First Grade Freebie - Final Blends Center Activities

  

  I hope everyone is enjoying their summer!  I know I am enjoying the opportunity to catch up and reorganize my lesson plans for the upcoming year.  I just wanted to let everyone know I have posted a freebie on TeachersPayTeachers.com.  It is a final blends focused pack.  Students will practice final blends with word and picture match cards.  A worksheet is included to help insure students are staying engaged during their precious independent center time.  Also included is a final blends Bingo activity where students can play independently or with a partner or small group.  I hope you find this freebie helpful!  Here is a preview!

 

 

    Some of you may also be interested in my First Town Grocery: Real Life Math Applications Unit.  It addresses many of the first grade common core math standards in a way that they will be able to apply on their trips to the grocery store.  There is nothing better than having students apply their math skills while they are away from the classroom!  You can find this 76 page unit at my TeachersPayTeachers store!

 



 

 

    I hope the remainder of your summer is fun filled!







President's Day!

Celebrating President's Day

 

 

I love celebrating President's Day!  President Abraham Lincoln is my favorite president and I love sharing what he stood for and all he accomplished during his presidency.  Being President of the United States cannot be an easy job.  They have so many people to take care of and are confronted with differing views on the best way to accomplish what is best for our country.  I like for students to think about what they would like to do to help the people of our country if they were president.  For our President's Day project, I trace the silhouette of my students and paste it to a large circular piece of gray poster paper.  I have students complete the starter sentence "When I am president, I will...." After completing their rough draft, I have students write their final copy around the outside circle of their presidential coin.  It usually takes 3 to 4 sentences to go all the way around the coin.  To guide them around the coin, I draw a circular line for them to follow.  I then write their name in black permanent marker on one side of their silhouette and the year on the other side.  This is one of my most favorite art projects because their silhouettes are just so adorable.  I get so many compliments on this every year.  It is difficult to trace their shadows, but I think I may have come up with a better idea for next time.  I am going to try taking a picture of their shadow and then project the picture for tracing.  This will help eliminate the chore of trying to keep them still as I trace their shadow.  We will see..... 

Groundhog's Day - A Poem

If you are looking for a Groundhog Day poem to share with your class, I have a free download I am offering at my TearchersPayTeachers store.  If you are interested, I have a link to the right of my blog.  A picture is posted below!  Happy Groundhog's Day (early!)

 

Paperclip Parties!

 

If you are looking for a new way for students to earn positive points for making good choices, try making a paperclip chain.  I draw a student's name from my class cup of popsicle sticks.  The student's name that is drawn gets to be the student who's height we must reach in order to have a class party!  My students are always excited to see who gets to be the next student to determine the length of the paperclip chain.  When the class transitions quietly, demonstrates responsibility, or stays focused beyond expectation, they earn a paperclip!  It is also a great year long review of measurement.  Students can predict how many paperclips it will take to reach their classmates height.  Once you get close to the goal length, you can use the paperclip chain to see how many more paperclips you need to reach "PARTY TIME!"  Doing this has prompted great conversation as students have asked me, "how do you know how many more paperclips we need?"  I demonstrate how our paperclip chain becomes a tool to see how many more we need!  This is a fun and practical measurement experience students can really relate to!  Let me know how it works for you!

Place Value Practice: Get Your Peanuts Here!

Real world application practice in place value!  

In this activity students used 10 cards with pails and 10 cards with individual peanuts.  Students were told the pails have 10 peanuts a piece in them.  First I had students just practice representing different numbers with their picture cards.  Next, I became the customer and told them I was going to their peanut factory and was ordering a specific number of peanuts.  We did this several times before I had them work with a partner to do the same activity.  It is a teachers dream come true when students beg to do the same practice activity because they enjoyed it so much.  Who would have thought they would have so much fun pretending to sell peanuts!  This Peanut Place Value activity is part of my First Grade Math Circus Activity Pack found on TeachersPayTeachers store.  The free download for this pack is the Fact Family Act.  This activity has students matching 3 juggling pins to create fact families.  Thanks for visiting my blog today and feel free to leave a comment letting me know what you think!

 

This activity also allows for differentiation as well as peer to peer support.

 

Number Chart Clown Cart!

Number Chart Clown Cart!

 

This is my revised version of the classic battleship game!  In this game, students practice identifying numbers as opposed to coordinates.  Students put up a divider so they cannot see their opponent's number chart.  Taking their opponents clown cart, they hide it on one of the numbers.  Students then take turns asking, "Is my clown cart hidden on number ____."  My students loved!  I made different number cards so students could work within their zone of proximal development.  When students become proficient at this level, they can start practicing number sense on a higher level by looking to eliminate more than one number at a time.  This can be done by asking such questions as: "Is my clown cart hidden on an even number?", "Is my clown cart hidden on a number with 2 tens?", "Is my clown cart hidden on a number with 7 ones?", etc.

 



 

I love this activity because it allows you to differentiate among all your students! This is just one of the activities I have included in my 81 page math unit entitled "The First Grade Math Circus." You can check out my products at http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Melissa-Depriest.  Just for checking it out, you can receive a free downloadable activity!  This activity has students making fact families using juggling pins.

Halloween Writing and Art Fun!

     I am always looking for great ways to get my students engaged in the writing process.  I happened upon this wonderful book by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler entitled Room on the Broom.  My students loved the story and were instantly sucked into the idea of thinking of who they would have room for on their broom.  This story is filled with rhymes and was a great way to look at word families.  The art project takes a bit of time for the teacher, but it is well worth it when you see the completed project hanging about your classroom!

     I foraged my yard for small sticks and then used rubber bands to bind craft raffia to make the broom's end.  The part that makes this project cute is taking pictures of students acting like they are riding a broom.  I had students use a yard stick for a broom when I took their picture.  I cut their pictures out and then placed it over the little brooms I made.  I glued these down to the writing paper using a hot glue gun. 

     Students are then ready to write about who they will have join them on their broom.  Students can even color in a background to add to the artwork.  Happy Hallowriting!