Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Tops and Bottoms!

Hello Everyone!
Just a quick share tonight.  Next week we finish up our plant unit and our unit on measurement in math.  We are having so much fun with Splat the Cat Oopsie Daisy  this week, but I can't wait to introduce one of my favorite plant books to the kids. Tops and Bottoms by Janet Stevens is such a fabulously engaging book, I almost wish we had more time to spend on it!!  I put together a fun little unit that covers some ELA, some math, and a bit of science to supplement our plant unit. Here are a few pics.











I can't wait to show you some of the wonderful poems the kids are writing this week, and out little Splats.   Thanks for stopping by to take a peek!! 
Have a great night!!
Joyfully!
Nancy





Sunday, April 27, 2014

De-Liver De-Letter!!

Hello Everyone!!
What a great weekend!  Lots of house cleaning, and yard work!  Phew! I'm pooped!! But I did have a bit of energy left to create a quick little supplemental unit for writing "Friendly Letters." I know letter writing has basically gone extinct, but we still believe that it is a great way for people to personally show interest in others.  First grade is not too early to teach kids the proper way to write a friendly letter.  This is, in fact, a great time of year to do exactly that. There are a ton of people around them who would love to receive a letter from a first grader!! Writing letters to show ideas in chronological order or logical sequence and use of appropriate conventions is a supporting standard in our district's writing curriculum. I love that!!
Here are a few pics from this 12 page unit.












The unit also includes some letter writing templates.

I can't wait to have my kids get busy sharing their messages with those they love!!

As always, thanks for stopping by for a peek! 
You are the best!! 
Let me know if you spot any typos or
 inaccuracies in any of my docs!  
Have a great rest of your weekend!! 
 Mine's almost over!  
Joyfully!
Nancy





Thursday, April 24, 2014

A Whole Lotta Sharin' Goin' On!

Hello Everyone!!
This is my favorite time of the school year.  We are finishing up our testing, the kids have become quite independent with everything, they have become readers and writers, they have become problem solvers, I could go on and on!  I want to share some of their darling work and a couple of free units.  First off, after the big chick hatching extravaganza, I decided to have the kids write about what they would do if they had a baby chick.  From what they wrote, they would make great chick owners!  I then let them create a chick! All I gave them was a yellow circle. They turned out so cute!





The next thing I want to share is the beginning of our poetry unit.  Yes, April is poetry month, but we are getting a bit of a late start. We began by talking about what a poem is, and created a "Poetree" anchor chart. I read some different types of poem including Shel Silverstein's Poet's Tree. We talked about how sometimes a poet has fun with words and makes us really think. Shel does exactly that!!  We decided to take the subject of spring and create a simple list poem that had some flair with how we published it. They turned out so sweet!












The last thing for tonight is a new unit I just finished. In science we are studying plants for the next couple of weeks and in math we begin our study of measurement using nonstandard units. Well, put those two curriculum areas together and you get "Splat the Cat, Oopsie Daisy" by Rob Scotton.  The kids looooove Splat, so I decided to use that little guy as our inspiration all next week. this little unit contains cross curricular learning opportunities.  Here's a peek!
 















These are just a few of the over 60 pages in the unit!  I hope you can use at least a few of them.  You have to go get that sweet book if you don't have it yet.  I found some at Target, but of course you can always get on Amazon or go to your favorite bookstore.

If you are interested in the unit, don't wait,
Well, that's all I've got for tonight!! Thanks for stopping by for another peek!!  Hope you can swing by again soon to check out what we're up to!!!  Now off to get my math tubs ready for next week! Can't wait!!
Talk to you all soon!
Joyfully!
Nancy






Sunday, April 20, 2014

Forward and Back-Skip counting to and from 120

Hello Everyone!
Easter Blessing to all! 
I hope you had a day filled with joy and hope!

This coming week we will be focusing on skip counting to and from 120. We have worked on skip counting before, but not to this extent.  Internalizing number patterns will help kids in any mental math that may come their way. We will focus on jumping off from the decade with our counting by 10's. We will work with our base 10 blocks and understand that adding rods adds 10 to what ever number you start with.  I wanted some extra work for our mini lessons and our math tubs and put together this little pack.  It has a cute little rabbit and carrot patch theme--We begin our plant unit this week too! Love some Tops and Bottoms!! Right?? :)
Here are a few pics from the 21 page pack.









As always, please let me know of any typos you detect or changes that should be made. Thanks!

Stay tuned for pics of kids playing the scamper game.  Can't wait!!
Till then, have a great rest of the day and week!  
Thanks for stopping by! I appreciate you!!
Joyfully!
Nancy