Don't Break the Ice Game Companion for Winter Clothing Vocabulary

We've been having so much fun using the Winter Clothing Vocabulary Cards from my Indoor Snowball Fight that I decided to make a companion activity that can target a bunch of goals based on the same theme.  My kids go BONKERS for Hasbro's classic Don't Break the Ice Game, so I made some materials to use while playing it.  And I was right...it is a HIT (no pun intended)!

Here's what you do:

Then, decide if you want to use these game cards...

...or these!

The players take turns turning over a card and tapping a matching ice block until it falls.  Play continues until all the ice breaks and everyone laughs!  And then play it again.  And again.  And AGAIN, if the kids get their way!!!

I've used this game this week with kids ages 2-12.  Did you catch that?  Two-year-olds were able to play this without smashing all the ice blocks in at once.  I think having the pictures on them really helped to slow it down.  Here are some of the goals I was able to target:

*  articulation:  CVC, CVCV words for my younger kids; /th/ for "this" and "the"  as in "This is the match; final /s/ in "ice", and the list goes on.

*  receptive vocabulary:  finding items based on attributes comes to mind immediately, but also matching pictures and identifying items by their names.

*  expressive vocabulary:  winter clothing words, adjectives such as warm, cozy, stretchy, itchy

*  third person singular verbs:  when using the attribute cards, I had my students respond using complete sentences that included third person singular verb.  For example, "A hat COVERS my ears."  "A snowman MELTS".

*  use of have/has:  "Boots have laces."  "Hot cocoa has steam."

*  following game rules and turn taking.

That's just a start.  Be creative and I'm sure you'll find many ways to use this with almost all of your kids.

Do you love it?  You can find it at my TpT store here.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Snowman Articulation for /R/ and /S/

Those /r/ and /s/ blend kids of mine just keep progressing and needing harder stuff to practice, so I created these:

and...

Here's what they look like:

Each card features target words in single words, phrases and sentences.  The /r/ set contains 13 pages of snowman cards with 8 snowmen on each.  Targets include initial /r/, medial /r/, final /r/ (OR, AR, AIR, EAR, ARE, EER, ER and IRE) and /r/ blends.

The /s/ set contains 10 pages of snowman cards.  Targets include initial /s/, medial /s/, final /s/ and /s/ blends /sk/, /st/, /sn/, /sp/, /sm/ and /sl/.  Each set contains a sheet of blank snowmen for you to customize.

They've been working great for me during treatment and the kids really seem to like them.  I also print off a set for them to take home for homework and send them home a page or two at a time.

You can find these snowmen here on my new TpT site.  I know, I went over to the "Dark Side" and joined TpT!  I promise I'll still offer plenty of freebies here, but I needed to find some way to offset the cost of all my graphics purchases and the time I spend creating all these materials.  Not to mention that my son just got engaged and I foresee wedding expenses in the future!  So please be kind, and visit me there.

Enjoy!

Pam

My Favorite Snow Books

I woke up this morning to a dusting of snow, which fuels excitement like none other here in the Portland Metro area.  What is it about snow?  Is it the fresh, clean newness of everything it covers?  Is it the novelty?  Is it the promise (or hope!)  of a day of play followed by a mug of steaming hot chocolate in front of a fire?  Whatever it is, it is just plain wonderful!

Guess what else it does?  It makes me want to pull out all my favorite books about snow.

Here is my All Time Favorite:  First Snow by Emily McCully.

This is a fantastic picture book that tells a story about a family of mice that go sledding on the day of the first snow.  The beautiful pictures do most of the storytelling, with just a little text on each page leading the way, making it a perfect book for targeting language skills and inferencing.  Many of my kids identify with Bitty, the smallest mouse who is scared at first to go down the snowy hill on her sled, but then wants to go again and again and again.  It is a delight every time I read it.

Another of my favorites is Snow Bugs by David Carter.

This interactive Pop-Up book is always a hit with the kids!  It features many wintery activities such as skating, having snowball fights, sledding and even snowboarding.  It's great for working on those /S/ Blends and a whole variety of language skills.  I can use it with practically every child on my caseload.

Snowmen at Night by Caralyn Buehner is another great one.  It tells the story of what snowmen might do at night, which includes snowball fights, skating, making snow angels and drinking cold cocoa.

 CC over at If I Only Had Super Powers made a wonderful unit as a companion to this book.  You can check it out here.

What are YOUR favorite books about snow?  I'd love to add them to my collection.

Let it snow!!!


Pam

I See My Snowman Emergent Reader

Today I'm sharing a little book I wrote for my emergent readers working on /S/-Blends.  It's an 8-page book that you can quickly print, cut and use in a matter of minutes.

You can head on over to my TpT site and download it for free here. The snowman graphics are from Scrappin Doodles and the snowflakes are KPM Doodles.

Enjoy!

Pam