Diggin' Series Word of the Day!

Today is our last post for the Diggin Summer Series.  It was a free choice, so we wanted to share one of our favorite products with y'all and show  how much it has helped our students!

So, after a lot of hours,days and weeks, we have done what so many of ya'll wanted us to do.  We have bundled all of our Word of the Day Calendars together at a discounted price when you buy the bundle.  We have also revised some of the calendar pieces to look even better:)  We created this product to help students to incorporate vocabulary development with writing.  We also have a math pattern on the calendar pieces so the kiddos can see a pattern building, so you get that skill in as well. We included a teacher's guide for how to use the student calendars, so now there are 2 teacher's guides so you have more ideas:)

We start our mornings with our Word of the Day from these calendars.  My kiddos love coming in and seeing our classroom mascot, Quality Quentin holding the word.  We say the word, clap the syllables, and write the definition in our notebooks and then illustrate the word.  We also discuss the pattern that is building.  There is a black and white student version so if you give it to them, they will see the pattern as well as all the words.

My students love to share their notebooks!
There is a journal sheet included in the bundle if you want them to paste that sheet in a notebook or you can staple sheets together to make a book.  You can just pick a day in the month and have them do a sheet for you to check as well.  I just found using notebooks were easier since we do this everyday.

At the end of the month, I have my students to choose 5 words that go together and use them in a story.  I really saw great writing progress with doing this every month.  I also encourage them to use their calendar words during Writing Workshop.  It has given them confidence in their writing.

I put all their stories in a class book so they can read them all year.  It also helps them to remember the words.  



These are a few samples of how much they were writing by the end of the year, and I love how they wanted to use more than 5 words!  They were actually wanting to write more without me saying to:)

I have a high ESL population, and our ESL or ESOL teacher said that she loved what we did with vocabulary and how much it helped her kids.  This ESL student did an awesome job with her May story!  I love the way she wrote about "culture."!

This is our beautiful ESL teacher playing our Word of the Day Brain Bounce Game.  The students pick a card and read it and try to answer it.  We help them to read it if they have trouble.  They love this game because we play in teams.  When the game is finished, they ask,"Can we play again!"

Here are theses products that have really helped our students with vocabulary,writing and patterns. Just click on the picture to purchase or to check it out.  It is at a discounted price if you purchase the bundle.

We do sell the calendars separately if you want to just purchase September to see how well it works for your class.

Well this is the last post for our Diggin Summer Series.

We hope y'all had a great summer and that your new school year will be awesome:)

Be sure to check back for fun activities for your classroom!