Thanksgiving Feast

Thank you to all of the parents who donated goodies for the students' Thanksgiving Feast. The students dressed in either brown or black to represent the clothing worn by Native Americans and Pilgrims at the first Thanksgiving Feast. They wore hats that they made to go along with their clothes: headbands, hats, or bonnets. They then munched on modern day treats related  to the first feast such as turkey sandwiches, grapes, and popcorn.

Pattern Block Turkeys

To review repeating patterns, the students creatd pattern block turkeys. They each started with a hexagon and then chose whichever pattern blocks they wanted to create the rest of the pattern.

Number Pattern Turkeys

In math we have been learning about number patterns including odd and even. The students worked in groups to identify even and odd numbers on a 30 chart. Each student was then given a number card. They cirlced their number on their 30 chart and identified if their number was even or odd. They then extended their skip counting pattern five more times. They then created a turkey and wrote their number pattern on the turkey feathers.

Cornucopia Placemats

For our class Thanksgiving Feast, the students created cornucopia placemats. After coloring their cornucopia, they told me at least six people, places, or things they were thankful for which I typed. They then added those words to their placemats.

Word Family Train Sorts

 

 

Fellow teachers, I created a set of Word Family Train Sorts to use during Daily 5. If you are looking for word work ideas, stop over at my TPT store to download this file. Students sort word family train cars behind their matching word family train engine. The set includes 59 word families covering all long and short vowels. Students can record their words on the included recording sheet. The trains can also be placed in pocket charts or on a bulletin board for a weekly phonics focus. This set would be a great addition to your Daily 5 lessons, literacy stations, or hands-on tutoring.

If I Were President...

During Social Studies we have been learning about authority figures. In light of the recent election and to help the students make a connection to the importance of authority figures, they wrote what they would do if they were President.

The Tortoise and the Hare

As a part of our study of fables and making connections to lessons in stories, we read The Tortoise and the Hare. The students discussed the author's purpose for writing and then wrote at least one connection they had to the story or one lesson they learned.

Turkey Writing

As we continued to work on writing to describe objects, the students wrote to describe a turkey. They wrote what a turkey has, looks like, and what it can do.

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.