Presidents' Day... and a Freebie!

Hi, Teaching Friends!

Here's your Punctuation Question of the Day:

Presidents Day, a day to honor all of the presidents, Washington and Lincoln in particular

or

Presidents' Day, a day of honor that "belongs" to the presidents

or even

President's Day, which I've seen but I'm fairly certain can't be justified.

I have the same issues when it comes to Mothers/ Mother's/ Mothers' Day. Heavy stuff, eh, my friends? Not so much. It sort of gets you thinking, 'though...


Whatever your opinion is on this earthshaking question, it's time to get ready to teach about the presidents! Here's my Common Core cross-curricular pack, which includes four literacy and four math activities. The standards are included, which I hope will make it easier for all of you! And if you use standards specific to your own state, do you know that you can find them on the product listing page at TPT? That's a neat and handy update at the site!

Here are a few of the items that are included.

Click here to see it at my TPT store.

You can get this free math activity from the resource by clicking on the White House. Enjoy!

 If you're working on using the 120 chart for practice with adding and subtracting ten, here's a resource you'll also like! You'll find lots of opportunities to differentiate with these worksheets... or turn the worksheets into games for your math tubs by inserting them into a plastic sleeve!

        

Happy Teaching!





Adding & Subtracting Tens ... Plus a Freebie!

Hi, Teaching Friends!

There seems to be more every year to teach our little ones. The Common Core Standards can be a big pain (tried to think of a better word - no luck!), and a whole load of work for teachers to transition into. But I've got to say that I'm pretty impressed with the way the standards have broken down the big teaching ideas so that we can see what children really need to be successful in math.

With my background in Reading Recovery and literacy intervention, I'm used to thinking of literacy instruction in terms of strategies, but the standards have pushed me to apply that kind of thinking to math, too. And I think that's a good thing.

Take addition, for example. The standards highlight exactly what it is that students need in order to really embrace and assimilate the "whole". We've always known that mastering the concept of addition requires much more than fact memorization, which is why there's been so much more emphasis on the concrete and representional steps.

But taking the teaching/learning to the strategy level has the power to make huge changes in our students' thinking about numbers.  I'm talking about things like using ten frames to visibly build and give automaticity to groups of ten. Even just recognizing how crucial the complete control of ten is to more advanced processes and concepts is a reason to acknowledge the merits of the standards.

I also think the emphasis on understanding the properties of operations is a vital strategy to nurture. At the primary level, the associative and commutative properties used to get passing attention, to be dealt with further at higher grade levels. But if we can build the understanding earlier (and, obviously, we can!), think of the strategies math learners will have at the ready for higher level learning!

Here's a link to a site I came across with a good number of lesson ideas and printables for the math standards. Maybe you'll find something useful for your class. This is the first grade link, but there are K-5 resources across all the math standards.

Lately, I've been working quite a bit on developing materials for Numbers and Operations in Base Ten standards for first grade, particularly adding and subtracting multiples of ten and working with the 120 chart. I hope you got the free penguin game from my last post. The latest resource that I posted at Teachers Pay Teachers has lots more games and activities for addressing the same standards/strategies. See it here.

As further evidence that strategy-based standard-aligned learning can be fun (and even kind of goofy-looking!), here's a freebie for you. It's not a part of the Piggy, Piggy! set above, but actually would fit in quite nicely with it! Your students will roll 2 dice, add the numbers, and then add ten to the sum. Same standards, same theme, same sorta goofy fun! 

It sort of looks like I was thinking about bacon or maybe pork chops when I created this freebie. 

Go figure. ;)

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Teaching!



120 Chart Freebie... with Penguins!

Hi, Teaching Friends!

Well, winter weather has finally arrived in New Jersey! It's 14 degrees, there's a dusting of snow on the ground, and low temps should be here all week. Although winter isn't my favorite season, I have to say that it seems a lot more normal than the 58 degree day we had last week! Maybe the freezing temperatures will knock out some of the crazy germs that are going around. (Is that true? Do low temperatures actually kill germs? What's the science on that? I read on Yahoo tonight that we won't get sick by going out in the cold with wet hair, so I'm just not so sure about anything anymore!)

Icy weather leads to thinking about ... penguins! Here's a fun little penguin freebie for you!  It addresses CCCS 1.NBT.1 (counting on the 120 chart) and 1.NBT.5 (mentally add 10).  Enjoy!

Happy Teaching!



Sending Valentines to Honor Kindness and Character

Do you remember when you were little and went to the store with your mom to very carefully choose which package of valentine cards you'd send to your friends? Most of the cards were just sweet simple little messages, often with a pun like "Will you 'bee' mine?" or maybe "You're out of this world!" with a rocket or a globe. There was always just one special  "To My Teacher" card.  Remember?

Well, now it's your turn to be sending the cards. Those zippy little packs are oh-so-much more cool these days, with pencil toppers and superheroes and fun punch-outs and more. 

Wouldn't it be fun to send a unique card to each of your little sweethearts? How nice would it be at the same time to recognize each child's good character and uniquely important role in your class?

Here are two sets at my Teachers Pay Teachers store that will fill the bill! The first is a set of 30 different cards for your first through fifth graders, emphasizing the character traits of friendliness, kindness, honesty, and positive attitude. Click here to see it.

The second set is specifically for your tiniest valentines, the PreK through first grade crowd. There are 22 different cards in this set. Click here to see this set.

All of these cards are designed so you can just fold and tape, with no envelope needed. After they're opened, your students might like to fold them back, for a desktop display and reminder of just how special you think they are! 

I had so much fun making these! I hope you'll have just as much fun sending them!

Happy Teaching!





February Writing Freebie

Hi, Teaching Friends!

Happy long weekend! Isn't it crazy how it seems you just get back to school , and - poof!! - you're exhausted again. Let's think of Monday as a "refueling day",  a day to get some rest,  to get you and your classroom back up in high gear again!

Part of that high gear is, of course, getting ready for February, the month of (take a deeeep breath...)Groundhogchinesenewyeardentalhealthblackhistory100thdaymardigrassuperbowlvalentinepresidentsday - so many celebrations that the holidays just seem to run right into each other and off the page!  And just for fun this year, let's have an Inauguration Day, too, okay?

Here's a little bit of most of those holidays, all rolled up into a freebie for your writing center. There are 14 seasonal writing papers in the set, and each page has 6 sets of primary lines.

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

Happy Teaching!



 

Turning an Enemy Into a Friend... A Reading & Writing Project

Dear Teaching Friends,

This post contains an affiliate link, for which I would receive a small compensation that would not affect the amount you pay.

I'd like to share a Valentines Day reading/writing project with you. The idea came from Writing Fix,
one of my favorite online writing resources. The lesson there is called "Scheming Against an Adversary: Writing an Original Tale of Non-Violent Revenge", and it's based on this book by Derek Munson. Do you know it?  It's a great story about a very smart dad who helps his son turn an enemy into a good friend - without either of the "enemies" realizing exactly what's happening!

If you're using Six Traits writing, the focus of this lesson is idea development. It's aimed a little high for where my particular group of first grade writers were, but should be fine as described at Writing Fix for second grade and up. We just adapted it a bit, and also turned it into a successful lesson on conflict resolution!

Before reading,  we talked about the word "enemy", with of course a few vivid examples of "Enemies I Have Known" eagerly discussed! We identified these as self-to-text connections that would help us understand the plot and characters of the story.

During reading, we stopped to discuss the dad's plan as it developed - why it might or might not work. We noted changes in the characters as the story progressed. We made predictions, and revised them as the story continued.

After reading, we partnered up to do quick-writes of lists: ingredients for our own "enemy pies". everything from soap to mud to dog food and bugs would appear on those lists! Then we partnered with a buddy to share lists with each other.

The next day, for our writing follow-up, we'd do a shared writing of a chart list of other ways to turn an enemy into a friend. The kids would make suggestions like sharing at lunchtime (basically a no-no at our school because of food allergies, but a nice thought, no?),  inviting the enemy for a playdate, or just simply smiling at them every day (that'll get any enemy going, right?). In other words, there was lots of good thinking and discussion about getting along, conflict resolution, and even dealing with bullies. Then, each child chose an item from the chart list as an idea to write about and expand upon as able. We took it through a short process of sharing with a small group, revising, and editing.


Each child made a self-portrait with hands to hold the finished writing piece and there you have it - a writing display ready for your hallway or bulletin board!

 Here's a very cool bonus that I found when writing up this post. Derek Munson has a website devoted to this book.  I seriously love children's authors' websites, because so many of them are now aimed at young readers and writers, and because it makes authors more real to our young readers. I love to watch kids' reactions when they see some of the pure silliness at these sites... proving once again that reading is FUN!


In case you'd like to make a display like ours, here's a simple version of the sign you see in the first picture above.
Enjoy!

If you've used this book with your class, please share your ideas and activities in a comment!

Click the cover to buy Enemy Pie at Amazon.

Happy Teaching!

February Double Dipping... and a Freebie, Too!

Hi, Teaching Friends!

January is flying by, and the crazy busy month of February will be here before we know it! It's a wild month to plan, with just too many holidays and events to squish into a month that's already too short in the first place.

Primary grade classrooms are such fun places to be on holidays - everything is just so special and exciting when you're six, right? It really is sad not to take advantage of that great enthusiasm and energy.

Sometimes it's kind of tempting to skip some of the "minor holidays" in the face of the tyranny of curricular time demands. But holidays arguably are part of the essential learning in PreK-2 classrooms. Many of our kids truly do not remember who Abraham Lincoln is from one year to the next. And when you compound that with the fact that they've just finished learning about Dr. King and are about to learn about George Washington, well, no wonder their little heads are spinning!

Of course, learning about famous Americans is a verifiable part of the social studies curriculum. But what about Groundhog Day, and Valentines Day, and Chinese New Year, and Dental Health Month, and, gosh, now even Mardi Gras and the Super Bowl??  

Here's how I see it: the celebration of holidays is part of American culture, part of what will eventually become the lives they live. And today, with the diversity in our country, it's even a way for our young students to help their families understand the culture.

So, how to reconcile the time spent on holidays with the need to consistently teach to the Core Standards? Double-dipping, my friends. Two birds with one stone. I guess I should really say cross-curricular teaching.  On Groundhog Day, we measure changing shadows. For Chinese New Year, we read and respond to non-fiction passages about street parades, dragons, and red envelopes. We look at maps to see places where Mardi Gras is celebrated.

And we bathe the entire month of February in hearts, hearts, and more hearts. But we use them to make patterns with, write stories about, adorn addition worksheets, and so on.

It's just the way we do it in the primary grades, and it works.

I've heard some upper grade teachers say, "We can't waste time on holidays. We have too much curriculum to teach."  Don't tell anybody I said this, but do you think maybe some primary grade teachers are just a bit more practiced at cleverly disguising curriculum as fun? I don't know about you, but I'm a firm believer in the idea that fun is the open door to enthusiasm, engagement, and learning.

So, bring on the hearts!
And bring on the February learning.


Here's a cross-curricular unit to help you infuse Valentines Day fun and learning into your math and literacy centers. There are 19 activities, including syllable sorts, alphabetical order, /ar/ words, spelling pattern cards, opposites, number stories, sums of 14, adding doubles, graphing ... I hope you'll see the description and preview at my TPT store to see the whole list.

Here's a freebie from "Oh, Lovely Literacy!".  Enjoy this set of five love-er-ly bookmarks! Fun for your own kiddos, and nice to share if you have a buddy class! Are you a school librarian? Print and stock up to your heat's content, so to speak!

Happy Teaching!



Meet a New Friend... and Get Her Adorable Freebie!

Dear Teaching Friends,

Today I'd like to introduce you to someone who's both an old friend and a new friend of mine.
It seems like she's an old friend because I've enjoyed using her delightful clipart for over a year now. She's also a new friend, because we've been getting to know one another better via email for the past week or two.

You may know her, too. Her name is Aisne - she's an awesome graphic artist, and her big news is that she's now selling at TeachersPayTeachers!

 

 

Aisne lives in South Africa, where as a divorced mom she raised her three daughters on her own. She now has two grandsons. She says that her daughters tease her that she has a new husband... her computer, which she jokingly says gives her "lots of pleasure without all the demands or drama!" As she says, she "basically lives on" her PC ... which I know a lot of us can relate to!  Aisne was a digital scrapbook designer before she started making clipart 3 years ago, and is now also offering some digital papers. 

 

If you're interested in getting Aisne's pre-TPT items, she'd like you to know that you can buy her whole store - and that's a lot!! - for just $10! That means 90 clip art packs for $10 -  a truly unbeatable deal!! Good news:  the graphics are usable (with credit, as defined in her TOU) for commercial products, too. To take advantage of this AMAZING offer, visit her Digi-Scrap store before January 31st!



Here's a free sneak preview of Aisne's lovely work, available only right here!  Isn't it toad-ally sweet? Click on the picture to download it.  Thanks, Aisne!!

Enjoy!

Happy Teaching!

 

Free to First 10 Commenters!

Good Morning, Teaching Friends!

It's time again for a mini-giveaway! I love to get the chance to send a little thank you to my followers!

So many of you have asked me to make more riddle cards -thank you!!! I aim to please, so here's my my newest resource, just posted at TPT, a set of riddle cards about weather.

In addition to 20 weather cards to help reinforce your teaching of science vocabulary, the set also includes picture cards for each of the featured words and a four-in-a-row game.

 

 

I'd love to give away ten of these sets. If you'd like one, be one of the first to leave a comment here. Please remember to include your email, so I can send it out to you.

 

 

And even if you're not in the first ten, everybody gets a copy of the picture cards from the set. They're handy for a science center, review, or even your writing center. Click on the picture to download from Google Drive. Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Teaching!

 

 

 



How Will You Welcome Them Back? Plus, a New Year's Freebie!

Happy New Year, Teaching Friends!

Many of you and your students will be heading back to school this week. Having a break is a wonderful thing, of course, but we all know how tough it is to get going again. But you also know that, for some of our little ones, your welcoming smile and kind words have been sorely missed during vacation. Your love and attention may mean the world to a child who isn't feeling that security at home.

How do you plan to greet your students?

I 'd like to share something simple that I used to do with my first grade students... and I guess that it must have been memorable, because I've had students in fifth grade say to me, "Remember when you used to say, 'An h, an h, or an h?' "


I think that many of us greet our students at the classroom door. After a holiday break or long weekend, I liked to add something special. I'd ask each child individually, "Would you like an h (hug), an h (handshake), or an h (high five)?"   It took off the pressure for anyone who wasn't comfortable with too much contact, it let the child make the choice, and allowed dignity for anyone who needed to be "cool".

But most of the time, there were lots of hugs! Despite all that we've been told about not having physical contact with our students, we all know the power of a hug. It's a reassurance, an affirmation,and a comfort - and if a child wants that, I want them to know that I'm there to give one whenever asked. It just might be the only hug they get all day.





Just one more thing for you today... and of course, it's a freebie! Hopefully it will be one more way to make your first day back at school a great day! It's a cut-and-paste word sort that uses Dolch sight words from the first grade list - enjoy!

Happy Teaching!