Happy January!

Happy January!  Hope your year is off to a great start!
After a very LONG winter break (we've had so many two hour delays and snow days in December and January, I've lost track of the total!) I am finally going back to a full week this next week, and I can't wait for some consistency!
Just stopping by to share a quick little freebie that I made for my first graders this week!  Long i (i_e) is our sound focus of the week, and this will be one of the choices my students have during our intervention time.
Just click on the picture below if you'd like to grab a copy!

I also just finished up this entire set.  I like to incorporate these into my literacy stations during my reading block.  Look for a post next week about how I use these!  If you'd like to check them out, just click the picture below.  You can find the individual sets {HERE}.

If you're following my stations that I incorporate into my reading block,
here's what we're my students are doing next week:

*Listening Station: iPod shuffles- The Biggest Best Snowman, Snowmen All Year, The Mystery of the Missing Mitten & Down by the Cool of the Pool

*Spelling Space: Word Search focusing on long i (this is from my reading program), Write it! focusing on our story words for the week which can be found {HERE}  If you'd like to check out the Dolch Set you can go {HERE}, and Word Whiz that are from Learning Resources.  You can check them out {HERE}.

*Sand Writing: My kiddos use craft sticks and write their weekly words in sand.  I bought my sand from Lakeshore, a local teacher store.  It can be found {HERE}.  I put the sand in plastic supply boxes which make it easy for clean up.  I also put a plastic table cloth on the table :)

*Dice Drive: Five in a Row Dolch Phrases from First Grade Factory which can be found {HERE} and roll a word which can be found {HERE}.

*White Boards:  Kids write spelling words from weekly word list, then write their own words.

*Read and Write the Room: Winter Words from this set {HERE}

*Word Way: Nonsense Word 4 in a Row that can be found {HERE} and word blocks for making sentences.

*Write the Room:  Christmas Write-the-Room which can be found {HERE} and Read and Write the Room: North Pole & Gingerbread words that can be found {HERE}

*Syllable Station: January syllable set that can be found {HERE}.

*Artist's Alley:  Snowman freebie from Funky Fresh Firsties.  The freebie can be found {HERE}.

Click {HERE} if you'd like to see the first week and some info about my station work!

Click {HERE}for other station ideas!
Click {HERE} for other station ideas!
Click {HERE} for other station ideas!
Click {HERE} for other station ideas!

Have a wonderful week!

Lots and Lots of Literacy Freebies!

Happy Monday!  Hope your week is off to a great start!  A few weeks ago my reading theme was pets.  We read several books about pets, made lists of how to care for a pet and our favorite pets.  We also did a pet picture/name sort and a writing piece about our favorite pets.  I made a pet word search that was incorporated into our second reading block.  My kiddos need to work independently during this time and this word search along with a pet mini book were two of the five paper activities that they could choose from. 

 You can grab this {HERE} or click below!

If you'd like to check out some of the other pet activities my first graders completed, 

you can check out this set HERE, or click below!

Weekly word sorts are completed during my small reading groups and also during literacy stations (see below).  Last week we focused on the short i sound.  If you'd like this freebie, just click one of the pictures below!

If you're following my stations that I incorporate into my reading block,
here's what we finished up with last week:

*Listening Station: iPod shuffles- Llama Llama and the Bully Goat, The Biggest Pumpkin Ever,  Spooky Hour & Skeletons

*Sorting Street: Short i word sort can be found {HERE} or click on the pics above

*Publishing Place: Transportation Book from our transportation set that can be found {HERE}

*Artist's Alley: Learn to draw a cat, dog, fish, and a rat (we had a pet theme last week in our reading program).  {HERE} is where I got my step by step instructions.  They were pretty easy for my first graders to follow.  {HERE} is the entire Learn to Draw section.  

*Fine Motor: Letter pick up.  My kiddos use tweezers that I bought from Lakeshore Learning, they can be found {HERE}.  I found this letter mat somewhere, but can't find it anywhere to add a link! If you know where it came from I would be glad to add the link :)  My kiddos simply look for the letter in a container filled with Lace-A-Word Beads, pick it up with tweezers, and match it.

I also created a few Make-a-Word worksheets that relate to familiar sounds we've worked on during reading.  You can grab these {HERE}, or click the picture below!

*Word Way:  Spin a Word Bingo.  I'll have the link up tomorrow :)

*Beginning Sound Boogie:   I found out about this fun activity while searching on Pinterest.  Pre-write consonants on spoons. Students choose a spoon and try and make a word.  If it makes sense (it's a word and not a nonsense word) they write it down.  I made two worksheets that focus on the sounds that we have previously learned in reading.  If you'd like them just click  {HERE} or the picture below!

*Pocket Place:  Large pocket chart with short vowel pictures and words can be found {HERE}.  Also at this station are student photos and name cards, frog life cycle cards (reading theme this week), and transportation sorting cards that can be found {HERE}

*Word Family:  I used this freebie:  Word Builders {-at family freebie} from Miss Kindergarten Love.  I LOVED it so much that I bought both her long and short vowel set!

Click {HERE} if you'd like to see the first week and some info about my station work!

Click {HERE} if you'd like to see the second week

Have a fabulous week!

New Station Ideas and Some Freebies

Happy Sunday!  I hope you are all enjoying your weekend!  

It was a pumpkin patch day for my family yesterday!  

Weather wasn't too bad either.  

A little sunshine every now and then and no rain! Yay!   

We had lots of fun and always enjoy 

the apple cider donuts and cider slushies. 

 Here's a picture of Natalie and I!

Glad we went yesterday because today is filled with lots and lots of rain!  But that's pretty typical for Oregon!  Thought I'd share some of my stations that we did last week and and also share a few freebies that you might find helpful as well!  

We've just started our Dolch sight word lists in first grade.  

Each of my kiddos takes a list home for practice.  

You can read about this set {HERE}  

The lists can be found in this product below.  

I attach a note to their first list that goes home.  It is completely editable and if you'd like a copy feel free to click below!  I used this font {HERE}.

This year I decided to create an individual poster that my first graders can place stickers on.  They just Love it.  I keep their individual posters in my reading conference notebook.  When they finish reading the words, they take home their filled up rainbow and begin spelling.  

In previous years I've used the poster that can be found in the post {HERE}.  If you'd like a copy of the posters you can click on either picture below to grab a copy!

If you're following my stations that I incorporate into my reading block,
here's what we're currently finishing up with:

*Listening station: iPod shuffles- Seed, Sprout, Pumpkin Pie, Scaredy-Cat Splat, Skeleton Hiccups & Amazing Bats

*Read and Write the Room: Back to School & Lunchtime from this set {HERE}

*Publishing Place- Apple Tree Mini book it can be found {HERE}

*Puzzle Place: An alphabet puzzle, environmental print puzzles, & Pinkalicious puzzle.  {HERE} is an example of what the environmental print puzzles look like.  I cut them up myself and place them in baggies.  

*Alphabet Avenue: Alphabet Bingo  a beginning sound Bingo game.

*White Boards:  Kids write spelling words from weekly word list, then write their own words.

*Sort Street:  Sorting short a word sort that can be found {HERE}

*Pocket Place:  Large pocket chart with short a pictures and words can be found {HERE}.  Also at this station are student photos and name cards, frog life cycle cards (reading theme this week), and transportation sorting cards that can be found {HERE}

*Word Way:  Spin a Word (Dolch words).  These can be found {HERE}.   I'm including our worksheet from this week!  Just click the picture below :)

Click {HERE} if you'd like to see the first week and some info about my station work!

Hope you all have a wonderful week!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Happy Fall!

Hope your fall is off to a great start!  I am on my fourth week with my first graders and FINALLY feel like we are in a routine!  YAY!!!!  Training my kiddos on reading stations takes two weeks and now they're able to independently (with a little teacher support :) complete their stations, and I can now lead small reading groups and IRLA conference with my students.  I am really loving IRLA as an assessment tool, but it I am definitely still in the learning process since this is our first year implementing it in my school.  If you have any tips or advice, I'd love to hear them!  

I decided to change up how I do reading stations in my classroom this year.  You can read about what I did last year {HERE}.  This year my kiddos begin by reading good fit books from their book boxes, either to self or a buddy.  After reading, they can continue reading, choose one of their two station choices, or read from the classroom library which we call Library Lane.  Library Lane and many other adorable station names and cards can be found in Kickin’ it in Kindergarten’s It's Station Time cards.  I just LOVE these!  My station activities change every six days.  Since last year was my first day following this plan, I decided to keep a list of which stations I do :)  I am SO glad I did!  Planning stations has been so much easier this year.  There were days last year when creating station activities was easy and there were A LOT of times in which I spent many weekends searching for new ideas! So I thought I'd share with what I do.  I will try and share when I change stations.  If you do reading stations and are looking for some new ideas feel free to stop by and check out my list!

Here's what we're currently finishing up with:

*Listening station:  iPod shuffles-The Little Red Hen, My Daddy Snores, & 

  A Bad Case of the Stripes

*Wikki Stix: Word mats that can be found {HERE}

*Stamp a Word- Write it Stamp it can be found {HERE}

*Puzzle Place: An alphabet puzzle and environmental print puzzles.  {HERE} is an example of what the environmental print puzzles look like.  I cut them up myself and place them in baggies.  

*Dice Drive: Roll a Word (Dolch words) can be found {HERE}

*White Boards:  Kids write spelling words from word list, then write their own words.

*Magnetic Mountain:  Magnetic boards and magnetic letters

*Pocket Place:  Large pocket chart with short a pictures and words can be found {HERE}.  Also at this station are student photos and name cards.  My kiddos practice recognizing faces and names.  Great for the beginning of the year!  

*Word Way:  Write a Rainbow (Dolch words).  These can be found {HERE}.   I'm including our worksheet from this week!  Just click the picture below :)

Our classroom iPad, iPods, and computers are stations as well.  They contain various reading apps, books, and websites in which my kiddos can read & listen to stories or practice word work.  

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you all have a fabulous week! 

Long and Short Vowel Review

Happy New Year!  Hope you all had a wonderful holiday.  We sure did!  

We enjoyed spending lots of time with family and friends and not having to set our alarms at night!

I go back next week and our sound focus for the week in our first grade Treasures reading program is long i.  We will be focusing on long i words with a silent e.  A few weeks before our winter break our focus was long a words with a silent e.  So this week I plan on doing A LOT of review with silent e!  I also plan on reviewing short vowel sounds as well,  mostly focusing on a & i.  

We are currently working on a few new silent e products for our store and they should be up by next weekend!  

Below we've got a few bingo freebies, as well as some great links to other sites for vowel practice ideas/activities.

I plan on using these bingo freebies below during my reading stations next week and the following week.  

My first graders just love bingo!  

Here's how we play this partner game!

1.  Each pair of kids needs one spinner (place a clear spinner over the top, or use a pencil and a paperclip). 

2.  Each pair will need one or two worksheets (your pair could could share a worksheet each using a different color, or have their own).  

3.  Player one spins first.  If the spinner lands on a long or short section, player one finds, reads, and colors in a long or short vowel word word on the bingo worksheet. 

4.  If the spinner lands on the "free choice" section, the player gets to choose a word of his/her choice to read and color.  

5.  This continues until one of the players gets five in a row!

If you'd like a copy of these bingo games, just click the picture below, or {HERE}!

If you have a SMART Board, this is a fun activity that I have used. 

 It includes both long and short vowel practice. 

SMART Exchange Vowel Sort 

We found this AWESOME anchor chart on Pinterest! I'll definitely be creating this with my first graders next week!  It's from Teaching With Style  and you can find this anchor chart and several others {HERE} on her site! 

 Love this cute video!  Great for long/short vowel practice!

Here's a little freebie from Mrs. Pollard!  My first graders used this last year at a literacy station and they LOVED it!  I plan on using it again after we learn all of the long vowel sounds.  You can find this freebie on our Pinterest board HERE or in her TPT store HERE 

Have other ideas/activities to help your kiddos with long vowel practice? 

 Comment below!  

We'd love to here your ideas!

We hope you all have a wonderful week!

How I Do Literacy and Math Stations

Hope you’re all having a great weekend! 

It’s Leslie here and I thought I’d share with you all about how I do math and literacy stations in my first grade classroom. 

         Last year and several years prior to last I followed more of a Daily 5 rotation.  Using our Treasures reading program, I would teach whole group reading, then my kiddos would go to their first station while I met with my first small reading group.  After my first group, my kids would switch to their next station and I would meet with my second group.  This would continue as I met with all of my reading groups. 

         The problem that I had with this rotation schedule was some of my kiddos weren’t able to complete their stations due to time.  Some kiddos also missed some of their stations due to an additional reading group.
 So this year I tried something different and 

used Kickin’ it in Kindergarten’s It's Station Time cards which I 
Love, love, love!  
Each child has their picture in the pocket chart.  These are the white cards that are shown below.  They are flipped over in the picture.

  My kiddos have 3 rotations they can choose from each day.  
Reading to self or a buddy (I made these cards) is a station that all of my students can choose each day.  I also created an iPad, iPods, and a listening card to match our classroom iPad and iPods.  My students can pick (out of their three choices) what station they go to first, and I don't require them to get to all three each day.  Several of my students leave during our reading block for other literacy groups so it would be impossible to require them to go to all three.  Having this option provides them an opportunity to make choices, yet also complete their work before they can go to their next station.  

The next morning I move the station cards down, rather than move the picture cards.  That way my kiddos know where their picture is on the chart and they can easily find it.  I chose to have six rotations so the groups could remain small.  Every seventh I change the stations and or activities at the stations.  I am keeping a list of what I do for each of the six days, so next year it will be A LOT easier for planning! 
I handle math stations a little differently than literacy stations because my kids finish their independent work at different times.  Our math program has some guided work that my students do along with me, and an "On My Own" page.  After we complete some of the work together, my students complete the "On My Own" page independently.  When my kids are done with their "On My Own" page they choose a math station that they would like to go to.   Kids that have a 1 by their picture on the pocket can go to an iPad or an iPod and play a math game that I have in a designated math station folder.  Kids that have a 2 by their picture on the pocket chart can go to ixl.com and practice math on a classroom computer.  All other students can choose a math game/manipulative math station.  This system works for me at math because if I required kids to go to a game station, sometimes there would only be one student since others might still be finishing their independent work.  So when my kiddos finish their independent they find another child who has also finished and play a game together.  Others join in as they finish.  Independent activities with manipulatives are also available.

If you would like a copy of the sign above my pocket chart, you can click any of  the pictures below, or go {HERE}!  They're FREE and there are 8 different options!
Here are four of the eight!

I have made expectations that my kiddos need to follow while they are at literacy and math stations.  These cards are on display beside my pocket chart.

I also have them on a ring and they are hung in our meeting area, so we can review often.

If you would like to check these out, you can click on a picture above, or go {HERE}! I have made two different choices for the first card. You can choose stations or centers depending on what you call them in your classroom.

I also made these cards for my small group reading area.

The white card hanging on the hooks contains names on the other side.  It's just flipped over in the picture. My kids know to look here when it is time to meet with me.  For example, before we begin literacy stations, my kids look here first to see if they are the first group to meet with me.

 This is how it looks when the names are displayed.  

If you would like an editable version, so you can just type your kiddos names in.  Just click one of the pictures above, or you can go right {HERE}!  It's FREE!

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Hope you all have a great Sunday!

It's back to school for us this Tuesday,well actually we've been back since last week, but this week will be our first week with our new kiddos and we're so excited to meet them!  We've got lots of Pete the Cat activities scheduled for our first week back.  Pinterest has sooooo many wonderful ideas!  To go along with our Pete the Cat themed week, we created a little award that we're sending home with out kiddos on the first day of school.  It's an editable version too!  Just click the picture below to grab your copy!

Cat Award

This little award has been on our blog since we first started blogging.  It works well after reading The Kissing Hand books with Chester the Raccoon.  Since we added our cat version and made it editable, we updated our raccoon one as well!  You can click the picture below to download this recently updated freebie!

Raccoon Award

Our next resources tie in nicely with our First Grade Treasures reading program.  Leslie uses this program with her first graders and has mapped out the themes for the entire year!  If you use First Grade Treasures and would like a copy of our map, just email us!  She plans on sharing freebies and book titles that tie in nicely with the weekly themes!  So check back often for updates!

Smart Start will begin next week and will run for three weeks.  After that, Unit One Week One will begin.  

The themes that we've connected to Unit One Week One in our series are:

 My Home

My Senses

 School Rules

If you don't use Treasures, we're sure these freebies will still work for you at some point throughout the year!

Here are a few books that we've checked out through our local library network and plan on incorporating in our themed book display.

And here are two freebies that we'd love to share with you!

Five Senses Label

This simple book provides easy patterned text for your kiddos to read to someone,

and includes two printing options.

All About Me Book

We hope you all have a wonderful week!
We'll be back later this week with classroom pictures!

Lots of Short Vowel Freebies!

Hope you are all off to a great November!  We have a short week this week, so during our reading instruction we’re reviewing some short vowel sounds.  We created 28 I have Who has cards for the short vowels a, e, i, o, & u.  They’re in our store for FREE and you can chek them out {HERE} or just click the picture below!

Along with some I have who has games this week, we created a few vowel worksheets and a 5 in a row game that can be played with a partner.  These activities relate to short vowels a, e, i, & o.  We’ll be introducing the short vowel u next week.  If you’re looking for some short vowel practice pages, just click on any of the pictures below!

We also wanted to let you know that we’ve updated our addition and subtraction ice cream packs!  We’ve added black and white options for ice cream cones, scoops, and awards!  So if you’ve purchased these, be sure to re-download!  You can click the pictures below to check them out!

Have a wonderful week!

apps we love & some freebies!

There's so much that you can do with an iPad, and this summer we've been learning about ways to use an iPad in the classroom, apps that are great for the classroom, and great app/iPad sites that are helpful to teachers!  We both have a classroom iPad that we started using in classrooms last year.  We received them mid year, and are very thankful for our parent group that purchased them for us!  We use them during our literacy and math centers.  Our kiddos absolutely LOVE it and we have quite a few apps that they enjoy!  

Below are two apps that we've recently discovered.  

Number Frames, by The Math Learning Center

 This app not only has tens frames, but it also has frames for five, 10, 20 & 100!  You can do so much with it and it's FREE!!!  We love that it has colored counters (very similar to the counters used in the math program we teach from.  You can also change the counters to other shapes and colors.  This could be used in a whole group lesson (projected on a White or SMART Board, or just holding up and showing particular numbers.  Number recognition activities are definitely activities we focus heavily on in first grade, especially during the first several months of school.  

ABC-Magnetic Alphabet

 Here's another fun one that we'll definitely have our first graders use at literacy centers.  This one has a free and paid version.  We've just tried out the free version and it only contains capital letters.  The paid includes lowercase, numbers, symbols, and other figures.  Along with literacy centers, we plan to use this during small reading groups during word work lessons.  Since our small groups are 20-25 minutes each without a lot of time between to prepare for the next group, this app will work great! 

  

 We created some worksheets that could be used at centers that fit nicely with both of these apps.  Just click the picture below if you'd like a copy!

Have a great week!

Happy Fall

Happy fall! It's definitely fall in our neck of the woods and we've been talking about the seasons with our kiddos. We've read several non fiction books about the season and have a little fiction favorite we'd like to tell you about.

This is such an adorable book about two squirrels who are experiencing their first fall and wonder why the leaves are falling from their tree they call home.  It's one of our favorites that we've read for the last couple of years and our first graders just LOVE it!

And speaking of seasons, we just love this YouTube video!  It has such a catchy tune!

4 Seasons in a year by Harry Kindergarten 

All of Harry Kindergarten's videos are WONDERFUL!

Here's a fall freebie in our TpT store!

 Our kiddos just love these books!  

Just click {HERE} for a copy!

Our phonics focus for the week is the short a sound. So we thought we'd share another fall freebie with you!  This word sort contains four short a word sort cards and 20 words to sort.  There are also several recording sheet options that we've included.  Just click below for your copy!

Short a Word Sort

We will be putting this out at one of our literacy centers next week as a review.  

Hope your fall is off to a great start! 

Have a wonderful week!