It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas...

      Tammy over at 1...2...3 Teach With Me  is having a Christmas Linky Inspiration party.  I have to say that I saw her post this morning and I was not feeling Christmas spirit yet.  I wanted to link up but just wasn't sure if I anything to share!I mean it is only November 17th and the high today was almost 60!  I love Thanksgiving and am still in Turkey and fall mode.  (My kiddos are still doing fall/leaf centers the week after Thanksgiving break).  So, it has been hard to get "inspired" to or to begin thinking about the holiday season.

      However, today I ran my first 5K in about three years.  I used to run a lot of 5K's and even ran a half marathon.  Then I just slacked off.  This fall a group of amazing teachers at my school got together to do the Couch to 5K program.  I thought I would join their group, even though I was still running once or twice a week.  I knew that the accountability to a group would push me to do better and get back into better shape.  These women are inspiring, some of which never were runners, today finished their first 5K.  I am proud to say that I am a member of the Harrisburg Runner Girls! 

      We signed up to run in a 5K together...the Santa Scramble.  The race took place at the beginning of a Christmas parade in the small town that is near my school.  It was great!  The streets were lined with people cheering us on.  I  saw a fellow friend/teacher with her family and other students from my school, along with our assistant principal holding up a sign!    It was a great feeling to be a part of a group like the one we ran with!

This is our entire group before the race!



Some of our crew afterwards, standing on the road ready to
cheer our friends on to the finish line!



     So, I guess you can say I got my inspiration and am now ready for the Holiday season! Bring it on!  To get ready for it, I purchased some super cute clip art from the 3AM Teacher and already started on some fun math center activities.  They will be on my TpT store this coming week!

     Here are a few other things that I have pinned on Pinterest that are will get you in the holiday spirit and ready for winter:

 

This site (http://itswrittenonthewalls.blogspot.com/2011/10/166-neighbor-christmas-gift-ideas-its.html) above, is filled with awesome holiday gift ideas that are homemade! 

I think this is too cute! 

    If you still have school next week, make sure to stop over at my TpT store to check out the Thanksgiving items that are on sale until tomorrow!  While you are there make sure to follow my store, so you will find out when the new items arrive! 

Michelle



Teaching Tip Linky Party!

     I am linking up with Miss Kindergarten for her Teaching Tip Linky Party!  I love all of the tips that I have read from other wonderful teachers.  

    My tip is something simple and easy, yet oh so important!  My tip is to PLAN AHEAD!  That's right.  So simple, yet saves so much time.  I have found this to be even more imporatant  as our school is jumping into the Common Core. Each month, I pull my files for the coming month.  I go through and find each item I know is a definite that I will use.  There are some activiites I skip, due to the group of students I have that particular year.  However, looking through my files a month in advance, allows me to really have the time to determine what exactly I do want to use. 

    I usually take my files home, spread them out on my desk or floor and sift through them, pulling out what I plan to use the following mohtn.  I then take these items to school.  Our school is incredibly lucky becuase we have an awesome PTA.  Our PTA has something called the PTA box.  Here, each teacher has a file and can place items with directions to be completed (copied, glued, laminated, cut, stapled, etc.).  PTA volunteers come throughout the week and complete the tasks.  You have to give them a week to complete the items, but sometimes they are done that same day!  This eliminates me having to do some of those tasks!  This weekend I went through my December files so that I can start getting ready for the holidays!

    With the adoption of the CCSS, blog stalking, and becoming a Pinterest and TpT junky, I have found such amazing NEW ideas and activities.  I feel like I am constantly creating or using something new, but it is a great feeling to know that I can pull on my files, ahead of time, and have some of my activities and lessons planned in advance!

     It's not too often that our grade level has time to plan in advance, however, last week we had time to work with our PLC teams to develop plans and units for CCSS.  Our team worked hard to create an integrated unit with Non-fiction and our new science standard, the Earth in the Universe, that we will use in January.  Our team created a lapbook for students to organize their learning.  This weekend, trying to plan ahead, I created a writing packet with prompts related to 1.E.1.1 and 1.E.1.2, however, there are a few in there just for fun!!  Check out my writing packet for the Earth in the Universe at my TpT store.  Just click on the picture below! 

     Happy Veteran's Day!

Michelle

    

Fall is in Full Swing!

Well fall is in full swing as we enter November.  As always November is the month of Thanksgiving and in my classroom that usually means turkeys galore!  This year I am adding a little something to my turkeys.  I think that turkey day and football go hand in hand.  So, this year I have created some activities for Thanksgiving, turkeys, and football. 

Click on the picture above to get your copy of my Long Vowel and Short Vowel Words Sorts at my TpT store!  They are fun filled football word sorts.

Thanksgiving Themed Froggy Number Words.  Students can match the numbers to the number words and record their answers on the recording sheet.  Click on the first Frog picture to get your copy of the frog numbers from my TpT store.  These are great for kindergarten or first graders who are still working on learning numbers and number words!

Turkey Doubles facts! Our first graders are working on doubles and near doubles/doubles plus one.  Knowing doubles facts helps with fact fluency.  Click on the picture above to get your copy of the Double,Double file at my TpT store.

Vote for Somebody!

      It's voting time and I voted early on Saturday!  I loved teaching about the Presidential Election four years ago.  This is the second time in my teaching career that I have been teaching during a Presidential Election.  Last Election I created a lapbook to do with my first graders about voting and the President. Our basic goal is that the students understand what it means to vote and how it is a right as a citizen of the United States. 

      We will read My Teacher for President, Duck for President, and listen online to Arthur Meets the President on KOL JR online.  The students will compare and contrast me to the President of the USA.  (They love doing this!)  The students will write what they would do if they were the President.  (Four years ago, I had a student who told me he plans to be the President some day. He said that he would end the Iraq War and give food to those who were hungry.  I don't doubt that he may just very well be the President!  He said those things as a 6 year old!) They will define key terms and sort between community leaders and words that describe those community leaders. The lapbooks turned out really cute last time!  Here are a few pics of an example of our lapbook.

 

     We try to make voting relevant to the students by having them vote about items that are interesting to them.  Over the next week, our students will vote on a variety of topics and place their ballots in our ballot box.


Click HERE to get your copy of our ballots!  We vote about things like Oreo cookies, ketchup, and super powers!  This helps each student understand that his/her voice is important!

 

     About a week or so ago, my Mom emailed me a link to this video.  I absolutely love it!  Not only do I love when kids are singing, but when they are singing about an important message.  Younger students will enjoy it and understand the basic message behind it. Enjoy!

Only a week left until Election Day.  Our students will vote for the President tomorrow.  Remember to get out there and vote!
Michelle

Pumpkins! Pumpkins!

 We have had a fun time with pumpkins for the past two weeks!  Here are just a few of the wonderful things my kiddos have been doing with pumpkins.  


 

This is our pumpkin sequencing.  Each student painted two paper plates.  We staple the plates together, leaving a small opening. Then the students color and cut out two green pumpkins, two yellow pumpkin flowers, two vines, and two seeds.  The students glue them around the green yarn in sequential order.  All of the items can fit inside the orange pumpkin!  Then the students pull out each piece in order telling how a pumpkin grows! 

  

 

The students chose from four different clip art
pictures of pumpkins.  Then the students deleted the
other pictures, re-sized their own picture and wrote
three sentences about the picture that was
their favorite. 



Our first graders made their own pumpkin patches!  They used hexagons, trapezoids, and triangles to create three different pumpkins.  We haven't taught our geometry unit, but this is a great introduction or review from Kindergarten!

During our Reader's Workshop time, the students chose from different leveled pumpkin books.  The students had to read the story and write about their favorite character from the book.



The students felt the gushy pumpkin guts!  They LOVED this part.  They sorted the pumpkin seeds into groups of tens.  We had over 500 pumpkin seeds!



Click HERE to download our pumpkin Smartboard slides. You have to select to download the file.

Enjoy!

Teacher's Pay Teachers

     So, those who know me, know that I am obsessed with finding amazing materials on Teacher's Pay Teachers.  I finally got around to creating something little of my own!  I have been scared that I wouldn't know what to do or how to do it!  It's just a start and I am still learning about graphics and all of the goodies that are out there. 

     I created a Thanksgiving Themed Froggy Fact Family activity.  Our second unit for math this year focuses on addition and subtraction.  This activity will address Common Core Standard 1.OA.3.  There are 8 pages of task cards that can be cut, mounted on construction paper, and laminated.  There is also a recording sheet for students. You can download the activity sheet and student task cards at my new TPT store! 

 

     

      This year our school is focusing on independent reading and writing about reading.  At this point the students are reading independently and continuously for about 5-10 minutes with a few reminders about "what good readers look like".  Our fabulous First Graders are doing an amazing job writing about reading, but this is their first real experience writing about their own reading.  The students are writing in response journals at least once a week and we are working towards journal writing every day.  That is our goal by the end of the year. 

      Our students are supposed to list the date and title of the book that they are reading in their journals.  This was somewhat difficult for our students.  They do better when  given guidelines or a template in which to work.  After seeing some great examples of teaching points for older students, on Pinterest, I decided to type the teaching point that we are focusing on, as well as a space for the date and the title of the book.  The students glue in the teaching points and then respond about their independent reading book.  This has helped each student organize his/her reading responses in his/her journal.

      Click below on the picture to download the teaching points that I have created.  Some may need to be altered for your kiddos!  We are using the Scott Foresman Reading Street as a method for teaching the first grade Common Core Standards.  At this point my teaching points are related to and follow the scope and sequence of the Scott Foresman.  My goal is to update these as the year goes on as well as list the Common Core standard that each one addresses. 

      Click HERE to get a copy of the teaching points that have already been created!

Here are a few examples of the teaching points in our journals: