choose a poem they liked and they would be encouraged to practice reading it with intonation, expression, inflection, and fluency throughout the week. At the end of the week students would take turns presenting their chosen poem to the rest of the class. Students fell in love with the poems and from then on would always be looking for poetry books during library time. Here are a few interactive resources that I found that would be wonderful to implement into some of your poetry lessons.

Shel Silverstein's Official Site -  you can download a Poetry Workshop Kit or browse for lessons, activities, and games.

I used the poem Hector the Collector by Shel Silverstein to create the word clouds below.

Tagxedo - this is an excellent way for students to create shape poems. You can select from their shape menu or upload your own. There is also the option to customize the font and color scheme.

Wordle - is another great website where students can create word clouds and customize the layout, font, and colors scheme.

ReadWriteThink - there are several fun poem interactive activities students can complete. You can click on the images below to be taken directly to them.

RIF Reading Planet - Poetry Splatter is fun for all ages. Just choose a poem from the list and start filling in the poem with words splattered on the screen.

 

Rhyme Zone - Perfect for helping you create your own poem. You can search for rhyming words, synonyms, antonyms, homophones, similar sounding words, and a lot more options! I wish I was using this website a long time ago.

 

Giggle Poetry - Who doesn't love funny poems? This site has lots of funny poems for children to giggle away! You can explore Poetry Theater, Poetry Class, Poetry Fun, or even play word games. There are many things to check out on here.

And last but not least... Kenn Nesbitt's Poetry4kids website that has a plethora of poetry fun and information.

April isn't over yet so there is still plenty of time to check out these great resources for National Poetry Month. If you are like me, you'll spend just as much time as the students do reading all the fun poems! Enjoy :)

Story Chimes: Interactive Book Apps

Story Chimes are one of my absolute favorite apps for reading. Story Chimes are interactive children's books that are brought to life with narration, music, and activities. They are perfect for teachers that integrate technology into their classrooms because the books can be played on an iPod Touch or iPad; they are also available on Androids. What a great idea to engage students during literacy center time! Kids have the option to read independently or read along with the narrator. Best of all they have tons of FREE full version books that you can download (with ads). If you want the ad free version then most of them are only $0.99. I think I have pretty much downloaded every interactive app they have on the App Store. Now, every time my 5 year old niece stays with me I let her choose a story for us to read at bedtime. She is always asking to go back and reread them! One of our favorites is The Princess and the Pea.

You can search "Story Chimes" in the iTunes App Store or Google Play to see all the different interactive books available for download. Here are a few titles that I took a snapshot of from the iTunes Store.

If you haven't discovered the interactive books already, I recommend checking a few of the stories out!

Author's Purpose Freebie!

As I was visiting classrooms the last few weeks, I noticed many of the teachers had anchor charts or signs posted for author's purpose. However, not many used the catchy phrase, It's as easy as PIE". So I decided I should make my own printable signs for them so I could share out with everyone. It's a fun way for students to remember the author's purpose: persuade, inform, and entertain. I know there are lots of other versions out there but if you would like one more, click to download the freebie!

Good news! This also prompted me to finally setup my TpT store so please check back often because I'll be uploading and giving away lots of other freebies in the future.

Reading Bear

I hope everyone has gotten off to a great start of the year! It's been crazy busy for me lately so I'm a little behind on posting. I started my new position as a literacy specialist and so far I'm love it! I think what I like most is being able to observe so many different classrooms and grade levels. There are a lot of awesome teachers out there and I love picking up and discovering new tips & tricks while visiting their classrooms. One of the main focuses in the district's literacy block is finding time or activities to support our Word Work lessons. So, I thought I would post about a website that would support and be engaging for students to learn phonics and word work skills.

Reading Bear is a fun, interactive website that helps students learn to read. It reviews all the main phonics rules and guides students through hands-on practice. You could have students practice with Reading Bear during center time, or use it whole group with your interactive whiteboard. It doesn't replace your lesson but it can provide scaffolding, especially for your struggling readers or ELL's. The most important question...is it free? Yes, it is completely free to use. You may also choose to register for an account that will allow you to save quiz scores and track presentations, but it is not required. If you are looking for interactive phonics lessons, center activities, or just an alternative to Starfall, you might want to check out Reading Bear. Hope you find it beneficial :)

Alphabetimals

This is a fun little website that has an interactive alphabet book, ABC song video, name typer, free printable resources, and even an app you can download to your iPad. Super cute for the primary grades.

www.alphabetimals.com

I have to be honest and say I absolutely love creating words and names with Name Typer! This can also be an engaging way for your students to practice spelling words and typing skills at the same time. You have the option to print it out or share by email. I also like creating cute names like this for myself and using it as my email signature. It is amazing how many more teachers read my emails when I have something cute on it!

 

You can also have students read the interactive alphabet book. There is an animal that is shaped like each letter of the alphabet. Students can click to hear an audio sound of what the animal sounds like or hear the word pronounced.

 

Remember to also check out the ABC video song, free printables, and iPad app. Also, if you are lucky enough to have an interactive whiteboard, this would be great to project and have students interact with it.

I took a little break from blogging this summer so check back often because I'll be posting a lot more fun, interactive websites for the beginning of school. I have so many I can't decide which ones to highlight first :)

Roy the Zebra

I came across Roy the Zebra a few months ago and thought it was a wonderful website to use with students to reinforce their reading skills. It has a lot of reading games that can be used on the interactive whiteboard or as an extension to support your reading lessons during computer time. 

www.roythezebra.com

Some of the skills Roy the Zebra reviews is alphabetical order, long vowel phonemes, words that rhyme, consonant blends, and high frequency words. A lot of the interactive games are free but the website does have a few that are paid. Of course, I only use the free interactive games because there are plenty of good free ones where it isn't necessary to purchase anything. It is still worth checking out because the games are user-friendly and the students will love them.

In the activity below, students help Wellington the turtle clean up the sea by matching the correct double consonant blend to the beginning of each word.

  

Roy the Zebra mainly focuses on high frequency words such as days of the week, months, and colors. Students can help Tom get ready for bed by clicking and dragging the days of the week in the correct order.

Students can choose rhyming words by hovering over the apples to reveal a word. If it rhymes with the given word, they can drag the word into Belinda's house.

Sheppard Software

I think out of all my bookmarked websites this is my favorite go-to for interactive activities. You can find something for all contents and the kids absolutely love it! We have Promethean boards in our district so I put it in dual-user mode and two students are able to come up and interact at the same time. If you teach math, I definitely recommend checking out Fruit Shoot under Math Games. You can choose to review addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division. I have never seen students so eager to learn their facts; a favorite for sure! It would be a good resource to recommend for students to play at home or during center times.

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/