Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Sloth Love...with a freebie of course!

I absolutely adore spring and everything about it.  It is probably my favorite time of year for themes... rain forests, insects, ocean....just love!! Well right now we are in the midst of the rain forest.  We've written about crocs, explored research questioning, and now my personal favorite, THE SLOTH!!  These little guys make me smile. I just think they are 7 kinds of cute.  Now on to the work...

This week our scope and sequence focuses on story elements.  We've touched on these elements throughout the year in isolation but now we are drawing attention specifically to comparing these elements in stories by the same author. I was excited to be able to introduce and post these fabulous posters from Leslie Ann at Life in First Grade that I'd purchased earlier in the year...
You can get them HERE!
I chose to focus on characters, setting, main idea, theme, and sequencing this week for my firsties.

 Story elements, an author study, plus our rain forest theme meant one perfect combination...

My kids love hearing this story every year! And it was a fabulous fit for our Shared Reading lesson.

Today, I divided my kiddos into groups and had each group illustrate or record an assigned story element onto chart paper after hearing the story again. I whipped up this freebie to record our group work and display with our sloth craftivity which we will create on Friday.

And just for giggles, I MUST include this little guy that I fell in love with during our visit to the Dallas World Aquarium a few years back.  He just hangs out above the visitors. Totally head over heels for him!

I hope that you all are able to enjoy a little of the glitter that comes with this time of year and the fast approach of...dare I mention... summer break!!