Word work grade 1

If you’re a 1st grade teacher, you know that trying to fit everything into your day can seem like an impossible task. First grade word work contains so many different skills!

There are high frequency words, phonics, phonemic awareness, spelling words and grammar. The list seems endless. Take a look at how I fit all of these skills into one easy lesson every day with our first grade word work activities.

What is word work?

We think of word work for first grade as learning about words in all different ways. Students may manipulate letters to build words, look at different phonics patterns, practice sounding out words, learn the patterns in different word families, memorize the spelling of different sight words or other high frequency words and even practice some grammar skills along the way.

Students can practice word work activities at your literacy centers, during writing instruction or independent learning time with a printable worksheet and even for homework. These are all great ideas for fitting word work into your day but we have a daily word study that combines phonics, grammar and high frequency words into one fun lesson.

First Grade Word Work Activities

Most students come to first grade with a letter/sound background. They usually recognize most of the letters and know that letters each make a specific sound. But learning to read is so much more than letters and sounds.

Students must learn that letters go together to form words. Words go together to form sentences. Sentences become paragraphs. Paragraphs go together to form a story.

In addition to all of that, students need to learn grammar rules too. Breaking this down for young children can seem daunting. Each skill builds upon the other, but where do you begin? And how do you fit everything into your day?

Fitting It All In

When I first started teaching first grade I wondered how I was ever going to fit everything into my day. I knew I needed to streamline my lessons but I didn’t want to leave anything out. All of the skills were important to teach my students how to read.

In our classroom, we use a program called the First Grade Word Study. This simple daily program is perfect for any first grade classroom, because it follows a standard first grade curriculum.

The First Grade Word Study is a year long program that contains 30 lessons. Each lesson includes 4 phonics, grammar and high frequency word activities for each week. All of the activities are contained on one slide for each day.

The slides can be projected onto your board in the front of the classroom. Using this one simple slide, your class can do a daily review of skills that include phonics, high frequency words, spelling and grammar.

First Grade Phonics

We spend about 20 minutes each day doing our first grade word work. We begin the lesson with a review of our phonics skill for the week. The phonics skills on the word study begin in Lesson 1 with simple CVC words and increase in difficulty as the year progresses. Students practice reading words and sentences out loud.

In our classroom, I call on different students to come up and read a line of words out loud. This is great practice in sounding out words and gives the teacher the opportunity to reinforce letter sounds and how we blend the letters together to make words.

First Grade High Frequency Words

Next, we practice our high frequency words for the week. The first grade word study is editable so teachers can add whatever words their class is working on for the week. During this time, students will practice reading the words out loud and we’ll compare the words to see if any of them have similar qualities. I use this time to help students notice different blends, digraphs, endings, long vowels, and other phonics strategies in their high frequency words.

Sometimes we will play games with our words like Word Wars or Around the World where students will compete to see who can read or spell the word the fastest.

First Grade Grammar

During our first grade word work activities we also learn about grammar. Each week we introduce a new grammar skill such as nouns, verbs, adjectives, preposition, pronouns and more. The students learn how to use these grammar skills in sentences. The first grade word study includes a section for us to practice grammar skills each day.

Students can come up to the board and find nouns or verbs in sentences. Sometimes they will write the missing adjective in a sentence. The skills vary from week-to-week but follow a typical scope and sequence of the introduction of grammar skills in first grade.

Word Work Games

Finally, we end the lesson with a reading or spelling game. The first grade word study has a daily game that the students love. The games are different each day and include things like Build A Man (similar to hangman but they are building a man instead), Tic Tac Toe, Read It Write It Word Jar and other games. Each game focuses on the phonics skill for that week and students look forward to playing each day.

Students Love the First Grade Word Study

My students actually look forward to our first grade word work. Each lesson is interactive, which gives the students a chance to come up and participate. Students use an expo marker to add letters to words, fill in missing words in sentences and play different word study games on our board.

I love using the word study because I can fit so many important skills into one short 20 minute lesson each day. If you use the Journeys reading series it is especially nice because it includes slides specific to that reading series. However, because it follows a typical phonics and grammar scope and sequence it works for any first grade classroom. The high frequency words are editable so teachers can add any words that they are using in their classroom.

Here’s what other teachers have to say about the First Grade Word Study

“Best purchase! I use these everyday. My students LOVE the tic tac toe and the unscrambling the words. Thank you for making this resource!” – Leah

“I use the daily practice slides 2-3 times a week (as often as my schedule allows). My students love when I use them. I appreciated the organized practice and review that is provided. My students love the variety in delivery. They particularly enjoy tic-tac-toe and the flashlight activities. Thank you for sharing! I have even had a couple of coworkers purchase this resource after seeing me use it with my class.” – Renee

“These are a GAME CHANGER! We adopted Journeys this year and I love it, but I’m also completely overwhelmed by all of it!! These slides are easy to use, clear for students, and help me hit several skills in one sitting. Thank you, thank you, thank you!” – Emily

“My students loved using this resource. It made learning the material hands on and fun for them. Thank you!” – Melissa

“This is my VERY favorite item to help squeeze in a quick 15 minute lesson that is just packed with worthwhile learning!” – Laura

“As a first year teacher this resource saved my life! I am able to fit it in under 20 minutes! My students know what to expect and I get full participation in class! Thank you!” – Andrea

“These activities can be used whole group on a Smart Board or printed and used for center time. My students enjoy the activities, and I love that they’re already planned out with clear explanations for me.” – Stephani

“I use this everyday in my classroom. The kids are thoroughly engaged and love to help fill in the blanks. Very practical. Very useful. Worth every cent.” – Amanda

If you’re struggling to fit everything into your day, and want a resource that packs a punch in your daily word study activities, this just may be the answer you’ve been searching for. It’s a great way to teach all your skills in a quick, easy and fun daily lesson! Take a closer look at this resource here.

Email after email, I hear “How do you do word work? I want to expose my students to lots of different words but that’s a lot of prep. I do want to spend hours each week trading out words!” To this, I say – “PREACH!” So, I’m stopping by with a picture-heavy post all about how Word Work runs during our Daily 5 block.

How Do You Change Out Choices?

Launching Word Work in mid-to-late August, my friends have 4 choices. I keep the activities in Sterilite containers with their week’s words on Command Hooks above the containers (a color representing each of my ability groups). You can read more about how I differentiate and organize the words in this blog post. The 4-5 choices I keep out stay out for an entire month or so and just the words change. That way, I am not teaching brand-new word work choices every.single.week. That would be crazy! Students visit word work 2-3 times a week and choose their just-right activities. After choosing an activity, they color their choices on their Reading Reflection Log.

Where Do You Get Your Words?

Our weekly words come from Reading Street. While we don’t use a basal for guided reading, I do like the phonics sequence and helps keep our team focused. The green words are a mix of the must-know words and some of the phonics-skill words. The yellow words are that week’s spelling words and the blue words are the enrichment phonics words in the red section of each week (in the teacher’s manual). I keep 3 copies of each word ring on each Command Hook because 3 students may visit Word Work each round. Students are expected to visit Word Work at least 2 times a week. (Note – due to Copyright and the fact that these words belong to Reading Street, they are not available for purchase. Sorry!)

Scaffolding Students

With so many moving parts to Daily 5, I try to provide as many scaffolds to my friends as possible. Yes, we did spend lots of time teaching and practicing each of these activities, but still – they’re 6. Sometimes they forget. Sometimes they get off track. I find providing visual directions on the tops of each container really helps us keep focused…especially at the beginning of the month when we have new activities. When making visual directions, I prefer to use pictures of my kids, but sometimes (like Super Sentences) it becomes an example/step-by-step guide of what they are to do.

Our Favorites Word Work Choices

Hands down, Stamp It and Pyramid Writing quickly become our favorite centers. Note – I do save Stamp It for the second set of centers because there are more procedures for it (i.e. it’s a mess). I have lots of training to do before I release students!

Differentiating Word Work

In addition to different words, many of our word work choices are also leveled. Within each container, I keep colored folders for my three different ability groups – below, at, and above grade level. Students know to pull the papers or recording sheets from their colored folder. This is a really simple way to make sure everyone is getting just what they need and what they are ready for!

Sentence Unscramble

Some of our other favorite Word Work activities in Sentence Scramble. Although a ‘high maintenance’ centers, my friends LOVE the challenge. You can read my post about how sentence scramble works here.

Sound Sorts

Now that we’re learning about long vowels and vowel teams, we spend a little time each week sorting sounds we see and hear. This is wonderful phonics practice and I love that all my friends (regardless of level) get just-right phonics practice.

Going Digital with Word Sorts

As technology becomes a natural part of our classrooms these digital sorts are ideal for our 1st and 2nd grade friends.

This is what is working for us right now! In the next week or so, I will switch up at activities to keep it fresh and interesting. I keep the word-ring storage the same, but will choose 4 of our other favorite word-work activities. I believe January will be long vowel dominoes, Stacks, and potentially some phonics sound-sorts. I’ll keep you updated! 🙂

If you’re interested in the Word Work resources I’ve show above, you can check them out here. So, tell me  – what are your favorite Word Work activities??? I’d love to add some variety to our routine! 🙂