Penguins, Sneaky E, and Some Freebies!

  Hallaluja!  Today was a snow day and let me tell you what--it has been amazing.  Today has been one of those days where I've actually been able to drink my coffee while it is still hot.  No joke. In addition to consuming a bit too much delicious coffee, I have been super productive.  I've managed to get my lesson plans written for the whole week, created (and uploaded!!) a few things for my TpT store, and dumped some photos from my classroom onto my computer.  So, here goes.

  This week we are going to start learning about penguins.  We will use lots of ideas from this great post Cara put up as well as some great ideas from Jodi over at Fun in First Grade.  We'll start the week with some schema discussions and dig through some great non-fiction texts I have in my classroom (sorry--no pictures of those!).  We will use the following activities that just added to my TpT store.  After our mid-year testing, I learned that some of my kiddos are still struggling with CVCe words, so I made an "I Have, Who Has?" game and a real/nonsense sort to go with our phonics this week.  I *hope* after we use these whole group, I can throw them into workstations or free choice tubs for next week for extra review.  Here are the links to the activities I'll be using this week.

 

 

 

 

In math we are going to dive head first into working with money.  We work with it each day when we fill in our calendar notebooks, but this is the first time we'll be getting down and dirty with it.  After a pre-test tomorrow, I'll be able to put the kiddos into groups based on how well they understand mixed coins.  We'll work with money whole group and in small intervention and enrichment groups throughout the week, then I'll give them this "assessment" on Friday.  I don't know if you all have ever used "Scoot" before, but it is a great way to get kiddos up and moving but still assess them.  I made a quick Money Scoot for our assessment this friday.  Here's the link to it in my store.  It comes with all the cards you need, directions, a recording sheet, and an answer key.

As a fun review before our "test," we are going to complete this "Buy a Penguin" activity.  Not only will it get their creative juices flowing, but it will also give me a clue about how they are doing with actually using coins.  I'll give them each little bags of plastic coins and display the price list.  With all the items on the counter in our classroom, I'll let students come in groups to "purchase" items to make their penguins.  I don't usually make one myself because I want the kiddos to come up with the ideas on their own.  Here's a link to the activity. 

Well, thats it for me, folks!  Happy Monday!
~Katie

...and where did January come from?

   So...all of the sudden, its January and I feel like we have been around the world and back over the last 6 weeks.  We finished up Thanksgiving with a bang and travelled to the land of gingerbread men.  I tell you what, I always love it when its time to pull out all the gingerbread books and activities and workstations--but I am happy to see them go!
   Well, now January is here and it is time for those sweet, adorable snowmen to take over.  We have been having lots of fun this week writing about them, reading about them, and using that wonderful "ow" chunk to help improve our reading and writing. 
    To help my kiddos along with this, I've created a couple of little units.  The first one is a freebie.  Most of my students have made snowmen before and were more than enthusiastic when it came time to start this little writing project.  We started by talking with a neighbor about the things we would need to make a snowman and the steps we would follow to make it.  Then we shared our ideas and I recorded them on this not very fancy anchor chart.  Please notice the need for a sock nose...and a sausage nose.  No idea where those came from, but whatevs!  Every idea is important, right?

      Then I handed out our first graphic organizer and had students go to town on their own.  I did notice that my less-than-enthusiastic writers decided they could just put the name of one material in each box and be "done."  Ummm...not so much.  So we had to do a quick review of what to include--the actual steps. This activity gave me a really good idea of where my students are and what sort of next steps to take with them.  Some are already using transitional words on their own and won't need that support from me, while others will need explicit instruction about how to layout their writing.  I can't wait to see what they do next.  Here are some of the ideas they came up with...pretty clever, huh?

    Here is a preview and link to my TPT store where you can download this mini-unit for free.  If you like it, please become a follower or leave a comment.  While you're there, you can also check out my "ow/ow" unit to go along with all our winter learning. 

Happy Teaching!
~ Katie