February 2015 - Queen of the First Grade Jungle

Five for Friday


It has been a HOT minute since I have linked up with Kacey from Doodle Bugs for Five for Friday, but I am feeling a little extra saucy this Friday so let's give it a go!


  The last couple of weeks have been full of geometry in my room!  I feel like our first grade teachers hit the standards so well, that I was more reviewing and was able to have a little fun with it!  I set up 5 stations and we rotated around the classroom.  
*The geoboards are always a huge hit!
*Small group instruction with me was reviewing arrays from earlier in the year.  Now we are ready to translate those arrays into multiplication problems!
*A measurement center from my Sporty Kids Pack where my kids measure in centimeters and inches. 
*Geometric shape drawings with our stencils.  I am always amazed by their creativity!
*Lastly 2-D shape manipulatives.


After we completed our 2-D shape unit, I searched high and low for an art project.  We LOVED this one!  The instructions included cutting out foil geometric shapes, outlining with sharpies, and filling in a pattern with water colors!  Swoon!


We jumped straight into 3-D shapes this week.  We reviewed with the amazing Teacher Tipster! I know the videos are technically for teachers, but my kids love them so much!  You can find him all over youtube! 


I made these posters and hung them up in my room!

You can find them on my facebook page as a freebie by clicking on the picture below and going to the freebie tab!


Today we talked about faces, edges, and vertices of our 3-D shapes by creating our own shapes!

First we used marshmallows and toothpicks!


We also created paper 3-D shapes using patterns I found HERE.  I printed them out, blew them up to a larger size, and copied them on bright neon colored paper.


For a Friday afternoon the kids were very engaged! It was also nice to see who had the abstract thinking to be able to put the shapes together!

And here is one of my cuties with her completed 3-D shapes that she arranged as a ice cream sundae :)



Have you met my precious puppy Hank?!?!  We got Hank on Valentine's Day. He was seven weeks old at the time (now 9 weeks old).

He is a silver lab. He has the prettiest blue eyes and we are SO in love!

Yes, I am pregnant. Of course we know we are nuts.  But I cannot wait for Hank and our new baby boy (arriving in May) to grow up together!





We are still experiencing some of the nasty winter weather, but we are getting some days in the upper 60s, low 70s... perfect weather for introducing the puppy to the beach!

He is already a big fan of the beach and dabbled a little in the water too!


I had SO much fun catching up with y'all tonight! I hope you have a wonderful weekend!





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New 2nd Grade March Centers and a HUGE sale!

We had a "snow/ice" day here in Charleston yesterday.  You northerners would laugh if you saw- there was literally nothing, BUT in defense of our sweet southern souls we just aren't equipped for icy conditions here!  The unexpected day gave me the time I needed to finish these March Centers for 2nd graders.  I feel like I say this every time, but y'all I think I get better at this gig with each packet.  


I really do try and keep things fresh and unique because I get bored easily!  I also keep all my learners in mind and try to address the needs of my Highs and my Lows.


Vocabulary Puzzlers- The vocabulary puzzlers are a HUGE hit in my room.  The kids will go back to them several times after they have completed them!  

Spring Speech Bubbles- We are working hard to add dialogue into our realistic fiction pieces in writing so I wanted to give them a little guided practice through centers.  

Adverbs in Action- are brand new to us, so I kept that very basic.  

Shy Leprechauns- Long "i" words- I love this station.  My kids are seriously fantastic readers, but they just need more practice (tons more practice) in the phonics department.  This station is perfect for that!




Lying Lions- We have been working on homophones all year.  This sort involves the students deciphering correct/incorrect usage of the homophones.  I include my homophones chart just in case you need it!

Four Syllable Word Attack- I have a few students who look at look words and get that deer in headlights look.  You KNOW what I am talking about!  This center is meant to help them break the long words apart and then self check with a hidden picture!

 March Madness- Time, time, time! These stations reinforce time to five minutes!

March Measurement- We finished our measurement unit about two weeks ago so this center will make sure my kids don't get too rusty on the skill!


Party Time- 3 Digit Addition and Subtraction- Nothing fancy- just straight practice and matching for self-checking!

Balance the Court- This center will be used in small group with me.  It is a great way to stretch those high kids.  Finding the missing addend in an equation with another equation on the other side! Phew!
  

If you are a first grade teacher--- here is your first grade March Centers:





I tried to hit all the big holidays in March because there is just TOO much fun stuff to only focus on St. Patrick's Day!    You can find that unit and my other units in my store on sale today and tomorrow.  The TPT sale is HERE!


I LOVE this sale theme...I mean- just look at my SUPERHEROES!


and I happen to have a whole unit on Superheroes: 




Here are a few more of my units that you may be interested in: 
























Enjoy shopping tonight AND tomorrow friends!
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