Such A Fun Week!! Come Peek! :)

This week my little firsties had their wonderful standardized tests -- and can I just say that I'm glad it's over. They were worn out by the end of the weekend and ready for their weekend off! ;) -- so, was their teacher!!

Even with testing we had a super busy week! Here we go!!

1. This week in math our main focus was symmetry! I drew half of a flower and we completed a whole group lesson on symmetry together. The kids had indoor recess so I let them color the flower. :) 

Turned out pretty cute!!

 We discussed strategies to use when trying to make things symmetrical in terms of drawing. The kids tried really hard to make things the same width on each side and at the same level. I think they did a pretty good job!

After this whole group lessons the students faces were cut in half and they drew the other halves of their faces. I wish you could see them--they're so cute!

2. We squeezed in a little bit of living & non-living this week! This will be continuous lesson before and after spring break! We went over vocabulary here:

We looked at pictures of living and non-living things and then students got to draw a a picture of a living thing. Then they gave a reason to explain why it was a living thing. Love lessons like this! :) They're so open ended and I get so much creativity from the kids!

3. This week was also all about March Madness with a mix of dinosaurs!! I'll be doing a blog post on this unit when we finish it but here are some pictures for now! :)

Here we worked on predicting and learning to confirm our predictions.

These are the books we used because we learned all about fiction VS non-fiction!

This Dino-Basketball Unit can be found Here:

The literacy stations can found here:

We also dug into our basketball literacy stations to review lots of fun concepts!

4. Today, I finally finished updating my spring math station packet! There are 20 stations in here and right now it is 15% off!! Grab it while it's discounted!! 

I also finished updating another unit that I made last year and OMG I can't wait to dig into it with my kids!!

It focuses on how the sun provides energy which is a pretty big science standard that first graders need to hit! I also made it align with reading and writing standards! It's a fun and comprehensive unit!

5. Now, I just had to save the best for last! This past weekend I attended my first blogger meet-up! I literally had so much fun and I want to do it again like ASAP!! Here are some pictures!:)

 That's all for today!! I'll be back next time to share my Dino-Basketball Unit in full force!! :)

Meanwhile, enjoy your Friday & weekend! Let's pray it warms up!

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Spring Cleaning Sale!

I'm hittin' the hay after one stressful night! Before I do I want to tell you that there is a spring cleaning sale going on and I just had to join right on in! 

Click below to go shopping!!

See you tomorrow for a 5 for Friday!! :)

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Math 'Workshop' In My Classroom!

I have to be honest and say that I had total full intentions of trying math workshop using rotations but I just wasn't getting through a lesson a day like I needed to because of time constraints. So, with a little organizing I have the perfect math 'workshop' structure to fit my classroom needs. I've shared all kinds of information on reading instruction in my room but I've never mentioned math so here we go!

Here are some of the math products I used in what you see above:

March Math Notebook

March Mash-Up

Place Value Packet of Fun

Shapes Galore for the Common Core

Have a great week!!

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QR Codes & Visual Plans & Freebies Galore!!

Well, Hot Tamales! I am back for a third time this week on this little ol' blog! This week there are freebies included in my visual plans and they can literally be used with any book. I am also breaking out some cute QR code stations that I wanted to show you today! 

These stations are so easy to use and very engaging for the kids. We do have 1:1 I-pads in my district but these are only placed at the I-pad station. So, if you have 3-5 I-pads handy then this could definitely run smoothly within your room.

Scanning QR codes are super easy. All you need to do is download the APP called Qrafter. There is a free one and that one works very well. 

Then, all you need to do is teach the kids to scan! In my packet I have provided a test page for students to practice scanning QR codes. It is very easy and it helps the kids learn to use the text and URL part of Qr codes.

To scan a code you just click (touch) a camera that you see on the screen.

Then, depending on which QR code you scan you will see text - Which you see here...

Or you will click on View URL... & the students will see a picture with the word on it.

Kids LOVE using QR codes and it's a great new way to engage them in literacy activities where they don't even realize they are doing school work!

Each activity comes with a matching recording form.

Now, onto my visual plans for the week! We had two snow days last week so we are playing catch-up on Monday and Tuesday! I hope we get all the fun stuff in this week.

You'll notice I changed my template and that's because it is just easier for me to follow and if by chance I get sick then this is much easier to understand for a sub.

To see my week & grab 2 FREEBIES click on the picture below!

To grab ANOTHER FREEBIE then click below on the fan freebie girl and head on over to my FB page!

This one is from my new Basketball Literacy Stations!

Have a great week everyone! I hope you enjoyed reading my blog today! I'd love for you to stick with me and click on the lil' ol' follow button above!

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