We had a Ball! Final activity of the year

As our theme week concluded, we celebrated beach day.  As a final activity, the students made a beach ball book of memories.  Each of the students wrote about times that they "had a ball" in school this year, on circular writing paper.  The students then made a beach ball out of tracers and construction paper.  Once again, I used clip art to make the tracers as well as the ball.  The students cut out stripes in the colors of their choosing, and glued them to the ball.  On the back of the ball we stapled their memory pages.  I loved hearing about the events that they enjoyed, especially the ones that I had forgotten or had felt the kids were not as engaged as I would have liked.  Lesson learned: never give up on a lesson or activity!  Different students connect to different things, and that value is immeasurable!

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Olympic Pride

On the final two days of our Sports and Games mini-unit, my students learned about the Olympic Games.  They were excited to learn about the history, but were also engaged as we completed science and math activities.  It was especially interesting to see the students make connections to their Foss Science units of Air and Weather and Balance and Motion.  As a literacy extension, the children learned about the goals set by athletes hoping to make it to the London 2012 games, and the commitment it takes to achieve these goals.  The students completed a writing assignment about what event they might like to compete in, and what they think it would take to be part of the Olympics.  Some students even created new events, complete with rules and diagrams. 

Download "If I Were and Olympian" writing prompt here.

As a final piece, the students created a patriotic decoration they could display throughout the summer: Memorial Day, the 4th of July, and during the Olympics. I let each student choose a piece of construction paper for a background, and the rest of the paper came from our scrap collection. The students were given minimal directions, and had creative freedom to design a "Olympic poster".  Many of the students included the Olympic rings and the torch into their designs.  When the posters were complete, each student chose 12 strips of paper that I had them glue to the bottom.  Since I wanted the outcome to be a surprise, I did not tell them why - they all thought I was crazy!  After this step, I had them curl the poster into a tube and glue.  We then added a string hanger to the top, and all of the kids figured it out: a paper wind sock.  I love mystery projects, because the kids have to listen carefully to directions if they want to get to the final product.  These turned out great.  We sent them home with their writing piece, and many of the kids even attached their writing to the final project.  I told them to display them with pride, and one of my students replied, "Olympic Pride!"

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Who has a question? Comprehension Questions for Higher Thinking

All year my students have been completing "think and respond" questions at the end of their weekly stories.  A while back, I started to notice in our reading group discussions that the students were learning how to answer questions, but were not always thinking beyond the questions.  I designed a worksheet for the students to complete individually, that forced them to think about their stories from a different angle.  We then used these questions for our reading group discussions.  For the first couple of weeks, the questions were very simple and did not require much thought.  When we had our final discussions of the year, I was so pleased with the higher level thinking questions my first graders came up with for the group!  Their comprehension of the events and understanding of the author's intent has come so far since September.  My goal is to come up with more activities that encourage this kind of thought for next year, and engage the children in a way that makes them feel confident and proud.

You can download the worksheet here:
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Hike and Scavenger Hunt Activity - Part 2

This is one of the activities that our team completed as a follow up to our hike.  This is an activity that one of our teachers found online, and we each tweaked it a bit to fit our class needs.  I made boot templates from a coloring sheet, so each of the students could choose a color and create their own boots.  The writing portion of the project was completed first, and I was so pleased with the work the students completed.  I encouraged complete sentences, descriptive language, and multiple items, and I received above and beyond that.  I was so proud of these kids as they did high quality work the last week of school, amidst the excitement and changes in their daily routine.

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Nature Hike Scavenger Hunt

After a couple of weeks of report cards, assessments, and packing up, I'm finally back to blogging!  I have so many new things to share, it may take a couple of weeks to get it all posted!
This is our last week of school, and each day has a theme.  Tomorrow is Camping Day.  We are going to make s'mores in the sun, read about camping in our state, and go on a nature hike.  To make the hike more engaging, I just created a scavenger hunt worksheet.  This year, our science units were Air and Weather, Plants and Animals, and Balance and Motion.  For the hunt, I asked questions that would encourage the kids to think about topics we studied.  After the nature hike, the students will use the items they found to create an acrostic poem, and a short essay about everything the saw, heard and felt.  It should be a good time, and a great way to help them stay on task when they are so excited for vacation to begin. 

Nature Hike Scavenger Hunt Download

Happy Hiking!

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Game Time! Classroom Sudoku & Boggle

As we finish up the year, my first and second graders are doing a mini unit on Sports, Games, and Play.  We are talking about the different types of play and activities, and what good sportsmanship looks like in all types of games.  Since my first grade literacy students are familiar with Boggle, and my second grade mathematicians have been playing Sudoku since the beginning of the year, I decided to make poster games for both activities.  For the rest of the year, I will change the games every couple of days.  The students will be allowed to work on the games individually as a fast finisher activity, and with partners at other times. 

I have seen numerous versions of Boggle on Pinterest, and decided to use various ideas to make my own.  I found the letters on mrsrojasteaches.blogspot.com , and printed them on card stock.  I had both the poster and letters laminated, and then put Velcro on all of the pieces.  I barely had the game on the wall and the kids were finding words!  I also made simple worksheets for the kids to use as they find words.

My second graders love playing Sudoku.  We started the year playing the 4 x 4 version, moved to the 6 x 6, and now we are working on the full 9 x 9 version.  What I like about this activity, is that it teaches logical and spatial reasoning in a way that is engaging and enjoyable for my class.  The board I made does not have grid lines.  I did this on purpose so that I could change between all 3 versions of the game.  For 4 x 4, I will only use the 4 squares in the top corner, for 6 x 6 the top two rows, and the whole board for 9 x 9.  I will be able to use this activity in class no matter what grades I teach in the future.  I wish that I had had this for an activity to complete with my high school reading students who were working on inference and logic skills! 

I used a 22" x 28" piece of tag board, pre-cut letters, and 7" x 7" squares of card stock - that is it!  I made two separate sets of numbers - a larger set for 4 x 4, and smaller for the other versions.  I will post pictures of the Sudoku game with numbers tomorrow.  The kids are so excited to start playing the "big board" version!

Sudoku Tiles 1

Sudoku Tiles 2Pin It

Mastering Multiples

My second grade math students started learning the basics of multiplication today.  We first started with with skip counting, and then moved on to some multiple riddles.  We practices making groups and then using the "count by" strategy.  The area that seemed to give my students the most trouble was setting up an equation.  I created this visual to help them to further understand what each part of the equation represents.  To practice, I have chosen several riddles from the book "The Grapes of Math," and will have the students set up equations using this chart.  I printed extra copies so that the students can use one while they complete their assignments; just until they are grasping the concept and feeling more confident. 

You can download the worksheet here.
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Bouquet for Mom

We had so much fun today making bouquets of flowers for all of the kids' moms.  First the kids made 5 flowers, complete with stems and leaves.  On the back of each flower, the students wrote household chores or fun things to do with their mom.  Then the kids made a flower pot pocket attached to a piece of white construction paper, and added a Mother's Day sentiment.  The flowers slid right into the pocket.  All of the kids were so excited about giving this gift, and I think that was because they had the opportunity to choose what chores or activities they put on the card.  I love seeing them so excited about their work!  I saw some beautiful hearts today, that is for sure!

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Don't Be Crabby ...

As the year comes to an end, I wanted a way to count down the final days.  All year we have kept track with stars on the wall the number of days of school.  Once we reached one hundred, we started counting backwards.  Since there are 21 days of school left, and I have 21 students, I decided to make a board where each student could represent one of the final days.  As we pass a day, one student will get to move a star from the wall and put it by their crab.  I came up with the design for this idea from a few similar projects on Pinterest: theusserys.blogspot.com gave me the idea for the phrase, and a hand paint/print crab project that I can no longer find.  My kids made the crabs by tracing their hand two times,  overlapping the hands, and then gluing google eyes to the top of the thumbs.  This project was fun for the kids and super quick to complete.  I love that we have a hands on count down to end the year as well!

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Swing into Spring! Baseball Activity

Spring activities are so fun, but so many of them seem to be along the same lines: flowers, insects, rain, and sun.  Since we had done several multidisciplinary activities along these lines, I wanted to do something different.  Then I got another middle of the night idea - Baseball!  I came up with a literacy activity today, but have plans to tie the sport into our new science unit on balance and motion, as well.  Today we watched a video about baseball and opening day, and then talked about other activities that get people excited about spring.  The students then did some independent writing - Swing into Spring.  We made baseballs using tracers that I made, and put the two pieces together.  I covered our "wall" (a pole that serves as our art display area) with green paper and added a baseball diamond.  I also took pictures of the kids posing with a baseball bat, and their picture will go in the middle of the baseball.

Here is some individual student work.  The first is a first grader's work, and the next is a second grader's project.  The kids wrote about everything from playing tennis and running marathons to finding bugs and going for bike rides.  These two examples just happen to be about baseball.

I also will be making a sign for the wall that says "Swing into Spring".  I will not post pics of the completed wall, as it will have all of the student pictures on the projects, and I want to protect their privacy.  I hope to find more baseball ideas this weekend that I can tie into our lessons.  I am so excited to wrap up the school year this way!

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Seussical! Parade of Things Banner

Today was our first and second grade musical, and it was a huge success!  The production was excerpts from "Seussical" the musical.  Each class completed a Seuss-themed project to decorate the hallway outside the gym.  I wanted to do something a bit different, so I had the kids make a poster wishing the other classes good luck.  I had seen hand printed Thing 1 and Thing 2 characters on Pinterest a while back. (I did not pin it, so I cannot give credit - I wish I could because they were adorable!)  I had the kids created a "parade of Things" by first stamping a Thing body in red, and then a thing head and face in blue and white.  When this part had dried, we added a Thing number to the center (a piece of printed card stock), and each kid drew their Thing's face with a blue sharpie.  I then made our good luck sign and it was ready to go.  This was the easiest project I have done with kids in a LONG time!

Here are a few pics from the set:

We had such a great time!  I can't wait to get the DVD.  Their families were all so proud, as well they should be!

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My White Board Solution - Laminated Card Stock

My students use white boards every day.  It never fails, we always need more boards at a lit center or in the math area.  Since white boards aren't cheap, I decided to make extra boards by laminating card stock.  Now, rather than moving boards around all day long, I can have stack in different places throughout the room.  The best part is that they take up hardly any space!  I can keep about 30 of them in a file folder.  I even thought of making file folder white boards!

I have had an ongoing problem with white boards, storage, and math class this year.  We have math class in our meeting area by our Promethean board, and every day the kids are bringing white boards, markers, erasers, pencils, and their activity books.  Materials get mixed up, forgotten, or broken constantly.  For the obsessive organizer, this is chaos!  Today, I finally think I came up with a solution.  I took some "card stock white boards" and attached them to the back of a few students' math folders.  The students will have their white boards with them all of the time.  I don't have to store them, and now there is one less thing for the kids to keep track of daily.  I plan to have my "test" students use these new boards until the end of the year and see how it goes.  Maybe this will be a great solution~

 

Now, on to "Seussical" - my students have their spring musical on Friday, and each of the nine first and second grade classes are completing a Seuss project to decorate the gym.  We started ours today and it is already adorable.  Pictures to come tomorrow! 

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More Looking for Long Vowels...Digraphs!

Here is the latest addition to my long vowel activities.  This activity can be completed independently or with other students.  There is a separate worksheet for each long vowel sound and digraphs, which makes differentiation fairly easy.  I designed the activity to meet the needs of my first grade students in the Words Their Way middle vowels category; however the activity also lends itself to enhancing and supporting the skill sets introduced in our class reading curriculum.  My goal with these activities is to make my students more aware of what they are reading, and to help them practice both the silent 'e' and digraph spelling patterns.  My next step is to design another level of activities that requires the students to apply what they have learned in both reading and writing.  Let me know what you think, and if anyone might try using these with their students.
Here is a sample~

You can download all 5 vowel sheets here

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Great Pyramids Spelling

Here is another spelling activity that my students have been doing most of the year.  I had heard of spelling pyramid activities before, but my first graders needed a visual in order to complete the activity correctly.  This double sided worksheet has worked great.  Since using this, they are also able to spell in other shapes as well; such as a diamond and reverse pyramid. 

You can download the Great Pyramids worksheet here .

I am still working on some more long vowel search activities, as well as another word building and changing activity.  As soon as I pull something together, I will post it for download.  If anyone has an ideas for improvements, I would love to hear them!

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Spelling Tests!

So many spelling tests and so little time!  As I continue to work through the Words Their Way methods, I wanted a way for both my students and I to get the most out of our weekly spelling tests.  I first tried basic writing paper, but found that I needed something that was easier to look at and grade.  I then tried a few different spelling test forms I found online, but none of them seemed to give me everything I wanted.  I decided I wanted something that would be easy to correct, provide students with additional practice space when needed, and a parent/guardian component.  Since I couldn't find what I needed, I made one!  So far, I love this form.  I have even had the form printed on different colors for each group of kids and their sort.  Doing this has helped me so much to stay organized.  The best part is, I know if parents & guardians are seeing the test each week.

You can download the Spelling Test herePin It

Looking for Long Vowels

This is an activity I designed to help my first graders recognize and decode long vowel/silent 'e' words when reading.  The students either use their current guided reading text or decodable book.  As they read, they search for words, and as they find them they write them down under the correct vowel.  I have found that the students pay more attention to what they are reading, rather than quickly skimming over difficult or unfamiliar words.  Since the long vowel/silent 'e' is an important element in first grade, this has proved to be an excellent activity for extra practice.

You can download the Looking for Long Vowels worksheet here

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United States Symbols Book Cover

Earlier this year, my first and second grade students completed a Social Studies unit on United States symbols and landmarks.  The students completed projects and graphic organizers for the various places and things, and then compiled all of their work into a book.  I wanted the cover to be different from those of other classes, so I asked the students to help come up with an idea.  We came up with several ideas, and then voted as a class.  (Of course I turned the vote into a Social Studies lesson and a math/graphing lesson - wouldn't want to miss a potential teaching moment!).  The cover isn't overly flashy, but it was student created, which makes it so much more important to the kids. 

Each student traced 3 stars and layered them on the front of the cover.  I printed off title and name labels, and the kids cut and pasted them into place.  That was it!  It turned out so clean and patriotic!Pin It

Flip, Slide, Turn! (again)

My second grade mathematicians have been working on some tricky geometric concepts: flip, slide, and turn.  This is not an original idea, but I'm sharing it because it truly worked for my 2nd grade students.  One of my team members did this activity, and I liked it so much I wanted to give it a try.  I'm so glad that I did, because the kids enjoyed completing the activity.  I had the students start by cutting out six hands.  We then practiced each of the concepts a few times as a whole group before I set them loose to glue and label.  Good luck!



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Easy Words Their Way Idea

As I've become more familiar with the Words Their Way program, I've discovered the need to become more efficient.  With students working in numerous different word sorts, I wanted to find a way to limit the amount of copies I was making.  I decided to make permanent copies of my word lists, so that I wasn't being wasteful, and so that the students could easily find their materials.  I made 10 copies of each sort and had them laminated.  Each sort has its own file folder, which helps with the organization piece, and the students' responsibility in caring for our materials.  These sorts are stored in a file crate, along with countless folders of spelling activities.  When I assign an activity to a particular student, they go to the file and get it themselves, which has saved me on set up time and space.  So far, this has worked great!  I have reusable materials that both the students and I can locate when needed.

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Plants and Animals in the Springtime ...

I have been away from the blog for a bit, but I'm fired up and ready to get back to work!  So much has been going on in our classroom and at home, the blogging had to take the back seat for a short time. 

Our class has been studying Plants and Animals in science, and we follow the 2nd grade Foss Science curriculum.  The kids have been so excited about every aspect of the unit!  We have grown grass, alfalfa, wheat, oats, and plant cuttings, and just this past Thursday, we planted terrariums.  By the second day, we had sprouts!  It has been a good time for all of us, especially since we have worked hard to incorporate parts of the science unit into literacy and math as well.  As an extension activity the week we focused on the parts of a plant and their jobs, the kids made potted plants out of construction paper.  The front is a beautiful plant, while the back is a diagram.  At the end of the activity, the students were given labels.  They then had to label the various parts of the plant.  Since we hang all of our projects from the ceiling, this double sided project worked great.  Here is an example:

I used online coloring pages to create tracers.  The students came up with the idea to make it a "double flower" on top.  They each cut out 2 petal pieces, and then glued the stem between them.  When they attached the petals, they did not line them up perfectly, but "in the spaces", which made the flowers quite attractive. 



Here is a pic of the first plants the kids planted.  We "mow" the grass once a week, and take measurements.  We also make predictions for how much the plants will grow.  We have even gone outside of the curriculum and started experimenting with different locations and amounts of water to see what happens.  Their enthusiasm for this unit inspires me! 

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Winter Literacy Work

Here is some of our new literacy center work (I needed a little spark to keep them working hard this time of year).  My students love "making sentences" activities, so we have done a series of four different winter themed activities.  Here is the final one:

Download Winter Sentences here

Another activity that I have added is Word Building Boggle.  I know that many teachers have created versions of this type of activity; however none of them seemed to fit the needs of my students - so, I created one of my own.  In order to make the activity even more individualized, I fill the boxes with letters from the students' current story activities.  It takes a little bit of time, but I sat down and did about five themes for each group all at once - no sweat.  My students have completed the activity twice, and have not only enjoyed it, but done quality work.

You can download Boggle here

I hope that some of you can use these, or copy them to fit what your students need.  Even though I love finding activities created by other bloggers, I truly enjoy making my own as well :)

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Mini White Boards

 In my ongoing quest to not only be organized but efficient, I came up with a new idea: erasable flashcards.  With four different reading groups, all at different places in the curriculum,  it seemed like all I was doing was cutting paper and making flashcards for each story we read.  With limited space, I have found that I have no more room for all of these activity cards.  The other day I came up with an idea that has already proved useful.  I cut up a stack of cardstock into 4 1/4 by 3 inch rectangles, and then laminated them, essentially making them into mini white boards.  I went through each group's word activites for the next day and wrote them on the cards with a dry erase marker.  I could easily change letters in front of the kids to make new words, which was a great word building activity.  When we were done, I erased the cards that I didn't need for the next day's lesson, and then wrote the new words on the same cards.  The best part is, they don't take up any space - just one little stack of cards.  I've only been using them for a week, so we'll see how it goes, but so far, so good!

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Update on the eagle cam!

UPDATE: Right after I posted our eagle project and information about the eagle cam, I found out that the Decorah eagles now have 2 eggs in their nest!  We hadn't been on in a few weeks, but I made sure to show the kids as soon as I heard.  Since we are now entering a new Foss science unit on Plants and Animals, I am going to continue to show the eagle cam from time to time enhance our unit.  The eggs are supposed to hatch in about 34 days, so I know the kids will be eagerly awaiting the big day!

You can find the cam at http://www.ustream.tv/decoraheaglesPin It

No Bug Zone!

Here is the latest addition to my room and classroom management repertoire. I found the idea on The Schroeder Page, which I love (Thank you Monica!), and I immediately had to do the same thing. So far so good! the light is located right above my teacher/reading table. When I am meeting with a group, the students aren't allowed to "bug" us. We use the "ask 3 before you ask me policy," as well as the class question answerer trick, but lately we've need a little more reminding. The kids see the light and know to start problem solving.

The Schroder Page can be found at http://schroederpage.blogspot.com

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National Symbols Unit: The Bald Eagle

As part of our continuing Social Studies unit on national symbols and landmarks, we studied the bald eagle. We read books, researched eagles, and learned about the history of how the eagle became such and important symbol for our country. We even watched the live bald eagle cam from Decorah, IA - the kids loved this! I put the live shots on the promethean board during writer's workshop and let the kids write about what they saw, what they thought the eagles were feeling and thinking, and consider both the live birds and the eagle's place in our nation's history. This was the final project we made. It was inspired by numerous projects that I saw online. The only change I would make is to add tail feathers to the eagle. I had a tracer made, but when I laid my own sample out, you could not see the tail feathers due to the placement of the shield - the students did not have this same problem!We are going to add the tail feathers this Friday to make sure that the student work is as accurate as possible. Hope you enjoy!

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Cute Valentines

Valentine's Day is over, and most of us have moved on; however I did not want to forget these cute ideas for next year.  My daughter received these Valentine's at day care.  The first is a simple doilie on a heart, but the fun part is that her teacher included a heart shaped crayon.  I remember making these crayons as a kid in muffin tins with crayon shavings, and I loved them! 

The second card was so simple, I wish I had thought of this as an activity for our Valentine party - at our party we had 4 stations that the students rotated just like they do for lit centers. I love that only the sides of the small heart were glued down so that it made a little pocket. These were great Valentines~



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Valentine's Making Sentences

My student's really enjoy "making sentences" activities, so I made a Valentine version.  The basic words are simple, since the "holiday" words are a bit more difficult.  I will also encourage my stronger students to write a few sentence in which they add their own descriptive words.  Happy Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Making SentencesPin It

Love Bugs - A Quick and Easy Valentine Project

This is a project that I did with my students at the end of last week to add a little holiday flair to our classroom.  This was a last minute addition to our day, since my diligent workers finished their Social Studies activity in record time (In fact, I came up with this on my lunch break!).  I made a bunch of heart tracers, and this is what the outcome was.  My students loved this, and in fact, the kids immediately started calling these cute heart creatures, "love bugs".  I wish I would have had time to have them make antennae for them.  Oh, well, next year ....

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