Fish Wish and Sandra Markle honor!!

 Hello Everyone!!

Finally a few minutes to blog a bit about what we've been up to!  We are actually on Spring Break right now. We are not going on a vacation this year because the hubs just got a new job and doesn't want to take off. So I've been busy working on closets, drawers, cooking, and reading!! My laptop has been very moody lately, so I haven't been able to catch up on any blogging or e-mail. (It may be because I don't ever delete anything!)  Today it decided to work, so here I am!! Before I go any farther, I want to share a wonderful thing that happened to us!  You all know that Sandra Markle is one of my favorite go to authors, especially during our study of animals.  She has written over 200 books for kids about so many science related topics!  Sandra and I have been talking and e-mailing over that last couple of years, both sharing ideas and thoughts.  One of her newest books "What If You Had Animal Eyes," is another hit!!!  Was I ever surprised when I opened my new copy!! 

I think the kids were just as excited as I was!!!  Thank you Sandra Markle!!!  You made us feel very special!!  I can't wait to come up with a fun literature response for this one!!!  Sandra's books are easily accessible at Scholastic and Amazon.

Before Spring Break we held our annual Open House.  Every school in our district has Open House and invites the entire community to see what kids have been up to.  It is kind of a big deal. To kind of go along with our whole Pirate theme this year, we decided to go "swimmin with the fishes!"  We developed an integrated unit about fish.  We learned so much and the kids had a blast!  Here are a few pics.

 

Some more Sandra Markle books!!


 These ideas are all part of my new unit. A147 page printable unit with so many integrated ideas for your young learners!!! Here are a few pics of what is included.

Phew!!! We were so ready for a break after all this fintastic learning!!  I hope all my kids are safe and happy! I miss you!!!
If any of this fun is flipping your fin, you can download the unit.  
Simply CLICK HERE!!!! GLUB GLUB!!

YUP! It's free!!!


Anyway, thanks for stopping by our little Window of Wonder!!!  Now I'm off to see if my e-mail is working! 
Hope you have a wonderful weekend!!!  See you soon!
Joyfully!
Nancy
firstgradewow@gmail.com

Swimmin Around My Bowl

Hello Everyone!
Ahhhhh! The first Saturday of Spring Break!
  Just a quick post today though because we are on our way to see my hubby's mom as she is in hospice care as we speak and ready to go to her heavenly home.  Such a sweet lady from whom my hubby has received so many amazing qualities. I want to thank her for doing such a great job with him. Praying for peace during this time.


Before we go, I did want to share a fun little game we did this week.  It is included in my fish unit, but in a mini version.  You know how much I love a lifesized math activity!! The idea for this game comes from a game by Kim Sutton.  She has such amazing number sense ideas. 
I simply cut about 14 or so large bubble shapes and laminated them.   I then cut out some large fish and placed them at the beginning and the end of the pathway of bubbles. (Write the number 10 on the first one and the number 100 on the last one.)  I also  had some numbers 0-9 on cards.  Before we began, we talked about the strategies needed to organize numbers on this board.  There aren't enough spaces for all the numbers from 10-100.  We were going to draw 2 numbers from the number cards and first decide which number to make.  For example if we drew a 3 and a 6, what two 2-digit numbers could we make and then which one would fit on the gameboard?  When we decided which number and where we should write it, the kids wrote the number on the bubble with a wipe off marker. As we got going, it got harder and harder. After completing the large board, the kids had the opportunity to do their own on the mini gameboard.

  

 

 

For your own mini gameboard, swim on over and click here!

 

This would be a quick math tub game!!

 

Okay! Thanks for stopping by our little window on wonder! 

 

Stay safe this coming week!

Joyfully!

Nancy

 

 

 

Welcome to Our Fishbowl!

Hello Everyone!
What a great turnout we had at our annual open house.  The kids got to show off all their hard work, and family and friends got to see where their little loves learn and grow during the school day.  I wanted to share a few pics of a couple of the displays we did to help welcome the community. I've already shown you the aquatic habitat learning that we have done over the past couple of weeks.  Enjoy the rest of the pics!

Our fish mask pictures!

 

First grade is "fin"tastic!

 

What's in YOUR fishbowl?

 

Welcome to our fishbowl!!

 

All five of our first grade classrooms had a

 "fishbowl surround."

 

OH! And here's our inspiration!!  Let me introduce Lollipop and Bob. 

Our sweet little guppies!!

I want to send a huge thank you to the moms who came to help with our hallways!  I also want to thank my team for their hard work and dedication!!  You gals ROCK!!

 

I can't wait to share with you an amazing opportunity our kids had with respect to an art program we had available tonight.  But ...another time.  this girl is exhausted.  Good Night!!

 

Joyfully!

Nancy