STEM + Reading Comprehension = Super Students!

It's been a busy week in first grade!  Our school STEM Night is tomorrow, and all of our students participated in a school-wide STEM challenge.  First we watched a video on YouTube called "Caine's Arcade".  If you haven't seen it, be sure to check it out!  Caine is a young boy who gets bored when he has to go to work with his dad.  He decided to create his very own arcade, complete with working games and tickets.  Our students were then challenged to make their own arcade games using the same materials that Caine used; old boxes, cardboard, paper, string, etc.  We had SO much fun designing and building our arcade games!  The classroom looked like a tornado swept through, but it was well worth the mess!  Some of the students created "claw" games, others made basketball or football games.  And they had so much fun trying out each other's games.  It was the best!!

On another note, I''ve been doing a lot of comprehension work with my reading groups.  Right now we are examining the differences between fiction and nonfiction.  I put my worksheets together in a comprehension pack on TPT.  Be sure to check it out! :)

Math Games

Happy Friday bloggers!  We don't have school today because it's Fair Day...Thank you agriculture for a day off! ;)

We've been working on number and counting concepts for a few weeks.  I've used lots of activities with the 100 chart to help my kiddos recognize their numbers.  Their favorite game so far has been "ZAP!" where they take turns pulling a card from a bucket.  If the card has a number, the student must read it to the group.  If it says "ZAP!" then the game is over.  They love it!

We've also been using the 100's chart puzzles and tile boards that I blogged about last year.  These are both really great tools to check a student's counting strategies.

The back of these boards are blank, so when students finish the front side I have them flip for an extra challenge.  Extra motivation to finish!

Classroom Tour!

Time for some classroom photos!  It's taken a while to get everything the way I want, but I think I'm, finally finished! =]

A few shots from my desk...

Our cozy reading corner!  I fell in love with those pillows...10 bucks at Wal-Mart!  The book bins hold our leveled books for Read to Self.  I also posted our stamina chart as a visual reminder for the students.  They made it to 15 minutes quicker than I had planned!

Math/Calendar Wall

Small group table for word work and Daily 5 schedule

Student mailboxes and word work materials...students can choose from stamps, sight word bottles, rainbow writing, and typing sight words with keyboards

Found these vines at Michael's!  I also picked up the scrapbook paper squares.  These will be our "Wall of Fame" squares where students post their best pieces of writing.

More "Wall of Fame" squares above student cubbies

Found this amazing zebra rug at Wal-Mart, couldn't pass it up!!

Student book boxes next to our reading corner.  Thank you Target dollar spot!!  This area also houses our birthday chart/rewards and the magazine holders I made over the summer.  Read more about that project here!

Also found this plastic tablecloth at  Wal-Mart.  Snagged it for our word wall!  Last week we practiced color words, and then added them to the wall. 

Last but not least, we've been learning about all of the things that good readers and writers do.  I love displaying anchor charts as a visual reminder for students!

Next week we will be discussing what good mathematicians do! =]

Oops!

A whole month without an update! :(  I always forget how exhausting the first few weeks of school are!!  And then there's grad school on top of that...I'm beat!

But we're off to a great start in first grade! =] We've been practicing our Daily Five and math rotations.  Check out the cute frame I made for the first day! :)