We did a directed drawing of The Statue of Liberty. The kids did an AMAZING job! We wanted to find out the answer to the following question. It is really hard to explain to kids just how HUGE the Statue of Liberty really is! So, we measured out bulletin board paper for her foot (even the length of her toes is correct) to get an idea of how huge she is! All About The Statue of Liberty writing Our bald eagles... they turned out so ... continue reading...
Search Results for: label/Statue of Liberty
American Symbols & Presidents {Includes FREE Download}
American symbols for kids in kindergarten and first grade with a free activity too! American Symbols is one of my favorite units to teach! I took all of the facts about the U.S. symbols and broke them down into fun, engaging lessons. Here are a few pics of some of the activities. American Symbols for Kids: Chit Chat After reading the nonfiction text from my Chit Chat unit we used our newly learned information and context clues to fill in the missing information on our Chit Chat ... continue reading...
How to Start Teaching Writer’s Workshop in Kindergarten & First Grade
Do you struggle with how to get started? Writer's Workshop in kindergarten and first grade classrooms is one of the most powerful components. In Writing Workshop in kindergarten and first grade, students are encoding words that come from their thoughts and feelings, which is a much easier skill than decoding. Successful writers become successful readers! So, how do you get started? The answer is simple. Just jump right in!! I usually start at the beginning of the ... continue reading...
America Part 2
We learned about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln and created a Venn Diagram. A close up of our George and Abe directed drawings. We read, We the Kids and created a Class Promise. We wanted to find out why the Statue of Liberty is green so we conducted a penny experiment. The kids thought is was so neat to see the copper pennies turn green! We also did a Liberty Bell Science experiment. But I forgot to take a ... continue reading...
American Symbols Activities and Resources for Kindergarten & First Grade
American symbols activities and resources. Informational texts, anchor charts, crafts, science experiments, emergent reader, math games, writing activities, and more! American Symbols Activities Teaching about American symbols can be lots of fun and students learn about important pieces of our history! These lesson ideas and resources are perfect for engaging students in the study of American symbols. Chit Chat Messages: American Symbols Chit chat messages are perfect for shared ... continue reading...
America Unit Part One
I love how cute the bald eagles turned out! This is a picture of our Chit-Chit message. These messages are how I teach and review phonics, reading and language skills. There is no better way to teach letter sounds and sound chunks than in the context of authentic reading and writing. We read a sentence just as it is written and then use our schema and other context clues to help us figure out what would make sense in the sentence. Once we think we have it figured ... continue reading...
Worksheets Don’t Grow Dendrites: Chapters 1 & 2 LOTS OF PICTURES & EXAMPLES
I'm linking up with Elizabeth from Kickin' It in Kindergarten for this book study post. As I'm reading this book I constantly find myself nodding, Yes! and writing in the margins of the book. So far this book is really solidifying my Teaching Philosophy. I've always been a HUGE believer in giving students the opportunities to turn and talk. When students are given the opportunities to put what they've learned into their own words it solidifies their thinking and learning and they stand a ... continue reading...
Busy Bunnies Directed Drawing and Writing FREEBIE
Spring Directed Drawings free file with a writing activity. These are perfect for Easter! Your kindergarten and 1st-grade students will love this! Shoo!!! Please forgive me for not blogging in a while. I know that I'm supposed to be smack dab in the middle of a book study but my life has been CUH-RAZY the last few weeks. I promise to catch up on all of the chapters that I've missed soon! (pinkie promise!) As a peace offering, I made a quick Directed Drawing/Writing activity and I ... continue reading...
Interactive Reading Comprehension Journals
I love looking around my room and seeing smiling faces while students read. This creates such a special feeling in the classroom. However, learning to read is really like learning a new language. It takes time and can be frustrating for students. So, I love to create fun and exciting ways for students to interact and think about stories and informational texts. For example, the Interactive Reading Comprehension Journals include so many hands-on ways for students to reflect on their reading in ... continue reading...
Oceans of Fun!
I got up bright and early this morning and drove 2 hrs. in search of the perfect wedding dress for my daughter Taylor. SUCCESS! But, I'm one tired mamma so this is going to be a super quick post! We just started our ocean unit. Nothing gets boys excited more than sharks! (okay...maybe dinosaurs...but they still LOVE sharks too). We used interactive writing to label the parts of a shark. Comparing sharks and whales. Schema Chart Writing ... continue reading...
Common Core Standards Organization and Wishy Washy!
I've had a lot of questions about how I organize my Common Core Standards and Essential Questions. I display them on posters which are hot glued to ribbon. The standards are attached with velcro so that they are easy to change in and out. (Please excuse the bad picture above. The standards shown are from the 1st grade set. Notice that the clipart images match the standard and that the essential question clipart also matches. This helps the little ones who can't read understand the ... continue reading...
Engaging Readers: Getting it ORGANIZED!
Hey There! Happy Hump day! We've had a few questions about how we organize our new Engaging Readers units so I thought I'd do a quick blog post to show you! These are the supplies I used to organize mine. I used a 1" binder sheet protectors Binder pocket (one pocket holds all four books) ziploc baggies Clear packing tape Printables for the spine and fronts of sheet protectors click HERE to get yours. First, I put our cutie patootie cover (thanks to ... continue reading...
FREE Spine Labels for Binders: Getting Organized!
This is a throwback post that I did awhile back about getting our Guiding Readers units organized. Since this post, I've had quite a few requests to make matching spine labels for the Writing and Math units. So HERE YOU GO! Sorry, it took me so long! We also have a Free Year-Long Curriculum Map for Kindergarten and First Grade. (Scroll to the bottom of this post to grab the map and spines) If you want to read the throw back post carry on! If not, Happy Organizing. ... continue reading...
Leonardo the Terrible Monster Reading Lesson Plans for K-1
Leonardo the Terrible Monster reading comprehension lesson plans with student response activities. Print and teach lessons to engage your students in reading! Leonardo the Terrible Monster This story by Mo Willems is one of my favorite stories to read, especially in October around Halloween. If you are not familiar with this book, it is about a monster named Leonardo. Leonardo is not a scary monster, no matter how hard he tries! He does some research and thinks he finds the perfect little ... continue reading...
The Gruffalo Lesson Plans | Reading Comprehension for K-2
The Gruffalo lesson plans for K-2. Engaging 5-day lesson plans with differentiated reading response, vocabulary, sentence study, and a craft for this fun story! The Gruffalo A clever mouse outsmarts some woodland animals who want to eat him with the story of a Gruffalo. Little does he know, a Gruffalo is real and loves to eat mice. Your students will love this award-winning story! Through our engaging lesson plans students will strengthen their reading comprehension skills and have fun ... continue reading...