Double Digit Addition Unit and freebie!

So a few weeks ago, we had to go to a district PD regarding the Common Core Standards implementation.  We found out that 1st grade now teaches double digit with regrouping! Not only that but we need to teach adding the tens first and then the ones. Ahhh! I don't even have resources for that!...

Until now!
I spent this weekend making a double digit addition unit that focuses on using the knowleedge of place value to aid in solving the equations. I'm slowly starting to accumulate the graphics to make the units. I'm really proud because I finally have enough to start making the games a little cuter! This unit has two weeks worth of activities and lots of games. It's 56 pages in all! I also really like the worksheet with space to draw the base ten representation!  Here's a preview:

I also made this Easter game that focuses on adding multiples of ten.

Grab it at my TPT store here.


Leave me a comment if you can use either the unit or the Easter game!
Thanks!
Erin

Leprechaun visit

I hope everyone had a Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Ever since I was little my family always celebrated the holiday with corned beef, cabbage, mashed potatoes and soda bread. It's like comfort food to me now and I got to have this meal for lunch today. It was so yummy!

On Friday, we had a fun leprechaun day. To start, I used Looking for  Leprechaun from Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits. It was so fun! I really liked that students had a page in a book to do to review skills. Since they had to finish the page before looking for the next clue it kept them from going crazy and I liked that! I wish I had taken more pictures though!

Here's the kids after they found the "gold". The lepreachaun left them necklaces and Hershey's Pot of Gold chocolates. See their cute class t-shirts! We wear them on Fridays and field trips.

Then, after taking a boring spelling test.We were able to finish our Lucky Leprechaun Centers from Made for 1st.

I learned that I need to take more pictures so I have more to share on my blog! ;)

Well, I'm off to read. So excited that my Spring Break starts tomorrow!

Have a good week!

Erin

Invention Investigations

I am so excited for our leprechaun day tomorrow! I will be using Looking for a Leprechaun from Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits and Lucky Leprechaun Centers from Made for 1st. More pictures to come!

In other news, I finished my Invention Investigations unit this week and wanted to share some pictures of my students' inventions. They were priceless!

 Here are their group invention posters. They were given a problem card and had to work together to create an invention to solve the problem.

 This group created an invention to solve the pesky problem of sand always ending up in the student's shoes! It covers the entire top of the shoe or boot to block the sand. Very practical. :)

This group had to solve the problem of growing out of clothes. They found a new material that will continue to stretch as you grow. Like spandex does for your waist!

This group created a watch that will scan the floor for your pencil and put it on the watch for you to find. It also beeps to alert you when it's ready. So futuristic!

At the end of the unit, students have the opportunity to pose their own problem and create an invention to solve the problem. They have to complete a detailed tree map describing their invention and then a multiflow map to give the reasons as to why or how the invention will solve the problem. It was a lot of writing but so good for them! Here are a few of the inventions:

 The "Make Your Bed" robot

An automatic trash can that roams at night picking up trash on the ground!

"Dorothy" a device that helps tornado chasers predict tornadoes and sensors that travel inside the twister.

The students all brought in recyclables and could use any material for their invention. I've never seen such creativity and absolute engagement. Not one behavior for over an hour during the creation stage!

They presented their invention to the class and the questions they were asking one another were amazing. They would ask clarifying questions that really made the inventor think and most of the times they would decide to change their design. This unit goes along with Meet Ben Franklin from the Treasures Basal series but would also be great for a unit on recycling around Earth Day.

You can check out the unit on TPT!

Thanks!

Erin

Poetry and Pop Art

Yesterday, I posted about writing sensory poems using paintings to inspire descriptive language. I used Starry Night as our focus.


Today, I want to share another painting I use to evoke sensory language from my first graders. I use 4 Ice Cream Cones by Wayne Thiebaud. We write the poetry first using the same template ( I see..., I hear..., I smell..., I taste..., I feel...)



See an example below from a student's poetry book:
After the class writes their poems, the  next day I have them draw their favorite food with pencil.
I have them outline the food with black marker but they cannot color in the picture. After school,
I make four copies of their favorite food outline.
The following day, I talk about pop art with the students. I show some other Wayne Thiebaud works as well as some Andy Warhol. We find that color, especially bright colors, is an important element of Pop Art. The students then color in their favorite food outlines with 4 different colors and glue onto black construction paper. They turn out awesome! But we aren't done with this great piece yet!

On the third day, the students use a multiflow map to write an opinion piece about their favorite food. This is so hard for my little ones. They want to write, "I like it because it tastes good." We have to do a lot of thinking about the reasons they could like the food. Is it the color, the size, the shape? Is there anything that makes the food unique? If they like the taste, what specifically? For example, if their favorite food is pizza, they need to specify if it's the cheese, sauce or crust that is "tasty". After the fill out the multi flow map, they rewrite their opinion piece on writing paper. Here are some pictures!

I put the rest up on the bulletin board but here is an amazing piece of writing I had to share. This student is one of my most talented writers ever and I am so blessed to have her in my class! <3

I hope you enjoyed this lesson! Let me know what you think and whether or not you'd try this in your class!

Erin

Arts Integration and Van Gogh!

         I teach at a school that focuses heavily on Arts Integration so I will be devoting a lot of my posts to this subject. I think it is so powerful to teach with the whole body engaged. I will share how I use Music, Drama, Dance and Visual Arts in a first grade classroom. I hope I can inspire someone without training to try some of the strategies!They work!
         In February, I work on Poetry throughout the month and use paintings along with Visual Thinking Strategies ( basically observation skills) to develop descriptive writing using sensory images. We use Starry Night by Van Gogh for our first senses poem. We brainstorm phrases using our senses and the students write as descriptively as they can using a template with I see..., I hear..., I taste... I smell..., and I feel.

Here's an example of a Starry Night senses poem I typed up for the student and put in her poetry book for the end of the year: See how she used a metaphor for the stars! :)








After we write the poem, we create our own Starry Night scenes using a crayon resist method with watercolor. We also create a city scene in the foreground.

Tomorrow, I'm going to post the next painting we use for a senses poem and then show you how we make a pop art piece depicting our favorite food. After we create our artwork we write an opinion piece using a multi-flow map for organization.

  If this interests you at all, consider following me! :)

Erin

Teachers Taking Care of Teachers

Kreative in Kinder started a Linky Party to help teachers suffering from loss after the tornadoes on March 2nd. I'm going to share any resources I can.  Click the heart below to link up to this great cause!

Frog and Toad are Friends Unit

I am getting ready to put up my new unit on Teachers Pay Teachers. I'm so excited to post this unit! It's all about two beloved characters- Frog and Toad from Frog and Toad are Friends! I just need to take one last picture of an activity from my classroom so it should be posted Monday. Check out my preview below.

This is a 55 page unit with tons of literacy, math and science activities aligned with the Common Core.

I hope you can use this in your classroom. Frog and Toad is always a favorite book of my students this time of year! Follow my Teachers Pay Teachers store to get an e-mail once it's uploaded!
Have a great week!

-Erin

Word Work Menu

As I was reading with a group of students today, I looked up and scanned the room... I was not fuzzy inside. Lately, it hasn't felt that the students are really working on words during Daily 5. They are engaged and having fun but only choosing games. They don't stamp or build words anymore so I need my students more accountable during Word Work. I'm not sure how much they are actually practicing :(So... I made a Menu for them to follow. I am going to give them each one right now but I think for next year I might blow them up bigger and  use magnets or paperclips to track where they are on the path.

Here is the  link: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B9MBso7d7m12TUlNZnRBamZRYjZSVnJTQ3d5Tk40dw/edit

In case you are wondering about "Be the Teacher", this is where my students pretend they are the teacher and give each other a spelling test on whiteboards. They love this. This is the only other option they choose other than games. Paper practice is either a word sort, a spelling search, crossword etc.
Games are the sight word games I've created for the students. They all have their own lists and games are differentiated by lists so they can all practice their own words. I'll post more about that later but e-mail me esample4@gmail.com if you have questions.
Let me know if you can use this!

Erin

Olivia Unit and Freebie!

So I'm a little behind in our reading series because of Dr. Seuss but I think that's perfectly alright! We had so much fun!
Anyway, next week we will be starting Olivia in our Treasures reading series. I teach at an Arts Integrated School in Glendale, AZ so I put together a unit that really focuses on visual arts since there is such a strong connection in the text. I'd like to share my unit and post my first freebie. So I'll atempt to do that... now.
Hey I added a picture! Okay, I can do this!

Here's a preview of my unit.

There is a text- self connection activity, art contest with paintings where students actually critique artwork and justify their opinions, a character bubble map, text-text comparison activity, comprehension questions, and an art activity based on Piet Mondrian art to make the students' favorite animal. Using their favorite animal art, there are two extensions to incorporate writing: narrative and opinion writing. Graphic organizers for both types of writing are included. Click here to view the unit on Teachers Pay Teachers

Here is the text-self connection activity just for you!

In this activity, the students will use the character bubble map to brainstorm Olivia's traits. I type these traits up fot use the next day. The students will use these traits I typed up to complete the text-self connection by sorting traits they do share with Olivia and those they do not. It's priceless to see their responses! Many admit they are bossy just like Olivia! Click below for your freebie!
                                                                         Olivia Freebie

Leave me a comment if you pick it up!