This is how I manage my literacy centers. The pirates ship was made using styrofoam sheets and paint. You can buy the sheets at most craft stores. You draw your shape onto the sheet and then cut it out with a hot wand. Super easy! The little pirates are birthday party invitations that I bought at Target. Each child is placed in a group...pirates, anchors, pirates ships, jolly rogers or maps. So you can see that today the pirate ships will complete the activities at the abc center and then ... continue reading...
Search Results for: label/pirates
Oceans and Pirates and Fun, OH, MY!
Good News...... After next Wednesday I only have two more days of school left! Bad News....First, I have to survive until then. :) SERIOUSLY! What makes the last two weeks of school so tough. The kids start acting all kinds of crazy and us teachers are just plain TIRED!!! I think that this is God's way of helping us send those little ones off without it crippling us with sadness. Think about it.... we've spent 180 days with these little people. They've hugged us 1,000 times, told us they ... continue reading...
How to Start Teaching Writer’s Workshop in Kindergarten & First Grade
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...
25 Back to School Read Alouds for the Primary Classroom
25 Back to school read alouds to pick up and share with your primary students to calm their nerves and create a few laughs. Back to School Read Alouds Are you getting ready to go back to school? Maybe planning the first week of school? Then this list of back to school read alouds is just what you need! You and your class are sure to enjoy these lesson-learning, diversity-filled, alphabet-listing, and just plain fun, read alouds during the first few weeks of school. #1 The King ... continue reading...
National Talk like a Pirate Day Activities
Did you know that National Talk Like a Pirate Day is this Monday, September 19th? I've got you covered with this Set the Stage to Engage unit all about PIRATES!!! This unit is also perfect for kicking off the year with a pirate theme, teaching -ar, or it can be used as an End of the Year celebration. This unit is packed full of literacy, math, and science fun. Here are some pictures that Holly Ehle took of this pirate unit in action: First, we "flip" the classroom so it looks like ... continue reading...
What are the Other Kids Doing? {FREEBIE} Literacy Centers and Guided Reading
As I'm traveling and presenting this is a question I get A LOT! What are the Other Kids Doing while I teach small groups? So I thought I'd spend a week or two going through some of the things that my kids are doing while I teach small groups. Let's start with the basics. As I'm teaching small groups my kids are working at centers. This is my center rotation board. It helps me manage where my students are working each day. The first row of pirates shows the name of my groups. I ... 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...
Leonardo the Terrible Monster Reading Lesson Plans for K-1
Leonardo the Terrible Monster reading comprehension lesson plans with student response activities. Print and teach lessons to engage your students in reading! Leonardo the Terrible Monster This story by Mo Willems is one of my favorite stories to read, especially in October around Halloween. If you are not familiar with this book, it is about a monster named Leonardo. Leonardo is not a scary monster, no matter how hard he tries! He does some research and thinks he finds the perfect little ... 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...
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...
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...
Pirate Fun! Ahoy Mateys!
Oh, my word y'all we get out of school in two weeks and the kids are CRAZY ready! I am trying my best to keep them engaged in learning and not pull my hair out. :) We started our pirate unit last week and I was amazed at the change in behavior. They LOVED this unit and their behavior was AWESOME! This has by far been my favorite unit! The kids have been so excited about reading and writing stories about Pirate adventures. There are so many great children's books to read with this ... continue reading...
Ocean Unit of Fun!
We have been learning a lot about ocean animals. We learned all about different types of sharks and we decided that we thought the Great white Shark was the most interesting. We labeled the parts of a shark. This is our schema chart based on an idea from Debbie Miller. We made sharks and orca whales and then sorted the information we learned by using a venn diagram. A close up of some of our shark and whale ... continue reading...