First, I used the carousel strategy to promote movement and active discussion. For this lesson, I stapled some of my favorite question cards to chart paper and hung them around the room. I carefully divided my class into groups of three and had them rotate around the room to the various stations. At each station, one group member would read the question aloud. Then they would reflect on the question and share ideas within the group before constructing a response to write on the chart paper. A special signal was used for students to rotate every 2-3 minutes. I assigned a different color marker for each group to record their responses. As the groups traveled around the room in a carousel, they had an opportunity to read the previous responses from classmates and then add their own ideas.
Engage your early learners in hands-on fun and sharpen sorting skills with this Seasons Sort printable game.
Get these FREE editable name cards for preschool and kindergarten. Use the easy-to-customize cards for fun and engaging name practice activities with your kids. Perfect for enhancing early literacy
Set of 6 free printable Constellation Star Sewing Cards, also called lacing cards or lace-up cards. Improves fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination.
Download and print these free A-Z Alphabet flash cards to help your child learn the alphabet as well as recognize the letters and learn new words.
I just love this color changing flowers science experiment! It is really easy to do and the kids love watching the flowers change color. We think it is the perfect science activity for spring! I even created printable recording sheets that kids in preschool and early elementary can use to show their observations.
STEM Challenge Index Card Towers- This easy prep challenge is a favorite of STEM students! You will love the detailed teacher's guide
Want more teaching time and less monitoring behavior? This Classroom Behavior Management strategy is for you!
1-2-3 Come Do Some Frog Activities With Me Since the butterfly life cycle craftivities were such a hit, I decided to make some for the frog's life cycle as well. I do our butterfly theme in April with my Y5s, then follow it up with frogs in May. Studying two life cycles really helps reinforce those science concepts and vocabulary. To make this quick and easy for you, plus super-fun for your kiddos, I designed six, simple "print & go" craft activities with lots of options. First up is the frog's life cycle featured on a paper plate. I've included a simple 4-section cycle for little ones, where you count the big frog as the start, as well as a 6-piece cycle for older students. There are full color patterns, so you can easily make an example to share to help explain things, as well as black & white templates so children can color their own. There are templates that are labeled, as well as blank ones so students can practice the science vocabulary by writing it in. Punch a hole at the top; tie a yarn loop and suspend from the ceiling. Next up are the "Turn to Learn" Life Cycle of A Frog "Science Story Wheels". I went a bit crazy buying “Life Cycle Of A Frog” clip art, so there are 5 different life cycle wheels. This will provide a nice variety from cutesy to realistic, so that you can diversify your center. As a whole-group activity, you can give students a choice of which one they’d like to color, cut and make. To test comprehension and use the science vocabulary, have children write out the life cycle on the “Here’s What Happened” worksheet. I’ve included a detailed, completed sample, so that you can share whatever information is appropriate for your kiddos. Since a cycle is like a circle, I thought it would be appropriate to design the life cycle of a frog on 5 different, circular-puzzle patterns, as a super-fun way to teach and practice this science standard. The puzzles come in black & white, plus color to use for an independent center, or whole group “What comes next?” activity, where you pass the pieces out to your students to help explain, then review the frog’s life cycle. Students can keep theirs as a puzzle, pick a partner and play “Speed” against them, to see who can be the first to put their puzzle together in the correct order, or you can use it as a comprehension worksheet, and have children glue the pieces together on the matching puzzle base. To add variety, as well as have the ability to diversify, I’ve included 4, 5 and 6—piece puzzles. Some have realistic graphics of the frog’s life cycle, while others are semi-realistic, as well as cutesy. So you can also test comprehension, reinforce the life cycle’s order, as well as practice writing and the science vocabulary, I’ve also included a sequencing “What Comes Next?” writing-prompt worksheet. My kiddos absolutely love wearing a crown, so with that motivation in mind, I designed life cycle science crowns.The packet includes 5 different life cycle of a frog crowns to choose from. As with the other packets, patterns come in full color as well as black and white. Choose one, or run off the assortment on white construction paper, then give your students a choice. I use green bulletin board border as the base. Kiddos glue their crown to the strip and I wrap it around their head, snip and staple. My students also enjoy making "flip the flap" booklets, so I whipped together another life cycle of a frog option. PK kiddos simply color and glue the long life cycle piece, which shows 5-sections under the flaps. So you can assess comprehension, give older students the "mixed up pattern", where they cut out each individual rectangle, then glue the 5 stages in the appropriate order. Older students can also label or write "what's happening" in each section. Take a teachable moment to reinforce the ordinal number words on the front. Another flip the flap activity is a cute, frog face flip up booklet. Simply run the head and body patterns off on light green construction paper. Choose either the realistic graphics, or the cutesy ones, or give your students a choice. They color, cut, fold on the dashed line putting the pages in correct order, then glue them to the base of the frog and add the head afterwards. I’ve included picture pages without text, should you want your students to label and write out a description of their own, as well as completely blank “tongue pages” if you also want them to draw their own graphics. Today's FREEBIE also features a frog-theme, and is a set of 10 frame cards. I hope you find them useful. Well that's it for today. Thanks for stopping by. I got spoiled with a few days of lovely 70 degree weather, now it's back in the 40s. Yuk. Mother Nature is having a spring identity crisis again, at least here in Michigan. Wishing you a zippidy-doo-dah day! "We could all take a lesson from the weather. It pays no attention to criticism." - Unknown
Often times people think branding is a color palette and logo– and it is, but it’s also so much more. Branding is the heart, soul, and spirit of a business in visual form. It invites viewers into a story and allows them to feel something they can connect with. While branding can be complicated, I w
These free printable chore cards for kids are perfect for teaching kids how to clean and complete their kid's chores. Includes every room in the house.
3d Pop Up Daffodil Card. 3d Pop Up Flower Card. Easy Flower Bouquet Card DIY. How to make a pop up card with kids. Easy Pop Up Card How to for kids. St David's Day Card Ideas. Easy Mother's Day Card. Daffodil Crafts for Kids. Paper Daffodil DIYs for kids. How to make a daffodil card. Easy St David's Day Crafts for Kids
Money is now a thing of the past and geometry is where it’s at in room 102! We have been identifying 2D shapes and their characteristics, while also getting familiar with these shapes by PLAYING! I mean… “composing” new shapes with pattern blocks and geoboards! I love geometry because it is all hands-on […]
Mother’s Day Thumbprint Magnet Gift Mother’s Day Thumbprint Magnet Gift: Just a quick post to show you what I did for Mother’s Day gifts this year. I wanted to keep it simple and sweet. I found these
Homework. It's a cringe-worthy word. The problem most parents complain of is TOO much homework (which I agree). And the complaint from most teachers is that it's a lot of prep (I agree) and that much of the work is done by the parents. Students begin to hate homework starting early in their elementary years (yikes). Here's how we make it work for parents, students AND teachers! This year my teammates and I made our 1st grade homework OPTIONAL. Yes, you heard it. We don't REQUIRE our students to do homework. We do ask that they read 20 minutes per day, but there are no math worksheets, no book reports, no reading calendars, no homework folders. BUT- they do have a chance to do homework if they'd like! Many parents in our community are heavily involved and really would like their children to do homework each night to teach them things like time management, responsibility and to practice the skills we are learning in class. I agree that these things are important, but RESEARCH (John Hattie's research is great to look at) shows that homework does not really help in the success and growth in our students. What do I do INSTEAD? Present homework as a choice. Each week we have a newsletter that lists our optional homework. For each item the student completes and the parent initials, he/she gets a Homework High-Five (a raffle ticket). If they do 5 parts, they get 5 tickets! I do not need any other "evidence" other than a parent initial. This keeps the work on my end limited, but students are able to bring in any work they'd like me to see. For instance, a student made an elaborate leprechaun trap last week as a weekly challenge and took a picture to show me! :) The students turn their newsletter note on Friday, regardless of how many tasks they've completed (even if it's zero) because at the bottom the parent signs off that their child did their reading each night...which is the only requirement. NO READING CALENDARS. :) I do feel the need for at least that much accountability (signing a note)...especially when a majority of my students prefer video games over books. Required: Take-Home Reading Folders (20 min. each night) or just reading any book before bed! I want them to LOVE reading and if they prefer their own books to read, they just need to let me know that. Optional: Spelling Practice (depending on the difficulty, they can earn up to 3 tickets for doing this 3 nights) Math Website (i-ready for 30 minutes per week and I can easily log in to track progress) Weekly Challenge (see below) First Grade Goal (learn address, write birthday, write phone number, etc.) Stapled to newsletter each week is always the spelling list. For math practice, my students all have accounts on i-ready math (paid subscription from our school) which is a differentiated, computer math program. It teaches the students lessons on their level and assesses them using animated games and activities. Our kids love it. Each week there is also one "weekly challenge" and we like to really mix it up with these challenges. They earn a ticket for completing it. Here are some ideas: *play outside for 20 minutes each night *check out a book at the public library *help make dinner *do the dishes *listen to a song and make up a dance *build a leprechaun trap *play a board game with your family *read a book in the dark with a flashlight *read to a sibling or stuffed animal *write a letter to a friend *visit a nursing home *Practice jump roping *build a snowman *teach your parents how to do the "Milk Shake" *draw a map of your house *with your family, take a walk around the neighborhood and count the stop signs *Play four corners *Draw a picture for a neighbor and deliver it (with the help of an adult) *preform a science experiment from sciencekids.co *with help from an adult, research online about emperor penguins and write three facts about them After students bring in their note, a parent volunteer calls them into the hall to fill out their Homework High-Fives. I like my students to sign their own tickets so they can feel excited about it! This motivates the students to do the homework, even though they don't have to, because they want to win a prize. W I draw 5 names each week. The "extra names" get dumped into a larger tub and I draw one grand-prize winner each month. So, I have a huge tub of all of the tickets they've ever signed. There's always a chance to win! What do my students win if their name is called? COUPONS! I love Proud to be Primary's Class Reward Coupons (and so do my students). They are obsessed with picking the coupon that allows them to switch seats and sit by a friend. Ugh. ;) Everything you need to know about these awesome coupons can be found {here}. Parents were SHOCKED when we said we have "optional" homework. There were some who jumped for joy and some who just could not believe we would encourage this craziness! We had to get them on board with it. HA! Before we started, we sent home this important note. The parents who "hated" the idea of getting rid of it were still pleased to see they could still make their kids do homework with this optional method. What have I noticed since doing this for the first time this year? I have noticed that parents are less stressed, families are more happy, and I have not seen a decrease in academic success! Who even knows who was actually doing that math worksheet I used to send home, right? If you'd like to see examples of what I send home, click HERE. What are your questions? Comment Below. FAQ: What about students who NEVER have help at home and then are never able to earn a ticket? You can allow those students to take a few minutes of their class time to complete parts of their homework. These might be your students you're already holding interventions for, so why not give them a few minutes and work on their homework as well. What if a student does not practice their spelling and does horrible on their test each week? I just sit down and talk with the parents about the importance of practicing at home at least once or twice. We practice a lot at school. We have a new phonics rule each week and we read books with that phonics rule, read poems and practice reading and writing those words each day in word work. How do you handle students who do not have access to a computer for your online math option? We are lucky enough to have a class set of laptops for out grade-level and so I allow students to do i-ready math as a fast finisher in the morning. Before that, I'd let that student use my laptop when they finish their journal in the morning so that they can get the i-ready signed off. The students all know how to log in to their own i-ready account so it's very independent. If you don't do reading calendars, how do you know the students are reading? Because I do take-home reading folders, I keep track of what books I send them and the dates they return them. If they are reading 20 minutes each night, they should be returning their books about 2 or 3 times a week (depending on the length of their book). I also send reminders home if I haven't seen their folder in 2 weeks. ALSO, a big indicator if they are reading at home is their progress in reading groups. :)
You probably know the scratch off lottery tickets? Ever wondered how to make them? Well, they are very fun & easy to make. I used to make gr...
seen: encrypted invitations I still love encrypted messages and think any child would have a party just opening this invitation-- the ...
FREE TO DOWNLOAD handwritten fonts. The BEST handwritten fonts free to use for print and design. Get the list of free handwritten fonts right here!
Zbiór action cards do wydruku
Learn how to make paper flowers with newspapers. These newspaper flowers are simple but effective. Make them in color or as roses!
In this post, I will show you five of the wonderful lessons they practice using our Montessori Sensorial Album: Geometric Solids.
Celebrate Father’s Day with our free "I Love My Dad" printable! Perfect for kids to color and personalize, this heartfelt design is a great way to show Dad how much he means to you. Download and print your special message today!
Learn how to make a paper butterfly - an easy accordion fold butterfly crafts for kids. These paper butterflies make great decor
Preschoolers and toddlers will love moving like things found on the farm with this free printable gross motor farm movement game! Print and play!
We love sensory bags at our house. Ever since I made our first sensory bag, Jumbled Snowman, over a year ago, they are always a guaranteed hit. It is a great way to provide hands on play for toddlers and preschoolers. So of course our Study of the Stars would not be…
GEOMETRY...it might just be my second favorite unit to teach in math, {second to my love of fractions, of course!} That's why today's post focuses on geometry vocabulary .
I'm a girl from the Midwest sharing bits of my life in a first grade classroom.
Make a cardboard dinosaur craft for your dino loving kids with this super simple cut and slot method of construction! Great for older kids to do alone or to make for little ones to decorate and play with on a rainy day. Cardboard truly is the BEST art material available as far as I am...Read More »
It's my last week!!! Wahoo!!! Sorry this post is late. (Thanks to Ana at Mrs. Bentin's Blackboard for the text message and reminder that I hadn't posted this week's linky yet. I guess that even though there's one week left, my brain has already left the building. :) So please link up your plans for the week. I'm guessing most of you have "home" plans because you are already on break and that is good too! Being the last week of school, there are a lot of end-of-the-year loose ends to tie up. We will have our awards assembly, AR goal ice cream party, a talent show and field day. Thankfully, there is something going on almost every day to help keep us busy. In the classroom, we will be finishing up our read aloud of this wonderful book. Love this book and the beautiful story of August. I also love how the story end on the last day of school, about the same exact day we will read this part and end our story this year. We've done quite a few readers theater scripts this year to work on fluency. This week, I'm going to have the students work in groups and write their own script. It should be interesting to see what they come up with. Today, I found this fun pin on Pinterest. I love this project (anything that incorporates writing and art is awesome!) and will find somewhere to work this into our schedule. Students write about their year then decorate their hand print and the border. I think it would make a great memory of our year. I'm working on making Goodbye Bags for the kids. I went to Walmart and the dollar store this morning and loaded up on lots of fun things. When I get it all together, I will post about it. I was thinking of continuing the A Peek at My Week linky party throughout the summer, linking up to share our fun summertime plans, but I was wondering what you think. Do you want to see A Peek at My Week continue? Please leave me your thoughts in a comment below. (Also, my Thursday linky party, Positive Thinking Thursday, will continue throughout the summer. Thanks to all of you who encouraged me to do so!) An InLinkz Link-up
