That’s Just Nonsense . . . and a real FREEBIE!

Diebels is always a bit stressful for me.  I’m just a bit freaked out that I’m not going to be doing what I need for my kids to help them shine, but usually, it all works out and they do just fine.  My biggest fear is always the dreaded Nonsense Word Fluency.  Let’s face it. They don’t get why we want them to read something that isn’t even a word and it’s not the easiest concept to practice. 

But what to my wonderous eyes should appear but 100% GREEN on nonsense word fluency! YEAH BABY!  They weren’t just green . . .they smoked the minimal score needed to be “green” in January.

It’s a given that they work hard and the glory goes to them alone.  But I do think that my confidence in teaching nonsense words has been strengthened since I made a conscious effort to differentiate this activity to meet the learning profiles and interests of my students.

Brain research tells us that learning sticks when it is meaningful and can hold a child’s interest. So here’s what I came up with . . .

The Nonsense Word Highway was a no brainer for me.  I have three boys.  I have a boy heavy class.

Students take their little vehicle of choice in their left hand and drive it over the nonsense words.  In the beginning, they are not able to blend the sounds into a word but that’s ok.  I give them a 1 minute timer and have them see how far they can get.  If they make a mistake, we correct it and they keep going.

As they start to build up their skills, they are driving further and further along the road.   It was their idea to keep track of how much farther they were getting everytime which was an added bonus for me because it made progress monitoring and adjusting my instruction much eaiser for me.  They simply write the date, color the number of words they pass and write in the total.  Parents LOVE seeing the progress they have made and my kiddos are so proud.

Since Easter was around the corner, I decided to make them a new game where they could hop along a bunny trail. 

I took some seasonal foam and  printed some nonsense words on them and there you go.

Of course you have to have props so get yourself a set of bunny ears for them to wear when they’re doing this.  Again, a friend times them and they record how far they are progressing each time.  It’s an easy activity to make up.  I know you’re gonna want to make this up for your students so, of course, I have the recording sheets for you to snatch up.  Just click on the pictures of the sheets to get your FREE copy.

If you are looking for other Easter – like activities that are differentiated for your students check out this CVC/CCVC/CVCC activity. 

Enjoy all this crazy nonsense!