Syllable Rules Posters and a Freebie

Syllable Resources are here! Yes! These are a set of printables which will help your students to visualise the syllable types by using key animals whose names are perfect examples. I used high-quality graphics along with a colorful safari paper theme to set your students along the road of long-term memorization of the division rules.

Syllable awareness is an important component of phonological awareness that must be taught to students. They need lots of opportunities to explore sounds in words to build their store of vocabulary. Learning the syllabic structure of words will help them to decode unfamiliar words, especially multisyllabic words in reading. This pack uses a familiar theme of animals to spark their interest and to cement the long-term learning of syllable rules.

This huge packet has 120+ pages of animal themed syllable posters, puzzles and more. Your students will absolutely love practising division rules with this set.

The following skills are covered in this set:

~ Division of two-, three- and multisyllabic words
~ Application of phonic analysis skills
~ Manipulation of multisyllabic words
~ Sorting/categorising of open/closed syllables

The set contains the following:

* open/closed syllable sort
* Syllable Division Rules Posters (using animals)
* Student Cards (smaller size)
* Animal Puzzles (two and three syllabic animal names)
* Word Cards (two and three syllabic animal names)
* Fillable Syllable activity (four syllable animal names)
* General Syllable Posters (using animals)
* Syllable Division Bookmarks

Here's a set of free bookmarks that is also included in this set.
Enjoy!

Children's Books About Growth Mindset

Here are some great books to use when focusing on growth mindset from kindergarten to grade one.

Click on the link below to be taken directly to the list.

GROWTH MINDSET CHILDREN'S BOOKS

Rabbits Do Not Eat Only Carrots

I had the opportunity of listening in on a lesson in a pre-school recently. It was a fantastic lesson! The teacher had worked along the Easter theme and planned a craft activity for her students. She had everything organized and mapped out properly. She showed them a rabbit made out of Styrofoam plates and cotton balls and then began to teach her lesson. She asked a few questions to get the eager four year olds thinking and ready for work. Then she asked one question that none of the students were able to answer. I looked on with amazement! The question was,

"What do rabbits eat?"

They all answered in unison, "Carrots!" 

"Carrots?" I thought. The teacher tried and tried very hard to get more ideas about what they know about rabbits yet no one offered any other food. Then it dawned on me, these children can only say what they have been shown. They don't know about rabbits eating anything else. They look at Bugs Bunny, Wabbit, Marsha and the Bear and many other cartoon series eating carrots. Wow! That was an eye-opener for me!

So What Do Rabbits Really Eat?

On my side of the globe rabbits eat grass and vegetables and pellets.  Rabbits do not only eat carrots like those cartoons taught us. This is a common misconception that many children are now being led to believe. I never thought about it before until that day.

Rabbits Eat Grass!

As someone who has always enjoyed creating things, I had a grand opportunity to drive the message across that rabbits eat grass. I was asked to create an Easter bonnet hat for a 3 year old boy to wear for his Easter bonnet parade. I toyed with an idea and later, through the visual help of Pinterest I got an inspired thought. This is what I came up with.

See the grass? (Don't worry about the eggs too much. This rabbit just happened to see some while eating his grass, lol). There are no carrots anywhere! So now I want you teachers and parents out there to let the little ones know that rabbits do not only eat carrots. Stop the misinformation.

 Articles by Experts

Here are a few helpful articles that will shed light on my musing:

The Myth of the Carrot-Chomping Rabbit 

Rabbit diet myths 

What Foods Do Rabbits Eat?

Can Rabbits Eat Carrots? 

Can I Give My Rabbit Carrots?

Here's the portrayal for the Easter Bonnet Parade.

Thanks for reading!

Why is Teaching Homophones So Hard?

Teaching homophones to young children is both an art and a science.

On one hand, there are tons of exercises you can use to draw their attention, to get them to use them properly, to get them to spell them correctly.

On the other hand, the best method of teaching comes from how you engage them and not from a textbook. Your method must stand out simply because you want your students to leave your hands with an understanding and a working knowledge about homophones, especially since it is necessary for good writing.

The best way to teach your students about homophones isn't to have them learn all the word lists by the end of the year (that may be helpful for some but not all students). Instead, give them many opportunities to create their own sentences with them. Eventually, they will build their vocabulary of homophones. They can use the lists as a reference or you can post them on the classroom walls.

With that in mind, here are some helpful resources that you can use to get them writing efficiently using homophones.

Here are links to poster sets for your classroom. Click on the picture to be taken to my TPT Store.