50th Day of School

One of my favorite days of the school year is the 50th Day!

 

 I think I should have been born in the 50’s, well maybe it’s my love for the movie “Grease”.

 

This year we had a normal day of learning, but our afternoon was "rockin'!!

Our math Skill stations were all based around the number 50!

 

 

We did a plethora of 50’s theme activities from the following ladies:

(Click on their name to go to their product)

Cara Carroll, Renee Dooly, Latoya Reed, Susan Berry, Teaching Resource Resort,  and me

 

Here is a glimpse at a few activities:

 

Greater Than/ Less Than Records

 

All About the Number 50 Booklets

 

Records By 5's

 

Count, Tally, and Graph

 

 Doubles Facts

Rollin' Our Way to 50

 

We made these cuties from First Grade Fever

I made a jukebox for the kid’s to pose in front of for their 50th Day of School Photo. I sent home a note and stated the kid's could dress up for the 50th day! They were too precious for words!!

 

For a little movement activity we did

 Barbara Ann (Just love that the scene is a soda shop!!)

 along with the famous Hand Jive

Till next year….

Centers Galore and a whole lot more

The school year seems to be flying by… I can’t believe it is November already. Before you know it…It’ll be summer again and my feet will be loving “flip flop” season. Well, I have to admit, I am becoming a “boot” lover too!! Have you been to Marshall’s lately? Boots Galore and so much more. I get sucked into the boot display every time. Well, enough about shoes. I could have an entire blog devoted to them!!

My firsties are really doing amazing during our skill station rotations (a.k.a centers)!! I complete two different skill stations daily- one 30 minute session for literacy and another 30 minute rotation for math.  My kiddos work with their table partners for centers, but I call back my leveled groups during. (For example student A,B,C,and D may be working on Literacy Station A but only student C leaves first, then student A & D, then finally student B for leveled Reading group time). I know this sounds confusing, but it really does work.

At the beginning of my skill stations, I was only making one set of cards and quickly realized this was NOT going to work with the students coming and going into the center activity. I solved the problem rather quickly. I opted to print multiple pages at a time (4 pages per sheet). This allows me to make mini center cads. I print them onto 5 different colors of cardstock, cut, and put them into snack size baggies. (See Below)

 I store my centers in Ikea Trofast tubs!! I have to admit, I am obsessed with these systems. I just wish they made the black in a few more styles and options!

Here is a pic of my skill station set-up (Excuse the mountain dew- some days are rough with those firsties!)

I have just begun to make my Long Vowel Word Work Centers! I have A, I, O and U completed!! E will be up soon!

Click on the image below to check them out!

 

 

Last week, we worked on our Veteran’s Day Tribute. We learned all about Veteran’s Day and completed a fun craftivity. I posted an image on instagram and my email started blowing up. I promise to have a pattern posted soon as a freebie on my tpt store. This was a labor of love!! My kiddos adore painting so it was definitely worth the mess.

Step One: Sponge Painting

Step Two: Assembly

Step Three: Attach Writing

Step Four: Display for Veteran’s Day Tribute

 

My mom even loved these cuties and used them for her Woman’s Club Placemats. Thanks Mom!!

I hoped the ladies loved them!!

 

Always, Melissa

Long Vowel Centers

Hey Everyone!! Hope everyone has been enjoying this beautiful fall weather. I have been trying to get things in order and figure out when my feet are going to start touching the ground.

I have been working diligently with my kiddos to help them learn the basic phonics skills. We have just wrapped up our first unit and I was exciting to see the results from their unit assessment. (I was ecstatic with their results!!) All of our hard work definitely paid off! Now we are heading into unit two digraphs and long vowels. I began centers pretty early on and wanted a “fresh” new look for my long vowel centers. I have decided to begin making products again after a mini hiatus. (Thank you all for blowing up my email and inbox. Your sweet comments and pleas have been quite overwhelming. I apologize for the delay, but I am back and ready to start cranking out some first grade goodies for you and your students!)

I just finished two Long Vowel Center Packets

Long A

Let’s make a cake

Here is a sneak peek:

This packet includes 5 different activities. to use to reinforce long a. The packet includes colored and b/w cards ( I like to print my b/w cards onto colored paper to save ink!) The packet also includes theme style recording sheets and keys. The skills covered: ABC Order, Word Scramble, Fill in the Blank, Long vs. Short Sort, and Word Order (Sentence Activity)

Long I

It’s Time to Ride

This packet includes 6 different activities. to use to reinforce long i. The packet includes colored and b/w cards ( I like to print my b/w cards onto colored paper to save ink!) The packet also includes theme style recording sheets and keys. The skills covered: ABC Order, Word Scramble, Fill in the Blank, Long vs. Short Sort, Real vs. Nonsense, and Boggle Boards.

Here is a sneak peek:

Coming Soon Long e and u

Always, M

 

Spring is in the air…

I’m back… I took a bit of a hiatus from the blogging world to get things back on track. Without going into a lot of detail- I needed a break. Over the last few months, I have been trying to regain my focus and remember why I went back to school to become a teacher. With that beginning said, I’m happy to announce I am back and motivated to jumpstart my spring blog posts. Although I haven’t been posting, we have been quite active in room 212.

I am not much of a holiday gal, but there is definitely something special about “springtime”. I love being able to rock out my favorite wedges and slipping into a colorful dress to start my day. It simply makes me happy!!

Everyone knows that I “love” smelly markers. I have quite a collection, but when I saw these adorable Easter ones at Party City, I knew I had to snag them up. There are three available a chick, a bunny, and a lamb. I can’t wait to share them with my kiddos this week.

During our intervention time, I utilize the thirty minutes to run my daily skill stations a.k.a centers. I have 10 different activities ranging from english, reading, spelling, and math. These are reinforcement activities to help my students retain skills previously taught in the classroom. They complete the stations with a peer buddy. I swap out my skill activities every two weeks. Due to the fact this is my first year using skill stations in my classroom, this has really helped lessen my time printing, cutting, and laminating.

Tomorrow, I am introducing our Easter theme skill stations. I think these are my favorite stations to date. I am using a combination of activities created by Katie King (Queen of the First Grade Jungle), Jennifer White (First Grade Blue Skies), Amy Lemons (Step into 2nd grade), and ME!!

I whipped up some recording sheets after a trip to the Dollar Tree. Oh My Word… Why oh why do I even step foot into that store. I went for one thing…bunny feet. I ended up with these chicks, bunnies, carrots, and speckled eggs.

Well, I knew I wanted the activities to be fun, but also they needed to reinforce key skills we have been practicing.  Here you go…

Carrot Count Up (Coin Counting)

Load up the carrot shaped containers with coins. Students will grab a carrot, count the coins, and record the sum. I made myself a key as I was filled the carrot shaped containers.

Chicky Chicky Shake (Double Digit Addition)

Add a pair of dice to the chick shaped container. Students will shake their container get their first number and repeat to get the second number. After they record, they will solve the double digit addition problem. (I printed this on both sides for extra practice)

 

Bunny Money (Coin Counting)

Load up the bunny shaped containers with coins. Students will grab a bunny, count the coins, and record the sum.

Scrambled Eggs (Spelling Word Practice)

Simply add letter tiles for the weekly spelling words or sight words you want the students to review. Students will open an, egg, unscramble the letters to form a list word and record their answer on the sheet.