It's that time of year again. Time to go back to school. Can you believe it?! I know the Target Dollar Spot has been preparing us for this moment for a couple of months now, but I still can't believe it's already time to return to the classroom. This summer I had the opportunity to present a few professional development sessions centered around the back to school season and everything it entails. From setting up and organizing classrooms to establishing routines and procedures, we covered lots of ground! In my opinion, one of the most important things we as teachers do at the beginning of the year (besides setting the foundation for … [Read more...] about Back to School with Social Studies
Social Studies
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...] about Open House – Traveling Through America
Inventors Light Bulb Freebie
I’ve gotten several comments and lots of emails regarding the fun little light bulb template I used for my kids’ invention writing. Click the pic below to download. If you have any questions, let me know!! … [Read more...] about Inventors Light Bulb Freebie
Inventors & Inventions
This past week we started wrapping up our study on Inventors & Inventions in Science/Social Studies. I guess I underestimated the interest my kids would have in the subject because they were SO into it!! We started by learning about a few very important inventors…Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, and The Wright Brothers. We made a little anchor chart for the kids to refer to throughout our little unit of study. After we learned about each inventor, I had the kids add to their “Inventors and their Inventions” notebook. {click the pic to download} I forgot to take pics, but after we studied Alexander Graham Bell, we made tin can … [Read more...] about Inventors & Inventions
Happy Thanksgiving, Y’all!
Celebrating Thanksgiving with my first graders has been, by far, my favorite thing yet! As a culminating activity to our Thanksgiving unit, we had a giant Thanksgiving feast to celebrate the season. We made pilgrim hats & bibs to wear for the occasion. The fun feast was catered by one of my favorites…Dickey’s!!!!…and the kids dined on turkey, ham, mac & cheese, green beans, rolls, and homemade cookies {one of the sweet first grade moms made peanut free chocolate chip cookies for the WHOLE grade level…and they were GOOD!} It was such a fun experience for both the kids and their parents…us too!! Can’t wait to celebrate … [Read more...] about Happy Thanksgiving, Y’all!
If You Sailed On The Mayflower…
Today we celebrated “Mayflower Day”!! Okay…so I made that up…but I thought that sounded pretty fitting for our day today :) We started by reading a non-fiction book about the Mayflower. I can’t remember which one, but I checked it out from our school library and it was really good!! It was a great book to review Table of Contents also :) Each “chapter” was only a page or two long. After each page, we stopped to jot. During our stop to jot time, the kids gave me a few facts they learned from that chapter. We learned a lot of really cool facts!! Did you know that the water was so unsafe to drink that everyone on the Mayflower…children … [Read more...] about If You Sailed On The Mayflower…
Pilgrim Projects
Our kids are learning about Thanksgiving customs and traditions and we’ve REALLY gotten into learning all about the pilgrims. The kids are FASCINATED!! They just can’t imagine that little pilgrim boys and girls didn’t have DSI’s & American Girl dolls ;) We started learning about pilgrims reading a few realistic fiction & non-fiction books from our library. We really LOVE this one!!! It’s super informational and it’s got lots of great facts about the Mayflower, pilgrims, and the first Thanksgiving! We learned that life was different for pilgrim boys than girls. We learned a lot of neat facts about little pilgrim boys & … [Read more...] about Pilgrim Projects
Happy Veteran’s Day!
Happy Veteran’s Day to all that have served…and are serving…our wonderful country! It was precious to hear my kids singing the song to the soldiers from Deanna Jump’s Veteran’s Day Unit. We watched a beautiful tribute to our soldiers & veterans and listened to them talk about their experiences as it was broadcast throughout the school. It was SO moving and I teared up NUMEROUS times. One of my sweet girls said, “are you okay Mrs. Carroll?!”. Ooops! While they were watching the tribute, a few of my itties made the soldiers and veterans pictures to wave during the parade… So sweet. Every kiddo & adult in the building had their … [Read more...] about Happy Veteran’s Day!
The Thankful Tree
I really love the idea of kids reflecting on what they have to be thankful for. So, we read the book, “The Thanksgiving Bowl” by Virginia Kroll. The beginning of the book talks about a sweet Grandma who sets aside a Thanksgiving bowl for her family to place strips of paper detailing what they’re thankful for, and then all the little papers are read aloud during Thanksgiving dinner. Love it! I thought it was the perfect intro to adding a Thankful Tree to our room :) I have a stack of die cut leaves that sits in a little pumpkin close to my door. Every time one of my kiddos has something to be thankful for, they write it on a leaf and … [Read more...] about The Thankful Tree
Veteran’s Day
I’ve decided that when I grow up, I wanna be just like Deanna Jump. LOVING all of her FUN {and darling} activities!! Have you had a chance to grab her Veteran’s Day unit? If you haven’t, you really should! Veteran’s Day is a BIG deal at our school. The kids invite any family members or friends that have served or are serving in the military. The honored guests gather in the library for a reception and a tribute. Kids are chosen to read their essays and the whole event is broadcast for everyone to see. After the tribute, the veterans/soldiers parade through the school as everyone stands outside their classrooms waving flags while … [Read more...] about Veteran’s Day
Family Trees
I’m a little late to post this, but better late than never, right?! We’re getting ready to take down our bulletin boards in the hallway so I had to snap a pic before I forgot! One of our first units of study in Social Studies was an “in-depth” look at families. We did some really neat activities, but one of my favorites was this darling family tree! I LOVE! We read the book, Who’s Who In My Family?, by Loreen Leedy. It’s a great little book that does an awesome job of explaining the concept of genealogy & family trees. After reading the book, the kids completed their own family trees using their … [Read more...] about Family Trees
