Easter is here!

We have been working hard here in first grade.  This week we found a great way to re-use toilet paper tubes.  We have been celebrating Music in Our Schools Month and we decided to make musical instruments.  We made kazoos by punching a hole in the side of the tube and rubber banding parchment paper around the end tightly.  Man, did it get loud in here.  I will post a pic of the finished product soon.

Meanwhile, I am posting another freebie fluency poem.  I think that fluency and recitation in first grade is so important.  Every day we practice saying the same poem all week long. I usually try to find one that is funny or that follows along with our current phonics rule.  But, when all else fails, I write my own.  This little one was drafted to go along with the math and writing activities we will be doing with our chocolate bunnies.  We will be graphing our favorite first bite of a bunny and using the data to help us practice relating addition and subtraction facts.  We will also be writing directions for the best way to eat a chocolate rabbit...I say the ears first.  If you would like a copy you can pick on up here at my TPT store.

If you enjoy your download, leave me a note and let me know!

Time for Spring!

We have been working hard here at our house.  My son's have all started their various after school activities, so I have not been posting for awhile.  Now I am just trying to catch my breath and keep up with my 22 Fabulous First Graders.  We have been doing all sorts of things.  We are just finishing up our unit on time, so I posted some new items in my TPT store.  But I wanted to offer you guys a freebie.  Here is a link to my Telling Time Vocabulary Cards for free!

I think they are cute and my kids loved playing the time matching game that goes along with them.  That is also available for download at my TPT store...right here.

We are gearing up to go to the zoo this coming week, and then of course Spring Break!  I hope to give you all some more freebies over break when I have a little more time to breath and relax.  Have a great week everyone!

The 100th Day!

Wow!  I can't believe the 100th day is here already!  I usually have so many things I want to squeeze in, but my three boys all had the Boy Scout Derby car races this past weekend, plus we went to a birthday party, so it kind of just snuck up on me!  So I am planning on doing the old reliable activities for math that I know are fun, and that work every year.  I thought I would share them with you in case you wanted something to change up your routine...

We will be studying money this coming week, so I usually have my class use the plastic coins in our math series to make 100 cents.  We then record these ways on printable piggy banks to make a bulletin board display.  I have uploaded the printable to my TPT store...

I also like to do an estimation activity using boxes of paper clips.  I get 5-6 boxes of the small paper clips which come in boxes of 100 (no counting for me!) and I have my students group up and make an estimate (using yarn) for how long they think a small paper clip chain will be.  We then tape their estimates down to the floor and I let them link their 100 paper clips in a chain to see how close they were.  The winning group gets to take home the paper clip links.  We also do an extension activity using one box of the larger paper clips to see if the students understand the idea that although there are the same number of paper clips, the length will be longer...I usually keep those paperclips because they are my favorite!

Well, those are my two favorite activities that don't take a whole lot of planning, but result in a lot of learning and problem solving.  Happy 100th Day everyone!!!

Time away to create teaching a different way!

Wow!  It seems like forever that I have written anything on here, but the time has been very rewarding.  I spent a lot of time reworking my centers and learning areas after attending a workshop on differentiating my learning centers.  The presenter, the wonderful Margo Southall, was hilarious, insightful and in my book a genius!  She has some wonderful ideas for making comprehension a part of your Daily Five choices using some very cool printables and creatables.  There will more to come on that project as the year winds down and I try out a few things that I think I want to do for next year's class.  I have a group of kiddos that just don't seem to be progressing with the rest of the class and I am trying some new things to help motivate and get them movin'.

I have also been busy creating lots of new freebies and adding to my TPT store.  Here are samples and links to all the fun new things I have created and will be using with my class for the next few weeks. 

This is a printable to use with your Daily Five working with words if you want your kids to have spelling practice. Click here to download a copy.

This is a poster with pocket chart cards that I am using for fluency practice with my kiddos.  The poem is one that has been around a long time and is adorable!  Click here to download a copy.

Click here if you would like a copy of the shopping list I added to my Work on Writing-Real World Text area.  It is a printable that will give you three shopping lists per page for kids to use to write a shopping list.  I added several cookbooks along with it, and my class is so excited about the area now!

Click here if you would like a copy of the printable I use with my classroom magazines.   I never seem to be able to fit in all of my weekly readers that my school pays for, so I found a new use for them.  I put them in my Work on Writing area, but they would work in the Listen to Reading area also.  I made a shortcut on one of my computer desktops to the online version (which will read to the kids if they choose that button) and as they read they fill out the fact poster. 

This is a copy of my reading log that my students use during Read to Self or Read to Someone...they also can add books they have heard in Listen to Reading.  I added a book response to it after going to my last training...although that idea is still a work in progress.  Click here if you would like a copy.

I also added a rainbow writing paper to my Working with Words area.  The kids just seemed to do better with a specified piece of paper to rainbow write on...so here it is!

Last, but not least, I made a printable to use with all those million of alphabet beads I have.  I created a word building station for Working with Words and added all the beads...some chenille stems (pipe cleaners)...and this printable...VOILA!  Word Building Station.  Click here if you want a copy!

I have several other projects in the works...so check back every so often to see what I've added!

Treasures Companion Pages for Smartboard

I work every week to provide my team with companion pages for th smart board that correlate to the activities in our Treasures Reading Program.  A friend of mine suggested selling digital downloads of these pages on TPT, but I wanted to offer the first one free to test the waters.  It has about 40 pages of activities and references to the program.  If you like what I have put together here please leave a little love note to let me know what you think.

You can get the free download here.

Winter!

We have been doing everything winter around here!  The kids and I thought since mother nature couldn't provide the real deal, we would celebrate snow in our own way.  We have been reading and practicing two new winter poems in our fluency mini-lessons.  The kids started giggling when we first read the snowball poem.  It took a few of the kids a second to figure out why a snowball would pee the bed...but we all got there pretty quickly and enjoyed a good laugh.  There is a cute poster for Shel Silverstein's Snowball poem at Teeny Tiny Teacher's Blog.  You can download it from her here.  She has some great printables to go along with it!

I made a poster for the Chubby Little Snowman poem.  You can grab a copy of it from my TPT store here.

I hope everyone is having a good middle of the week...it's all downhill to the weekend!

Daily Five Minilesson idea on ch with a freebie...

Hey everyone!  I'm gearing up for a new week and I thought I would share one of my Daily 5 ideas with you.  My district uses the Treasures Reading Program, and this next week we will be studying ch and tch spelling patterns.  Now, I don't know about your class, but in my class there are always students who confuse the sh and ch (tch) sounds during spelling.  I thought I would create a poster to help my class remember the look and sound of ch.  Well, my ten year old son always goes around the house singing this song he made up about french fries.  LIGHTBULB!  My class needs fluency practice and our rule is ch and tch...why not use my son's song and create a song (poem) poster for my class to learn. 

Click here if you would like to download a free copy from my TPT store.

Then I had another idea...create a word practice or word sort game for my Working with Words area. 

 I think I am going to go with a word sort using three fry boxes...one marked sh, one marked ch and one marked tch.  I will write the words I want to put in the word sort on yellow popsicle sticks that can be sorted.  I am going to be creating a printable with the words on paper for those that need a quick printable activity as well as a self-check chart.  I will get those uploaded as quickly as I can get them made...

If you would like to download a free copy of the poem you can get it here from my TPT store.  The printables to go along with it will be part of a kit, that will be available for purchase later this week.  I hope everyone has a great week!

That was a short week? Surely not!

We had a great time back together this week in class.  We shared what we got for Christmas...how we celebrated New Year...it was awesome! 

We are working on descriptive writing next week, so I thought I would re-visit the idea of mental images by having the class make Five Senses poems about New Year.  It worked great!  At one point one of my little monkeys had me laughing so hard I had tears down my cheek.  She couldn't come up with a line for "Smells like..." and she came to me to help her get some ideas.  I asked her, "Where were you at?" "Gramma's", she replied.  So I talked to her about how when I visit certain places I notice that they smell differently...(is it only me, or does anyone else love the way all Hallmarks smell).  I explained that because we all use different smelling candles, soaps, cleaners, etc. we get used to our own house and sometimes when we enter someone else's house we notice a floral, fruity, etc. type of scent.  So then I ask (and boy did I walk into this one!) "What does Gramma's house smell like?"  I expected the response of flowers or cookies, but her prompt reply was "Dog!".  I immediately started laughing, as did she, and we decided to simply write "Smells like Gramma's house." and let the reader create their own imagined Gramma's house scent.

On a different note, I am making some new posters and things for around my room.  I know I looked every where on the web for a set of cards for my Daily Five Pocket Chart Choice Cards, but I couldn't find any that I absolutely loved, so I made some.  I thought I would share for those of you that want them too, so here they are!  Click here to be taken to my TPT store for the free download.

Magic E lesson and ideas...

We have been working on the vce word pattern in our room since before Christmas.  I had seen a few ideas on Pinterest about ways to use paint sample cards for literacy...hey a little elbow grease and a trip to Wal-Mart and I have new manipulatives to play with...I'm in!  So that's what I did.  I made a trip to Wal-Mart and picked up all different kinds of sample cards...solid squares, rectangles with graduating degrees of a certain shade, and these really cool Better Homes and Gardens ones that have a hole to punch out.  I'm assuming that you are to try to match paint or coordinate, but being a teacher I saw a word family slide waiting to be born!  Here is a picture of the final project, along with the ideas that it inspired (sorry it's sideways...I always forget to turn the phone I use to take the pics!)

To make this slide, simply punch out the hole in two Better Homes and Gardens sample cards (save the pop-out circle for later use).  Turn the two cards back to back and tape together.  I just used scotch tape, which we all know won't last 30 seconds with a group of first graders...wait, what am I thinking...they won't even make it two seconds!  So when I make them for my class I plan on getting some of that cool, decorative duct tape to bind the edges together.  Anywho...once they are taped, simply write your favorite word family to the right of each hole.  Then take one of the graduated tint sample card and write a different consonant in each box.  *Word to the Wise* Slide the strip into the card and write the consonants through the punch out...this way you guarantee the letters will be the right size.  Instant word practice.  Kids can make their own, or you can send them home for practice...who cares if they come back...they are free and take about a minute and a half to make!

*Sidenote-you will notice in the picture that I have also made a set to use for Magic E practice...that has been part of our New Year review this week, and I decided to make one at the same time.

This idea started those creative juices flowing and I thought..."Hmmmmm, what could I use those circles for?"  Well, we made glittery Magic E's on index cards today and the plan is to have them use their Magic E cards to find words around the room that they could try to add the E to and make a new word.  So, I finally found a way to use those foam snowflakes I bought.  I put the short vowel words that we had written down from the book "Hop on Pop" onto address labels and stuck them on the snowflakes which I posted around the room...but our Magic E's were too large.  :(  Then WHAMO!  I have all those little circles and popsicle sticks...what if I make Mini Magic E's on popsicle sticks?  Excellent!  So I got out all my stuff and started putting them together.  Then I thought, but what if I want to use these on book print?  LIGHTBULB!  I have all these little round dot labels that someone donated and I thought, "Eeny Meeny E on the other end would be great!  Multi-tasking manipulatives...love it!"  Here is a picture of how they turned out.

My class will be using the Magic E Wands and the words posted around the room to do a whole group word sort.  I am going to give them a recording sheet to write down which words can make a new word with Magic E and which words can't. 





Here is a picture...if you would like me to send you the master, leave a comment in the box with your email address and I will send it to you.

We will check back in on the carpet to compare notes before doing our next rotation.  Happy teaching this week everyone! 

Going back to school...

Tomorrow is our first day back.  I just spent the afternoon and early evening making sure everything was just right for my class's first day back.  I am excited and a little nervous about our day together.  I hope everyone has a great day at school tomorrow!  Good Luck!

From Christmas Comes Winter-Manipulatives That Is!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday.  Mine is soon to be over...we go back to school on Wednesday, but...good news!  I was so excited to get a message that I have my first follower!  Thank you! I hope you are the first of many to come! 

After creating my lesson plans this week I started to plan for my centers.  I have to admit I think my brain is still on vacation, because I couldn't think of one thing that I thought my kids would just be over the moon about, so what did I do?  I went shopping!  That's right! I loaded the whole family up and went to Wal-Mart...nothing like a little grocery shopping to stimulate the creative juices!  As soon as we entered the building, the boys (husband included) ran to the toy section to check out the newest Legos that Santa hadn't been able to fit in his sack.  I however went to see what was left of the clearance holiday stuff.  Boy did I hit the jackpot!  Most of their holiday items were 50% off.  I found some snowmen ornaments that I will use in my Working With Words center after adding letters to their bellies.  I think I will do a Words in Words pocket chart activity using the words New Year...maybe I'll add Happy, if there's not enough letters to make at least 10 words.

This inspired me to make a new version of our BAM! game.  I'm going to call it "Oh Snow!".  I have painted craft sticks white and put a sight word on each one.  I wrote "Oh, Snow!" on just a few.  For the activity, students can pull a stick out of the container and try to read the word.  If they read the word correctly, they get to keep it.  If they pull out the "Oh, Snow!" stick they have to put all their sticks back.

I made thegame storage out of an empty sugar free drink mix container.  I peeled off the shrink-wrap ad used a permanent marker to draw in the face.  I took an old snowman sock and pushed the toe up inside of itself and glued it to the edge of the lid.  I made it into a hat by tying a piece of yarn around the open end of the sock to make the bobble at the top.  I used left over pieces of foam stickers from the kits below to decorate the container.

Another great find were foam ornament sets that I will save for my class to make next year.  They didn't have a price on them, so I went to scan them and whoa baby...they were 75% off!  Can we say awesome!  I soon found out that all their Christmas craft kits were 75% off. 

I found these packages of 36 snowflakes for $1.24 per package. 

I am going to put a piece of packing tape in the middle of each so I can make a re-usable word sort using our Treasures spelling rule each week in January.

Why packing tape?  You can write on it with a permanent marker, then when you want to erase it, just use a white board marker to scribble over it, then wipe off!

I also found these foam stickers for the same price...$1.24.  I bought some Christmas and some winter.  The winter ones came with mini-snowmen that I will use with these big snowman ornament crafts for matching activities...again, using packing tape to make them changeable each week to match our focus each week.  They came with little hats too.  I haven't figured out what to use them for yet, but I'm sure I'll find a way.

This week we will be matching nouns written on the small snowmen to the big snowmen labeled person, place, thing, plural, and singular.  Next week we will be matching verbs to their tense-        present, past or future.

Last but not least, I found a super-awesome new crown to wear during small groups.  During the beginning of the year I wear a crown and talk about letter land and queen I who always gets her way...so when I wear my crown I can't be interrupted.  Great visual for the kids during small group time.  I know I look a little crazy, but my son was taking the picture while laughing which of course made me laugh...and then I couldn't stop.  Anywho!  Have a great week back!