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contractions

Contraction Surgery Success

January 11, 2016

Pinterest is full of amazing contraction surgery ideas so this is definitely not an original idea on my part.  I wanted my firsties to really understand the concept of what a contraction is.  So, they needed to perform surgery on some words.  I wanted them to concretely understand that letters are taken away in order to make the contraction.  The kiddos got to wear gloves, surgical masks and were equipped with bandaids of every shape and color.  I also had some washi tape on hand in case we ran out of bandaids.  The washi tape worked really well and nobody was disappointed when they ran out of bandaids.  Yay!!  I always strive to have tear free lessons (mine or theirs)! Each pair of students had a “patient list” which was a set of words and the contractions they make.  They looked at each bone and decided which letters needed to be removed.  The bandaids were used in place of the apostrophe’s.  They LOVED this.  They have asked several times if we can do it again.  Ha Ha!  I call that a win.

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daily 5, nouns, verbs, writing

Silly Sentence Fun!

January 10, 2016

My kiddos are working on identifying nouns in sentences.  I thought it would be fun to implement this Silly Sentence Station I found on Wild About Firsties     blog.  It was definitely a hit during our Daily 5 time.  Students choose a card from each pocket chart and put them together into a silly sentence.  Prior to turning them loose on this daily I modeled how to turn the words and phrases from “caveman talk” into complete sentences.  There are several recording sheets to choose from.  I put out 2 different recording sheets and 8 cards at a time.  I plan to rotate new cards and recording sheets to keep this activity fresh.  My kids loved this and they wrote some hysterical sentences.

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reading street, Ruby in Her Own Time, sequencing

Ruby in Her Own Time, Sequencing and Tears

January 4, 2016

I just finished a sequencing activity for Reading Street’s, “Ruby in Her Own Time.”  Working on this activity provided me with my first chance to sit down and read this story.  I got a little teary reading it when the momma duck asks about Ruby flying off and Dad tells her that she will come back “in her own time.”  Honestly??!!  Tears came to my eyes.  Please tell me I’m not the only one!!  Anywhoos I just finished up this little sequencing freebie that you can find {here}.

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decodables, reading, reading street, Ruby in Her Own Time

Reading Street Decodables!

January 4, 2016

I am on a roll with these decodables.  Yay.  I had planned to work in my classroom today, but the snow threw that plan out the window.  I decided to get a jump start on more decodable readers for the story, “Ruby in Her Own Time.”  You can grab yours for FREE right {here}.I would love to hear how these work in your classroom!

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reading street, sequencing, transition words, writing

Reading Street, A Place to Play and Sequencing

January 3, 2016

I’m getting ready to take our sequencing skills up a notch when we get back from Winter Break.  I hope my kiddos are ready!!!  We have done a lot with cutting and pasting story events in order.  I thought it would be fun to extend the cut and paste sequencing into a writing activity.   I don’t plan to do them on the same day though!  Yikes.  I made this little cut and paste activity to go with our Reading Street story, “A Place to Play.”   I am hoping that the following day we will be able to turn the sequencing sentences into a writing piece using transitional words.  I am planning on doing this whole group for awhile.  If you are interested in trying this activity with your class you can grab it for free {here} from my TpT store.  I would love to hear how it worked in your class.

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Honey Bees, reading street, writing

Honey Bee Facts!

December 31, 2015

Next week we start the story, “Honey Bees” from Reading Street.  It seems so weird to read and learn about Honey Bees in JANUARY.  I really wish Reading Street could align their stories with the seasons (#teacherproblems).  I decided that I would introduce reading for research in my small groups.  The students will use a variety of texts to locate facts about bees. I will use the basal, reading a-z stories, and a variety of texts I have pulled from other sources.  We will work to locate 6 interesting facts about bees.  We will talk about moving past the obvious.  Yes, bees are yellow and black!  We don’t need to put that down as a fact.  Once the students have chosen 6 facts, they will circle their favorite 3 facts that they want to include in their research writing piece.  We will work together to add those 3 facts to the graphic organizer.  We will also work on a topic sentence and conclusion as we fill out the graphic organizer.  I have made a graphic organizer with labels so students can easily transfer the information from the graphic organizer to their writing paper.   I will post the student’s final…

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Honey Bees, nouns, reading street

Honey Bees Noun Hunt

December 31, 2015

Next week our Reading Street story is, “Honey Bees.”  One of our skills for the week is ‘nouns in sentences.’  My little firsties will be tasked with locating the noun in a variety of sentences.  I thought it would be fun to have the students go on a noun hunt in the story, “Honey Bees” after they buddy read it.  I made this little sheet for my kiddos to record the nouns they find.  I also included a “bonus box” asking the students to illustrate the noun on page 185.  Click {here} to download a copy of the sheet I made for FREE!

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comprehension, Honey Bees, phonics, reading, reading street

Reading Street Decodables

December 30, 2015

I fell in love with the decodable activites that I found at Life in First Grade.  Unfortunately, she did not have the new decodable stories and I found that I really needed them in my classroom.  So I contacted Life in First Grade and asked if I could make the rest and she said, “YEP!” because she isn’t teaching first grade anymore (bummer for us).  I just finished the decodables for “Honey Bees.” and I can’t wait to use them next week.  I retyped the stories and made an activity to practice the phonics skills.  I also added a second page to practice comprehension strategies.I have been asked how I use the decodables in my classroom.    I use the first decodable story whole group on Monday ad I am very deliberate in teaching the specific skills.  My students buddy read the second decodable and work on it together on Wednesday.  I use the third decodable on Thursday as a quick check.  The students work independently.  My strategic kiddos work on it with a parent volunteer.  This is what works for me at this point in time.  I am always readjusting and tweaking to make things run better.  I have…

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Santa, writing

Santa’s Stuck

December 18, 2015

I just love how these Santa’s turned out. So cute!  Thanks again to First Grade Wow for a super cute Santa Craftivity   I don’t know which is better, the Santa’s or the explanations of what they would do!  I’m especially fond of the little guy who would help him AFTER he opened his presents.  The priorities of a first grader.

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Lisa

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