It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas . . . (& Thanksgiving & Hanukkah!)

Well, I have been in a Christmas-ish state for awhile but I am *trying* to hold off on going full-blown Christmas until December 1st - it's hard! Christmas is in all the stores, Christmas specials are starting to show on the TV, I am just trying to get through this weekend and then next week, Christmas season can really begin!

So although I have been trying to hold off on Christmas, I did get a bit of a head start with my new Christmas writing activity, "Solve it for Santa!" The unit contains ten problems that can be used as writing prompts. Students have to choose a problem and creatively solve it problem for Santa. Students can then use the graphic organizer and writing paper to turn their problem and solution into a fun Christmas story. I just love holiday writing!

Click {HERE} or the picture if you'd like to check it out!

Are you in full holiday mode or are you practicing a little patience?

For all those celebrating Thanksgiving tomorrow or the start of Hanukkah tonight - have a wonderful holiday!

Daily Math Update & Some Classroom Happenings

Yay - it's Saturday! Before I know it, it will be Monday again. So what did the week look like? We spent the week practicing our names with a bunch of fun activities. We did a name sort - unscrambling the letters in our names and then counting how many letters we each had in our name. The students then sorted our names into groups, according to how many letters, and completed a class graph.

I know of a few fun books for talking about names:

  

   

But, I'm always looking for more books to add to my library. Do you know of any other fun name books?

We also started talking about colours. For blue day, we made adorable (if I do say so myself) Pete the Cats, with each student choosing the colour for the shoes. We also added a little bit of writing - Pete loves his             shoes.

For yellow day, we made school buses and drew the bus driver and riders. Wouldn't you know? A few Petes showed up driving the buses (yes, we are apparently still Pete-obsessed!).

Some of our favourite colour books this week:

We'll continue colours next week and I would love to hear some more suggestions for colour books. A few more I still plan on using:

On a completely unrelated note, I have been swamped since school started but I did manage to finish the next packet in my Daily Math for first grade students:

Click on the pictures or {HERE} to check it out. I also updated my Daily Math First Grade Bundle to include this pack:

Click on the pictures or {HERE} to check it out.

Well now I'm off to enjoy the rest of the weekend!

A Back to School Activity & a Freebie!

So I've been thinking about some fun back to school activities, so I thought I'd share one I saw online. I don't know about you but in my district, we get our old students back for a few days, while new classes are being sorted out, so we've got to have some activities to keep them busy, until they head off to their new classrooms.

It's always fun to have the students reflect/write/draw/share about their summer vacation.

via Kids Artists

I saw this picture from Kids Artists on Pinterest and it reminded me of an activity I did. Provide students with an outline of a pair of sunglasses and have them draw two events from their summer vacation. Put them up with a catchy slogan and you have a fun back to school bulletin board.

To go with this, I came up with a little writing activity. Have the students write a letter (to a friend, parent, teacher etc.) about their summer vacation. Click on any of the pictures below to download the free activity.

I've also finally finished my Back to School Daily Math for 1st Grade, click on the picture to check that out if you're interested.

This pack follows the same pattern as my other Daily Math units with each day consisting of 5 questions that review various Kindergarten Common Core Standards. Now off to work on the Fall set!

What's your go-to back to school activity? Leave me a comment below!

Just Journal Writing

I don't know how well this post is going to go (though it does have a point) because I am exhausted (tomorrow is Friday, right?) and have a million things running through my brain.

The topic I had planned to write about today is Journal Writing. I have two reasons for this.
1. I have a new unit that I want to share
2. I am really curious how other teachers handle journals in their class.

I am a big fan of a once a week (usually Monday morning-ish) journal writing. I like Mondays because hopefully the students have done something over the weekend that they can discuss. What I don't like is when I hear "I did nothing." or "I have nothing to write about." Usually I'll say something like, "Then tell me what you ate for dinner, tell me what TV show you watched." etc. because I really want the students to just start writing. I fully realize that writing can be hard and writing with no inspiration can be extremely difficult, but I also think that it gets easier if you just START WRITING!

To help with students who have no idea where to begin (especially in younger grades), I like to provide prompts or sentence starters. So this is where my new unit came in. I created 40+ Journal Prompts for beginning writers (1st & 2nd Grade). I created both general and seasonal/holiday prompts with writing paper in the hopes that it would help beginning writers get the grasp of writing by providing them with a starting off point. Click the picture if you'd like to check out the unit:

So how to you incorporate journals in the classroom? Would love to hear any ideas or suggestions.

Calendar and a Freebie!

Well my school year has not even finished yet but I am already thinking ahead to next year. I just completed my daily calendar with tons of printables. Click on the picture to go check it out.

I also have a freebie to share. Click the picture or click HERE to check it out.

Well that makes me feel slightly more productive than I have been feeling lately. Let me know if you grab the freebie, I would love to hear any thoughts or opinions!
One more week . . . 4 more days!

Knuffle Bunny Unit - Finally!

Well I have finally done it, I finished my Knuffle Bunny unit. I have been working on this unit for far too long, in my opinion (off and on for months), and it is finally finished. I have a TON of units planned so hopefully I can work faster in the summer months, although I think the warm weather might not help with my productivity! Click on either of the pics to check out my 70-page unit on TPT.

Well I am excited that I am starting the last month of school tomorrow, the countdown begins!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Knuffle-Bunny-Unit

Scaredy Squirrel

I love how so many books have great characters to which students can relate. One of the ones I have been reading to students lately is good old Scaredy Squirrel. Not only is Scaredy such a cute little character, but I think he has a great message for students about being scared. Students do find Scaredy's tales funny, but I think they also present the perfect opportunity to discuss worries and being brave. This is especially true in the early primary grades, when so many students are beginning school/starting new things and may be dealing with some anxiety and stress.
Click the picture below to find my Scaredy Squirrel unit on TPT:

Hope you enjoy!

P.S. I would just like to mention that I am apparently not very good a cutting out things for crafts. Circles, oval, squares, doesn't seem to matter what shape, my cuts always seem a little off. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to practice over the summer!

Ahhh Sweet, Sweet Summer

I don't know what it is, but every year around April and May, I suddenly get in full summer mode. As soon as the weather starts to get warmer, and the sun comes peeking out, I just want to pack up and head off to the beach. Keep in mind though, when I say "head off to the beach" I don't mean actually go in the water. It's been years since I've actually been swimming a lake, river, or ocean, it is always way toooo cold for me. So when I say go to the beach, I mean sit out in the sun, most likely with a book or magazine.
Anyways, the point of my rambling is that I completely understand why students suddenly have a hard time focusing at this time of year. I'm right there with them. I love learning, but who doesn't want to go outside in the bright, warm, sunshine, rather than sit in the dull, chilly classroom, no matter how fun and exciting I try and make it seem.
Can I also point how jealous I am of all those bloggers who are counting down the days until school is out. Days? DAYS? I've still got almost TWO months! I know, so sad.
To keep those students, hopefully, focused on something slightly academic, I've come up with a couple freebies for summer. Check out my Summer Vacation Mini Pack or my Summer Writing Prompts if you need some fun stuff for the coming days. You can also click on the pictures below to download the two packs:

Please leave me a comment if you download these freebies, feedback would be great!