A Window into our Work Work Time

This week for word work we are continuing our study of the /oo/ sound as in shoe.  I thought I would share a glimpse of what the children who come to room 8 for work work have been up to this week.  As you know we stick with our spelling patterns for two weeks at a time and the children work in their word work class Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday for 30 minutes.  So we meet for a grand total of 6 times before moving on to the next pattern.  This chunk of time seriously goes by in the blink of an eye and I have found that sticking to a no-nonsense routine is an efficient use of our time. When I introduce a new pattern we always spend the first day learning all about it through direct teacher led instruction. Then for the next four times we meet, I do a mini lesson and the children quickly disperse to work on their word work center.  I change the centers each week so keep things fresh.  Below you can see the centers we have been working on this week.

Spelling Cents ~ Finding the value of your spelling words

Spelling City

Spelling Sentences

Contractions

Hairy Money

By the way...have you ever heard of "hairy money"???  Well if you know someone who is having a tough time counting coins read on!  This noteworthy tool was shared with me by our resource teacher.  I have used touch money in the past as a visual aid, but hairy money totally takes the cake!  Basically for each five you put a hair on the president's head.  A nickel gets one hair, a dime gets two hairs, and a quarter gets five hairs.  Poor penny is bald because its value is only one cent.  When my little kiddies want to find the total value of a group of coins all they have to do is put they correct "hairs" on each coin and then count by 5's and add the 1's.
I have found this to be super duper successful!  Which makes me happy!