Wednesday, September 16, 2020

FREE PRINTABLE Digital Halloween Book Studies

I love teaching in the month of October! One of my favorite ways to engage my students is through fun Halloween read alouds! 

I created these packs to supplement a few of my favorite October read alouds, so I can still share the Halloween magic whether we will be returning to school in person or online!




Click the picture to see these in my tpt shop!


Click HERE to get a FREE Room on the Broom worksheet!




These distance learning packs (listed below) are a NO PREP way to get your students reading and responding to fun Halloween books! 

Each pack includes a link to a safe you tube read aloud for the story. 


Included in the packs are SIX comprehension activities including the skills: plot, sequencing, character traits, true and false, making connections and more! Each pack is available for Seesaw or Google Slides. Peep this in my tpt shop HERE.

 







Check out a few of the Video Previews for the Seesaw editions:





Happy Teaching!





 


Sunday, August 30, 2020

Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon Distance Learning Activity


This distance learning pack is a NO PREP way to get your students reading and responding to the book Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon by Patty Lovell. 

Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon is a cute story about a small, silly looking girl sticking up to her class bully by being brave and apologetically herself! It's a great read aloud that will spark meaningful conversations with your students!
 
Included in this pack are FIVE comprehension activities including the skills: plot, sequencing, character traits, and making connections! Available for Seesaw or Google Slides. Peep this in my tpt shop HERE.


Check out the Video Preview for the Seesaw edition: 






 I hope your class enjoys this cute story as much as I do! 

Happy Teaching!



Wednesday, July 29, 2020

Chrysanthemum Distance Learning Comprehension Activity



Click HERE to view in my tpt shop!

Do you love to read your class the story Chrysanthemum at the beginning of the school year? 

I've taken one of my printable resources and converted it into a Distance Learning Resource as we navigate this virtual school year!


This pack INCLUDES SEESAW AND GOOGLE SLIDE PRELOADED LINKS FOR DISTANCE LEARNING! They are perfect for your blended or hybrid learning model.

Check out the Seesaw preview video to see whats included!



Get students reading and responding to the story Chrysanthemum in minutes with zero prep! This resource is compatible with Google Slides, Seesaw and is printable. Just click on the included links and assign to students or provide as a printable packet.

This online comprehension resource includes:

  • Link to Safe You Tube Read Aloud
  • Story Map Page
  • Describing Chrysanthemum Page
  • Character Trait Page
  • Favorite Part of the story Page
  • Text to Self Connections Page

The learning activities are also provided in a printable format (PDF) for color or black line copies.

Students can be self-directed as they independently complete the activities and turn them in digitally to get more immediate feedback. This is also a great extension resource in the classroom for fast finishers.




Check this product out in my TPT shop!




Friday, September 6, 2019

How to Writing in First Grade




One of the super fun units of writing we conduct in first grade is HOW TO writing! The firsties are excited to write everyday and I love teaching it! 

When we start the unit, we make a large class list of things we are good at doing. I like to make an anchor chart titled: Our Class SUPERSTAR list! Students raise their hands and share things they know how to do well. I try to direct students to share specific activities such as: 

-making a necklace
-kicking a soccer ball
-making pancakes
-walking a dog
-jumping on the trampoline

I like to staple this poster to our Writing Wall so students can reference it throughout the whole unit!

Here is what my writing wall looks like in the middle of a unit, lots of anchor charts from our mini lessons for students to reference! Check out my WRITING WALL PACK HERE.


Next, I give each student their own superstar paper and have them write their own lists of things they are good at doing. They will keep these in their writing folders and look at them throughout the unit when they need help coming up with ideas.

Click the image to download your freebie! 


Within the unit I do a ton of modeling. I model "how to" pieces throughout the unit in the form of read alouds and I demonstrate my own writing process on anchor charts while doing a think aloud.


For my read alouds I love all the "How to Catch" books by Adam Wallace. He has 10 engaging and colorful books available and my first graders love every single one!



Image result for adam wallace how to catch books
Click the photo to find these books on Amazon!


Each day I teach a short mini lesson 5-10 minutes tops. Here is a link to FREE writing lessons! These lessons are short and scripted and have been so so helpful to my firsties!


Last, I love to give my students fun opportunities to publish their writing or complete a fun craftivity! I usually do a themed read aloud, writing prompt and small craft on Fridays. 

We don’t always have a ton of time for arts and crafts but I have created these easy coloring page toppers to go with each writing prompt and read aloud. Each of these packs go with a fantastic “How to” book by Adam Wallace!


Click the image to find each writing pack in my tpt shop!

How to Catch a Unicorn

How to Catch the Easter Bunny

How to Catch a Mermaid

How to Catch a Leprechaun

How to Catch a Monster Writing Activity




 I hope this helps you teach and enjoy “How to” writing in your classroom as much as me and my firsties do 😊

Happy Teaching!

Sunday, August 11, 2019

Back to School Emoji Writing



This emoji writing activity is such a FUN way to have students reflect on their first day feelings! Find it HERE in my TPT store!



What's Included in this Pack:
Detailed Lesson Ideas
Differentiated Writing Pages
6 Emoji Faces for Students to Choose From
Bulletin Board Title Options





My students loved writing about their first day knowing they were going to choose and color an emoji! 









I hope you enjoy this fun writing activity with your students! 

Happy Teaching!


Thursday, August 8, 2019

Project Based Learning in First Grade





What is PBL? Project-based learning is an approach in which students explore real-world problems and challenges to acquire a deeper knowledge. Students learn about a subject by working for an extended period of time to investigate and respond to a complex question, challenge, or problem. It is a style of active learning and inquiry-based learning. PBL is different from teacher-led instruction where the teacher presents facts and the students complete a worksheet.

When my school underwent training for the PBL model of teaching, I thought: “this sounds GREAT, but how the heck would a six-year-old do this?” I was trained and had only taught with a traditional style of teaching and the idea of first graders somehow magically working independently on a research project seemed laughable. HILARIOUS.


Some of the main components of PBL that frightened me as a teacher of the littles was:
-          Choice: Students were supposed to be able to choose their project that would display their learning. What would that look like for first graders who have never made a poster, pamphlet, diorama, etc. before? How could we give them choices that they could independently conduct without each PBL unit turning into a parent project?

-          Independence: students were expected to work independently on their own research & projects, how could I effectively implement this when students can only stay on task for only 15- MAYBE 20 minutes at a time? Especially when not all my students are reading independently or writing more than a few sentences yet?


Through a lot of teamwork with my coworkers, lesson planning and trial and error, I discovered some tricks to successfully implement PBL in my classroom for me and my class of wonderful 6-year olds!  Here are some of the things that worked for me:


(I am not an expert, only a teacher who worked very hard to make the PBL model work in her classroom)


1.       I still teach an itty-bitty mini lesson to introduce new and tough vocabulary and set the scene each day for our research.

       I found that my class of younger students needed to be reminded of our end goal and progress each day to stay invested and motivated in their research/project

2.       I utilized https://www.symbaloo.com to help students independently use videos for their research.
       The biggest struggle with PBL in first grade is: not everyone is reading! How are they supposed to do research? Well with the help of symbaloo and YouTube this is SO EASY! You can link videos from YouTube to your symbaloo page and students can view them without ads! Plus, there are so many great videos and read alouds on YouTube.

3.       Guided Research: I “guided” students research by providing them with graphic organizers that they were already familiar with to write their research on. I used the time during the mini lesson to remind them of their research goal and sometimes model how to write research. This helped students keep track of their new learning and information. During the research time, I would walk around the room and visually monitor each student’s progress, ask questions and check in with my struggling readers/writers.

4.  Projects and Choice: The very first PBL I ever tried with my firsties was about Desert Animal Adaptations. Within the PBL there were 3 choices for their project to display their learning.... and that PBL CRASHED AND BURNED! So now, in the beginning of the year in first grade during our first PBL, we all complete the SAME project but students are given a choice when it came to what content would be included. This met with the PBL guideline of giving students choice and freedom to pursue their interests but let me model and guide students in completing their projects. This helped HUGELY! Throughout the year as I modeled different types of projects, by the end of the year I am able to offer the firsties choices, letting them choose between 1-3 projects and successfully complete them independently.

·         Some of my favorite project ideas for first grade PBL’s:
o   Class book (each student writes their own page) we used this project with our national symbols PBL.
o   Poster (I had my students create one of these in our Frog PBL to display their knowledge of a frog's habitat)
o   Make a video commercial
o   Use the app ChatterPix to publish students writing in an ADORABLE video



I compiled some of my favorite class PBL’s into units below. I created these tried and true units after my class successfully completed the research/projects. I hope what worked for me helps you successfully implement the PBL model in your classroom! Click the pictures below to find the PBL unit in my TPT store!







Happy Teaching!