First Grade Writer's Showcase and a New Unit!

Our 5th Annual - First Grade Writer's Showcase was yet another HUGE success!

Let's face it - that last month of school is torture for everyone - right!?!?!? I mean, not only are the kiddos done, but the teachers are smooth worn-out! For the last 5 years we have tried to battle the "last month of school blues" with a research and writing project.  

We have 7 first grade classrooms (we added a 7th this year) and each class takes on a different group of animals.  

      

 

( Click on these images to get a closer look on TpT)

I wrote 5 out of the 6 original animal groups.  One of my team members wrote the Farm Animal set that we use so that is not pictured.  Since we added a 7th teacher this year I had to write a whole new set so I went with Backyard Bugs:

Isn't that adorable? My classroom has always done the Woodland Animals but I must say, it was really hard not to switch to these backyard bugs.  

We take about a full month to spend on our research.  We check out as many books as possible from our school library and many of us hit up our public library too.  We group the books together for each animal.

I place the books that have information over multiple animals on a separate table that they can look through to find their animal.  This gives way to a lot of rich discussions about non-fiction text features - mainly "table of contents" and "index". 

I give my students a couple of days to browse through the animal books so they can narrow down which animal they'd like to research.  I give them a 1st, 2nd and 3rd choice of animals but I don't always guarantee that they get their choices.  I make sure that every animal is being researched by at least one or two children so that all animals are accounted for and the groups that are working together are small.

There are vocabulary cards included in each unit that we study and discuss:

Here are some examples of the pages included in each unit:

(example from the Polar Unit)

(example from the Rainforest unit)

 Here are some pictures of my classroom and how we transformed our room into a forest.  We also get our parents involved with an "at home" art project to go along with their research.  We specifically don't give them much information because we love all the different ideas that they come up with.  The are all very unique! 

Here's our bulletin board in the hallway:

Inside our classroom - Their research books are displayed along with their "at home" projects.

We even play "sounds of the forest" on our board while parents are touring our rooms so they get the full effect!

We have our parents and families come and tour each classroom during the evening.  It is so fun to watch the children showing off their research books to their parents.  They are always so proud of how hard they worked and are so eager to share it with others!

If you are interested in any of my Shared Research and Writing Units just click on the unit covers above and check them out on TpT.  Thanks for stopping by!

Bats, Spiders & Ghosts - Oh My!!!!

Such a fun unit for the month of October! This unit has Math, Literacy and Writing Activities.

Check it out!!!

What's included:

Be sure and click on any pic above to check it out.  The pages shown are for spiders but there are the same pages for bats and ghosts!

Happy October!

Centers this Week - So Much Fun!

We did this cute take on "squiggle writing" last week.  (I can't remember where I saw this idea so I can credit them.)  Aren't these adorable!?!?!?!?  My student teacher glued 2 sets of googly eyes on a white sheet of paper.  We handed them out to my firsties and they had to make 2 characters out of them.  Next they had to draw a setting behind them.  Then they had to write a story about them with a beginning, middle and end.  Their stories were great!

Here's a look at our centers this week:

Guided Reading:

We are working on ai/ay this week and here we are using the "Read It! Draw It!" page from my unit.

    

Pocket Chart Sort:

These firsties are sorting ai and ay cards from my unit above.

 Math Center:

We are working on Making 10s this week.  My firsties have to draw a number card and put that many chips on their tens frame.  Then they have to count to see what the missing addend would be.  Then they have to write the addition sentence on the white board.

The number cards are from Jeannine from Creative Lessons Cafe.

This math center is using brace maps to figure out how many different shapes fit in to each other.

This little freebie was from Reagan Tunstall from Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits.

We were also finishing up some presidents day lesson and activities that we missed on our snow days.

 Guided Reading:

 These passages are from Katie Knight.  They are from her 13 American Heroes Unit.  I absolutely LOVE this unit.  We use pages from it all the time!

Writing Center:

I always take all the books and activities we learn in one week and put them in a center for the week.  This gives them the opportunity to research and discover facts on their own.  Then they have to write about some things they learned and we turn them into a class book.

 Reading Center:

Our story last week was a reader's theater play.  They are using little puppets of the characters to read the story with each other.

We have also been doing lots of different activities for Read Across America Day/Week.  More pics and ideas to come.  

I hope you guys are staying warm!  We just got a call for another snow/ice day tomorrow - UGH!  This is really messing up our fun activities!

Plants Unit in Action!

I'm back as promised!  We started our Plants unit today and my firsties LOVED it!  Here are our centers for the week:

(If you stay with me til the end, I just might have a freebie for you!)

~Fact Families Math Center~

Matching the facts to the fact family flowers.  (recording sheet included)

~Plant Parts and Labeling~

The students put the parts of the plant together and label it and then they practice with the fake flower - taking it apart and putting it back together.  After that, they make their own construction paper flower and label the parts.  I plan on putting these on the bulletin board in the hallway.

~Life Cycle~

The students put the life cycle in order.

These are a few activities I use in this center as well.

 

I also put several different kinds of seeds for them to observe.

~Sequencing Literacy Center~

The students sequence the pictures and then match the correct sentence.

(Recording sheet included)

~Writing~

I also have 3 different writing sheets included.

~Twenty Frames~

Ready for your FREEBIE?  Here is a little center activity I put together.  The students are practicing adding and subtracting numbers to 20.  They are using lima beans as counters.  They use the bean number cards to count with and then record their answers on the sheet provided.  Click here to download a copy if you like.  (I would love to hear how you liked it.  Please leave me some feedback in the comments!)

I hoped you liked your little sneak peak for centers this week.  If you liked what you saw you can check out my plants unit.  Just click on the picture below.  

Tomorrow we are putting our bean seeds in a baggie with a wet paper towel.  We hang them in the window and watch them burst open and grow roots.  Next week we will plant them in soil.  We always observe and journal the changes every few days.

Our caterpillars were supposed to be shipped today.  Can't wait to get them and start our Butterfly Unit!

I LOVE SPRING!

What's your favorite spring unit?