Oceans of First Grade Fun

Git Cha Leap On

2012-02-28T19:33:00.002-06:00

As my girl Missy would say.

I’m having a sale tomorrow! Your chance to stock up.
Have a great Leap Day on tomorrow!

Yeah Octavia: Oscar Winner and Alabama Native!!!!!!

2012-02-26T20:18:00.001-06:00

She won!!!!!!!

Greater Than Less Than

2012-02-26T10:23:00.001-06:00

This week we talked about greater than less than. I found this free flipchart on TpT from the wonderful Lori over at Little Priorities. Check out her blog and TpT store if you haven’t already. I tweaked the flip chart for my students and created a flipchart I could use for math stations. Well, Lori was so kind and let me use her crocodile symbol in the flipchart I’m posting for you on TpT for free . Here’s a peek at how we used it this week.

On this slide pairs of students came up and pressed the random number generator to create two two-digit numbers. Thanks to Anna over at Crazy for First Grade for hipping me to the random number generator on my Promethean Board.

Each student wrote their number in the box then discussed together which symbol to pull down after they compared the numbers.

On this set of slides individual students came up, read both numbers and decided which symbol to pull down.

The student then completed an activity sheet. They pulled two numbers from a bag and had to compare them. The first day we compared for greater than. The students wrote their numbers and glued their symbol for greater than. Then they completed the sentence for their numbers.

The next day we compared for less than.

Click here if you’d like the flip chart. You must have Active Inspire software in order to use it.

Click here if you’d like the sheets we used this week.

I hope you all have a wonderful week! I’d love some feedback!

Permission Granted

2012-02-25T19:59:00.002-06:00

You better read the fine print girlie! Check out Laura’s post on Pinterest. You learn something new everyday. You have my permission to pin from my blog…so have yourself a good ol time pinning away!
I just finished viewing Mel D’s presentation in the Everything’s Primary Blog Expo….so good…be sure to check her out. I’m viewing the other wonderful ladies tomorrow. Can’t wait!
I’m so sad I missed the Bama Bloggers Meet Up…boo. But my insurance adjuster finally surveyed my property…annnnnnnnnnnnd tons more volunteers showed up today to cut up more trees…yeah! I love the scent of pine…from all nine of the trees that have been laying across my yard in various forms…but this is getting ridiculous. Kidding.

Number Talk Templates

2012-02-19T12:07:00.001-06:00

Happy Sunday!!

I don’t have lots of pictures to share this week. For the past two weeks I feel like I’ve been out of my classroom more than in. My district is adopting a new math textbook and I am one of dozens of lucky teachers who get to serve on the selection committee. So every week I have to leave school early and attend a meeting. Can I just say selecting a textbook for the entire school system is extremely hard.

And I also have to admit that after the tornadoes it’s been hard getting my focus back on school. I don’t feel like myself, my creativity has hit a wall, and I’ve been kinda going through the motions. I know that’s bad but I’m hoping to do some blog and Pinterest stalking to get the gears cranked up again. But driving through my neighborhood every morning looking at the destruction is difficult.

Okay, that’s enough self pity for one post and I know you don’t what to hear my sad little story, so on to the real teacher stuff.

I’ve gotten lots of e-mails about my Number Talk/Spiral Review papers.

I don’t sell them on TpT..but I am giving you a sample. I uploaded it in Word but then they looked all crazy…so I saved them as a PDF. I wanted very much to give them to you as a template so you could change what you wanted to suit your needs, but alas the trials of technology.

I uploaded one from the first of the year, the middle of the year and my most current one.

Click here for week 1

Click here for week 9

Click here for week 14

If you have tomorrow off…lucky you! If you have the week off…I envy you.

If you don’t have any of that..I commiserate with you…and just know we will have a wonderful week.

I’m Baaaaack

2012-02-05T10:19:00.004-06:00

As Jay-Z would say, “Can I get a what, what?”
Happy Sunday to all! I’m so glad to be back among the blogging.
Let’s get right to it. We have been working on two digit addition and I decided this year I wanted my students to really understand what the 2 in 23 means. So before I wrote the all to familiar two digit addition sentence:

We did a lot of this:

I started making these Number Talk papers the second month of school. These papers do not take the place of our official daily Number Talk. You can read about that here.
The format is basically the same each week, and I can add or take out any skill I want to. It’s like my own customized spiral review. They work on this as soon as they are unpacked. Then they work on our daily story problem. Here are few of our February ones.

So on Monday we will start to look at the addition sentence and I whipped up this flip chart. It’s plain and not at all do-dadded up. I’ll explain. Because of copyright issues with clipart and flipcharts I decided to keep it clipart free, because for those of you who use Active Inspire software, you can click on the picture and download your own for free from my TpT store. And after you download you can always add your own clip art to fancy it up.
Note: If you don’t have the particular font (Wish I Were Taller) installed on your computer, then you can select the text and change it to a font you do have.

Here is a picture of a slide from our monthly calendar on the Promethean board. We always have a number of the day and my students have to find one more, one less, ten more and ten less. I added two more and two less this month. They are catching on and last week one of our math stations involved this skill.

Click on the picture if you’d like your own copy of the math station. I don’t have a recording sheet, they wrote the answers in their math journals and I did a quick check of the answers.

Last Week:
I don’t have lots of pictures to share, but here are a few of math stations.

Click pic for this game

Click pic for this game

If you download ALL these fabulous freebies how about some feedback or heck even a thank you will do.
I hope you find something you can use. Have a great week!

More Updates

2012-01-30T17:11:00.002-06:00

Hi to all my wonderful blogging friends! Still no phone or internet but I'm doing a quick post before I leave school. I know this is not school related, but I just had to share how wonderful God is. First let me set the stage with a few pictures of the way my yard looked after the tornado.

On Saturday morning my mother and I decided we'd get out and do as much as we could. We'd recruted family members who were available...but we knew we wouldn't make a dent in removing debri from seven downed trees, which included hauling it to the curb so the city could pick it up.

But before we made it out or our back door, 15 volunteers from The Christian Service Mission met us in the yard. They are the kindest most generous group of people I've ever met, and my friends, this is what my yard looked like around 4:45 Saturday afternoon.

My nephew helping with the clean up :)

It was such a blessed filled day. God is good. If you made it all the way to end thanks for hanging in there. I hope to post some classroom happinings later this week. Have a wonderful evening and a Terrific Tuesday!

Update: Alive, Blessed and Greatful

2012-01-25T13:45:00.005-06:00

Update: Hey everybody! Just a quick update. My power was restored on Wednesday evening (yeah)...but no phone or internet service (boo)...yet. We are beginning the clean up, trying to get trees cut and hauled away. Thanks so much to all of you who left such sweet messages! You made my week! It's been hard getting back into the groove, but everyday gets a little better.

Thanks Hedi at Swamp Frogs for passing along the favorite follower award to me! She has a fantastic blog with lots of wonderful things to share. I hope to get back to posting soon. Everyone have a blessed and peaceful weekend!

Hi to all my blogging friends. As you know another round of tornadoes hit the state of Alabama early Monday morning. My neighborhood was one of the hardest hit. But God is good. I live on 1.5 acres, I have seven trees down in my yard...but none hit my home. All of my neighbors are safe and we are just praising God. I'm without power so I'm doing a quick post from school. So I am blessed, and greatful. It was a scary night, but I'm alive, and my family is safe.

Hopefully I'll be back soon with pictures and lots of good things to share.
Ms. A

Snowmen Completed, Math Stations and If You’re Planning Ahead and Freebie Correction

2012-01-14T18:17:00.007-06:00

We finished our snowmen on yesterday and the students did a fantastic job! I think they turned out great. The students got compliments all day long on their neat handwriting and superb cutting abilities. They make the hallway look so bright and cheery.

Click here if you’d like a copy of the writing paper we used. You can download the patterns here.

Math Stations This Week

Here’s a little of what we accomplished this week in math stations.

These students are completing Snowmen Fact Families

These students are playing Winter Wonderland on the Promethean Board. If you purchased this game did you know you can import it as a PDF into ActiveInspire…I’m pretty sure you could do the same thing with Smartboard software. I always create a flipchart game to go along with the regular paper game when I create these. It does double duty. The students are rolling three big dice and adding the numbers together.



Students sorted subtraction sentences at this station.

Adding three numbers


Making Combinations of Ten. This is the most popular station. I’m so glad because it means they’re getting lots of practice with that all important benchmark number of ten.

Start With Get To: This has also helped my strugglers. Their ability to count from any number has improved so much.

Planning Ahead
If you’re like me and are already trying to come up with Valentine’s Day math and literacy activities then check out my newly uploaded Cupid’s Sweet Treats Math and Literacy Kit. Finally a math and literacy kit together, and I’m not pooped!

If you downloaded the freebie..there were a few typos, so please download again. Thanks Hadar!

Now, you know I wouldn’t be Ms.A if I didn’t have a freebie for you. Click on the picture to download your copy of Take My Heart: Add Three Numbers. If ya download I’d love some feedback.

Love to Joplin Linky Party

2012-01-13T20:25:00.002-06:00

I’m joining in on Mrs. Wills Love to Joplin Linky Party!

Head on on to Mrs. Wills blog to find out how you can help. Thanks so much Mrs. Wills for taking the time to organize this linky party. What a great way to end the week.

Beginnings…Snowman Style

2012-01-12T19:10:00.004-06:00

This week we’ve been working on descriptive writing. I decided to pair snowmen and writing this week. First, we cut out our snowman pieces (this took forever). We finished them up today and tomorrow we’ll complete our descriptive writing about our snowman. This is how the outside of my room looks. It was a nice activity because we took TkinkLink today and the students didn’t get to go to p.e…so you can imagine how the afternoon went.

Here are a few close ups.

If you’d like the patterns click here. I had a ton of scrapbook paper so I cut it down to regular paper size and whipped it through the copy machine. I also copied the pieces onto construction paper. The boys got the top hats and the girls got the caps. Hopefully I’ll post the completed pictures on tomorrow along with the writing paper we used.

Snow-Tastic Winners and a Consolation Prize

2012-01-07T18:28:00.001-06:00

I know I said there’d be two winners for my Snow-Tastic Winter Fun Kit...but I decided to expand the giveaway and randomly selected four wonderful blogging friends to take the prize!

Ladies check your e-mail.

If you didn’t win, don’t despair. Help yourself to another freebie. Try out my Frosty Penguin Phrases game. Have a Great Weekend!

Click on the picture to download.

Snow-Tastic Winter Fun and a Giveaway!

2012-01-05T21:48:00.001-06:00

Hey! Happy Friday Eve. Even though it’s been a short week…it’s been a long three days. Does anyone else ever feel that way?

Well, I had so much fun creating my Fa La La La La Christmas Literacy Kit that I decided to create my Snow-Tastic Winter Fun Math Kit. We started using the activities on Wednesday and my students went crrrr-aaaaa-zy! Man, I give huge props to those teachers who can create math and literacy kits together. I forgot how much time it takes to create and do it right…I’m pooped!

I’ve uploaded my kit to TpT but I would love to give it away to two lucky people. All you have to do is leave your name and e-mail…that’s it. You have from now until Saturday around 6pm CST. I’ll announce the winners on Saturday Evening.

So Blessed!!!

2012-01-03T20:00:00.001-06:00

I know it’s not in good blog etiquette to do two posts in one day but can I just say I’m a part of the most wonderful educational blogging community ever!!!

I was venting…click here to read that post…and I asked someone..anyone, to feel sorry for me and follow me on TpT because my number was hovering around 666…I know it’s just a number but still..it’s my least favorite one. Anyway within 20 minutes my followers have gone up by 11! Thanks to you eleven wonderful people and my other 666 beautiful followers!!! Thanks in advance to those of you who will read my aforementioned post and follow me.

This made me feel so good…see how little it takes to make me happy…that I sat down (after I cooled my jets a bit) right then and made this freebie especially for you my wonderful blogging friends. Enjoy!!

Click the picture to download your copy

Name Change and Update

2012-01-03T17:26:00.003-06:00

Hi to all! Today was my first day back..it was a professional development/work day. But I didn’t get much work done. I was in meeting after meeting after meeting after meeting. Argh!!!

Anywhoo the purpose of this post is to let you know that I’ve tweaked a few things in my Winter “Formally Known As Arctic” Animals Unit. Intellectually I knew penguins didn’t inhabit the Arctic regions…but I hadn’t realized I hadn’t changed it in my TpT unit. )

Those of you who have purchased my unit, you may want to sign in and re-download the updated (slightly) unit.

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T00:00:00.001-06:00

I just wanted to take a minute to wish all of my wonderful blogging friends a blessed and wonderful new year. To all of you who have purchased from me, left wonderful, kind, funny comments and such inspirational e-mails, I say a heartfelt THANK YOU!!

May the year ahead be filled with lots of love, laughter, inspiration, fun and peace.

End of the Year Sale

2011-12-30T00:00:00.000-06:00

11 in 11 Linky Party

2011-12-27T18:04:00.005-06:00

Okay people I’m linking up! Thanks Hadar and Kristin!

I tried really hard to pick only one thing per question…but on some I just couldn’t.

11. Favorite Movie

Ryan Gosling…enough said. BTW he was totally robbed on People's Sexiest Man Alive

and

When Mr. Darcy walks across that field at the end of the movie…I get goosebumps Every. Single. Time.

10. Favorite TV Series

and

Kind if an oxymoron of sorts..I’m a Scorpio…what can I say.

9. Favorite Restaurant

I heart their Chicken Bruschetta Sandwich.

8. Favorite new thing you tried

Okay growing up I was never a fashion plate…I was a hard core to the bone nerd/wanna be punk kid. But I’ve discovered Polyvore (Thanks Gladys at Teaching in High Heels) and man oh man am I hooked. I like creating outfits… some over the top…some not so much. It’s too addictive. I dare you to try. Take a look at a few of my creations:

and I couldn’t resist this one…ha! So fun!

7. Favorite Gift

An Amazon gift card, because anyone who knows me knows I’m in heaven when I’m reading. I’ve resisted getting one of those electronic book thingys…I just love the smell of a new book. Dorky I know.

6. Favorite thing you’ve pinned

I have lots but here are two.

School related: love Jennifer’s Data Board

Not school related: LOVE IT

5. Favorite Blog Post

It was sort of hard to choose…I especially loved all the ones I posted during the Math Work Stations Summer book study. But here’s one of my favorites:

4. Favorite accomplishment

Starting my blog would be very high on my list. I love sharing and when I go to workshops in my district I always run into someone who thanks me for all the wonderful things I share, or how my ideas have inspired and helped them. Makes me feel warm and fuzzy.

3. Favorite Picture

These are my two sisters (middle and left) and my sister-in-law (on the right). All three of them were pregnant at the same time(2008), they all had boys who were all born one month after each other…October, November and December. I couldn’t believe it! Especially the part about my little sister (in the middle) having an actual baby!

2. Favorite memory

In highschool… I used to read Silhouette Teen Romances (does anybody remember those?) and they’d always have a newsletter that came with each collection of monthly books. I’d sent in a poem, then proceeded to completely forget about it. Then one day in English Lit class one of my classmates handed me the latest newsletter, and there was my name..it was an Honorable Mention…but still.

1. Goal for 2012

I have a few up my sleeve.

I’d really like to devote more time to my writing. I have six years until I reach my 25th year of teaching and I’m seriously giving some thought to a possible second career???

I also want to get rid of ALL my credit card debt so if I do decide to retire from teaching, it’d be smooth sailing. Who am I kidding, they’ll probably push me out on a gurney.

Getting out of my comfort zone…that would be the biggest challenge yet! This was so much fun.

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T13:46:00.001-06:00

Just wanted to take a minute to wish all of my wonderful blogging friends a Merry Christmas and a blessed and happy New Year!

Jesus is the reason for the season!

Last Minute Idea

2011-12-18T12:54:00.001-06:00

Thursday was my last day until Jan. 3rd (doing the happy dance)! But here’s a quick idea my students loved. The inspiration come from Mrs. Carroll at The First Grade Parade.

We read the book There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bell,

and after I asked the students to list some Christmas treats she could swallow besides a bell. They turned out great!

I don’t have the patterns to share..but I did include the clipart I used. I just traced the hair, face and mouth onto three separate pieces of copy paper, then copied them onto construction paper. We added the glasses and eyes and that was it. One of my students commented “She doesn’t look that old” then decided… “maybe she dyes her hair like my grandma.” Gotta love it!

So Not Teaching Related…Kind Of

2011-12-16T15:09:00.002-06:00

Take a look at this…it’s worth 20 minutes of your time. Food for thought and I wanted to share. Hope you find a nugget or gleam of recognition. I know I did. Have a great day!!

Charge It to My Head Not My Heart

2011-12-10T11:43:00.003-06:00

Hi!! I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend! Last week I posted about my Popping Long O class activity and promised I’d upload it. Every morning I’d head to school reminding myself to get the file from my school computer and bring it home so I could upload it, and everyday I’d forget to do it. Well Friday I used my sure fire method of remembering….I wrote the reminder in ink on my hand (come on don’t tell no one else has ever done that). So if you’d like that file click on the picture below. So please charge it to my head and not my heart for being so late with this. I hope you can still use it.

I have four more days…then I’m out for Christmas break! So here’s a peek at what we did this week.
On yesterday we did our Which Part of the Gingerbread Man Did You Bite graph. I love doing this each year. You can also see Mrs. Lemons alphabets in the background.

Click below for a picture of the gingerbread

We completed an observation sheet too.

We also graphed Christmas M&M’s.



The Glyph Girls
Can I just say how much I love The Glyph Girls. We completed their Reindeer Glyph on Thursday. I didn’t use the raffia and I forgot (naturally) the scrapbook paper…but I think they turned out great.



Wall O’ Christmas: I have a long display wall right outside my classroom. I love love love posting students work. So here’s what the outside of my classroom looks like. We also completed First Grade Fevers Christmas Mouse Writing activity.

Bamma Bloggers Giveaway Baby!

2011-12-08T19:39:00.001-06:00

Hey y’all (Paula Dean-ish voice)! Head on over to Castles and Crayons and check out this awesome giveaway from your South Bound Blogging Friends.

You’ll get the chance to get some goodies from these wonderful bloggers.

and me…

I really need to ~~get ask~~ beg someone to make a button for me.

So head on over to Castles and Crayons to check out the “deets”

TpT Santa’s Helper Short and Long Vowel Sort Updated

2011-12-06T19:05:00.001-06:00

If you purchased my Santa’s Helper Short and Long Vowel Sort…there was an error. I’ve fixed it, so you can log into your TpT account and download the updated file. Click on the picture below to go right to my storefront.

Christmas Unplugged and Some Freebies

2011-12-03T18:12:00.005-06:00

This week we dipped our little pinky toes in all things Christmas. On Monday we started the week with a new graph: Is Your Christmas Tree Up? I always do this graph the Monday we return from Thanksgiving Break.

We have also started our Laura Numeroff mini lit unit. We read the book If You Take a Mouse to the Movies and completed a second graph. Ignore the pumpkins…I like to keep the wall outside my room fluid…it’s never completely bare.

We completed an observation sheet about the results of our graph.

Click here if you’d like the header and popcorn pieces for this graph.

We also completed math and literacy activities.
Our phonics skill last week was long o. This was one of their “Have To” Work on Words activities they had to complete for the week. They chose a popcorn container and wrote three words belonging to that chunk on the popcorn pieces. I have the file to this on my computer at school. If anyone’s interested leave a comment and I’ll try to get it uploaded on Monday.


Here is the second “Have To” activity. I didn’t get a chance to take pictures…but if you’d like a copy click on the picture.

Here is a whole group math activity we completed this week.
I gave students popcorn containers with different numbers. I differentiated for students by giving those who could handle addition and subtraction using higher numbers. The students then wrote any combination of addition and subtraction sentences on their popcorn pieces.


Math Stations
Here’s a peek at our math stations this week.     This student is completing If You Give a Christmas Mouse Ten Cookies.

These students are completing Santa’s Helper Start With Get To.

More Math Stations
Gingerbread Gingerbread Christmas Cookie Bingo

  Jolly Skip Counting

Candy Cane Add Three Numbers

Have a great week! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! To all those wonderful teachers who purchased my Fa La La La La Literacy Kit and my Christmas Math Activities. If you download please consider following me or leaving a comment.

Fa La La La La Holiday Sale

2011-11-25T16:18:00.001-06:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I’ve just uploaded my Fa La La La Christmas Fun Literacy Pack. I’m so excited and I had so much fun creating this. As a special thank you to all of my blogging friends, I’m having a Holiday Sale. It starts today and goes all the way until Tuesday November 29th. Everything in my store is 20% percent off and don’t forget to combine that with your discount code for TpT’s Cyber Monday Sale. That means you’ll get 30% percent off (Monday only) . Can’t beat that. People please…let’s keep the pepper spray at bay…did anyone else see that??? CR-AAA-ZY

I also created a few new Holiday Math Stations. Here’s a sample.

I’ve listed the math stations separately…so you could get just what you need. Click on the pictures to check them out.

A big thank you to Mrs. Parker at Learning With Mrs. Parker and Chrissy at First Grade Found Me for awarding me the Sunshine Award!

I feel so grateful to be a part of such a wonderful community of educators.

A Little Something to Show My Thanks

2011-11-22T23:57:00.001-06:00

Here’s a quick little math station, tub, activity for after Thanksgiving. Students match the addition sentence with the missing addend. We are starting our big Gingerbread Man Lit Unit…..so much fun! This will fit perfectly.

Click here to download your copy.

There isn’t a recording sheet. My students will re-write the problems along with the missing numbers on dry erase boards.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Turkey Bucks

2011-11-12T18:29:00.001-06:00

Here’s a quick math station I whipped up for next week. We are working on counting dimes and pennies together. I think this will give them lots of practice counting these coin combinations.

Students will read the turkey card, find the matching coin combination and count the money. Click on the picture to download your free copy. If you download how about some feedback????

Candy Corn Math

2011-10-30T13:03:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow is going to be….how can I put this, not quite the day for serious academics. So I’ve decided to have a day of controlled chaos. Here’s a mini activity kit using candy corn. The ten frames will be passed out, one to each student and they will have to find their match to make ten. Then the partners will complete the Candy Corn Making Ten activity.
For Candy Corn in a Jar the students will get ten candy corns, place some in the jar and out of the jar, then write a story problems about their candy corn configuration.
The part, part, whole mats will be used to make and write addition sentences using candy corn. For Candy Corn Bingo students will fill in their bingo boards with numbers from 0-12. Then I’ll call out addition problems and they can cover the answer.
Click on the picture to grab your copy. If you download...how about some feedback???

One More Pumpkin Activity

2011-10-28T19:02:00.000-05:00

Thanks to everyone who left birthday wishes for me. It made a great day even better.

I have one more pumpkin activity. This will sort of recap our visit to the pumpkin patch and I thought maybe you could use it too. We are going to complete a Let's Grow a Pumpkin shape book. I used orange construction paper to cut out pumpkin shapes for the front and back covers, and plain old copy paper for the inside pages. The students will glue a sentence to each page (in order) then we'll work together to complete simple pictures.

You can download your copy below. Have a great weekend!

Pumpkin Life Cycle Booklet

It’s My Birthday

2011-10-27T00:00:00.000-05:00

Go shorty… it’s my birthday…we gon party like it’s my birthday..we gon sip Barcar…oh… sorry…got a little carried away. But you won’t find me in da club with a bottle full of bub..da da…..da..da….da..da.

Yep, today is my birthday! But I’m letting you in on the celebration…today and tomorrow everything in my TpT store is twenty (20%) off.

Would love to have some birthday wishes from my fantastic blogging friends!!! I’m not ashamed of my age…I am 4 tens and 4 ones. Fourty-four years of blessings…and I count my blogging friends among those many wonderful things that have come my way.

Everyone have a great day! I’ll be spending mine at the Pumpkin Patch!

Fieldtrip yea!!!! Insert sarcasm here.

Catching Up..A Long Post

2011-10-25T19:22:00.001-05:00

It’s been a busy week and past weekend! I can’t believe October is almost over! I didn’t get to all the things I wanted to…so owls, bats and spiders will be pushed to November. But here are a few things we’ve done this week and the previous week.

Pumpkin Life Cycle Writing

We created torn paper pumpkins and then wrote about how a pumpkin seed grows into a pumpkin. The students had a ball tearing paper for their pumpkins.

Click on the picture below if you’d like the writing paper we used.

The following ideas come right from Mrs. Carroll at The First Grade Parade. Thanks for the inspiration!

Today we described the outside of our pumpkin and completed descriptive sentences. Tomorrow we will cut open our class pumpkin and describe the inside.

Click here for your copy.

Yesterday we read I Where’s My Mummy and completed our mummy activity! Mrs. Carroll again!

Last week during Work on Writing the students completed a Pumpkin Fact paper.

Click on the picture for your copy.

Math Stations this week:

Completing Hallo-weeny Number Order

These students are completing Start With Get To. This really helps with counting from any number.

These students are completing Hallo-Weeny Number Order on the Promethean board.

Spider Spider on the Promethean board.

Shake Those Beans for Ten

Completing our Hop Along Halloween Frog skip counting (by 5s) activity.

Cows in the Barn for Eight.

Two weeks ago our Reading Street story was Get the Egg and last week was The Animal Park. Here are the writing sheets my students had to complete during work on writing.

Told you it was a long post. I hope you can find things you can use…I have tons more freebies so I’ll return on Thursday. Have a great day tomorrow!

Short U Anchor Chart

2011-10-16T13:29:00.001-05:00

As promised, here are my short u and final blends Anchor Charts and my short u chunk cards. If you download please leave feedback. I see tons of page views and downloads so I know you’re out there. Leave a sistah some love. Have a wonderful Sunday and a great week ahead!

Short u Anchor Chart

Math Station Flip Charts Inspiration

2011-10-15T10:57:00.002-05:00

Here are few flip charts I made for this week, but because of copyright issues(with the clip art), I can’t share these for a free download or for purchase in my TpT store. But if you have a Smartboard or Promethean board….maybe these will spark your creativity!!
In my classroom during math stations, the Promethean Board is a math station. Any concept or skill I produce using a paper game or activity, I can create something similar on my board. Although there are tons of things on Promethean Planet I like having the ability to create my own activities.

Spider Spider will be one activity for stations this week. I’ll insert the dice tool, then students roll the dice(2) add the numbers then cover that number with a spider. I’ve programmed the spiders using the “Drag a Copy” tool. Students will play for four rounds.

Halloweeny Number Order
I created a printable activity and uploaded it to my TpT store. But I also created a flip chart that will cover the same skill. But because of copy rights I can’t sell the flip chart.

I even created a recording sheet to accompany this activity.

Last week we started Fall story problems. Each day the students completed a problem when they first arrive in the classroom. There are two levels of story problems. I have a few students in my class who are very advanced, and I give them the option of completing the second story problem each day. That’s why there are two problems per page.

These are only a few ideas…but I’m working on tons more. Maybe something you’ve seen today will give you a creative spark!!
Enjoy your weekend! I’ll return on Sunday with my short u anchor chart.

Wow!!!

2011-10-13T18:01:00.001-05:00

Hey People!!

I just received and e-mail naming Oceans of First Grade Fun to Teacher Certification Degrees Top 50 Elementary Teacher Blogs list! I am honored and want to thank all of my followers and those who recommended my blog. I get so much joy from sharing things with other teachers! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Short e Anchor Chart

2011-10-09T10:39:00.001-05:00

Here are the anchor charts and sounds cards for short e. I also included a chart for initial blends.

Short e Anchor Chart

Nouns at School

This week we talked about nouns. I found it easier to introduce the concept first by talking about nouns at school. After we talked and listed nouns, I created charts to hang around the room.

Click here for the headers, pictures and nouns to create your own chart.

Happy Sunday!

Counting Ladybugs: Facts of Nine

2011-10-02T15:05:00.002-05:00

This week we completed ladybug activities during math time. We were working on combinations for nine. I’ve just uploaded it to TpT. Click on the link below for a freebie. We made the leaves out of construction paper.

Click here for the ladybug freebie.

Short O Anchor Chart

2011-10-02T11:01:00.001-05:00

Here’s the short o anchor chart and sound cards. Short u and e next week!

If you download leave some love…feedback is invaluable!

Short o Anchor Chart

My Ode to The Inspired Apple and More Stuff

2011-10-01T14:01:00.007-05:00

It’s such a lovely Saturday afternoon here in the Ham (Birmingham). I love this time of year!
This week I stumbled upon Mrs. Mullins (The Inspired Apple) post on Apple activities and I LOVED them…especially the apple sorting activity. We were also working on short o this week and her brilliant idea turned out to be a wonderful Friday activity for us. Thanks Mrs. Mullins for sharing all your wonderful ideas! So here are a few pics of our week.


We also graphed our favorite color apples.

And we completed an Apple Sentence activity. The students cut and created apples and put sentences together about their favorite color apple and how apples taste or how they like to eat their apples.




Math Stations:
Here’s a look at this weeks stations. Most of my activities came from Made for First Grade. I love the activities they create!

These ladies are completing Buggy Friends Count by Ten in the pocket chart.

Playing First Grade Yahtzee. Inspired by Shari Sloane

Playing Four in a Row on the Promethean Board

Find the Missing Part…a quick activity for missing addends.

Gummie Bear Bingo

Sorting Leaves math activity. From Made for First Grade.

Another Bingo game.

Apple Graphing from Made for First Grade.

Spin and Graph Leaf activity.

Lovely Ladybugs
A few people have e-mailed me about my anchor charts…yes I will do them for all the vowels. I’ll post short o on tomorrow. I just want to say thanks for all the wonderful teachers in blogland who inspire me each day! You make me a better teacher!!!

Anchor Charts and Sound Cards and How to Print Poster Size with an HP Printer

2011-09-25T15:36:00.003-05:00

My handwriting is not the neatest on the fly. I give props to those teachers who can create beautiful charts with their students and they are ready to hang and be admired by all. But this lefty just cannot do it. So we compose together and then I create (from their ideas) an anchor chart for the classroom. I’ve done four so far to go along with our reading series (Reading Street).

I set my HP printer to poster size (2x2) and out popped a beautiful anchor chart for my students.
How to print posters using an HP Printer.
I have an HP and here’s how I print posters.
Click Print…then click properties. If you have more than one printer…make sure your HP printer is selected.
After you click properties, click on the advanced tab. This is what my screen looks like.

After you click on the Advanced tab look for Poster Printing. It’s set to off.
Then click the pull down menu and select paper size. I usually select 2x2…but there are bigger sizes. Then click OK. After that your poster should print. I’m not sure if other brands have this feature???? Hope this addendum helps.

I also created sound cards to go along with the phonics skill of the week.
Short a Anchor Chart Auto Saved]

Short i Anchor Chart
If you par-take of the freebies…how about leaving a comment or following me or liking my Facebook page. I love feedback!
Last week we completed Cows in the Barn for eight. But first each student created their own layout for eight cows.

Corn and Tomatoes for Seven
Here are a few pics of our class display for Corn and Tomatoes.

Number Talks
I’ve added math analogies to my daily number talks. Once the students understood they had so much fun figuring them out. I don’t do anything fancy, I usually write a few analogies on my dry erase chart…I get the biggest kick out of listening in as the students try to figure out the answer before math morning meeting. Here are some examples.

Here’s one before Math Morning Meeting

Here’s one after Math Morning Meeting

Here’s the book I use to get a few ideas from.

Sorry for the long post, but I had some catching up to do. Enjoy your Sunday!!

Stamping Apple Sight Words

2011-09-17T17:34:00.001-05:00

It’s about that time for apples. Here’s a word work activity. The students pick an apple and stamp the word. I’m using plain old white copy paper. The inspiration for this comes from Mrs. Lee! Don’t cha just love her

They could write a sentence with the word they stamped and illustrate it. Hope you can use them. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Click below for the cover.

Click below for the apples.

Stamping Apple Sight Words

Here the Scribd version just in case.

The Faces of Us

2011-09-11T18:41:00.001-05:00

As I watched the memorials and tributes I was reminded that we are them and they are us. No matter what color your were, or religion or political view, or how far away the Twin Towers were, or the Pentagon or that field in Shanksville, Pa.. that day we were one Nation united together. We must never forget. God bless America.

A woman writes a message on the wall of remembrance memorial near the World Trade Center in New York on Sept. 10.

A family member of one of the victims of the crash of United Flight 93 walks along a part of the Flight 93 National Memorial following its dedication. The names of the 40 victims of the crash are inscribed on the marble panels.

Visitors embrace in front of the Wall of Names near the crash site of Flight 93 in Shanksville, Pa., on Sunday.

Cho Sok Wells, accompanied by his wife Cathy, kisses their 10-month-old son Cristian while visiting his sister's memorial bench after the 10th anniversary 9/11 ceremony at the Pentagon in Arlington, Va., on Sunday.

Workers take off their hard hats off during the playing of the National Anthem after unfurling a flag on One World Trade Center overlooking the national Sept. 11 memorial on Sept. 10.

A tribute to Sept. 11 is seen at Bryant Park on Sept. 10 in New York. There are 2,753 empty chairs -- one for each life lost in New York during the the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

AA visitor takes pictures of flags erected at Battery Park in Manhattan, on Sept. 10 as a part of a project called "One Flag One Life" to marking the 10th anniversary of the attacks.

Members of Clerkenwell Fire Station's Green Watch observe a minute of silence in London, England, on Sunday, remembering their fellow firefighters who lost their lives in the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York.

BERLIN, GERMANY - SEPTEMBER 11: Peace activists release white doves during a commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the 9-11 terror attacks on September 11, 2011 in Berlin, Germany. Commemorations took place throughout Europe to mark the Al Qaeda terrorist attacks that brought down the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York and other airplane hijackings that day that claimed the lives of over 3,000 people. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

High school students pose for a photo by a damaged replica of the Statue of Liberty in Ishinomaki, Japan, Sunday. As the world commemorated the 10th anniversary of the World Trade Center attacks, Sunday was doubly significant for Japan. It marked six months since the massive earthquake and tsunami on March 11.

New York City police and firefighters and Port Authority police officers salute during the singing of the "Star Spangled Banner" at the Sept. 11 memorial, during the 10th anniversary ceremonies at the site on Sunday.

President Barack Obama, right; first lady Michelle Obama; former President George W. Bush; and former first lady Laura Bush look out at the North Pool of the 9/11 memorial.

Capt. Erik Schutz, 26, of Medina, Minn., right, and Capt. Matt Schachman, 28, of Wilmette, Ill., raise a new American flag to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks as Capt. Ron Hopkins, 27, left, of Honolulu, Hawaii, looks on Sept. 11, 2011 at Forward Operating Base Bostick in Kunar province, Afghanistan.

A young man holds his head as he sits in front of a memorial for FDNY firefighters from Ladder Company 20 who died at the World Trade Center on 9/1. New York City firefighters are commemorating the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and honoring the 343 firefighters who died in the line of duty.

Corn and Tomato Soup

2011-09-05T10:42:00.002-05:00

Nope…I’m not talking about a recipe. I do this activity each year with my students when we are working on number sense for seven. During math morning meeting I told them I was making corn and tomato soup but I could only use a combination of seven pieces of corn and tomato in all. They helped me come up with all the different combinations of seven pieces of corn and tomato. Here’s what out chart looked like. I gave them a little mini lesson on how to draw corn and tomatoes….I’m always amazed at the ohhs and ahhhs I get….because I can’t draw…at all.

After we did the problem whole group they worked on their own to make corn and tomato soup using seven pieces in all.

After they completed their page we met back whole group and several students showed their combinations on the promethean board. They had to drag over corn and tomatoes to display their combination, write the equation and the answer.

Click here for your copy of the problem sheet.

Math Stations this week
Fish Tank for Six

Shake Those Beans for Six

Click here for this activity.

Spill and Record for Six

On and Off for Six

The last two files are on my computer at school I’ll try to get them uploaded on tomorrow.
Tomorrow we will complete a wall display of Corn and Tomato Soup. I’ll be sure to take pictures and post a copy of the pages for that display.
Happy Labor Day!!!!

First, I Want to Thank My Heavenly Father

2011-09-04T11:23:00.004-05:00

Don’t you just love at award shows how the winner gets up and says that. I’m thinking dude I’ve seen your music video….I’m just saying But I’m truly thanking mine for the kind and thoughtful Mrs. Tunstall.

I want to thank Reagan over at Tunstall’s Teaching Tidbits from the bottom of my heart for listing me as one of her top ten blogs! I love her blog and she’s hiiiiilarious!!!! If you haven’t checked her out you should and if you’re not following her what the heck are you waiting on????

Number Talks

2011-09-03T11:23:00.003-05:00

I’ve had a quite a few people e-mail me about Number Talks. So I wanted to devote this post to how Number Talks operate in my classroom.
When my students first walk into the room they answer the Question of the Day, then immediately get to work on our daily story problem. After that the even numbered students play a math game with another even numbered student. The odd numbered students participate in Morning Reading. The each have a pocket filled with just right books for them. These books are separate from their Read to Self books. Then the next day we switch.

Around 8:30 we have Math Morning Meeting which includes Number Talks.
Here are the main resources I use for Number Talks.

This part of Math Morning Meeting only takes about 10-15 minutes…and my students love it. The purpose of Number Talks is to get students to think about number…not in the addition or subtraction sense…but it the ability to take numbers apart, to know what “Five” or “Six” or “Ten” is. It’s the ability to connect what they know about one number to help them with another number.
Right now there are two main tools I use during Number Talks. Eventually I’ll add Ten Frames:
Dot Cards:
I made a set for 5-9. In the yellow basket are dot cards I made using paper plates and sticky dots. Regular dot cards are in the gift bag. I decided to make my own because I could create what my students needed to focus on.

How do I use them: I quickly flash a card or plate, then ask the students what they see.
One of our routines is when you think you know how many dots there are, put a quiet thumb up. I do this because once hands start flying in the air, a student who’s still thinking will probably stop.
When they all have their thumbs up I ask first: “How many did you see?”
I take and record ALL answers…even the misconceptions. If I hear a few students who say the same number back to back I’ve developed a signal…”Those of you that saw six too…give me a pinky up”.
Then I’ll call on students and ask them to tell me how they saw _____ (whatever the amount was). Below are examples of what they might say.

Sometimes I’ll ask the student who had a misconception if they still saw what they said at first. Their response is no…but then I’ll ask them to tell me how/why they decided to change what they saw. I want to make sure they see the number for themselves and not just because of what their classmate said.
The first day my students wanted to count all the dots individually…but I encouraged them to look for groups of dots. I’m only flashing the cards for 3-5 seconds. They are getting better and better at subtizing or seeing chunks of dots.
Click here to download your dot cards.

Rekenreks

The students love using the Rekenreks. I’ll usually ask them to show me a particular number. On Thursday we worked on seven. Students pulled over beads on the top and bottom to show seven. Then we went around and the students told me how they made seven. Responses: “I have 4 on the top and 3 on the bottom.” “I have 6 on the top and 1 on the bottom.” As the students told me I recorded all the different combinations. This will become our Anchor chart for seven.

Guess My Number

Every time I flip my chart over to Guess My Number…my students cheer with delight. This is such a simple and quick activity…but my students could play this for hours. They like the idea of guessing my number.
The first week of school we worked with 1-10. Then I added 11-15. Next week I’ll add 16-20.
I’m sure everybody has played this game. I choose a number in my head then the students have to guess.
For example if I’m thinking of 10 and a student says is your number 7, I’ll say my number is more than seven. Then they have to tell me which numbers to cover up because they will be excluded from the guess.
So it really gets them thinking in terms of more than and less than…instead of just calling out random numbers. Each guess helps them narrow their focus.

See…. simple.
But your students can gain so much knowledge about number just from Number Talks alone. I hope this post helps and if you haven’t maybe you’ll try it in your classroom. If you are doing Number Talks how about leaving a comment about your routine.

If you click on the picture below you can see a video clip about Number Talks.

I Promise I’m Doing Literacy Too

2011-08-28T19:11:00.002-05:00

Hi to all! I hope you’ve had a restful and relaxing weekend, and you’re ready for a brand new week. This week and next will be a short one for me. The students are out Friday (teachers have a work day) and we’re all out for Labor Day.
I know my last few posts have been about math, ya’ll I promise we are doing literacy and science and social studies…but with the book study this summer I’ve just been pumped about math…even more so than before.

Math Stations this week:
This was a whole group game called Facts of Five. The students paired up and played…they had to find two cards that equaled five. Click here for this game.


Shake Those Beans for Five: Students tossed five two color counters and created an addition sentence to match their counters and write it in on their graph. They always had to start with red first. Click here for this activity.

Spill and Record for Five

Five Cookies: In this station the students came up with different combination of five cookies in and out of the jar. We first completed this activity whole group then it was placed in a station.

We also completed On and Off for Five…but I didn’t take a picture of this station.
Fish Tank for Six: This was a whole group activity. The students paired up and had to find all the different combinations of six fish in and out of the fish tank. Next week the Activity Kit will be placed in a station.
The blue felt was the fish tank “water”.



A few quick math activities:
Here are a few quick games I made for my students this week.
Total of Five. This could be played alone or with a partner. The students circle as many combinations of two numbers that equal five that they can find. This is great for those fast finishers or students who need more practice. I’m making them for numbers up to 18. Click on the picture for your copy.

Give Me Five
In this game partners share one two sided counter. They each decide which color they will be (red or yellow). Partners take turns tossing the counter. If their color comes up they get to color in two numbers that equal five. After they finish they write addition sentences for the combinations they found.
This week we’re doing Give Me Six. Click on the pictures for your copy.

Fun Friday Bingo:
This week we had several rounds of Fun Friday Bingo. The students enjoyed rotating from station to station….and it also gave them the opportunity to practice those CVC words we’ve been working on.



I thought I took more pictures this week…but I’ll try to keep my camera out to remind myself . Next week I’m devoting an entire post to Number Talks. So I have to remember to take tons of pictures.
If you download I’d love to hear from you. What are you doing in math this week????

Winner of A-Manda Creation Clip Art Certificate

2011-08-26T18:50:00.001-05:00

Hi to all! Hope everyone had a great week! I’m late getting the winner posted…but here she is. Congratulations to Jessica. You’ve won Amanda’s gift certificate. You have until Monday to e-mail me.

Jessica said...

I checked out the A-Manda Creation site and it is AWESOME!!! I especially like the Unfrogettable kit. I also "liked" her Facebook page. I hope that is what I needed to do for the contest. Thanks!!!

I’ll be back before the weekend is over to post about our week! Happy Friday!!

Clip Art Gift Certificate Give Away!

2011-08-22T22:13:00.001-05:00

Hi to all! I hope those of you that started today had a fantastic first day back with your students!

I’ve teamed up with Amanda from A-manda Creation to host a giveaway. She has some cute clip art…I’m partial to the Funky Farm collection. So, here’s the deal…Amanda is giving away a $10.00 gift certificate to one lucky winner. Click the picture to check her out.

All you have to do is visit her site and leave a comment about which of her clip art collections you’d love to get your hands on and become a fan on her Facebook page…it’s that simple. If you click on the picture you’ll go right to her FB page.

The contest goes from today until Thursday evening at 6pm Central Standard Time. I’ll announce the winner first thing Friday morning.

And get this….even if you don’t win the certificate you’ll be able to save in her store the entire month of September…with a special code I’ll give later. Each week I’ll post a creation I ‘ve made using her Funky Farm collection…so that’s two great deals in one. You get an activity for your classroom once a week plus a chance to save in Amanda’s store…don’t cha just love it.

Just to get you pumped click, on the picture to get your first activity. If you par-take please leave a comment, or follow my blog, or Like Oceans of First Grade Fun, or follow my TpT store…I really heart feedback.

For those of you who always leave such lovely comments, it means so much and you are ALL so kind. You make me want to create more and more and more…just so I can share it with you!

Good luck and have great day tomorrow!

More Math Fun and Other Stuff

2011-08-20T20:39:00.001-05:00

This was our first full week, and it was filled with lots of assessments.

I usually complete the Reading Street Baseline Test. But I also do a couple of the Clay Assessments: the Writing Vocabulary and Hearing Sounds in Words. This year I also completed the Words Their Way Spelling Inventory.

I’ve been pouring over the results this weekend….so I stuck all three Twilight Movies into my DVD player and had myself a little vampire marathon as I perused the results.

Next week is when I conduct individual reading assessments using the Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark Assessment System. I went a year without buying not one professional book, or magazine, or fancy coffee drink, or cookbook, or new clothes to save for this baby. I love it!

Okay, now on to math

I love love love my district’s new Math Pacing Guide. It’s all Common Core and Addition and Subtraction to 20 is the first goal each nine weeks….which means I can take my time to really make sure my students gain number sense knowledge. I’m feeling so great about it…and they’ve also instituted Number Talks…which I love. If you haven’t read the book you really should.

Here is a little of what we accomplished this week.

How Many Am I Hiding

This is a quick assessment I did whole group. I hid five counters behind my back, then showed the students a few of them. They had to tell me how many I ‘d hidden. It was a quick way to see who really knew five. Then they paired up and did the activity with each other. The ones who didn’t quite master it….worked with me on separating and joining groups of five counters.

Spill and Record for Five

We also completed this activity with five counters. The students shook their five counters and dropped them gently onto the blue felt (got those at Michaels). They recorded how many red and yellow sides were showing, and completed a recording sheet. I asked those that were able to write the addition sentence that matched their chips.

Click here to get this activity.

Fives Number Sense Books

We completed our Fives Number Sense books. The students paired up to find all the different combinations of five using two colored counters.

Click here to get your copy of this book.

Graphing M&M’s

Each year we always graph M&M’s as a beginning of the year graphing activity. My students love it!

Word Work

This week we worked on Short a. The students came up with a list of at chunk words. Here is a picture of our completed chart. I’m putting my Cricut to good use.

Have a great week!!!! If you’re starting back on Monday, my prayer is that you have a wonderful new school year!

The First Three Days

2011-08-14T12:30:00.001-05:00

Well I’m back in the swing of things. The first three days were pretty good. I have 16 lovely first graders, and I think we’re going to have a great year. This week we worked on routines and expectations. My students loved the Marshmallow Toes! Thanks to Kelli at Castles and Crayons!

Here are some more pictures of my classroom.

Ignore the sorting bins for supplies.

My Important Times wall and clock! Thanks to Mrs. Lemons at Step into Second Grade and Lauren at Just Add Clipart.

This year I’ve decided to give each table group a drawer set to keep most of their supplies.

Here are what the labels will look like when I tape them onto the front of each drawer. Anything I label always has a complete sentence…reading is everywhere!!!!

I think it will help with the Junky Desk Syndrome. Which reminds me…I need to get my Desk Fairy materials ready.

I made this color chart to go along with my theme.

I also made some color word poems. I got the poems from KinderKorner’s Website a loooong time ago. If you’d like a copy click on any picture below.

This week we worked on Making Five. I read this story:

The students got their own cookie jar page along with five cookies. They decided how many cookies they wanted in their jar and how many cookies they wanted out of the jar.

Click here if you’d like a copy of the activity sheet.

Have a great Sunday afternoon! I’ll be back with more fun stuff next weekend.

Top Ten Reasons You Know It’s Back to School Time

2011-08-06T15:37:00.004-05:00

Mrs. Tunstall over at Tunstall’s Teaching Tidbits is having a link party about the Top Ten Reasons You Know It’s Back to School Time. Love her blog BTW!

Here are my Top Ten:
10. I started practicing slowly counting to five before responding to any question I’ll hear repeated fifty-thousand times.

9. Started upping my daily dose of vitamin c…you know to ward off the sneeze monster and the coughing dragon.

8.My purse is filled with receipts from K-Mart, Target, Wal-Mart, Dollar Tree and Dollar General. I have enough paper kindling to start a small barbecue grill.

7. The collection of professional books stacked next to my bed is growing by leaps and bounds.

6. Practiced creating a “Quiet Bubble” to use during ~~lunch~~ Scarf Down Your Food in Fifteen Minutes Flat While Still Maintaining Order Time.”

5. There are Band-Aids on all ten of my fingers from hot glue, paper cuts, and staples.

4. Creating inspirational gospel music playlists on my I-Pod for the drive into work. Mary Mary is in heavy rotation.

3. I’m doing all tasks standing up…to get my legs back into shape.

2. I’ve asked friends and family to stand next to me and poke me over and over and over and over while calling my name.

1. For the past two weeks I’ve set my alarm for 6am instead of 8am….getting my body, mind and soul back into the early rising routine.

There’s my list! Click Here to add your link to Tunstall’s Tidbits!

Before Meets After

2011-08-05T18:52:00.003-05:00

Today was my official first day back to work…the students report on Wednesday.
I’ve been working for the last couple of weeks to get my room ready…it’s not quite done yet. I still have a few things to finish, but it’s getting there.
Here is how my room looked on the first day I walked into it. Well not quite…picture everything pushed in the middle of the room…after the custodians finished waxing. My niece decided to help me that day. God bless her.

Slowly but surly things started to take shape. Here's a little of what I accomplished.
Before, this bookshelf served as a semi storage in the front and a place to hang pocket charts during word work. I loathe this shelf…but I needed it.

Here is the after. Now it’s part of my Work on Words Station. There is a place to put our spelling chunks and sight words for the week, and mini pocket charts for sorting.

Here is a picture of the top of the shelf. BTW I decoupaged over the top…but forgot to take a picture. I will store my weekly sight word activities in the purple baskets. More about my sight words on another post.

More storage for Work on Words activities.

On one side of my file cabinet is where I’ll keep our word work (spelling chunks) for use during Reading Workshop. I decided to break Work on Words up into four different areas.
Spectacular Spelling (activities using our weekly spelling words).
Wonderful Words (Fry Words activities).
Family Affair (activities that review past spelling chunks and word families)
Fry Masters (fluency activities using Fry words)
If you’d like a copy of the organization cards click here.


Here is the Word Families Board. The little poster on the left is where I’ll post our objectives in Language Arts for the week. If you’d like a copy of the word family cards click here and here.


Last year I had to take down my line I used to hang student’s work…so this year I had to maximize all the display space I could. The back of these bookshelves were covered in apple themed contact paper…and it was not current…think 1970.
Here is the after.

I’m using the bottom of this door as my Reading Workshop Organization board. In the mornings the students will pick where they’ll go for each round during Reading Workshop. I forgot to bring the pocket chart to hang on the door. I’ll take another picture of it on Monday.

Here is my Math Board. This is where I’ll place my Math Stations organization board. I’ll take another pic of this when it’s completed.

This board used to be a catch all for important announcements, reminders, pictures my students drew for me. But I decided to turn it into an abbreviated calendar board. This year I’ve decided to have my calendar on the Promethean board, but I still wanted a monthly calendar my students could refer to.

Here is the whole group area.

This door will serve as a display space for my Super Sundae Ice Cream words. I’m working on this post…so I’ll tell you more about that later.

Here are my Ocean themed numbers.

I’m going to put our short vowel words on this board…not actually a board, just paper taped to the huge blank wall above one of my bulletin boards.
If you’d like a copy of the short vowel pictures click here.

Sorry for the long post…but I still have more things to share next week!
So…what do ya think!

Ten Flashing Fireflies

2011-08-03T16:41:00.003-05:00

I love the book Ten flashing Fireflies! I use it every year. I’ve just uploaded my first Math and Literature Math Activity kit and is goes along perfectly with this book. I hope to post many more this year. This kit contains everything you need to teach your students number combinations from 5-10. We all know ten is a benchmark number. This kit includes eight number combination sorting mats, which would make great math station activities. Five stand alone math station activities, and two story problem booklets. This kit is packed full of everything you need, and it’s on sale along with all the other goodies in my TpT store. So go ahead and check it out! THIS JUST IN: I'M EXTENDING MY SALE UNTIL SUNDAY AUGUST 7TH!!!!!

Because I heart ALL my followers here is a freebie for you. Click on either of the pictures below to download.

Have you seen these?

2011-08-01T17:33:00.001-05:00

I just purchased my copy…it looks pretty good. Aligns nicely with Common Core Standards.They have one for each grade level. I’ll use this in addition to these books as the framework for my literacy block.

Don’t forget

Back to School Bonanza

2011-07-30T17:16:00.001-05:00

Max, Fox, Henry, Mudge and the Little Critters Short Vowel Sounds

2011-07-29T12:37:00.001-05:00

This month I’ve been focusing on Literacy and how I’d like to change things up a bit in my room. Well, I was re-reading this book and found a mini lesson I’d always wanted to do…but never quite got around to it. The book suggested using Max (from Max and Ruby), Fox (Fox on the Job and other Fox books), Henry, Mudge and the Little Critter characters to introduce the short vowel sounds. They would be great anchors…because most students are already familiar with them. So I created these posters to place in my room near my spelling chunk wall (more about that in another post) and thought you’d like a copy too.

Click on the picture of Max to download your copy.

Giveaway Winners

2011-07-24T08:00:00.000-05:00

Here are the winners of my 1,000 followers giveaway! Congratulations ladies!

You have until Friday to e-mail me and let me know which of my TpT products you’d like.

Reading Strategy Bookmark and Parent Poster

2011-07-21T19:19:00.001-05:00

A few days ago I got an e-mail from a fellow teacher about creating bookmarks and a parent poster of my Reading Strategy Posters. Click on the picture to see that post.

Well, I’d created the bookmark but not the poster, then on yesterday another lovely teacher e-mail me and said that she’d re-scanned my posters to create a Parent Poster, something to help parents with reinforcing the strategies at home. She sent me a copy and I thought that was so kind of her.

I also usually create a newsletter for my parents titled: What Else Can You Say Besides “Sound It Out”. Those three words irk me to NO END…because most of the time you can’t just sound it out…the English Language is kinda tricky that way. Sorry my Reading Recovery training is kicking in. But I can’t find the newsletter on my computer.

Anyway, back to the bookmarks and poster. I asked Sarah (parent poster maker) if it was okay to share the document with you. So click on the pictures to download your copy.

Don’t forget you have one more day to enter my giveaway.

One Thousand Followers! That Means it’s Give Away Time!

2011-07-15T20:26:00.001-05:00

I can’t believe I’ve reached 1,000 followers! When I first started my blog I wasn’t sure if anyone would read it. But I have to say thanks to all my followers for their wonderful words of thanks and encouragement!

So in celebration of 1,000 wonderful blogging friends I’m having a giveaway! Ten lucky people will get the chance to choose any item from my TpT store.

Here’s what you have to do:

1. Follow my blog if you don’t already.

2. Follow my TpT store.

3. LIKE Oceans of First Grade Fun on FB.

4. If you have a blog…blog about my giveaway.

5. Leave a comment telling me what item in my TpT store you would choose.

That’s it! That’s five individual entries. The contest ends on July 22nd (that means you have a whole week) the TEN Winners will be announced on Sunday, July 24th!

And as an added thank you, everything in my TpT store will be 20% off starting tomorrow through Tuesday!

Good luck!

Long and Short Vowel Posters

2011-07-15T00:02:00.001-05:00

I went to the teacher supply store today to pick up a few posters like this one.

There weren’t any floating my boat, so I decided…

I could make my own.

I know there are tons of these guys floating around but I wanted to add some spark to my set this year. So I made these too.

Click on the picture below and help yourself to your own set of short and long vowel posters and the reading strategies cards. But only if you want to.

I printed my set of short and long vowels on the poster setting (4 sheets) on my printer.

I officially have three weeks and three days until my new set of first graders dances, prances, stumbles, skates, rollerblades, wind surfs….you get the picture…through my classroom.

I can’t believe I have almost 1,000 followers! I have some wonderful blogging friends

Mastering the Basic Math Facts Chapter Eight: Using Doubles

2011-07-13T08:00:00.000-05:00

Here is the final set of game storage labels for the games in this book.

Chapter Eight: Using Doubles

Click on the picture to download.

Everybody have a great day!

Please leave some love…Like me on FB or follow me. I’ve got some awesome followers!

Mastering The Basic Math Facts Chapters Five Through Seven

2011-07-12T16:11:00.002-05:00

It’s been a busy couple of weeks! But here are the storage labels for Chapters Five- Seven of this book.

Chapter Five Doubles
Click on the picture to download.

Chapter Six Making Ten
Click on the picture to download.

Chapter Seven Using Ten
Click on the picture to download.

I’ll post chapter eight tomorrow and “hopefully” by the end of the week I’ll get my posts done for the last two chapters of Math Work Stations.

I'd like all my beautiful blogging friends to do me a favor and Like me on FB...pretty please. :)

Sea/Beach Life Numbers 11-20

2011-07-05T21:37:00.001-05:00

I completed numbers for 11-20 for my classroom today. If you'd like a set click on the picture to download. I used "beach/sea" type clip art for the remaining numbers. The file is large so give it a minute :)

Sea Life Numbers to 10

2011-07-02T15:48:00.001-05:00

Last year I kinda...sorta had an ocean theme in my classroom. But this year I've decided to fully commit . I had a few minutes to kill, so I created an ocean themed 1-10 number set for my classroom. I wanted to share it with you, if you can use it click on the picture to download. Have a great Fourth of July weekend!

Remember Me....Please

2011-07-01T10:58:00.003-05:00

Voting starts today! Please vote for my blog. Click on the picture to show some love.

Correction :Math Work Stations: Chapter 6: Place Value

2011-06-25T20:36:00.002-05:00

This is what I get for being in a hurry. Please re-download your copy of Race to Fifty and Race to One Hundred. I'm so sorry! Thanks mfang!

Sometimes place value can be the hardest concept (conceptually speaking) for first graders to understand. Yes, they can tell you how many hundreds, tens or ones are in a number...but do they really get it? Well in chapter 6 there are tons of activities to make sure they do get it.

But here's something to think about...a few years ago I was listening to a speaker at a professional development meeting talk about place value and how we I spend time making sure they understand place value in terms of tens and ones, but when it's time to teach two-digit addition or subtraction I un-teach everything I spent weeks and weeks on...without meaning to, of course. I was a little miffed, but I kept listening.

Example: I'm at the board showing my students how to add two digits...lets say its 56 + 36. I go through the step of adding the ones first. "Class, 6+6=12. I bring my one down to the ones column then I carry my two over." (I'm sure I'm the only one who's done this). Wait a minute, I'm not carrying over two...I'm carrying over ten. Un-teaching all my hard work.

That was my Ah-Ha Moment in terms of instruction of place value and from that point on my instruction looked a lot different. Just something to think about.

What Are We Teaching:
When in doubt look to your state's course of study standards, or Common Core Standards. If you check out Lory's Page you'll be able to download the Common Core Standards for first and second grades. Thanks Lory!

Debbie lists the most general standards you are sure to find when teaching place value. Some are listed below.

*Counting to 100

*Group counting by tens to fifty or more

*Read, write and understand numbers from 20 to 50 or more (depending on your grade level)

*Use broken counting

*Count by tens off the decade (14,24,34,)

*Putting together and taking apart two-digit numbers

*Developing an understanding of place value as students solve two digit addition and subtraction problems

*Describe Compare and order numbers to 999

*Representing numbers in various ways

Having a supply of Hundreds Charts will allow students to see what happens when you count by 5s,10s, or off decade. Here are my (specially made for my blogging friends) set of designer Hundreds Charts...I call anything with a little color designer ;) Click on the picture to grab your set. Don't you just love the dots?

What Are the Students Doing at Place Value Stations

Race to Fifty or One Hundred
Here is one game my students loved to play. In the game of Race to Fifty or One Hundred, students each need a ones and tens mat, a die and connecting cubes. They take turns rolling the die and counting out that many cubes. When they have a group of ten they can connect those and slide them over to the tens side of the board. The first person to get to 50 or 100 wins.

There was another variation in MWS: Race to Zero. This works in the opposite way. Students start out with the specified number (50 or 100 cubes). They roll the die and take away that many placing them on the ones side. They keep rolling and breaking down their cubes until they reach zero. No matter which way you decide to let your students play, you'll need the game boards. Click on either picture to get your set.

Ants at the Picnic

Here is another collection game. This time students roll 1 die and take that many ants. When they have a collection of ten individual ants they can trade for one rod of ten ants. Students keep rolling, collecting and trading until they collect 50 or 100 ants (depending on which game they play). Click on the picture to collect your game.

Hundreds Chart Puzzles
Make copies of these charts on colored card stock. Cut them out into a variety of puzzles and then laminate. Give students a blank grid and have them put the puzzle back together again. Click on the picture to get your copy, including the blank grid.

Trading Games Using Money

If you click here and here you can get a copy of all the Money Trading Games I created in an earlier post.

Play $999 Monster Money Challenge
In MWS Debbie called the game $999 Monopoly Money Challenge.
But I created Monster Money. It works the same way as Debbie's game.

Directions:You will need 15 one hundred dollar bills, 25 ten dollar bills, and 50 one dollar bills. Place the money in a ~~brown~~ cute gift bag that I have decorated using my Cricut Machine :).

Each student reaches into the bag and removes three bills at a time. Then they each add up the money and whoever has the most gets to keep both players money. They keep track of their money by placing their bills on the corresponding places on the mat( hundreds, tens, ones), making exchanges when possible. Players keep going until one person gets $999.

This game is on page 144 in MWS.

In the meantime click on the picture to get your set of Monster Money.

Playing Make the Biggest Number

In this game students shuffle two separate decks of 0-9 number cards. Both players turn over two cards at a time and try to make the biggest number. The player who makes the bigger number gets to keep both cards or they get a point. At the end of play the student with the most cards or points is the winner. A variation could be Make the Smallest Number. Click on the picture to get your set. I've also included mats using Tens and Ones and Hundreds tens and Ones.

Number of the Day

I use this each year with my first graders. Each student has their own book and it's a part of our daily Math Morning Routines.

Posted on the wall I'll have a sign that says; Today's Number is...I try to choose numbers I feel they need to work on, sometimes it's the number of days we've been in school, it just varies according to what they need.

Students take out their Number of the Day books and copy the number in the center of the page. Then they have to tell me the numbers that are one more, one less, ten more and ten less than the Number of the Day. On the back of that page they have to represent the number in four different ways: tallies, coins, objects, addition or subtraction sentences. I usually make books each nine weeks. I fold the pages towards each other and place the cover page around those pages and staple. Click on the picture to get your copy.

What Materials Should You Have for Place Value
This is not an exhaustive list but it's a place to get started.

Connecting cubes
Counters
Base ten blocks (units, rods and flats)
Ten frames
Numeral Cards
Numeral cubes (Dice)
Bags of objectives to count (The Dollar Tree has lots of collectibles)

Math and Literature Connections to Place Value
Listed below are a few children's books related to the instruction of place value.

Professional Titles for Teaching Place Value

I hope you have enjoyed my little post as much as I enjoyed putting it together for you. If there is anything I didn't cover that you'd like me to, please let me know. If you like what you see, and download it...leave some love, feedback, suggestions. I hope you find something you can use next year! I have to admit I was stressed out for this post...I had nightmares about the internet going out or my computer catching a bug...I know crazy right.

Don't forget to link up and blog about your thoughts on place value. I can't wait to read your posts!

Why I Love Teaching!

2011-06-23T15:07:00.001-05:00

Earlier today I got the loveliest e-mail from a fellow educator. Honestly, her words made me teary. So many people have inspired me in this blogging adventure (A big thanks to Mrs. Carroll at The First Grade Parade). It was just nice to know that I'd inspired someone else. I love that she's been teaching 1st grade for 37 years and she still loves it! That's true dedication and I want to be like that when I grow up. :)

Her name is Debbie and here's part of her e-mail:

I have taught first grade for 37 years and I still love what I do. I am constantly learning and revising my materials. I am new to creating with the computer - I'm from the generation that made everything with paper, markers, you get the idea. I made this game and wanted to share with you because you have shared so very much with me. Hopefully soon I will get a blog started:0 I hope you can use it and please feel free to share.

Thanks for being the wonderful caring, sharing teacher that you are.
Debbie

That just made my week :) I just want to say thanks to Debbie and all my wonderful blogging friends who leave such nice comments, compliments and suggestions. You are greatly appreciated!

If you'd like Debbie's game click on the picture below.

Calendar Link Party Winners!!!!

2011-06-22T18:23:00.000-05:00

Thanks to everyone who linked with me or shared a comment. I'm thinking I'm going with my calendar on the Promethean Board with calendar books. I'll leave a small wall calendar and something up to count the number of days we've been in school.

The Winners are:
Blog: Littlecats Kindergarten
Comments: SillyTeacher

The winners have 48 hours to contact me by e-mail and choose one item from my TpT store.

Oops! Corrected Mastering the Basic Math Facts Chapter Four: Adding Ten

2011-06-21T21:04:00.003-05:00

So sorry! I've corrected the problem with my Doubles game boards. Just download them again. Good catch Anonymous!

As promised here are the next set of storage labels for this book.

These game storage labels are for Chapter Four. Click on the picture to download.

I have also completed my Doubles game boards. These are more varied...just a variety. Click on the picture to download. Enjoy!

I'm still working on game boards using two dice and some subtraction ones. I did get started on my post for Chapter 6 of MWS. Look for that this weekend. Whew...busy busy!

More Blog Land Inspiration Part Deux

2011-06-20T22:13:00.003-05:00

As I was blog stalking today I came across two posts that set my creative chi flowing.

Mrs. Jump blogged about not being able to throw anything away (I hear ya sister). But it was her picture of the THOUSANDS of Themed erasers she had...oh my word it was like Christmas in June or something.

Then earlier I read Lory's page and saw all those wonderful games she posted on her blog for chapter 5 of MWS. So I came up with these.

One thing I'll work on with my first graders next year is fluency with addition facts. So here's my first round of simple games, all of these are plus one using a six sided die.

I am working on creating game boards for plus 2 and 3, doubles, and adding two dice...so look out for those. I'm also working on ones for subtraction...but I've got to get busy on my post for chapter 6: Place Value and finish the game labels for Mastering the Basic Math Facts first. Thanks for all the suggestions!

6/21: I love suggestions on how to make any of my games better. Please don't stop leaving them...they help me to improve and see things in another way. That's what I want this blog to be all about...teachers helping teachers. Everyone have a blessed and light filled day. :)

All you need are counters(the two sided ones with a different color on each side) and a die. Students can share the game board or have their own.

They roll the die and add one to the number they rolled, look for it on their mat and cover it. If you share one game board they have to decided which side of the counters they'll use for the game...red or yellow.
The first one to get five in a row is the winner.

Here's the best part...I made boards for the entire year....goes to another point of increasing novelty (another thing Mrs. Jump said). The concept is the same but you change out game boards and use some of those themed erasers and there you go.

Click on the picture above to download your set. I was little lazy...I changed the pictures but not the placement of the numbers(forgive me)...but they'll still get the job done.

New Blogger on the Block

2011-06-20T12:58:00.000-05:00

I just met (via blog and e-mail) and awesome first grade teacher. Her class site is filled with pictures of wonderful, creative ideas. Now she's started a blog and once you scope out her class site, you'll want to add your name to her followers list. Let's make her feel welcome! Click here to check out her website.

Click here to check out her blog.

Don't forget to check out the freebies on my blog for Chapter 5 of Math Work Stations. Click the picture to go to the post.

Math Work Stations: Chapter 5: Addition and Subtraction MWS

2011-06-20T01:17:00.001-05:00

Windows Live Writer is tripping right now...so I'm using Blogger to do my post...so if things look a little off, please forgive me. Crazy...Crazy technology. One day it's fine, then the next day.... BAM...not working.
Any-whoo.

Here are some activities you might find useful as you soak up Chapter 5

I LOVE…LOVE…LOVE teaching addition and subtraction! I can always find a game or activity to create using addition and subtraction.
Here is my version of Teen+ Battle and Ten Frames Top It. Teen+ Battle is found on page 114 in MWS.
Click on the picture to download your copy.

Here are some more games involving addition. I’ll post subtraction games on Tuesday.

Back to School Battle

Make 5-6 sets of these number cards. Students turn over two cards at a time and add them up. Whoever has the highest amount takes all four cards. Or you could have them play for less.

Click on the picture to download.

Fishing For Five
Click to download.

Make 5-6 sets of these cards. Students lay them out in a four by four matrix, and put the rest of the cards in a facedown stack.
Students take turns turning over two cards trying to find two numbers that equal 5.

If they are successful they keep both cards and continue their turn. If they don’t turn over two cards that equal 5, play goes to the next person.

After each player’s turn…if they make five they add two more cards from the leftover facedown stack to the matrix.

I made sets of these for Sevens and Tens also. It’s a great way to develop automaticity with these facts. Click on each picture to download your sets.

Note: In Fishing for Seven and Ten, if the student draws a wild card they can make that card into the amount they need to make seven or ten. Example: If they turn over 3 and a Wild Card that card can become a 4.

Math Talk: “I turned over 3 and a wild card. I need four, my wild card will be 4 because 3 and 4 is 7.”

Fishing for Seven
Click on the pictures to download.

Fishing for Ten
Click on the picture to download.

Clip art purchased at Scrappindoodles.com

Thanks a Bunch!!!

2011-06-18T17:29:00.003-05:00

I was nominated for Really Good Stuff's Blog Contest!
I'm just so thankful to even be nominated!!
I'm not sure who nominated me...but I want to say "Thank You" from the bottom of my heart!

Don't forget to join the Calendar V. Promethean Board Link Party
Question: Are there any bloggers who use Windows Live Writer? And are you having problems with it???

Calendar Board V. Promethean Board Link Up

2011-06-15T23:30:00.003-05:00

Help!!!

Okay, here’s my ~~dilemma~~ quandary. I’m giving serious thought to doing away with my calendar board and putting my entire calendar routine onto my Promethean board and creating a calendar book for my students. I feel like I’d save so much space…but I’m still not sure. Here’s where my beautiful blogging friends come in.

Pictures of my calendar board this year.

If you have a blog…please consider linking up with me???

I’d really like to explore the pros and cons of Calendar board vs. Promethean board.

I’d like to know which do you prefer?

What’s are the benefits of using a calendar board/promethean board?

If you don’t have a blog, not a problem. How about leaving a comment telling me your ideas.

To make it even sweeter…if you link up with me, I’ll use the random number generator and the winning blog can get any one product from my TpT Store.

If you leave a comment…I’ll use the random number generator and that winner can pick any one item from my TpT store. See, it’s a sweet deal all around.

Can’t wait to hear your ideas! BTW links will close in one week. Make sure when you link up you blog about calendar board vs. Promethean board.