Independence Day

4th of July is right around the corner (literally)! There is a beautiful little reservoir and a park less than a mile from our house. Every year we celebrate with family and lots of barbecued ribs! As soon as it gets dark we sit in the backyard and watch the fireworks coming from the park. They literally explode right over our heads, and we don't have to fight the traffic and crowds!

This year I'm also having a sale on 2 of my Americana items at TpT: American Hero Research Project and Patriotic Clipart.

Have a happy 4th of July!!!

An Oldie, but a Goodie

Making Words...it's an oldie, but a goodie! One of my favorite activities for building word skills, it self-differentiates based on your kiddos' readiness. I always begin with 2-letter words, then move on up to the mystery word at the end. Some kids need to stick to the CVC words; others are ready for consonant blends, silent e,  and vowel digraphs; still others can put multisyllable words together. There's always at least one kid that figures out the mystery word before the activity's over. I've used the same word lists with both 1st graders and 3rd graders, and they all love it! My daughter likes to play with it at home as well. This edition has 12 different lists with corresponding letter cards. It's been one of my best sellers, so far. Click on the link to see my Making Words product at TpT with word lists, letter cards to cut out, and complete implementation instructions.

Comprehension Graphic Organizers

Our school focused on the CCSS informational text standards this year. First graders naturally love nonfiction--they are absolutely fascinated by the world around them! They always have questions, and as a teacher I love telling them to look for the answers in a book. So, I created a set of graphic organizers for both literary and informational comprehension. I designed them to meet the rigor that common core requires without stifling their love of reading. These can be used whole class, in guided reading groups, or for center practice. You can find them on my Teachers pay Teachers account by clicking on the pictures below.

   

Here are some examples of what you'll find in the packets. Enjoy!
         

Cloze Vocabulary Introduction

After reading the book Word Nerds by Brenda J. Overturf, Leslie H. Montgomery, and Margot Holmes Smith, I thought I'd try one of the strategies they mentioned. I began introducing all my vocabulary units with a cloze activity in the pocket chart. My kids loved it! I started by writing the vocabulary words on colored sentence strips, then asking them to show me what they know with hand signals: hands on head if you know all about the word, hands on ears if you've heard the word, hands on your lap if it's a brand new word. That little formative assessment gives me so much information to guide vocabulary instruction! We have a brief discussion of each word based on the signals they show me. Then I read the sentences written on white sentences strips with a blank where the vocabulary words should go. Together we talk through putting the words in the correct blanks. We complete a lot of other games and activities during the unit, but I began each unit the same way this year. I saw a lot of improvement in my firsties vocabulary compared to previous years. Here is an example of the cloze chart and 2 other activities from my Thanksgiving unit:

Best Behavior Motivation Ever!

December is always the hardest month to keep kids motivated. They are so excited for the holidays, that they're brains go on vacation weeks before the rest of them do! Behavior is the first thing to go, so this year I thought I'd use the holidays to encourage them to be on their best behavior. Of course I used the Elf on a Shelf, but the best strategy was my Christmas tree. It's actually just the top third of a tree I used to have at home. Every day, if they moved up on the progressive behavior chart, they got to pick out an ornament and hang it on the tree. You should have seen them trying! They went out of their way to help each other, keep the classroom clean, follow the playground rules, and walk quietly in line. I ended up buying 2 extra sets of ornaments because we ran out so quickly. During the last week before vacation, I was secretly taking ornaments off the tree and putting them back in the bucket so more kids could put them back on three the next day.

Thanksgiving Twist on Number of the Day

Number of the day activities are important to help build number sense, but they can get, well...boring. To shake things up a bit, we made number of the day turkeys. This idea was inspired by Susan Moran Jones. We'll be working on number sense all year long. During the first quarter we went to 30, this quarter we're going to 60. Of course, some kiddos are ready to go further, so I let them pick their own number for this activity. I used a turkey template I purchased my first year teaching (10 years ago!), but I can't remember where it was from. To copy this idea, you can download or make your own turkey patterns. For the tail feathers, I used some fun ways to play with the number as well as some skills to meet CCSS. I have a copy for 1st grade and 3rd grade. The first grade ones are shown below. My kids loved it!

First Thanksgiving

I love November--the colors, the smells, the crisp air, and most of all the food! I just finished putting together my thematic unit on the first Thanksgiving which includes a recipe for Red Pickled Eggs. Check it out at TpT; just click on the link: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/First-Thanksgiving-Unit-958209