High Frequency Words Part 5: High Frequency Word Resources

You have done it!  You have made it to the end of the High Frequency Words series. Whoop Whoop!  I hope you are walking away with new knowledge and new ideas, or affirmations that what you are currently doing is best practice.

If you haven't had a chance to read the previous posts, don't worry!  Just click the links below for the titles that are of interest to you.

High Frequency Words Part 1: What are they? 

High Frequency Word Part 2: Heart Words

High Frequency Words Part 3: How to Master Heart Words 

High Frequency Words Part 4: How to Master Regular High Frequency Words

For this post I would like to showcase various resources you can use to provide students with more exposure to high frequency words.   These resources should be used AFTER you have directly taught some those tricky heart words. 

These resources are really fun and low prep, aka a teacher recipe for a win! :)

With One breath boxes students take one deep breath and correct read all of the word in the first box.  Then students take another deep breath and read the words in the second box (which is a bit longer).  Repeat until all boxes are read.   This a great activity to do with partners, to send home for students to do with their parents or with a classroom aide or para!

The Fry Phrase Pack Bundle includes phrases for ALL of Fry's list (as pictured below). Included in the bundle is a checklist for each list of 100, teacher assessments, speed trial recording sheets, connect four game, a bingo game and a Fry-Bo game (played like Skip Bo)!  

Make sure to check out Sightwords.com as they have a lot of great resources too! 

Sight Word Practice....With Technology! :)

Today was SUCH a GREAT day......today we began our MTSS (some of you may call it RTI) groups!  I just love getting into the swing of things.....and this year my building started swinging early!!  Whoop Whoop!! 

I am so proud of the staff in my building.... we completed our screener, analyzed our data...and rolled out our MTSS groups an entire two weeks earlier than last year!  YES!!  Go team!!

Anyway.....the first round of RTI/MTSS groups have a focus on fluency.  

I have a lovely little group of 8 amazing kiddos.....and today we did a fun warm up activity that I thought I would share.

These precious kids are still requiring a bit of work with sight words....so we used the website Cando's Helper Page.  This website has a plethora of sight word practice---you should check it out!!

Anyway..... from this website, I used the 2 syllable flashcards in conjunction with my Mimio.

I had one of the students be in charge of the mimo pen.  A word would flash on the screen.

All of the students in my small group would shout the word out, and the student with the pen would click "yes".....and a new word would pop up!

The students would then shout the second word.  The pen holder would click yes....then a third word...then more shouting....etc.  You get the idea.....  We did this until all 25 words were correctly read.

Now what made this activity so fun.....was that we had a team competition!!  I love me a good competition. 

I timed the students to see how long it took them to say the 25 words......then I timed them a second time to see if they could beat their initial time.

The kids loved it!!!

Throwback Thursday

Let's be honest here....who isn't a fan of a throwback? 

On Thursdays I get pretty dang  excited to log onto Facebook and Instagram to see all of the #TBT pics my friends have posted......not that I need another excuse to log onto Facebook and Instagram! Ha!

Some of my buddies like to be pretty mean and find the most embarrassing, ugliest and downright mortifying photos they can find.......while others are nice and just post"awwwwwww that's so cute" pics.

Well.....here is an "awwwwww that's so cute" picture of me and my sis. I am on the left....and she is the one big cheesin' on the right.  I think this is circa 1986.....the good ol' days!    Seriously how cute is my sister....she honestly was the most adorable baby/toddler ever....well....she is still pretty precious even as a 30 year old! 

Despite all the fun you can have posting #TBT pics.....you can also have fun revisiting and rereading some old blog posts.  So go ahead....link up and #TBT an old blog post you wrote years, months or weeks ago!!

To link up add the Throwback Thursday image, and title your post "Throwback Thursday".  Then simply re-post (copy and paste, retype, etc.) a post you have written in the past.  Perhaps it is a post that was beloved by your loyal blog readers, or maybe it is a post that didn't get as much attention as you had hoped.  I would love for you to join the party!

   The post I am revisiting comes from April of 2013 and it is all about fluency!!  Here it is.....

#TBT Flash Fluency

Being a successful reader is comprised of multiple things---fluency being one of them! If a child is trying to read from point a to point b and decodes every word in between ....I can guarantee that child didn't retain a thing!  Thus---fluency is important!!  Ideally, for older students reading should be automatic.  AND--when older students encounter a word they are unfamiliar with (which they will), they should have word attack strategies to decode the word.........

Now, unfortunately, we don't live in a perfect world; which means we do have struggling older readers (if you don't, I want to know where you work, haha!).  One great way to help struggling readers, is to help them become more fluent with their reading.

By fluent-- I mean for the students to become more automatic (not prosody or expression--that is for another post another day).  There are several ways to make students become automatic with their reading.

1. Practice Dolch sight words

• Dolch sight words are 220 words which students should not sound out--but simply know by sight. 

2. Practice Fry's 1,000 high frequency words

• Dr. Edward Fry compiled a list of the most frequently used words students would encounter while reading. The 1,000 words are divided into lists of 100--which start out easy and get harder. 

3. Practice with Flash Fluency

• Flash Fluency was developed by The Positive Engagement Project, which did a plethora of  scientific research to create four "no excuse" word lists
• Tide Pool
• For early readers
• 50 sight words from Dolch and Fry
• Low Tide
• One step above early readers
• 150 sight words form Dolch and Fry
• No repeat words
• High Tide
• Grade 2
• 600 sight words and academic vocabulary
• No repeat words
• Tidal Wave
• Grades 3 and up
• 1,000 words
• Sight words and academic vocabulary
• No repeat words

I have heard of Dolch and Fry words---but Flash Fluency words are new to me.  I love Dolch and Fry; and mastering the words does make a huge difference in a child's fluency. However I am intrigued by the whole Flash Fluency program.  I think it is great how the lists don't just include sight words, but also academic vocabulary. Also, the word lists go all the way up to sixth grade--which is awesome because many sight word lists don't stretch that high.

Anyway---click the links above and check out the lists for you and your students. You can download the PDF's for free. Included in the download are word lists, assessments, implementation ideas and fun ways to practice.

Let me know what you think!
Katie


I hope you enjoyed reading my #TBT post.....please link up and add give your old posts some love!!

An InLinkz Link-up

One Breath Boxes

Well it has happened.....I have started to lose track of the days.  This can mean one of two things.  One, I am losing my mind.  Or two....summer break has settled in!  I am going to go with option two....it seems like the better option! :)

It has been a full two weeks since my school released for summer break---and I have spent that two weeks taking a much deserved mental vacation!  However....today I got back to the grind and started working on some resources for next school year.

Most of the students that come to me are in need of fluency practice--lucky for me there are tons of resources out there to help them with just that!  The newest resource I have found is called "One Breath Boxes."  Maybe this isn't a new thing---maybe I just now finally discovered it!  Nonetheless.....the resource is great and the kids have fun practicing their fluency this way!

Basically, you hand each student a copy and have them take a BIG, DEEP breath!  When you say, "Go," students try to read all of the words in the first box without taking a breath.  The first box has the least amount of words---so typically the students read the first box with quite a bit of ease.  This is great because it gives them a confidence boost to finish the rest of the activity!!

Next, your kiddos take another BIG, DEEP breath and read all of the words in box two.  Each box after the first gradually gets larger (and harder) as more words are added into the box.  Then, have students take another BIG, DEEP breath and read all of the words in box three.   Students keep doing this same process until they have each box read.  As an extra challenge, once all of the boxes are read, I have students try and read ALL of the boxes in one breath.

I found a wonderful FREE resource on TPT from sellers Cathy and Wes Rethman, who made one breath boxes for blends.  Click on the picture below, which will take you to their TPT store for this fabulous seven page resource!!!   

I also (just finished today!!) made one breath boxes for Fry's Instant Sight Words.  Click the link below and it will take you to my TPT store. :)  It isn't free though...sorry guys! :)  

Flash Fluency

Being a successful reader is comprised of multiple things---fluency being one of them! If a child is trying to read from point a to point b and decodes every word in between ....I can guarantee that child didn't retain a thing!  Thus---fluency is important!!  Ideally, for older students reading should be automatic.  AND--when older students encounter a word they are unfamiliar with (which they will), they should have word attack strategies to decode the word.........

Now, unfortunately, we don't live in a perfect world; which means we do have struggling older readers (if you don't, I want to know where you work, haha!).  One great way to help struggling readers, is to help them become more fluent with their reading. 

By fluent-- I mean for the students to become more automatic (not prosody or expression--that is for another post another day).  There are several ways to make students become automatic with their reading.

1. Practice Dolch sight words

• Dolch sight words are 220 words which students should not sound out--but simply know by sight. 

2. Practice Fry's 1,000 high frequency words

• Dr. Edward Fry compiled a list of the most frequently used words students would encounter while reading. The 1,000 words are divided into lists of 100--which start out easy and get harder. 

3. Practice with Flash Fluency

• Flash Fluency was developed by The Positive Engagement Project, which did a plethora of  scientific research to create four "no excuse" word lists
• Tide Pool
• For early readers
• 50 sight words from Dolch and Fry
• Low Tide
• One step above early readers
• 150 sight words form Dolch and Fry
• No repeat words
• High Tide
• Grade 2
• 600 sight words and academic vocabulary
• No repeat words
• Tidal Wave
• Grades 3 and up
• 1,000 words
• Sight words and academic vocabulary
• No repeat words

I have heard of Dolch and Fry words---but Flash Fluency words are new to me.  I love Dolch and Fry; and mastering the words does make a huge difference in a child's fluency. However I am intrigued by the whole Flash Fluency program.  I think it is great how the lists don't just include sight words, but also academic vocabulary. Also, the word lists go all the way up to sixth grade--which is awesome because many sight word lists don't stretch that high.

Anyway---click the links above and check out the lists for you and your students. You can download the PDF's for free. Included in the download are word lists, assessments, implementation ideas and fun ways to practice.

Let me know what you think!
Katie

Fry Phrases

Happy last day of the weekend!! :)  I hope everyone had a chance to kick back and relax :)  I was pretty much a vegetable this weekend---holed up on the couch watching TV, reading, surfing the web and dreaming up lessons, games and reading strategies to try out on my students. :)  Oh, and I must also confess to the hours I spent playing Candy Crush Saga on my ipad.  That game is addicting, especially when you can't pass a level!!!  Does anyone play that game?

Anyway, when I was actually doing something productive--I came up with some great Fry phrasing games.  The words in the fry phrases come from Dr. Edward Fry's Instant Word List.  Fry's word list is comprised of high frequency words (the first 300 words in his list represents 67% of all the words students will encounter in their reading).

Practicing Fry Phrases is a great way to improve fluency--and not just the speed aspect of fluency, but also accuracy an prosody. :)  They are reading the most commonly used words--which means they will become more accurate.  They will begin to use inflection and word stress--which means they will have better prosody.  AND they will be faster after practicing the word phrases--especially if you have them do time trials.  Dr. Fry's phrases are meant from grades 2-5, but I will be using them with my sixth graders also. 

Ways to use Fry Phrases:

• Speed drills with a partner--give each student a  Fry phrase list and a stop watch.  One partner reads, while the other times.  Repeat and try and beat the previous time. 
• Literacy Centers--have students read through the lists with a partner.  For extra fun--have the students read the phrases in a funny voice (queen, king, robot, excited, sad, etc.)
• PowerPoints for the whole class--get those here
• Fry Phrasing cards for independent practice---get them here

For a complete list of all 600 Fry phrases click here

 

Of course I couldn't just stop with the free resources, I had to come up with a game!! My kids love games, and I figured after speed trials playing a game would be a great review.  If you want to check out the games I made--click here.

 

 

 

 

I have only made games for the last 100 phrases......hopefully I can get the other phrase games done soon! :)  Not sure why I started with the end....but I did!

 

Have a great rest of your weekend!