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!

1

Symmetry & Stations...& AI, AY

As a new teacher in the wonderful state of Ohio... we new teachers get the privilege to get observed on a bi-weekly basis. I am not even kidding. The past two months I have had observation  conference, observation, another conference, ehh let's through a random walk through in there... and guess what I get tomorrow?.. Another observation and I get pulled out of my classroom again next week to have a conference to talk about my lesson. Do you want to know how I know I get pulled from my classroom too much? My kids are starting to ask, "Ms. Williams why are you always leaving?" I feel so bad... I tell them... "I have to, but I don't want to." Poor little kiddos.

So, I went on that little vent for a reason.  To SHOW you what I will be doing for my observation tomorrow. We are working on SYMMETRY!  I am SO excited for this lesson. You have no idea how long I have been waiting to do symmetry.  I found a lesson on Cara Carroll's blog and well let's just say I am doing a spin off from hers!

First, we are discussing what symmetry is. I created this anchor chart to help introduce the concept to my students. I can't wait for my kiddo's to see it. They love, love, love the cutesy stuff!

After we go over the anchor chart we will then sit in a circle on the floor and I will have my kiddo's make the snowman symmetrical. As we do this we will discuss why he can be symmetrical and discuss other things that can also be symmetrical.

When we are finished with these two things I am going to give students a picture of themselves. But, here is the catch... their face is cut in half.  They are going to draw the other half of their face to show that they are symmetrical.  I am so excited to see these. I took pictures of them today and they are so curious as to WHY I had to take ALL of their pictures!! I can't wait !!!!!

Now, onto this weeks literacy stations... I only have one picture. It is a picture that may help though.  When my kids do stations they are sorting and combining all sorts of cards and other things.  Let's just say that it can be a mess.  Well, today I gave students pocket charts to do the activities with and I must say... not one card on the floor. I can't hang up the pocket charts in my room because my room is literally the size of someones living room... take away half of it ;)... so not kidding right now.  So, I had them rolled up and stored away... then all the sudden this morning it dawned on me... umm... these don't have to be hung up to be used! So, there we go! Now, I just need to go buy more! I only have 2!! Ahh

Now, onto my last thing. Our big focus in reading this week and next is Ay, and Ai digraphs. I created a packet to help with this concept.  Right now we have the Scott Foresman reading series and it does not really offer a lot of hands on, student led opportunities so I have been creating, creating.  here is the pack and a preview of it!

Click on either of the two pictures to get to the link!

I would love to hear from you! 1st to comment gets this whole pack for free! 

Just become a follower & leave your e-mail!

2