Hunting for Homophones

You know what is fun? Learning about homophones.

Now you may be thinking that I've lost it, that I have taken a big swig of the 2nd grade kool aid. Perhaps I have developed into a bit of a nerd since beginning my teaching career. Er, scratch that. I have totally become a nerd. I speak in phonegrams. I correct grammar and punctuation of anyone who interacts with me. It happens. I've learned to embrace it.

This year has been much easier for me. It is crazy how much better your second year is compared to your first year! Every teacher says it and it is so true. I have worked to make my lessons better and I really feel like I have done so. Plus, this year's class also really loves to learn about anything and everything!

This week we started learning about homophones: words that sound the same but are spelled differently and have different meanings. Here is an example for you: sail and sale. Well, after introducing what these words are, my students went nuts. We covered 2/3 of the chalkboard with these words including there, they're, and their, sea and sea, and peace and piece.

The only problem? My students couldn't stop thinking of homophones. We would be walking down the hall and all of a sudden I would hear someone whispering, "Miss Ongnaaaaaa! Miss Ongnaaaaaa! I thought of another homophone!" They would be working on their own work and a student would raise their hand, "I just thought of another one!" Then again while we were lining up for lunch. And again while we were packing up at the end of the day. They couldn't stop!

Today we dove into homographs and homonyms. You can only imagine their excitement. Seriously, I couldn't even believe it! This excitement makes teaching totally fun, even when teaching what could be a tedious/possibly frustrating grammar lesson. I also made some posters for each of these terms with Mr. Sketch scented markers. I swear to you these markers make everything exciting! They are scented! How could they not make something instantly fun?

So, to wrap up, homophones are fun. So are 2nd graders. And scented markers. Class dismissed!