DIY:: Making Words and Word Families

Making Words is great.  I'm sure everyone agrees on this.  I've seen a few different ways to use Making Words. In fact, a blogging buddy just wrote a post about how she uses Making Words in her class. I love this too because you could do word families oh-so-easy. And have you seen this website: Words in a Word?  Basically, you put in the mystery word say...mother... and it will generate a list of words a student could make using the letters in mother.  How cool is that?  You can even download the list! 

There are so many ways to manipulate the letters for both Word Families and Making Words...square tiles, round color chips, poker chips, copied on paper then cut-out, paint chips, sticky notes...leggos...the list goes on and on.  Well, here is another way: use metal rim tags.  It is just one more way to grab students' attention.

(you could even make acrostic poems with these...mother's day gifts...holidays... hope this gets those creative juices flowing!)...put magnets on the back......on and on

You can buy the tags at Office Max--50 for about $5.00-$7.00 (and use your MaxPerks Card for Teachers).   I bought mine at Joann's: $3.50 for 36 because they were 40% off.   Now, I would use something like this for small group instruction or at a center.  It would take too long to make 22 packets of letters but for a small group it can be fun and engaging.

Now that the year is wrapping up...save this idea for the summer and make some words!


And I'm joining my blogging friend, Charity, over at The Organized Classroom Blog, for a 5-Star Blogging Link-Up.  Gotta check it out (not only if you are a teacher but also a BLOGGER).