Looking ahead and Grinch Day

I, like most of you, have had such a rough time with the news of the tragedy.  My thoughts and prayers are most definitely in the Sandy Hook community.  We have practiced intruder drills for the past 5 years now, but we revisited it again yesterday-and my hiding spot most definitely moved.  It was chilling to realize the time frame of the whole event... and that if it were at my school, he would have made it to my room---and I would be that teacher....  It's good to go through things and look at how things will be different.  Safer.  But, it is definitely in the back of my mind when my littles are not in my room!  I realized my closet door does not lock---which they are now looking into.  Only a handful of my kiddos knew about it, so I kept things brief.  We were told to address it with our kids Monday morning.  Since little knew, I just stressed how I love them all and that I will keep them safe and that they knew the procedures for the different drills...  Then on to the pre-holiday chaos that only first graders know how to BRING.  ugh.  How was your Monday back?

 I also wanted to mention that I finished my Tacky the Penguin unit that also focuses on researching penguins!  I just ADORE Tacky.  Love reading him each year.  I also am quite fond of the little black and white cuteness too---combining them was easy and fun.  I plan on doing this with my kids when we get back in January.  Maybe for the first 2-3 weeks, depending on old man winter and what he has in store!  ;)  I am even planning (and have a parent letter in the packet) for a 'Tacky Day!'  I can't wait!  I will beat those winter blues this year!  ;)

So, tomorrow is our first grade Grinch Day.  I thought I would share something that I created for math for my kids to work on.  They are my word problems that have them also WRITE their thinking/process.  Because we aren't allowed to sell things "Grinch" I'm offering it here for free--till I'm not allowed to use that word here!  ;)  Click on the picture to grab yourself a freebie.   (and if you can't use it this year----save it for next year!)

Sorry for not keeping this short and sweet!  I hope you have a wonderful holiday break filled with family and relaxation!  3 more days to go for me! 

Silence for Sandy Hook Elementary

12-12-12

Well, I did some last minute 12-12-12 planning.  I'm taking a break from my regularly scheduled plans-and bringing you these last minute freebies!

Reading/LA----(We will also be doing the daily 5 in 12 minute increments)  ;)
Students are going to search books to find 12 nouns, 12 verbs and 12 adjectives and write a sentence using one from each list.

 Students are going to write 12 short a, 12 short e, 12 short i, 12 short o, and 12 short u words and will draw a picture of their 2 favorite words for each.

Writing---
Students will write their 12 year-old self a letter.
They will also complete a little memory of the day.  I will save these to hand them in 6 years (not all will be 12 then, but it'll be easier to just hand them all back at the same time). 

Math---
Students will decorate a tree using ornaments to write facts that equal 12.  I'm not going to care what kind they find.  They can all be addition.  Some will try some challenging subtraction.  (I have 2 different pages in the packet---the first one has the ornaments already on the tree;  The second has it separate.  If you can, enlarge the tree for those little guys)

Computers---We will read the 12 days of Christmas and will use KidPix to type the numbers 1-12.  Under each number, they will stamp that number of items!  Easy Peasy!  (no pics for this)  This can easily be your read aloud activity for the day and they can illustrate the numbers, etc.

OH-and I'm setting the alarm for 12:12 and we will have a 12 second cheer for 12-12-12!  :P


Happy 12-12-12!  Click {HERE} to grab yourself the complete packet for FREE!  Don't forget, if you are not a follower already, click the follow me button so you don't miss out on other freebies (and with the way this year is going, it might be last minute again, and I might not have time to post it elsewhere...)  ;)

Christmas Math Games-Freebie

Just in time for the holidays!  Click {HERE} below to grab yourself not one, but THREE dice roll games to have your kids do, to get you through the next 2 weeks!

Directions are on each page.  All you need to do is print, copy, laminate and have counters and dice available.

{Games reinforce doubles and doubles +1}

I've updated the pages above.  My brain must be suffering from what my students are suffering from lately and I had the wrong directions on the Race to Rudolph game!  whoops!  Fixed now ;)

Daily 5

Hi all!  I hope this month is going fairly smooth for you so far!  My 2 year old is still exhausting me with not sleeping through the night...  Oh how I wish I drank coffee this year!  (and last year...)  I don't have anything NEW that you could use in the coming weeks, but thought I'd share a little about my classroom.

I know that there is a ton of things out there for the Daily 5.  I thought I'd take a moment to explain how it works in my classroom!  First, I need to say, since we switch our kiddos, I do not set it up as well as it's supposed to be---with building stamina and all that...  If I did, I'd still be working on that at this time of year---and lets face it.  I'd be redoing everything when we get back in January!  I just couldn't.

I found on a blog a few years ago (so I do not have a link to give proper credit...) that a teacher used bookmarks for students to know how to go from station to station.  I decided to do that last year, to save my sanity on moving kids' names, scheduling even more, etc.  I couldn't let them just have "free choice" off the bat either.  I created 25 completely different bookmarks.  Each bookmark has a different "rotation" schedule.  It's designed to have 5 at each at any given time.  {This year I redid them, and forgot about making them ALL different and had 5 bookmarks that I made 5 copies each of... and I realized.  When they travel together from station to station---my room gets louder and louder and they start to lose focus.  LAST year, when I had all different ones, they don't travel from station to station and things were smooth.  I loved it!}

Each student will pick a bookmark either at the beginning of class, or when they are done with work before small group time starts.  This year, I labelled the back of each bookmark a different letter from the alphabet.  This is so they can keep track of these darn bookmarks.  THIS group has such a difficult time organizing themselves and had lost at least 6 bookmarks that I had made in the beginning of the year-that we're not using anymore.  Now that there is a letter, they KNOW which is theirs, and if it's left behind, they can now easily find it---of course, that is, IF they didn't lose it in a book or somewhere else.... :/

 My bookmarks match the posters at each area, so that they have no trouble figuring out where to go!

Click {HERE} to grab yourself a copy of the posters and bookmarks.  

I'll be back later to explain how I work my Word Work area.  

Disclaimer---the above information is what I personally do.  The Daily 5 and CAFÉ are trademark and copy written content of Educational Design, LLC dba The 2 Sisters.  Educational Design, LLC dba The 2 Sisters does not authorize or endorse these materials.