I love it when I get to show off a new “find” on Differentiation Daily. Miss DeCarbo at Sugar and Spice is one of those new discoveries and the post I am highlighting is a real gem. If you are first grade teacher (or really an educator in any one of the early grades), you will want to see the differentiated spelling/word word strategy recently posted on her site.
After noticing that her learners needed a more personalized approach to word study, Miss DeCarbo designed a bulletin board that reminded students of words they were responsible for learning. Each one of them picked 8 sight words from her word wall. Those that had already mastered those words were given second grade lists to peruse. Then, every student got to pick any two words to add to the list. Some of their choices? “Elsa”, “giraffe” and “Minecraft parkour servers“! See the board itself and more on this idea by visiting Miss DeCarbo’s site today.