After alll...you're my wonderwall :-)

Welcome back!
We have had a restful summer, spent pinning a lot of good ideas on Pinterest!  This Wonderwall was one of the great ideas, so we brainstormed how to incorporate this into our classrooms.  "I Wonder..." charts are so useful to engage student learning, but we liked the idea of having one reusable chart, instead of having to keep up with several charts all year.  So we created our own......

Ta-da!

The speech bubble die-cuts were purchased from The School Box (split a pack with a buddy because there were way more than were needed).  We put them inside a cheap frame from Ikea.  We left a mostly blank piece of paper instead to write what our topic is, or tape a picture of what we are introducing.  The plan is to use dry erase makers to record the students' thoughts (for upper grades you could have the students record their ideas themselves).  A quick and easy project, put together for less than $10!

Shedding our Shells

At the end of each year I read The Hermit Crab to my students. As I read we discuss how they have filled their Kindergarten shell with what they have learned and now they need a bigger shell in First Grade to fill with knowledge next year. We brainstorm ideas together of what kind of things "filled our shells" this year (what they learned). Then I give each student a paper plate to paint with water color (which they LOVE....we don't get to do much painting anymore;) And then I give them pom poms, scraps of paper, stickers, buttons, basically anything you can find to glue on. Then I give each student writing paper to write about what they learned in Kindergarten. It's so cute to see what they come up with..things I may have even forgotten about. Finally, I have a little template of a hermit crab they cut out and I staple to the paper plate (it's a hard copy...I don't have an electronic copy...SORRY!) But it's super easy to do. So if you're looking for a good end of the year activity you might want to try this!

A HUGE Thank You!

So this year when all the office, nurse, custodians, cafeteria worker appreciation days came around I found myself panicking to get thank you notes to everyone. I mean where's the time!?!? So I came up with a template for students to draw a picture and write a little note to everyone and was going to just paste them on Poster Board. But my wonderful para came up with an adorable way to display the notes. I forgot to take pictures of the custodian broom she made out of poster board (so cute) and a tray made out of poster board for the cafeteria workers. I did snag a picture of the one for the nurse (the picture below). Everyone seemed to love them  and the students really enjoyed personalizing their own square.  So if you're looking for an easy way to give a big thank you this is the way to go! To download the thank you card template for FREE click HERE! What other ideas do you have for thank you notes? I would love to hear!

Angry Birds/Angry Verbs

I found this great idea on Pinterest! My students loved using their favorite angry birds characters to practice verbs! Click here to find the Angry Birds templates. I had each student chose their favorite angry bird, colored it, and paste it on paper. Then they had to write sentences using verbs and then they highlighted them. And tada Angry Verbs!

Earth Day Everyday!

Earth Day is such a fun Holiday, especially getting to teach the students the ways they can love and care for our Earth.  I decided to use some of the Natural Resources Unit that I made for Science to help teach my students about Earth Day and wanted to share a freebie with you guys!
Click here to snag your freebie.

Click here for the entire unit!

Lewis and Clark with Sacagawea

Hey all!
Spring Break was so nice, but just left me ready for more! 31 more days of this school year, can't believe it has gone so fast.  It's amazing how much the students grow in a school year.
Well to wrap up the school year we are doing a lot of review.  While going through my resources I thought I would share a Social Studies Unit that I made that focused on Lewis and Clark and Sacagawea.  These historical figures can be so difficult to teach to first graders, but I have found that the reading comprehension worksheets really have helped.  Our standards are supposed to cover vocabulary as well, so the matching sheet in this unit is a great and easy assessment.
Enjoy, click here to grab your copy!

1, 2, 3 Blast Off! Earth Science Unit

Here's a science unit that can be used in any K-2 space unit! To check out the whole unit click HERE!

And here's a Freebie from the unit! Click on the picture below to download your own copy!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!! 2 Freebies!!!!

Hope you wore green so you didn't get pinched;) Sorry it took so long to post this....better late than never right?!?! This a St. Patrick's day writing activity that I did with my students last week and they loved it! Luckily the art teacher at my school had students make a four leaf clover with a pot of gold so I didn't have to do that part in my classroom. I made this sentence starter for my students to finish and cut and glue on each leaf on the clover. My favorite is the one that says " I am lucky because I have the best teacher."~ Reminds me of why I teach;) Click on any of the pictures to grab your own freebie!

  

I also created a Wanted! Paper that is similar to the heart one I made for Valentine's Day. Click HERE to grab your copy!

Meaurement FREEBIE!

Dana over at 3rd Grade Gridiron has an awesome measurement packet and here's the best part....it's Free! Head on over to grab your copy! We just downloaded our own sets and can't wait to use them.

Essential Questions

Ok, so we know that Essential Questions are important to student learning, but I know I personally always have a hard time keeping them updated.  So luckily Pinterest came to the rescue once again!  We saw this done here and adapted it to our individual needs.  A trip to Micheals had everything we needed to complete this project, large frame (or smaller ones if you wanted to differentiate that way), scrap book paper, and stick on letters.  The whole project took less than an hour to complete, and we absolutely LOVED the end result!

Wanted!

I saw this idea on Pinterest (my newest obsession)! I don't know why it took me so long to start. There are so many great ideas on there! Anyways I saw this idea for a cute way for students to show the different ways to make numbers. I also thought it could be a good way for students to show word families, fact families, or vocabulary too. You can find the template I made HERE (I couldn't find one from the link on pinterest). Let me know what kind of other ideas you come up with! Here are some pictures of the number one we did.My camera does not have any flash...sorry they came out so dark but hopefully this gives you an idea of what it looks like.

Color Persuasion

This 9 weeks my school is working on persuasive writing. On pinterest I found the coolest way to teach it. OREO! Click on the oreo picture below to check out the website...it even includes a template!

I saw this crayon paper at the Dollar Store and thought my students would like the cool paper and it would be a great way to use the OREO outline for them to persuade each other about colors. First they brainstormed using these graphic organizers I made this summer. I had them color the star green and the last arrow to show opinions and the two arrows in the middle yellow for reason and example. The next day I gave them the crayon paper and they copied their sentences and colored the crayon. They loved it. Here are some pictures of how they turned out. Hope your students have just as much fun persuading!;)

Light and Shadow!

Happy Belated Groundhogs Day!
We are lucky that our Science Instructional Calendar lined up so that we were studying Light and Shadows on February 2nd this year.  With all the standards that we have to fit in, it's great to have a reason to celebrate :-)
This year my kids did some cute Groundhog's day writing, talking about what their life would be like as a groundhog.  I was really happy with and amused by their finished products!
We also talk about how to make a shadow, and different light sources.  Because I feel our Science Resources are sometimes lacking, I created a Light and Shadow Unit for my students.  My friend The Lesson Plan Diva got to use some of these activities in her classroom today and said her students really enjoyed them.  Click here to grab your copy!

And here is an awesome Mini-book freebie, your students will love being authors and illustrators!

Freebie!!!! February Journal BINGO

Click on the picture below to find February's Journal BINGO. Sorry I'm a few days late..Hope your students are enjoying them!

FREEBIE: January Journal BINGO

Whew! We made it through the first week back. Getting up with the alarm clock was rough to say the least. But the kids came back remembering most of the classroom routines;) I don't know about ya'll but we're exhausted! It will be nice to relax and refresh this weekend!
Here's January Journal Bingo. Download HERE!

Scrabble anyone?

Wow! Can't believe it's been a month since updating! The holidays were a busy a time as I'm sure it was for ya'll as well. I'm a little late on gifts but over the break I found this holiday Scrabble game on clearance at Barnes and Noble and had seen a cute idea on Pinterest. I loved that the letters were red and green and thought they would make a nice gift for coworkers. I made holiday themed words and super glued them together and then super glued ribbon on the back and tada ornaments! Check out the pictures! Hope my coworkers will like them...even though it's after the holidays. Better late than never right?!?!;)