Did you know that minimal pairs (or trios) are a terrific way to provide bite-sized decoding practice for your students? 

What Are Minimal Pairs?

Minimal pairs or minimal contrast words are words that are similar or almost the same. They often (but not always) differ by one letter or sound. They can be different in the initial, medial, or final position of a word. The change can be an addition, substitution, or omission. 

Here are some examples of minimal pairs appropriate for decoding practice.

• Initial Substitutions: bat and mat or brow and plow
• Medial Substitutions: pin and pan or prone and prune
• Final Substitutions: let and leg or slide and slime
• Additions: sip and ship, cut and cute, or bat and boat
• Omissions: flit, lit, it

You can use real words, nonsense words, or a mix of the two.

When you use minimal pairs (or trios, etc.) you’ll be giving your students a gentle reminder to look carefully at every letter when decoding words.

Why Bite-Sized Practice?

Using minimal pairs or contrast to practice decoding words is not a new idea. In fact, it is a very old idea. 

I looked for but could not find a workbook for phonics practice, Remedial Reading Drills, that I had used with my students. Surprisingly, I found a copy online. The original copyright date was 1940! And no, I was not using it in 1940! Perhaps I had the 1985 revision. 

What I found then, and now, is that the number of words presented on a single page can be overwhelming for some students. Even when you fold a page or cover part of it, they can feel frustrated and defeated before they even start. Some of your students, undoubtedly also have shorter attention spans than their peers. For these reasons, I found bite-sized decoding practice to be a more effective approach for my beginning and challenged readers.

Please note that there is a newer 2007 version of Phonic Reading Lessons available from Academic Therapy Publications. There are now fewer words with more spacing on the pages. My comments here are strictly about how the layout and the number of words presented on a page can affect young students and are not a reflection in any way of the instructional content or methods. You might find this presentation to be highly effective with your students.

Feed Me Activities for Minimal Pairs

By their nature, feed-me activities provide bite-sized practice. My two read-and-feed resources with minimal pairs (and trios) are an excellent way to have your students apply their decoding skills.

What Words Did I Choose?

I chose phonetically regular high-frequency short vowel words from two popular lists, one with 220 words and the other with 1000 words. 

I created two resources. Feed Me S’Mores includes 10 VC words and 39 CVC words. These are the target words. The target words are presented in pairs and trios contrasted with other similar real words. The only change, typically, is the short vowel sound.

Feed Me Cookies includes 109 short vowel target words with initial and/ or final consonant blends and/ or digraphs. I also added words with double final consonants. There are two sets of minimal pairs and trios. The first set contrasts single consonants with blends and digraphs. The second set contrasts short vowel sounds.

How Will My Students Benefit?

These Feed Me activities will give your students the opportunity to:

• apply their decoding skills
• get oodles of practice in bite-sized chunks
• gain automatic recognition of high-frequency words
• develop a sight word vocabulary
• increase their accuracy and fluency

And don’t forget the inherent motivation and fun!

What Prerequisite Skills Do My Students Need?

This is a practice activity that is designed to be a follow-up to your direct phonics instruction. It is intended to help your students achieve mastery in decoding accuracy and/ or automatic recognition of the target words. With that in mind, your students will need to…

For CVC Words

• have near mastery with letter/ sound knowledge of consonants and short vowels
• be able to blend 2 and 3 phonemes to decode VC and CVC words with a developing level of accuracy

For Blends and Digraphs

• have near mastery with letter/ sound knowledge of consonant digraphs
• be able to blend 3, 4, and 5 phonemes to decode CCVC, CVCC, and CCVCC words with a developing level of accuracy

How Can I Use This Minimal Pairs Activity?

Try this activity:

• with your small instructional, intervention, or resource groups
• when tutoring individual students
• in a center

It’s perfect to use for:

• a warm-up
• an exit activity
• practice
• review

Get ‘Em Decoding

Your students will take turns to:

1. Pick a card.
2. Read the minimal pairs or trios on the s’more or cookie.
3. Feed the s’more or cookie to the hungry bear or monster.
4. Color a s’more or cookie on the optional reward strip.

Roll & Read Minimal Contrast Short Vowel Words

Here’s a little roll & read freebie so you can try out decoding with minimal pairs. Or use it as an add-on to my feed-me activities for even more practice with those high-frequency phonetically regular short vowel words.

For this activity, I chose 18 short vowel words without consonant blends and digraphs and 18 short vowel words with initial and/ or final consonant blends and/ or digraphs for the target words. All of the target words came from the same two lists of high-frequency words.

The target words are presented in trios contrasted with other similar real words. The target word is the first one in each row. The only change is the vowel letter.

Get ‘Em Reading

Your students will:

1. Roll a die.
2. Find the corresponding row of words.
3. Read each word in the row.
4. Color one cookie or marshmallow at the end of each row.
5. Roll and read again, and again, and again! Color a cookie or a marshmallow each time you read a row.
6. Play until each row has been read one time or one row read three times, or time is up!

For students who are overwhelmed or lose focus, reduce the number of rolls and/ or spread out the practice over 2 or 3 sessions. 

Click on the highlighted words to download your free copy of Roll & Read Minimal Contrast Short Vowel Words.

More Ways to Incorporate Minimal Pairs For Decoding Practice

You can easily incorporate bite-sized decoding (reading) and encoding (spelling) practice with minimal pairs when using letter/ sound mats. These two blog posts will help you start thinking about how you can do this.

1. How to Get Started Reading CVC Words
2. Is the Silent E Pattern Proving to Be Prickly?

Bonus: Discover another free roll & read activity!

Word ladders and making words activities are two more bite-sized ways to work with minimal contrast words, particularly for encoding.

More Decoding Practice With Phonetically Regular High-Frequency Words

Check out these two blog posts for information on orthographic mapping and rapid word recognition charts. Help your students to develop automatic word recognition using words from the same high-frequency word lists.

1. Do You Want to Know All About Rapid Word Recognition Charts?
2. Are You Curious About the Importance of Orthographic Mapping?

You can also head directly to my TPT store to check out these products.

1. CVC Rapid Word Charts For Automatic Word Recognition of High-Frequency Words
2. CVC Word Mapping – Phoneme Grapheme Matching With High-Frequency Words
3. CVC Words – Minimal Contrast Short Vowel Word Decoding Activity
4. Consonant Blends and Digraphs – Rapid Word Charts With High-Frequency Words
5. Consonant Blends and Digraphs – Minimal Contrast Words Decoding Activity

What is your experience with using minimal pairs for decoding? How do you provide bite-sized practice? Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments!

The post How to Effectively Use Minimal Pairs for Bite-Sized Decoding Practice appeared first on Just Ask Judy.

Perhaps, some definitions would be a helpful place to start!

Definitions for Understanding

• High-frequency words are simply words that are found frequently in the text that we read. These words can be phonetically regular or irregular.
• Sight words are those words that we recognize instantly and can retrieve from memory without conscious effort. These words can be phonetically regular or irregular, decodable or nondecodable, high-frequency or low frequency.
• Phonetically regular words can be decoded by using common phonics knowledge. They have the expected letter-sound relationships.
• Phonetically irregular words deviate from common phonics patterns and letter-sound relationships. Of note, most irregular words have only one irregular letter-sound relationship. For instance, in the word from, only the sound that the letter o represents is different from what we expect.
• Decodable words are words that have letter-sound relationships you have already learned. And yes, this is personal! For example, one child has learned to decode CVC words while another child also knows all the long vowel patterns. The set of words that is decodable for each child is different, even though all of these words are phonetically regular.
• Nondecodable words are words that either deviate from common phonics patterns and letter-sound relationships (permanently nondecodable, irregular words) or that you haven’t learned the patterns and relationships so you can’t decode them yet (temporarily nondecodable).
• Popcorn words, heart words, flash words, and trick(y) words are labels that educators have used to make learning more kid-friendly. Popcorn words refer to both high-frequency and sight words. Heart and trick(y) words are terms for (temporarily or permanently) nondecodable words. Although, I’ve also seen heart words used to encompass all high-frequency words. Flash words are high-frequency words with a regular spelling.
• Orthographic mapping is the connection between how we pronounce a word and how it is spelled.

Why Teach High-Frequency Words?

First and foremost, why do we want to teach high-frequency words?

We want our students to instantly recognize words, for words to become “sight” words. We want them to read words automatically, without the need for overt decoding. When they can do this with most of the words they encounter in connected text (hmm… would those be high-frequency words?), fluency develops. Consequently, the development of a “sight word” vocabulary has a direct impact on reading fluency.

There’s been a shift (maybe a seismic one!) in how to teach high-frequency words in recent years.

I taught them through a combination of repeated exposure, multi-sensory experiences, and word cards with visual cues. My focus was on naming the letters in sequence and reading the word. But, what’s current?

Current Thinking About Teaching High-Frequency Words

So, what’s important when teaching high-frequency words? How do we help our students develop a lexicon of sight words? Here are a few take-aways from my readings on this topic.

• Learning to recognize words by “sight” or with automaticity is not dependent on visual memory or visual skills.
• Memorizing words as a whole is not efficient. It is an arduous way to acquire new sight words.
• Teach a small set of 10-15 irregular and nondecodable (based on your students’ levels of phonics knowledge) words before or concurrently with learning to decode in kindergarten. The words you choose should be those your students will encounter frequently in the text they read. They should be the words that will glue together the decodable text you’re using. Examples include the words the, to, was, and you.
• Include high-frequency word instruction with your phonics lessons. Many (Dare I say most!) high-frequency words are phonetically regular.
• Use phonetically regular high-frequency words to help your students learn to decode new words (decoding by analogy approach).
• Teach words (phonetically regular or irregular) in groups that have similar patterns. The words can, man, ran, than, and began are phonetically regular high-frequency words. While the words have, give, and live (the letter v is followed by an e because no English words end in v); some, come, and done; or to, do, and into have irregular spellings.
• Meaning and context are important. When you introduce a new word, say it and use it. You need to fuse the pronunciation, spelling, and meaning of a word together.
• Practice reading high-frequency words in lists, phrases, sentences, and in books.
• Don’t forget to also practice writing high-frequency words in isolation and in sentences.
• In other words, teach your students to both decode and encode (read and spell) new words.

What About Orthographic Mapping?

Is this just the latest buzz word or is this something I need to be doing?

• Your students must understand the connection between phonology (the sounds) and orthography (the strings of letters) in order to store words for automatic retrieval. Wait, is this the same as orthographic mapping? Is this how students remember words?
• We need to teach the relationships between the sounds we hear and the letters we see, even when it is an irregularly spelled word. Here’s where all the current references to orthographic mapping, mapping, and heart words come into play.
• Students need to possess letter-sound proficiency and phonemic proficiency to develop efficient orthographic mapping. Efficient orthographic mapping leads to sight word acquisition.
• Phoneme blending and phoneme analysis are both necessary skills for orthographic mapping. Phoneme blending is blending sounds. Phoneme analysis is a bit more ambiguous. It includes segmenting but also rhyming, manipulation, alliteration, isolation, and categorization. A (still somewhat vague) phonemic proficiency that exceeds the ability to segment and blend develops naturally in most students. Exactly what skills struggling readers need to master is still a subject for further research.

Sounds like something I need to be doing!

More About Orthographic Mapping

One of the things that stood out to me when I read about orthographic mapping is that it starts with the oral pronunciation of the word. The first step in introducing a new word is to say it, not to show it.

I can relate this to how I introduce phonetically regular key words using the decoding by analogy approach. The process I employed is based on Linnea Ehri’s work. Now I know, this same process can also be applied to phonetically irregular words.

Here’s what I do.

• Say the word. But, don’t show it, yet!
• Have your students repeat the word.
• “Thumbs up! Let’s stretch it out.”
• “How many sounds do you hear?”
• Now, you can show the word to your students.
• “How many letters do you see?”
• “What can you tell me about the relationship between the sounds we hear and the letters we see?”
• Demonstrate the letter-sound relationships visually and verbally on the board or chart paper.

You can get a better sense of this process by downloading a free sample of my Phonics Program for Analogy-Based Decoding. This sample will also show you how you can use phonetically regular high-frequency words to help your students learn to decode new words.

I suggest introducing new high-frequency words with this or a similar process before moving on to the more visual and concrete mapping activities you frequently see. Try it and tell me what you think!

A Few Ideas for Teaching High-Frequency Words

Memory Match or Concentration

One of the examples I saw for sorting and categorizing words by phonemes used a good ole Memory Match game. Instead of having students match two of the same word, they can match two words with the same phoneme. For instance, the words that and there would be a match because they both begin with the /th/ sound. The words men and run would match because they both end with the /n/ sound.

Partner Pair-Up

Get your students up and moving with a partner pair-up. Apply the same sorting and categorizing strategy as above. Select pairs of words with matching phonemes. You will need one word card for each student.

First, pass out the cards randomly. Next, have your students get up and find someone who has a word with a matching phoneme. Finally, have each pair of students read their matching pair of words. How’s that for a quick activity?

Use my free Phonetically Organized High-Frequency Word Lists along with the high-frequency word cards found in my High-Frequency Words- 6 Activities and Games With a Sandcastle Theme or Roll A Rainbow resources to create your own memory match games and partner pair-ups based on the high-frequency words your students are learning. These resources are based on a list of 354 high-frequency words. I merged together the words from two popular lists.

Try modifying some of the activities and materials you already have!

Other Games

Playing a game to practice reading high-frequency words? Have your students write the words that they read on a whiteboard or piece of paper. Or have them choose 3-5 words to write in sentences. Don’t forget to have them read their word lists or sentences- to you, to a parent, to a partner.

Read, Build, and Write Mats

Using a Read, Build, and Write (or similar) mat? Have your students say the word and then stretch out the sounds they hear. Encourage them to think about the letter(s) that match those phonemes as they build and write the word. Ask them to tell or write a sentence with each word.

Download a free mat with a snow or turkey theme.

Some Reading to Get You Started

Feeling more up-to-date on teaching high-frequency words? As I started to research this topic, I found myself going down a rabbit hole, a seemingly bottomless one at that!

Here are a few of the sites I visited to get up-to-speed on teaching high-frequency words.

• Teaching Sight Words According to Science Ohio 2019 (presentation, some blurry visuals, still worth reading)
• Teach “Sight Words” As You Would Other Words (International Literacy Association 2016, Nell K. Duke and Heidi Anne E. Mesner)
• High Frequency Words? Sight Words? Is There a Difference (The Reading Teacher’s Top Ten Tools, Dr. Deb Glaser)
• Why Phonemic Proficiency is Necessary for All Readers (CORE)
• This reading skill may not sound exciting, but is it the ‘missing piece’? (EdNC, Rupen Fofaria)
• RIP to Advanced Phonemic Awareness (Shanahan on Literacy)
• Heart Word Magic (Really Great Reading)(Be sure to scroll and check out the free student practice activities.)

I still have a few lingering questions about teaching high-frequency words. So, back to the books! I’d love to hear about your experiences and questions in the comments below!

Photo in title image by rawpixel.

The post How to Make Sense of Teaching High-Frequency Words appeared first on Just Ask Judy.

You can implement phonics instruction in several ways. Your choices include synthetic, analytic, and analogy-based approaches.

I used one or more of these instructional approaches at all times throughout my teaching career. Most children will benefit from consistent instruction using any of these. Some children will learn more easily with one approach over another. However, the trick can be figuring out which approach or which blend of approaches works best for each child!

In other words, different approaches lead to different options for meeting the needs of different children.

What is Analogy-Based Phonics?

In analogy-based phonics, generally, students

• learn keywords with spelling patterns (aka rimes or phonograms)
• use parts of words they already know to decode words they don’t know.
• apply this strategy when new words share similar parts in their spellings.

For example, students will recognize they can use the spelling pattern -at in the known word “cat” to help them read the new word “sat”.

How Is This Different From Other Approaches?

Synthetic Phonics

• Students are taught letter/ sound correspondences and how to blend individual sounds to form words.
• Orton-Gillingham-based programs are an example of a synthetic phonics approach.
• Keywords/ pictures are often used to represent letter-sound relationships.

For instance, students will blend the individual sounds /s/ /a/ /t/ to read the word sat.

Analytic Phonics

• Students analyze the letter-sound relationships in known words.
• Word study is a prime example of this approach.

To illustrate, students are led to recognize that words with the VC pattern (i.e. man) tend to have a short vowel sound while words with the VCe pattern (i.e. mane) are likely to have a long vowel sound. Then, they sort a set of words based on those vowel patterns.

Hmmm… Analogy-Based Phonics Sounds Like Word Families to Me

You’re right!

Both approaches are based on common spelling patterns (also called rimes or phonograms) in words.

So how are they different?

Word Families

• Teaching word families tends to be an exercise in following patterns.
• Typically, just the pattern being taught today or this week is the one emphasized.
• With word families, the focus tends to be on one-syllable words.

Analogy-Based Phonics

• Teaching key words should be an integral part of this approach.
• You teach students to discriminate between patterns. Cumulative application should be built-in.
• You can easily apply this approach to reading multi-syllabic words.

Let’s use the word “happen” as an example.

• “I see the spelling patterns -ap and -en.
• I know (my key word) map so I can read hap.
• I know (my key word) ten so I can read pen.
• I know map and ten so I can read happen.”

Reasons Why You Should Try Analogy-Based Phonics

Here are some of the reasons why you need to add this approach to your repertoire!

• You can teach analogy-based phonics in an explicit and systematic way.
• It is easier to blend onsets and rimes, /m/ /at/, than individual phonemes /m/ /a/ /t/.
• You can teach individual phonemes/ graphemes right alongside rhymes/ rimes.
• It teaches predictable, reliable, and decodable spelling patterns. Vowel sounds are generally more stable within specific rimes.
• Students can apply this strategy to decoding multi-syllabic words and with any level of text.
• With teacher modeling and sufficient opportunities, students will transfer and generalize this strategy to reading new words with the same and similar spelling patterns.

Ways to Get Started

On Your Own

If you’re interested in developing your own lessons, this Teaching Analogy Phonics resource (Marn Frank / ATLAS) may be helpful.

Stay Tuned

Look for my next blog post. I’ll provide details on ways to implement an analogy-based approach.

In addition, I’ll highlight my new line of Analogy Based Decoding products available to purchase in my TpT store.

Grab a Free Resource

Here’s a freebie (also included in my new line of products) to help your students apply this strategy to reading new words!

Guide your students through these step-by-step strategy charts and bookmarks to help them apply and transfer their decoding by analogy skills.

Use the easy to prepare strategy charts during whole class or small group instruction.

Choose color or black/ gray/ white. Then, print and go! Use cardstock and laminate for durability. Post the charts in your teaching area(s).

Let your students use the bookmarks for at-home and independent reading.

Click on the highlighted words to download your free copy of the Strategy Charts and Bookmarks for Analogy-Based Decoding.

Check out this blog post, Who Wouldn’t Love to Download A Free Pizza Activity, for another freebie.

Give your students the opportunity to decode CVC words with the -at, -ip, and -ug spelling patterns and have a bit of fun at the same time.

This activity is compatible with synthetic, analytic, or analogy-based phonics instruction.

Looking For More Phonics Resources

First, take some time to explore my blog posts about phonics. I started to list them here until I realized just how many there were!

Then, go ahead and browse the Phonics category of my TpT store.

What else would you like to know about analogy-based phonics? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

The post Everything You Need to Know About Analogy-Based Phonics appeared first on Just Ask Judy.

If you need a reason to enjoy eating one (or two), celebrate National S’mores Day on August 10th!

Keep reading to find out s’more about two teaching resources available in my TpT store and a freebie you can download.

Get S’more Practice With 2-Digit Numbers

Do your first or second-grade students need s’more practice with two-digit numbers? Then, this enticing small group math activity, designed for practicing and reviewing 2-digit number skills is just what you need!

With this flexible resource, you can choose the skills that best match your students’ instructional needs. You’ll also have a choice of color or black/ white and one-sided or two-sided activity cards.

You’ll find 6 printable activity mats. Each mat has 10 two-digit numbers. There are a total of 24 different numbers.

There are ten sets of 24 cards, including a set with just the numerals.

The skills covered are:

• the number after or 1 more than
• the number before or 1 less than
• 10 more than
• 10 less than
• number word
• expanded form
• how many tens and ones

Your students will:

• Take turns to pick a card.
• Read the card and determine the corresponding number.
• Cover or color the s’more with that number.

Who can color or cover all their numbers first?

Extend the use of the skill and number cards with the additional matching activities or the open-ended worksheets that are included with this resource.

Head on over to my TpT store to learn more about S’More Numbers 2-Digit Activity. Your students might also enjoy my Fin-tastic Numbers 3-Digit Activity.

Graphing and Data Collection Activity

Next up is an activity that will engage your first, second, and third-grade students in collecting and graphing data.

Your students will work with a partner to:

• Pick and replace the letters in the word s’mores in a paper lunch bag.
• Pick until all the letters have been drawn.
• Keep a tally of their results in a table.
• Use their collected data to complete a bar graph (2 versions, one requires students to label the graph).
• Interpret their results by answering questions.

Find this activity in It’s in the Bag for Summer or It’s in the Bag Year Round Bundle. Be sure to try out the free doughnut-themed version of this activity.

How to Make a S’more

What would a s’more-themed unit be without making (and eating) some?

But alas, this is just a sequencing and writing activity! Still, it would work well as a follow-up to making some!

Do spend some time discussing or experiencing how to make s’mores before having your first, second, or third-grade students write about it.

This activity is easy to prepare. Simply print each page.

You will need copies of both writing pages for each student plus one copy of the picture page for every two students.

Then, add crayons, scissors, glue, and pencils so you’ll be all set.

Your students will:

• Color the pictures (optional).
• Cut out the pictures (6).
• Sequence the pictures.
• Glue the pictures.
• Write a sentence about each picture.

I always tried to check my students’ work after sequencing but before gluing. Hmmm, I wonder why…

Interestingly, most of the clipart I looked at had the marshmallow under the chocolate while most of the recipes I perused had the chocolate under the marshmallow.

So there are many ways to make s’mores. The pictures I chose show roasting the marshmallow and adding the chocolate before the marshmallow.

Click on the highlighted words, How to Make a S’more, to download your free copy of this activity.

Looking For S’More Resources…

Check out these categories in my TpT store!

• Graphing Resources
• Number & Place Value Resources

These blog posts showcase a variety of free writing activities to download.

• Do You Want a New and Awesome Apple Resource?
• Who’s Ready to Ring in a New Year?
• Read to Inspire Kindness and Inclusion
• Back to School with Miss Mingo
• Why is That Scolding Hawk on My Balcony?

Find s’more freebies offered by others.

• Let’s Read Snack Bag Topper (Primary Playground)
• End of the Year Gift Tag (Elementary Adventure Store)
• Solar Science Experiment (Florida Online Academy)
• Open-Ended Game (TLC Talk Shop- Tamatha Cauckwell)
• Bookmarks (Let’s Learn S’more)

Don’t forget the recipes and crafts!

• S’more Treats (Hershey’s)
• Fireside S’mores (Betty Crocker)
• Popsicle Stick S’mores (Glued to My Crafts)

Share your favorite way to make s’mores in the comments below!

Photo in title image by Tiffany and David Photography.

The post You Need to Try These Activities for S’more Fun appeared first on Just Ask Judy.

If you’re thinking about…

• summer
• high-interest activities
• addressing learning loss
• or hands-on engagement

Then, I’ve got a plethora of ways to help meet your instructional needs that will grab your students’ attention.

Whether you need to develop conceptual understanding or focus on practice and review, I have a resource to address it.

Free Resources for Teaching 3 Digit Numbers

Get started by looking through these links for ideas and free resources.

One Free and Refreshing Place Value Activity (2 and 3 digit numbers)

Here’s a free activity to bolster your first, second, and third graders’ understanding of place value concepts. Help students make explicit connections between the standard, expanded, and word forms of two or three-digit numbers using a fun popsicle theme.

One Free Sensational Way to Compare Numbers

Try this free activity to teach, practice, or review comparing three-digit numbers at a concrete, representational, or abstract level. Use this sunglasses-themed resource year-round whenever your students are comparing numbers!

How to Teach 100 Less and More

Use this free animal camouflage-themed activity to target learning at the concrete, representational, and/ or abstract level. Direct your instruction to one level or overlap two levels. Make learning accessible for all your students!

How to Expand Your Kids’ Counting Skills

I created these free, easy-to-prepare Forest Animal Prompt Cards to implement as part of your classroom 3 digit number counting routines. You can use these with the whole class, in small groups, or in an independent math center. All you need is a few minutes here and there.

A New Product to Practice and Review 3 Digit Numbers

Keep going with my newest resource, Fin-tastic Numbers.

Do sharks fascinate your students? Go ahead and snag their interest with this small group math activity, designed for practicing and reviewing 3 digit number skills in second or third grade.

With this flexible resource, you can choose the skills that best match your students’ instructional needs. You’ll also have a choice of color or black/ white.

You’ll find 6 printable activity mats. Each mat has 10 three-digit numerals, with a total of 24 different ones.

There are ten sets of 24 cards, including a set with just the numerals.

The skills covered are:

• the number after and the number before
• 10 more and 10 less than
• 100 more and 100 less than
• number word
• expanded form
• how many hundreds, tens, and ones

Your students will:

• Take turns to pick a card.
• Read the card and determine the corresponding number.
• Cover or color the fin with that number.

Who can color or cover all their numbers first?

Extend the use of the skill and number cards with the additional matching activities or the open-ended worksheets that are included with this resource.

Click on the highlighted words to find out more about Fin-Tastic Numbers- A Shark-Themed 3 Digit Activity, available for purchase in my TpT store.

While you’re there, check out my Collect Them All Bundle of Task Cards for Second Grade Number Skills.

Free Worksheets for Practice and Review

Finish up with this new set of shark-themed free worksheets, perfect for practicing and reviewing 3 digit number skills.

This freebie includes 3 print and go worksheets.

1. Write the numbers that are 1, 10, and 100 more and less than the given number.
2. Round given numbers to the nearest 10 and nearest 100.
3. Complete a quick draw using squares, lines, and dots to represent the hundreds, tens, and ones in a given number. Then, write the number word and the expanded form of that number. (Two choices for writing lines.)

Download your free copy of Fin-tastic Number Worksheets by clicking on the highlighted words.

Did you find what you needed to teach 3 digit numbers? Let me know in the comments below!

Photo in title image by Ramon Carreterro.

The post How to Easily Sharpen Skills for 3 Digit Numbers appeared first on Just Ask Judy.

In my last blog post, I suggested a vertical number line as one way to help your students connect numerals to number words.

Unfortunately, the only ones I had handy to show you were ones to 12 or 20 that I used to teach addition and subtraction strategies.

Eventually, I located the 0 to 100, floor to ceiling, vertical number line I made for my classroom on an old thumb drive. Then it was easy to create a new and improved free version for you based on the old template.

Still wondering about the benefits…

Vertical number lines can help your kindergarten, first, and second-grade students:

1. visualize the pattern of increasing tens and ones in two-digit numbers. They can easily see the sequence and repetition of the digits.
2. understand the value of numbers faster and easier. They are able to see the numbers increasing or decreasing in value. 24 is lower or less than 25 and 48 is higher or more than 38.
3. grasp the concepts of counting up and counting down when adding or subtracting. It is evident that sums increase and differences decrease in value.
4. make a connection between the terms rounding up and rounding down to the nearest ten to what they see.

While I taught rounding with a number line, I never thought to use a vertical one, even with it right there on the wall!

You can also create empty and interactive vertical number lines.

How to Prepare Your Vertical Number Line

Of course, this is technically a number path and not a number line. A number path is an effective counting model as opposed to a length model. Each number is clearly marked with a rectangle. Each rectangle can be counted.

I added stars in rectangles to make counting even easier. The stars are also color-coded for counting by 5’s and 10’s.

This number path is approximately 93 3/8 inches or 7 foot 9 3/8 inches tall.

• Start by choosing color or black/ gray/ white.
• Print the selected pages. Use cardstock and laminate (consider glare) for durability.
• Cut each strip carefully along the outside edge of the solid and dotted black lines.
• Put the strips together with tape. Start with zero and one. Place tape in the blank spaces. Align and overlap the ends of each strip, covering up each blank box.
• Or you can create one that folds up accordion-style for storage. To do this, cut off the empty boxes. Lay the strips face down so the ends abut. Then, tape across the edges.

Now you’re all set to post it on your wall!

More Ideas for Vertical Number Lines

Find ideas and resources for using an interactive vertical number line to develop number sense (Mr. Elementary Math) and using vertical number lines for adding multiples of tens (What I Have Learned).

Looking for More Resources…

• Frog Hopping Count Down (blog post with a freebie that includes a vertical number line to 12)
• Piggy Bank Count Up (a resource to purchase with a vertical number line to 20)
• Candy Bag Count Up (same as above with a different theme)

Click the highlighted words to download your free copy of the vertical number line 0-100.

I’d love to hear your ideas for using vertical number lines in the comments below!

Photo in title image by Coffee Beans and Children’s Dreams.

The post 4 Beneficial Reasons for Using a Vertical Number Line appeared first on Just Ask Judy.

Here are 6 math resources, great for first and second grades, which include those amazing birds.

Dress a Penguin

Let’s start with an easy to prepare freebie!

Here’s a color, cut, and glue activity for applying mental computation strategies to the basic addition and subtraction facts. Try it for morning work or as a math station.

Your students need to be familiar with the strategies. They will look at equations and determine the best of two strategies to apply. The two strategies for addition are Make 10 and Doubles Plus One while the two for subtraction are Count Back and Count Up To.

There is one set of pages for addition and one for subtraction. The first page in each set has two penguins, each labeled with a strategy. The second page has items of clothing with equations on them.

Select and print a set of pages. Add crayons, scissors, and glue. Now, you’re all set!

Your students will:

• Look at each equation.
• Choose the best strategy.
• Apply the strategy.
• Write the sum or difference.
• Color the clothing.
• Cut out the clothing.
• Sort the clothing by strategy.
• Dress each penguin in the correct clothing.
• Glue the clothing on the penguins.
• Color the penguins.

Be sure your students have the background knowledge and the fine motor skills required for this task. You want it to be fun and relaxing, not frustrating.

Scroll to the bottom of this post to download your free copy.

Featured next are my newest resources.

Winter Cover-Up Addition and Subtraction Facts to 20

While penguins are included in these resources, there are polar bears and snowmen too. I just couldn’t resist this adorable clipart created by Violet and Thistle!

You’ll love this winter-themed activity, with both digital (for use with Google Slides^TM) and print versions, that is designed to help your first and second-grade students practice, review, and develop fluency with the basic addition and subtraction facts to 20.

Use this engaging resource to support your instruction in mental computation strategies. Assign one or two slides/ mats at a time. Give the same ones to all students or assign them to individual students based on instructional needs. Try them with your small instructional groups, as a math center, or as a virtual activity.

Give Me the Details

There are 16 addition fact activity slides/ mats and 18 subtraction fact slides/ mats, sequentially organized by mental fact strategies. These activity slides/ mats coordinate perfectly with my other addition and subtraction fact resources.

The slides/ mats alternate between ones, generally, focusing on a single strategy with ones providing a cumulative review.

The print and digital versions follow the same sequence and have the same format. However, the equations in each grid are in random order so you can use both versions with the same students.

Each slide/ mat has 9 addition or subtraction equations. Students look at each equation and apply a fact strategy to determine the sum or difference.

With the printed format, students will place number tiles on top of the equations. In the version for use with Google Slides^TM, they will drag and drop a snowball or snowflake number on top of the equations.

Where Can I Find Out More?

Click on any of the highlighted words to waddle on over to my TpT store. Read the descriptions and check out the previews for more information. You’ll find three options for purchasing Winter Cover-Up; to print, for use with Google Slides^TM, or as a bundle.

Find more blog posts about teaching addition and subtraction facts. You’ll discover more information and yes, freebies!

More Penguin Themed Math Resources From My Store

Get up and moving on a cold, winter day with these two roam the room activities.

Telling Time With Playful Penguins

Here’s a set of 72 task cards for telling time to the hour, half-hour, hour and half-hour, quarter-hour, five-minute intervals, and one-minute intervals. You can easily mix and match sets to meet the instructional needs of your kindergarten, first, second, and third-grade students.

Penguins at Play Tens and Ones

Use this place value activity for first and second-graders to reinforce representing two-digit numbers in different forms; base ten, standard form, expanded form, and number word.

And finally, spend some time playing a game or collecting some data.

Make Ten Waddling Penguins

Get set to play three small group games (penguin collection game, memory match, and go fish) for learning the Make 10 addition facts with this resource that’s ideal for kindergarten, first, and second grades.

Play these games after you have introduced the Make 10 addition fact strategy, for either further development of the concept or to help acquire fluency with the facts.

It’s in the Bag for Winter – A Data Collection and Graphing Activity

Engage your first, second, and third-grade students with this seasonal activity. They’ll collect data by picking and replacing the letters of a word in a paper lunch bag until all the letters have been picked. Afterward, they’ll use their data to complete a bar graph and answer questions.

And of course, one of the words included in this set is penguin!

Click on the highlighted titles above to learn more about each resource.

Focus on Penguin Facts

Here are a few links to get you started with facts about penguins.

10 Facts About Emperor Penguins (National Geographic Kids)

5 Fun Facts About Penguins (CBC Kids)

Macaroni Penguins (Folly Farm) (They also want you to visit!)

African Penguin (San Diego Zoo) (Click the link for more detailed information.)

Click the highlighted words to download your free copy of Dress a Penguin.

I’d love to hear about your favorite fiction or nonfiction book about penguins in the comments below!

Photo credits: Volodymyr.Goinyk and Coffee Beans and Children’s Dreams

The post 6 Cool Penguin Resources to Energize Your Math appeared first on Just Ask Judy.

A Sale For the New Year

Check out this hashtag sale, #NY2025, on TPT to snag some fabulous dollar deals! What better way to get excited about teaching and learning in 2025?

The last time I checked, there were over 1,800 resources listed. But hurry because these deals are only available on December 31, 2024, and January 1, 2025.

With so many resources to choose from, you’ll want to use the categories at the top of your TPT screen to narrow down your search by grade level and subject area.

You’ll find two of my resources listed in this sale. My Addition Facts to 20 Addition Strategy Math Posters is a year-round seller. Roll and Read Consonant Blends and Digraphs is a newer resource that will give your kindergarten, first, and second-grade students the repeated practice they need to read 119 short vowel high-frequency words.

Check out these blog posts for more resources, ideas, and freebies related to addition facts, repeated reading, and consonant blends and digraphs. 

1. Addition Facts (site search for posts)
2. 6 Cool Penguin Resources to Energize Your Math 
3. Do You Want to Know All About Rapid Word Recognition Charts?
4. How to Address the Challenge of Consonant Digraphs

An Updated New Year’s Freebie for You

The year on this freebie has been changed to 2025.

I’ve never succeeded at making or keeping New Year’s resolutions. Have you? Here’s a free print-and-go resource that’s a little different.

The focus is on anticipating the possibilities a new year offers. I’m all for instilling a little hope for a better future right now.

Try this activity with children of various ages, at home or at school. The clipart and prompts are geared toward children, but the activity is suitable for all ages. The youngest can dictate their responses. You can also have children choose to respond to just 3 to 5 prompts or to complete them over more than one session.

Simply download, print, and provide writing tools.

Then, do a little brainstorming and you’re all set.

Use the first word as a prompt to complete the phrase in a way that’s meaningful for you. For example, my eight-year-old grandson might finish “See” with “The Grand Canyon”.

Here are a few of my possibilities for 2025.

• Make a quilt.
• Eat healthy.
• Be patient.
• Try to walk even farther.
• Learn more about teaching writing skills and decoding multisyllabic words.

Ah… the possibilities are wide-ranging!

Click the highlighted words to download your free copy of A New Year of Possibilities.

My hopes are for a healthy and forward-looking new year for everyone!

I’d love to hear from you! Pick a prompt and share how you would complete it in the comments below.

Photo in title image by Tigerpix LLC.

The post Who’s Ready to Ring in a New Year? appeared first on Just Ask Judy.

To help you with that December challenge, I have two new number activities featuring stockings (including a freebie) to share with you.

Stockings in Order 0-120

Are you looking for an engaging activity for sequencing the numbers 0 – 120? This Christmas-themed resource will give your students plenty of practice with ordering consecutive and non-consecutive numbers and with counting by 2’s, 5’s, and 10’s to 120.

Use this whimsical resource for Google Slides^TM to provide individualized practice or review for your kindergarten, first, and second-grade students. Try it as a math center or as a virtual assignment.

Those rascals, Cat and Dog have mixed up all the stockings. Your students will need to drag and drop to reorder them.

Cat and Dog also forgot to finish the count by sequences. Your students will need to be able to click on a question mark in a text box, delete the question mark (but not the text box), and type in a number.

Your students will practice ordering:

• Consecutive Numbers 0-10
• Non-Consecutive Numbers 0-10
• Consecutive Numbers 7-20
• Non-Consecutive Numbers 11-20
• Non-Consecutive Numbers 0-20
• Consecutive Numbers Within a Decade 21-120
• Consecutive Numbers Across a Decade 11-120
• Non-Consecutive Numbers Within a Decade 21-120
• Non-Consecutive Numbers 21-120
• Count By 10’s to 120
• 5’s to 120
• 2’s to 20
• 2’s to 120
• Count by 10’s Off the Decade

Choose one set for all your students or choose different sets for individual students. Use as a one-time assignment or multiple assignments across time.

You can delete, copy, and rearrange the slides to meet your needs.

Skip on over to my TpT store to take a closer look at Stockings in Order 0-120.

Not sure if your students can drag and drop or delete and type? Check out these Try It Before You Buy It slides. Be sure they are the right choice for you, your learning platform, your students, and their devices!

I also offer a similar print resource, Christmas Lights in Order 0-120, which is very popular this time of year.

Hang the Stockings- Comparing Two or Three-Digit Numbers

You’ll love this free and easy to prepare greater than and less than Christmas math activity. Your first, second, and third-grade students will have fun while getting practice with comparing two or three-digit numbers against a benchmark number.

Choose two-digit or three-digit numbers.

Your students will need:

• one page with two fireplaces and one set of stockings
• crayons
• scissors
• glue
• optional construction paper (9″ x 12″ or 6″ x 18″)

Your students will:

• Color the fireplaces.
• Cut the page in half on the dotted line.
• Glue the fireplaces onto construction paper (optional).
• Color the stockings.
• Cut them out.
• Sort them by numbers less than or greater than 55 or 550.
• Hang the stockings on the correct fireplace.
• Glue them in place.

You will:

• Sit back and relax with your favorite hot beverage.
• Enjoy the quiet calm for a few moments.
• Use your students’ creations for an attractive holiday display!

To make it easier, I recommend students loosely cut around the stockings or cut them as rectangles.

Students may also glue the fireplaces in a notebook or simply keep the fireplace page intact.

Visit my TpT store to download your free copy of Hang the Stockings Comparing Numbers.

Curious About the Origins of Stockings…

I discovered this article, The Legend of the Christmas Stocking, in the Smithsonian Magazine. It’s an interesting read if you’re not familiar with the legend.

Looking For More Resources…

Check out these blog posts for more free number activities, perfect for the season.

• How to Easily Stuff a Little Learning into December (preschool and kindergarten numeral recognition)
• One Way to Keep ‘Em Busy This Holiday Season (rounding two and three-digit numbers)

Click on the categories below to see more resources in my TpT store.

• Christmas
• Numbers & Number Sense
• Numbers & Place Value
• For Use With Google Slides^TM

I’d love to hear about the kinds of activities you find are best to engage your wiggly, distracted students this time of year! Please share in the comments below.

Photos in images by Coffee Beans and Children’s Dreams and LiliGraphie.

The post How to Put a Little Festive Learning in Their Stockings appeared first on Just Ask Judy.

Count On Turkeys

This engaging activity is easy to prepare and requires minimal materials; making it perfect for the season and these crazy times!

Provide practice or review with the count on strategy for addition in kindergarten, first, or second grades. Frequent practice and review also help to develop fluency with these facts.

Try it in the classroom or send it home.

Although this activity is designed to be completed with a partner or in a small group, each student uses his/ her own materials and can engage from a distance. While not quite as much fun, you can also complete it individually.

Get It Prepared

There are three separate count on and color sheets. There is one each for counting on one, counting on two, and counting on three. Directions are provided on each sheet.

Choose the one(s) that best fits your instructional needs. Assign the same one to all of your students or assign them based on individual needs.

Everything is black and white. Just print it on paper.

You will need:

• one copy of Count Up and Color for each student
• one copy of the optional recording sheet for each student
• a pencil and a paper clip for each student
• crayons

Get ‘Em Engaged With Count On Turkeys

Decide if you want your students to record the equations. Do you want them to record each equation or just the unique ones?

They can write the equations on the optional recording sheet, a whiteboard, or a piece of paper.

Use a pencil and a paper clip to spin.

Play with a partner or in a small group. Take turns.

• Spin. (ex. 9)
• Add 1, 2, or 3 to your number. (depends on the sheet you have)
• Record the addition equation. (ex. 9 + 2 = 11)
• Find the space on your turkey with the sum. (i.e. 11)
• Color that space. If the numbered space is part of a feather, color the entire feather.
• If all the spaces with that number are colored, you lose your turn.
• Who can be the first to finish coloring all the numbered spaces?

Based on experience, I know the trickiest part for your students will be to color the sum of the equation and not the number they spin! Just something you’ll want to keep an eye out for.

Click on the highlighted words, Count On Turkeys, to download your free copy.

Looking For More Resources…

Check out these turkey-themed blog posts. You’ll find a link to a freebie in each one.

• Encourage Engagement With High-Frequency Words (includes a freebie for pre-primer words)
• Have a Little Turkey Fun (a free activity for preschool, kindergarten, and early first grade)
• A Rafter of Timely and Terrific Turkey Resources (free Turkey Feathers Even & Odd Numbers activity for 1st and 2nd grades)

Find some thematic or skill-related resources in my TpT store.

• Turkey-Themed Resources
• Addition Fact Strategy Resources

Keep Calm and Carry On

We think of Thanksgiving as a time to give thanks. However, the experts tell us to practice gratitude every day. Why?

We’ll find meaning through giving thanks. This can have a positive effect on both our mental and physical health.

It can be akin to exercise, though, particularly during these trying times. You might be reluctant to get started and exert the effort today, but it will pay off in the end.

While reading about gratitude during a pandemic, I encountered an interesting tidbit in this article from Psychology Today about the saying “Keep Calm and Carry On”. It actually originated during World War II in Britain. Who knew?

This expression was one of three key wartime messages created (but never implemented) by their Ministry of Information in 1939. Satisfy your curiosity by reading more about its history at the University of London and Keep Calm and Carry On sites.

This year, I am grateful that…

• My friends and family are all safe and finding ways to cope.
• I can step out my door and go for a walk, encountering few (if any) neighbors, all at a safe distance and offering friendly greetings.
• My new range has been installed, at last! I can cook a bountiful Thanksgiving dinner, even if it will only be for my husband and me instead of the usual gathering of friends and family.

And finally, find a Thanksgiving Gratitude Game from Happy Go Lucky that is perfect for adults or kids, at home or at school, and even by Zoom. It caught my attention because it requires M & M’s!

Take time to think, write in a journal, or share in the comments below what you are thankful for and/ or ways to express your gratitude.

Photo in title image by NataPhoto.

The post Who Wants a Free and Easy Count On Turkey Activity? appeared first on Just Ask Judy.