The Day the Crayons Quit

I have been busy this summer working on my math and literacy units for my favorite classroom books. "The Day the Crayons Quit" by Drew Daywalt is such an amazing book to use in your classroom... and if you are like me, you will use it several times throughout the school year.

I absolutely LOVE this book, and I find a way to use this book 3-4 times during the year. This 70 page math and literacy unit is a great way to fill your centers with fun learning activities, leave out for morning work, or to have set aside for your students that complete their assignments early. You can use different parts of this unit all year long.

Here are a few pages from this unit...

Homophones, Homonyms & Homographs

How I spent my Saturday...

I created a 35 page differentiated literacy center/unit on homophones! I know... CRAZY!! ;)

This unit on homophones, homonyms, and homographs can be used in your classroom in so many ways… as a literacy center, morning work, reinforcement worksheets, during your introduction/instruction on homophones, as an assessment of understanding, for home learning, and even during guided reading. I have included several activities that can be used throughout the year, as well as for homework/home learning.

I have also differentiated this unit by using different color collars on the dogs for different learning levels... YAY!! :)

This unit on homophones, homonyms, and homographs includes the following…

- (7) Mini-Anchor Charts for introducing and reinforcing homophone learning

- “Homophones I matched” recording sheet (to be used with the puzzle game)

- “Use it in a sentence” worksheet

- “Which one is it?” activity

- “Color the homophone, homonym & homophone” activity

- “Who am I?” riddle matching activity

- Homophones Puzzle Game with 57 homophone puzzles

I have also added blank puzzle pieces for each learning level for you to add any additional homophones you may want to use/introduce. :)

Writing Interactive Journals

I have finally started taking some of my ideas for interactive journals and creating the journal entries. I decided to work on writing first... and I have to say, I am pretty pleased with how it turned out. :)

These letter form handwriting guides and practice sheets are perfect for your classroom writing interactive journals, literacy centers, morning work, or handwriting/penmanship standards instruction. Each page focuses on both uppercase and lowercase letter forms. With 26 pages (one for each letter of the alphabet), you will have enough weekly interactive journal entries for three quarters!

I have also included writing interactive journal covers in two colors and designs (girl/boy) to use with your composition or spiral notebooks.

Click here to purchase this activity from my TpT store

Here is how these letter form handwriting guides and practice sheets can be used with your interactive journals...

Our Last Hoorah!

bittersweet - adjective  \bit-ter-sweet\ : something that is bittersweet; pleasure alloyed with pain, combining happiness and sadness. 
example: Celebrating a year of amazing accomplishments by my students as they get ready to move on to second grade, but also having to say good-bye to the best first grade year ever at the same time.

We had such a smashing time at our end-of-year party celebration. Food, fun, friends, movies, music, and stuffed animal buddies were had by all!  And while seeing the children laugh and have a total blast made my heart smile BIG, I have to admit that I was also sad that this school year was over... it was most definitely a bittersweet moment.

Our End of Year "The Croods" Themed Party...

Dear Parents...

Thank you!!

Our Good Choices "Frozen" Cupcake Party!

For our snack time today we celebrated all the good choices we have made in first grade . . . doing our homework, staying on task in the classroom, using our manners in the lunchroom, staying on the correct voice level, and following Crown Point's High Five while in the hallways! My *firsties* ROCK!!

I also surprised my kids by playing the Frozen soundtrack while we enjoyed our cupcakes . . . and I have to say, my FAVORITE party moment was getting to listen to my first graders sing all the songs . . . they stole my heart!! FYI - Demi Lovato hasn't got anything on my amazing *firsties*!!

Here is an audio file of Kearson's Crocodiles singing, "Let It Go" from Frozen . . .

Stretching Our Sentences

This week we will be starting our outlines for our narrative stories. . . and I have decided to kick this writing off with my *Stretch a Sentence* activity. FUN!

My kids have amazing imaginations, and tell me the craziest stories all day long. . . but when it comes to writing, the elaborate and very detailed story they told me in the morning about helping dad kill a snake BIGGER than me in the backyard, turns into, "I saw a snake." in their writing journals in the afternoon. BOO! So I plan on putting some *creative* writing in our narrative stories by stretching our five-word meaningful sentences into awesome sparkle-word sentences.

I put together a cute little *Stretch a Sentence* mini poster to review how adding who, is doing what, when, where, and why to a sentence can add SPARKLE to our narrative stories. Hopefully this activity will work, and the challenge to my first graders to stretch their sentences will be gladly accepted. . . the gauntlet has been thrown! :)

Click here to download this Stretch a Sentence activity from my TpT store

The Lion Whisperer

We watched an amazing video for Science in the classroom today. Although my original plan for Science was to have the children go on a nature walk around the school campus and record their observations of plants and other living things in their Science journals, the non-stop rain kept us indoors and called for me to break out *Science Lesson Plan B*... which was showing the children one of the most amazing videos on lions and hyenas that I have had the joy to watch. 

The children loved it!! We talked about the habitat of lions, conservation, what kind of environment the African Plains are made up of, what it means for an animal to be endangered, and how we can make a difference. It was an inspiring lesson, and captured the minds and hearts of all 22 of my first graders. Not only did they applaud at the end of the video, but they talked about how learning that there may not be any lions living in the wild within the next 20 years made them sad and want to do something to ensure that the lions and their habitat are protected.

Here is the 15 minute video we watched in class today...

Kevin Richardson is truly an awe-inspiring individual... you can see more of his videos, read about his conservations efforts, and learn more about the plight of lions at www.lionwhisperer.co.za.

Our Class Picnic!!

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The children have gotten three perfect 8 point lunchroom manner reports in the cafeteria and earned a classroom picnic!! Congratulations Kearson's Crocodiles on using your best lunchroom manners!! I couldn't be prouder of how hard each one of my first graders have worked in the cafeteria and the classroom.

As a reward for all their amazing hard work, the children will get to have a picnic this Friday, February 28th during our regular lunch period time. I will bring a GIANT quilt picnic blanket, and we will be having our picnic lunch under the tree by the playground.

If possible, please send a packed lunch with your child on Friday for the picnic. If for some reason you will not be able to send a packed lunch with your child for the picnic, please let me know in advance, and I will be sure to provide a bag lunch for your child with a juice box, PB&J Uncrustables, chips, and fruit snack.

Hopefully the weather will cooperate and we will have a swonderfully-smarvelous picnic lunch. However, if it looks like the weather will be rainy, we will have our lunch in the classroom that day and reschedule our picnic for the following Friday.

Congratulations again to my awesome first graders... you continue to amaze me each and everyday!!

Look who stopped by... Nile Croc O'Dyle

We are the Kearson Crocodiles... and our mascot, Nile Croc O'Dyle, came by to see just how amazing our first grade class is! Nile was SO impressed with our class, that he has decided to stay to thank each of the students that are working hard and making good choices. 

Each day Nile will pick a student that spent the day working hard and making good choices, and leave a note on his or her desk saying, "Way to go!". In addition to getting a note from Nile, the student that Nile picks will also get and extra punch on their punch card that day! WOO-HOO!!