What's Workin Wednesday: Boggle (with a freebie!)

For this week's What's Workin Wednesday, I wanted to discuss how I use Boggle in my classroom.  Over the summer I downloaded, printed, and laminated boggle cards from Teacher on the Loose.  Rachelle has this fabulous set available for FREE!

Here's a picture I took this summer after I was finished prepping them:

 

Here's where I have my letters set up in my classroom:



 

I currently have a 3x3 square that I use.  I change my letters weekly to reinforce the sound and spelling from our phonics program. 

 

This year we've changed how we run our spelling week.  Instead of the typical give the list on Monday and test on Friday, our spelling week runs Thursday to Wednesday.  So kids get their new words on Thursday and are tested on the next Wednesday.  Parents seem to like this schedule because they have more time over the weekend to play/work with the words.

 

After my kids take the test on Wednesday, I change the Boggle letters so that the old spelling patterns are now up.  For me, this gives my kids a little bit of extra practice with the spelling pattern and also reminds them that once they learn something they need to keep using it.

 

I have recording sheets out that students can grab and they keep them for the week in their classwork folders.  Once they turn them in I'll go over them and try to give a "Kiss your brain" Hersey's kiss to kids that come up with great words.

 

So far my kiddos seem to really enjoy this choice and I love that they're practicing manipulating sounds to create different words.

 

Here's the recording sheet that I use if you'd like to use it.  After Thanksgiving I'll probably change it to a 4x4 grid and then later in the year a 5x5 grid.  As I make those I'll be sure to post them!

click the picture to grab the google doc!