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We Heart 1st 2016

Showing posts with label bulletin board. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bulletin board. Show all posts
Holiday Traditions: Winter Wonderland

Holiday Traditions: Winter Wonderland



Hey ya'll! I'm linking of with Ashley from Schroeder Shenanigans in 2nd and Angie from Lucky Little Learners to share my FAVORITE holiday tradition: our Winter Wonderland bulletin board.


(I blogged about this last year, so this is really a "re-blog." Is that a thing??)

This is such a fun activity, and you're able to tie it in with lots of your standards. We turned this into a math/social studies lesson. For the social studies part, we discussed what you would find in a community: businesses, homes, parks. schools, etc. We discussed different holidays that people celebrate in the winter, and we listed activities that people do in the winter/holiday time (not easy since we live in Texas, but they came up with some good ones.)

 Here they are sledding, skiing, making snow angels, and singing Christmas carols.
Those snow angels kill me. So darn CUTE!
Yes, these are pics of my kiddos. They brought in "winter" outerwear one day because it's not that cold here. They chose the activities they wanted to do, and I had them pose and then printed out small pics.
They turned out so sweet. I just cut out little pieces of construction paper for the sleds and skis.
 Next we have our ice skaters, snowman builders, and our shoppers.
(That's my co-teacher and me having a blast as we leave the candy shop!)
For the ice skaters, I printed out little ice skate clip art.
 And, of course, we had to have a snowball fight!
 Finally we have some kids skiing and choosing Christmas trees. If you live in Texas, you KNOW we had to have our favorite grocery store: HEB! And seriously, how precious is that church?


Okay, so now to HOW. We started by brainstorming the buildings that we would need in our community, and then I gave the kids measurements for each building. This is the math part. It worked out perfectly because we were right in the middle of our measurement unit.

 This is the fire station. You can see the measurements and the ruler because this is serious business! The kids had to sketch their idea before they were able to start with the  construction paper.
I also told them everything needed to be cut out. I mean...it's cuter, right? Plus, once it was all finished they were able to use my SUPER-SPECIAL oil pastels to add details like Christmas lights or Hanukah menorahs in the window. This is quite the privilege (because they are smeary and you must be very mature to use them), so they were super-excited about this part!
 I kept having to say, "Less is more, people. LESS IS MORE."
Sorry I don't have a pic of that part, but you can see the details in the final product pics.


There you have it! So fun! The key is making sure to incorporate the holiday traditions of all of your students. It is truly one of my absolute favorite projects. Thanks for stopping in!
 Let me know if you have any questions about this project.

Head back to Schroeder Shenanigans to check out the rest of the blogs!


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Pumpkins and Bats and Spiders...Oh MY!

Pumpkins and Bats and Spiders...Oh MY!




Oh how I LOVE October! I love that the weather is beginning to cool (for us that means temps in the 80s.) I love that my little firsties are starting figure out routines and build independence. And I love that we can start focusing our learning around some favorite nonfiction topics. For us, that means we get to learn all about pumpkins, bats and spiders!

I linked up with Kacey from Doodle Bugs Teaching for her Five for Friday Linky Party. I thought I'd share five of our fave October-related activities!


We started out the month learning all about pumpkins and then moved on to bats and spiders. I began each week with an anchor chart. I like to review their "schema" (prior knowledge), and we record that on the charts. Then, as we read and learn new facts, we add those to the chart. The kids LOVE using sticky notes for their facts!


For our hallway bulletin board, we combined a little art and writing. I always try to have some kind of writing on our bulletin board, and this project from the fab Reagan Tunstall fit the bill. They turned out AMAZING!


One of the kinder classes at my school created this bulletin board, and I am absolutely obsessed with it! First, The Biggest Pumpkin Ever is one of my favorite Halloween books, and this idea is just too precious! Each kiddo created their own part of the pumpkin. It turned out so cute!
Since we were exploring so much nonfiction text, I thought it was a good time to introduce nonfiction text features. **Quick tip- When I do my monthly book order, I try and find nonfiction or thematic books for 100 points or less. I order 6 copies to use with my reading groups. I love tying their reading to our monthly themes!**

We have been studying spiders, so I focused our text feature learning around spider books. We first did a quick "noticing chart." I didn't snap a pic of this one. On day 2, I prepped by copying examples from a few spider books and magazines. I read through the texts, and as the kids noticed features, I glued them to the anchor chart.


I then passed out 2-3 spider books to each table group. (I basically cleaned out our school library.) I gave them a checklist to use while they searched for features in the books. They worked with partners and had so much fun! I loved hearing their discussions.


You can grab the recording sheet here!
 (Fonts by Cara Carroll and Kimberly Geswein and border by Krista Wallden.)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/k7vf4om2ngfqr3s/nonfiction%20features%20PNG.png?dl=0
One of my team's favorite Halloween projects is jack-o-lanterns! We have the kiddos bring in their own jars. This year, I had one volunteer for each table. We were able to knock it out in 45 minutes! Prep is KEY, so I had tables ready to go while the kids were at specials. Each table had butcher paper for easy clean-up. The eyes, noses and mouths were cut my parents ahead of time and kept in separate baggies. Each child had their own brush and the table shared the tissue paper and the glue/water mixture. (It's just a 1/2&1/2 mixture.)


I demonstrated the process ahead of time and showed them how to add a little glue/water to one section and press down you tissue paper.


This is the final product! I also mod-podge it after it's all said and done and send it home with a tealight candle.


Finally, we have been teaching partners of 10, and Ashley and I created some SPOOKTACULAR TEN math activities. This bundle includes games, printables, and interactive journal pages! You can grab it for FREE on our facebook page!
(The freebie tab is on the side. You cannot access it from a mobile device.)

https://www.facebook.com/pages/we-heart-1st/239169369590507


Don't forget to enter our 1500 IG Follower Giveaway! You can win over 25 awesome products from some of our blogging buddies!!

Thanks for checking in! Head on back to Doodle Bugs to check out the other blogs that linked up!



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Five for Friday: What are we up to? (and some freebies!)

Five for Friday: What are we up to? (and some freebies!)

http://doodlebugsteaching.blogspot.com/2014/09/five-for-friday-linky-party-september_26.html

So... I haven't blogged since school started. I know!! I'm going to get better, and it's starting RIGHT NOW. I love this linky from  Doodle Bugs Teaching, so I'm linking up for this week's Five for Friday. Only one day late!


Last week we started learning about schema and making connections to text. I love the book The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant. While reading, I talked about all of the connections I was making to the story. If the kiddos had connections, I asked them to give a thumbs up. After, I gave them each a sticky note, and they went to their seats and wrote a connection that they had. They were so excited to get those stickies and came up with some great connections!



We are trucking along with our guided math groups! We have a new curriculum this year, and the workbook is...not the best? I've started creating interactive math journals for our independent practice time, and they are working GREAT! The kids are loving them, and I'm enjoying creating meaningful activities that allow them to work together and practice necessary skills. Win/Win!

 
We also started some new math tub- Football Style! We needed a nice transition before moving into Halloween centers. We do live in Texas, so football seemed perfect. They are having a blast! (You can check these out in my TPT store!)






These reading strategy posters from Teaching with Style are just THE BEST. I really needed them by my guided reading table, but I didn't want to just put them on the wall. The solution? Make a fake bulletin board! I just stapled some black fabric to the wall, added some border, and voila! I think it's pretty perfect. Be sure to check out those posters. They are FREEBIES!




 Speaking of freebies, I decided to get organized and created binders to organize our monthly activities: examples, worksheets, etc. I posted a pic on instagram, and after some requests, I added monthly binder covers to my TPT store as a freebie. Feel free to grab it!

Click on the pic below to go to my TPT store.
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Monthly-Binder-Covers-1452028

 Finally, this year my team decided to speed things up a little and started working on our short vowel CVC words a couple of weeks ago. Our LA curriculum has us do 6 weeks of review, and our kiddos were really ready to move on! This is kind of exciting for me because we get to use the activities in my Short Vowel Word Work packet! They've been working away, and I can already tell a difference in their spelling.

 Yes, we did discuss the correct spelling for "get."  :)

We also started our weekly spelling tests. Do you give spelling tests? I'm always curious about what other schools do for spelling.

Well that's it for now! Be sure to hop back over to Doodle Bugs to check out some other blogs! I just read The Sassy School Teacher's post and can't wait to start sticker stories next week!

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