Letter Review and Handwriting Practice

The beginning of first grade is so special. It's also a time when we have to get the ball rolling. There is so much to teach in first grade, but there is a lot to review too! At the beginning of first grade, I always notice that there are students that need a little refresher on a few important skills:

1. Letter formation

2. Letter identification

3. Letter sounds

4. Simple sentence structure

5.... building stamina

6. Finger SPACES!

I created a handwriting journal that covers all 6 of those concepts. In about 25 minutes a day, for 26 days, you are able to hit multiple areas with the ideas I am going to outline below.

I created the Handwriting Practice journal to have students practice their handwriting. I added sentences to it to learn about sentence structure too.  When I began using this resource in my classroom, it quickly dawned on me that I can use this precious time to review letter identification and letter sounds. I used the Handwriting Practice journal to do all of that.

I wanted to give you a glimpse into how I cover all 5 concepts in just 20 minutes. Here is how my lessons go:

1. Introduce the letter for the day. I write the letter in the middle of a blank piece of colorful paper. We review the sound. Then, we come up with words that begin with that letter. I write the words on the paper. We try to take up as much space as possible. This pages are hung up on our classroom walls and stay there for the year. The students refer to them ALL of the time. Student made word walls for the win!

**You can grab these alphabet pages for free here.***

2. I model the formation of the letter using a dry erase sleeve and the traceable a large letter that is included in the product. After I model it, a student comes up and does it in front of the class. They LOVE this. 

3. I present 4-5 scrambled words that when unscrambled create a sentence. We identify the word that begins with a capital and we identify the punctuation in the sentence. We place those words in their correct spots. We read the words and then place the other scrambled words in their correct places. The students read the sentence. 

4. We discuss the meaning of the sentence (simple comprehension). We draw a picture on the whiteboard of the sentence trying to include a setting and the characters. I model & eventually just remind how to write the sentence using finger spaces. I also tell students that when they are practicing their letters, to also use finger spaces. Then, I don't have to give them a certain "number" of letters to write.

4. We review what we just learned and then students begin to independently work on their handwriting page. I set my timer for 15 minutes and encourage them to work the whole time. This is where students work on their working stamina. At the beginning, 15 minutes is a little long, so we take brain breaks after about 5-7 minutes.

That's how simple it is to fit ALL of those concepts in, in about 20-25 minutes. Each day is predictable and effective. This is one of my favorite things to use at the beginning of the year. All of these skills need repetition and this is SO practical and effective.

If you're interested in this file, click below!

If you want FREE word wall printables with pictures to use to review letter sounds with your students, click the picture below!

Teaching Character Traits!

My favorite thing to teach is Character Traits. Pair it with my favorite book and I am in heaven! 

When I teach character traits, I also like to tie it in with my writing workshop time so students get more exposure to developing a character's identity.

When my students and I completed this unit, they had some previous experience with character traits. I didn't need to spend a lot of time going over inside and outside traits.

I used this poster to review the concept.

After we went over the poster, the students and I read an adorable story called, "Jan's New Friend." We discussed the events that happened in the book (a little cause and effect can be integrated). Then, students and I came up with words to describe the main character, Jan. Once the reading was finished, I paired students up with a partner and they re-read this book together.

The activity that I gave students included a list of inside traits. Only some of them described Jan. The students had to decide which ones described her and which ones did not. The students glued the words around Jan on the character trait paper. It's amazing how students naturally HAVE to practice pulling out evidence from the text in order to justify adding a trait to the paper. I love this activity!

The next day, the students listened to me read the book, "Cindy Moo" by Lori Mortenson. This may be my favorite book. Something about it just warms my heart.

Once we read this book, we discussed it and then completed a reading response activity to keep it simple for the day.

The next day, we revisited the book and started to dig into character traits and providing evidence.

We walked through the book and described her and students help tell why (provide evidence).

Afterwards, students completed a character trait paper on their own.

This picture gives you a look at all of the reading responses that we did.

We ended out our week with a little craft. Students practiced identifying Cindy Moo's emotions during the beginning, middle and end of the story. They also wrote about a text-self connection!

During our week of Cindy Moo, students also wrote stories with characters. It was SO much fun!

The purpose of the writing was to allow students to practice including story elements in their writing as well as develop their characters so we could identify character traits for them too!

To begin, I gave students three choices for a setting for their story. Then, I laid out a lot of character options for their stories.

Once students identified a setting and characters for their story, then I let them play before doing any actual writing. This is always my favorite. Students get to be KIDS. They get with a partner and make up stories using their characters and setting like toys. Doing this always makes for amazingly creative stories.

Once students played, then we shared out our story ideas. We made sure to point out problems and solutions in stories because we wanted to make sure we all included one in our story.

Once we did that, then it was time for me to model how to take all of the ideas and turn them into real stories! We focused a lot on what belongs in the beginning, middle and end of a story. We referred to Cindy Moo during this too.

This is what I used to help guide my students through writing their own stories!

Once my students wrote their own stories and were ready to publish, the first did a little peer editing.

I am not always able to spend the time with students to edit their stories like I wish I could so I always have students meet with partners first. Honestly, partner editing works! If you haven't given it a try, do it!

The rule of thumb in my classroom is; I will not do a final edit until two people in the class have went through the editing checklist. In other words, two students need to help edit a story before I will do a final edit. 

Here is the checklist my students use. I laminate them and we use them throughout the year.

After students edit, then they work to on their cover page and adding detail to to their illustrations. I don't normally have students in first grade re-write their entire book. They only rewrite a page if it is not legible. 

If you're interested in this Character Traits unit, you can find it by clicking the picture below!

Subtraction Word Problems

In first grade, it's so easy for us teachers to assume students already know something. When a student can find the right answer to an addition or subtraction problem, we assume that they understand it. But, do they really understand it?

I always like to allow students to have a lot of dialogue surrounding the concepts that we are working on and subtraction is no different.

I wanted to share this activity with you because it really gave students the ability to practice subtraction in a more meaningful way. When subtraction is put into context of a word problem, students actually begin to understand that to subtract means to take something away. In this activity students get to practice this and deepen their understanding.

Before my students and I did this lesson we did two days of subtraction lessons which came after about two weeks of addition instruction. They have a basic understanding right now and this lesson was meant to deepen that.

For this lesson, I prepared this anchor chart ahead of time. When I prepared it though, I left the lines blank. My students and I read through the word problem without the subject, the place and the numbers. They determined right away that this was a subtraction word problem. I asked the students to help me fill in the blanks. If we weren't so tight on time I would have had them come up and write the numbers and words, but we were in a bit of a rush. After we filled in the blanks we discussed what the word problem was actually asking us to do. Then, we came up with our number sentence. The student I called on for the number sentence did a classic: raise your hand and then say I forgot. I actually love it when this happens because I can guide the student through the thinking process which is exactly what I did. It helped her understand how to develop a number sentence from a word problem and honestly, I think it helped it click for a few other students too.

Once we were done with the whole group lesson, then it was the students turn to come up with their own word problem. I had them write their own word problem and then solve it themselves. When they finished, they wrote a different word problem on the other side of the paper and gave it to a friend to solve. (this was great for motivation)

If you want to try something like this, you can grab the word problem paper for free here.

Have fun!!