New Ed-Ventures

Hi! It has been WAY too long since I've blogged.  A lot has changed since my last post.  Last year I decided to make a switch to kindergarten.  It was wonderful!  I've decided this might be a good long-term position for me.  This year I will be starting year two in kindergarten.  I learned SO much from my team last year.

Why did I make the switch?  Although I absolutely loved 1st grade (and my 1st grade team), I felt a calling to try something new.  When a kindergarten position opened up in my district it felt like it was meant to be.  There's something powerful about the idea of working with children through their first year of school (in elementary - several of our students attend the wonderful preschool/head-start programs in our district.)  My decision to switch to kindergarten was mainly for the opportunity to give children the best first experience in school that I can.  My hope was/is to instill a love for learning that will last a lifetime.  Turns out, it's instilling an even deeper love for teaching in myself.  

Another big change that happened within my classroom was CO-TEACHING!  I was given the opportunity to co-teach every day with our kindergarten ESL teacher.  For years, our amazing ESL teachers have given us guidance, support, and information on how to accommodate our growing group of english language learners.  I'll admit, I tried the best I could.  But it wasn't until I was able to teach alongside my expert ESL co-teacher that I truly learned how to reach these children.  It was such a great learning experience for me and I am happy to share that we will be doing it again this year. :) 

This coming school year I will also get the opportunity to teach with two teachers who are new to the district.  It will be such a rewarding experience to learn alongside these incredible educators.  

Lastly, this year I will be starting graduate classes to earn my ESL endorsement.  

My goals for the blog this year include: 

• Sharing pictures/projects from my classroom throughout the year. 
• Sharing information learned through graduate classes.
• Sharing effective teaching strategies. 
• Sharing any fun/exciting developments throughout the year.
• Sharing challenges I face throughout the year and what I was able to learn from them. 

Thank you SO MUCH to those of you who take time to read my blog.  I am excited to share more consistently throughout the year as I embark on year 2 in kindergarten and year 6 as an elementary educator.  💗

Happy November!  If you're anything like me, you already have Christmas music (instrumentals only) playing on Pandora in your classroom.  I can't wait for the holiday season!  As Thanksgiving break approaches, I thought it might be a nice time to share some math resources I use to teach and assess 2D and 3D shapes.

Whenever I teach, I like to start with the standard or expectation in mind.  So I will start by sharing the assessment we use. 

Students are asked to identify each of the 2D and 3D shapes.  Then students must draw a triangle, square, rectangle, and circle.  Then they answer some true/false questions pertaining to the shape attributes.  If you'd like to download a PDF of this assessment, click HERE. 


In every lesson I teach, I attempt to teach the content using a variety of approaches.  There are often songs, videos, worksheets, and games involved.  Teaching geometry is no exception.  The rest of this post will consist of some resources I use to help students learn and remember the 2D and 3D shapes on our list!

Video: 

The 3D Shapes Song 

Powerpoints: 

1. 2D and 3D shapes introductory powerpoint
This powerpoint is a tool that can be used to introduce the following 2D and 3D shapes:
square, circle, rectangle, triangle, rhombus, hexagon, sphere, cube, cylinder, and cone.  

You can use it any way you see fit.  When I created it, this is how I intended to use it. 
1. Students get math notebook (or any blank paper).
2. Pull up the slide with the grey part on the bottom covering the words. 
3. Ask if any students know the shape.  If so, encourage them to tell you the shape.  If not, show them the name of it and discuss its attributes.
4. Then have students draw the shape in their notebook and label it. 

Download the 2D and 3D shapes powerpoint here. 

2. Two Dimensional Shapes Attributes True/False 
The powerpoint shows a 2D shape and lists attributes below. Students can come up to the Smartboard and circle T or F if the attribute is true or false. If you just have a projector, they can simply tell you whether the attribute listed is true or false.

Download the 2D Shapes Attribute True/False Powerpoint here.

Posters/Songs: 

This resource was not created by me but I LOVE it and highly recommend it.  There is a song for each shape.  

2D Shapes: 
triangle 
circle 
square 
rectangle 
oval 
star
heart
octagon 
hexagon 
pentagon 
trapezoid
rhombus (diamond)

3D Shapes:
Sphere
Cone
Cube
Cylinder
Rectangular Prism

These songs are sung to the tune of "The Farmer and the Dell."  This resource costs $3.00 on TPT.  In my opinion, it is worth every penny because the kids love singing these songs!  You can find this resource here. 

Worksheets:

Below is a list of links to some of my favorite worksheets for learning/remembering shapes. The best part, they are all free! :) 

1.  My Shape Book {All About 2D Shapes}

2.  Shape Monsters!

3.  3D Shapes Book with Real World Objects

4.  3D Shapes Cut and Paste 

Lastly, my favorite game/activity to do with the students to practice shapes is my 3D Shapes BINGO game.   You can find this resource in my TPT store here. 

I sincerely hope that you found this post helpful or enjoyable to read.  Any of these resources could be helpful for any teacher or parent hoping to teach their children or students 2D and 3D shapes. 

THANK YOU for reading and I hope you have a joyful holiday season. 

It's here! The beginning of a new year.  Recently my team and I got together to plan the first few days of school.  Each year we all come with fun ideas and activities that we'd like to do.  The first day needs to be fun but there is also a LOT of learning to do!

The first thing is getting to know the students.  We like to let them know how special they are and how much fun we are going to have right away!  We usually start with some sort of gift or fun treat.  This year, each student will get a bouncy ball!

Some other fun ideas we've seen are: 

1. A bag of gold fish with a label saying "You're oFISHally a first grader."

2. A bag of Starburst with a label saying "I'm BURSTING with excitement that you're in my class this year!" 

3. A bag of M&M's that say "We're going to have a Marvelous and Magnificent year!"

There are LOTS of cute ideas on Pinterest! Just search "first day of school gifts."  The best part is, most people provide free downloads of the products they have made. :)  You can click here to download the "Have a Ball" label that I made for this year!

I like to kick off the morning each day with a "morning meeting."  All of the students sit in a circle on the carpet and read the question of the day.  You can make the question anything you'd like.  My favorite is, "How are you feeling today?".  For the first day of school, I like to ask each student tell share their name and something about themselves.  Since this can be difficult for students to do in front of all their classmates, they first share with a partner.  I ask the question, they turn to the person next to them, and have a conversation.  After they students have had enough time to share their responses with a partner, we all face the circle to share with the group.  I have a toy microphone that we pass from student to student.  The only person allowed to speak is the person holding the microphone.  I LOVE morning meetings for several reasons, and here they are:

1. It gives students a moment to share as much as they'd like about themselves.

2. It creates a welcoming environment where students feel safe and respected.

3. It builds on the students' comfortability to talk in front of a group.

4.  It teaches students to listen to and respect their peers. 

5. It gives me the opportunity to learn more about my students. 

This time each day is a really great opportunity to build on the social and emotional needs of our students. 

Sorry this post is SO late!  I wrote it and forget to publish it!  Pregnancy brain seems to be a permanent thing these days. ;)  Thanks for reading. :) Feel free to comment with your thoughts or ideas. 

Summer Lovin'

Welcome back to my blog!  It has been far too long and we have been very busy. As the title implies, we are LOVING summer.  But that doesn't mean we aren't already thinking about and preparing for the upcoming school year! Before I dive into my most recent prep work, I'll give you a little update on life over the past few months. 

In May we were blessed with a beautiful baby girl, Lucy.

photo: http://www.brittanytodd.com/

Charlotte is LOVING being a big sister.  These girls keep me (and my husband) very busy and very happy!  Most of our days this summer consist of food, adventures, relaxation, and coffee (lots and lots of coffee!)  Here is my view on most days:

Summer is going by very fast and it feels like just yesterday we were packing up our classrooms and wishing each other a good summer.  The upcoming school year will bring many changes, including a completely renovated classroom.  I am SO excited to see how the room looks when they are done.  Don't worry, I took LOTS of pictures and plan to share some before and after pictures once the renovation is complete.  Although this is very exciting, it has been hard for me to not have a classroom to go work on/organize throughout the summer.  Luckily, the girls keep me busy enough and I am blessed to have the resources I need to work from home during nap time and after the girls' bedtime.  

Admittedly, I did go several weeks without even thinking about school and just enjoying time with my family.  This week the fair is in our town, and this is always a nice reminder that summer break is halfway over!

Here is a picture of Charlotte loving on the animals at the fair. :) 

Around this time each year, I get into "school mode" and here are some of the things that I enjoy doing as the upcoming school year approaches:

1. Spending WAY TOO MUCH TIME on Pinterest, educational blogs, Facebook, Instagram, and other social media sites reading about all of the exciting things people are doing in the education world. Izzy (my dog) likes to look with me. ;) 

2. Stocking up on teacher supplies.  Another good indication that August is approaching was when I went to the store and saw that school supplies are OUT! This is like Christmas morning for most of the teachers I know.  Things I usually stock up on around this time include: 

• pens
• pencils
• rewards (stickers, achievement certificates, etc.)
• printer ink ($YIKES$)
• notebooks
• cardstock

And...so much more!  But I better stop there (since my husband reads my blog posts) ;) 

This year with the renovations, I decided to switch the theme of my classroom.  The past few years I have used an owl theme.  This year, I did some shopping on Amazon and came across fun classroom decor that is black with bright colors.  Here are some of the things I ordered: 

I do a lot of my shopping on Amazon these days and it is so exciting when I see "Preparing for Shipment!"  Using a new theme in the classroom means a new calendar, welcome banner, signs, and decorations.  This also means a lot of laminating!  Since I won't be spending much time at school during summer break, I decided to buy my own personal laminator to use at home.  This is one of the best (small) investments I've made in my teaching career! It is so nice to be able to do my laminating leisurely at home. 

Another project I have been able to work on in preparation for the upcoming school year is updating/creating all of those wonderful beginning of the year documents.  

I hope to do another post all about "meet the teacher night" but here is a list of some of the documents I like to prepare prior to the beginning of the year:

1. Meet Your Teacher (a letter from me introducing myself to my new students and their families)
2. Student Information Sheet
3. Student Interest Survey (I have parents fill one out at Meet the Teacher Night but I also have a separate one that students fill out in the first few days of school.) 
4. First Grade Expectations 
5. Rubrics for the Standards Based Report Cards (we started this last year and I am happy to share a post later regarding this topic!) 
6. A checklist for Meet the Teacher Night

I often hear the comment "it must be so nice to have your summers off." Yes, it is SO nice to spend more time with my family. But every educator I know works throughout the summer.  Whether it be preparing/organizing their classroom, researching educational topics, preparing resources, or just pinning ideas for the upcoming school year.  We do it because we enjoy it.  We do it because we care about the success of our students. I saw this post on Facebook recently:

It is a great quote!  We all deserve to do what we love. I really do feel this way MOST weeks.  But, let's be honest, I'm human and sometimes it's just hard to get out of bed despite what day it is! 

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog and I look forward to starting up again and sharing my thoughts and insights regarding education with you.  Please comment and let me know if there are any topics you'd like to read or learn more about! 

  

Fall Art Projects

Boots, leaves, colorful trees, and cool crisp air... fall is one of my favorite times of the year!  

With each season comes so many ideas of fun hands-on art projects!  In our school, first graders do not go to an "art special".  Therefore, we work hard to incorporate different activities using art supplies and learning some of the different art concepts.  We use fall-themed art projects to teach students about colors and painting.  

With each project we start out by doing a read-aloud.  We then do the art project, and if there is time, we like to have the students write about their project!  

The first one is a leaf project.  We start out by reading Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf.  

If you can't get your hands on this book, there is a read-aloud available on Youtube here.

Then we make leaves! First I print out different leaf templates from Google images and cut squares of red, yellow, and orange tissue paper.  

All the students need to do is rip the tissue paper apart, glue it on the back of the leaf template, turn it over and cut it out.  I made time-lapse a video to show my students how to do this.

The students can also do a writing piece to describe their leaf and the colors they used.  I like to hang the fall leaves on my window!

We also use fall art projects to introduce paint in the first grade classroom.  For this project, start out by reading any fall story!  Here are some suggestions:

Then the students get a paper with a leaf-less tree.  I also found this image on Google.

I only give the students red, yellow, orange, and brown paint.  I encourage them to add leaves (on the tree or on the ground), pumpkins, scarecrows, birds, a sky, and anything else they might see in the fall!  Then they just paint. :)  Here are some of the beautiful paintings from one of the first grade classes.

Students will then write about their picture and they will be hung in the hall. 

Another fun art project was inspired by a larger version I saw on a friend's front porch.  My friend took seven large pieces of wood and nailed them together with one slanted across the top.  The slanted wood and above became the hat of a scarecrow/snowman and the bottom became the face.  We decided to read a scarecrow story and create the scarecrow/snowman using popsicle sticks!

Below is the story we read.  I try to read a mix of fiction and nonfiction books during these units.  

We then spend one day creating our scarecrow.  I let the students paint while I used the hot glue to stick on the eyes and hair.  Because of the paint and hot glue, we let the scarecrow sit out to dry overnight.  The next day we paint the snowman on the back for winter!

The students really enjoy making these crafts and it is always fun to see how all the different scarecrows/snowmen turn out!  The greatest thing about all of these crafts is that they are all relatively low cost.  Most of the supplies used were things that I already had laying around somewhere in my classroom.  It is important to give students opportunities to be creative throughout the year.  Sometimes we get caught up in all of the assessments and it's hard to take the time to do fun art activities.  Another great thing about all of these projects is that it can be so easily connected to literature and writing.  

Whether you're a teacher, parent, grandparents, or someone else who works with children; I hope you enjoyed reading this!  Good luck with your fall art activities! :)

Columbus Day

Happy October!  Some of you may have already started planning for the entire month of October.  I bet some of you are planning fun fall and/or halloween themed activities; but don't forget about Columbus Day!  I like to use this holiday to teach my students about Christopher Columbus and to talk about exploration. This year I decided to create a Christopher Columbus mini-unit to teach some of the first grade common core concepts. 

The first part of this mini-unit is teaching the students some key vocabulary.  In my Christopher Columbus Activity Bundle, there are vocabulary cards (in color or black and white) for the students to examine and discuss some of the key terms used throughout the unit. 

Many of these terms are commonly used throughout other units.  It is nice to use this unit to introduce several of these key vocabulary terms for the rest of the year.   

When creating this bundle I thought about some of the important literacy skills that I need my students to work on.  Some of these skills include fluency and sight words.  These are both skills that help students become better readers.  A few things that I included the help students build their fluency skills are: a poem, a story, and fluency sentences.  Fluency sentences are one of my favorite things to use with students because you can easily differentiate by using either simple or complex sentences. You then break them down word by word.  Students read the sentence, a line at a time, and build up to the complete sentence. (pictured below)

Another fluency strategy we use is sentence sequencing.  It is incredibly powerful for students cut a sentence apart, glue it in order, write it, and read it.  Not only does this strategy help with fluency, but it also helps students better understand sentence structure.  This is something you can easily make using sentence strips and a pencil! 

You may have noticed the hat on my little explorer on the first image.  The template to create this hat is also included in the bundle.

Since it is still near the beginning of the year, I like to do ABC order whenever I can with my students.  This helps to reinforce the alphabet from kindergarten in a more complex and hands on way.  Some students are able to handle cut-and-paste activities or need extra practice with those fine motor skills.  If you need to save time or you don't want students cutting and pasting you can always have them simply write the words and cross them off in the word bank.   

Sight words are another big component of first grade.  There are so many wonderful free color-by-sight words pages that you can download from the internet.  I decided to create one to go along with the Christopher Columbus unit!

In my school district we are blessed to have several students from different countries around the world.  Throughout this unit we have several wonderful conversations about exploration and world travel.  It is a great opportunity for students to share information about their native country or countries they have visited.  During class discussions we often sit in a circle.  I like to introduce the topic or question, pair students up, and give them a chance to share with their partner.  After a few minutes of partner talk we come back as a group and pass around the class "microphone."  The only person who can talk is the speaker with the microphone.  I have found this to be incredibly effective and students have gained a better understanding of respect and how to be good listeners.  It is fun to hear the students' perspectives and where they've been or come from.  We take advantage of any opportunity to have meaningful class discussions.  

Some other fun activities we like to do:

1. map and globe observation and discussion
2. build "junk boats", race them, and discuss good vs. bad materials to use
3. country flags observation and discussion
4. students can create their own country flag and write about it
5. research project on different explorers (write a paper or a summary, dress as your explorer, and present to the class)
6. dress like an explorer day!

There are so many different approaches you can take to teach your students about exploration and Christopher Columbus.  If you choose to teach your class about the famous explorer you can download my bundle here. 

Otherwise, I hope you're able to use some of those free ideas and have a wonderful experience discussing exploration with your students!  

Happy October!  

Using Movement to Learn

Today I'm going to tell you about my absolute favorite game to use in the classroom.  I like this game because it allows the students to get up and move!  I also love it because it can be applied to so many different content areas.   

All you need to masking tape.  You will need several rolls.  I used one entire roll for the one we did in my classroom last week.  I like to use colorful masking tape because it shows up better on the light-colored floors in my classroom. 

This year I have noticed that this particular group of students could use a little extra practice identifying teen numbers.  A common mistake at the beginning of first grade is mixing up numbers like 13 and 30.  

For the teen numbers I made 9 boxes.  You want to make pretty big boxes so your students don't run into each other.  Then I used the tape to make a different teen number in each box.  I wrote the same teen numbers on index cards, folded them in half, and put them in a basket.  You will also need a line of tape outside of the box on each side for the two teams to stand on at the start of each turn.    

After you've done all the prep work, split your group of students into two teams.  I have the teams sit in straight lines on the floor and wait for their turn. 

The student sitting in the front of the line on each team goes first.  They each stand behind their designated line and wait for the teacher to draw a number.  The teacher then draws the number and says it aloud.  Then, the student from each team wants to be the first one to find and stand on that number.  You can have them hop or walk to the box with that number.  

You can also determine if it is a tie and have the students start again.  The student who stands on the number first gets to stay up for the next round.  The person who didn't get there first sits in the back of their line and waits for their next turn.  Luckily, this is a pretty fast-pace game so each student will get plenty of opportunities to play.  

Another important rule is that the winner of each round must have both feet completely in the box.  These two students (pictured above) made it to the "19" box at the same time.  However, the girl has both of her feet inside the box and the boy does not.  Therefore, the girl won this round of the game. 

I do understand that some classroom teachers like to stay away from competitive games and activities.  This game can very easily be modified for that type of classroom.  Instead of having two teams and having the students race, you could simply have one student at a time and just make it an activity to see how fast he or she can find and get to the number each time.  Either way, it is a fun and engaging way for students to practice a particular skill. 

Here is my favorite thing about this activity... it can be used for:

                                   1.  letter identification

                                   2.  letter sounds/jolly phonics 

                                   3.  sight words

                                   4.  addition and subtraction

                                   5.  multiplication and division

and many more!

Another similar activity that I like to do with students is for practicing word segmenting (this is part of our literacy standardized test). 

Use masking tape to make a layout like this (below): 

This particular set up would be used for practicing three and four sound words.  I would have a list of those types of words ready.  The list I use has the words mixed up.  You can download that document here.

You can also do this with 4 and 5 sound words if you'd like to make this more challenging.   

Something else you may notice with this activity is that students' interest will be sparked almost immediately.  When students come into the room and they see big boxes of tape on the floor they will instantly start asking questions about it.  I always tell my students, "It's a fun activity we'll be doing later today!" They then wait anxiously until they discover this exciting new game.  I have had wonderful luck with this game and I hope you enjoy it too!  Thanks for reading.  Happy Monday! :)