Shapes and Leaves!

Happy Daylight Savings!  Everyone remember to change their clocks last night? =)

And a belated Happy Halloween as well!  Our students had lots of fun at our fall party Friday!  We made scarecrows, ate cookies, and played fall bingo.  Now to start thinking about Thanksgiving and Christmas...EEK!!

We have reviewing properties of 2-D and 3-D shapes.  As a warm-up, I asked students to choose one shape, either 2-D or 3-D, and write what they know about it.  The kiddos ran with it!

Then we played a shape sorting game with partners.  I found some cool shape sorting mats on Lakeshore, but couldn't justify spending money on something I could make myself...so I did!  When students were done with one sorting mat, they traded with another group who had a different mat.

  

In honor of my favorite season, this week we read "Leaf Man" by Lois Ehlert.  SUCH a great book!  As a writing follow-up, the students made their own leaf men to display in the hallway!

 

 

Oh, and here's the pumpkin my husband and I carved Thursday night!  We named him Hector! =)

Measurement

This week we've been working on measurement concepts using nonstandard units of measurement.  To begin the week and introduce the objective, I asked the students to get in groups, and then I gave each group a bag of five ribbons, asking them to put them in order from shortest to longest.  I didn't give any other instructions, since I just wanted to see how students would complete this task.  Most of the groups arranged their ribbons correctly from shortest to longest, but lined the ribbons up in the middle as opposed to the left or right sides.

 

While walking around and taking pictures, I found one group of students who correctly lined up the ribbons all on one edge.  I did a little dance =) and then threw their picture up on the Promethean Board for the rest of the students to see.  We discussed what this group was doing right and how they lined up their ribbons correctly on one side instead of in the middle.  We then went back to the activity, and all groups remeasured their ribbons, being sure to line them up carefully on the left side.  I gave the kiddos a recording sheet to color in what their ribbons looked like, in order from shortest to longest.

Once we had this concept down, we measured objects using paper clips and popsicle sticks.  What a fun week! =)

Graphing and Having a Ball!!

TGIF! =)

What a fun week!  Wednesday was our field trip to the county fair, and today is a day off for schools so that families can enjoy the fair together.  I love it!

This week we worked on some fun graphing activities.  The kiddos worked in pairs to sort and graph these cute little animal erasers.  Thank you Target dollar spot!!

I'm pretty proud of our new first grade hallway bulletin board!  We sure are having a ball! =)

All the kiddos' names!

Have a fabulous weekend everyone!

Tens, Ones, and a Wall of Fame!

Happy Sunday!  This week we've been working on place value and counting tens and ones.  The kiddos really enjoyed our Place Value War!

We've also been playing "Sprint to 100" to practice trading ones for tens, and tens for hundreds.  Thanks Down Under Teacher!!

My super awesome intern helped me get my Wall of Fame up this week!  The room looks so much better with some student work up!!

Love the Pokemon story! =) We're up and running with Daily 5, as well as our math Daily 3.  This week we'll be going into story elements.  Stay tuned!

Happy Labor Day!

Well, we're one week down!  I'm always so thankful for a long weekend right after school starts.  Every year I forget how exhausting it is to get back in the routine!

The kiddos are pretty pumped about the first grade Daily 5, and look at our shelf of pretty book boxes!  I love how excited they were to fill them with lots of great books!

We introduced close reading and started discussing how to talk about books.  This was a lot of fun to do with Lily's Purple Plastic Purse!  

And next week week we will start our math Daily 3.  I plan on putting a sample of each days worksheets/game materials in those little pockets so students see what we're working on.  I'll use the math writing as our whole group warm up, and then let the students complete the other two centers while I work with a small group.

And now, off  to catch up on some much needed sleep!  Have a great weekend everyone!

Tomorrow!

TOMORROW!!!  The first day with students!!  I feel like my 'to do' list is just as long as it was two weeks ago...eeeek!  I spent most of yesterday cutting out math flash cards with my new paper cutter...woo woo!  Only a teacher would be this excited about having a paper cutter at home! =)

Our new principal isn't a big fan of spelling tests (and let's face it, who is?), so our team is switching up the way we do our spelling homework this year.  Each student will have an individualized list, and each night they will choose an activity from our spelling menu to practice their words.  We will assess informally for mastery of words before adding new ones to the list.
 

Click above to nab your free copy!

Last year I fell in love with the Daily 5, and I'm looking forward to getting it up and running again.  This year, I'm also going to give the math Daily 3 a try (math writing, math by myself, math with a friend).  It's not drastically different from the way my math block was set up last year, but I like the idea of incorporating all three things each day.  I think it makes for an easier routine for the kids (and for myself!)

Now onto the next projects...

Loving this idea from Inspired by Kindergarten and can't wait to make it!  Unfortunately, when we went to Target yesterday, it was pouring down rain...So no black poster board for me, I decided to wait until it wouldn't get drenched the minute we got out of the store!

Also itching to create a classroom writing menu, like this one from The Clutter Free Classroom!  I've seen several cute ones on Pinterest and I've been wanting to put one together for MONTHS...just a matter of time and priority!  I'm hoping my intern or some parent volunteers can help me hammer this out.  It's such a nice visual for the kids.

Alright, off to go finish these math flash cards!!  Good luck on your first day everyone!! =)