One Book...Multiple Lessons

Hello everyone!  I'm back today to share another favorite book (and I think I like this one even more than the Hungry Thing).  Lately I'm loving Dear. Mrs. LaRue: Letters from Obedience School.  It's about a naughty dog, Ike, who is sent to obedience school.  Ike writes letters daily to his owner trying to convince her to let him come back, and then he ends up escaping.  This story has so many potential teaching points. 

Here's some ideas I came up (and the list isn't limited to this).

-Different perspectives (between the dog and the illustrations).
-Character analysis: What is Ike like?  A lot of my students came up with the word dramatic.  The obedience school really didn't seem so bad according to the pictures.
-Compare and Contrast: Compare what Ike writes to the illustrations.
-Inferencing: The ending of the story is perfect for this.
-Patterns in text

And there are writing connections too!
-Writing a friendly letter
-Persuasion: Ike is good at this!  Possible prompt: If you were Mrs. LaRue, what would you do?  Would you let Ike out early? Why or why not?

And for phonics we really worked on the vowel digraph spellings for _ue (LaRue) as well as o, oo, ew, u, and others.

Library

How do you organize your classroom library?  My first year, it was simple.  I didn't have a whole lot of books (only about two crates full), so a shelf like the one below was perfect for me at the time.  I changed out my picture books about once a month.

This was the library my first year.  The books weren't on the shelf yet.  Even though it was small, the kids loved it.

Fast forward six years, and this is what my library looked like this school year.  The books are sorted by genre (the ones with the red tags).  There are also books sorted by reading level.  Students had book baggies with books they would read on their level, and change them out about once a week (the ones with the puppy tags).  Once I switched to sorting by basket in year five, I knew I needed a good system so books could be returned to the proper basket.  That was the reason I was hesitant to organize my library in this way... I was afraid that the books would be all over the place!  The leveled books have their letter in the corner on the cover.  The picture books have a label that matches the label on the basket.  Almost all of the time books were returned to their home.  I must say a system needs to be in place so they don't end up anywhere.  Next school year I plan on adding about ten more picture book baskets as I have more books that weren't out.  Needless to say I'll need another large shelf like the ones on the right side.

I ran out of shelves and baskets!  I had to use different ones and (gasp) three different baskets that don't match! LOL

I still have that pillow and bench.  Those have always been a big hit!

What a difference a few six years can make.  I LOVE reflecting on how I use to do things and compare to what I have evolved to today! 

Aloha, summer! {And classroom decor, too}

Aloha!  Even though it's summer, I've already come across decor I want to use next school year.  It's funny, I say next school year, but it's actually only a few months away.  I love having a nicely decorated classroom for many reasons.  One, I do spend lots of time in the room on a regular basis and want it to look nice.  Two, I've learned from reading through research that children enjoy and learn best in an aesthetically appealing environment.  This past year I had dog and cat decor and I liked it, but I felt like I wanted to change it up this coming year.  I am going with a Hawaiian/luau look.  I was inspired by schoolgirl style's theme.  You can read her amazing post here.  I have lots of bins in blue and green which will fit in nicely.  I have already bought most of the decor, and the best part is... wait for it.... I only spent about ten dollars so far!  Woo hoo!  I went to my local Dollar Tree and found these bulletin board goodies featured below.

There are 8 cutouts in this package.  I'll come up with a use for these!  Perhaps for the door or to add some flair on a bulletin board?

This little cutout is different than the one above.  It's larger and when connected stands about 5 feet tall.  Perfect for a reading corner!

Palm trees are a must in any beach themed room! 

 

This puts into perspective how large the flamingo is.  I love the Hawaiian lei!
 

What it looks like assembled.



The grass skirt would be perfect for the front of a desk!

Big tropical flowers!

These are cups I had found at the grocery store, which match the hibiscus cutouts I have.  I'm thinking I'll use them for sharp and dull pencils.

Lastly, my cat Buddy was wondering what I was doing!

So, what else will I do with this theme?  I'll probably buy some leis and use them to decorate bookshelves.  The combinations are endless!

Ka-chOO! Anyone have a tissUE?

It's pretty obvious the word patterns we were studying a few weeks ago, right?  When it was time to teach words with the ewwww sound (or o, oo, ew, ue, etc...) my teacher friend and I planned to read Farm Flu by Teresa Bateman (this book just so happened to have lots of ewwwww words, hince the choice). 

While reading, the kids pretended to say "ka-choo" every time they heard a word with the sound.  They even got to have a tissue in their hand.  I recorded the words on the tissue box chart and in the days following we did some independent work/center activities.  Needless to say, it was fun teaching the sound pattern in this way.  The kids were so smart to pick up on all the spelling patterns.  Did you know there's 8 ways to spell "ewwww?"  Hey, there might even be more!

I created some of the phonics activities below in a little pack called ka-choo!.  I am also working on a separate reading response pack for Farm Flu.

So, the days of school are down into the teen numbers.  Wow!  I can't believe it...this year has gone so quickly.  We will be busy up through the end!

Rhyming with The Hungry Thing

Have you read the Hungry Thing?  If not, I highly recommend it for K-1.  It is perfect for rhyming words.  In short, it is about a "thing" who is hungry, but can't correctly pronounce the food he wants.  For example, he says "shmancakes" when he really wants pancakes, "boup" for soup, etc.  The characters first all try to figure out what he wants, and then finally one of the characters always "gets it" at the end.  Here's how we broke it down:

Day One: Read for FUN! No activity tied to the book. This step can't be skipped.  

Day Two: Visualize what the characters thought the "thing" meant.  You have to see the book, but for an example, when he asked for "tickles" one of the characters mentioned it's curly tailed hot dogs in a row.  This book was GREAT to listen to that language and work on this strategy.

Day Three:  Listen for all the rhymes in the story, and then we recorded them after reading.  The kids loved joining in the story and it became shared reading.  We discussed spelling patterns among the word families. {ing also came up from "thing" and it would be a great time to introduce vowel y as a long e if your students need it!}

Day Four:  My ABSOLUTE favorite!  I brought out the "thing" and the kids fed him rhymes.  Instead of feeding him the real word, they had to generate a rhyme (real or nonsense).  This is because the "thing" in the story only ate the food he asked for, not the real word.

After day 4, the "thing" remains in my classroom library and is used often!

If you're still reading, you rock!  And if you don't have the book, what are you waiting for?  Go get it!  It's awesome!

~cutesycraftyteacher

Mother's Day Fun

I can't believe it's May!  Seriously this year has gone super fast.  Mother's Day is right around the corner too.  Back in March I decided that after 5 years of doing the same things with my first graders, I wanted to do something different this year with them.  This year we are making hand print poems, coupon books, and a book about our moms.  All of these activities are found in my Mother's Day Packet on TPT.  Tuesday-Thursday (May 7-9) it will be 20% off!  Squeeze in these activities while you can!

 

Click here to see this product

Enjoy teacher appreciation week!

~Cutesycraftyteacher

Measurement Fun

In my district, one of the last units of the year we teach is measurement.  In years past, it's focused on length, area, capacity, temperature, and time.  We usually compare lots of objects to each other  (Which object is shorter? Which object is longer?) before actually measuring.  This year I'll be using some activities I created called "Measure ME! (and you too!).  Students will trace each other (or I may use a traced drawing of me) and we'll measure length, width, and height with nonstandard units.  I also created an area and perimeter unit that I'll try to squeeze in as well.  It will be fun!  If you're interested, visit the freebie in my TPT shop.  I have the full product available as well!

The Measure ME! (and you too!) Bundle Click here to see the product

I also have the freebie!

The freebie is available for download in my TPT shop.  Click here to download

A new unit posted!

I've finally had time to make something new.  It's been months!  Here's my latest creation...

Click here to learn more!  Teachers pay Teachers

The first person to make a comment with their email will have it emailed to them!  All I ask is that you follow me in return in my TPT store and blog.

Cheesy Math Chants...

Academic vocabulary is big in my district (and I'm pretty sure elsewhere as well).  To help my kiddos learn some important words in math, I made up an addition and subtraction chant.  I must admit it's pretty catchy, and something I whipped up in my head one day on recess duty.

Addition:
When you add
The addends make the sum
part-part-whole
ADDITION SENTENCE!

Subtraction (said like a rap):
Hey, are you ready to go?
When you subtract
The answer is the difference!
Start with the whole and get the part-part!
SUBTRACTION SENTENCE!

I feel funny just typing this.  My hubby has been making fun of me.  Yes, these chants are silly, but they will help my students learn the language of math! OK, I'm off to begin much needed work on my comprehensive final!  Wish me luck! 

Getting the classroom ready...

This time of year is busy, exciting, and exhausting.  Did I say exhausting?  There are so many little details that go into getting the classroom ready.  Although I am not "officially" back at work, I am going in this week because I won't have all the time I need to get ready next week.  I am excited with the way my room is coming together.  It's the first year that many of my things (border, paper, bulletin boards, bins, etc.) coordinate.  My room has a mix of white, blues and greens (LIME! Love it!) and it feels calming.  As for a theme, I have cats and dogs.  You may be wondering how that goes with the color scheme, but let me tell you... it works!  I don't know how, but it does.  I didn't want to go the primary color route that would have worked well with cats and dogs too.   I am also realizing just how OCD I really am.  I actually took down part of a bulletin board because the border wasn't straight enough.  I also spent an hour tripling the border around my math wall!  Ugh!  I drive myself crazy.  Pictures will come soon.

Do you have a theme or color scheme, or both?

The Magic 5

I. Love. Magic. 5.  I created it while student teaching over 5 years ago, and it still works well for me.  I noticed my students were having a hard time listening on the carpet, so I came up with this one evening.  I keep it near the whole group carpet area and always say "I need to see magic 5."  Many kids will instantly show all 5 things.  Sometimes I'll have a little fun with them and say, "I only see magic 4 from some...I need to see 5 from everyone."  All the kiddos look around to see who it could be, while the ones that know who they are straighten up real fast.  I have another one I use when the kiddos are in their desks, but instead of criss-cross, the poster says sitting straight. I don't have a copy to post since I drew it myself, but there are lots of similar things out there in blogland.  Try it...you'll be amazed by the simplicity of it! :)

Birthday Graph

Birthdays are ALWAYS a topic of interest with children.  Here's how I display birthdays in my classroom:

I used to just write them down on a chart from a local teacher's store, but I switched to a "graph" two years ago.  It looks more appealing and lessons can even be taught with it.  One to one correspondence and teaching the terms more than or fewer than with comparisons are helpful with this graph.  I always keep a few blank cupcakes in my desk so I can quickly add that new student I'll likely get.  How do you display birthdays in your classroom?

Teaching with folktales

I love Fairy Tales.  I also like folktales, and The Three Billy Goats Gruff is one of my favorites.  Since my second year teaching, I've always done a 1-2 week unit with the story at the end of the year.  I created many of the ideas I still use a few years ago, and in the final week my students do a play (this year we did a simple puppet show).  I like teaching with this unit because you can do so much with it- character traits, cause and effect, theme, and develop fluency with the repeated phrases throughout.  In fact, I enjoy this unit so much that I created a 45 page companion to it for sale in my TpT store.

 Here is an example of one of the activities.  HA! The trolls are quite unpleasant looking!

 Click on the image below to see just SOME of the activities included with this fun mini-unit.

Have a great one!  Enjoy your summer!

Word Wall

Howdy! Happy Sunday!  A necessity in any primary classroom (or any grade level for that matter) is a word wall.  Here is a picture of the first word wall I made for the first year I taught back in '07-'08 (it's on the large white board in the back- sorry for the small size).

At the time, I thought it was great.  I had a teddy bear theme and a bear with each letter on the alphabet.  I evenly spaced out the bears and took my time with making it.  Each week I wrote words (HFW) with a dry erase marker to it.  Eventually, though this one became a problem for several reasons;
1) It was too large.
2) It was not in a good place, and I needed that board for other things.
3) The words would sometimes rub off (since it was dry erase).
4) It wasn't appealing to the kids.
Over the years, I've learned a thing or two to make word walls better.  Below is the word wall from my classroom this past year.

This word wall has worked out better for me since it's smaller, more appealing, and in a better location.  I also write the words on sentence strips and put those up rather than writing the words in marker.  This word wall is over a bulletin board and the paper extends onto my white board a foot or two.  It's also upfront and I can refer to it if I need to while teaching.  Next year my math wall will go here, so I'll have to find a new home for my word wall.  I never keep things the same two years in a row! :)

Another type of word wall I have in my classroom is a "word family" wall.  I keep word families up all year to help with spelling.  I don't have any pictures, but I'll post some when I have it up and running in September (it starts off slow and gets added to as the year goes by).

Teachers pay Teachers

Hi y'all!  Did you know I am a brand new seller on TPT?  I have a few little things up, and some freebies you might enjoy.  I have other ideas swirling around in my head, but between two grad. classes, a cake decorating class over the next month, and a new puppy coming home soon, I am one busy gal.  I can't wait until July; I'll have tons of free time then!

Check out my TPT store:  Cutesy Crafty Teacher's TPT store

Supplies, supplies, and more supplies...

Supplies... in a first grader's desk... yikes!  Now that it's summer, I am preparing for next school year here and there, and after five years of thinking I had the supply thing down, I am totally not feeling it after this year.  In my school, first graders get their own desk, and in it house all of their supplies: box (with pencils, crayons, scissors, glue), folder, journal(s), math book, reading book, handwriting book, and more.  This is a problem for various reasons:

1) They come straight from kinder from sitting at a table with very few supplies at their fingertips (maybe a supply box at most).

2) The little darlings can't keep their supplies neat- after all, it is a lot to keep up with as a six year old.

3) The little darlings simply can't keep their hands still.  Even the ones who ALWAYS listen get distracted from all the things in their desk.

4) Crayons, pencils, glue, and scissors 9 times out of 10 DO NOT end up in the supply box, but somewhere else in the desk or on the floor.

I don't know how many times my kids can't find their supplies because it's lost or because it's simply lost somewhere in their desk.  I am thinking for next year that the supply box in the desk has to go, and make everything communal.  A tub of crayons and pencils, and a tub of glue and scissors, all divided up by table groups.  Only the books and journals would be in the desks; nothing small.   I do think it's time for a change.  I've tried many different management strategies and the desk fairy visits often, but I can't find a system that works well for me.  How do you have your students keep their supplies organized?  I would love to hear your thoughts!

Math Stations

Hello!  It's been awhile, but I hope to be here from time to time.  I don't have much time between working all day and going to grad school.  I just wanted to share a little bit about math stations.  The way I use them over the past few years has evolved, but they are usually used daily after the whole group instruction and independent practice time.  I can pull up kids for reteach time as necessary while others go to their assigned station, for about 20 minutes.  It works pretty well.  I can also differentiate by assigning kids to different tubs.

Here is a picture of how they are organized.  They are labeled by color and number.  The activities are review from past units of study and current units as well.  A group of these stations lasts about three weeks (we don't always have time to do them every day).

On the side is the rotation chart.  I move the clips to the right one time at the end of each day.  It works well for me!  Kids can be partnered off according to needs or interests.

Cuteness at best... flower pens!

I'm sure you've seen flower pens, but have you seen them like this?  I first saw this idea many years ago, and decided to make some for my desk.  Here's the cute part: they are in a jar of magnetic letters.  Is that perfect for a teacher or what?  I *love* that detail.

If you want to make some here's what you need:

-Artifical flowers (about half a dozen)

-Pens

-Floral tape

-Hot glue

-Jar

-Magnetic letters to hold up the pens (or beans, but I love the letters!)

-Ribbon

Basically you wrap each flower around the pen with the tape, and secure the tape with a drop of hot glue.  Set them inside the jar with the letters or beans.  Viola!  They are easy to make and cute.  Did I mention how practical they are too?  Now when you have open house, people will never accidentially walk off with your pens.