Word work can be boring and mundane, or it can be a routine that students look forward to each day. How can you make word work into a 21st century skills time that students are motivated to work on?
Word work gets repetitive.
Word work can very quickly turn into reviewing the whole class work and completing the same tasks over and over again. Don’t let it happen!
Create a word work time your students enjoy!
During word work time my students have both paper pencil and digital work. The paper work allows my students to practice our sight words, and the digital work allows me to easily differentiate student work with just a few clicks. It’s a breeze to plan and my students love being able to use technology.
Digital word work make it easy for students!
My students love being able to work digitally. First of all, my first graders feel grown up when they get to log in to a Chromebook and use Google Slides for their word work. They also get to practice keyboard skills (WIN), ELA standards, and more. My students can easily hand in their work to me, practice independently, and it is okay if this work takes more than one day. It is self paced and my students love the variation in the activities.
Digital word work allows students to practice 21st century skills at an appropriate pace and level. My students get visual, auditory, and kinesthetic supports as they practice their word work with activities that naturally scaffold their skills. Students work on individual letters, decodable words, or sentences, depending on their level. It’s a great way for my students to work on words, technology, and writing in one place.
I simply group my students for word work and then assign the groups on Google Classroom. Students move on to the next assignment/task when they are ready.
Allow students to grow and challenge themselves!
Typing and technology can be scary in the primary grades, but practice makes progress. Allow your students the choice and opportunity to practice their word work in a variety of ways so that they can grow.
Type it out!
Interested in learning more about early typing? Click here to see how I introduce typing in my classroom and try it out with your students.