Roll and Read: My New Favorite Activity!

Several weeks ago I stumbled upon the most amazing resource ever: Roll and Read! Now, maybe I have been living under a rock, but I had never seen this before! Maybe it has been more popular in the younger grades, but anyway, It has become my (and my kiddos, too!) new favorite activity!

If you are like me and have never heard of roll and read, here's how it works:
The paper has a sentence or sentences for each number on the die. The students roll the die, tally the result under the correct number at the bottom of the page, and then read the sentences out loud. After they have read the sentence, they repeat the process. Great fluency practice!

I first found this roll-and-read from Shari Edward's post on Scholastic Top Teaching using lines out of the Dr. Seuss book Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories.

First of all, I absolutely adore the stories in this book- they all have a wonderful message.  The kids loved meeting Yertle and especially Gertrude McFuzz. So when I pulled out the roll-and-read sheet, the kids were so excited! They loved that their favorite lines were included and that they could read them over and over and over! I think some of them secretly rolled the die just right so they could read certain lines more than others- oh well, they were reading! The sheet also had a place where the kids tallied the number of times they rolled each number, which we then turned into bar graphs and the kids compared their graphs with others' around them. It was a great math connection.

A few weeks ago, I read one of my favorite stories aloud- Hooway for Wodney Wat.

See it here on Amazon!

If you haven't read this one before, it's a must for any classroom. Poor Rodney cannot pronounce his R's, and his classmates tease him. However, through a hilarious turn of events, he becomes a hero and the classmates cheer for him, hence the title. It's a great lesson on acceptance and being proud of who you are. Anywho, I decided that it would be fun to create a roll-and-read for our fluency Friday activities using lines from the book. The kids were IN LOVE! Of course they loved reading the lines pretending they also had trouble pronouncing their R's,  but they made sure to really pay attention to their emotions as they read the lines. They could really get in character!

The kids love the roll-and-read activity. It's hands on, fairly fast-paced, and even my most struggling readers can participate. I'm sure there are all kinds of ways to differentiate this activity, but for now, I will just enjoy the sounds that fill my classroom when these babies make their appearance!

Click on the link below the picture to grab your own copy of the roll-and-read for Hooway for Wodney Wat!  I'm not the most tech-savvy, so when you download it there will be an extra blank page- my apologies! I couldn't get that darn page to go away!!

Wodney Wat Roll and Read 

You can also pick up your own set of FREE dice clip art from First Grade Brain. Let your creativity run wild!!!

Do you use roll and read in your classroom? If so, I would love to hear how you use it and with what resources!

Dr. Seuss Day!

Happy Saturday! I can't believe it is already March- seriously? I know I say this almost every post, but I just can't believe how quickly the time is flying by. It's almost spring break!!

Yesterday we celebrated Dr. Seuss's birthday in our classroom. This is one of my most favorite days of the year! I love reading Dr. Seuss books to my kiddos because of the wonderful messages he sends to kids, plus, because it's poetry, it's a great way to sneak in extra practice with poetic devices! Love! Who says big kids can't have fun with Dr. Seuss?!!

One of my most favorite things to do on special days is set up the room differently than normal. I like my kids to face forward, so normally everyone is facing the front of the room and sitting in groups of two. To really shake things up and make days like this special, I move the desks to different places around the room- all spread out. Not only does it reduce the noise because students are facing in all directions, it helps keep them focused on their activity without being easily distracted by other groups. It's wonderful!

Each group of desks becomes a different station. Students move clockwise through the stations until they have visited them all. To guide the students through their day, I put together a packet that contains the directions for each station as well as a recording sheet when needed. I was so excited to find this computer paper at Party City and it made the perfect cover page! I downloaded  the Dr. Seuss font from FontSpace and whipped up the cover sheet.

I created the pages for the packet myself. I made them last year so it was nice to be able to just pull them out and copy. As students traveled to each station, they had to find the matching page in their packet and complete the response.

At one station, students read The Cat in the Hat and listed character traits for the Cat in the Hat and filled out a graphic organizer describing the setting.

At the next station, they read the book Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You? and found examples of onomatopoeia.

Another station required students to read Green Eggs and Ham and answer questions about poetic devices, conflict, and theme.

At another station, students read a short biography about Dr. Seuss.

They read The Lorax,

and several other Dr. Seuss beginner books- which were great for fluency practice!

One station was a Dr. Seuss bingo game. I found the cards at Bingo Card Creator already made! Score! 

                         

But by far, the favorite station of the day was the Cat in the Hat treat! Students had to follow the steps carefully to create their edible hat treat out of Oreos, icing, and Life Saver Gummies. I manned this station so we could discuss the importance of text features and also so I could help with that tricky icing dispenser! 

                            

To end the day, I read my favorite Dr. Seuss book, Oh the Places You'll Go, aloud. I love the message it sends and it goes perfectly with our discussions about being proactive. 

I enjoyed this day so much. The kids didn't know it, but they WORKED! They read the entire day- even when they were making their treat! Even though these days take lots of work to prepare and set up, it's amazing to stand back and watch as students work independently through the stations. It's the kind of day that brings tears to my eyes and makes me so proud! 

We also started our classroom economy and had the grand opening of our class store- but I'll blog about that tomorrow! 

For now, I'm off to get ready for an Australian-themed gala to support my mom's service organization. Not sure what kind of outfit I'll wear... maybe I'll just go dressed as a kangaroo! Ha! 

Have a great Saturday!