Digraph DuCK is CraCKing From His SHell!

There are so many fun projects to do in Spring...but there are also so many curriculum topics to still be covered.  I needed a 'spring-y' bit of cuteness to liven up my outside display...and that's how Digraph Duck was born!

So how did we go about making this cutie?

First I started with a duck tracer I had gotten from a colleague years ago that was used with a different type of project.  I traced it onto copy paper and typed out 'digraph duck' and glued it to the duck outline.  I copied that onto yellow paper (you could use white for white ducks or for having the children color the ducks themselves).

I also traced the beak and feet onto copy paper and copied them onto orange (salmon I believe is the technical color name!) paper.  Again- you could choose to do white and have students color/paint them orange.

I made a large egg shape on paper and then made various crack lines through it.  I copied those on white paper and was all ready to go!

We have been working on digraph sorts all week, so our chart is basically full of our digraph images at this point!

We are working solely on initial sounds of sh, th, wh and ch and the ending sound of ck.

Our chart was on display and many of them referenced it for the project.

I had them:

1. Write their name in the large 'crack' area

2. Pick a digraph from each category to write in a piece of the shell.  They were also invited to try and illustrate it.

3. Cut out all the pieces

4. Glue the duck to manila paper, attach his beak/feet and give him a face 

5. Glue the large cracked piece to the bottom and then scatter all the other pieces around to show that he craCKed out and THrew his SHell everyWHere...be sure to WatCH Out!

Many of them used the chart to help them spell the words.  I also had them circle the digraph in each word.

Assembling the duck!

Attaching all the pieces of shell!

This was my model one- but I told them to try and think of different digraphs than Mrs. Drake used!

Now we have a 'spring'-tastic display of digraph learning and fun!

I love how some of the ducks even threw the pick shell in excitement to crack out!

For children that needed a bit more guidance and support, we had them tell us the digraph they wanted and then they wrote the digraph and we wrote the rest of the word with yellow highlighter for them to trace.

Would you like to give Digraph Duck a try in your classroom?

Here is the link to the templates.  For some reason the feet/beak did not scan well, so you may have to cut/trace to make your own 'cleaner' tracer before copying for yourself.

The images in the pocket chart are a combination of pictures from my two digraph read the room sets:

           

Next week we'll be doing the spring bunny read the room and the week we return from Spring Break we'll do the gumball version.  They will be familiar with the words used in each set from all our sorts this week!

Also in our line-up for centers next week will be Find My Basket sorting center for digraphs!

For this one there will be baskets for the 5 digraphs we have been working with and 45 eggs to sort!  They will also fill in the b&w printable as a center extension activity!  How 'Egg'-citing and a true meaningful learning experience!  Some of them spied me cutting out the eggs today during snack and are already intrigued!

So with all this digraph and spring fun, I needed a poem to go along too!

So I wrote this one to the tune of Camptown Races (Do, Da, Do, Da Day Song)

And thanks to Educlips these cute pics to match the poem!

And I uploaded both to Google Docs so that you can use them as well!

My homework directions are in both English and Spanish because I have a lot of ESL children in my class, but feel free to cut that part off if you do not need it!

I'd love for one of my Blog Lovin' fans to win one of the sets mentioned above!

Click to follow me on Blog Lovin' (black box towards the top of the post on the right hand side) and then leave me a blog post comment with the name you used to follow me, your email and your choice of spring bunny read the room, gumball read the room or find my basket digraph packs!

I will pick a winner on Sunday 4/6/14!

Happy Digraph Fun!

Until next post,