By far one of my favorite resources that I have ever created is this “My Learning Helper” Booklet!
The booklet is filled with phonics rule lists, word lists, and writing supports to support little learners in their journey to becoming readers and authors.
THE BEST PART… All of the word lists and phonics lists have visual images!
Why is that important? Why is that my absolute favorite thing about this resource?
I love providing my non-readers, early readers, EL students, and students with unique learning needs with the tools they need to access the standards and the visuals are so important for them!
Last year I had an EL student who was really having a hard time writing to the topics the class was writing about. Honestly, genre of writing did not matter when this student could not form a simple sentence. So, I gave this student the simple sentence starters and we practiced reading them. Then I gave this student a visual list of words that she could add to those sentences. She started to flourish!
A resource like this one is great for EL students, but you know what?! It is great for all elementary aged students. Our little learners at every level are acquiring new language, reading, and writing skills EVERY SINGLE DAY. Giving them tools that make them feel independent and successful will not only motivate them, but it will also give you, the teacher, a helping hand in the classroom… and let’s be honest, if you are a primary teacher you could use an assistant ALL DAY LONG!
At the start of this year, I will be giving every student their own printed “My Learning Helper” booklet (since we have to keep shared materials to a minimum) but…
HERE ARE SOME EXTRA IDEAS FOR USING THE LEARNING HELPER PRINTABLES IN YOUR CLASSROOM:
Use phonics lists to introduce whole class phonics skills:
(It does not matter what curriculum you teach, these phonics lists will pair well when learning about phonics rules.)
- Have students practice their fluency with the newly learned phonics rule and sounds.
- Have students underline the letters in each word that make the sounds being learned. Then have them practice reading the words again.
- Have students review previously learned phonics rules.
Use phonics lists for your reading groups:
(You can have students bring their printed booklet to reading groups OR you can laminate 4-6 sets of each phonics list.)
- You can have students practice fluency again in small groups to assess which students are picking up the new rule quickly and which students need a little more support with the phonics rule.
- Have students make a spelling list to keep in class and a second spelling list to take home. This will give parents an idea of what words your class is working on so they can reinforce the skills at home.
- If you do laminate a few sets, you can black out the phonics words (using an expo marker) so that the lists only show the visuals. Have students practice sounding out and writing the words on white boards.
- You can also use letter tiles, “pop” fidgets with the alphabet written on them, and other spelling manipulatives for phonics word practice.
Use the word lists for your literacy centers:
- Students can make their own word lists to take home with them and they can practice spelling these words with visuals. (I always tell my students that it doesn’t help to practice spelling a word if they don’t know what it says, so the visuals in this resource are so great for emergent readers that are practicing their spelling of new words!)
- Use the word work printables included at the end of the resource for any of the lists (phonics and word lists). You can use these ALL YEAR for literacy center choices. Be sure to introduce one new word work activity at a time and let students practice before moving to the next activity. After you have introduced a few, your literacy centers will start running smoothly!
- You can even introduce fun materials to your literacy center to encourage word practice. You can add white boards, chalkboards, letter stamps, magnet letters, “pop” fidgets, letter tiles, and more!
Use the writing supports for your Writer’s Workshop:
These writing supports can be used all year long for narrative, informative, and opinion writing and writing centers.
- Use the simple sentence starters in combination with word lists for your literacy center activities and for whole class Writer’s Workshop lessons at the beginning of the year.
- Use the support pages for narrative, informative, and opinion writing to teach introductions, transition words, and conclusions.
- Use the “I Can Write About” lists for each genre to help students who have difficulty coming up with ideas for their writing. (These can also be used during literacy centers to help students think of an idea!)
- Introduce, review, and have students use the checklists for each writing genre to check their writing for correct capitalization, punctuation, structure, and details! (This also provides student’s with easy access to the success criteria for writing!)
- Have students use the writing checklists to peer edit each others work on a weekly basis and give constructive feedback to each other. (Don’t forget to have them give each other compliments too!)
6 Responses
Hey there,
I just purchased this and it looks amazing. Do you introduce one page at a time? Teach to each page etc.?
Thank you so much! (I just found my comments and figured out how to respond so I apologize for the late reply!) This year I gave my student a booklet and I introduce the phonics pages as we learn the phonics rules in our curriculum and use them in small groups, but I let them use the monthly word lists for writing throughout the year so I made them each a booklet.
I love all your materials ! So bright and easy for my class to learn from . Perfect for my kiddos ! Thank you
I have to apologize for the late response! I just found these comments and figured out how to reply to them! I am so glad you love my materials and they are helpful for your students!
I love all your phonics materials.
A big thanks for your effort in doing this ❤️❤️🌹👏👏👏
T
Thank you so much! I am so glad you love these printables!