Plants, a SALE, and a SURPRISE

Plants, a S-A-L-E, and a SURPRISE!!

        We have been learning about plants last week or so in science. Last week we focused heavily on plant vocabulary and how plants grow. Then we planted zinnia seeds last Friday in hopes of giving zinnia sprouts for Mother’s Day.

        This week we’ve been observing our sprouts’ growth. The kids have really gotten a kick out of how quickly their plants are growing. They love coming into the room each morning and checking for changes in the cups.

        Today we celebrated our time with Rachel {Ms. Schwartz, our intern}. We have been busy all week getting ready for today’s SURPRISE party! I feel like we were working on something each time she left the room to observe other teachers. I bought a white mug at Target and had each of the kids sign it for her:

        We also wrote a book for her titled Ms. Schwartz is the BEST! We made a web of various things she did throughout the year and how we feel about her. The kids each wrote a rough draft, highlighting their favorite moments with her. Then each student wrote and illustrated their book page. I made a cute cover and had each student sign their name on it after it was laminated. It turned out SO CUTE!! The kids were so proud of their work and secrecy! 

        The party was so much fun- we had cupcakes and juice donated by two families, along with streamers, balloons, and flowers from another! Rachel and I had a meeting this afternoon, so the kids were able to make banners for her while she was out of the room. After the meeting, I picked the kids up from Music and we snuck into the room and had them hid in the reading corner with balloons. I brought Rachel back into the classroom and the kids yelled, “SURPRISE” and threw balloons in the air. It was pretty cute and she was definitely surprised. Here are some pictures of her opening her gifts:

Streamers!

Banners!

I had the kids send in school/classroom supplies for her classroom.

We are sad to see her go, but wish her the BEST!!

      I also want to announce that I am throwing a SALE at my TpT store!

Dinosaur Fun

Dinosaur Fun

        We finished our dinosaur unit today! The kiddos made dinosaur skeletons with toothpicks and popsicle sticks. 

        We also made a class graph of our favorite dinosaurs. I’ve just added a new class graphing activity to my Dinosaur Activity Pack and wanted to try it out with my kids. They LOVED it! Though I think if I had copied 22 T-rex’s they each would have picked it!! I also made a recording sheet for students to replicate the class graph and then analyze the information presented! Here’s a shot of our graph:

        Yesterday we went to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History to see the dinosaur exhibit, along with many others! I love seeing the excitement on the kids’ faces when they see the dinosaurs. I also enjoy hearing them spew information they have learned over the school year as we walk through each of the exhibits.  

        Next week I begin teaching science/social studies and math again, and then reading the week after. I got this from one of my sweet boys today:

       
The card says “I can’t wait for you to start teaching me again!”

Well- that’s all for today! Be sure to stop by my TpT store to check out my dinosaur pack. J Have a GREAT weekend!!

My TpT Store

Finally on TpT

       

        My TpT store has been up and running for a week now! I have been so excited to come home each day and see how many views my products have had. It is really encouraging! I have also been frantically working to put together new products to post and reach more great educators like you! I’ll be honest though, I’ve been neglecting my homework so I may not be able to add anything new for another 2 weeks. (I’ve literally been addicted to making new items!) 

        If you haven’t stopped by my store yet, please check it out! I also want to stress for any of your purchases on TpT, be sure to provide feedback! It helps out the seller and you earn credits to use towards future purchases. 

Synonym Flowers & Life Cycle of a Butterfly 

        My kids have been learning about synonyms and insects all week. Rachel (my intern) introduced synonyms with an anchor chart and discussion and then used differentiated activities to give the kids some practice. Yesterday they started the morning with a quick synonym match activity. I made synonym match cards (that I printed on cardstock and laminated), and then Rachel passed them out. The kids then had to read the word on their card and find the match. Then they shared their synonym pairs.

      Today they made synonym flowers. This is something I did last year, after being inspired by this idea by Mary Beth at Run Teacher Run. I made flower templates that I copied onto construction paper. Then, I wrote various synonym pairs on the flowers, like so:

      The kids then had to find their partner and brainstorm more words with similar meanings to record on the petals. They did an awesome job!

       They also read The Very Hungry Caterpillar today. Rachel introduced the life cycle of a butterfly yesterday, and reinforced it today with the read aloud and a paper plate life cycle activity today.

        I also have an EXCITING announcement… I have officially opened a store on TpT. Here you’ll find ALL of my freebies (eventually) as well a new items that are for sale (though there is only one right now)!

Synonyms & Antonyms

A Personal Note & Synonym and Antonym FREEBIEs

        Okay… so I know it’s been F-O-R-E-V-E-R since I’ve posted, and I do apologize! Like all of you, I’ve been VERY busy. My intern is also the lead teacher, so I haven’t been directly connected to the lessons, which makes it really hard to blog! I have also been pretty busy with homework this semester, and I went on VACATION. What’s that you say?? I know, I too had forgotten what vacation is (we hadn’t been in two years). OMG it was so insanely nice to relax and enjoy my husband!

        Having an intern has allowed me to reorganize my files, make some new activities, and prep A LOT of new center activities. I have also been able to work one-on-one with all of my students. It’s GREAT! I’ve also had more time to do what I like to do: keep a clean home and CRAFT! I have even had time to paint my nails- that never happens! I’ll stop gloating and move on to the synonym and antonym FREEBIEs I promised in the title.

        My intern started teaching synonyms today. She made an anchor chart with the kids charting synonyms of big, small, and good. They did a great job. Tomorrow she has planned several differentiated activities for them to continue working with synonyms, including this one:

Synonym Match

This worksheet is designed to reinforce synonyms for your struggling students.

     I also made an antonym match activity that is very similar:

Antonym Match

  
Be sure to check out my synonym and antonym card packs on TpT!

ENJOY- If you like what you see please follow my blog!

Silent E, Magic e, Sneaky e

Silent e… Sneaky e… Magic e…

      Next week we’ll be working with several Dr. Seuss books, but we’ll also be learning about silent e. I've been all over Pinterest and Google trying to find some new ways to introduce silent e, and some activities to use throughout the week. I found some good ideas, but haven't really LOVED any of the activities (except for this one  and this one). I downloaded the first activity on TpT (for FREE) and it inspired me to plan a fun activity for introducing silent e to my kids. I really liked the sneaky e puppets from the second link, but I won't have time to prep everything for those Monday morning before my kiddos come, there's always next year though! I then made three silent e worksheets to use next week. Check them out:

Silent e 1 

Silent e 2 

Silent e 3

Enjoy!

If You Give Books

If You Give.... Away some FREEBIEs

       

        The past two weeks we have been working with Laura Numeroff’s If You Give books. I L-O-V-E these books! I always get so excited when it comes time to share all of them with my students. J I’m pretty sure I revamp my activities for this unit, every year- always finding or thinking of something better or more fun to do! I also highly recommend looking at the units offered on TpT that go with the If You Give books. I have the Literacy and Math Stations by DeeDee Wills and the Laura Numeroff Book Study unit by Erica Bohrer, they’re GREAT! I also supplement with my own activities, or own versions of activities in the book study unit. 

Moose & Muffin Cause and Effect

I saw an activity like this that goes with If You Give a Pig a Pancake, I can’t remember where I saw it, probably on Pinterest. I used that one and then made this to go with Moose & Muffin.

Cat & Cupcake Circle Story Map

Pig & Pancake Circle Story Map

        I hope you can use these in your classroom!

100th Day of School

100^th Day of School & FREEBIEs

          We had our 100^th Day of School on Friday February 1. It seems crazy to me that we’ve been in school for over 100 days now! I had full intentions of posting about our activities sooner, so that others could use them this year, but I’ve been SUPER busy. I guess there’s always next year! Here’s what we did:

Colored a hundreds chart to reveal the number 100

Made a 100th Day counting book

I saw this idea on another blog- I can't remember at the moment, but thought it was cute and a good way to reinforce counting by tens. 

Shared our 100^th Day posters (I completely forgot to take pictures of these. I had some AMAZING posters though.)

Celebrated with 100 (yes 100) Cupcakes

Each 1^st grade teacher (and my intern) made 25 cupcakes, and numbered them accordingly, for this activity. We gathered our 3 classes in the cafeteria and passed out a special recording sheet. Students each picked a number from a bag, and read their number to the group.  Students then got the matching cupcake to complete the top portion of the recording sheet I made. The students crossed out each number on the hundreds chart as it was called.

100th Day Cupcake Fun

The kids got so excited each time a bigger number was called- I think they were the loudest when 1 and 100 were called. It was pretty cute!

In honor of the 100th Day of School my intern and I each made a 100th Day shirt:

I put 100 google eyes on my shirt. Rachel put 100 pompoms on her shirt, but I forgot to get a picture!

Here is something I made, but didn't use: 100th Day Counting Mat

How did you celebrate the 100th Day? 

Penguins Palooza FREEBIES

Penguins Palooza

        I’ve been enjoying my FOUR DAY WEEKEND! Yes, F-O-U-R whole days… it’s been LOVELY! Anyway, I’ve been busy updating things I made last year for my penguins unit (adding fun fonts and cute graphics). Today’s post is brief, so I can get back to enjoying my last day off. Here are some of the penguin things I’ll be doing with my kiddos this week:

Penguin Traits

Penguins: Can Have Are

The Emperor's Egg

Please enjoy the penguin activities- if you have a problem downloading anything please let me know!