The Twelve Days of...

I just finished creating another story frame much like Teeny Tiny and Go Away, Big Green Monster that I will be testing out this week.  This one is perfect for December and is based on the traditional story and carol: The Twelve Days of Christmas. Check it out in my TPT store.

Students will use this "fill in the blank" story frame to create their own version of The Twelve Days of ... Christmas, Winter, School, etc.  A little difficult for your students? Then why not use it as a whole group activity or assign one page per child to create a class book or two. Of course, plenty of space is also provided for students to illustrate each of the 12 days. A pre-writing/planning sheet is also included in this 18 page file that targets work with nouns, adjectives, verbs, and ordinal numbers.

Do you like the idea, but are not interested in the entire story frame? Then why not grab the planning sheet here for FREE.

New Reading Logs

Now that we are heading into the second trimester, I decided it was time to revise our homework reading log. The first trimester, students were asked to simply color in a treasure chest for each night they read. Although I liked the form I created to fit our classroom theme, I am wanting a little bit more information from my firsties about what it is they are reading, and how many minutes they are actually spending.

So, I came up with a form that I think will be "just right" and then modified the graphics to fit each month. There is no parent signature required, but students are held accountable to write their book or story title. What a perfect way to practice using proper capitalization in titles and copying words correctly. 

It is available for $1.50 in my TPT store. The entire packet includes 14 different Weekly Reading Logs - one for each month of the year and two generic ones to use any time.

Click HERE to grab your FREE copy of the
December Reading Log.

December Spelling Freebie

Wondering what you will do to inspire your students to practice their spelling at home next month? Maybe my FREE December Spelling Tic-Tac-Toe will be just the thing. Download your copy from my TPT Store.

Open Court Imagine It Unit 5 Support Materials

As usual, I am completing the Open Court support materials "just in time" - as we approach each lesson from week to week.  I just can't seem to get ahead of schedule. In any case, if you are one of my followers that are using this program, I have finished the first grade Unit 5 Big Idea and Focus Questions posters and the other materials will be added below as soon as they are completed. So be on the look out!

Sample pages are shown here. Click on the link below to download your copy.

Unit 5 Big Idea and Focus Question Posters

Unit 5 Lessons 1-5

Unit 5.1-5.5 Overview

Spelling Pretest

Spelling and Word Wall Words List

Challenge Spelling List

Unit 5 Lessons 6-10

Unit 5.6-5.10 Overview

Spelling Pretest 5.6-5.10

Spelling and Word Wall Words 5.6-5.10

Challenge Spelling List

Lessons 5.11-5.15

Unit 5.11-5.15 Overview

Pretest 5.11-5.15

Spelling and Word Wall Words 5.11-5.15

Challenge Spelling List 5.11-5.15

December Freebies

I can hardly believe we are already a third of the way through this school year. It has been a busy few weeks finishing up assessments and wrapping up our first trimester. Unfortunately, this has meant no posts to my blog... but to thank my followers for being so patient, I have a few seasonal freebies to share. Please click on the links below to grab some goodies for the month of December.

Snowman Word Bank, Writing Paper
and Parts of Speech Word Sort

Find more like these in my TPT store

December Super Sentences

If you like these, you may want to check out my 34 page December-themed super sentence packet

 available in my TPT Store.

What's for Thanksgiving Dinner?

What is for Thanksgiving Dinner? Will it be Roasted Turkey or Egg Foo Yong?

Inspired by the song "Albuquerque Turkey", I created a cute Thanksgiving Place Value and Greater Than, Less Than, and Equal To math activity .  Students will use my thanksgiving-themed cards with tens and ones blocks to identify numbers and determine which is greater. If Albuquerque Turkey has a number that is greater than or equal to the pilgrims' number, he wins and egg foo yong will be served for dinner. If the Pilgrims have the greater number, Poor Albuquerque Turkey will BECOME Thanksgiving dinner.  

I plan to use this activity for whole group instruction using my elmo and projector and then througout the month as a math center.  Both the lyrics to Albuquerque Turkey and tens and ones blocks are included in this 30 page pdf file available at my TPT store.

Click here for your FREE copy of the Albuquerque Turkey lyrics.



Veteran's Day Freebie

Next Friday, November 11th, our nation honors all of the men and women who have bravely served our country over the years; those who have risked their lives to make the world a safer and better place for us all.  Although I don't have anything special planned for my students to help honor our veterans this year, we will be remembering them and discussing the important role our military plays as we continue our study on "The jobs people do".   After our discussion, students will be given the following word bank and story paper and will be asked to use it to produce either an informational, reflective, or fictional  piece that centers around our military- past or present. Click on the link below to grab your free copy. It is part of my November writing paper and word bank pack available in my TPT store for just $1.00

Click here to download your FREE copy.

Also... I would love to hear what if anything you have planned to remember and honor our veterans with your students.

Happy Friday!