Workstation Flower Pens

In an earlier post, I mentioned my love for Flower Pens.

Click for more info. on Flower Pens!

I decided to make some for my kids to keep them motivated to work during centers.  It is amazing how a change in a writing tool can make them want to work =)

Kids' Flower Pens at Center Table

Flowers from Dollar Tree, Tub from Hobby Lobby

10 Things I've Learned from Teaching: Linky Party

Rowdy in First Grade is hosting a Linky Party!  This was a great idea!  It is so funny to read other teachers' little life lessons because we can all relate.  

(1)

Your students are the best teachers of Classroom  Management.  They won't be afraid to let you know if it doesn't work.

(2)

A teacher's work is NEVER done.  There is always something you can work on.

(3)

You will spend an unthinkable amount on your classroom.

(4)

Air fresheners should be on EVERY school supply list.

(5)

Take advantage of back to school sales on supplies.

(6)

There will be students who come to school without supplies.

(7) 

The quiet teachers have the most control over their class.  The loud ones...sometimes have control, but go home with a headache everyday.

(8)

Glue in bottles is a frustrating mess.  Teach your kids how to use a glue stick. 

(9)

Do not take what your students do personal.

(10)

SAVE and DOCUMENT EVERYTHING YOU DO!  Save lesson plans, homework, art projects, student tests, conference sheets, parent notes etc.  You never know when you may need these things.  

Linky Party: Favorite Part of my Room

This is my first Linky Party to join, so I hope I do this correctly.  It is hosted by the amazing Mrs. Thompson from Adventures in Teaching!

My favorite part of my room is my Small Group Area.

I love how everything is easily accessible and neat.  Every year, I felt I was running around my room finding things during small group like a pen, marker, testing material etc.  I get a little wiser and less cluttered with each passing year.  

I posted all this information in an earlier post.

Click here for more pics and explanations on SMALL GROUP area.

Click here for more on small group SUPPLIES.


Click here for more on FLOWER PENS.

I love my center rotation (grouped homogeneously and heterogeneously) with the pics of my kids faces.   My fabric bags hanging on the wall store supplies I need for small group like: dry erase markers, cute animal-hand erasers (see Organization Label), Dibels books, reading witch pointers)  I have a phonics flip chart (Mardels,$15), pocket chart with phonics cards (Lakeshore Learning), chair pockets to store students' white boards, a star graph used as a center behavior motivator and my leveled reading books...just to name a few things. 

I have a light used as a reminder so the kiddos won't disturb me during small group.  I have Flower Pens (see Label ELA Centers) that I use to Dibel students with, so I won't have to search far for a pen.  I LOVE my chair cushion and AIR FRESHENER ; )

Long /i/ Fry Sort

THANK YOU First Grader...at Last! for this AWESOME IDEA!

I painted popsicle sticks and wrote the words with permanent marker.  I color coded the phonics rule.  This one is blue.

Each set is color coded so when students mix-up sets, they can differentiate.  I color coded the back of each fry, too.

Smarty Pants

Well, this is the first month that I've used the "Smarty Pants" and the kids love this new behavior incentive.  I just need to make a sign for them because people always ask me about it.

I got this idea from another teacher.  Thank goodness for those "Smarty Pants" teachers out there who think of these things =)

Baby Jeans that are sewn at the bottom to hold the Smarties.  

Happy St. Patty's Day!

I felt a little last minute when preparing for St. Patrick's Day.  However, everything went great.  The kids were able to practice their graphing skills and they were engaged!

I started the lesson by giving groups of students St. Patrick themed erasers.  They were told to demonstrate an easy way to compare the erasers.  In other words, they graphed the erasers.

St. Patrick's Day Erasers (Party city, $4 a pack)

Next, the students graphed Lucky Charms!  Yummy =P

Recording Sheet from http://www.kidscount1234.com/

Contraction Cupcakes

Yummy!

What a delicious way to practice contractions.  I got this idea from multiple teachers.

Cupcake Die-Cuts (Dollar Tree, 6/$1), Cut then laminated for durability.  I made 4 sets of  7 contractions.  Each set has different contractions on the cupcakes.  So, when they are finished with one set, they can do another set.

Reading Baskets!

Students love to sit back in a Reading Basket with a good book =)

Reading Baskets are a great alternative to spending a fortune on building an inviting area for students to read.  In addition, it is a great behavior management tool because it gives students a defined reading space, where it is hard to disturb other readers.  The laundry baskets were purchased at Walmart for $5 each.  I purchased $3 towels at Walmart to make the basket more comfortable.

Student reading in a Reading Basket into a Whisper Phone (PVC Pipe-Lowes)
Funny how they would rather read in a laundry basket than on the couch = P

Don't let the size fool you.  Even I can fit into a Reading Basket and they are comfy =)

Place Value Flip Book

The following is a flip book my kids created on Place Value using Base 10 Blocks.

They are so creative =)

Awesome job!

Spider Addition

Spider Mat (MathWire.com), Foam Dice (Dollar Tree), Egg (Walmart), Mini-Spiders (Party City)

Subtraction Bowling

Students practiced their subtraction skills by bowling in math centers!

**The following pictures show the recording sheet and two different bowling sets.**  

Students record their results.

Mini-Bowling Set (Purchased from Dollar Tree)

Lawn Bowling Set  (Purchased from Toys R Us, $3)

Money Centers

Create a Coin Graph.  Students get  a purse w/ coins in it and graph them.   They record their results on a recording sheet.

Coin Sort/Count.  Students sort coins from a piggy bank (from Dollar Tree) on the recording sheet above.  They count the coins and add like coins.  The recording sheet I got from another teacher's blog....I have spent about an hr. trying to find it again...but no luck.  If you remember where I got it from, let me know!

Dollar Tree Deals!

Foam Dice (2/$1)  Whenever I see these dice at Dollar Tree, I always get them.  You can use them for anything.  Plus, they are quiet.

CVC, Letter Sounds, Number Learning Cards (3/$1)  I bought 4 sets and labeled w/ numbers (set 1, 2, 3, 4-So, students will not mix-up the sets)

Foam Puzzle Clock.  I bought 5 clocks.  Label on the back w/ the number of that set- So, students can work side-by-side and not mix-up  pieces.

Big Number-Line to 70.  I bought 5 number-lines.  I taped this number line together and laminated for durability.  Then I cut it up in puzzle piece fashion.  This number-line is about 10 ft. long, so you need some space.

Phonemic Awareness Activity

Self-Correcting feature

Purpose
Reinforce beginning sounds
Differentiate between 2 (or more) beginning sounds


Materials+How to Make

• Enlarged T-Chart 
• I used a poster maker and laminated for durability
• Pictures w/ same beginning sounds  (10 pictures + Upper and Lowercase Letter)
• I made this using PowerPoint and laminated  
• Ziplock Bags Labeled w/ Letter Sound
• I have 26 Ziplock bags (26 letters)  
• Do not put all the bags out at once.
• 4-5 Separate Bags for Center
• I select letter pictures from one of the 26 bags.  
• I mix 2 letter sound pictures+the Letters in the same bag and LABEL what letters the student will be working with in that center.  I use masking tape to write he letters and place on bag (shown in picture).  
• I change-out the label and pictures w/ new beginning sounds or combinations.
• Self-Correcting
• I put the answer on the back of each picture, so students can check their work.
• Differentiate
• You can increase difficulty by putting letter combinations w/ similar sounds (like M/N, or E/I, G/J etc.)
• You can increase difficulty by comparing more letter sounds (A/E.I etc.)

This center activity was time consuming making, laminating and cutting but I can use it all year and and continually rotate the sounds.

Word Sort Printables for Treasures!

The following are Word Sorts I created that correlate with our reading series, Treasures.

CLICK FOR WORD SORT PRINTABLES!

Telling Time Puzzles

The following are printouts of my Telling Time Puzzles.  These are similar to the Base Ten Puzzles.  I love using puzzle pieces in centers b/c they are self-correcting.  

1. Print on Cardstock
2. Laminate for durability
3. Cut in Puzzle-Piece form
4. Group pieces according to letter and place in separate, lettered baggie.

CLICK HERE FOR HOUR PUZZLES!  (A-E)

CLICK HERE FOR HALF-HOUR PUZZLES!  (A-E)

Base Ten Puzzles

CLICK HERE FOR BASE TEN PUZZLES! 

(A-G)

1. Print on Cardstock
2. Laminate for durability 
3. Cut pieces in puzzle-like fashion
4. Separate pieces into baggies labeled w/ its letter (A, B, C, D, E, F, G)*This helps w/ organization.
1. In the end, you should have bags filled w/ different puzzle pieces.
2. If a child finishes with "Bag A" they can do "Bag B" etc. 

Math Flowers

Spring is just around the corner and it would only seem fitting that my math centers reflect the new season change. I bought these flower cut-outs from Dollar Tree (2 for a dollar).  

Each flower has 6 petals (3 addition facts+ 3 subtraction facts)  They are self-correcting on the back of each petal.  I made 16 flowers w/ different answers in the center.

Here is a close-up of the self-correcting feature on the back.  I put mini hearts on the back of this flower b/c the flower belongs to the heart bag.  There are 4 bags (heart, lightning, smiley face, star) with 4 flowers in each.  Keep in mind every flower is different, so if a student is done with the "heart" bag, they can work on the "star" bag.  This makes the center activity longer and differentiated.

Fact Family Activities

The following are some fact family activities.  Since fact families are a tricky concept to learn, we start by doing this activity in pairs during whole group.  Therefore, I can better assist before it goes into their math workstations.  


**When you change the counters, the kids think they are playing a whole new game.  So, I change-up what we use (tiles, cubes, buttons, etc.) and the number.**

I use this to practice addition and/or fact families.

I use this to practice subtraction and/or fact families.

I use this to practice fact families.  I also have the fake, red and white beans that you can buy at any school store.  The ones above were no fun to make and I would suggest purchasing them.  I learned my lesson the hard way =(