WBB

I had a HORRIBLE case of WBB (Winter Break Brain) this week!  Oh boy...my first graders did, too.  On their first day back, I looked out into the classroom and saw a bunch of tired sweeties struggling to stay awake. :(  

......and let's not get started on their fluency assessments.  It was bad.  Each month I give a one minute fluency assessment.   Usually I see TONS of growth.  But, I did a few yesterday and decided I should just stop.  They were still suffering from WBB.  Hopefully we'll be back in the groove next week and I'll see better gains....fingers crossed!

I have some REAL lowbies in my class..... I'm talking 3 words per minute with 10% accuracy while reading a Kindergarten passage.  Keep in mind, we're first graders.  YIKES.  I knew I had my work cut out for me.  Instead of drilling their poor little brains, I decided to make Reading fun. 

I started out the year with just one cvc word on each card.  We used these to warm-up in Reading group. We played BAM! (some people call it BANG!) with the cards.  After over 3 months of playing that game, my students STILL love it.  I try to change it up every couple of weeks - new words, new pictures on the cards, harder words.   Now, those students who were reading 3 words per minute with 10% accuracy are making progress!  They are getting faster and more accurate. :)  Yay!

I used this ALL THE TIME last month and they couldn't get enough.  The best part was my higher readers got to play the same game - instead of just a cvc word on the card, they had sentences.  Tricky!

Sadly, Christmas is over and I need to move on.  :(  So, I made this! 

If you're interested in checking these Fluency Cards out, just click the picture!

I can't wait to print them out and laminate them.  The absolute best part will be seeing how excited my students get when they get the new cards! :)