Differentiated Year-Long Spelling and Word Work

In my district, we do not have a basal or a phonics program (pause for the angels to descend upon us in a beam of glowing light). While I love not having to plan my instruction around one, I know that there are many teachers in my position that wish they had some sort of guide or scope and sequence to help them plan their instruction.

Enter:

It's here. It's differentiated. It's low-prep. And it has you covered for the whole year! (Click on any of the pictures to hop over to my store).

You get 30 weeks of spelling instruction.  Each week focuses on a different skill and has two different lists (the standard "A List" and a more challenging "B List").

Each week also comes with a say and sort page. Have students glue the pieces down or have them keep the pieces to complete other kinds of sorts throughout the week.

Needing additional practice? With this product, students also have the opportunity to practice spelling with word configuration boxes. Alongside the spelling practice, students can also build their reading skills by filling in a sentence with the correct spelling word. These two types of printables come with every list, every week.

But the fun doesn't stop there! Also included in this product is my Word Work Activities for Any List! Yours for free! So many practice opportunities! Here is a brief preview:

This product also includes 20 task cards and a rubric :)

I wanted to give you and your students plenty of options when it comes to spelling instruction. If you are interested in seeing more, the preview file in my TPT store gives you one week free to try out. 

Needing Math Games? I've Got You Covered!

It's been a while, dear blog.

While my blog has taken a bit of a back seat lately, I have had a few sparks of creativity this summer when it comes to products for my TPT store.

A while ago, I did a blog post about the beginnings of math workshop in my first grade classroom. This was towards the end of my second year teaching. As I prepare to enter my fourth year, I am so glad I decided to take the math workshop plunge.

Every day, my students get to go to the math facts center. In first grade, this takes the form of games that have students practicing their addition and subtraction fact fluency. But like I said, all of my kids go to this station every. single. day.  One question I get a lot is "Where do you get all the games?" We all know that novelty and choice are the key to keeping our students' interests piqued.

Here's my little secret: My first graders basically play the same math games all year long. But they don't know it. The trick? Switching out the clipart. Slightly changing the rules. Adding another die to the mix. Voila! They think they are playing an entirely different game! Best day ever!

This is why I love Bump. Once I teach my students the rules, they are good to go for the whole year. They get so excited when a new month/season/holiday rolls around and I set out some new bump boards.

With Bumpin' through the Year, you get 30 different boards.  Each one is themed for a different part of the school year. Students simply follow the dice directions in the upper corner to play. Click the images below to check it out!

Opinion Writing & Text Evidence

We've got a new evaluation tool about to hit in my district. Perhaps you've heard of my dear friend, Charlotte Danielson? Well I'm sure Charlotte is a nice lady and all, but quite frankly she's got everyone in a tizzy. There's a whole lot of How can first graders do that when they can't even tie their shoes and remember what they chose for hot lunch going on.

Well, I'll let you in on a little secret. I've found that when you really get down to it, first graders can do a whole lot more than you'd think (although I am still waiting for about 40% of my class to learn to tie their darn shoes).

I don't know why, but providing support with text evidence is one of my favorite things to do with my first graders. I'm not sure if it's because I feel like super-teacher when they do it right or what. But you better believe that I show off our text-evidence-finding-skills every chance we get.

Enter: A Pig Parade is a Terrible Idea

Oh. My. Word. Why didn't I know about this book until now? It is hilarious. The illustrations are fabulous. And it had all my students laughing - even Mr. Serious who I sometimes feel like I couldn't pay to crack a smile. It was a great way to start my morning.

The gist of the book is this: You might think that a pig parade sounds like a jolly good time, but you are so wrong. The author then goes on to tell you why a pig parade is a terrible idea.

Does this sound like CCSS W.1.1 material to any of you?! It did to me. And here's what we ended up with:

Needless to say, my kids loved this mini-writing project. It will definitely be back again next year, hopefully with a cute craftivity to go with it!

Here are some additional ideas:

My Latest & Greatest: Science Prove-Its!

One thing that I love about teaching science to primary students is that they come in filled with misconceptions.  There are so many teachable moments when providing science instruction to first graders!

And, as we all know, there is a huge push for providing evidence. Every time I remind my students to explain how they know, they might say I sound like a broken record (if they knew what a broken record was...)

Me: Providing evidence means can't just tell me the answer, you have to...
My Rockstar Firsties: PROVE IT!

Ah, music to this teacher's ears!

This is where my idea of science "Prove-Its" came from.

Students are given a scenario and they must prove their answer!  My students' favorites were some of the prompts that included misconceptions, such as the example below. They loved explaining to their "sister" why she was so wrong!

I really saw a difference when it was time for our summative assessment. Students performed exceedingly well because they weren't just memorizing facts and answers; they knew the why and how behind them!

Writing + Evidence + NGSS Science + Higher-Level Thinking = WIN!  Check them out in my store and let me know what you think!

Ringing in the New Year with Math Freebies!

It's Sunday and my back-to-school anxiety is in full swing. I haven't set foot in my classroom since I left at 3:00 on our last day before break and have completely forgotten anything and everything I had already planned out for this first week back. Anyone else in the same boat?

Hopefully some freebies will help get us all back into teacher-mode! Because there's nothing better than a good freebie, right?

Although I have a hoarders-worthy collection of math activities for my first grade classroom, there are always a few concepts I come to and feel that I need just a bit more. That is why I decided to create a series of free math printables to pull from when my students need additional reinforcement. Click through on the picture to head over to my store :)

Each freebie includes a few no-prep, print and go activities to help reinforce different first grade concepts. I am hoping to include more free math printable sets in the future, so be on the lookout over at my TPT store :)

Good luck this week!

A Long-Overdue Update!

A post on this blog is way overdue! And so was a makeover on my best selling product on TPT, my Ezra Jack Keats author study. I've used this every year since I've started teaching and my kids love it. Bonus - my administrator also loved it. And a super bonus - I love teaching with it! 

However, it definitely needed a complete overhaul. Apparently when I first started creating, I had no sense of cohesive fonts. Plus, everything just looked kind of "blah" to me. As I spend more time developing my creative style, I wanted this product to match my more recent products.

Here are some before and after photos of the author study. The "before" is on the left-hand side, and the "after" is on the right. 

The product also includes new printables, including cumulative writing activities that encourage students to utilize text evidence to discuss the common themes of the stories. I also included an opinion writing activity where students write about their favorite Ezra Jack Keats book, giving details to support their opinions.

Each of the seven stories also has a sequencing cut and paste activity and a flip book highlighting the academic vocabulary terms from the books.

If you are looking for a great way to incorporate quality children's literature into your classroom, look no further. This unit is jam packed with resources to help support young students' reading development!

December Currently

Welp, here I am again for Currently. I know I say this every month, but I cannot believe it's already December! We've had just a few dustings of snow here and there so it definitely doesn't feel like the holidays are right around the corner.

And again, here I am saying that I wish I was doing a better job keeping up with this blog! We've been up to some really great stuff in first grade lately but I've been too caught up in the moment to take pictures and blog about it. My kids are loving our light and sound unit in science. It is so super hands-on that they are really getting a solid understanding of the concepts and are having fun at the same time! Hopefully I can add some pictures soon :)

Here is this month's link up with Farley:

Listening: Laundry seems to be a constant in this apartment. For those of you who have kids, I know it multiplies even more than I could ever imagine. I don't know how you all do it!

Loving: Christmas is hands down my favorite time of year. From the holiday music and the decorations and all my students getting excited about Santa - I love every second. Even if it does mean a couple of weeks of restlessness in the first grade world.

Thinking: Tomorrow is our annual ornament exchange and it is definitely one of the highlights of the year! I can't wait to enjoy a fun night with my friends and co-workers. Then, this weekend my man and I are off to St. Louis to celebrate our anniversary. We're going to hop around town, get drinks and sushi for dinner, and then see the Christmas lights at the botanical garden. He totally surprised me with this idea and I can't wait to have a fun and relaxing weekend!

Wanting: It seems that as it gets closer and closer, this pops up on my blog more frequently. After fall classes wrap up next week, I've got one more class until my Masters degree is in the books. I can almost taste the freedom.

Needing: Holiday time means buying for others and getting sucked into all of the cute wintery clothing and the fabulous online sales. I should probably get a bit more consistent when it comes to saving.

Christmas Tree: I always, always will choose real over fake! Although we do not have a real one in the apartment, we definitely will when we have the space in our own home. We always had a real tree growing up - nothing beats that pine-y smell!

Happy Holidays!