New Year's Writing & Snowman Glyphs

This was our first week back to school. We talked about resolutions, being promises that we make to ourselves.  Then the students wrote on these fun templates.  I would love to find the original copy and find out how the party blower is supposed to be placed on the mouth.

First grade decided to do 3 different Snowman Glyphs.  After looking at the third one, we decided it was too difficult.  We did two different Snowman Glyphs instead.  The Snowmen and keys are displayed in the hall. 

As soon as I can figure out how to post documents, I will post the key and questionnaire.

Candy Land: Sight-Words

Sarah (http://firstgraderatlast.blogspot.com/) posted her altered version of Candy Land.  I just had to copy her idea.  Our 1st grade team was able to use fundraising money, to buy Candy Land and Chutes and Ladders for our students for Christmas.  We bought extra, in the event we got more students.  We had a few games left, so I was able to make one for us to share. 

I need to cover the part that reads, "No Reading Required to Play."

Printing the words on Avery labels made it easier than cutting and pasting.  Our Dolch Sight-Words are color-coded, so I coordinated the words and cards to match our lists.  There were only 10 cards per color, so I choose the most difficult words.  For the purple cards and picture cards, I choose the most frequently used words. 

The students will play the game just like Candy Land, except they must say the sight-word before moving toward the castle.  The students love playing Candy Land and Chutes and Ladder.  This version just helps reinforce word recognition skills. 

(Sorry, it's fuzzy.)

Sarah has started something.  Now I'm looking at "Dollar Store" games in a different way too.  I know I can do this with Chutes and Ladders.  What else can I do?

Twas the Week Before Christmas Break

I had so many plans for our last full week of school before the Winter Break.  One day I had to go to a workshop, and we missed two days because of snow and ice.  That means we had to eliminate some of our projects.

 

We were working on graphing last week.  I introduced another way for collecting data with a Gingerbread Glyph.  The students had so much fun with this, we will do a snowman glyph when we go back to school.

 Although we didn't get to finish our reindeer study, we still enjoyed reading and watching Prancer.  The students received a "parting gift" of Magic Reindeer Food.

A Basket of Magic Reindeer Food and Pattern Block Reindeer (It does have a face and antlers-LOL!)

Recipes by parents and students were published to make Christmas gifts.  Pictures of the students were featured on the cover of each cookbook.  I hope the recipients will enjoy this funny and useful cookbook.

Look Out Paula Deen

Thanksgiving Projects

We had fun creating movies, slide shows, and display boards as part of our Thanksgiving project.  The students randomly picked Pilgrims, Indians, and Children.  Their job was to learn as much about these first Thanksgiving participants as possible.  Then they randomly picked a presentation method.  Students used xtranormal to present information about Pilgrims. http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/7772635/  Another group of students made a slide show about Native Americans.    The final group made a display board about the chores that Pilgrim and Indian Children did.  They presented the information to the class on the last day before Thanksgiving break.

Who Took The Cookies?

After reading Who Took the Cookies?, we made our own version of the book. My goal was integrate writing and math. The students drew 12 cookies in the cookie jar. They picked a card with a number from 1-12 and crossed out that many cookies. To act it out, the students took the same amount of construction paper cookies from a "cookie jar", and counted what was left. Then they were able to write a number sentence and story problem. Some students used the number words in their story problems.

 Crumb Snatcher

I assembled the book in order from 1-12. A picture of each child taking the cookies from the jar was placed on their page. I had to have it for evidence ;) The class picture was on the last page. Of course we had cookies and milk for snack.

So Tempting!

 

Trying to Wipe Away the Evidence