Gearing Up for Another Week

Happy Sunday, friends.  Have the Sunday blues set in yet?  Hopefully you're enjoying your day and you have your lessons all planned for the week.

Do you use Houghton Mifflin for your core language arts program in your district?  It is what we use in my district.  This week, we will officially begin Theme 1.  Hopefully I won't offend anyone when I say that it can be a little dry without some creative supplementing.  While planning for the week, I was so glad I was able to pull ideas and materials from my Theme 1 Resource Pack for activities and ideas. 

 

 

This resource is packed with activities for high-frequency words, phonics skills, and comprehension activities.  It contains 2 centers as well as a fun game for your kiddos to play. 

 

 

All of this for only $5.00.  Check it out to make planning for Houghton Mifflin so much easier!  Just click on the picture above to head over to my TPT store. 

If you're not a Houghton Mifflin user, the centers contained within this packet are also available to purchase separately in my TPT store. 

 

Stay tuned this week for another freebie.  Keep sparkling!

Bushels of Math Fun and a {Freebie}

Here in PA, it is apple harvest season.  While the weather outside is still pretty muggy, before we know it we'll be enjoying apple festivals and feasting on locally grown gala apples, fugi apples, and lots, lots more.
Speaking of apples, I just so happen to have an apple-themed math center packet featured in my Teachers Pay Teachers store.  It is packed with 5 math centers perfect for the skills our firsties are learning at this time of year.  Check them out:
 

This is our current math center.  We are practicing using ten-frames to count easily.

 
We definitely need to practice dot patterns!
 

 

 

 

Just looking at these pies makes me hungry!

 

 

Check out these tasty centers by clicking the picture below 

 

Onto the freebie:

This year I created my own center signs.  Here are some snapshot of a few:

 

If you'd like my center signs, bundled right along with mini-versions to use on your center work board, click below to download them from Google Docs.

Center Signs

 

Enjoy and Keep Sparkling!

 

Fun with Chrysanthemum and Friends

This week has FLOWN by!  We have been having so much fun reading books by Kevin Henkes, learning color words, reviewing the alphabet, getting to know each other, using ten-frames and dot patterns, and the list goes on and on and on and on.
 
A big hit has been Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes.  My kiddos LOVE this book, which just melts my heart because of the important message it sends.  I am lucky enough to have both a SMARTboard in my classroom as well as a subscription to BookFlix.  My district is really emphasizing incorporating technology as much as possible, so......we read Chrysanthemum on BookFlix and used the SMARTboard for one of our follow-up activities. I have to say, the SMARTboard is simply awesome.  There is no other word to describe it. 
Here are some scenes from our 2 days with Chrysanthemum:

Deciding how many of the letters in our name are in the alphabet

 

 

Autograph Party and Letter Count

 

 Using a venn diagram to compare and contrast the letters in our names

I used the SMARTboard by pulling up this PDF and just using the SMART markers to complete the diagram.  We were able to compare/contrast LOTS of names.

 

Our homework assignment: Find out how you got your name

 

 

The Great Name Graph

 

 

If you haven't yet purchased my Chrysanthemum packet, check it by clicking on the picture below.

 
We also read Wemberly Worried and created a great craftivity I found at Mrs. T's blog.  Check it out here.
On Tuesday, we will be reading Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse as a part of our Fun with Color Words unit.  I'll blog about that unit next week.

Have a great weekend!  Stay posted because I have two great NEW freebies coming soon!

Keep sparkling!
 

Labor Day Sale!

Hi friends!
Who doesn't love a good sale?  Now that pretty much everyone will be back to school this week, I'd thought I'd have an end of summer sale.
Click on the link to hop on over to my Teachers Pay Teachers store to enjoy my Labor Day sale.  EVERYTHING in my store is 15% off TODAY ONLY! 
While you're there, check out some of my newest awesome tools for your classroom: (click on the picture to view them in my store)

Labor Day Survey and Graphing Packet

 

Bushels of Learning Fun (Math Centers)

This packet is filled with 5 centers to practice dot patterns, ten frames, ordering and comparing numbers and more!

 

 

I hope you find something that will help your students learn and take some of the weight off of your shoulders!  Keep sparkling!



First Week Whirlwind

Wow!  One week in and it sure was BUSY!  We only got about 2/3 of what I had planned finished.  But, there’s always next week, right?
Here are some of the things we did this week:

High-frequency WOrd Practice

These are a few pages from my high-frequency words freebie.  Check it out here:

Labor Day

These are the completed adult Labor Day surveys.  We were so excited to read the surveys and graph the responses!!!!  Remember, if you haven’t taught your students about Labor Day yet, it's not to late. This packet would be a great thing to do this week.  Check the surveys and graphing ideas out in my Labor Day packet here:

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

We read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and made this adorable craftivity, an idea from a lovely lady I teach with

 David Goes To School

We read David Goes to School and made this too cute craftivity.  Check it out here, in Angie Neal’s TPT store. 


We did so much more than all of this, but we were so busy that I didn’t take pictures of our ten-frame fun, our dot patterns on dice, our jitter juice, our class books, our time capsules, and lots more.  I am going to try harder to take more pictures. 
Luckily, I have a truly great class filled with little sweethearts!  I am so excited that I get to spend a whole year with them!  Now that we’re in a routine, I plan on taking lots more pictures and updating you more frequently.
Keep sparkling!