Saturday, January 14, 2012

January Catch-Up Post

New Year’s Resolution
Yikes!! I'm way behind on my posting!! But I figured I would go ahead and back track a little here is a little New Year’s Resolution idea. I read this story to my students:



 This book was so cute! It really helped my students understand that a resolution is simply a promise. Next we made promises to ourselves, to our friends, to our teacher, and to our family. Here are a few samples:
         

January Writing
I found this cute idea on Pinterest:


I decided it would be so cute for our January bulletin board I read the students a few books about winter and then they wrote about winter and created a winter person to hold their paper. 




Cause and Effect
Our comprehension skill was Cause and Effect.  We read several stories to practice this skill. 
My favorite activity was That’s Good, That’s Bad, we read the book and then we talked about how sometimes causes and have BAD effects.  I had the students pretend to find a wallet then they had to write a good effect and a bad effect.  Here are a few samples.

 




Sunday, December 11, 2011

Holiday Craft Ideas - Economics Unit

Each year we do a Holiday Themed Economics Unit.  To help the students understand our learning goals:

The students act as “Elf Factory” workers and make holiday themed crafts.  I explain to them that if they worked in a crayon factory they wouldn’t get to take home the crayons they made so they don’t get to take home the crafts they make, but instead they earn RR (school pretend) money.  Of course, I take in to account the quality of their work when deciding how much to pay each child.  I also offer bonuses to any student that helps others, has good behavior, or helps with additional clean-up.  After making the crafts, the students must pay their bills to help them understand that we first spend money on our needs.  Then with the money they have left over they are able to purchase items that were made in our workshop. 
Here is a look at some of the things we have made so far! (Just in case you need some ideas!)


I found these beads at AJ Moore in Red, Green, and Clear



Use 1 green pipe cleaner

Snowflakes: Use 3 Silver Pipe Cleaners, cut in half twist around each other in the middle, add beads



Grinch Pills - I found this idea on Pinterest!



Christmas Trees with Fruit Loops


I found these foam ornaments at Walmart $5 for 36!

Dog Theme - Triple Clusters, Math Tubs, Question Words FREEBIES

Last week our story was called Dog School, so our centers had a dog theme!  J
Phonics - Triple Clusters, Silent Blends
We learned about Triple Clusters.  Here is a match the dog to the bone.  After my students matched the dogs and bones they practiced using them in sentences.



Download HERE!

We also practiced reading words with silent blends.



Vocabulary- Question Words, Story Words

We also learned about question words.  I thought it would be fun to have a “fantasy” dog birthday party.  Here is the little invite and then the students practice answer “W” words questions.  I got this idea HERE from Sarah Cooley’s Quints Baby Shower Invite!

 
Download HERE! 

Story Words: Illustrate, use in a sentence.



Comprehension- Predicting and Sequencing
We practiced predicting with the story, Harry and the Dirty Dog.  The students had to predict where Harry would take the brush.  Then next day they sequenced the events in the story.  I found this sequencing page in the Teacher Helper Magazine.  We also sequenced the events in our main story, Dog School.






Math- Time to the Hour, Counting by 2s

This week for in Math we are practicing counting by 2s.  We also learned how to tell time to the hour!  Here is a look at our a few of our Math Stations.
 

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Phonics Pack Mistake

I found a mistake in the Phonics Pack -- I wrote Pepperment instead of Peppermint. If you already purchased this pack, please redownload to get the correct version.