A Peek at My Week(s) and Two Freebies

Wow!  The past two weeks have been so busy!  And it doesn't look like February is going to be any slower.  I have so many ideas to share.  I guess this post will be a little random, but that's how it goes.  So, in no particular order...

We celebrated the 100th Day ... two weeks ago...    This year I wanted to simplify the day, while making sure I still included some new Pinterest finds.  We started off the morning by making gumball machines.  I was inspired with Mrs. Lee's Kindergarten gumball machine.  I wanted each of my kids to make their own gumball machines-- with, you guessed it, 100 painted gumballs!  I wasn't quite sure if this would be the biggest disaster of the year or a really fun idea (but I talked the other 8 first grade teachers into giving it a try with me!).  So, with VERY explicit instructions we got to work.  The kids assembled their machines first.  Then I carefully showed them how to dip the Q-tip into the paint and dot, then dip and dot, dip and dot--- until they had 10 dots of one color.  I set up two colors of paint at five set of desks.  After they finished one color they were free to do the second color.  When everyone was finished we rotated to the next table.  I was in shock!  My very chatty class was SILENT!  It was first grade teacher gold!!  They were so busy dipping, dotting, and counting that they didn't make a peep!  They were very proud of themselves when they had 100 pieces of gum.  And no one screwed theirs up-- they all turned out just as neat as the one in the picture!  Click {here} to get a copy of the poem at the bottom.

We also completed a 100th Day Mystery Picture.  I gave my kids a sheet with two hundreds charts on it.  Click {here} to get your own copy.  Then I called out one number at a time and told them what color to use.  With each square they were guessing what the picture would be.  Easy, fun, and a great way to assess number sense.

This past week we wrapped up our study of winter/snow/arctic animals.  We were inference investigators thanks to Abby's super cute Snow Day Case Files.  They LOVED it, and learned a thing or two about making inferences.  Although, I was a little surprised at some of the inferences they made-- guess my schema and their schema are way different :)  I can't wait to follow up with Cara's "No David" lesson tomorrow.

We also read "The Mitten" and did a little activity.  Each child chose an animal then wrote 3 clues using the sentence frame "Who _______?"  At the bottom of the mitten they wrote the answer.  (Example: Who is white?  Who is small?  Who can hop?  A rabbit, that's who!).  I actually typed their clues as they finished writing them.  It tied in perfect with our phonics study of wh/qu and questioning.  We discussed using good descriptive words so that we could easily guess the animal.  Click {here} for a copy of the mitten page I found on Jan Brett's website.

This is my sample, and yes-- I used clipart for the picture!  An artist I am not!

And, now for a few freebies.   The first one is for math.  The kids will use the monster cards and practice adding 1 and 2 and subtracting 1 and 2.  This is another great assessment of number sense to 100.  Click {here} for a copy.

 

The second one is for reading.  It seems that I might be a tad behind some of you-- we are still stuck on short vowels in StoryTown.  Hopefully soon we'll be moving to long vowels.  Until then, here's a little more short vowel practice.  The kids will use a vowel die to create words, then sort the words as real or nonsense.  My kids have actually already completed this same activity created by Made for 1st Grade, but it had a winter theme.  As I was listening to my kids complete the tub, I kept hearing them say things like "If I roll a "e" then I'll be able to make the word "red."  I loved the activity so much that I created a new one for February.  I hope that's not against copyright rules.  Click {here} for a copy.