Get 'Em Moving Word Work: ABC Mats!

If you're like me, you're spending an awful lot of time at various stores picking up all you need for this upcoming school year!

I wanted to suggest a fun idea that I've used before for a Word Work/Brain Break idea: ABC Mats! 

These mats are the perfect way to inject some fun into Word Work and definitely get the kids moving, so I qualify them as a Brain Break, too :)

I found these mats at our local Lowe's Home Improvement store and they were a perfect investment at only $17! Each mat is 12" by 12" and interlock in any way you choose! I set mine up in no time in ABC order and they are easy to assemble and disassemble whenever you need them. You can find them at Lowe's HERE.

There are so many ways you can incorporate these into your class! A few ideas are:

• Spelling Practice: jumping from letter to letter to spell high-frequency words, spelling words, content vocabulary
• Guess My Word: student will spell and another student will need to guess what word
• Friend Web Word: gather as many students as needed to make a word. Each student stands on the letter mat holding hands with the next student in the word. Another student/group of students tries to guess the word
• Mixing up the order of the letters for an additional challenge!
• and more!!

These disassemble so quickly and take up very little room in storage, so it's a fun and active way to get your kids practicing spelling. You could also use an ABC rug, but I had difficulty finding one for less than $17, and this wasn't something I wanted out in my classroom all of the time.

One word of warning: You will need to try this out yourself on your own floor before you use it with your students! On our wood floors, these are very, very slippery!! On my carpet at school, these don't budge, so pleeeeeeeeeeease don't have kids jumping from letter to letter before you've checked how these grip your school floor :) :)

I hope this helped give you a fun idea for Word Work and if you need more Word Work ideas, click HERE! 

Can you think of more games to play using these ABC mats? Share them below!! Thanks so much and have a wonderful week ahead!