Hey y'all! I have a wonderful freebie for you! It's been a while since I've posted, so I thought I'd share something FREE! I created...

Hey Chickaroos, I wanted to thank you so much for your kind words about my observation. The kids were a tad bit "off" but my principal didn't seem to notice. I have such a nice group this year that an off day for them would have been a good day for my group last year. The kids cheered {literally} when I pulled out the pink erasers {I knew they'd be a hit} and my principal giggled when I pulled out the kleenex when I noticed my writing was so hard to read because of my "lazy erasing". Happy ending - the kids helped me solve this problem and we all agreed to erase carefully with our brand spankin' new erasers because we want others to be able to read our writing. While this lesson went well {in spite of the fact that one of my kids tried eating his eraser - thankfully, I think Mr. Principal missed it} I really wished he had seen my readers workshop mini lesson instead. That one went REALLY well. A few months back my friend, we'll call her "Barb", and I had a TNO {Teacher's Night Out}. I think I blogged about it. She visited my classroom, I visited hers and then we ate dinner and did some planning. Our big professional goal is to edit, revise and tweak our reader's workshop mini lessons. We made some progress this summer and finished up our last unit at our TNO. We still have a ways to go...does it make me a dork that I can't wait for our next TNO so we can work on it some more?!? I didn't really want to start anything new before break because we just wrapped up our unit on retelling...but I just couldn't hold off teaching the first lesson on connections. It was just too good to wait. That friend, we call "Barb", introduced me to this awesome book. It's really a good one. The author, Tanny McGregor, believes strongly in using concrete objects to help tap into background knowledge {schema} as well as other areas of comprehension. For each comprehension lesson she provides ideas for what you could use as your concrete object - of course if you're like me, you're already thinking of other objects you can use from around the house or the classroom to not only make things more concrete for your kiddos...but more fun too!!! Today's lesson was to get them thinking about schema and what it is. I started off by placing small pieces of paper all over in the center of our circle. On each slip of paper I wrote a memory, a place I've been, something I've experienced or something from a book I've read: "Minnesota is really cold in the winter", "Running a race is hard work, but you feel really proud when you pass the finish line" "Fishing" etc. I took my lint {schema} roller and picked up one piece at a time and read it out loud and shared the thought or idea. After picking up each piece of paper with my schema roller I talked about how our brains are like that sticky roller. The things we see, hear, do, read all get stuck in our brains - just like the pieces of paper stuck to this sticky roller. After that I had the kids paste a picture of a schema roller to the center of a piece of paper and they wrote some of their schema around it. Honestly, I've been teaching schema for years and eventually they really seem to understand what it is, but they seemed to really get it just after this introductory lesson. I can't wait to delve deeper. Here's some of our thinking...{Sorry it's hard to see - darn cell phone} Here's a copy of the schema roller... Two more days...

Hey everyone, it's Susan from Thank God it's First Grade (TGIF) and I am here to share some of my favorite free math centers with you! At the beginning of the year there can be A LOT to prepare and ge

How to writing is one of my favorite writing units to teach. My students just get it and they enjoy writing many, many pieces! Maybe it’s because my students think they know how to do everyyyytthiinngggg. 😉 If your students are like mine, let them run with the idea that they know it ALL and have […]

A big "Hey!" to everyone! First, I want to give a super big "Thanks" to Miss Bowers over at First Grade Jabber for awarding me the "Vers...

Get ready for an epic STEM activity making a candy machine using simple machines to learn about mechanical energy with kids.

Hey everyone! It's Angie here from The First Grade Scoop . We have FINALLY started our spring break... I am so excited! This week, we had...

Ideas for a hands-on dinosaur unit including making and studying fossils, erupting a volcano, dinosaur centers, books, dino-mite writing, and more.

Oh Hey First Grade This is a digital download only. No physical products will be shipped to you. You will receive 1 png file (color) and 1 svg file (black & white). Color disclaimer: Actual colors may vary. This is due to computer monitors displaying colors differently and everyone can see these colors differently. We try hard to ensure our photos are as life-like as possible, but please understand the actual color may vary slightly. We cannot guarantee that the color you see accurately portrays the true color of the product. Terms of Use: - You may use our designs for personal and commercial end products such as apparel, wall prints, mugs, etc. No limits to the number of sales with our designs, which is perfect for print on demand sellers! - You may not sell the design as a printed transfer or sublimation. If you would like to sell transfers, you may purchase the transfer license. - Distribution of the digital file is strictly prohibited. You may not share or resell the digital file alone or as part of a larger design. - You may change the color of the design, however StudioGMocks retains the copyright to these files and they cannot be redistributed or shared. - You cannot alter the design by adding elements or moving/removing part of the design. - You may digitize the design to sell as an embroidery file. - Due to digital nature, all sales are final. How To Download: - After payment is processed, you will be able to download the file from your Etsy account under purchases (www.etsy.com/your/purchases) - The Etsy help center is a great resource if you're unfamiliar with digital purchases! Check out this article for digital download troubleshooting: https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/115013328108 Thank you for checking out StudioGMocks! Be sure to favorite our shop to be notified of sales & new listings 😊 --- StudioGMocks is not responsible for trademark violations. It is the buyer's responsibility is to research new trademarks and copyrights for the products you wish to sell.

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 […]

I’ve been slacking on remembering to bring my camera to school, so I keep forgetting to snap some pics of what we’ve been up to! We’ve been goin’ buggy these last couple of weeks and I just wanted to quickly share some of our writing “ant”ics 🙂 We started our little insect unit learning about …

Hey hey there! I know that many of you are enjoying long and lazy summer days. I also know that many of you are still trucking away in your classrooms and my thoughts are with you! I wanted to give you some extra insight into Rooted in Reading and especially give you an idea of how I set up my interactive notebooks with my students. If you have NO idea what I am talking about when I say "Rooted in Reading" read THIS POST here to see all about the 2nd grade version. You can also look at the Bundle or the August unit by itself. Amy did an amazing job on the previews so we hope that answers a lot of your questions! If this is your first time using interactive notebooks, having them organized from the beginning can help you avoid a lot of headaches down the line. Most 8 and 9 yr olds need the extra help with organization (goodness my 34 yr old husband needs a lot of help with organization), and I think these notebooks will be a great way to scaffold this skill! Step 1: Clearly mark the covers of your notebooks. We always had several notebooks for different subjects so this helped lessen confusions. I have included a color and black and white cover that you can print on bright paper if you would like! Step 2: Print out tab dividers on Astrobright paper AND laminate. I promise the laminating step is key to having these bad boys last! Step 3: After cutting dividers out use clear packing tape to put your dividers into your notebooks. The order I chose was Anchor Charts, Comprehension Activities, Vocabulary Words, Daily Deep Dive, and Grammar. Before doing this you will want to think about how long you want to use the notebooks. I personally liked a notebook per semester so I would put enough pages between each divider to get me through the semester! I also suggest lining up the tabs so only the bold words stick out the side- cover up the cursive word with the clear tape. If you are using a standard size composition notebook AND all five tabs, you will also need to overlap them a little! Step 4: Glue in the book list to the inside of the notebook on the first page. Either one or two copies depending on how many books you plan on covering using this book. I LOVE this addition because I think students will love looking back over the list of books that they have so lovingly studied this year. I also think the genre column is a key component for test-taking skills! You can find all the materials I used in a freebie found in my store Here! If you have other great ideas for setting up notebooks, we would love to hear them! If you are on instagram use our hashtag "RootedinReading3rd" and Amy and I will definitely check you out! Phew now that we have those kids all set up, we can talk about YOU- the teacher! My personal favorite way to store my units is in binders. I spent a couple hours one morning and printed all four weeks of August out. I went a head and laminated my anchor charts and prepped the nonfiction mini-readers so the students can see an example. Don't they look pretty?!?! We even have binder spines for each books so you can feel extra organized! You can find everything you need for organizing your teacher binders in the freebie below from Amy! Other Blog posts you may want to check out to learn more about Rooted in Reading: 2nd Grade Complete Book List and Overview 3rd Grade Complete Book List Establishing a Kind Classroom with Picture Books September Rooted in Reading October Rooted in Reading Bats! The Rough Face Girl

I've been working on improving sentence structure and sentence fluency lately. I started by doing a bunch of mini lessons about complete vs....

Kids will have fun learning about the order things happen with these simple, FREE Fall Sequencing Cards for prek and kindergarten age kids.

Hey everyone, I hope you're all having a great Thursday. I'm happy to announce my GIVEAWAY winners! Congrats to Crystal and Marybeth! Thanks to EVERYONE who commented! I've been making some practice sheet here and there for different things and haven't got around to posting them. So I thought I'd post them now. This is very random and I hope you can use them either now or next year. I used these to introduce 'How to Writing'. They are also a great sequencing review. Click HERE to download. We've been working on counting to 120. So here are a few practice sheets. There are 4 'Fill Ins' and 4 'Start and Stop'. Click HERE to download. This is a little game I re-made. Now it goes to 120. My kiddos LOVE playing it. Click HERE to download. Thanks for stopping by. I hope you've found something you can use in your classroom. Come back tomorrow for news of my upcoming SUPERBOWL SALE!

No, David! Directed Drawing: Writing and drawing activity for the beginning of the school year using the David books by David Shannon

Well first off my little bloggy venture with Ffion from The First Grade Jungle is up! Please go check it out and enter in our giveaway! We are super excited about it! Second, since I have been absent for sometime now I figured I would catch you up and unload everything I have been storing on my camera. This means picture overload! Sorry. Generating Questions before reading (inspired by The Inspired Apple) Character Glove thanks to inspiration from Debbie Diller. I use this during small group as well. New workstation I added this year: Overhead. So far my students can write their words, make their words with magnets or letter tiles. I will be added sentence strips I made which I will print on transparencies and students can fill in the blanks. (Hopefully I will add this to TpT soon!) I just purchased the clear tiles and then wrote letters onto the tiles. Very simple and the kids LOVE this work station. Writing/ Handwriting Workstation. This will be transitioning into only writing next week. Another new workstation I added was the Non-Fiction Reading Station. I really wanted to promote my students to read to find out new information about a topic. I added a variety of books on various levels. I discussed with the students that they would still need to use the "good fit book" strategy to find books to read during this time. This year my kids REALLY love the Poetry Work Station. They get upset if they do not have time to finish and illustrate their poem. Love it. ABC/ Word Study Workstation Library Work Station Anchor Charts: Behavior Chart And a little reminder… Happy Monday :)

Last week, we chatted about why decodable texts are essential in the primary classroom. Missed it? Catch up here and come on back. I'll wait for

Try these empathy activities for kids that go with 5 popular children’s books to help you build and encourage compassionate kids in the kindergarten, first grade, and second grade classroom.

This week has been crammed packed with fractions and contractions!! Two of my favorites to teach I might add. Of course we had to do "contraction surgery"! So fun! {I'm am soooo not an artist so they just got posted on an anchor chart} This idea came from Cara over at The First Grade Parade. {I get tons of ideas from her!} After a quick introduction it was time for some craftivities that will help them remember which words make up which contractions. We started off by making "contraction kites". The students wrote the contraction on the kite, the 2 words on the bows, and a sentence using the contraction on the cloud. We have made contraction kites for several years now, but there are so many other ways on Pinterest on how you can take the same idea and adjust it to fit any skill. If you would like the template for the kite click HERE. {very simple drawing by me, the NOT so artistic teacher, but Hey! it got the job done} We also made "contraction caterpillars". The students chose 4 contractions of their choice. They recorded the contraction on the caterpillar body and the 2 corresponding words on the legs. If you would like the template for the caterpillar click HERE. {Another very simple drawing by me} We have also been working on fractions this week. LOVE teaching fractions!! We started off by learning about equal and not equal parts. We sorted random shapes cut into different pieces into equal and not equal. You might recognize this from last year's fraction post. We also completed "fractionpillars" and "If you give a mouse a cookie" fraction activities as we did last year. The "fractionpillar" idea came from Cara over at The First Grade Parade. {I wasn't kidding when I said I get TONS of ideas from her, just fabulous stuff!} For some reason I didn't get a snap of those, but I will post later. Last week we were learning about U.S symbols. The 2 we focused on were the Bald Eagle and Liberty Bell as well as the Statue of Liberty. After reading non-fiction books found in our schools library and a short United Streaming video, it was time to record facts we had learned about each of them. For the liberty bell, they simply recorded facts about the bell they remembered from the text. {I pre-cut the bells for my kiddos so I don't have a template, sorry} For the bald eagles, I found this cute craftivity on pinterest and had to check it out! After following a few links it led me to Mrs. Lirette's Learning Dectectives. I found this wonderful eagle research! You have to check it out if you are planning to study bald eagles! Fabulous research ideas and recording sheets! They cut an oval for the body and traced their hands for the wings, added white on the face and 2 googly eyes and VIOLA! The cutest bald eagle you have ever seen! YAY for a 4 day week next week AND the week after {Monday is a bad weather day for us} Love Easter! Bring on the egg hunts! My in-laws church is bringing in a helicopter to drop 5,000 Easter eggs! That's one mega Easter egg hunt!! Hope ya'll have wonderful weekend and fabulous Easter!

Hey everyone!!! I hope everyone is having a great start to the NEW YEAR! It's always great to have a fresh start and a clean slate. (Although, is it just me or does your new year always begin in August?) : ) One of the things that I have been working on during my winter break is our lesson plans in science. By the way, we have a brand new standard this year in science!! (AND new standards are always exciting!) Drum roll...our new standard is... LIGHTS AND SHADOWS!! I know...so fun...kind of...except...I have never taught light and shadows, EVER!!! (Confession is good for the soul.) I mean, I have always taught first grade standards, AND light and shadows have never been one of our standards until now. So I definitely had to share what I learned with my first grade friends!! YOU! I have a lot of ideas, freebies, and links that you might be able to use, too. This blog post is part one of two...so hang tight...shadows will be coming next week!! We are going to launch our unit with Oscar and the Moth by Geoff Waring. He has a great collection of easy to understand books on science. This particular book is about light and shadows. Oscar the cat and his new friend the moth set out on a little journey to learn about shadows and light. Isn't Oscar a cutie? Light is energy and it makes objects visible and without it, we cannot see anything! So we are going to first discuss the kinds of light that we find in our world and list them by two categories: natural light and artificial light! We are going to use an anchor chart just like The Lesson Plan Diva's chart. Perfect! (You can check out her anchor chart by clicking on the photo above.) We are also going to be looking at all the different types of lights in real life. Would you include matches or a lighter? I am still debating. Since we don't have a real darkroom we are going to be using the restroom in our classroom. Hysterical! Just the thought of being in the restroom is going to crack my little firsties up! I am going to take them into the darkroom in groups cause my darkroom is tiny! My students who are not in the darkroom group will be working on the activity sheet below. You can find it free here! In the darkroom, I am hanging pictures of objects around the room. I want my students to see them when we shine the flashlight around the darkroom to make them visible because of light. We will discuss how light makes it possible for them to see the objects. And when I turn the flashlight off, the objects are no longer visible. (Yes...I totally expect some shrieks!! Eesh...but in the name of science, right?) In their science journals, they are going to record what they observed by drawing or writing what was visible in the darkroom. If you would like a copy of the pictures that I am going to use in my bathroom darkroom, you can find them here! We are also going to be looking at peep boxes. Have you ever used peep boxes? Kindergarten-Lessons.com is where I learned about peep boxes!! You should totally check out the website because they have some great suggestions and ideas for light and shadows! You can click here! They are not hard to make and you can easily make one for your students to see. Here is an example of one I made: Without light you can't see anything inside... But with light, you can see lots of things on the inside! I can't believe this box already had a peep hole!!!!! My students are going to record what they see inside the peep boxes in their science journals. You can find the scene that I used for my peep box here. It's so fun and exciting to look inside!!! I will be working on another one this week and I will let you know how it goes!! What kind of activities do you do for light and shadows? I am dying to know!! For the second part of our light and shadow unit, we will be talking about shadows and shadows will go along perfectly with Groundhog's Day. Yeah!! So come on back! I can't wait to show you what we are doing with shadows! Hoping you have a great week back!! An InLinkz Link-up

I completed my First Grade Morning Work for third quarter after many requests. It is a spiral review of math and language arts standards that are aligned with Common Core Standards. Ev…

Just wanted to share a pic of our 50th day of school! We had a blast with our firsties!!! One of the funniest things ever was our "Bub...

This First Grade Assessment Portfolio includes the following: First Grade Common Core Standards Based Report Card Fry’s Sight Word Checklists (500 words) DRA2 Reading Assessment Progress Report MAPS Testing Progress Report Skip Counting Checklist Reading months, days and number word checklists Quarterly Writing Samples I bind this together to make individual portfolios for each child in the class. This is a great organized tool to showcase student performance to parents and administration. Connect with Me! Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecreativeclassroom/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheCreativeClassroom/ Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/ashlyn1214/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/thecr8tiveclas Blog: https://www.the-creative-classroom.com

This year is definitely going to be the year where I sprint through my days. I love busy days because you don't get bored and there is always something to keep you entertained. However, it definitely cuts down on my blogging time. Does anyone else's schedule look like this? 1. Get up 2. School a.k.a work 3. Dinner 4. Create/watch t.v./family time (All at once) 5. Bed That is my schedule right now five days a week. Routine is nice, but I'd love to throw in going to the gym, afternoon naps, and an extra hour or ten for creating. You would think after so many years of teaching I would figure out it isn't ever all done, but no, I don't. In my mind, one day, I will catch up. Yes, you can quit laughing now! Now it's time for my one of my favorite link up parties - Five for Friday! Now that I'm back in school, it is definitely easier to come up with five things. #1 - Ants, Ants, and More Ants This week I focused on ants ALL week. We had tons of fun doing all sorts of different activities. One of my favorite is one I saw on Cara Carroll's blog and on Erica Bohrer's blog. I took both of their ideas and combined them to make my own little ant writing. First, we read "Hey, Little Ant". When we finished reading the book, we filled out the Graphic Organizer. As I go through the year, I begin to allow my students to fill them out themselves, but this early in the school year it helps if you walk them through it the first couple of weeks. I typically use my Activboard to do this. Once we've filled out the Graphic Organizer, we do our rough draft, meet one-on-one to discuss revisions that need to be made, and then do our final draft. One thing I've learned about my kids the last two years is they enjoy writing much more if it's tied into something funny or a craft. We ended up making the boy holding the ant paper. Below are pictures of some of my favorites. #2 - A Few More Ants One of my favorite books that I read to my kids was "I Saw an Ant on the Railroad Track". I read an actual book to my kiddos, but they do have it for the Nook on the Barnes and Noble website. The picture has a link to save you a little time. It was super cute and I created a cut and paste sequencing activity to go with it. Feel free to click on the sheet to go download it. #3 - TPT Sale Oh my goodness ya'll! Did you guys buy as much as I did? I went through my Scope and Sequence and bought packets that I thought would compliment what we had on the schedule. Seriously, my wish list was seven pages long when I started. I did manage to narrow down what I wanted which is a good thing because the original cart of "I have to have this!" was around $300. I managed to make a chunk of cuts, but my list is still pretty full! #4 - Primary Chalkboard Alright friends, I am loving the collaborative blog. Each of us is on a schedule, so we know when it is our turn to blog. Well, our first round includes us introducing ourselves through the remainder of August. Today it was time for Lisa (Growing Firsties) and me to introduce ourselves. We talked on the phone a few times last week and this week and decided to play on our favorite football teams since football season is right around the corner. Plus, my team is ranked at number five right now, so why wouldn't I want to start thinking about football? Anyway, go check out our collaborative blog. We worked together and tried to give you a little something fun to check out. Oh, and there is a freebie we did together that is only available on Primary Chalkboard. You can click on one of the pictures to go grab it. #5 - It's the Weekend! Okay, I know it's silly, but weekends right now mean sleep, junk food, sleep, did I mention junk food? Quick commercial break - does your hubby ever leave you the potato chip crumbs? You know, the broken up chips? Well, typically that isn't a bad thing, but when you have French onion dip, yep, it is not a good thing. So, I came up with a solution today! I am now putting chips in my mouth and then adding some French onion dip with a fork. Why yes, I do believe I'm a genius and might be a little ADD on Friday afternoons. Back to my original thought. Seriously, I love my new babies and everyone I work with, but it is nice to be able to shut down a little on Saturdays. Hope you guys have a great week! I'm going to finish off my crumbs chips!

I've been at Dos Rios/Two Rivers Elementary in Springfield all this week and last. We're making projects to take home, and some to sell at the Springfield First Friday Art Walk in May! This was their project that they were able to take home to their families: Self Portraits! For the older kids (grades 2-5) I did a more involved lesson on proportions of the face, colored with sharpie and tissue paper.... read that lesson by clicking here. For the Kinders and first graders, we did this version you see in the pictures. Read on to see how we did this lesson! Supplies: • Multicultural construction paper, cut in 6 x 9" sheets. • black sharpies • colored pencils • background colored construction paper, 9x12" • Small-ish rectangles of pattern paper (we used both wrapping paper and contact paper) • construction paper hair colors, cut into smaller pieces...half or quarter sheets. • glue sticks • scissors This can be done in 2, 30-minute sessions, or one longer one. • Day 1: Teach them suuuuper basic proportions of the face. Just show that the eyes go in the middle of the face, and show some ways to draw eyes, noses and lips. The first day, just draw the faces on the multicultural skin color papers, trace drawings with sharpie, and add some colored eyes (and whites of the eyes!) lips, and cheeks with colored pencils. • Day 2: Put it all together: cut a "shirt" rainbow shape out of the patterned paper, cut out the faces, add torn paper for the hair. Glue, glue glue. Then watch the cuteness happen. Love these!!

Teach kids have empathy, show compassion, and promote perspective taking and kindness in your kindergarten, first grade, and second grade classroom with engaging read-aloud lessons and social-emotional learning activities centered around popular children’s books. Five empathy book companions are included: You, Me & Empathy; Hey, Little Ant; The Buddy Bench; The Invisible Boy; I am Human. Children will participate in classroom discussions and book chats, share their ideas in writing and engage in fun activities that promote empathy, social awareness, and social skills. Each book companion includes a detailed lesson plan, guided questions, anchor chart, concept posters, writing responses, and follow-up activities (printable and digital included). Great for whole-group lessons and teaching of social-emotional skills! 5 Empathy Book Companions (Lesson Plan & Activities) Included: 1. You, Me, & Empathy by Jayneen Sanders This lesson teaches children the meaning of empathy (understanding how others feel and what they need because we have felt the same before). 2. Hey, Little Ant by Phillip & Hannah Hoose The lesson teaches kids perspective-taking by taking the perspective of the boy or the ant. Kids will learn that it is important to show respect and empathy for all living creatures. 3. The Invisible Boy by Trudy Ludwig This lesson teaches kids to recognize what it means to feel invisible and when others may feel this way. They will learn how to include others. 4. The Buddy Bench by Patty Brozo This lesson helps kids learn ways that they can be a buddy. It will inspire kids to act like a buddy with classmates and use a “Buddy Bench.” 5. I Am Human by Susan Verde This lesson teaches kids to understand what it means to be human and how we are all alike. They will learn to act with compassion and practice empathy. Included in this jam-packed SEL Empathy & Social Awareness book companion pack: Lessons and activities that focus on 5 Children’s books related to being empathic, showing compassion and kindness, and being a friend to others Each book companion comes with a detailed lesson plan, book chat cards to guide a discussion, anchor chart, and book response 4 follow-up activities are included for every book (many in digital format) Book companion guide with safe links for easy viewing Google Slides ready for use in Google Classroom Images for use in Seesaw Interactive PowerPoint file of the digital templates for use in your preferred platform **Check out the detailed PREVIEW for a thorough look into what this resource includes!** LESSONS: There is a detailed lesson plan for each book with “Book Chat” cards and questions to guide your discussion before, during, and after reading. An interactive anchor chart and writing activity are included that focus on the social-emotional skill presented in the book and encourage children to express their thinking. This is an excellent way to incorporate social-emotional learning into your ELA block each week! STORY ACTIVITIES: Each book comes with 4 follow-up activities to build upon the book’s social-emotional lesson. A fun variety of activities are included for independent, partner, and small group use. These high-interest activities are a great way to extend the book’s discussion and build the social-emotional skills kids need! DIGITAL ACTIVITIES: Book companions come with a digital anchor chart or interactive poster slides, writing template, and additional digital activities. These are ready in Google Slides™ for use in Google Classroom™. You will be provided with instructions on how to access and a link to create a copy. The digital pages are great for use during remote teaching, distance learning, and in a one-to-one classroom! Why You Need This Book Companion Resource: ♥ The children’s books in this book companion resource have been carefully chosen as they cover the most important topics that we often do not have time to teach (SEL ones). ♥ It provides an opportunity to have meaningful discussions and use impactful activities that build important social and emotional skills a child needs. Children need to build their emotional awareness and these lessons and activities will guide them there! ♥ Since you are using literature to teach, you are covering important English Language Arts standards and building children’s literacy skills. ♥ It provides a TON of variety for each book, keeping things fresh and engaging for kids! ♥ As it includes printable and digital activities, this resource is great for use during distance learning, homeschooling, and in one-to-one classrooms. Suggestions on How to Use: Each lesson starts with a book chat that continues during and after reading a book. There are questions included to guide your discussion. There is an anchor chart idea provided to enhance the book’s lesson. A follow-up writing activity can be used to extend the discussion. There are 4 activities for each children’s book. Some include digital options. I suggest reading 1 book per week and doing the lesson. Use the extra activities to reinforce the topic covered in the story throughout the week. Differentiated templates included. Please choose what fits best with your student's abilities and needs. The lessons and activities work great for after morning meetings or end of the day lessons, school counselors and classroom teachers, and children in K-2. Don’t own a copy of a book? No problem! Safe links to video recordings of books being read aloud are included, as well as a book list of more books to use during your lessons. Looking to build more SEL into your week?Try the BEST-SELLING SEL resources available for K-2 & 3-5 that each contain a year’s worth of lessons and activities.♥♥mind+heart Social Emotional Learning Curriculum for K-2♥♥ Check out the other SEL units for K-2:Emotions & FeelingsSelf-Regulation & Self-ControlGrowth MindsetRelationships & FriendshipEmpathy & Social AwarenessKindness & Bucket FillingRespect & GratitudeResponsibility, Goal Setting, & Conflict Resolution Stay connected with Proud to be Primary ♥Join our email list and get weekly teacher tip emails and access to our FREE resource library.  ♥Visit our website at Proud to be Primary for tons of engaging ideas for teaching kids in the classroom!♥Join our Facebook group and connect with thousands of PROUD primary teachers like yourself. Please read the description, review the preview file, and read the FAQ in our Help Center carefully before purchasing. Question not answered? Reach out to support at [email protected]. All digital sales on Proud to be Primary of resources are considered final and non-refundable. © Copyright 2013 to present - Proud to be Primary, Elyse Rycroft. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to copy pages specifically designed for student or teacher use by the original purchaser or licensee. This product is licensed for personal classroom use ONLY unless multiple licenses are purchased. Your purchase grants you a license to use in a secure, password-protected online platform (such as Google Classroom) with your students only. You may not transfer or share with another teacher or use for commercial purposes (Outschool, etc.). The reproduction, alteration, adaptation, copying, or sale of any part of this product is strictly prohibited. Read the full Terms and Conditions HERE.

Hey hey, teacher friend!! Oh MY, congratulations on landing a teaching job! I’m so INCREDIBLY stoked for you. I remember that feeling and it’s so SO good. Whether it’s your first classroom or maybe you’re going back after being away for a bit, either way that’s super exciting and I know you’re goi

Hey everyone! Today's post is to share a few tips and tricks that I've implemented while using the Fundations Phonics program over the pas...

When we talk about skip counting with our kids, we explain how the numbers “grow”. Before we get too deep into “growing numbers”, we illust...

Hey, there, friends! It's Laura from Peace, Love, and First Grade! If it's summer vacation for you, enjoy! If not, live each day to the fullest and smile because it happened! I'm here today to talk ab

Hey folks! I'm back again to share with you an AMAZING new activity I learned about this past year. Have you ever heard of Escape Rooms? You essentially get locked in a room and need to solve puzzles and riddles in order to escape the room in the time limit. There's usually a story to go with it like you are trying to escape death row or break into the bank. They are soooo much fun and are popping up all over the place! Love them! Anywho, Breakout EDU takes the idea of an escape room and applies it to the classroom. Instead of escaping a room though, they need to "break into" a locked box. Basically there is a large box that is locked by a few different types of locks and they need to solve puzzles in order to open the different locks. These games are amazing for working on critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration, and communication. They can also be used with any grade level or subject area. There are puzzles already created for grades Pre-K to Adult level and in every subject area. Check out the website by clicking here or the logo below. If you "Register for Access", you will get a password and access to TONS of ideas and games. Check it out! Here's an introduction video of what Breakout EDU is all about: To start with, you need a Breakout Kit. You can buy them from the site for $125US each. In the kit you will get the following: a large Breakout Box, a small Breakout Box, a hasp, hint cards and reflection cards, a 5-arrow directional lock, a 5-letter word lock, a UV marker and flashlight, a USB drive, a key and lock, a 3-digit lock, and a 4-digit lock. Click here or the picture below to check them out: If you want to make your own kit, you can check out Walmart, Home Depot, Dollar Tree, Canadian Tire, and Amazon to find all of your Breakout kit needs! You basically need a large toolbox or other container that a lock or hasp can be put on and another smaller lockable box or pouch. Then you need a variety of different locks, a UV marker, and a blacklight flashlight,. If you click here or the images below, you can find the doc with links to Amazon to purchase these materials. You can have one kit for the entire group (there are many different explanations on how to run a game with one kit, ie. the "ticket system") or a few kits to do your breakouts in small groups. I have four kits. Here is a game that I designed and ran with some second and first grade classes. It was based on the book "The Mitten" by Jan Brett. Each Breakout starts with a story, so mine was the animals found Nikki's mitten and did not want to give it back, so they locked it up in a box. Nikki needs to break into the box and get the mitten before he has to get home to Baba. I divided the class into four groups. So each group had a table with the large locked toolbox (the hasp allows for six locks to be used on one box--we only used four with this game), the small locked pouch, two hint cards (to give to me if they were really stuck), a code recording sheet (to write down the codes they figured out), and a lock parking lot to place the opened locks (to prevent locks from getting broken, reset, or mixed up). I colour-coded my four groups, but that's not necessary. I just like things to be colour-coded. lol Around the room were other clues and puzzles for them to use and solve. There was a timer for 45 minutes on the projector. You can find different timers on YouTube here. My favourite is the Breakout Timer with Suspenseful Music. They had to find a key to get into the smaller pouch which had more clues and puzzle pieces to help them get into the big box. They had to work together and really think critically to solve the problems. When they got all the locks off the box, inside was the white mitten, Breakout stickers, and a sign. No prizes, no candy, no treats. Just the satisfaction of completing the puzzles and getting into the box. Actually the stickers were a big hit, but every group was super proud of their accomplishments. And just like in the tradition of escape rooms, you get to take a group photo with some "We did it!" signs. (I do have signs for groups that don't breakout... but they're still positive and fun like "We almost broke out!" and "So close!") Even if groups don't succeed, they are still amazed by how much they accomplished and can't wait to do another one! My cute, laminated, hot glued labels did not last a full-day with ones and twos, so I pulled out the Cricut and cut out some cute vinyl labels for my boxes. Love them!! If you want to check out more about "The Mitten" Breakout, you can watch my set up video here and download all the documents here. I've submitted the game to be reviewed, so hopefully it makes it to the official site! Until then, go register and take a look at all the amazing games out there! I did the "Elf" Christmas game with my family over the holidays and then used the game "The Faculty Meeting" when I presented to staff in my division about Breakout EDU. Also, if you want more resources or ideas join the Facebook groups: Breakout EDU (General Discussion) and Breakout EDU Elementary Teachers. Leave any questions you have in the comments or send me an email: [email protected] And please take a few seconds to answer the questions below:

Hey everyone!!! I hope everyone is having a great start to the NEW YEAR! It's always great to have a fresh start and a clean slate...

Shop more of The Moffatt Girls products: Click Here! Second Grade End of Year Assessments ⭐ This end-of-year assessment is designed to be an easy and engaging way to assess students. Most portions of the assessment can be given whole group if that works best for your class. *Please note that this is a downloaded pdf file. No physical product will be sent to you. Also available: ⭐ KINDERGARTEN HERE ⭐FIRST GRADE HERE The assessment covers every Common Core standard for Second Grade. It can be used for portfolios, parent meetings, grading, or to identify skills to focus on for end-of-year review. ⭐The First Grade End of the Year I Can Show What I Know Packet (student edition) is kid friendly and designed to administer assessments in a stress free way. It is recommended that you give the assessment over the course of a week. Each part is one page. Most parts will take 10-15 minutes to complete. An example administration guide is provided in the packet. However, the test can be administered however it fits your class schedule. What is Included in the download? Student I Can Show What I Know End of the Year Book (Assessments) (33 pages) Teacher End of the Year Instruction/Guide Packet (To administer assessments) (57 pages) Teacher End of the Year Answer Key to all Assessments (33 pages) Reference Cheat Sheet Guide for ALL 2nd Grade Standards (7 pages) All Standards are covered and include the following: Phonics Spelling Patterns Reading Literature Writing my Opinion Telling a Story Oral Reading Writing Conventions Grammar and Word Use Reference Material and Vocabulary Building Vocabulary Presenting and Listening Missing Addends Word Problems Equations Number Line Sentences Standard Form, Word Form, Expanded Form Measurement and Data Money, Time and Graphing Geometry The assessment is divided into 4 sections. Each section is further broken up into smaller parts to make it easy to administer. Section 1: Foundational Skills Covers all Reading Literature and Reading Information Text standards Covers some Language standards The Foundational Skills section is divided into four parts: Part 1: Phonics & Spelling Patterns Standards: L.2.2.D, RF.2.3.A, RF.2.3.B, RF.2.3.E Part 2: Oral Reading Standards: RL.2.6, RF.2.3.C, RF.2.3.D, RF.2.3.F, RF.2.4, RF.2.4.A, RF.2.4.B, RF.2.4.C Part 3: Writing Conventions Standards: L.2.1.F, L.2.2, L.2.2.A, L.2.2.B, L.2.2.C Part 4: Grammar & Word Use Standards: L.2.1.A, L.2.1.B, L.2.1.C, L.2.1.D, L.2.3.A Section 2: Reading Comprehension Covers all Reading Comprehension Skills standards The reading comprehension portion is divided into five parts: Part 1: Reading Literature 1 Standards: RL.2.2, RL.2.3, RL.2.5, RL.2.7, RL.2.9 Part 2: Reading Literature 2 Standards: RL.2.1, RL.2.4, RL.2.10 Part 3: Reading Informational Texts 1 Standards: RI.2.3, RI.2.4, RI.2.6, RI.2.8, RI.2.9, SL.2.2, L.2.4.A Part 4: Reading Informational Texts 2 Standards:RI.2.1, RI.2.2, RI.2.7, RI.2.10 Part 5: Reference Materials & Vocabulary Standards: RI.2.5, L.2.2.E, L.2.4.B, L.2.4.C, L.2.4.D, L.2.4.E, L.2.5.A, L.2.5.B Section 3: Writing, Speaking and Listening Covers all Writing and Speaking & Listening standards Covers some Language standards The writing, speaking, and listening section is divided into four parts: Part 1: Sharing My Opinion Standards: W.2.1 Part 2: Telling a Story Standards: W.2.3 Part 3: Teaching & Informing Standards: W.2.2, W.2.7, W.2.8, L.2.2.E Part 4: Presenting & Listening Standards: SL.2.1.A, SL.2.1.B, SL.2.1.C, SL.2.3, SL.2.4, SL.2.5, SL.2.6, L.2.1.E, L.2.6, W.2.5 Section 4: Math Covers all Math standards The Math section is divided into five parts: Part 1: Operations & Algebraic Thinking Standards: 2.OA.A.1, 2.OA.B.2, 2.OA.C.3, 2.OA.C.4, 2.MD.B.6 Part 2: Number & Operations in Base Ten Standards: 2.NBT.A.1, 2.NBT.A.1.A, 2.NBT.A.1.B, 2.NBT.A.2, 2.NBT.A.3, 2.NBT.A.4, 2.NBT.B.5, 2.NBT.B.6, 2.NBT.B.7, 2.NBT.B.8, 2.NBT.B.9 Part 3: Measurement Standards: 2.MD.A.1, 2.MD.A.2, 2.MD.A.3, 2.MD.A.4, 2.MD.B.5, 2.MD.D.9 Part 4: Time, Money & Graphing Standards: 2.MD.C.7, 2.MD.C.8, 2.MD.D.10 Part 5: Geometry & Fractions Standards: 2.G.A.1, 2.G.A.2, 2.G.A.3 ⭐More Questions?⭐ Feel free to email me at [email protected] ⭐⭐Be sure to follow the Moffatt Girls on:⭐⭐ Visit my blog at The Moffatt Girls Blog Follow me on Facebook Follow me on Instagram Join my FREE private group, The Moffatt Girls-Engage Group, to see how other teachers, parents, and homeschoolers are using and organizing Moffatt Girl Curriculum and see this packet in a Facebook LIVE! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

You can get these card mats from The School Bell or you can make them yourself. This is another wonderful self-correcting activity.

November 20, 2013 We have been learning all about "tempo" (the speed--fast or slow--of the beat) and "rhythm" in ...