Chickens and Dr. Seuss?

Howdy everybody! Hope you had a good leap day! We are so fortunate because 2 of our first grade classrooms are going to be hatching baby chicks and they are generous enough to let us take a peek. Next week is the big week! What is your favorite book to share about chickens? I have this one . . .

Click here to download


I also wanted to share something we did today in honor of Dr. Seuss. . .I found this photo idea on pinterest and decided to do it myself.  I love how they turned out . .

The Dreaded Fatigue , Oi/Oy Word Find, Subway Art Printable

Good Morning Bloggy Friends! I hope you are well. I have to tell you,  it is nearing that time of year for me-the dreaded case of "fatigue". I always seem to start to run out of steam at this time in the school year {which is of course THE worst possible time}. Do any of you experience this and how do you ward it off? Or, am I the only one?

 On a cheerier note, I have a oi/oy word find to share and also wanted to tell you that I am starting to make my own "Word Art" or "Subway Art" printable signs. I made this one last night and posted it on, "The Robin's Nest". Come visit! Have a nice day. :)

Click here for Word Find

Click here for Subway Art

Dr. Seuss Quote



Click image to enlarge and save as jpeg

Just Pinned-St. Patrick's Day Fun

Click here to download from eighteen25

Source: mysweetheartmoments.com via Laura on Pinterest

Just Pinned-Great Photo Idea



Source: naptimecrafting.blogspot.com via Kari on Pinterest

Maps

We've had a fun week learning about maps, using the Three Little Pigs story. After reading the story, we made a replica of the houses and scenery.

I divided the students into 5 groups: scenery, wolf's house, house of straw, house of sticks, and house of bricks.

I used legos for bricks, toothpicks for sticks, and raffia for straw.

Here's the finished product!

We made "Keys" to show the important places in our replica. Then we made maps and lined up the compass roses to verify that our maps were a true replica. The students learned that if you don't line up the compass rose, the map isn't the same for everyone.

I also read The True Story of the Three Little Pigs to compare to the original. You can get those copies here:

Venn

Survey

Thank You Surprise!

Hello everybody! I hope you had a nice day. The weather here in Southern Utah is sunny and beautiful. Quite out of character for this time of year, but I will enjoy it while it is here!

 Today I wanted to share an idea for something that we recently did in first grade. We wanted to do something special for someone in our school. We decided to make our reading specialist a "Thank You" Jar. I have a quote on one of my blogs that says, "I Always Prefer to Believe the Best of Everybody, It Saves So Much Trouble." -Rudyard Kipling. I think that really describes her so well. She is a person who always looks for the good in everyone, always has a smile, and always shows an upbeat attitude. We had all of the first grade children write something to her on a strip of paper. We then folded the papers and put them all into the jar. It was so much fun! Thanks for all you do Linda!

Wild about First Folder Cover

Hey everyone! Tomorrow is Wednesday already! Chari came running into my room this morning with a great idea-make a themed cover for the file folders that we use for papers during SEP's. We are planning to decorate the hall as a grade level using
 Deanna Jump's



unit for SEP week also. It is going to be super cute! Anyway, here is the cover I made tonight. Notice the black and white to save on that darned colored ink! (But including color also!)

   

Click here to download

Click here to download

Border News and Lakeshore Rug Seating Chart

Happy Thursday EvEryOnE! This has been one crazy week! I hope your week is going well. I just wanted to say "Hi" and hope you had a good Valentine's Day. :) I am getting ready to watch American Idol with my hubby but I wanted to share a couple of things first . . .Oh and have a great Friday tomorrow . . .

1. Yay! I have my own bundle! Thanks to Nikki for making a second super cute set of borders. Love them! Here is a pic and her etsy link if you want to grab them for yourself.

Click here to purchase on etsy



2. I re-arranged seating today and decided to make this to help me remember.

Click here to download

Hello, Birthday Stuff and Pincushion Craft

Hello everyone! I haven't been writing much lately because I have been dealing with cold/sinus stuff. Yuck! I wanted to mention that I am working on a cute BiRthDaY set that will include certificates, bookmarks, badges and a fun idea for what I do for class birthdays. Fingers crossed, I will finish that up this week. In the meantime, hopefully a few people have grabbed the math fact powerpoints. I will be posting more of those also. I have been using them at school and have emailed them to parents to use for home practice as well. On my personal blog, The Robin's Nest, I just posted pics of a pincushion craft that I did in less than an hour! I would love for you to check it out. . .
Best Wishes :)

Doubles pLuS 1 Fact Practice PowerPoint

A Doubles pLuS 1 PowerPoint for practicing math facts



Click HERE to download

Subtracting 2 Math Facts PowerPoint

A PowerPoint for practicing Subtracting 2 math facts . .

Click HERE to download

Adding 2 Fact Practice PowerPoint

A PowerPoint for practicing Adding 2 math facts . . .

Click HERE to download

Subtracting 1 PowerPoint

A PowerPoint for practicing Subtracting 1 math facts . . .

Click HERE to download

Adding 1 and Doubles Fact Practice PowerPoints

Happy Wednesday EvErYoNe! Adding 1 Facts PowerPoint and Doubles Facts PowerPoint. 12 slides each . .



Click HERE to download

Click HERE to download

What does RaINboW editing look like....

So I have had several questions about how I use this in my classroom.  So here goes my attempt to explain it clearly....  As I teach each editing skill we color in the circle on our rainbow editing checklist.  You can see from the picture that we have just finished learning about capital letters.  Of course I talk about punctuation, but I have not officially made them responsible for it yet in their writing.  The students use this checklist as they edit their own writing and occasionally others.  I have a drawer full of crayons they can use, (so I don't have to hear them get out their pencil boxes, and because they can write most anywhere in the room). 

This is what it looks like when the students are done editing their writing.  I teach it very explicitly and I MODEL, MODEL, MODEL....

Each time they are done with a story, they edit it. This is one of my struggling students who wrote this.  I think it is so rewarding when they reread their story and edit it on their own.  I did not help her do this at all...

I love finding something that works, and this is what is making my writing AWESOME this year...