Mid-Week Update!

It's Hump- Day!!! Just imagine the camel walking thru my classroom making such a ruckus!! LOL! We have been so very busy (as I am sure you all have been!). We just finished our 1st grading period and it was report card crunch time. I had to hurry and get last minute grades into our online grading system. Do you all have that? I have a love/hate relationship with it. It's nice because it calculates your grades for you BUT like all computer systems it gets glitchy! I'd love to know how you all keep track of your grades and how are you required to enter grades (formatives/summatives, how many of each, weights, do you do a total points system or do you have standards based grading?? I am sure I could open up a big can-o-worms with this one!) So, yeah... that kept my panties in a bunch last week. 

This week we worked on some fun and cute projects. I finally got my "The Biggest Pumpkin Ever" bulletin board up! Too cute!

We started by reading the story and then brainstormed ways to grow the biggest pumpkin ever.

My sweet friend and room mom, Shawna, did this for me! She had it perfectly set up for me and I was a dolt and didn't realize that she put the numbers ON THE BACK-- I had them write on the back! So she improvised my dumb mistake. I think it came out beautifully and I am eternally grateful for her!!!

And to keep my biggest pumpkin ever, my bloggy friend, Laura from Peace, Love, and First Grade had this adorable craft idea for a Jack-o-Lantern lantern! It is the cutest! Click on her name to get the directions on how to make this festive craft!

We also finished up our studies on nocturnal animals. We made our Owls in the moon and dissected our owl pellets. The looks on their faces were priceless when they saw and heard what they were but once they started digging in, they were totally engaged and in love! They couldn't wait to get home and share their bone findings with their families!

If you'd like to learn more about owl pellets, click on the pic above to see where I got them! 

Too cool! I love doing this project with them.

We are learning about Pumpkins this week to celebrate our field trip to the Pumpkin Patch next week. I plan on using my 

next week when we start my pumpkin math and science unit. It is always so much fun! If you downloaded it already, please go back and re-download it-- I added a circumference page to it! Just click on the picture to grab it at my store! 

We are also working on digraphs this week /sh/ and /th/ and I know that they will need extra practice with it, so I created a fun, pumpkin themed phonics game for this week to help them practice

If your kids like pick up sticks then they will LOVE this game. I just wrote /sh/ and /th/ words on Popsicle sticks and they had to drop them down and sort them for /sh/ or /th/ at the beginning or end of a word. 

Click on the graphic above to grab your FREEBIE today! 

And that's not all! I just couldn't let the creativity stop there! I guess I am just not a fan of phonics practice where you have to rainbow write words/write them 3 times each, bubble write your words-- sometimes those are great but it's fun to play a game and learn, too! I like to create phonics games for them and I was so tickled when my brain concocted this one:

The kids all flocked to this center! They were like ants all over my room looking and reading for clues:

I haven't quite polished it up yet-- I just had it classroom ready but as soon as its ready I will post it up! So as you can see, we have been pretty busy! We are working on Key Ideas as well in reading. I always theme my week and tie in the Common Core standard for the week. If you are working on Key Ideas, please check out my Key Ideas Pumpkins freebie as well (click on the pic)! It has helped my guided reading groups tremendously this week. 

Hope you all have a great rest of the week! Don't forget about the giveaway that ends Friday!! Click here to enter!

Love to you all!

I'm Batty for Bats!

SO excited! This week we will be learning all about Bats! Those small, flying mammals (that honestly, if I saw one flying in my home I would probably shriek like a banshee!!) that kids are fascinated by! I love learning about bats and it never ceases to amaze me the kids and their love of them. We are also doing our study of nocturnal animals as well and I have some resources for you! 

I always start our study with the beloved tale of Stellaluna!

I know that there are TONS of resources (just look on TpT!!) to help you on your way! One of the centers I use is a Stellaluna retelling center. I don't know about you, but retelling is so tricky for 1st graders! They truly have a hard time with that one-- even if it is a high interest book. 

One area that I focus on is non-fiction and bats. We do a lot of non-fiction work with bat books: working with key ideas and details, compare and contrasting, and expository/persuasive writing. To help with that this week, I created a new set

Click on this picture to take you to my store! 

It is jam-packed with non-fiction elements for bats! I also shared a video on echolocation that I found on youtube. Click here to read about that post an a freebie attached to it! It's a great video and you will find yourself singing, too!

We are also learning about nocturnal animals, specifically owls,  this week since bats are nocturnal! I like to show them how owls are truly spectacular hunters.

We discuss their habitats, the different species, their diets, and all things owl! I end our study with a dissection of an owl pellet! Have you ever done one? Well, honestly, it can be fascinating yet disgusting BUT the kids LOVE IT!

Owl Brand Discovery is the procurer of these little bundles and they are fabulous to work with! Click on the pic to take you there and learn more about it! 

And of course, I have to put a little fiction spin into it...

Owl Babies by Martin Waddell is one of the sweetest stories ever!!! I LOVE that story!!! The kids and I just love little Percy, Sarah, and Bill! We do a painting similar to the cover with marshmallows! It turns out so cute and write about a time we were scared and then got brave! Good stuff! 

So, a little batty treat for you all! A Batty for Words Freebie!!

Click on the picture to grab it for your kiddos!! 

Well, it has been a long day for me! I'd like to leave you with a giveaway! Make sure you are following my blog, leave a comment letting me know you are a follower with your e-mail address and I will pick 2 winners for my Bats pack Tuesday night at 9:00 p.m. eastern time. Good Luck! 

Why!!! Hello! How have YOU been!!!

I cannot honestly say when I blogged last!!! Life just gets so busy, doesn't it?? I have a small sliver of time to say HELLO to you all to say how much I have missed you and how much I have missed blogging! So much has been going on! Where do I begin??

A week or so ago, I went on the most fabulous adventure!! In my town (where I grew up) there is a nature reserve that I happened upon by chance. It was after Aidan's soccer game and the boys wanted to check out some books so we went but the library wasn't open yet. So, we walked around and came upon The Lyonia Reserve and they were starting an "Animal Tracks Hike". Now, if you know me, I am no nature person AT.ALL. I hate to sweat. I do not like outdoors. Mosquitoes are an abomination, if you ask me. But I really enjoyed our trip! Our guide, Melissa, was just a lovely person and we so many interesting tracks, some poo (isn't every hike supposed to have animal poo of some sorts??), and I even had a little friend!! Check out these amazing photos!!

A Gopher tortoise home

Our journey begins!!!

Wasp eggs! EEK!

A scrub jay!

Look how close! They are such curious birds!! One flew close and almost landed on my head!!

We think it was a wild hog's track...

Say Hello to my little friend!

Possibly a wild dog's track!

Tortoise poo... 

Thanks Melissa for a GREAT hike!!!

I highly encourage you to look into your own backyards for ideas or resources into your classrooms! I didn't know that they offer this program for a field trip! So guess where we might be going in a few weeks??? 

I've also been busy with my sweet little boys!! My sweet little, Aidan turned 5 yesterday!!!

Aidan (in green) is in love with Shrek so we had a Shrek party for him last Saturday!!! Happy birthday to my sweet boy!!!

And if that didn't keep me busy... this week we are learning about Spiders!!!

We started this week reading

A cautionary and spooky tale! The kids were just at the edge of their seats! I also stop a few pages before the end and the kids write how they think the story will end.

This week we are also focusing on short /o/ words and I created this quick center to work on that phonics sound.

Click on the picture above to grab this FREEBIE for yourself!

Tomorrow we will be working on non-fiction with spiders. One of the Common Core concepts I am really working on with my class is W.1.2 (Write informative/explanatory texts in which they name a topic, supply some facts about the topic, and provide some sense of closure) and really using the text to support their answer. 

So, tomorrow I will be displaying this picture (sorry for the glare)

Source: Spiders by Seymore Simon

and their writing prompt will be "Using this picture, explain how a spider's web is useful in capturing prey".

I find it so difficult sometimes to get them to really pull details from a picture and infer. So hopefully this will help them as spiders is such a high interest subject for most of them! 

I am still in the midst of working on a spiders mini-unit. What I have actually done is create little pieces here and there. I have created a fun little center that will be part of a larger unit. 

It's a cute center where I've placed words within a web and students use a magnifying glass to look for the caught up words! Then they tally and graph it. I'd love to give away 3 sets tonight! I am going to put it into a bigger unit but just not ready and its too cute not to share! 

If you'd like to win a copy, leave your creepiest spider story and your e-mail! I'll pick 3 winners tomorrow! 

And don't forget that our Primary Chalkboard's MONSTEROUS giveaway ends tonight!!!

Click on the picture to enter!!

Have a great night!!