First Grade Poetry

During the last two weeks, my kiddos have been writing lots of poetry.  I think that poetry is something that they are naturally drawn to and pretty easy to write.

We've read lots of children's poetry-- including my favorite Shel Silverstein.  My kids can't seem to get enough of him this year!

I started out teaching this unit by reading "Writing Dino-mite Poems" in the Learn to Write series.  This is a great tool for teaching writing.  There is a teaching book with printables and a read-aloud book for each type of writing.  You don't have to purchase the whole set.  Individual books are sold at my local parent teacher store. 

I've found that it's easiest to have structured poems for the kids to practice with each day.  I bind these in a little book to take home.  Click here to download a copy of my poetry book.  Many of these poems were inspired from the Dino-mite Poetry book.  Others were found online.

I hate that I let my kids take home their books without taking pictures first.  I'll do my best to describe each poem with an example.

Animal Riddle Poem- inspired by "Shanna's Animal Riddles"

1st Line- one sentence describing animal

2nd Line- another sentence describing animal

3rd Line- It rhymes with ___

4th Line- sound or action word, repeated three times

5th Line- It is a (name of animal)

*Make sure children pick animals that have rhyming words!

How Do I Know?

Students should pick a time of day, a season, a month, or holiday to write about

Simile Poem

Students can pick any object to write about.

Spring Is...

First Line- Color or colors to describe something "springy"

Second Line- Name of object

Third Line- a phrase starting with -ing

Fourth Line- Any thought pertaining to topic

A few other sping ideas (bumblebees, flowers, butterflies, basketball, baseball, grass, sandals, dresses)

I Can

On each line, the children will tell something they can do like an animal

The Book of Poems also includes an acrostic and a free verse poem.

How do you teach poetry?  I would love some new poems to try next year!

Attitude Adjusted... I Think

I'm sorry for the negative tone of my last post.  My intent of this blog is not to complain about my job.  I actually love my job-- and this year I have a great group of kids.  My gripe isn't with Skpye at all.  I just get bogged down with always being asked to do more.  It seems there are always new standards, new assessments, new philosophies, new technology, new paperwork, new procedures that all get in the way of the job I love (all of that with no pay raise-- actually a pay cut if you teach in Alabama).  That's what frustrates me the most.

Thanks to all of you who commented about your Skype experiences.  I truly appreciate your ideas and your willingness to communicate with my class.  I'm planning to get in touch with you and set up something.  There was even a sweet teacher from Egypt that wants to Skype- how cool is that? 

I am in agreement that my firsties will love it-- let's be honest though, what do they not love?  They were also "in love" with the Fruit Loops and marshmallows I gave them to practice place value, the Band-Aids, surgical masks and gloves we used to do contraction surgery (some even took the masks and gloves to daycare to play doctor kitties!), and they still beg me to go back to the field and run laps around the track (which they obviously didn't see as punishment during recess one day last month). 

{There's that little bit of bad attitude creeping back in.}

So, I'll end with this. 

I thought about it all week.  Of course I immediately came to Philippians 2:14 that says"Do all things without complaining."  Even my principal's quote of the week was about having joy and a good attitude (hope she didn't think of that one after reading my last post!).  I'm a rule follower and will do whatever my job requires of me.  I'm trying harder to do it without complaining.  Of course my kids will love it, and it will be a great experience for them (and me).

I'll keep you updated on how it goes.

If you made it to the bottom of this post, you deserve a little freebie.  This week my kiddos are learning about long e, spelled -ee and -ea.  Here's a little word work to practice long e.  Those that finish early always enjoy creating their own puzzles on the back.  Click {here} to download a copy.

Scrambled Sentences in Reverse

I love finding a new spin on an old activity.  For months now, my kids have been unscrambling sentences during reading tubs.  The sentences started off super easy and short, then became longer, then capitalization and punctuation were left out...  Now this activity is getting too easy (which is a good thing, right?)

So, it's time for a twist on the ol' scrambled sentence.  After reading Julie Lee's post about mirrored words I had an idea.  The kids will use mirrors to read each reversed word; then they can unscramble the sentence.  I'm hoping this will add a little pizzaz to this activity.

I decided to go with a spring theme as wishful thinking that spring will be here soon.   Plus it makes it a little more versatile to use anytime between now and May.  Click {here} to download a free copy.  Please let me know how it goes if you try it with your kids.

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.

 

Free Halloween Math Games

My kids (and I) are loving all of the fun Halloween-themed things going on right now.  We've learned about pumpkins, scarecrows, bats and spiders.  And coming up soon-- owls.  I created a few Halloween games to spice up math tubs.  They have been a big hit.

Spook-tacular Tens
One of the Common Core standards in first grade is to determine the meaning of the equals sign and have children tell if equations are true or false.  I created this little game to begin teaching the concept of equal and not equal-- plus it fits in nicely with our addition strategy of the week-- tens partners.  The children sort the addition fact cards into "Equals 10" or "Doesn't Equal 10".  Then they record their answers on the recording sheet.  Click on the picture to download a copy.

Spooky Coin Count
The next game focuses on counting like coins-- pennies, nickels, and dimes.  The children sort the cards by the coin type.  They count their money and record on the sheet by skip counting.  Click on the picture below to download.

Double Double, Toil and Trouble
My kids are loving this game this week!  The directions say to use 7 pennies in the middle of the witches pot.  Instead, I've let them use candy.  They aren't even eating it-- just using it in the game.  It's the little things, I guess!  Anyway, a partner teacher said she was making her kids use 13 objects if they are playing with three in a group.  That extends the length of the game a little.  Good thinking, Jan :)
Click on the picture to download.

FREEBIES in exchange for FORGIVENESS

It has been WAY too long since my last post and all I can say is I'm sorry and WOW!  September sure did fly by!  I can't believe tomorrow is already October.  I have been so busy at school and at home-- blogging just hasn't been a top priority.  But, to make up for it I have some free stuff!

I have spent the last few weeks in math teaching number sense.  The children have learned about tally marks, even and odd, greater than/less than, and using the number line and hundreds chart as tools.  We have also just started addition strategies (+0, +1, and doubles).  Each week we continue to work in our math notebook practicing graphing, ways to make a number, problem solving, and estimation.  And, can I tell you my kids have gotten TONS better at estimating.  Problem solving-- well, that's still a work in progress :) 

Below are some of the resources that I have used for either math tubs or the math notebook recently.  Click on the pictures to download.



A math tub activity to practice ordering numbers from least to greatest.  The directions aren't on the document.  You will need to cut apart the food cards.  Have the children sort the cards by the color around the outside of each card.  Then, they will order the four cards in the set from least to greatest.  Lastly, they will record their answers on the recording sheet.

 

A math tub activity to practice patterning

 

A class graph for the math notebook.  We do the graph together as a class.  I go around the room and allow each child to answer the question.  For this graph, the children colored in the fruit pictures as we we polled each child.

 

A math tub activity to practice labeling patterns

 

Problem solving for the math notebook (these are made to fit on 2 X 4 labels)

I promise I don't spend the whole day teaching math.  I'm just excited to be teaching our new curriculum this year.  Our reading time is a little more dictated by the basal (Harcourt Storytown), so it's not as much fun to blog about.  I also haven't spent much time creating word work activities because I've found so many great ideas on other blogs (why re-invent the wheel?). 
I hope you enjoy the free downloads.  I'm going to try and get back into the blogging groove.

Week in Review- Math

I'm sorry it's been a little while since my last post.  My husband was out of town last week, making it a much more busy week.

As I mentioned in a few previous posts, my first grade team spent many hours this summer creating our own math curriculum-- based on several different research-based programs (of course!).

Here's what the second week of math looked like in my classroom:

Whole Group Lessons:

We spent the whole week learning about patterns.  We watched the Brain Pop Jr. pattern video as a quick introduction.  I love this website!  The children practiced rhythmic patterning by clapping while I read "Caps for Sale" and tapping them while we sang "Going on a Bear Hunt."  We also completed a flipchart on the Promethean Board to learn how to create, extend and label patterns.

Independent/Partner Work:

 I gave each of the kids a pattern block template from our Everyday Math program.  They were allowed to create any pattern using the shapes.  I was really impressed with how they turned out.



 The kids worked in partnerships to create patterns with either bears, Unifix cubes, or links.  One person created a pattern and the other had to copy it.  They had to make three different patterns.

To the right is an activity I like to do each year.  Each child is given Fruit Loops to create a pattern of choice.  They glue them on then label their pattern by color, number and letter.  They always like this activity because they get to each the leftover cereal!

Click here to download your copy.


We also did the name pattern sheet, but I forgot to take pictures of it.  I blogged about it earlier here.  You can get a free copy of that page by clicking on the link.



 Math Notebook:

 To the Left:

7 ways to make the number 6.

To the right: Our first problem solving label was just a way to start a discussion about numbers.  We will get into addition soon.

To the left- Class graph: do you have a pet?  Click here to download a copy.   To the right- Estimation:  I brought in a bag of Hershey Kisses.  They had to guess how many and write their guess.  We came to the carpet and counted together.  Then each child went back to their notebook and wrote the correct answer and then "I was too high" or "I was too low."

Math Freebies

With all of my team's math planning, I've been busy creating lots of new math activities to put in my tubs.  I haven't shared any math games with you in awhile so I thought I would tonight.  Hope someone can use them.

 Two of a Kind (Popsicles- count by 2's)

 All Aboard (Addition Game to practice 10's)

Citrus Sequencing (like Frames and Arrows from Everyday Math)

Hoppy Addition

Wow!

I was totally blown away by the response to the FREEBIE linky party!! I really didn't expect many people to care or to link up, but I guess I underestimated the allure of something free! Thank you to all who participated. There are lots of really great resources.

Here's one more activity you can download for FREE as a way to say "thanks!" 

Directions: Students will walk around the room and tally each object listed.  Then, they can record the number in the circle.

I tried to keep in generic so it can be used in many types of classrooms.  The "crayons" and "markers" are meant to be the amount at the child's own desk-- unless you have a quick finisher that you need to keep extra busy !




Giveaway Winner and a FREEBIE

Thanks for everyone who participated in my first giveaway.  Now, to announce the winner...

Here's a math FREEBIE for everyone.  To play, the children will arrange the flower cards in order, counting by 5's.  Then, they will record the counting sequence and answer a few questions about it.  I made the flowers go to 120 since the new Core Standards ask first graders to count to 120 (not 100).

I think the cards would be fun to use as a whole group activity first, before adding them to a math workstation.  You could pass out one card to each child and have them line up in order across the room. 

Click here to download. 

Mousy Math- The Differentiated Version

Update on June 16:
I've revised the version I originally put on the blog.  I had a request to mix up the mice so that all the evens weren't boys and odds weren't girls.  I thought it was a great idea for a higher math group.  Debbie Diller would be proud!  If you have already downloaded Mousy Math, you might want to go back and get the newest version here.

Original blog post on June 15:
I found some adorable mouse clipart from Scrappin Doodles and had to figure out a way to use it.  Here's what I came up with.  It's a math center to practice with odd/even numbers at the beginning of the year.  Before I put it in a center, I'm planning to use the mice to visually show the odd-even pattern by lining up all the mice in number order.    

You could also have your kids put the boy mice in order, to practice counting by 2's.

 

To make the center, you'll need to print on cardstock and laminate.  Cut apart the mice and the cheese.  I've included a recording sheet. 

Spin a Word

I've been working to create some Word Work activities that can be used for each short vowel as it is taught (for a little consistancy during Daily 5).  Here's a little activity I call "Spin a Word."  The kids will use a paper clip and pencil to spin the beginning sound and ending sound.  The middle sound will depend on which vowel I'm teaching. 

I made a couple of different versions.  The first one is generic.  After laminating the spinner sheet, you can write in your own vowel sound.  I also made some with the vowel already on the page.  I tried to pick beginning/ending sounds that were a little more specific to actual word families. 

Click here to download for FREE.

Is It A Pattern

Here's a little pattern activity to incoorporate into your math time next year.  Click here to download for FREE.  Please leave a comment or become a follower if you like it.

I'm having trouble figuring out how to get rid of the black box around all of my images.  If you know how, I'd love your help!

Hairy Number Patterns

I loved the Lettering Delights clipart used by Teacher Bits and Bobs to create a math activity called "Eat Drink and Be Hairy."  I decided to use the same pictures to create a number pattern activity.  I think creating and extending number patterns (counting by 1's, 2's, 5's, and 10's) are essential for building number sense.  Here's a little activity I've been working on.

If you download it, and like what you see, please leave me a comment.  Thanks!

Click on the picture to download

Lightning Bug Round-Up Word Work

Here's a little game I made to review the long i sound (spelled -ight and -ite).  This is my first time to link something to Google Docs.  Fingers crossed it works!  Click here to download.