Multiple meaning words are called homographs. Homographs are words that are spelled just alike but have more than one meaning. Many English words have multiple meanings. Knowing these different meanings helps children better understand what they are reading thereby improving their comprehension. Check out Multiple Meaning Match-Ups (Gr. 1-3 digital download resource) that includes photos and activities to teach and reinforce 36 multiple meaning words.
Collect a set of photos for different types of transportation from A-Z. You know, A is for ambulance, B is for boat, C is for car. Then invite children to use the set of photos for all kinds of sorting and sentence-building fun. Children can sort the photos by their beginning letter and match them with a letter card. They can sort them by transportation type: land, water, sky. They can fill a frame like the one pictured here and then write their sentences to make an ABC book. Lots of possibilities with just one set of photo cards.
If you don’t want to take the time to collect the photos yourself, we’ve done that for you! Check out Places & Transportation. This resource includes over 150 photo and letter cards ready to go!
To celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, and all things GREEN, have some fun building “green” sentences to practice sight words and sentence structure. Brainstorm a list of green things and then sort them into two groups: singular and plural items. Then model the two sentence frames and explain that the “this/is” combo is for singular items and the “these/are” combo is for plural. For more sentence building fun using sight words, check out Sight Word Sentence Frames and “Teaching Sight Words in Context.“
March 2 is Read Across America Day (the birthday of Dr. Seuss)! Since it falls on Saturday this year, you will probably make Friday, March 1 your day to celebrate in the classroom. And there are so many fun activities to do. But since the day is all about reading, how about inviting your students to make a list of all the things they read each day. Your list may include menus, notes, e-mails, instructions, maps, letters, books, traffic signs, posters, and recipes.
Then create a sight word sentence frame: I can read ____ all by myself. Invite children to fill in the frame using a word from your brainstorm list. Have children write their sentences to make a class book.
Or, check out this downloadable Sight Word Sentence Frame unit (pictured above) that includes this activity and two others all ready to go! What a great way to practice sight words, improve comprehension, build vocabulary, and celebrate reading!
Make a Graph: Invite children to vote for their favorite pet. Collect the data by creating a bar graph and then read and interpret the data.
Read a Good Book: Check out The Perfect Pet by Margie Palatini. In this fun story, Elizabeth really wants a pet and she has lots of ideas. But her parents say NO to all of them. So she ends up with a cactus plant for a pet. Finally she adopts a pet that she names Doug. What kind of pet, is Doug? Read to find out!
Take Special Care of Your Critter Friends: Give a little extra attention or a special treat to your favorite critter.
