CVC Word Wheels

The CVC Word Wheels are a fun way for beginning readers to practice CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words, also known as word family rhymes. This activity includes 10 word wheels with the following word families for your child to practice sounding out and reading: -at, -ad, -ed, -en, -in, -ip, -ot, -og, -un, -ug.

To prepare, print out on card stock. Cut out the wheels, cut out the dotted lines on the circle that states “Word Wheel”, and poke a hole through the middle of each wheel and place a round fastener in the middle to connect the two pieces (“Word Wheel” with the box cut out is on top and the letters only wheel is on bottom.) With the fastener in place, the two pieces should be able to rotate around. The goal for this activity is for your child to focus on sounding out and reading CVC words.

As the wheel is rotated around, the child stops at each beginning letter that emerges from the wheel below into the hole on the top wheel. The child then sounds out each letter sound to read the revealed word. For example, on the –at family word wheel, the child turns the wheel and letter /c/ may appear, the child sounds out /c/ /a/ /t/ CAT. To take this activity a step further, your child could then write the word they just created onto another paper, build it with a moveable alphabet, or draw a picture to illustrate the word. The more a child connects writing (or building with tangible letters) with reading, the more these words retain in their memory. The illustrations activity is a way to check your child’s comprehension of the words read, and is a fun way for them to independently engage in the activity as well.

These Word Wheels are a fun and interactive way for your child to sound out and read CVC words.

Sound Practice Cards
These Sound Practice Cards are for you to review and practice letter sounds with your child. On each letter sound card there is a number written which correlates to the amount of sounds each letter makes. There is also check sheet included with this activity with each letter and its sounds listed.

To prepare, print out the letter sound cards and check sheet onto card stock. Cut out each sound card and laminate both the check sheet and sound cards for durability. The goal of these cards is to practice letter sounds with your child and help you track their progress. The parent will hold up a sound card and the child will state the sound(s) each letter makes. If laminated, the parent can use the check sheet to mark each letter sound using a whiteboard marker (easily wiped off with a damp cloth.) The child could also check off sounds they said correctly, with the guidance of their parent, to check their own progress.

There are a few ways to make this more interactive, so it is more fun than just flipping through flash cards. It is important for a child’s development to engage their body in fine motor or gross motor activities, as much as possible, rather than just rote memorization. The more a child is up and moving their body, while working on an activity like this, the more interactions the brain is making to retain and recall the lesson. One idea might be to set the cards up inside of a hopscotch court; instead of numbers the child will hop onto each letter and say aloud the sound(s). Another similar idea is to create a pathway, kind of like a life size game board, and the child is the game piece. They will roll a dice, follow the path, and say aloud the sound of the card they moved to, repeating this back and forth across the path until they have said all letter sounds.

These Sound Practice Cards are for a way to review letter sounds with your child and check their progress. There are lots of engaging ways to practice to make this a fun and interactive activity for your child.

CCVC Word Wheels
The CCVC Word Wheels are a fun way for readers to practice CcVC (consonant-consonant-vowel-consonant) words. These words involve beginning sound blends such as, /st/, /sl/, /br/, /sh/, /dr/, etc. This activity includes 10 word wheels with the following word families for your child to practice sounding out and reading: -at, -ab, -ag, -ed, -en, -in, -im, -og, -un, -ug.

To prepare, print out on card stock. Cut out the wheels, cut out the dotted lines on the circle that states “Word Wheel”, and poke a hole through the middle of each wheel and place a round fastener in the middle to connect the two pieces (“Word Wheel” with the window cut out is on top and the letters only wheel is on bottom.) With the fastener in place, the two pieces should be able to rotate around. The goal for this activity is for your child to focus on sounding out and reading CCVC words, practicing beginning blend sounds.

As the wheel is rotated around, the child stops at each beginning sound that emerges from the wheel below into the hole on the top wheel. The child then sounds out each letter sound to read the revealed word. For example, on the –at family word wheel, the child turns the wheel and letters /fl/ may appear, the child sounds out /fl/ /a/ /t/ FLAT. It is important for the child to identify and read these blends as a one unit beginning sound. This is a developmental skill to be able to bring these two letters together in their mind, but with practice this will help in not only reading blends but also audibly hearing and writing words with blends. To take this activity a step further, your child could write the word they just created onto another paper, build it with a moveable alphabet, or write a sentence using each word. The more a child connects writing (or building with tangible letters) with reading, the more these words retain in their memory. Using words properly in a sentence extends this activity into not just reading or writing words but also understanding the meaning of the word and proper sentence structure.
These Word Wheels are a fun and interactive way for your child to sound out and read CVC words.

Hey friends!

Boy oh boy do we have a game in store for you! We all are a little bummed that march madness is canceled but I personally try not to limit my madness to only March! *buh dum ching* (hold your applause I know hilarious) ANYWAY! This year I’m getting my bracket filling fix with a different kind of tournament. THE Classic Literature Tournament! Get out your library cards ladies and gentlemen we’ve got some classic books to find! Your local librarian will know you by name. One of the books might have you craving chocolate. One book might remind you of that one time you walked into a spider web and looked like a ninja fighting absolutely nothing for a solid 4 minutes. All these classic books will stir up fantastic imagination and wonder in your student’s mind. The goal is to read 8 classic books and decide which one is BEST! This activity may take all year (or even more) to complete, but that’s the exciting part!

Who wouldn’t want the madness to last all year?! OR MORE!! So lets get started!

What you have to do first is prep your bracket board. Cut along the dotted line on page 30. Glue or tape the edge of the page to the left hand margin of page 31, so that the half rectangle becomes a full rectangle. Also you need to cut out the book icons on pages 32 and 33. I recommend having your student add his or her own flair to the brackets to really make it POP!
Then its times to begin!

Step one: Read the Books! Read them fast, read them slow, read them here, read them there, you can read them anywhere!

The classic books you will be reading are
Charlie and the Chocolate factory by Roald Dahl
Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
The Lion the Which and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle
Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland by Lewis Carrol

Step two: After you read the first 2 books you must decide! You and your students are the score keepers in this tournament. It is your decision which one is better. Once you make that choice tape or glue that book icon in the the empty rectangle.

Step three: Repeat the process until you find the BEST classic book (which will go in the coveted middle rectangle!)

Good luck and remember have FUN!

Hey!
Do your kids love studying all about Space and the planet we live on? I know mine sure do! Astronomy is one of my favorite Science studies. Learning about Earth and Space is always fun but why not kick it up a notch with these Four Invitations to Create, which will not only spark creativity but are also completely hands on and of course, educational!

Sunshine Shadows Provocation: Such an easy and fun activity with kids of all ages. It helps children recognize and understand the physics behind shadows and the suns rays.
Materials needed:
• Large sheet of paper
• Random items or toys in different shapes and sizes (dinosaurs are always a favorite to try)
• Pencil
Instructions:
• Choose a time of day to do this activity
• Early morning and later afternoon work best
• Place items on the sheet of paper
• Use pencil to trace shadow outline the items are casting
Make sure to take note of how the shadows change as the time changes. Are the shadows smaller or larger than the items used? See what happens when the items are rotated.

Oreo Moon Phases: Yum! Have you ever noticed how the moon changes from day to day? Let us recreate the different Moon phases with my favorite, Oreos! This activity lets children combine a fun snack with astronomy. To begin, the way the moon looks through the month changes, the lit-up portion that we see on Earth are called phases. There are 8 phases that repeat monthly.
Materials needed:
• 8 Oreos
• Markers
• Paper plate
• Plastic knife or spoon
• Glass of milk (for dunking after)
Instructions:
• Carefully twist the cookies and pull apart
• Each cookie will need icing scraped off to look like the moon phase and then placed on plate in a circle
• 1st Quarter: ½ Oreo, ½ icing
• Waxing moon: ¾ Oreo, ¼ icing
• New Moon: full Oreo Cookie, no icing showing
• Last Quarter: ½ icing ½ cookie
• Waning Gibbous: ¾ icing ¼ cookie
• Full Moon: No top cookie, full icing
• Waxing Gibbous:1/4 cookie, ¾ icing
• Label the moon phase the cookie represents
• Lastly Eat the Oreos!

Playdough Layers of the Earth: Hold the earth in your hands while learning about the layers of the Earth. What better way to learn about the layers of our planet than by making a play dough planet! Children will see how the Core, Mantle & Crust shape our planet. After creating the model watch faces light up when they cut it in half to reveal the layers inside.
Materials needed:
• 2 cups flour
• 1 Cup coarse sea salt
• 4 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 cups water
• wooden spoon
• cooking pot
• red orange yellow Brown blue and green food coloring
• thin string or floss
Instructions:
• Mix all ingredients except the food coloring together until all clumps are gone put it on the stove on low and stir constantly when the mixture doesn’t stick, it’s Done!
• Cool to room temperature separate the dough into 7 balls and add different food coloring to each ball
• Remember to use the warmer colors for the inner layers and the green and blue for the outside of the earth to represent water and land
• Leave the “core” in a ball shape but flatten out the rest of the balls, wrap each color over the next until you complete the entire earth use the green with the blue for the outer layer an create “land” shapes to mix with “water”
• Lastly use your string or floss to cut the earth in half and reveal the layers of the earth

Paper Mache Volcano: An oldie but oh so fun! Anytime children can make a chemical reaction it’s not only fun but a Real Memory maker!
Materials needed:
• One empty water bottle
• Cardboard
• newspapers cut into strips
• masking tape
• ¼ cup glue
• 1 cup flour
• 1 ½ cup water
• 4 tablespoons of baking powder
• 1 cup of vinegar
• Red food coloring
Instructions:
• Your child will tape the open bottle to the Cardboard then take one piece of Cardboard and tape it from the top of the bottle to the bottom of the volcano to create a four-sided pyramid
• Mix glue flour and water in a bowl to create a paper Mache paste
• dip the newspaper strips into the paste
• Place the strips one-at-a-time all-around of the base of the volcano dry overnight
• Time to Paint!
• When you are ready for an eruption pour baking soda into the opening of the bottle
• Mix vinegar and food coloring in a jar then pour into the bottle and BOOM!

The Human Body is an incredible machine! Explore the Wonders of the human Body with this WonderHere Anatomy mini unit. These are a few of the Invitations to play & Create that teach different systems of the body!

Digestive System Simulation:
This experiment is a lot of fun and something no one will forget anytime soon. Before starting, explain the parts of digestive system. This experiment demonstrates how it all works together to digest our food.
Supplies for this activity:
• Bowl (mouth)
• Scissors (incisors)
• Dixie cup (molars)
• Water (saliva)
• 1 quart Ziplock (stomach)
• Vinegar (stomach acid)
• Clear tube (esophagus)
• 1 leg of panty hose (intestine)
• Banana
• Slice of bread
Instructions:
• Place place banana and bread in bowl (mouth)
• Use scissors (incisors) to cut up
• Use Dixie cup (molars) to mash together
• Splash some water (saliva) turn into paste, keep smashing with the molars
• Spoon bread, banana paste into clear plastic tube (esophagus) get it down the pipe into the zip lock bag (stomach)
• Keep mashing, add a few drops of vinegar (stomach acid) to the bag try not to make it too watery if you do just add more bread
• Spoon into pantyhose, squeeze mixture through the pantyhose the liquid that comes out are the “nutrients”
• Squeeze the mixture out the other end of the pantyhose… There’s the Poop! Everyone’s face at this moment is Priceless!

Edible DNA: Science you can eat!
DNA is fascinating, and a pretty advanced topic, but this activity is a great way to make it memorable. There are some simple facts about DNA you can share with kids of all ages. When I did this activity with my class we talked about how our DNA makes us unique.
Supplies for this activity:
• Twizzlers
• Toothpicks
• Marsh mellows

Instructions:
• Push marshmallows (nucleotides) through the toothpicks
• Attach the ends of the toothpicks to the twizzlers (backbone of sugars and phosphates) in a ladder shape
• Twist into a double Helix DNA
• All that’s left is to Eat it!

Beat the clock Game!
The is game demonstrates what an amazing heart the muscle is. The kids in my class loved it and really got the point across!
The heart pumps 1.3 gallons of blood per minute and each heartbeat is pumping 2.4 oz or about 1/4 cup.
Supplies for this activity
• 2 large containers
• 1 gallon of water
• Timer
• ¼ measuring cup

Instructions:
• Fill one bucket with a gallon of water (1.3 if you want to be exact)
• Place an empty container next to it
• Set a timer for 1min
• Use a 1/4 measuring cup to transfer the water to the empty container as quick as you can until the minute ends.
My students discovered it was ridiculously hard to “beat” their heart. They were also eager to try again!

What does Disney World and math class have in common? If you’re a WonderHere kids, lots! At WonderHere we know that relevant and meaningful learning is so important for making what they’re learning stick. The Create a Theme Park math project combines things all kids love-roller coasters, food, and creativity- with interesting math concepts. The level of engagement and creativity exhibited during this math project was off the charts!

The project starts off with a lot of brainstorming about all things theme park. These brainstorming activities really gets the kids excited for the rest of the project and their creative juices seriously flowing! Next, we move on to the really good stuff-rollercoasters! Post-Primary level kids will take a look at rollercoaster stats from around the world and use the information to compare numbers. Comprehensive level kids will use the same stats to calculate mean, median, and mode to help them analyze the statistics. The rollercoaster fun continues when they get the chance to design their own rollercoasters and other thrill rides. Math topics covered include measurement and determining scale. Once all the rides are conceptualized and measured, it’s time to figure out some fast passes. Telling time and calculating elapsed time become a lot more fun and relevant if it means not having to wait in line!

Arguably, the best part of the theme park experience is the food. Kids’ imaginations will run wild coming up with their own unique and creative restaurant and food ideas. From building menus and setting prices to calculating food income goals and determining profit margins there is a lot of serious real-world application happening in this next task. As an educator, it is so much fun to see how excited kids get while working through these tasks and the complete ownership they have over these ideas. In the final task, their ideas really come to fruition. It’s time to create their theme park. Spatial reasoning and critical thinking skills are put to the test as they map out the details of their theme parks. They cover it all, the big things like rides and restaurants, all the way down to trash cans and benches. When they’re done with this final task, they will have covered the math topics of area, perimeter, and writing and simplifying fractions.

While this math project is quite the undertaking (hello designing an entire theme park!) the kids enjoy the creative aspects and the ownership they are given throughout the whole project. The real-world applications help to tie in the learning of math concepts in a way that conveys meaning to children so they’re not left asking the age-old question of school children everywhere: when will I ever use this in real life?