Happy Easter! I created this fun Spring themed phonics practice booklet to offer to you as a freebie to use in your classroom! Just print both sided and cut in half to make a half-sheet sized booklet for every student. I hope you enjoy it and please check out my TPT store!
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At our school carnival this year we had a teacher auction to raise money. Students placed bids on teachers that they would want to spend an evening with. It was up to us teachers to come up with an activity to do with our students on that evening. First grade came up with "Painting With a Twist". This fun place walks you through a chosen painting from start to finish, and you get to walk away with a masterpiece all in one class! All paintings turn out AMAZING and it is cool to see the personal twist that everyone puts on their work of art. The painting we chose was called "Reach For the Stars" and we had an awesome time with our winning students as we each painted a picture side by side. I highly recommend spending an afternoon or evening at one of their locations! See if there is one near you!
We are concluding our rock unit with ROCK DAY here in first grade. Each student brought in a rock and I have provided them with materials to use to create a pet rock. Along with their pet rock students have activities to complete and will use those activities to create an "About Me" poster for their rock. Activities include a birth certificate, and acrostic name poem, a story about their rocks magical powers, comparison activities and even time and money activities to tie in our math objectives for the week. This afternoon we are using food to create each type of rock. FUN FUN day!
My students were crazy about this Time Twister game! The object of the game is to collect activities that take a certain amount of time. There are 6 students in a group and each student has a special title (above left). Their title tells them what length of time they are searching for in the activities. Students will place the cards face down and choose a card when it is there turn. If the card takes around the length of time they are looking for, then they get to keep the card. I think the kids felt special having their own little title, and they had some great conversations about the length of time it takes to do certain tasks. This game is bundled with 4 other time activities on my TPT site :)
Today my students are going to be scientists! I have planned three stations (one for each type of rock) for the kids to visit that allow for deeper learning about how each type of rock looks and how it is created. Each station will have a video of how that type of rock is created (These videos will be shown on ipads which will provided ar each station) as well as pictures of the type of rock and a sample rock. This Investigation Record will help focus learning by identifying each type of rock, having children list what they see inside the rock, comparing the rock to what it reminds them of in their world, and more! I have provided a link to the videos I used below! I also showed this video as kind of an introduction to the rock cycle - it is only about 4 minutes and it is just cheesy enough to keep the kids entertained and laughing!
I did not expect my students to be as excited about this story as they were. It follows the super hero "Captain Igneous" through the rock cycle, and offers definitions for the complex science words that go along with the rock cycle. After the story I used the pictures from the story and had students retell what happened to captain igneous while building the rock cycle with those pictures on a poster board. I then had the students use play dough to reenact the rock cycle. You would think it was Christmas with how happy they were to mold that play dough All of that in 20 minutes, I would say that is a pretty fun and simple way to introduce the rock cycle to those 6 and 7 year olds! Hello again cyber friends! It has been quite a while since I have posted, but now that spring break is over it is time to get back into the swing of things! If you are like me, then you spent your spring break doing nothing but relaxing and enjoying yourself, and for me- that meant eating some not-so-healthy foods. WELL. ... since summer will quickly be upon us I have decided to kick it into gear to get as fit as can be before those unbearable Texas summer days (there is no possibility of getting away with NOT wearing shorts). Since March is ALSO National Nutrition Month, I came up with an idea to help jump start my motivation. I am giving up JUNK FOOD for 21 days (they say it takes 21 days to create a habit so it is worth a shot!) I think that to be nutritious, the types of foods on this list should never be included. Since there is no value in eating junk-I will simply just not do it! (maybe if I make myself believe it, I will actually stick to it) It may be fun to tie nutrition into your classroom somehow just to get students more aware of what they are eating. I guarantee most of their days consist of one of everything on this list! Yikes! It is spring break for us here in Texas, so it is time to get out and have fun! Do something spectacular, go enjoy your time off and LIVE your life to the fullest :).
It is enrichment day! Every classroom in the building is participating in a day full of enrichment activities. The students are learning through hands on activities as they work on their ongoing project until the end of the day. I've seen virtual field trips, and 4th graders creating balloon vehicles, but 1st graders are making bugs! The idea is to design on a dime and use trash to create something new, so first grade has decided to learn about bugs and their habitats through creation. We supplied students with some materials, but also asked them to bring in trash from home, and this trash is being turned into some wonderful new things! Students are to build a bug- including the three parts, the antennae, and 6 legs. The imaginative part of the project is that they cannot recreate a bug that they see in nature, but instead have to make a new bug that has never been discovered. Students create the habitat , no matter how crazy it is, and must pair up with a friend to cross the bugs traits in order to create a baby bug. You would not believe how creative these kiddos are, and the learning that is happening is outstanding! I've been hearing a lot of talk about yoga in the classroom, and the benefits it may have on a child's learning. When I think about it, it seems like inviting yoga into a classroom environment really could be a potentially rewarding experience. Sure, school days are packed to the brim with little time to add anything new to the schedule, but I was wondering if maybe adding a few minutes of yoga to the morning routine would get the kids minds in gear and focused-ready to learn. I do believe that yoga teaches patience and would help kids calm down and find a new outlet for their anger and stress. Learning self-control and focus through yoga could prevent children from becoming off task, and would give their minds the tools to help them solve those trivial issues that seem to arise pretty frequently in young lives. Maybe teaching kids how to control their bodies and minds would help with problem solving skills and would actually leave more time in the day for learning by taking away discipline problems that sometimes slow the learning process down. It is good to quiet the mind sometimes, and improving balance and motor skills are a plus! I included a (kinda cheesy) kids yoga video below, and a link to several more videos of the same type. This video would be easy for students to follow (so you don't have to awkwardly pose for them!-unless you want to...) and brings yoga to a kid friendly level. Hey, you never know when you might have an indoor recess with nothing to do! Just pop this video on and see what happens! Check these sites out for more information on yoga in the classroom:
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November 2017
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