Gingerbread Houses

The kids had a blast making Gingerbread house this year.

Here are some pics of some of the houses.

 Some tried to use all of their candy.

 

 Others got very creative.

 

Letter Writing Unit Giveaway

It's Spring Break and I am so excited to have finished my newest unit Letter Writing. Letter writing is such a fun unit to teach. I can't wait to teach it when we get back to school.

 

I'll be giving away one unit on Sunday April 6, 2014. Enter below and good luck.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

March Centers

March has come in like a lion. We're in the middle of a snowstorm and then the frigid weather comes back for bit. I'm so ready for Spring.

I have completed my March Centers for my class. My kiddos love center time and I think they are going to flip over these March themed centers.



Click here

I made them so that there is just a little bit of prep just print, laminate, and cut. Easy Pisy. I also added a recording sheet for each center.  Here are a few pictures from the unit. You can grab your copy at my store.

 

  Compound Words

 

 Contractions

 

 

 

 Reading Response Journal

 

Math

Writing

Of course I have a freebie for you.

Please enjoy a Fact Family Center.

Click here or the picture to grab your copy.

Student Teacher

Today our fantastic student teacher (lets call him CG) started full time. For the last couple of weeks he has been coming in once a week to get acquainted with the class and the kiddos absolutely adore him. When I say he's a natural I am not kidding. CG has created excellent lessons and you would never think that he hasn't been teaching like a veteran. CG is also an artist so we have the cutest anchor charts that I have ever seen. I'll post pics of them later in the week.  Check this out, when I left today he was still there working. He gets it! 

I just wanted to give a shout out to our wonderful student teacher CG. So glad to have you aboard the first grade roller coaster. Leave a comment if you ever had an outstanding student teacher like us.

Reading Response Drama

I have been using a marble notebook for Reading Responses for many years. It hasn't been working out too well. My first graders do not know where to put their title, they don't know where to start writing and some try to write so small to stay in the lines. Then others write on three to lines and their writing is sooooo BIG. the kids had a lot of drama with these notebooks and so did I trying to read them.

This year I decided to stop the drama so I created a Reading Response journal and instantly the drama ceased. Kids knew where to write and had lines they could work with. I can read the journals NOW!

If you have the same problem you can pick up this journal here.

120th Day of School

For years we have celebrated the 100th day of school. However, one of our first grade standards is to count to 120. So why not celebrate the 120th day of school? Just finished a pack of 120 day activities. It will be on sale until February 19th. Leave a comment and let me know if your class celebrates the 120th day of school. Click here to pick up your copy.

You can pick up your copy here!

Wednesday Freebie Math Manipulatives

This year I wanted a way to organize my Math Manipulatives. I have so many and they were all over the place. So I decided to put everything in tubs and I made labels for each tub. So this is the freebie for today. I really hope that they will keep your Math Manipulatives organized. Happy Organizing!

Grab the labels here!

Tuesday Freebie - Penguins

Looking out my window I see a lot of snow. Just wondering if there will be school tomorrow. So since it is snowing and cold I thought some Penguin activities would be fun to share. My kiddos love learning about Penguins. I really enjoy teaching about them. Hopefully your students will love learning about Penguins too. See you tomorrow for another freebie.

Click Here to Download

Freebie Week

I hit 100 likes on Facebook yesterday and to celebrate I am offering a freebie week to say THANK YOU. Check out the blog each day this week for a freebie.

The first freebie is a "How To Make a A Valentine" writing activity. Enjoy and see you tomorrow for another freebie.

Click here to download

Martin Luther King Jr.

Well if you haven't heard Indiana had a major snow storm and then the Polar Vortex hit. I was actually curious to feel what 40 below zero weather felt like so I went on the balcony and opened the door. Whoa it was super cold. I didn't stay out there long. So we haven't been back to school yet and our Winter Break is going on three weeks now. We should be going back tomorrow. I can't wait to see my kiddos.

This week we will be learning about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. It is one of my favorite units to teach. My kiddos really enjoy learning about Dr. King and always seem to treat each other a little nicer by the end of the week.

I just uploaded the writing that I will be doing this week and it's on sale until January 15th. In honor of Dr. King of course. The unit includes the following:

MLK Tree Map anchor chart headers and recording sheet

I have a dream… writing paper and topper for illustration

Happy Birthday Dr. King letter writing paper and topper

Peace Acrostic Poem

I can make peace writing paper

Go to TPT for a full preview of the unit.

Here are some picsfrom the unit and a freebie too. You can get the unit here.

 

 

Here is a Freebie for you!

 

Click here to Download

Have a great week!

Number Sense Linky Party

Classroom Jobs Freebie

Here in Indiana we received snow and really cold temperatures so we haven't been back to school yet from Winter Break. So here's a snow day freebie for you. For years I've been looking for a good system that doesn't take up too much space and is easy to manage. So I created these classroom jobs cards and all you need to do is copy, laminate, and add clips with students names. When you are ready to change jobs just move the clips either daily, weekly, or monthly. If a student doesn't have a job that week then their clip sits on the vacation card. It's that simple. Enjoy and stay warm. You can download the job cards at

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Classroom-Jobs-Clip-Cards-505232

Subitizing

This year I was introduced to a really cool math strategy called SUBITIZING. It's similar to quick images. Subitizing is simply the ability to quickly identify the number of objects in a set without counting. There are two types of Subitizing. Perceptual Subitizing is the instant visual recognition of a pattern such as numbers in a ten frame. Conceptual Subitizing involves recognizing smaller groups and adding them together, for example four dots plus two dots equals six dots.

I show my kiddos a dot card, ten frame, a domino, etc. for about three seconds because I don't want my kids to count the dots. Then I ask them what did they saw. My kiddos come up with answers like "I saw 7 dots" "I saw 4 dots on the top and 3 dots on the bottom" "I know 4 and 3 is 7" "I saw a group of 4 and a group of 3." It's amazing how their number sense has improved tremendously. 

Do you want to try it out? Here's a Subitizing freebie for you.



Download Here

 

I just added a Subitizing pack. It has Subitizing cards for all year long.

You can grab it here.

 

This packet contains the following Subitizing cards:

 

Large five frames
Fingers
Large ten frames
Dot cards
Dominoes
Tally Marks
Gumball Subitizing
Seasonal ten frames ( a set of cards for each month)

 Have Fun Subitizing!