How to Make a Word-Catcher for the Classroom

As many preschool and kindergarten teachers know, literacy lessons require a lot of creativity and--sometimes--props. One prop commonly found in the classroom is a word-catcher. The point of a word-catcher is to give students the opportunity to put a frame around a high frequency word of your choosing, or to demonstrate the ones that they know. Whether you have a large one for group literacy lessons or a small ones for individual lesson, a word-catcher is inexpensive and easy to make--and even easier to use.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Fly-swatters
• Permanent marker (optional)
• Ruler
• Scissors
• Oaktag
• Laminator (optional)
• Word wall
• Books

Make Word-Catchers

1. 
   Fly-swatters

   Purchase a few colorful plastic fly-swatters. You can often find 2 or 3 fly-swatters packaged together for sale at your local dollar store.

2. Ascertain which words you will be "catching" most often. Since you probably have a variety of different kinds of print available in the classroom, you'll need to know the approximate size of the words. The size of a word in a big book, for example, may be much smaller than the size of a word you have written on your morning message.

3. Measure the approximate height and length of the word(s) and take note of the measurements. You may want to make a couple of word-catchers with different size frames.

4. Draw a rectangular box in the middle of the fly-swatter using the measurements you gathered.

5. 

   Cut out the rectangle. You now have a perfectly functional word-catcher!

Make Student Word-Catchers

6. Run a few sheets of oaktag or heavy construction paper through a laminator.

7. Cut the laminated paper into strips approximately 2-inches wide. You'll need enough strips for each student to have one, as well as some extra to have on hand.

8. Use a pair of scissors or a utility knife to cut a small rectangle in the middle of the strip, just as you did with the fly-swatter.

9. Double-check that the hole in the strip will "catch" the text in your classroom books. Trim the window as needed.

Use Word-Catchers

10. Invite students to "catch" words that they recognize while you are reading morning message. have them identify the word they are going to frame before they do it or provide them with a word to find.

11. Use the word-catcher to frame each word as you read a big book to your class. Stop occasionally and ask the students to read the word you've framed

12. Provide each student with an individual word-catcher to use as they read along with class books or to use in reading groups.

13. Allow students to use the word-catcher during writing time. Leave a few of them at your word wall so students can frame the word they are trying to spell as they write it down.

Tips & Warnings

• Individual word-catchers can also be used to frame words (one at a time) for children who have a difficult time seeing sentences as a string of individual words.