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March’s Playful Learning Checklist

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Do you teach the magic E?? ✨ Here’s a handy little poem that helps make it stick for kids:

Hello! My name is magic E.
I am quite tricky as you will see…

I make the vowel before me change.
With a wave of my wand, it says its name.

So if you hear an A, E, I or U, look carefully to see if I’m there too.

👉 Be sure to save this so you remember the words!

👉 And check my story for the 🔗 to the F-R-E-E wands!

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This interactive anchor chart is a BIG crowd pleaser!👏 It’s a fun way to help kids learn when to write the /ow/ sound with OU vs. OW. You just need a simple stack of Band-Aids…

When the /ow/ sound comes in the beginning or middle of a word, it’s most often spelled OU. A few examples include sound, loud, & ouch.

But when the sound comes at the end of a word, it is spelled OW. Think of how, now, & cow.

(OW is also used when the /ow/ sound is followed by a single L, N, EL, or ER like in the words owl, town, vowel, & tower.)

👉 Make sure to save this so you have the step-by-step!

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This simple little teaching tweak is a HUGE game changer! When you sort your sight words by phonics skill, students’ brains are able to memorize those words faster and easier than ever before.

These print-and-go sheets include Dolch words through second grade + the first 200 Fry words.

👉 Comment FAST and our friendly Plato-Bot will send you the 🔗.

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How do you sound map COULD? Here’s the scoop…

We used to have students memorize sight word flashcards but, thanks to brain research, now we know there’s a MUCH better way…

Sound mapping helps students memorize words in just 4-5 exposures because it draws upon their natural super power for spoken language. 💪

To do it, just follow these five simple steps:

1. Tap the individual sounds in the word on the table.

2. Map those sounds by having kids place a candy heart or other manipulative in each box as you say the sounds again.

3. Graph the sounds by asking students to write the letters used to spell each sound.

4. Write the entire word.

5. And then read it!

Have students repeat the same steps 5 times to help their brain add it to their orthographic lexicon and memorize the word forever.

👉 BONUS TIP: After practicing the word COULD five times, ask students to map the words WOULD & SHOULD so they can notice that the only difference between them is the beginning sound. 💡

👉 Save this so you know the steps when you’re ready to try it!

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Have you ever wondered why the words COULD & SHOULD have a silent L? Here’s the scoop…

When L comes after an A, O or U, it’s usually silent. For example…

HALF
SALMON
YOLK
FOLKS
WOULD
SHOULD

Like a lot of spelling and phonics rules, this one has some exceptions including HALO, BULK, SOLD, & FOLD but, more often than not, it’ll stay true.

👉 Be sure to save this so you have some go-to words to use when you teach it.

👉 And tag a teacher friend who would love teaching it to their kids too.❤️

#scienceofreading

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Supporting teachers is our “thing” so when a Plato Pack member asked for a fast & easy way to practice phonological awareness, we were excited to make her teaching dream come true. 🪄

These daily warm-ups take just five minutes to complete each day and there’s absolutely ZERO prep. Just read the words directly from the sheet and you’re ready to go.🔥

And don’t worry! We made sure to keep the practice playful & fun for kids so they’ll actually get excited to work on the skills each day.

The Plato Pack only opens up for enrollment twice a year and now’s the time – you can grab your spot until this Tuesday at midnight.

🪄Snag this entire set (plus HUNDREDS of other brain-friendly, science of reading aligned teaching tools!) inside The Plato Pack before the doors close up again on January 10th. #linkinprofile

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Fun teacher fact! 🥳 Just 9 prefixes make up 75% of words that use a prefix and 10 suffixes make up 85% of words with a suffix. That’s great news because we can teach them to students and set them up for some serious comprehension success. 💪

What are they??👇

👉The 9 most common prefixes are…

UN- (means not, opposite)
RE- (means again or back)
IN- IM- IG- IL- IR- (all mean not)
DIS- DI- DIF- (apart, away or opposite)
EN- EM- (to cause to be in place)
NON- (not, opposite)
IN- IM- IL- (in)
OVER- (too much)
MIS- (wrong, incorrect)

👉And the 10 most common suffixes are…

-S, -ES (plural noun, 3rd person singular verb)
-ED (past tense, past participle)
-ING (gerund, present participle)
-LY (adverb)
-ER, -OR (noun, person or thing that does something)
-ION, -TION (noun, conveys action or condition)
-IBLE, -ABLE (adjective, capable of)
-AL, -IAL (noun, act or process of)
-Y (adjective, characterized by)
-NESS (noun, state of being)

👉 Save this so you can sprinkle these suffixes and prefixes into your lesson plans throughout the year!

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Let’s kick word ladders up a notch with a playful, hands-on twist! 🥳

Just write one word ending on each ladder rung and then have kids add randomly selected cubes to make their words.

I worked on short vowel CVC words here but you could easily increase the difficulty by:

1️⃣ Writing a variety of short vowel endings on each ladder so students need to quickly switch from reading words that end in AT to IN to OP to UT, etc.

2️⃣ Having students place pairs of digraph cubes like CH, SH, TH at the beginning so they work on initial digraphs

3️⃣ Writing ending blend word families on the ladder rungs so they practice final blends

👉 Be sure to save this so you remember the setup when you need it!

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This phonics hack makes it soooo much easier to learn the soft G and C sound! 🏆 When C or G come before the letters E, I, or Y, they say soft /s/ or /j/. For example…

Cent
Giraffe
Cycle
Gentlemen
Circle
Gym

👉 Be sure to save this so you can remember the trick when it’s time to teach it!

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They say it’s not about a year of life, it’s about putting life into a year and, when it comes to teaching reading, that’s exactly what you’ve been doing all 2022 long.

Thank you for being here.

Thank you for continuing to help the world become a better place by loving your students, believing they can achieve great things, and using brain-friendly teaching tools and strategies so they can reach their fullest potential.

Not only are you changing THEIR lives, but you’re changing their families and communities too!

I can’t wait to see what’s ahead for us in 2023.❤️

👉 Save this for inspiration in the new year.

👉 Follow @playdough2plato for more science of reading tips and done-for-you teaching tools.

#2022recap #recap2022 #scienceofreading #scienceofreadingteachers #teachingideas

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2023 goals - teacher edition. 💪 As we wrap up this year, it’s a great time to think about habits that are no longer serving us so we can leave them behind and replace them with something new.

Feeling stuck and dreading the day ahead? Nope. In 2023, we want to feel energized, inspired, and excited for what’s coming.

Doing it all yourself? Nah. 2023 is the year of asking for help when we need it and accepting help when it’s offered.

Saying “yes” to ALL the things? Not any more! We’re going to get clear on our priorities, and only say “yes” to things that align with them.

👉 On January 1st, I’m kicking off a F-R-E-E 4 day challenge called Jumpstart Your 2023 to help you start the year strong. I’d love for you to join me! Comment JUMPSTART below and our friendly Plato-Bot will send over your invite.

#happynewyear2023 #newyear2023 #teachergoals

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Easy teacher hack! 🔥 Cut strips of paper and write a silent E word on the front of each one. A few examples to get you started are MAKE, BITE, VOTE, & USE.

Make sure to leave plenty of extra blank space because once you have written the word, you will fold over the end to cover the silent E and write ING. In an instant, the word will change:

Make—> making
Bite—> biting
Vote—> voting
Use—> using

It’s such a great tool for teaching kids how to add ING to the end of silent E words because they can actually see it in real time!

👉 Share this with a friend who would love it!

👉 Follow @playdough2plato for more simple, fun & brain-friendly ways to teach literacy.

#teacherhack #phonicsfun #iteachfirst #firstgradeteacher #iteachsecond #secondgradeteacher #scienceofreading

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Save this so you can pull it out the next time you need a quick & easy literacy center!

BONUS: You can tweak it to work on any phonics skills under the sun - beginning digraphs, ending blends, vowel teams… Just write your post-its to match.

👉 Follow @playdough2plato for more simple and fun science of reading ideas!

#scienceofreading #literacycenters #anchorchart #phonicsfun #kindergartenteacher

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Let’s roll words!🥳 You’ll just need two foam dice from the dollar store.

1️⃣ Write beginning sounds on one die…

2️⃣ And ending sounds (also called rimes) on the other. I used short A word families here, but you could really work on anything - short I words (IP, IN) or silent E words (AKE, IME)…

3️⃣ Stick down a matching colored post-it to make a place holder for each die and

4️⃣ Make a simple “real or nonsense” chart.

Then PLAY!

The game’s simple but you’ll be surprised how much fun kids have with it.

👉 Save this so you remember the set up!

👉 Tag a friend who would love it too. ❤️

#iteachk #iteachfirst

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F-R-E-E-B-I-E alert! 📣 Between teaching, prepping, and attending ALL the meetings, it’s no wonder you barely have time to drink your coffee before it gets cold. 🥵

But that’s why I’m so excited to pass along this batch of print-and-go word family mats! They make it easy to stretch students’ learning AND have fun at the exact same time.

(I LOVE hearing kids say, “I can’t wait to get to school today”, don’t you?!)

Just print out the mats and grab a batch of alphabet magnets…

Letter unifix cubes, Scrabble tiles, and even foam letter dice are fun alternatives too.

👉 Comment SIMPLE and our friendly Plato-Bot will send these 7 mats your way!

#playfullearning #learningthroughplay #kindergartenactivity #firstgradeactivity

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4 days ago

SIGHT WORDS BY PHONICS SKILL

Can you feel the excitement in the air?🥳

This must-have set of Sight Words by Phonics Skill is going to turn all of your beginning readers into experts!

💡💡We know that children learn sight words 10 times faster when they’re sorted by phonics skill.

Old school lists like Dolch and Fry sorted them by frequency…

…but learning 5-10 different phonics skills a week is not how young brains like to learn.

👉Thankfully, there’s a super EASY fix!

These *newly-updated* print-and-go lists have already done the work and organized the words for you.

👉 Comment below or DM us “Sight Words” and our Plato Bot will immediately send you the link to grab it from our website or TPT store!

#sightwords #scienceofreading #wordlists ... See MoreSee Less

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