EC Teacher Planner 2014-2015

Summer just started but I've already got my teacher planner for next school year!  It came in the mail earlier this week...my brand shiny new BeAuTiFuL Erin Condren Teacher Lesson Planner book.

 I love love LOVE it!  

All Good Things Must Come to an End

The school year has ended.  I already miss (most) all of my firsties.  

I hope they're having a SuPeR summer so far!

My end-of-the-year gift this year were sunglasses for everyone with tags (courtesy of Lessons with Laughter) that read "My Future's So Bright I Have to Wear Shades!"  They kids LoVeD them!  

So, of course, we had to take a "cool" picture.  :D

You can download the tags for free from the Lessons with Laughter TpT store.  

(click below)

A HUGE thank you to Molly Maloy at Lessons with Laughter for the *Bright* idea!  

Tacky Craft Coming Soon to TpT!

Do your kids love Tacky the Penguin as much as my firsties do?  During our investigation of penguins these past couple of weeks I think my class made me read every Tacky book there is.  They just could not get enough of the odd little guy.

Check out this super cute Tacky the Penguin craft we did this past week with our 6th grade buddies.  This was the perfect way to wrap-up our whole penguin unit. 

I'm going to put a template on TpT soon for anyone who wants to recreate Tacky for themselves.  Stay tuned! 

Penguin Research Projects

First off, I have to say how extremely proud I am of everyone for doing such an awesome job on these research projects.  This was not a simple activity.  This project took a while (longer than expected, too, because of our "cold days") and had multiple steps that built upon one another.  I knew these kids could do it, though, and they did amazing. 

 The class was split up into 5 groups of three and 1 group of 2.  Each group was then assigned a species of penguin and given an information sheet about their bird. 

On the first day the groups read through their information sheets and highlighted important facts.  After they finished reading each section and highlighting, they recorded their key details on a graphic organizer.

 After their graphic organizers were completed, the groups could begin on their posters.  Each poster had to contain: a title (what species of penguin they researched), the names of everyone in their group, and  all of the information that had been recorded on their graphic organizer (appearance, enemies, food, and a cool fact).  Mrs. Gordon, our ELL teacher, had also printed off information sheets for each of the groups once she found out about the project.  Some of the groups used that information, too.  A couple of students even brought in information they printed at home to share with their group.

For pictures, the groups had the option of using printed photos from the internet, or illustrating their own images.  Each group was given a picture on their information sheet and on the sheet from Mrs. Gordon.  Some students brought great pictures they printed at home.  A couple of groups drew some wonderful pictures, too.  

Chapter 7 is a Wrap

We finished Chapter 7 of our math series this week.  We have learned so many new math things this year it's amazing! 

Chapter 7 was all about Geometry. 

We reviewed our basic 2-D shapes like a square, rectangle, circle, hexagon, rhombus, and trapezoid. 

We learned about attributes and how to describe our 2-D shapes by their different attributes (name of shape, number of sides, number of corners, size of shape, its color (if it has one).  We even learned a new game, called "Attribute Train," where you have to see how long of a train you can make with our attribute blocks by matching up shapes based only on one attribute (pictured above). 

Then we learned about polygons and how to tell whether a shape is or is not a polygon (there are rules if you want to be a polygon, you know). 

We also learned about new 3-D shapes like a sphere, cube, pyramid, cylinder, rectangular prism, and cone. 

Finally, we learned about symmetry.  We made our own symmetrical shapes with patterns blocks and traced them during one of our math centers (pictured above), we identified whether or not different images contained lines of symmetry, and we also made perfectly symmetrical paper hearts by folding our paper in half first then cutting out half of our heart. 

All along the way we continued to practice our math facts, both addition and subtraction (and we're now working on facts up to 20).  One of the favorite ways to practice facts is by playing with our "Power Towers" (pictured above).  Facts are written on the bottoms of cups, and if a student answers the fact correctly they keep the cup; if not it goes on the bottom of the stack.  The player who builds the highest tower (or who has the most cups) when all of the cups run out, wins. 

What We've Been Up To...

We made goals for the New Year. 
Some of us want to play video games ALL DAY, and some of us want to try to read 2 hrs every day.

Oh, boy.  :D

We've incorporated math games into our daily mathematics lessons. 
The games are fun ways for the class to practice and tone their math facts, greater/less than, tallies, graphing, and more along with working cooperatively with partners and in small groups.  During this time I am also able to meet with small groups to reteach skills and practice with students who need more assistance.  We rotate new games all the time, and most days students get to choose what they want to play.  In the pictures above, the class is busy playing various "Dice Games."  Each "Dice Game" requires the student or partnership to practice a different skill.  

 These SUPER dice games are from Jennifer at First Grade Blue Skies.

My firsties just LOVE these games!

 

We learned about Martin Luther King, Jr. and how he helped to get equal rights for all people, no matter what they looked like.  We watched Dr. King's "I have a dream..." speech, and the class was stunned by how many people were there to hear the speech.  We wrote our own dreams about bad things that happen we wished would stop.

"I Have A Dream..." craftivity from Just Wild About Teaching

 

 

How-to-Draw MLK from Mrs. Miner's Monkey Business

SimplyKinder Year End Giveaway

 

Today is the last day to enter this amazing giveaway!