Symmetry, Word Craftivity, PDAS & ME:)

Okay....so it has been a full, busy week and then some!!!  I'm not complaining...it makes summer come more quickly for me:)  We are on countdown ya know.....30 more days of 1st GRADE!!!

First of all, I turned a year older this week...insert sigh....oh well, we all do, right???  I had a great birthday and my 1st grade team surprised me with an AWESOME lunch in our conference room, my Firsties were super excited that it was my birthday, my honey sent me BEAUTIFUL flowers and I had a wonderful dinner with him to end the night!!!!!

I had my PDAS evaluation today....insert sigh....oh well, we all have to do it, right???? I did a Writer's Workshop lesson for my evaluation and I think it went SPECTACULAR:)  I used Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. The focus of the lesson was how author's do different things with their sentences in their stories.  (The main objective was to notice that there are different amounts of words in each sentence of the author's piece.) I chose 2 pages to chart the author's thinking. I showed them on the smartboard and we counted each sentence to get the correct number of words.  They were amazed at the sentence that had 16 words in it:)  Firsties are so easily amused, that's why I love them!!! I then modeled a Mrs. Wallace and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day on the smartboard using my own thinking.  LUCKILY for me.....I didn't have to make up anything!!!  I woke up late this morning, rushed to get ready, had NO time for coffee....insert GRRRR......walked out to the garage to leave and my BATTERY WAS DEAD!!!!!  Oh, yes, so I just wrote from the heart!!! I used lots of voice and expression in my story and the Firsties LOVED it:)

A YouTube Video showing a read aloud of

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Now....onto my Word Craftivity....our theme is Butterflies and Insects this week, so we made symmetrical butterflies and then added our weekly words to them for extra practice.  They were able to decorate their butterflies after that and we hung them in the hallway for everyone to enjoy! 

Here is a picture of the Symmetrical Butterfly Template that we used. Click HERE for a FREEBIE!

Take a chennille stick and connect it.  Then staple it to the backside of the butterfly like the pictures above show.

Here are some of the finished products:)

I hope that you enjoy this little FREEBIE:)  Feel free to download and leave me a ROCKIN' note....I LOVE them!!

Have a GREAT Thursday evening!!!

TGIF "FREEBIES"...and Writer's Workshop:)

TGIF, TGIF, TGIF......Whew....what a week!!!!!  Can you tell that I am a little excited about the weekend????  Well, after last weekend's Cheer Competition with my daughter.....ALL WEEKEND.....3 days people.....I am READY for this two day relaxation:)  

The only thing planned besides the normal Saturday/Sunday routine is a quick Cheer Clinic in the morning and then I'm "good to go"!!!!

Okay.....on to the real reason for this post.....In Writer's Workshop today, I showed my Firsties a picture of penguins and I asked them to think about what the penguins were doing, talking about, what the weather was like, etc.  One student drew and wrote this piece.....

Which I chose to edit via the smart board with the whole group.  My students are used to their writings being used as a quick mini-lesson, so this student was NOT surprised when I put her writing up for everyone to see.  I praised the illustration and the use of the word "too"....which was used properly:)  The picture below shows the picture prompt that I gave them and the corrections made by the whole group for our mini-lesson!!!!!  What a GREAT way to motivate the other students to look for editing opportunities in their own work.

Okay.....on to the FREEBIE:)  I've been working on The CAT Man!! Unit for this week's centers and activities and here is a sampling of what I have done so far!  

Below is a closer image of the writing and word study activities that I have come up with!

Click here for the The CAT Man!!!! FREEBIE to enjoy in your classroom.  Don't forget to leave me a comment if you like the activities:)  I LOVE to read them all!!!! 

Come check me out at my new 1st GRADE ROCKS Facebook account!!!! 

The BUSY Classroom Elf!

UPDATE on our classroom elf, Nicey!!! He has been very busy in our classroom taking good notes for Santa!  Take a look at all of the places he's found to watch my Firsties so far:)

High on the bookshelf....

Way up high on the windowsill....

Uh, Oh, Nicey got caught in our classroom snacks!!!

This was too funny...my kiddo's could not believe that Nicey did this!!!

Some of the comments were...

• "He must have been HUNGRY!!!"
• "I can't believe he stole our snack!"
• "He's gonna get in trouble by Santa!"
• "Great...now we can't go to writing center because if we accidentally touch him or knock him over, he'll lose his magic!"

We have also had a great time with Nicey this week during Writer's Workshop!!!  We've written about what reports that he has given to Santa so far, where we will find him watching the next day, etc.  He's been a great incentive for the kiddos to work hard and get along in class!!!

I have lots of ideas of how I will use our classroom Elf On The Shelf next week....can't wait to get creative:) We will be doing lots of interactive activities at the Elf On The Shelf site!!! Check it out....so fun:)  Can't wait to show my Firsties Monday the email that we got from Santa from that site. Merry Christmas...and be looking for updates to my classroom elf, Nicey:)

Writing WOW

I just love reading my students writing!!! I seem to learn so much from them this way...like, who they really like to play with, what they like to read and how they really feel about their classroom! Check this writing out! I was blown away with the details in the illustration!! Amazing:)