What Worked Well Wednesday: SPINNERS!

What are some way you have students practice letter names in the classroom. Getting them to see, say, and practice those letter names can be a struggle for some! 

  

I found an awesome set of letter naming fluency pages from one of my favorite teachers.  After I downloaded it however I decided I didn't have the tools I needed to make the center and I didn't want to make a spinner.  Bummed right?  I will probably use this in the future, but for what I needed it just wasn't working.  

Then I remembered I had these........

 

They are plain plastic spinners with a really sturdy little spin thingy in the middle.  They are 4 x 4, so I created a little 4 x 4 template with some of the letters we have been working on.  I taped it to the spinner and we were ready! 

You can get a set of 5 for $3.79 HERE.

(disclaimer...I didn't buy mine there, I just did a Google search for you. 

Mine were free in something I got from somewhere...can't remember)

I made a quick table full of the letters on the spinner and filled in the extra spots with other letters.  

We started this activity by having students use one color to find all of the p's (that's our letter of the week and one we really struggle with!).  Then we switched colors with a friend and started spinning.

  I let them spin, say, and dab the letter for a little bit and then we put the spinners and dabbers away. 

Then we went to work! 

 We first read all of the letters we had just dabbed (I still don't know if this is the way you say/spell  that, but let's just go with it).  Then we went back and read ALL the letters as fast as we could.  

We topped it off by sending it home to go on the fridge so they could practice all week long.  Friday will be our last time to test letter naming fluency for the end of the quarter so I wanted them to be motivated to practice.  They loved this activity so I know they will! 

Bonus? Now it can be a center because I trained them to play it the RIGHT way!  Dabbers drive me crazy and this little training session will hopefully take care of the crazy dab fest that usually happens when I put these out. 

I think I will start using this strategy with my Letter Naming Fluency pages. You can see them in my store by clicking on the picture. 

 That is what worked well for me this Wednesday.  What worked well for you?  Link up with Kinder Tribe HERE!