Scarecrow Writing

As a part of our writing program, Write From the Beginning, the students are learning to write about objects using descriptive language. They recently wrote to describe a scarecrow by first brainstorming on a Circle Map, followed by creating a Tree Map, and then followed by writing sentences. While I worked with students one-on-one on the editing and revising portion of the writing process, the students made their own scarecrow.

Additive Pattern Headbands

Since we are learning more about additive patterns and Thanksgiving, we made additive pattern headbands. We discussed the type of clothes that Native Americans wore and the intricate designs that they added to some of their clothing. The students then used fall colors on sentence strips to follow and recreate multi-step additive patterns. They then added a feather to their headbands.

Domino Doubles Snack

To introduce the conept of doubles, the students created dominoes out of graham crackers, vanilla icing, and milk chocolate morsels. They first put one piece of chocolate on each side and verbally identified the addition number sentence. They continued by adding one morsel to each side of the domino until we reached the sum of 18. Then, of course, they enjoyed eating their snack!

We Are Thankful

In the computer lab, the students brainstormed people, places, and things that they are thankful for on a Circle Map. They then typed those things into Tagxedo. They then chose a fall leaf template of their choice along with the color scheme. Here are a few samples of their work:

Gumball Machine Graphing Download

You can now download the gumball machine and recording sheet that I created for my Gumball Machine Graphing lesson. You can download the templates from my TPT store.

Holly Wreath Fact Families

I realize it is not Thanksgiving yet, but it is not too early to start planning Christmas-themed lessons for our students. Are you looking for a fun way to have your students practice fact families? In this mini-lesson, your students will create a Holly wreath using leaf and berry clipart. They can make the wreath on a paper plate or free-form on construction paper. Once they make their wreath, they count the number of berries and the number of leaves and record it on the included recording sheet. The students then solve the total amount of berries and leaves along with their related fact family number sentences. You can download the template from my TPT store.

Place Value Initials File Download

In order to help keep up with the requests for the Place Value Initials file request, I have added the template along with printable Base Ten Blocks to my TPT store. You can download the file here and find examples of the final product at the links below:

Place Value Intials 2012
Place Value Initials 2011

Printable Base Ten Blocks

Fellow teachers, several of you have asked for printable Base Ten Blocks so I created a set. The set includes a full page of ones, a full page of tens, and a full page of hundreds. I hope these are what you are looking for! You can download these from my TPT store.

Word Family Buildings

 

To help the students in my class build fluency and see the spelling patterns among words, I created a set of Word Family Buildings. The students substitute the beginning sound on various word families to create new words on the printable mats. The buildings can be laminated and used as dry erase boards or the students can build the words with magnetic letters. You can download the file at my TPT store.

Fact Family Tree Map Download

Here is a fact families activity that I created to help my students identify related math facts. The students sort the fact family card on large construction paper to create a Tree Map. Sorting the cards into fact families helps the students understand that they must use the same three numbers in the addition and subtraction problems. In my class, the students worked in small groups to sort and create the Tree Map. A recording sheet is provided to use as an assessment of their individual understanding. You can download the file at my TPT store.

Ways to Make Ten Posters

A common strategy to help students with learning math facts is to teach them to make ten. These posters help the students visualize, on Ten Frames, how many are needed to add to various numbers in order to make ten. Once they know how many is needed to make ten, they can the add the remaining number to ten. For example, with the addition problem 8+5, the student visualizes that it takes 2 more to make 10 from the 8. They then visualize that 5-2= 3. So, 8+5 is the same as 10+3. You can download the posters from my TPT store.

Base Ten Flashcards to 100

Fellow teachers, I created an extensive set of Base Ten Flashcards to 100. The set includes five different ways to represent the numbers: pictorial representation with Base Ten Blocks, numerical form, number of Tens/Ones, expanded notation, and word form. Ideas for using this resource include but not limited to:

• Play “Around the World” to review
• Create a Tree Map to show various ways to represent numbers
• Play “Concentration” to match various ways to represent numbers
• Build numbers using manipulatives
• Order cards from greatest to least, least to greatest

You can download the flashcards at my TPT store.

Base Ten Posters with Expanded Notation

 

To help my students review place value,  created these Base Ten Posters with Expanded Notation. These posters represent numbers to 30 using Base Ten blocks. The posters include the numerical and word from as well the quantity of tens and ones and expanded notation. The posters can also be folded in half to create flashcards. Once they are folded in half, glue the back sides together and laminate. Students can use the pictorial model and record the number of tens and ones and its expanded notation or vice versa. I plan on printing them, laminating them, and binding them as a book. The students will use the book during math tubbing time to practice building numbers and identifying the tens and ones. The posters are available on my TPT store.

Ten Frame Posters

Fellow teachers, I created two sets of ten frame posters that you might be interested in. The first set of posters includes the numerical and word form of the numbers 1-30 with corresponding ten frames. The second set also includes how many tens and ones comprise the number. The posters can be reduced to flashcard size by printing multiple cards per page on your printers property settings. The posters can be used as anchor charts, bound into a flip book, or used as flashcards in games such as Around the World. You can also print multiple sets in flashcard size for games such as Concentration. The downloads can be found on my TPT store.

First Grade Thanksgiving Lessons

Here are a few of my favorite lessons for Thanksgiving. Several of the ideas come from other blogs so be sure to follow the links to their sites as well.

1. Thanksgiving Alliterations
2. Thanksgiving Feast
3. Handy Turkey
4. Thanksgiving Venn Diagram
5. Cornucopia Placemats
6. Number Pattern Turkeys
7. Turkey Descriptive Writing
8. Pattern Block Turkeys

Skip Counting Number Lines

The students worked together to create skip counting number lines for 2s and 5s using their handprints and socks. The number lines are currently hanging in our class as an anchor chart.

Digraph Show and Tell

In reading we are working on making connections and the phonics sounds for /ch/, /sh/, /wh/, and /th/. To help the students make connections to these sounds so they can remember them, we had Digraph Show and Tell. The students brought in chess and checker pieces, whisks, whales, sharks, whistles, sheeps, shirts, and more.

Nature Center Field Trip

Friday we had a field trip to the district's Nature Center. The students participated in four outdoor learning lessons. We visited the pond to identify living and non-living objects. Next we visited the gardens to view various plants and record their names alphabetically. We then went on a nature walk to record what we could hear, see, feel, and smell. Last, we measured the circumference of a tree and learned about various types of trees.