Christmas Tree Mystery Picture on a 120 Chart

Click here for the FREEBIE!!

I've had so much fun making these images on the 120 chart. They are great for Math center rotations or just for early finishers. They reinforce some Number Sense skills with fluency of numbers within 120. I try to also strategically choose the number sets to reinforce skills such as ten more, ten less, one more and one less.
As the students fill-in the missing numbers to the pieces on the left, they then color those coordinating numbers on the 120 chart to create a mystery picture. We of course, needed some pictures specific to December and so I decided to share a FREEBIE with you all! I hope that you find it useful and that your students are completely engaged with the worksheet! Just click here and it will take you to my TpT for the free download! Enjoy!


$5.00 in TpT store

If your students enjoy this one, consider checking back in my store for a set of 11 different images of Mystery Pictures on the 120 Chart. With so many different images, you can do a few a month! This packet is a $5.00 packet but well worth it to help support this important skill and keep the students actually WANTING to do more! I hope that your students are calm, focused and learning for the next few weeks. We have two weeks... and counting!

It's raining today... I'm off to curl up with my girls on the couch to watch "Monsters University" and drink a warm cup of coffee. I CAN NOT WAIT!
Grab yourself a cup and do something nice for yourself, too!

New items posted

Just wanted to share with everyone that I have added Word Ladders for Unit 3 as well as more Math Center Games #2!! I hope that they will be useful to you and your students!

These Word Ladders are created for Unit 3. I have been using them for two years and they are great for word work, phonics, spelling, phonemic awareness and reading. Unit 2 Word Ladders are already posted, if you are interested, as well.

I am LOVING these 1st Grade Common Core Math Center Activities #2. They have been very engaging and a great reinforcement of skills. This set of activites will review standards 1.OA.3 and 1.OA.6 in several ways. There are 6 center activities included in this set for $4.00. I hope that you will take the time to review them.

 

Thanks so much for stopping by!!! I hope the coffee is on!

 

 

Unit 1 Center Worksheets... finally!!!

I always have great plans... that don't always happen in a timely manner... oh well! THEY ARE FINALLY HERE!!!! These center worksheets that align with the California Treasures Flip Books support the independent center work FOR UNIT 1!!! I have posted the other units as well, so please take time to check them all out! The consistency from unit to unit really helps minimize the need for teacher support, so the teacher CAN work with a small group. I hope you find them as useful as I have been able to!








Word Ladders Unit 2

Ah, word families... I love 'em! Love teaching them! And it reinforces rhyming words. spelling, read fluency rates, exc.... it's no wonder I love 'em! Well, because of that love, I came to create Word Ladders! They are dictated word families. Here is how they work! Super easy and VERY effective!!

The Word Ladders have been created by me in order to support several skills which include: word families, spelling, writing, reading, phonics and phonemic awareness.

I copy the ladders front to back and distribute on Day 1. As I dictate the words, the students write the word on the next “rung” of the ladder. Once we have completed a ladder, we choral read the ladder from the top to the bottom and again from the bottom to the top. (We make a silly noise going up or down, just to make it even more engaging!) We complete 2 ladders and then my students hold on to them in their folders.

Days 2 and 3, we repeat the process with the next two ladders.

(about 10 minutes)

On Day 4, the students will partner read the ladders on the front. Their partner gets to choose what ladder they have to read and they take turns choosing for their partners and reading to each other. Day 5, the students partner read the back or any ladder from both sides.

These ladders can be very helpful with informal assessing as well. As I pass by a student’s desk, I will ask them to read a ladder to me to see how they are doing with blending and decoding with word families. My students LOVE working with the Word Ladders. It is just another way to get in some extra phonics work while applying it to writing and reading… and I hope you will find your students ENGAGED!!!

Common Core Math Center Activities

Click the picture to check it out!

Have you already started it?? Is your district in waiting?? Are you new to it this Fall?? Sooo many changes and everyone doing it differently! My district will begin this fall with implementing Math Common Core. We will layer on the reading in the following year. I like the way we are doing it because we all know how hard change can be and so phasing into it will sure be nice for us. This year we will begin working with Common Core Math. I had the privilege to work with some AMAZING 1st grade teachers in my district as we breakdown the standards and analyze how we will be teaching these standards because our current adoption isn't quite going to align with this. I have spent a large portion of my summer drinking coffee.... oh! And working on Common Core Math activities, as well! I have just posted my first of several 1st grade Common Core Math Center Activities. This one includes 8 different center activities. Each includes a directions cards to be printed and laminated. They have simple, direct steps for the students to follow along with a visual to support the steps. This will ensure the students can complete the tasks independently which will free YOU up to re-teach or extend with other students. Differentiate... the HARDEST part of teaching... well, maybe that's just me... 12 years later and I'm still trying to figure it out! And every class, every year is different too!


One of the Center Activity Direction Cards

Okay, back on track! Each center activity includes a 2-sided accountability worksheet, as well. I also created several numeral cards for the different activities and went as far as my OCD would let me and labeled each set of cards with the name of the center activity for ease of prep and organization. (I HOPE!!!) Finally, I labeled all accountability worksheets and directions signs with the corresponding Common Core Standard. I


Accountability Worksheets for every activity

REALLY hope that these activities will be useful for you and your students. We all know how limited our prep time and planning time can be so hopefully these will be useful to someone! I can't wait to use them with my students this year during our Strategic Math time! It will be FAR more beneficial to all students then some of the activities I did last year... I won't mention those! HA!! Hey, sometimes desperate times.... call for more COFFEE! ;) It's back to work for me tomorrow! Our kids start on the 12th... right around the corner! Time to stock back up on coffee and creamer! And lots of planning, prepping, and creating!



Roll and Read

Engaging practice of sight words

If you have yet to see my post about my Rainbow Sight Words, please click here because THIS post is completely related! Okay! I have created a simple way to encourage students to be motivated to WANT to practice their sight words. It's time to get these kids playing Roll and Read!!! In this game.... side note, but don't you LOVE how if we call it a "game" our students perk (yes, coffee pun there!) right up! Okay, back on track... sorry!

As for the new GAME, the students will roll a die and read the words in that designated row. The pages are sorted by the colors of the sight words in my Rainbow Words. Each page contains the same 15 words organized in various ways so the students will read all 15 words regardless of the number they roll on the dice. This is an engaging way to keep the students accountable for which sight words they are working on while also making for a great (and EASY) center activity that can be used ALL YEAR. It can easily be used as a partner activity, as well, having the students read to each other. And finally, if you need a quick activity for your unexpected (or your oops-i-knew-you-were-coming-but-forgot-to-prep-something-for-you) parent volunteer, just grab these and a single die and they are ready to engage with the students.


Mount on colored construction paper, Roll and Read!!!

I truly hope, from the bottom of my coffee cup, that you are able to put these to use in your classroom and that your students excel in mastering their sight words!!!

Sight Words... aka Rainbow Words for my Firsties

Every color of Rainbow Sight Words

How do you monitor progress of your students' mastery of sight words? I know there are a million ways that teachers do it! I wanted to share with you how I do it in my classroom. When I started in my current district (like 6 years ago) we used Rainbow words in 1st grade for our sight words. Since our new adoption, and several other changes later, most don't use it anymore but I love the accountability of it and so I re-created my own version for our current CA Treasures adoption. The Rainbow sight words are sorted into 10 different colors (red, orange, yellow-orange, yellow, yellow-green, green, blue, violet, light purple, and pink). Each set of colored words include 15 sight words in order they are introduced in Treasures (or very closely, because I DO make mistakes...) starting with red words. I also made a rainbow that we use and post in the classroom. When a student passes a color of words with 100%, they get to color that portion of their rainbow on the wall. It's a great way to keep kids motivated to progress through their sight words. It also allows for differentiated sight words at the same time, but in a streamlined, simplified way. We all know how critical it is to differentiate, but it is also NOT an easy task. So pop on over to my TpT store and check it out! I'm sure it will greatly simplify your sight word process, especially if you are a Treasures adopted district.



Rainbow Clip Art included to post and students color



Rainbow Words Bin

   I bought this container at Target (my <3) and I just keep all of my Rainbow Word supplies inside so when I am ready to assess each week, all I have to do is pull the bin out and GO! And if you are lucky enough to get a parent volunteer to do it for you.... then it's all here and ready to go for them! And you have NO prep!!! (Don't you hate having to prep for a parent to prep????) The cup has all the colors of the crayons they will need for the rainbow so when they pass I can just hand them the correct color. When they bring me the crayon back, I hand them their next color. The clipboard is where I record their progress for my records, just in case someone decides to color something they didn't REALLY pass (GASP!!!! No student would EVER do that...).


 I will be back at work this week doing bulletin boards and getting ready for school to start. We begin training this Friday! And the kids come on the 12th! Can't believe it is already here! I will post a pic of my Rainbow Wall once it is up. I also use these words as my word wall, but I build it as we introduce the words each week. Here is a picture of what I mean. This was mid-year, last year. The turquoise words at the bottom are the Kinder words that they SHOULD already know (not currently in my TpT store, but will be VERY soon!). Then I just build it as we go! See the little plastic bag to the left... yep, I'm fancy like that! Now I always know where they are! I just keep them all in there and add each Monday. Sometimes when the kids need help spelling a word they know it's a red word (or I tell them) and they know which color to look through. So this works for us in two ways! It also helps us see what color we are working on as a class so the kids know where they SHOULD be to stay current with what we are working on. For example, according to this pic, we are working on green words, so if your student has not colored yellow on their rainbow, they are behind. It's a nice visual for the parents too! I put the student rainbows right under this wall.

I sure hope you can use some of (or all) these ideas! I know how important sight words are to success in reading and this is a great way to streamline the process. I sure hope it works for you, as well as it has worked for me!


Trace and Cut FREEBIE packet

I hope EVERYONE is having a relaxing summer! I, honestly, don't really know how to relax. I view my summer vacation as a way to "get ahead" for next year. I've been working like crazy and NOPE, that is NOT a complaint! I LOVE my OBSESSION, job, remember??? So this year I had SEVERAL students that really struggled with motor skills. And I get it!! Kinder is so rigorious now and they don't have time in their day to deal with motor skills anymore (and for 1st grade, we need them to have that rigor!). However, the reality is that BOYS some kids need that practice. LOL! So, I've created just a few practice pages. I will be using them for the first 2 weeks of school, when routines are just being established and kids are settling back into the routine of school. I plan to start every morning with a page on their desk. They will first use a crayon to trace and then use their scissors to cut on the lines. I also recommend starting the copies on a heavier construction paper or cardstock. Then phase into lighter construction and finally regular paper. You will quickly be able to see who is ready to progress with the different papers and who isn't. During this time I will do my usual "busy work" of attendance, lunch count, exc. I hope that you find it useful! Click on the picture to get the FREE download from my TpT store!


Click the picture for the FREE download!
 

Place Value Freebie

Busiest year of teaching EVER... if I weren't 11 years into this career, and didn't LOVE my obsession, I mean job, as much as I do... phew! Can we say LOTS of changes this year??? Any teacher out there reading this can TOTALLY relate, right???

ANYWAYS, one of our "changes" is to write a weekly Math objective... last week we worked on Place Value. We teach the focused standard/objective all week and assess it every Friday (in addition to our Math curriculum, btw). And then graph our grade-level results the following Wednesday... do you do something like that too??? ANYWAYS, I shared some freebie here for place value practice that I made. They cover tens and ones place value. If you're interested, follow the link here for the 3 practice pages!



And if you have to choose an objective for Math for next week... HERE YA GO!!! Do place value!!! LOL! But seriously, If there is ANYTHING I want other teachers to get from this blog, is to help make OUR jobs easier. Thanks for your support of me! I hope that I am supporting you, as well!!

Coffee note, tried the new Starbucks Blonde coffee this weekend... brewed a few pots while creating teaching things on my computer and was home with two sick kids... MY NEW FAVORITE (for at home brewing)!!! Delish!!! Cheers!!



FREE Phonics Find for Treasures U3 W2

Here is a handy worksheet that I hope you find useful! I call it a Phonics Find! It connects with the Treasures Reading Series for Unit 3 Week 2 and the Decodable Reader story Job Time for the Pines. The phonics focus/letter-sound card for the week is the long i sound with the spelling i_e and the 5 picture. This worksheet focuses on the kids finding words from the story that contain that phonics feature (such as: Mike, time, bike, smiles, exc). I also have the student find and locate the High Frequency Words in the story and write the page number. With explicit teaching instruction, we need to help our students understand that these HFW are not just for memorizing in isolation but that it applies to the text. (Seems like Captain Obvious, but not for everyone, right??) As a bonus, I added that the students circle the words that are verbs since that is the Grammar focus for the Unit. Finally, page 2 includes some simple comprehension questions from the story that the students will need to generate and write a response in a complete sentence. Click here to download for FREE!



FREE DOWNLOAD!!

Just an idea, but you could use this in a reading center. I just put a few Decodable Readers at the center and have the students re-read the story and then complete the Phonics Find worksheet. They could do this independently or with a partner. I hope you find it useful!!
Thanks for visiting!!

Spelling Homework Packet

Spelling in 1st grade is ACTUALLY valuable... from teaching other grades, I'm not so sure that is so true, but for little firsties, it is!!! They need that opportunity to apply the phonics skills acquired each week to their writing. This year I wanted to simplify the spelling homework process so that my studnts could complete the packet independently and with minimal direction each week. We all know that we are pressed for time. Keeping the homework process consistant has been great!! I have set it up so each day (Monday - Thursday) the kids have something to do with their spelling words.

Monday: See it. Say it. Cover and spell it two times.

Tuesday: Building Blocks of Spelling (using small, tall and fall letter squares)

Wednesday: Rainbow Writing (use 3 different colors to write the word 3x's)

Thursday: Sentence Writing (write 5 sentences using the spelling words)

Check it out!! It might be something useful for BOTH you AND your students! It's great to have the spelling for each week already done so I can run the packets for the entire Unit at a time and be done with that prep for a few weeks! I hope you also find it useful!! Check out the packet in my TpT store!Thanks for visiting!!

Treasures Center Unit 3

Just wanted to share that I have posted the Center Worksheets for Treasures Unit 3 that I created to align with the Workstation Flipbooks. If you are using Treasures reading series, take a minute to take a look and see how these worksheets can streamline your centertime so you can be freed up to work with your small groups. There are 41 pages total in this set for $5.00! Thanks for visiting! I appreciate it!!

Treasures and Center Time

We all know that centers can be the MOST challenging part of the day, especially with 1st graders, however, in my opinion, it's my FAVORITE (and my students too!) time of the day. I value every minute that I get to work with students in a small group or individually. And the assessment geek that I am, I LOVE assessing, and in 1st it is mostly one-on-one!!! My point... center time is crucial!!! So with my district implementing the new ELA adoption from Macmillan/McGraw-Hill California Treasures, we were "trained" in their idea of homogenius grouping for Literacy Workstations using the Flip Charts. I'm not going to lie, I HATED the idea... and at my first attempt, I HATED them even more...

BUT... with time, I have been able to create center activities that align with the Flip Charts and support the Focus Question for the week, while ensuring my students are engaged and able to produce a valuable product in the end. I take the suggestions from the Flip Charts and then layout the page so they follow step-by-step to produce at each center. My main focus is to get them writing as much as possible during their center time. Also, Treasures states that their Flip Charts should take 20 minutes. I needed my students to stay engaged for the entire 20 minutes so these Center Worksheets help acheive that goal! I have also added icons along the left column to help remind the students what the next step is to keep them focused and constantly working. I have 4 Special Ed students in my class this year and the icons have greatly helped these particular students, along with those students that are struggling with reading.

Please consider checking out these center worksheets in order to better use your Treasures materials in implementing your use of the Flip Charts and Literacy Workstations. I hope that your students are able to produce the same AWESOME and ENGAGING results! I spend A TON of time creating things for our TREASURES reading series so I hope that you will pop back often to check on what I have to share with you next!!

Thanks for visiting!! May your next cup of coffee bring you some relaxation!

A new ankle, a new car, a new year...

Just like many of you, the new school year is quickly approaching. I have mixed feelings about it. You see, I haven't worked in 5 months... Sounds nice, and seriously, I can't even count the number of times I have thought that IF I just had more time, I could create some AMAZING lesson plans... this wasn't exactly what I meant in having time off, and no AMAZING lesson plans have ever come during this time off.

You know how they say, "Be careful what you ask for!" well, I should have listened because one of the last things I remember saying at lunch to my co-workers was, "I think it's time for 'Johnny' to have a different teacher." See, he was VERY difficult and although I adored him, he drove me nuts. (You know the type, right?) I MEANT that maybe HE should switch classrooms and be in class for the last trimester with one of my fellow 1st grade team members, both of which were willing to take him... WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED WAS, I was in a MAJOR car accident on April 7th driving home from work after picking up my two girls. Here is a link where I blogged about the accident on my scrapbooking blog that I had started. So, HE did get a different teacher, he got a long-term sub to finish out the year while I was in the hospital and later home... in a wheelchair.

I ended up with a broken vertebrae, stitches and staples in my left knee which was open to the kneecap, and 2 plates and 7 screws in my right ankle. I had to be in a wheelchair for 3 months and started walking about 3 weeks ago. I still have daily swelling and pain, which is why I'm so nervous about returning to work. I go to the doctor next week and may end up with some limitations to my job, but mainly just no recess duty so I can ice during recess (which might actually be a good thing since  I HATE strongly dislike recess duty anyways).

But to put a positive spin on it, because I don't want to be "Debbie Downer", or better yet, Cynical Cyndy (it kinda works), I am REALLY excited about the new school year. Yesterday, I bought a brand-spankin' new Toyota Sienna SE which I am COMPLETELY in LOVE with. I drove around scoping out B2S prices today only because I wanted to drive my new car. My physical therapy today measured that I have regained full mobility in my flexing of my right foot, and am still working and improving on the pointing, but my NEW ankle is getting better each day. AND I truly am excited to get back to work (not just for a FULL paycheck, although I will love that) but for the distraction and the fresh start to getting life back to "normal". My oldest daughter will be starting Kindergarten at my school this year and I will be the English component of the Dual-Immersion program for 1st grade. We also just hired a new Superintendent. We have some changes ahead and I can't wait to get back to life as I remember it being.

And finally, a HUGE thank you to all you blogging teachers, because over the past 5 months, I would often read and visit blogs to help distract my mind from the pain and the boredom of having to be immobile. So please forgive me for not sharing A BUNCH yet, but I promise I will once I back in school mode. I'm ALMOST there! Just really started working on things this week. I'm beginning to feel "normal" again with motivation to return to my life before my accident, minus running (can't do that for a year, at least). Here's to a new school year!!! With coffee!!!

My Teacher Always Says...

I'm joining in on a linky party over at Mrs. Bainbridge's Class. She has sent up a linky party to share things that you are always finding yourself repeating in the classroom... you know, the lines that even your own students repeat... yikes!

1. "Does this require me to call 911?" Okay, I LOVE sarcasm! I am VERY sarcastic!!! But I have the rule that there are NO INTERUPTIONS during my reading groups unless it is an emergency, so when a student comes over to ask something or tattle, usually the later, I will ask the above question. Somtimes I just do it to entertain myself!

2. "Is this your very best work?" Sometimes when I see my firsties slacking off in their neatness and effort, I will step over to the turn in papers basket and then stand there and collect their papers asking this very question. It's amazing how sometimes they turn around to go "make some changes." Love it!

3. "That is inapproriate behavior!" I just LOVE when I hear my firsties repeat it! It just sounds so grown up when they use such big words! Ha! I swear, I keep myself entertained!

Join the party by following this link! I'd love to see and read what others are ALWAYS saying! Please, make me laugh while I enjoy my coffee and realize I'm not alone in this crazy teaching world! LOL! And thank you for visiting!And THANK YOU to my new followers! How exciting!!!

Birthday Chart

Just a quick share with you all today! I made this monthly birthday chart to track the birthdays of my students. I just post it near the calendar. I'm thinking about Vista Printing it (yep, I make all words verbs, when I feel like it) to make it larger but at the same time, I LOVE my wall space and find it precious. Also, with less and less THINGS we are allowed to do with birthdays anymore, I kinda like to keep it quick and to the point. I'm just so indecisive sometimes... Here's mine if you want a quick easy one with jungle baby animals! Birthday Calendar
Thanks for visiting!

Long Range Planning

Do you do Long Range Planning for the year? How detailed do you get? I tend to just plan out themes and which month they will be taught. I have found that I may spend HOURS and HOURS planning out a more detailed year, just to later realize that there was no possible way I was ever going to meet that expectation so I've simplified it for myself and just stuck to a thematic/science/social studies planning. I created this 2-page print out in Excel for me to use for my Long Range Planning and if you know me, it has to match and be cute! LOL! So using the clip art set that I purchased for my classroom jungle theme from Scrappin' Doodles, I created this guy to use for my long range planning so it's not only cute and matches my theme, but also useful! Grab it for yourself if you are interested!

Long Range Planning Jungle





Favorite Read Alouds for Fall

I'm jumping into another linky party over at Learning With Mrs. Parker. She is hosting a party where you can share your favorite Read Aloud books for the fall. Scrolling through the lists there were so many of my favorites already linked up, but THIS book is my ALL TIME FAVORITE!!!

If you haven't read it before, you MUST get it, especially if you teach 1st grade and phonemic awareness. This book is a fun story about a "Hungry Thing" that has a sign that says "Feed Me". When people ask him what he wants he says things like "shmancakes" and then there is a boy in the story who says, "Shmancakes, sounds like fancakes, sounds like PANCAKES to me!" And the class gets really into the story and they love to yell out the correct food item. I will be adding some activities to go with this book probably next week, but I couldn't resist sharing it now for the linky party. What do you love to read aloud? Join the party and get sharing! I'm always in need of new ideas!!

Now where's my coffee???

In the Jungle, the Mighty Jungle...

This past year I decided to go with a Jungle Theme (more zebra and bright green than anything else) in my classroom. I loved it and added more and more as the year went on. I think themes are fun in a room, but I also believe (okay, well it's the Type A in me) that you don't want to clutter up with your theme. Here are some pictures from my room at the beginning of last year. I will keep the same theme but make some slight changes this year. I have lots of zebra items that I have created and will be sharing them here if you are interested, check back and steal them for yourselves! Here is a link to my classroom pics!

Grade Level Blog Linky Party

Pop on over to The Teacher's Lane and link your blog up! She has them sorted by grade-level and it is such a fabulous idea to put all the amazing resources in one place!!! So go, if you haven't already, and add your BLOG there NOW!!!!


Now where is my coffee???