Do you struggle with how to get started? Writer's Workshop in kindergarten and first grade classrooms is one of the most powerful components. In Writing Workshop in kindergarten and first grade, students are encoding words that come from their thoughts and feelings, which is a much easier skill than decoding. Successful writers become successful readers! So, how do you get started? The answer is simple. Just jump right in!! I usually start at the beginning of the ... continue reading...
Search Results for: label/language arts
Calendar Time: Building Math and Literacy Skills!
Building math and literacy skills takes time and LOTS of practice. So I like to build in practice during our calendar time. We know when we start the year, our students come in with a variety of skills and prior experience. Some students start kindergarten with a year of "school" already under their belt ready to hit the ground running. While others start the year a bit overwhelmed. I love seeing all of my students progress, but it is especially exciting to see my little newbies take ... continue reading...
Phonological Awareness Small Group Activities
Students learn so many critical skills while in school. For instance, they learn how to add and subtract, which are essential when dealing with money. Additionally, they learn how to write, read, and spell, which are necessary for many aspects of life. Therefore, teachers work hard to create exciting ways for students to learn content. In terms of language arts, it takes time to understand that sounds blend together to make words. Luckily, phonological awareness small group activities are an ... continue reading...
Getting organize 101! My Name is Deanna… and I have a problem
Oh, my word y'all I need a 12 step organization program! I have a huge problem with collecting things. I started cleaning out my closet and trying to organize and throw things away. THROW THINGS AWAY??!!!! Getting organized is soooo hard!!! I started by taking all of my math stuff out of my closet. I had stuff ALL over the room. This is just a little section of the mess. Notice the Sonic coke. That helps right? :) Here's how my Math Manipulatives ended up ... continue reading...
Peek at my Week {a look at my day}
My sweet friend, Deedee Wills has been doing her Peek at my Week for three years and asking others to link up as well. I love how helpful this is for teachers. It gives us the ability to peer inside each other's classrooms and borrow little nuggets of inspiration here or there to help make our classroom instruction the best that it can be. I've made it a goal this year to link up every Sunday and share as well. Before I start sharing my weekly plans I wanted to first start with my daily ... continue reading...
Let’s Talk Turkey Glyphs!
So what is a glyph anyway? The term "glyph" comes from the Ancient Egyptian times when they used pictures in order to tell a story. When I create a glyph I start with three (and only three) questions. You want to stick to three questions so that it won't be overwhelming for the little ones when you try to analyze the turkey glyphs and create data charts. Each answer can be determined by looking at a child's turkey. For example, If I look at the turkeys above me I can see that three of ... continue reading...
African Animal Activities and Lesson Plans for Kindergarten & First Grade
African animal activities that are perfect for a zoo unit! Your students will love learning about African animals with these nonfiction book activities. Engaging reading lessons about lions, giraffes, elephants, and meerkats. African Animal Activities Are you ready to begin a unit about animals in kindergarten or first grade? Maybe you are focusing on zoo animals, too? These African animal activities are just what you need to keep your students engaged and excited about an animal unit of ... continue reading...
The Gruffalo Lesson Plans | Reading Comprehension for K-2
The Gruffalo lesson plans for K-2. Engaging 5-day lesson plans with differentiated reading response, vocabulary, sentence study, and a craft for this fun story! The Gruffalo A clever mouse outsmarts some woodland animals who want to eat him with the story of a Gruffalo. Little does he know, a Gruffalo is real and loves to eat mice. Your students will love this award-winning story! Through our engaging lesson plans students will strengthen their reading comprehension skills and have fun ... continue reading...
Phonological Awareness Lesson Plans for Kindergarten & First Grade
Phonological awareness lesson plans and digital slides to make daily instruction simple! A systematic way to teach students to decode and spell words. Phonological Awareness Lesson Plans What if I told you that your students could develop into confident readers and writers who can decode and spell words, with just 10 minutes of phonological awareness instruction each day? Would you be running to get in line to find out how? As a teacher, I would be the first one there! Phonological ... continue reading...
18 Virtual Field Trip Ideas for Early Learners
A list of 18 virtual field trip ideas for kindergarten and first-grade students. This collection of ideas consists of videos and interactive virtual tours. Virtual Field Trip Ideas Here are a few ideas for you to send home to students or show your own kiddos at home! Have fun with these virtual field trip ideas for early learners. #1 San Diego Zoo Check out live videos of animals. There are games, coloring sheets, and craft ideas, too! #2 Polar Bear ... continue reading...
Inferring with Primary Students: The Case of the Missing Toy Sack
Inferring with Primary Students: Christmas Inference Detectives Activities for Kindergarten and First-Grade Inferring with Primary Students: Kindergarten and First-Grade Inferring is an important comprehension skill for young readers to have and I love giving them lots of practice with this skill. We infer each week with the story we are reading, but I also like to give them opportunities to infer outside of the text. Inferring is just putting clues together and using that voice inside ... continue reading...
Oceans of Fun!
I got up bright and early this morning and drove 2 hrs. in search of the perfect wedding dress for my daughter Taylor. SUCCESS! But, I'm one tired mamma so this is going to be a super quick post! We just started our ocean unit. Nothing gets boys excited more than sharks! (okay...maybe dinosaurs...but they still LOVE sharks too). We used interactive writing to label the parts of a shark. Comparing sharks and whales. Schema Chart Writing ... continue reading...
Common Core Standards Organization and Wishy Washy!
I've had a lot of questions about how I organize my Common Core Standards and Essential Questions. I display them on posters which are hot glued to ribbon. The standards are attached with velcro so that they are easy to change in and out. (Please excuse the bad picture above. The standards shown are from the 1st grade set. Notice that the clipart images match the standard and that the essential question clipart also matches. This helps the little ones who can't read understand the ... continue reading...
Engaging Readers: Getting it ORGANIZED!
Hey There! Happy Hump day! We've had a few questions about how we organize our new Engaging Readers units so I thought I'd do a quick blog post to show you! These are the supplies I used to organize mine. I used a 1" binder sheet protectors Binder pocket (one pocket holds all four books) ziploc baggies Clear packing tape Printables for the spine and fronts of sheet protectors click HERE to get yours. First, I put our cutie patootie cover (thanks to ... continue reading...
FREE Spine Labels for Binders: Getting Organized!
This is a throwback post that I did awhile back about getting our Guiding Readers units organized. Since this post, I've had quite a few requests to make matching spine labels for the Writing and Math units. So HERE YOU GO! Sorry, it took me so long! We also have a Free Year-Long Curriculum Map for Kindergarten and First Grade. (Scroll to the bottom of this post to grab the map and spines) If you want to read the throw back post carry on! If not, Happy Organizing. ... continue reading...