I’m always looking for new word work ideas and activities for literacy centers. And new ways to make them fun and engaging for students. Here are some ideas for using using plastic hammers, Play Doh and paint strips! Some of the the links below are referral links, which means, I will earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no additional cost to you.
I have one kindergarten student who is just stuck at segmenting words for phonemic awareness activities. One way I found to keep her engaged and help her stretch out those sounds is by using small plastic hammers, paint strips (I use these for so many things!) and Play Doh! I roll out 3 small balls of Play Doh and place these in the paint strip boxes. She needs the visual boundaries of the boxes to help her separate the sounds. Then we draw a card of a word to segment. She uses the hammer to tap out the sounds in the words.
You can also use the hammer on phonics posters and ABC linking charts. Call out the picture clue and have students tap the picture and name the letter that goes with the picture.
Students can also use the hammers as they read inflection charts. Or the teacher can make the ing sound and students tap the picture that goes with your sound.
For fluency ideas and activities, these hammers really help with reading words in phrases. They tap and read- She can. Then tap and read- be there. If students are having difficulty reading in phrasing this can really help having a visual and the movement of only one tap per phrase.
Bang It Out and Tap It Out is a fun way to teach students to divide words into syllables and then be able to spell each syllable.
Students enjoy Bang It Out using the hammers to break the word cards into syllables. Then they Tap It Out for the sounds in each syllable.
Breaking words into syllables and then hearing the sounds in closed syllables really helps students to spell multisyllabic words. Which also helps them to be able to break and read them too.
You can find these fun hammers here. Of course, you have to set clear examples for how these hammers are to be appropriately used. My students have really enjoyed them and ask for them in our activities!
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