Great Ideas!

It's still CRAZY in my world! My hubby had his surgery and is doing great. I hope to bring him home from the hospital tomorrow. I've been able to do a lot of blog stalking while sitting at the hospital except they have a very, very slow connection. I've found some great ideas. Here are just a few:

Jill has some terrific snowflake ideas over on her blog Mrs. T's First Grade Class.

A very cute sight word game I found at Swamp Frog First Grader you should check it out. Love the monsters!

I was able to finish a new story mat packet for my Teachers Notebook shop. I love story mats to teach story problems. Go check it out HERE.

And here is a little FREEBIE from me. It's my birthday graph my sub will be doing for me on Friday while I nurse the hubby back to health. Click on the picture for a PDF download. Clipart is DJ Inkers.

I hope you are having a great week!

Santa's Suit & Grab and Graph

Most of our 'Santa's New Suits' are back! The kiddos did a great job. Here are some of my favorites. We read the rest of the story today and they loved it! If you don't know what I'm talking about, you can check out my earlier post HERE.

We were working on our shapes last week. So I made a fun little 'Grab and Graph Pattern Block' sheet. The kiddos thought it was fun. I printed it on both sides so they could do it more that once. Click on the picture for a FREE copy.

I hope you are having a fun week!

Thanksgiving Things & Fabulous Friday Finds!

We've been working on writing lists. So I had the kiddos make their Thanksgiving Shopping Lists. We glued the little title tag onto a small paper bag and then wrote our lists with a marker. Some got carried away with the bullet thing but they had fun. It was interesting to see what some of them put on their lists. It would make for a strange Thanksgiving dinner- things like chili, tacos, and watermelon. And I just love the one in the picture- "mashs butados". Don't think I want to try those!

 Click on the picture below for a PDF.

A FABULOUS FRIDAY FIND!
For graphs this week, we are doing something a little different. I was inspired by a math center over on First Grade Garden who was inspired by Doodle Bugs Teaching fall unit on TpT. (How's that for a round about shout out?) Any how, they both had these cool graphing cards. So I made some for my math stations. But to introduce it, I'm going to do a Thanksgiving one with my whole class. Then I've made some others to put in my stations. The kiddos count the objects on the card and then record the data on a graph. You can grab my version of this idea by clicking on the picture below. Of course the clip art is from one of my favorites- DJ Inkers!

Another FABULOUS FRIDAY FIND!

We are working on digraphs and I found this cute idea over on First Grade Blue Skies. It's called the "Thinking Thumb". Great 'thumbs on' idea to help the firsties remember the 'th' sound!

I hope you have found something you can use in your classroom.
Thanks for stopping by. Have a fun weekend!

Blends and more blends

I've been tending my grandchildren for the weekend. They are 9, 7, 4, and 18 months old. And can I just say "I'm exhausted!!!" I don't know how their mother keeps up with them. I need a little down time tonight so it's 'blogging time!.
BLENDS
We've been working on blends this week and the next. Here is a little activity for the kiddos to do. Some of my lower ones had a hard time doing this alone but the higher kids loved it. It's called blenders. There is one for l-blends, r-blends and s-blends. The recording sheet goes to all three. Click on the picture for a PDF.

GRAPH
Here is my graph for this week. It's about colors.

DAILY 5
I'm getting ready to launch Daily 5 on Monday. It's been hard to plan because we have a staggered starting schedule. I only have 70 minutes in the morning and again in the afternoon with just half my class that I HAVE to teach literacy. So I'm going to try and do 3 rounds with 2 short teaching times in between. I hope I can make it work. I really need to do something. I have a pretty low group this year and I need to work with my guided reading groups more often and for longer periods of time. I think this will be my answer. Keep your fingers crossed. I found a great blog that has helped me a lot. You might want to check it out if you haven't already. It's by Christina Bainbridge. You'll want to read everything she's shared on Daily 5. You can go HERE to find it.
I hope you have a great weekend. This grandma is going to bed NOW!

Hodge Podge of Activities

I LOVE to watch the fun the kiddos have dressing up for Halloween. I LOVE to watch their faces during the school parade as the variety of costumes come dancing into the room. I LOVE the laughs and giggles at the class party. But I am certainly glad when Halloween is OVER!!! I need to get down to some serious teaching! This is going to be a hodge podge of activities we've done this week or will do next week. Click on the picture for a PDF.
GRAPH OF THE WEEK

We've been working on the seasons in science so this is a great time to do this graph.

L-BLENDS

We are reviewing the l-blends this week and I needed a little paper and pencil activity to see how they are doing.

MAKE THE CAKE
Here's a little partner game for practicing the -ake and -ail word families we'll be playing this week.

ROLL AND WIN
I have had a dice game forever called 'Phase 10'. I thought I could make into a math game and the idea finally hit me. There are 2 different dice. One has 1,2,3,4,W,W on it. The other one is 5-10. The kiddos roll both dice together and write a number sentence for the numbers they roll. If they happen to get a W, they make a tally mark in the box. When they get 5 tally marks the game is over. The two partners compare their number sentences and the one with the most wins. I put this in my math stations and the kids love it. You can buy the dice at Wal-Mart or Amazon.com. Click on the picture for a link to Amazon.

I hope you find something you can use in your classroom! Have a fun Halloween!

Teacher Flattens Student!

A funny, embarrassing thing happened to me today. It will go down as one of those teaching moments I will never forget. I smashed a student today! Yeah, smashed, crushed, flattened- whatever you want to call it. The fire department came today for our annual surprise fire drill. After the drill instead of going directly into class and back to work, I thought it would be a great learning experience to let my class walk around the fire truck. They got all excited and thought it was great. I got out the camera and started taking picture of the class in front of the the fire truck. Just as we were finishing, the six firefighters and the principal came walking out of the school. The kids were in awe to see real firemen!! They were giving them high fives and really getting into it so I saw a Kodak moment. I stepped back to get a better shot and didn't see the smallest firstie in my class behind me. I tripped and came crashing down right on top of her. She started crying! Her cute little frilly skirt was slipping off and I couldn't tell if she was hurt or embarrassed by losing her skit. I asked her if she was all right and she wailed, "NOOO!" Needless to say, I felt terrible, horrible, and awful!! After a few hugs from me and the principal she stopped crying. The poor girl is probably scarred for life. She won't be able to look at a fire truck again without having nightmares of her teacher smashing her flat as a pancake!

Anyhow, here are some fun but educational activities we've been doing this week with a little touch of the Halloween spirit thrown in. Notice- they are educational and not just fluff :) Click on the picture for a PDF.
This is just a fun little sight word practice page. I put the six sight words on my huge die and the kids took turns rolling it, reading the words and coloring in a space.

This is a graph we did to get the kiddos thinking about Halloween spooks. Next week we are doing a writing activity with the spooks so hopefully they will know which one they want to write about.

This is a game from Math Investigations called "On and Off". The kids are given a target number. They get that many chips and drop them on a sheet of paper. How boring is a plain sheet of paper? So I have them drop the chips on the sheet of paper with the weird-looking pumpkin on it! Then they record how many counters are on and off the paper. It reinforces number combinations.

OH, we played the Jack-o-Lantern sorting and my kids are crazy about it! It was in a previous post. Check it out. It was a big time hit with the kiddos!

Jack-O-Lanterns, Spider Webs, Graph

MATH SORT
I just saw a very cute idea over on The First Grade Parade. Last year Cara did a sorting activity with small plastic pumpkins. I just happened to be in Wal-Mart and found some. So I bought them and came home and made the game. I can't wait to play it with my firsties. We've been working hard on our number combination and this will be the perfect game. Thanks Cara for another great idea. Here is a picture of her idea.

You write addition and/or subtraction facts on popsicle sticks, about 6 per pumpkin. Then you write a different number on each Jack-O-Lantern. The kiddos sort the math facts into the right Jack-O-Lantern. They record their sorts onto a die-cut pumpkin.

SPIDER WEB GAME AND GRAPH OF THE WEEK
I just finished making a word family game for -ell and -est. We are working on those two families this week and I needed something fun. I'm also trying to get into the Halloween spirit. I printed it on card stock in Halloween colors. Also, we are graphing our bikes and scooters this week. The kids love graphing and are really getting good at it. Click on the pictures for a PDF.

Busy Week

It's been a busy week with District literacy training, Professional Development training, and a field trip to the zoo. I am also getting ready for parent conferences next week. But actually isn't EVERY week busy? This week I did a new lesson about CHOOSING JUST RIGHT BOOKS. It went so well! While surfing the web this summer, I found a new idea to teach choosing just right books. I feel bad I can't tell you the site or give credit where credit is due. I don't know if anyone is like me but I read and see things and then weeks later an idea develops in my brain from what I saw weeks before. That's how it was with this idea. The teacher had 3 different sized t-shirts, very small, medium, and too big and compared them to shopping for books and finding the right fit. I had one of my boys come up and I handed him the very small shirt and asked the kids if this was a good fit for him. They thought is was funny. Then I held up the too big shirt and asked the same question. We even had him try this shirt on. No way did it fit. Then I brought out the medium- just right shirt! Yes way, perfect fit. Next we compared shopping for shirts to shopping for books for us to read. The kiddos decided they needed to shop more carefully for their books. We then made anchor charts for too easy, too hard, and just right books. I must admit I haven't had any low readers picking up Junie B. Jones books and telling me they can read it. I hope that continues. Here's a picture of our charts. If you're wondering why I have two different boys with the shirts it's because I taught the lesson twice-once to my morning small literacy group and again to my afternoon group. We have staggered starting schedules.

 Here is my graph of the week. It's about our families. Click on the picture for a PDF.

More Math

We are working on several things in math from ten frames to comparing numbers to one more one less to subitizing and graphs. Sometimes it feels like I'm going in a million different directions. I'm sure none of you EVER feel that way. Our district is big on differentiation and teaching to every student's level. So I've taken an idea from Math Investigations and made it for 2 levels in my classroom. It's called Ordering Numbers. Investigations has the kids pick number cards from 1-10 and put in order from least to greatest. All my kids can do it. So I've created new cards 1-30 and 1-99 and a new recording sheet. Some of mine firsties are stuck in the 1-30 spot and some are beyond that. Hopefully, these new cards will help the low ones move up and challenge the high kiddos. Click on the picture for a PDF if you'd like to try it with your kids.

 Here is my graph for this week. The kids are really doing well with graphing and they really seem to enjoy learning about each other through the graph questions.

Apples!

Getting ready for Johnny Appleseed Day this Friday. I've really toned it down from years past . We were asked by our district and principals to get rid of a lot of the fluff in our curriculum so I don't do all I used to. I can't give up making 1st grade applesauce though. It's a tradition. My own children still ask for it. I ask all the kiddos to bring an apple from home that is washed, peeled, and sliced in a baggie. And of course I re-wash them before making the applesauce. They all feel like they are contributing and the different varieties of apples make it that much better. I use my great big crock pot and we get to smell it cooking all day. It's generally ready to eat in the afternoon after recess. I make a BIG deal about the secret ingredient. I let them all watch me put it in and we ohhh and ahhh as it turns reddish pink. Then I let them all have a little piece. It's cinnamon candy hearts! Here's my recipe:

1st Grade Applesauce

16-20 apples- any kind

1/2 to 3/4 cup cinnamon heart candies (the SECRET ingredient)

Wash, peel, and slice apples. Slice into small chunks. Place in a 5-6 qt. slow cooker. Cook on high for 5-6 hours. Stir occasionally. The last 30 minutes, mash with a potato masher. Then add candy. Stir and let cook 30 more minutes. Serve hot or cold. ENJOY! 

Most of the firsties love it but you will always have your picky ones. I serve it in insulated cups with spoons as we watch the movie Johnny Appleseed. Here's a picture from last year. Don't you just love the missing teeth?

I'll also be doing my graph of the week which just happens to be about APPLES. Click on the picture for a PDF. 

Eye Color Graph, Color Matching Game & Song

Here is the graph for this week. This should be fun getting 1st graders to figure out what color eyes they have!
We are also working on learning to read the color words. Simple is my middle name! Here is a VERY SIMPLE matching game. I've posted the color word cards before with the apple game board. You can use them for both games. Just print on card stock, laminate, cut, bag and you're ready to play. My kids love singing this color song too. We make up more verses for other colors.
Click the picture for a PDF.