Seuss-tastic Stuff with Freebie...

Well it's all giggles over here with all of the Seussy love out there in blog world and Pinterest.  It is my favorite time of year! I'm a HUGE Seuss fan year-round so I thoroughly enjoy these next few weeks.  We actually started our Seuss unit last week and will continue on for the next two.  Here is a bit of Suess love from glitter and giggles...

Last week our Shared Reading focus was on main idea and details. I made this little organizer to go along with our reading of The Cat in the Hat.

Click here for your copy of the organizer.

This week we are reading The Lorax. I'm going to print and laminate this gameboard for my students to use with their word rings during Work on Words.

Click here for your copy of the gameboard.

On March 2, we will celebrate Read Across America with a read in and Seussy snacks throughout the day.  Here are a few pictures from our celebration last year.

I purchased this print from Charm Studio. We recite the quote as our end of the day launch.

Thank you so much to all of the creative teachers sharing wonderful ideas, pictures, and freebies to make these next few weeks so enjoyable for my firsties and I.  I hope you have Seusstastic time with lots of glitter and giggles!!

(Graphics provided by My Fun Invites @ Etsy.)





Random Glitter... (Anchors, TPT, & Snowmen Freebie)

Ok, just a quick drop in to sprinkle a little glitter...

Here are a few of the anchor charts my firsties and I created last week:

Our Shared Reading objective was text evidence and inferences.  We had just discussed schema the previous week.  I created a short text passage with our polar bear theme leaving out the topic.  Here are the before and after shots.

Here are a few of our anchor charts from math and science...

As requested, the Work on Words bin labels are now posted in my TPT Store! for only $2. Check them out!

And finally...this week we are working on main idea and details using "Snowmen at Night!" Click HERE for a free response sheet that I whipped up after school today!

I hope that everyone is off to an awesome short week that only has 3 working days left! giggles!!!!!

Daily 5 Work on Words...Freebie too!

As mentioned in previous posts, this my first year to implement the Daily 5.  My students favorite 2 are Listen To Reading and Work on Words! I thought I'd share my Work on Words setup using a picture and link post. And here's the icing on the cupcake...I'm also going to link you up with my bff Misty at 3rd Grades A Hoot, who is busy preparing some fabulous 3rd grade work on words ideas as well! 

 I really put this together this year using ideas and activities from other amazing bloggers so the credit really goes to them. I do change some of the activities regularly to focus on our objectives but it's still way less work than a room full of stations to change weekly! Student's use their own word rings (words differentiated for their reading/spelling needs) to complete each activity.

The setup: Pink bins from Dollar Tree & Plastic shelf from Walmart

The breakdown bin by bin...

Playdoh Words:

Pretty self explanatory but I do have a recording sheet so that I can hold students accountable for the words completed during their rotation.  I also encourage them to use the playdoh to make word family words from their word ring if the word follows a pattern.

 Click here for your free copy of the recording sheet!

(Border: Fancy Dog Studio -  Playdoh Letters: Lettering Delights Play Clay Alphabet)

Magnetic Letters:

Students build word wall words and word ring words with magnetic letters.

View my magnetic letter storage post by clicking here.

Word Patterns:

I use this bin to practice our phonics pattern for the week.  They are loving this one!! I use http://theinspiredapple.blogspot.com/'s Word Work Activities. They are having a blast using highlighters, word frames, and stamps. These packs are Uhhh-mazing!! Check them out in her TPT Store!

Sorts:

We use weekly Words Their Way sorts matching our phonics objectives. There are also multiple sort freebies out there that I use to print, laminate, and keep in this bin.

I use alot of sorts from Teacher Bits and Bobs! She has several freebies and some in her TPT Store.

Gameboards:

By far the most popular choice! Check out my blog post about Gameboards Galore! Don't forget to click to get your free gameboard.

Word Families:

The objective of the word family bin is to utilize our word wall and Word Family Board to work on spelling and reading word family words.  Students can use pointers to read our word family board or practice reading and recording word families using First Grade Blue Skies Lit Station Word Family Mats that can be found in her her TPT Store. (On a side note... I also use her Label It pages for Work on Writing...which I just love!) They are adorable.

Dry Erase:

I also keep dry erase markers and whiteboards in work on words for any recording, practice, partner games, etc. needed. My students also use the dry erase boards to give themselves a practice "Word Wall Test."

Woooo....that was ALOT. Hopefully I've given you the hook up though with ideas, links, and printables.  Of course, these are just a handful of ideas for work on words.  I am always looking for new ideas myself, changing, adapting, and attempting to perfect all areas in my classroom.  Thank you so much to all of the amazing blogging teachers that inspire me, give free printables, and keep their TPT stores stocked for my use. (giggles)

Lesson Reflection Freebie...

Oh my word...I can't believe it's back to work tomorrow! I seriously used every bit of my 2 weeks. Now to get re-motivated, re-vamped, and re....glittered for the second half of the school year! Let's start with a freebie! Recently my grade level team was responsible for presenting at staff development.  Our assignment was the "Reflection" chapter in Ron Clark's Excellent 11.  Here is a little printable I made for teacher reflection. I keep all of my lesson plans for the year in a 3 ring binder. When I get ready to plan the same week the following year, I pull out my lesson planning binder and see what we're going to do the same or change up. I'm sure you have something similar whether it be file folders, notebooks, etc.  Here's the thing...I always find a pin on pinterest, blog post, or some idea I wished I'd had BEFORE I planned the lesson! Sooo...here's the idea...I'm going to copy the lesson reflection freebie below, 3 hole punch, and place in front of the week's lessons so when I turn to that plan next year, I remember my notes. I know this is not a new concept, but I've made a cutesy little page that will work well for me and is blogger/pinner friendly....giggles. Hope that you can get some use out of it too.

 Click here to download your copy.

Graphics by Flavoree. Fonts by Kevin & Amanda

Fancy Nancy Splendiferous Christmas

Joyeux Noel!!

Wow...I can't believe it's here! The last week of school before Christmas Break. One of my favorite books to read this time of year is Fancy Nancy Splendiferous Christmas.  I'm Fancy Nancy obsessed anyhow so combine that with Christmas and voila...you end up with Fancy Friday!!! This is our second year to have Fancy Friday with our firsties and they just LOVE it.  We begin the week with your typical story elements, catch some amazing vocabulary along the way (aroma, improvise, heirloom), focus on the objective of sensory details in writing, and end the week with dressing "fancy" and writing a sensory poem about "fancy cocoa." It is simply SPLENDIFEROUS! Our students wear standardized dress every day so to be able to wear their Sunday best or blinged boa to school is an automatic hit. 

Here are my fancied firsties! Oooh La La!! You'll notice we are not lacking in the personality department! The instructions were actually to pose fancy or fabulous...apparently to some that means look tough...hence the crossed arms and intimidating faces!

These fancy firsties brought fancy cookies (oh my isn't he dapper!) and fabulous marshmallows (pinterest inspired of course)!

And on to the work...here is our fancy cocoa...hot chocolate, whipped cream, and peppermint! (glitter!)... and splendiferous cocoa graphic organizer.

Up next...Grinchmas at Walker! I hope that everyone has a fabulous last week.

Farm Fun and Freebie

Hello blogging friends! It's been a while! I've LOVED stalking all of the amazing Thanksgiving ideas and activities the last few weeks.  My firsties had their little hands in many of your wonderful ideas. Just before Thanksgiving we actually had a "farm week" this year.  Farm day is something that our campus typically does for the Kindergarten Cuties but for the first time, we were asked to participate as well! Then the challenge...ok farm theme and the objectives sequencing and retelling, writing effective leads, even/odd numbers, and soil. Alright I'll admit, the soil part wasn't that much of a stretch because it fit mud perfectly but I did have to flex my creativity muscles for the other objectives! Here's a bit of we what did...

We used Mud Walk by Joy Cowley for Shared Reading.

We sequenced the story.

We created characters to act out the retelling. (Thanks Pinterest!)

We also retold Mud Walk by using animal crackers as our characters and chocolate icing as our mud!

We used a barn graphic organizer to focus on writing leads and wrapping up our stories (endings). We used the story Giggle, Giggle, Quack for our writing.

 For Math I created an even and odd gameboard. My students rolled the dice, moved that number of spaces, stated the number, and identified the number as even or odd.  Click below for your copy of the game.  I actually created 2 versions of this game to share...one has numbers...and the other is blank. Feel free to write in your own numbers, addition sentences, word wall words, etc...

                            Click here for Even/Odd Game.      Click here for the blank farm gameboard.

(Graphics by DJ Inkers. Fonts by Kevin and Amanda)

And lastly, a couple of pictures from the actual farm day! My firsties had a BuuLAST!

Wooo...that was ALOT...now on to Fancy Nancy Splendiforous Christmas and a Campus Wide Grinchmas!!!



Gameboards Galore with a Freebie

This year we've introduced Daily 5 and I'm loving it.  It's not perfection but I really enjoy it more than creating stations every other week.  I was inspired to create a set of gameboards for my firsties to use during work on words.  The gameboards are blank and my kiddos use dice, game markers, and their individualized word rings to play. Y'all they have been RUNNING to grab a gameboard when it's time for work on words!! In my previous post I talked about doing Abby's Oz unit...my Oz board was the first gameboard that I introduced to them. They fell in love and so did I.  It was actually a word wall review week so I just plugged in our words for that six weeks and had an instant review game. Easy Peasy!! Just fabulous!!!

Gameboard themes include Wizard of Oz, Smurf themed, Wonka/candy, Peter Pan, Superhero, owl, Paris, cowboy, and pirate. So much fun!

Visit my TPT store to get your set! Even better, click HERE to get a free galaxy themed gameboard! Check it out!

I hope you get as much use out of these as I already have.  I even made an owl board for my kindergarten cutie to practice her word wall words and number recognition at home.  She is fired up to do homework! Oh my...giggles!!

(Graphics credit...digicute, springhill graphics, jd digi designs, peach pops clipart, pixel papers, kevin and amanda fonts)