Word Cards! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: if we take the fear out of writing, students will write forever. Part of what we need to do with early writers is teach them to enjoy writing. Taking their fears of “spelling it wrong” or “making mistakes” away, creates students who not only WILL write, but will write A LOT. One of my strategies for taking fear out of writing includes word cards. Word cards can include a theme and 16-20 words for that theme. When students are given these words, they can write great sentences and stories.
What can I do with word cards?
The better question is what can’t you do?
Writing ideas for Word Cards
- Make a few copies and post them on your writing board or put them in a WRITING CENTER as TOPICS.
- Writing PREDICTABLE SENTENCES: Using known word sentence stems, students write sentences. the focus is fluency and sentence mechanics. I see the snowman. I see the boots. I see the icicles.
- Creating a 4 SQUARE and writing a topic sentence and 4 supporting details: What do I wear? Here is my coat. Here is my scarf. Here is my red hat. Where are my ear muffs?
4. Ask students to use as many words in a STORY as they can. Use cards for vocabulary in a winter story: I went down the hill on my sled. I saw a snowman was by the igloo. There was snow on the evergreen tree.
5. Writing about a winter SEQUENCE: First, I made a snowman. Then, I rode the snowboard. Last, I went inside for hot cocoa.
6. Write words with red for VOWELS and blue for CONSONANTS.
7. Choose a card and write a PERSONAL NARRATIVE.
8. Choose a card and write an OPINION. Write about something you love or don’t love. Write about something you’d love to do again or something you’d never want to do again.
9. Write words in ABC ORDER.
10. Write QUESTIONS using words.
Are Word Cards Just for Writing? No way! Anytime you have word cards, you have a group of words you can use in a variety of ways.
READING IDEAS FOR WORD CARDS
- Sort into NOUNS and VERBS.
- Use it to search for COMPOUND WORDS.
- Use it to search for SINGULAR and PLURAL WORDS.
- Use the list for DICTIONARY SKILLS.
- Choose 1 word and write a CAUSE AND EFFECT statement. Choose 2 words and make a CAUSE AND EFFECT statement.
6. Choose a word to write about a personal CONNECTION to the word.
7. Sort by the number of SYLLABLES.
8. Find examples of SYLLABLE TYPE.
9. Sort by VOWEL SOUNDS.
10. Sort for WORD PATTERNS (beginning and ending blends, beginning and ending digraphs, r-controlled vowels, etc.)
math word card ideas
- Choose a picture and make a PICTURE EQUATION. For example, use snowflakes to demonstrate understanding.
- Choose 2 words and write a WORD PROBLEM.
- Choose 2 words and ADD the letters.
- Choose 2 words and create a SUBTRACTION problem.
- ADD SYLLABLES of 2 or more words.
If you would like the Winter Word Card Set, click the link or the picture below. This resource $4.00.
The set includes word cards for
- Winter Wonderland
- Snow
- Merry Christmas
- Happy Hanukkah
- Happy New Year
- Groundhog Day
- Valentine’s Day
- President’s Day and
- Hibernating Animals.
The set contains 9 Cards and individual vocabulary cards, as well as writing activities pages:
- ABC Order
- Syllable Sort
- Writing Paper
- Word Search/Crossword Puzzle Grid
If you would like a free sample of the Winter Wonderland Word Card, Fill out the form below to join my email list and the file will be sent to you directly.