After reading this post, you *might* think I’m a little obsessed with dice activities :) Not true…however, my kids totally are!!! And I know that when they’re excited, I might as well milk it for all it’s worth! HA! One of my firsties told me today, “You know what’s weird?! I feel like I’m having a lot of fun, but really I’m learning!” Oops…guess the cat’s outta the bag ;) I’m LOVING this little activity…and so are the kids!! This activity focuses on ADJECTIVES. Now, I might be obsessed with that!! HA!! I prepared 7 envelopes. 6 envelopes contained 4-5 different adjectives. 1 envelope contained 12-15 different sentence strips. ... Read More
Dictionary Skills Activity
Okay…so my kids don’t have them YET, but they have been introduced to this wonderful little resource. Resource is a BIG word in my class. My kids know that if they’re having trouble with something, they need to use a RESOURCE for help. Lately, they’ve been really curious about words and their meanings. I LOVE that!! When they’re reading to self, I’ll often have kids who bring their books to me and say, “what does that mean?!?!” as they point inquisitively to the word in question. While I really try to encourage them to use their context clues, sometimes word meaning can be a little tricky to figure out! SO…it was time to teach my kids ... Read More
Fractions, Editing, Compound Words, & Freebies
Since this is a post of a bunch of random things, I’m calling it my “potpourri”. {Does anyone dislike that word as much as I do?!?! Mark it under one of my most not-favorite things to say} Is anyone else BARELY getting to fractions?! We started our fraction unit this week and started by discussing equal & unequal parts. I folded a bunch pieces of construction paper {even & uneven} and passed them out to the kids after a little fraction introduction on the SmartBoard. The kids had to go back to their desks and cut the construction paper on the creases and then determine whether or not they had equal or unequal parts. Then we ... Read More
Open House 2011
Have I mentioned before how much I love my school?? Because I really, really do!!! I feel so blessed to be part of such an amazing family and teach in such a fun environment!! I especially love the way our campus transforms this time of year! Even though the weeks prior to Open House can be a little busy, crazy, & chaotic, it’s always worth it in the end. I LOVE how proud the kids are to show their parents all of their work. Brag day is the best!! Here’s a little peek into Open House 2011 in my neck of the woods :) We’ve been learning lots about America & Texas the last few weeks so I tried my best to fill every nook and ... Read More
Celebrating St. Pat’s Day!
The Irish in me is ALL.OVER St. Patty’s Day!! I LOVE IT!!! I especially love celebrating it with the kids! I don’t have many pictures to show you, but with St. Pat’s right around the corner, I just wanted to share a few things I’ve done in the past to make it fun for the kids! Here’s a fun little writing we did today. This is one of my favorites!! You can download the Loopy Leprechaun craft patterns HERE. First we read this book… Then we talked about luck and feeling lucky. Afterwards, I had the kids write about what makes them feel lucky using the prompt, “I feel lucky when…”. I got some darling responses! After they were ... Read More
Open House – Traveling Through America
As for Open House, we’re all *12 kinds of* crazy tryin’ to get things together. Y’all…I gotta say…things are lookin’ DANG cute! My school is nothing short of amazing and the entire place just transforms into such a sight! Since we’re studying American symbols & Presidents in our curriculum, First Grade decided to go with a patriotic theme for our hallways & classroom this year. Just think, “Traveling through America”. The hallways are still a work in progress, but I’m LOVIN’ what we have so far! Can’t wait to show y’all!! Here’s a little peek at what we’ve been workin’ on in the classroom… LOVE this little writing!! We read ... Read More
Positive Reinforcement Freebie
I love positive reinforcement. Sometimes…okay, maybe a lot of times…there are a few little friends who need a little something more than positive reinforcement. You know those babies I’m talkin’ about…the ones who just DO NOT…no matter how positive you are…respond to it. Those are the kids that *might* give me a little bit of heartburn & grey hair ;) However, I still use positive reinforcement as often as I possibly can! One of my favorite things to do is give out certificates & awards. The kids LOVE these! I’m always so shocked how motivated they are by a piece of paper :) Not only do ... Read More
Tooth Fairies, Teeth, & Money/Coins
Have you ever wondered what the Tooth Fairy does with all those teeth?!?! We asked ourselves that same question and the kids came up with some pretty clever answers! First, we read a little book… And for a little reader’s response, the kids wrote about what they thought the tooth fairies did with their teeth! And they made some cute little scrapbook tooth fairies to go along with their writing. This is probably my favorite thing we’ve done to date! I LOVE how they turned out! The kids did pretty much ALL of the work themselves. I showed them an example, but told them they could make their fairies look ... Read More
How Many {Antonym} Feet Do We Meet?!
This week we’ve been working on antonyms and the kids are lovin’ it! We started by reading this book……and then we brainstormed a list of opposites. Surprisingly, some of my babies were having a hard time with the concept. So I had to explain to them, “If something is ______ it can’t be _______!!!” After a few go ‘rounds of that, I sent the kids off to trace their own feet and write a pair antonyms on either one!!I added all the pairs to a big anchor chart…The kids have also been working on their very own little antonym books! They’ve been keeping these in their book baskets and adding to them every time they have ... Read More
Candy Heart Math {& A Making Words Activity}
I know Valentine’s Day is over, but I like to extend my Valentine-ish activities throughout the month. After all, February is the month of LOVE, right?! Well, that’s what I’m goin’ with anyway. Candy hearts are my favorite February math manipulative and here are a couple of little math printables & activities for you!! The first is a little candy heart graph. I know there are a GAJILLION of these floating around right now. I like to graph the number of letters in the conversation. I pass out a large conversation heart to each kiddo and have them count the number of letters on the heart. Then we create a big ol’ graph on a giant ... Read More
