Thursday, September 18, 2014

Fall Sequencing Fun!

Happy (almost) Fall one and all! I've had lots of requests from my first grade teacher friends and SLPs for more sequencing sets so I thought I'd make a fun activity for a favorite Fall read aloud! 

I just LOVE this book!


If you are new to sequencing sets, all you do is print the picture cards, ordinal number cards and number cards on cardstock and laminate them. They may be used as retelling sticks or placed in a pocket chart for center time or a whole-group activity.

I have displayed them on a whiteboard to rearrange as we read the story and also as a cut and paste onto construction paper sequencing activity. My second graders will use the writing pages to complete a written summary using transitional words and phrases.



Lucille Colandro's Old Lady... series of books are perfect for thematic units!
 I hope you will love this set my friends! 


 You can click on the pictures to see it at my shop.
  Because it's new, it will be just $1.50 for the next 24 hours! 

Speaking of OLD LADIES...tomorrow is MY BIRTHDAY! Ha! Boy, those numbers are getting up there quickly! 
How does this keep happening?
It's a work day of course, so nothing special is planned, but I think a Starbucks run at lunch with my teamies is on the agenda and maybe dinner out if I'm not too beat from fun Friday hoopla!

You have a fun Friday too!


Thursday, May 29, 2014

Saying Goodbye~End of the Year Poem for Parents Freebie!

Ending the school year is bittersweet, especially when it means saying goodbye to the children and families we have grown so close to. Parents trust us to care for, nuture, inspire and protect their precious little ones. During the year, we help them to grow in every way. This sweet little poem is something I like to print on colored paper to send home on the last day inside my student's keepsake boxes!



 Isn't it so precious?
There are a few different font options too!
It is sure to bring tears to your parents' eyes when they read it!
 If you would like a copy, you can download it here

For my teacher friends who start in a month other than September, or don't end in June, leave me a comment and I'll post a revision for you!
 You'll want to check back again for the link!
:)



Sunday, May 18, 2014

End of the Year Projects~ Keepsake Pizza Box and Memory Book!

Boy this year just flew by! I can't believe that next week we start our end of the year projects! I am sitting here this evening printing the pages I need to make our oh, so cute pizza boxes! This is a tradition of mine and I consider it and the contents inside (like a DVD of class photos) to be my gift to the students and families! 


My mom did a lovely job coloring this example for the photo shoot, don't you think? She had fun making it! Mom comes in every year at this time (and weekly too) to help me. She assembles the boxes and passes out all of the children's treasures I have been saving.

One project from each month and all sorts of goodies like pick sticks, cubby tags and other special items get sent home in the box. The kids have a blast looking through all of their crafts while remembering all of the fun themes we had throughout the year! The parents go crazy when they come home and absolutely LOVE the boxes!

I took a trip out this weekend to Gordon Food Service to pick up some small white boxes. I was happy to walk out of there with 50 boxes for $15.00! Local pizza places will often donate boxes too if you smile and tell them you are a teacher! 

What else is in the box? When you lift the lid, there is a cute page of ABC's through the year. I type up some special things that we have done during the year that begin with that first letter. Inside is a sentence completion page about the year too. I always personalize a special poem for each child to include. All of those pages are in the Pizza Box Craftivity



NEW THIS YEAR... I thought it would be really cute to add a slice of pizza to the box in the form of a shape book! 


As we look back at the year, we will use the brainstorming sheet that is included to generate some ideas for writing on each page of the book. 
There is one page for each slice, or month, of the year! 



Here is how my example turned out:


 It looks good enough to eat! I printed mine in color, but there are black and white covers for the students to color too. Covers are created for Kindergarten, First, Second and Third Graders.

FLASH FREEBIE ALERT!
This brand new item will be free for the next two hours! 
Head over to my store and grab a copy to try out with your class! 
I hope you like it! :)

I like looking back with these kinds of activities as much as the kids do. 
We always end the year feeling wildly accomplished!






Saturday, May 17, 2014

Simple Science Experiment~ Dancing Raisins

We had some good fizzy fun with our first "official" science experiment and introduction to our Being a Scientist unit! We dropped some raisins in Sprite and the magic of science excitement filled the room! Head on over to my Creative Lesson Cafe blog to read all about our Dancing Raisins! This is a super simple and fun experiment that would be perfect for firsties!


What are some of your favorite science activities for first graders?

Friday, May 9, 2014

Clock Flowers!

Hello First Grade Gallery friends! Was it the best Teacher Appreciation Week ever for you? I sure hope so! I wanted to share a fun activity we worked on for our May bulletin board! We practiced telling time and made a project at the same time! See how cute they turned out!

I did this with my Second Graders to review time to five minute intervals, but you could easily modify this for your Firsties. The flower pattern is from Amy Lemons time unit. I hope she doesn't mind, because I didn't see the new revision :), but I changed up the craft a bit to make it more of a math station activity to review for MAP testing.

First, I printed some rainbow arrows from Jen at Teaching in the Tongass to use as clock hand manipulatives. I also printed a sheet of digital clocks from Teacher Gems.

I had some great task cards from Rachel Lynette all copied and so I decided to do a scoot activity where each station required the students to model the time with the flower clocks and then use the recording sheet to write the correct answer. I am going to be working on additional sets of task cards because my class just loves to SCOOT! I'll let you know when they are ready!


Once we finished the scoot, whichever task card was on the student's desk was the one they had to show on the clock project. They glued down the clock hands and wrote in the digital time. The digital clock is glued to one leaf.

The kids had a fun time with telling time and now, we have a colorful May Flowers bulletin board!




Friday, April 18, 2014

Life Cycles in the Classroom and a Giveaway

Hello First Grade Friends! Spring has finally sprung and it's time for me to begin some favorite science themes in the classroom! LIFE CYCLES!

I wanted to share some cute new items I've been working on that you may enjoy for your lessons and activities in the coming weeks like this butterfly flap book project!




This PowerPoint would be a great introduction for your unit and will go along perfectly with the project! 
I found some super photos of each stage I know your students would enjoy seeing!

 I usually project my PowerPoints on the SMARTBoard so the class can get a better view not possible with a read aloud. 
You can see more at my TPT store here, or by clicking on any of the images, if you are interested.

I also added a flap book for the life cycle of a frog.




There is a companion PowerPoint for frogs too!


Do you hatch chicks in your school? 


If so, you might like this cute presentation as well!


For more ideas for spring, follow me on Pinterest!
 I am always adding fun finds to my boards!

You can find more classroom photos, posts and social media links at my other blog~ Creative Lesson Cafe!
Remember to follow by email or Bloglovin so you never miss a post, giveaway or flash freebie!
I sure hope to see you there as well!

Share it to Win it! 
Share something from this post or one from Creative Lesson Cafe! 
Then, leave me a link to your Pin, blog post, Facebook Like or like on Bloglovin in the comments and I'll select one winner for a winner's choice from my Kidsrcute store!

Happy Spring!
 :)






Sunday, March 2, 2014

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss! Fan Freebies

Today is officially Dr. Suess' Birthday and so to celebrate and kick off our March reading month festivities and Read Across America, I made this cute poster to display in our classroom window!

graphics by creative clips

It's a Fan Freebie on my Creative Lesson Cafe Facebook page. 
Click on the picture to grab a copy if you like! 
From there find the Fan Freebie tab.
Hope you can use it!

I do miss the grins and groans serving up green eggs and ham to my kinders and getting gooey making Oobleck with my firsties!
 Those were some great times! 

You can download this freebie Oobleck recipe from my Dropbox if you feel like rolling up your sleeves for a little gooey green fun! Click on the image below!


What are your plans to celebrate Dr. Seuss Day in the classroom? 


Sunday, January 26, 2014

Math Activities with Numbers 0-10

What can you do with a card set of numbers 0-10? Maybe more than you can possibly imagine for good, simple math fun! They can be used for addition, subtraction, comparing numbers, even/odd practice, place value and more! 

I made a set of number cards for each of my students to use for various math activities and partner games. I like them better than a deck of playing cards because we don't have as many face to cards to take out and sometimes you just need a ZERO! 

If you like, you can download this FREEBIE set from my dropbox for your kiddos to use by clicking on the image! 


The file includes a list of some easy peasy activities to use in the classroom. Read below to see how I used them!

Cards in Action

For a cute and colorful set, I printed mine on colored cardstock and laminated them. I store them in library pockets from Creative Teaching Press and keep them in this cute box from the Target Dollar Spot. 




 Some activities start with a shuffled deck turned upside down in a draw pile. 


We lined them up in order from greatest to least and then turned over some to show only odd numbers.

Next, the students had to show a two-digit number that was even.


The cards went back into a pile and then they were asked to flip up three cards. The task was to show the greatest number with those cards. It got tricky when those zeros turned up. Zero is not nothing! Zero is something!


Elbow partners had to work together and compare numbers to see who made the largest. 


 When a ten was turned up, it lead to some great discussion regarding place value to the thousands place.


 Hmmm...what to do with that zero?
 The rule was set that it can't be taken away. 


  Yes, that works!


Next, four cards had to be turned up. The students could create a double digit addition problem of their choice and record it and solve it in their math notebook. Next, they were asked to rearrange some or all of the cards to create a different problem in which the sum remained the same (most saw that it could be the turn-around), and again in a way that would result in a different sum



 The next challenge was just that, but it was such a great one for getting the kiddos really thinking. 

I called out a direction to create a two-digit subtraction problem where regrouping would be necessary. This is a new concept that was only recently introduced.

One student showed this problem. They were on the right track with the digits in the ones place but failed to look at the entire problem. This was a great opportunity for questioning.


 This student got it right away!


  Another student made a model using his pencils to help himself to better see tens and ones in columns as he had seen on many practice papers. Because he had trouble with the concept of regrouping, I was able to pull out another card from my teaching set of extras to use as an overlay to demonstrate what we had done days prior when we decomposed cubes stacked in towers of ten. 



I cannot wait to get the cards out again!
 My students love all card and dice games, basically, any opportunity to get away from a worksheet and so do I! 

In just 15 minutes, we had a wonderful math review and I learned so much about my each of my students and where they each were in their mathematical thinking and skill

Enjoy the freebie! Hope you can find some great ways to use the cards with your class!

 Remember the Giveaway Friends!

There are a few more hours to enter the TPT gift certificate GIVEAWAY
The winner will be announced on Tuesday (possibly my fifth snow/cold day this season with -25 degree wind chills this year... brrrr...)
Hope you are reading from somewhere toasty warm! :)

Sunday, January 19, 2014

Freebie Winter Math Center Activity

Set out some mini marshmallows, a cute game mat and a recording sheet and you have a fun and easy winter math activity! I named it Penguin Snowball Toss!

I made this fun center to help my kiddos who struggle with addition combinations to twenty. There is also a recording sheet for combinations to ten for little learners. 

Have the children help you count out ten or twenty marshmallows in small festive cups or a little plastic bowl. At the center, they take turns, shake the snowballs and spill them across the mat. Then, they count how many landed on the mat and how many were tossed off the mat and record the combinations on the chart included. 


If you think this looks like a fun thing to add to your penguin or winter thematic unit, you can download this freebie at my store. Click on the picture to take you there! 

I'm having a TPT gift certificate giveaway at Creative Lesson Cafe to celebrate a big milestone at my store! Won't you join me in celebrating and hop on over to enter?


Tuesday, January 7, 2014

100th Day Activities for the Classroom and a Giveaway

Before you know it, we will be celebrating the 100th Day of school. It's a really big deal especially for Kindergartners and Firsties! My 100th Day packet of printables and activities has had a major makeover! I have expanded to set to include many new pages I think my class will love! 





This item is perfect for a new teacher looking for ideas for your first 100th Day celebration! It has everything you need to plan your day with worksheets, writing pages, a poem, center activities and projects, a class snack, a 100th day photo prop, collections, awards and even has ready-made parent letters to send home.

Maybe you have had more 100's Days than you care to count, like me, and just want some more resources to add to the things you already do on the big day. You can check out the item and read more at my store by clicking on any of the pictures! The set is priced at a discount for a short time.

You can download a freebie coloring page from the set here

My Blog Makeover!
Ta Da! I was so excited to log in today to see that the talented Alicia at Dreamlike Magic was able to finish the installation of my blog template! The other template I had was a freebie and just disappeared one day!

I have several blogs and did not want to spend a lot for a custom design since I already have one at Creative Lesson Cafe. This beautiful flowery design  is one of their premade templates. If you are on a budget but want a fresh new look, you should go check out the other designs she has to offer. They are all cute and colorful. Perfect for a teacher blog. 

This is the header from my classroom blog for parents also a premade by Alicia.


Its just my style too! 

A Giveaway!

Head on over to Teachers Notebook between now and January 11th  to enter to win this new Arctic Animals PowerPoint! It's so easy to enter! I am giving it away to 3 lucky winners. 


Thanks for being the first friends to stop by and see the new blog design!
 Remember, your comments always make my day! :)