Photo Dump

I'm hoping the old saying, "a picture's worth a thousand words" is true tonight.  I'm so tired.  I went straight from work to pick up my kids and then to a really cool missionary thing at my church.  It wasn't over until 8:30. Needless to say, it's been a long day.  But, I have tons of pictures from the last few weeks...

My kids collect their Valentine's cards and treats in these heart pockets.  Some years I let them decorate the front, but we were pressed for time this year.  (I kinda like the "clean-ness" of no decoration!).  These are really quick and easy to make. 

 This is the hanging hall art for February.  The kids glued tissue paper squares to a heart traced onto red cardstock.  It works best to paint a little glue, place tissue paper in glue, then paint over the top with more glue.  Watered down glue works well.  Wait until they're dry then cut out.

We celebrate Valentine's Day with our Dads-- Doughnuts with Dad.  This takes the place of a party.  I've done it every year I've taught and really like it.  The kids make these dads to hang in the hall.

We also make dad a little book, a card, and a button.  Nothing too fancy-- Dads don't seem to be too picky!  We also play Are You Smarter than a First Grader (kids vs dads).  The kids really like it.  My friend and I created the game on a flipchart for the Promethean Board.  If you are interested in a copy let me know.

My room set up for the dads (I dust off the doughnut sugar and reuse these tablecloths!)

I was feeling festive this year-- even the tree got a little heart love.

The kids were so excited to dump all of their goodies from the heart pockets and read their cards.

We've been learning about place value the last couple of weeks.  I love this marshmallow place value activity.  The kids loved it too!  We practiced first with just the marshmallows, then added the recording sheet later.  You can find the activity {here} on Abby's blog.

We also did a little contraction surgery last week.  My class loved that too!  They were so cute in their little surgical masks and gloves (I got a dentist parent to donate the masks).  My class was struggling with contractions this year.  I really think this helped them to understand these words a little better.

 Of course I copied Cara's surgeon.  I'm willing to admit that I have absolutely no drawing abilities!  I love tracing with the Promethean Board :)

One of my math tubs this week-- from Cara's Place Value Unit (this is a must buy- probably my most favorite unit of hers)

Another math tub from Cara.  I was afraid the base 10 blocks would get all mixed up if I put different amounts in 10 baggies.  So I used different colored pipe cleaners and pom poms for tens and ones. 

I made this little 10's mat to help them sort their beans into groups of 10.  They LOVE scoop and sort!  Cara's again!

I can't remember where I found this idea last year.  Please let me know if it's yours.  I created this little sheet.  It's just good practice for counting tens and ones.  Once they made their own initials, they could use the base-10 blocks to create other letters.

Open House is tomorrow night.  So, we've been working hard to make sure the room is "Parent Perfect."  Here are the directed-drawings of George and Abe.  I love this activity from Deanna Jump.  I made them draw with marker-- they listen much better that way!

Our anchor chart inspired by Abby.  This lesson was a hit.  They all wrote a question on a sticky note (making sure to use a question word and a question mark) then I answered each one.

I loved this inferring idea of Cara's but didn't have a big bulletin board.  So, I changed it a little to fit my space.  I took a picture of each page in the book and printed them out.  Each child worked with a partner to make their inference.  They all created their own David, but some were sent home early for lack of space.

After studying -ch we had a crunchy munchy -ch "party", inspired by First Grader at Last.  It wasn't really a party, although I called it one!  The kids each brought in their own -ch food for snack time.

I love how these Splats turned out.  My kids had some great text-to-self connections.

My kids really got into homophones.  I read "Dear Deer" to introduce the concept.  They worked in pairs to create their homophone pears. 

Here are some of our finished Venns.  I think they turned out really cute.

This one cracks me up!  Not quite sure about the red glasses :)

I've never had a child make their Venn into a ninja-- there's a first time for everything!

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.

 

Winter Math Centers and a Freebie

I'm excited to post about my new winter math centers pack-- "A Wintery Mix of Math Centers."  I've included 7 math games/activities to use during independent practice time (in my room it's called Math Tubs).  These centers were designed to practice Common Core Standards and be easy enough that most children can complete these without teacher help.  Four of the games have a snowman/penguin theme, while the other three are Valentine-themed.  Here's a little preview.  If you're interested you can find the set by clicking here.  I tried to keep the price teacher friendly, at $5.00.

And as a thank you to my sweet blog followers, you can pick up one of the games FREE! Click here to download.

 

Christmas Math Centers

I (the kids in my class) have found a small mistake on one of the math centers I sold in my Christmas Cheer Math Pack.  I fixed the mistake and downloaded the new pack to TPT.  You can also click here to download the corrected set of cards.  I created a card with the time 12:30, but really it should have been 1:30 to match with the clock.  These cards belong to the "It's Almost Christmas Time" game.    I'm sorry for the mistake!

From Turkeys to Reindeer

This will be a smorgasbord of ideas all rolled into one post. 

First up... Turkey Word Work

Yes, I know, it's almost Thanksgiving now... and there's no way you could possibly use this idea this year...but I thought I'd share because I really liked it.  Maybe you can tuck it away for next year.  I found some word family turkeys last year on a blog.  I loved them, but they were designed to practice long vowels.  Since we're just now wrapping up short vowels I created some new turkeys to use as a short vowel review.  My kids loved them.  This project was one of their reading tubs a few weeks ago.  Each child chose one turkey (each with a different word family) and six feathers.  They wrote words for their word family on the feathers, colored, cut, glued, and voila...word family turkeys.

Click here to download the turkey bodies
Click here to download the feathers

Moving on to Reindeer... because Christmas is right around the corner.  Now, I'm not one of those Christmas fanatics who puts up Christmas decorations the second week of November.  But-- I do like to do these reindeer during the first few days of December so we can use them all month.  I call them Reindeer Mail.  I send home a letter to the parents requesting that they send in a small item (candy, Christmas pencil, small notebook, other junk from the Dollar Store) for the reindeer pockets.  The children also spend a little time each day writing a note to each child in the class.  For the notes, or Reindeer Mail, I tell the children who we are going to write a note to for that particular day.  Within 17 days we have a note for each child.  When I pick your name, you get to write a note to me :)  By the time our Christmas party rolls around each child has a reindeer pocket full of little treats and special notes.  We open them on the day of our party.  Each first grade teacher does this and we all use our bulletin board outside the room to hang the reindeer.  The kids are so excited to see what's inside.

To make the reindeer pockets: fold a 12 X 18" piece of brown construction paper twice- until you have a V shape.  Staple a few times on the back.  I use the large circle di-cut for the eye balls and nose.  We have a smaller circle di-cut that I use for the eyes.  I always give them a choice of blue, brown or green for the middle of the eyes.  I use a 4" di-cut 0, cut in half for the bridle.  I like the look of glitter on the noses, but I do that part myself-- for obvious reasons :)

Since I'm obviously not good at blogging each day-- or each week-- I'll share another idea.  This is one of my favorites!  Each year my kids make Christmas books for their parents. 

These are similar to the Mother's Day books I wrote about in May.  I order little blank books from a company called Bare Books.  The kids create a Christmas book, called "Christmas Is..."  We read Gail Gibbons' book, "Christmas Is..." first and start a discussion about Christmas.  Then the children map out their book (click here for a copy).  Each page starts out "Christmas is____"  They fill in the blank with an -ing word and a noun.  Some examples:

baking cookies

sitting in Santa's lap

celebrating Jesus' birthday

listening for reindeer

decorating gingerbread houses

singing Christmas carols

hanging stockings

decorating the Christmas tree

opening presents

giving to others

After doing the planning page, they write the words in their book.  I type out the sentence frame,  copy onto 3.5 X 5" labels, and stick in their books ahead of time.

Then for the next 10 days, the kids illustrate one page a day.  I buy them the 64 count box of crayons to use for the second semester of school (because the 24 count is all yucky by this point).  They LOVE all the color choices and always do a really nice job illustrating.  We also decorate the cover and dedication page.  Lastly, I have each child sit with me and I type the About the Author info (I've found this is so much faster than having each child write it themselves, bring it to me, and then try to decipher their writing).  I also take a picture of them with a Santa hat to put on the About the Author page. 

We spend a little time wrapping them in class (which is a hoot, because none know how to wrap).  Then they go home as a present for their families.

 

Most years I have one child who doesn't celebrate Christmas.  They will do a book called "My Family."  Their sentence frame says "My family _______."  This book is much harder for the kids to write, but it still works fairly well.

Last on the blogging agenda...

I've created some Christmas Math Centers. 

You can find them in my TPT store for just $5.  These activities were made to cover Core Curriculum content for "real classrooms."  My kids will be using them the next three weeks in their math tubs.  If you check them out, or purchase them, I'd love to know what you think.