Monday, January 16, 2012

Magic Spoons

Why hello there my fellow blogger buddies!

Were you wondering if I fell off the face of the Earth?  If I did not, in fact, survive the madness of the holiday season?  If a pack of rabid kindergarteners ate me alive??!!  DON'T FRET!!  I'm back. :)

Not only am I back, but I have a great little somethin' to share!  Now, let me first just say that this is in no way my idea. Nope. Negative.  All the credit for this idea goes to one of my fellow kinder teachers, who got it from another kinder teacher, who . . .well, you get the idea.  Not original, but just one that I thought ought to be shared.

So this little phonemic awareness activity is called Magic Spoons.  Basically, in order to help children with sounding out words, even those pesky nonsense words, you take a pack of spoons and on each spoon write a consonant. (For the letter Q you write a "qu" combo - because those two are always together.)  These will be used as the initial consonants of the words the students will be reading. Then, students practice with one spoon at a time adding the first letter to various different word family endings.  As the Magic Spoon moves from word ending to word ending . . . POOF!  A new word appears!  Magic.


When my teacher friends were sharing this idea with me, I immediately envisioned shiny, glittering, golden spoons that were oh-so-magical.  So, when it came time to make my OWN Magic Spoons, I had to track down . . . you guessed it . . . golden spoons.  (The power is in the golden-ness, right?)

Anywho, I found these packs of golden spoons at Party City for cheap (AND was able to walk out of there with ONLY the spoons - yay for self control!).



Next, I wrote on my spoons.  (Best kindergarten printing!!)



Finally, I created three sheets to use with my magic spoons.   On the left is a sheet of two letter word family endings, the middle sheet is three letter word family endings, and the final sheet is ONLY consonant letters.  My plan with that sheet is to then create a second set of magic spoons where the word family ending is on the spoon.  Are you following all of this?



For a PDF file of these three sheets, click on the image below. (I plan to copy each sheet on a different color of cardstock and laminate for durability . . . and for protection from all the magic-ness!)



But wait, there's more!  If you would like to use this idea in a whole group setting, fear not!  I plan to (in all of my spare time . . . whenever that may be) get large wooden spoons to use to get the whole class involved at once!  Gold spray paint . . .here I come! 

Anyway, I would love to hear about if and how you use Magic Spoons in YOUR classroom! Or maybe you yourself are the inventor of this great idea . . .in which case, thanks!

Happy teaching this week! 

Lindsay

26 comments:

♥ Owl in a Vowel Tree ♥ said...

Love this idea!! Thank you for sharing :) I love the, "but wait, there's more!" It reminds me of late-night infomercials :)

Ms.M said...

What a wonderful idea! Thanks.

Ms. M
Ms.M's Blog
A Teacher's Plan

Unknown said...

What a great idea to use with these fancy schmancy spoons!! =)
Jennifer
First Grade Blue SKies

Traci Clausen said...

Cute idea. :D
♥ Dragonflies in First ♥

Jessica said...

I've seen something similar on Shari Sloane's website--- she uses popsicle sticks! =) I love the idea of using the spoons! So cute! =)

Miss Smartie Pants said...

Thanks for sharing!! I LOVE this idea!! I am having trouble downloading the sheets though, it just comes up with funny black lines. :(

This is such a wonderful idea! Can't wait to go 'gold spoon' shopping (:

Kylie! (:

Dee said...

How cute is this!!! I LOVE it! Thanks for the idea and the pdf. This will be great practice for my first graders having difficulty with blending.

Dee
First Impressions

Meredith Gilbert said...

Such a FABULOUS idea! I use plastic spoons in Math Stations all the time. The students think they are great....I think they are quick and cheap;-)

Sunshine, Sand and Scissors

Christina Bainbridge said...

What a GREAT idea! Thanks for sharing!

:)
Christina
Mrs. Bainbridge's Blog

Christina Bainbridge said...

PS- my word verification to publish that last comment on your blog was "fatties"! I've never gotten a *real* word before on one of those and something so... rude! ;)

pnew said...

Oh how I love these!!!! I am a tutor of kiddos Pre-k through 3rd grade. This is awesome!! You could use these for fact families as well, a huge thank you for sharing!! You gals r the best!

Mrs. McHaffie said...

This is so brilliant! So doing this TOMORROW! :)

Thanks for sharing such a great idea!
Kelly
Beg, Borrow, Steal

Chrissy said...

I just pinned your idea! :-)
ReadWriteSing

Anonymous said...

Love, love, love! Can't wait to do this with my kinder kiddos! :)

Kimberley Moran said...

Those are awesome! I love that they are gold and I bet your kids will too. More special.

First in Maine

Unknown said...

Love your magic!!!! Thank you for sharing this awesome idea! :)
Cheryl
Crayons and Curls

Natalie said...

Wow, what a great idea! Pinning this....now! You ladies always have such great stuff! I just started by own blog and would love if you could check it out!

http://teacherytidbits.blogspot.com/

Much Love,
Natalie

Sharon said...

Love your idea - pinned it right away! As an SLP, I can see many of my kiddos using this as a way to reinforce their articulation skills. The download didn't work for me either (sadness...) Thanks for sharing!

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much! Such genius! My Mac wouldn't allow me to download your sheets, that's okay, I made my own. I love it especially because the kids can do it themselves with very little supervision.

Lessons I Learned in Kindergarden said...

I will be headed to Party City for my set of spoons this weekend. Thanks for sharing such a fun activity.

Anonymous said...

I am having a hard time printing the sheets. Can you help?

Kinderaffe said...

Great idea. Will try it on wooden spoons for the whole class, too.

Thanks, and Happy New Year.

Sara

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much! I have some first graders that can benefit from this as well!

Unknown said...

I am so happy I finally found you link for the magic spoons. I keep seeing the idea on Pinterest but I could never find the source. I LOVE this idea. Thanks so much for posting your templates. I can’t wait to use it next year.

Unknown said...

Love this! Thanks.
I am wondering how you handle the 'uck' family and the letter 'f' -- is it an issue?

Al-Abkary said...

like it so much! simple and easy!
I'll use the with my daughter

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