Happy 100th Birthday Oreo

Today was the 100th birthday of the Oreo cookie...what a reason to celebrate!!!!  You really don't need to twist my arm on that one.  I brought in a package of Oreos for my kids and had them each eat one.  We then graphed the way we ate our Oreo.  We also wrote the steps on how-to eat an Oreo cookie! 

You can get the form here.  How to eat an Oreo...

S Clusters/S Blends

Our spelling principle this past week was learning about S clusters (or blends).  This was a little bit more challenging for some of my students.  I made some fun literacy center activities to go along with the spelling words this week.  Their mouths watered as the sorts the Smores onto the correct mats.

You can find them here:   S Cluster activities

Abe Lincoln's Hats

Whew...this month has been crazy already.  With I Love to Read Month, Valentine's Day, President's Day, the 100th day of School, Groundhog's Day and dental health (speaker), my head is spinning thinking of how I am going to get it all in.  It always seems that all of these days follow on the same day or within days of each other.  I am trying to tie them all into my lessons so that I can get them all covered.

One of the fun things I like to do is make Abe Lincoln's Hats for our Valentine's containers.  Abe Lincoln always kept his important notes in his hat where he wouldn't lose them.  I always read the story, Abe Lincoln's Hat to my kiddos.


You can get it here....
http://www.amazon.com/Abe-Lincolns-Step-into-Reading/dp/0679849777  or at Walmart or other book stores.

We then talk about how Valentine's Day is coming up and how we will be bringing special cards in to give each other.  We talk about how we want to put them into a special place...so we make our own "Abe Lincoln's Hat".  Listed below you will find directions on how we make them.

1.  Lay a big black piece of paper in front of you the hot dog way.

2.  Tell the kids to put their pointer finger on the edge of the paper (to their first knuckle).  Have them draw a line above that finger. 

3.  Fold the paper on the line....where their finger landed. (If you want to skip these steps, you can fold the paper yourselves...but the kids do pretty well at this).

4.  Lay the paper down and put two fingers to the edge of the paper.  Make a line.  Keep doing this with your fingers....making lines all the way to the end of the paper.

5.  Cut slits on the lines.  Make sure you stop at the fold.  

6.  Lay the paper on the table with the fold tucked in.   Put a line of glue on the edge of the paper.  Roll up and glue like you are making a cyclinder.

7.  Write name with a white crayon on a square piece of black paper. 

8.  Cut out some hearts. (Or use heart stickers).  Glue these onto the hat (rolled cyclinder).  Make sure to get glue all the way to the edge of the heart and count to 20 when putting on hat.

9.  Put rolled paper on table so slits are on top.

10.  Put glue on each of the slits.  Make sure to get the edges.

11.  Put glued slits onto the middle of the square paper.  Hold down and press on slits...counting to 20.

12.  Put hat on table...

13.  Have kids put Valentines into each others Abe Lincoln's Hats.

 

Rocks: Day 1

We started learning about rocks today!  We did a KWL chart and listed all the things we knew and wondered about rocks.  We then made a rock chart with words describing rocks.  Finally we went on a rock walk.  I had 24 different rocks located in the room.  They went to 4 different spots and drew a picture of their rock and described it.  They had sooo much fun!

You can get the rock recording sheet here.

Rock Walk

Silent E Words/Word Families

Whew...I have been so busy today creating some fun activities to go with our spelling curriculum.  Week three has kids looking at word endings with a silent e.  They will notice that some words have parts that are the same.  Below you will find an activity that I will do with my class to reinforce word endings.

You can find this activity here...

Word Families-Word-Sort-ate-ake-ame-ike-ade

CVC Short Vowels Words Spelling/Sorting Center

I am currently starting week number 2 of our spelling program in first grade.  This week the students will learn Spelling Principle #2.  You can look at the pattern you know to help you read a word (an, in, op, ag, am).  Because we will be doing some fun Super Bowl activities this week, I created fun spelling game with our short vowel words on footballs.  Students will look at the words and separate them onto the correct endzone mat.  They will then record the words on the recording sheet.  We will also use letter tiles this week to practice making and breaking the words.

You may purchase this fun sorting unit at my TPT store or by clicking here....

Spelling Center

Are you ready for some football?

I don't know about you...but even though the Vikings or the Packers are not in the Super Bowl this year...my kiddos are busy talking about who is going to win the Super Bowl game this year.  In my class, I will have my kids wear the colors of their favorite team the Patriots or the Giants.  We will then do some fun activities that I uploaded to my TPT store! 

You may check them out here.
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Super-BowlFootball-Math-and-Literacy-Activities