Dictionary Dig & The 'Saurus: Excavating Wonderful Words!

Confession:  I've always been secretly jealous of kindergarten and first grade teachers.  Second grade teachers too.  I always envied the cute themed lessons, and I always thought, "It stinks that we can't do that in third grade because of x, y, z..."  Well, luckily my delusions have worn off, and after spending a few years in third grade, I finally realize that YOU CAN do cute themes!  You just have to be really creative about it, because there's so much to teach in the curriculum and we have to be held accountable for high-stakes state tests.  STATE TESTS, by the way, ARE NOT AN EXCUSE.  :)  I'm saying that with all of the LOVE in my heart, friends.  State tests are necessary, but they should NOT dictate what we do in our classrooms to the point where we are not doing engaging, hands-on, exciting, kid-friendly lessons.  There are ways to have your proverbial cake and eat it too.  I promise.  :)  It takes a little wiggling, and a little coloring outside of the lines, but you can do it!  It's time to go all "Howard and the Purple Crayon" on our lesson plans....

Last school-year, I found a way to integrate pirates with map skills, and the kids ate it up with a spoon!  Seriously, they LOVED it.  This year, I cannot wait to launch my Dictionary Dig & The 'Saurus goodies!  Who says  you can't do a dinosaur theme in third grade?!  Get out of town!  I'M SO DOING IT!  :) I couldn't wait to share this... so I spent the whole day on the carpet and running around to Target, the Dollar Tree, and Pat Catans!!! 

I am so excited to share a few activities with you all!  The first activity in this bundle is the dictionary dig.  You use the word strips and journal in the bundle to have your young excavators uncover words.  I filled a tray from Target with 6 lb. of sand... rocks... WORD STRIPS, and various tiny dinosaurs.  While I was at Target, I also picked up three sand tools for my little paleontologists-- a shovel, a rake, and a sifter.  Each tool was 99 cents... and super cute... so I consider that a STEAL!

The bundle also includes a few alphabetizing centers.  They integrate a few Social Studies and Science concepts into the mix.  I'm on a tad of an economics kick at the moment since we start the year with that theme in Reading Street, and since I just finished my Lemonade Economics bundle over the weekend.  This picture shows one set of words.  You could choose to do as many or as few as you want.  The other topics include communities, America, magnets, and weather as you can see.  I tried to stick to one word terms, and I tried to match them with the clip art that I have.  I realize that they are not all-encompassing, but because the idea is to alphabetize them (not teach the terms), I hope you can forgive me.  Pretty please?

These little containers are from the Dollar Tree.  I scooped up a set of foam dinosaur stickers to create "dinosaur eggs".  Use your imaaaaaagination.  :)  The eggs can be filled with terms using a template in the file, and students can look up synonyms/antonyms for terms to grow their vocabularies. 

Another activity you can do with your kiddos is the "Guide Word Shuffle".  Open up to a page in a thesaurus, and have your students record the guide words on the recording sheet in the appropriate squares.  Ask them to highlight the words.  You can have your kiddos number the guide words or list the page number as an option.  Assign terms from that page for your students to write down on their cards, or write them ahead of time before you make the master copy if you're worried about spelling errors.  :)  Either way, once your students write the words/receive the words from you, have them cut the cards apart and arrange them in alphabetical order.  This is a great way to see the guide words in a real, tangible thesaurus and see how the words on the page fit between them, but it also helps bridge the gap with a tangible experience.  (You know I love concrete models and experiences!) Students should close their thesauruses when they are alphabetizing, but they can reopen it to check their work afterward!  I have included an alphabet line in the bundle since alphabetizing to can become more challenging when working with guide words.

This post is really just a scoop full of sand.  There are more activities and printables included in the bundle, so if you're interested, you can check out the Dictionary Dig & The 'Saurus HERE!  :)  The best news, of course, is that you can pick up the file for 20% off through tomorrow night!