Pumpkin Sort Math Station

Do you ever have times in your life where everything seems to be going wrong?  Well, welcome to my week!  Just when I thought we were all settled back into school and things were running smoothly a main pipe in our basement sprung a leak.  We lost all of our flooring in our finished basement - I'm talking 5 rooms!  I must admit the most inconvenient thing is not having my laundry.  Before the workers left on Friday they hooked it up for the weekend and I have been a washing mad woman!!  On the upside, I never did like the carpet we chose for our family room - LOL!

Among the madness I found some time to finish my newest math work station.  My students have been working on more, less and equal as well as the number 10 so I combined these outcomes, the pumpkins I am seeing everywhere and came up with Pumpkin Sort.  This was the first time I used clip art from Whimsy Clips and I think they're adorable!!!

Here's a little peek:

I threw in ten frames, dice, tallies and addition sentences for students to sort into three groups.  An "I can..." card is included to increase student independence and the choice of color or black and white.  A recording sheet is included as a way of assessing not only the skill but also if students 'worked' at their work station. 

 

 

You can find this station at my TPT store. 

I promise not to stay away so long before my next post.  This week we will pick out new flooring and paint and I'm sure I'll get my mojo back!!

 

I'll send a copy of this math station to the first 3 followers who comment on this post.

 

Happy Sunday!!

I Spy Word Family Words

Have you noticed that my posts are a little further apart now that I am back to school?  Like all of you, I am caught up in the September craziness!  Surely, it'll slow down soon.  Right? 

In the midst of the craziness I've been working on this new unit and I'm thrilled with the way it turned out!  We work on word families continually in first grade.  A challenge is always trying to come up with new ways to practice using them.  My I Spy activities are always such a hit with my students that I decided to create one that has students searching for teeny tiny words then sorting them into the correct word family.
Here's a peek:

To use this work activity I print one copy of each of the five I Spy pages (in color) and laminate.  Students useEach I Spy page has a matching recording sheet.

Each page has 20 hidden words from four word families.  The word families included are: ad, an, ap, at, ed, en, ell, et, ig, in, ip, it, ob, og, op, ot, ug, um, un, ut.

This activity has been posted individually at my TPT store but has also been added to my I Spy Bundle.  If you already own the bundle you can redownload for free to get the new activity.  This bundle has grown to include 14 I Spy word work activities including:

I Spy - 2 sounds of OO
I Spy - 2 sounds of Y
I Spy Alphabet
I Spy Bossy e
I Spy Loud Cows (ou and ow words)
I Spy Rhyming words
I Spy Sight Words
I Spy Silent Letters
I Spy Word Families

I Spy Christmas
I Spy Easter
I Spy Halloween
I Spy St. Patrick's Day
I Spy Valentine's Day

 

I'll send a copy of I Spy Word Families to the first 3 followers who leave a comment on this post.  Don't forget your email :)

Fall Math Station FREEBIE!

I survived the first week of first grade!  As you know it is always such a great feeling but there is no tired like the end of the first week of school tired.

ZZZZZZZZZZZ....

 I think it was successful though in my house.  My daughter had a few hiccups at the first of the week, but is now settled into grade eight and my son seems to be enjoying his post-secondary start-up. 

To celebrate I have created a new math station and have listed it for free in my TPT store.  When I saw these scarecrows I just couldn't resist.




Students roll 3 dice, add the numbers and cover the number on their playing card.  I have included an "I can..." card to help with student independence (what did I ever do without them?) and both color and black and white versions.

You can download your copy for FREE at my TPT store by clicking on either of the pictures above.

Enjoy and I'll be back soon with a new I Spy activity ;)

Tomorrow is the first day!

I hope everyone is enjoying Labor Day and spending it relaxing and gearing up for your week.  Tomorrow is our first day and I am already prepared for a sleepless night.  Does anyone else have a hard time turning off their brain and getting a good night sleep?  It's the same every year - I tell myself I need to be rested and yet I toss and turn!

I know that my co-workers are the same so I made them a little pick me up for tomorrow morning.  (I'll know they read my blog if they're not surprised - LOL).  I saw a similar idea on Pinterest a few weeks ago and decided I was going to do it too!  I teach with a great team and can always count on them in a 'jam'.

I love homemade jam and made MANY batches this summer, so thought I would give them each a jar with a little package of chocolates (everyone needs chocolate the first day. Right?)
You can click on the picture above to download the tags.

If tomorrow is your first day - good luck and have fun!

Corduroy update!

Please see a new post from Feb. 2018 HERE

I am a huge fan of Corduroy by Don Freeman and love to use the story in my classroom.  Retell is such a huge part of grade one so I have added a story retell rope to my Corduroy unit. 

The good news - if you already own it you can redownload the unit over at TPT for free.

Students will use the retell rope to tell about the setting, characters, problem, beginning, middle, end and solution.  I included color and black and white piece in addition to a smaller students size version and an anchor chart.

These activities coordinate with my Spin (or Roll), Tally and Graph math work station.

Would you like a chance to win both of these products?  Two winners will each win BOTH!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck!

Don't forget I have some Corduroy freebies available too!  Just click on the pages below to download :)

I hope you're enjoying the long weekend!  I know I am !!!!!
Need a copy of the book? Find it on Amazon ...

Popcorn Fun Digraph Sorting Station

I mentioned last week that one of my goals this year was to work hard on getting my students to understand digraphs early in the year.  To help I created another literacy station to give students more practice.

Students will be sorting pictures into four initial digraph sounds (ch, sh, th and wh).  I made the picture cards large enough that they could be used for small group or whole class instruction in addition to a center activity.  Each page (other than the assessment / activity page) is in both color and black and white.

I have just listed this word work activity at my TPT store but as always the first 2 people who comment on this post will get a copy emailed to them.

Happy Sunday!

'Glowing' back to school freebie

NOTE: This FREE product has been updated to include an editable version.  You can read more about it HERE.


My firsties are always glowing with excitement (and energy) on the first day of school so I've made them these cute glow stick gifts.

I included 2 glow stick bracelets that I picked up at our local dollar store and voila!  My camera didn't know what to do with these glowing bracelets :)

I've made mine for first grade but also included pre-K, kindergarten (did you know I taught kindergarten for 13 years?), second,third and fifth grade.

You can download these for free by clicking HERE.  If you use them I'd love to know.  Your feedback is what encourages me to create!

Happy Back to School!!

Great Find ...

I've been spending lots of time at the mall lately trying to outfit my 13 year old daughter for school ... my son was so much easier ;)  I used to love shopping.

Anyway, I just had to take a peek in the bookstore to see what was new and came across this great book:

"The Day the Crayons Quit" by Drew Daywalt.  How have I not seen this before?  It's too great to simply read and leave, so I'll be doing some planning of what my firsties can do with it.  I'll keep you posted :)

Digraph Sorting Station

Digraphs ... this  year I vow for early mastery by my firsties!! (at least that's my hope!)

I'm planning to create a few word work stations to provide lots of practice and here is the first:

 

I created this for students to work with a partner, but it could also be used independently or with a small group.  Students sort 24 pictures onto four gumball machines that are labeled -ch, - sh, - th and -wh.  I included two activity / assessment pages because I plan to have students differentiate between -ch and -sh and then at another time differentiate between the four.

 

I have included an "I can..." card to help build student independence.  Each page is included in both color and black and white. 

 

You can find this activity at my TPT store.  As usual, I'll send a copy to the first 2 followers who comment on this post with their email.

Fall Tree Mystery Picture

My husband thought it would be funny to bring in a couple of fall colored leaves when he was mowing on the weekend.  I'm hoping they were left over from last year, because it is WAY TO EARLY for that!!

But it did get me thinking about fall so I made a new mystery picture of non-other than a ... fall tree!

As with my other pictures, students need to solve the tens and ones to find the number  before they color.  I listed this in my TPT store and also included it in my bundle.

There are currently 20 pictures in the bundle.  If you already own the bundle you'll want to head on over to TPT and re-download for a few reasons.

1. To pick up your copy of the Fall Tree picture (did I mention it is for a 120 chart?)
2. I added a binder cover because you need a place to hold all these puzzles.

3. I updated the "I can..." card that can be used with any of my pictures in a math station.  Sometimes I use them as a whole class activity, but other times I put them in a station and this comes in handy.

I feel so organized today after doing up my binder!!!  YAY!!!!!

Would you like a copy of the Fall Tree Mystery Picture?  I'll send a copy to the first 2 people who comment on this post with their email!