New Strategy and Thanksgiving Crafts

So, I found this new strategy from Falling Into First called "Hand, Pair, Share".  I thought I would give it a try this past week with my students. Can I tell you that it was absolutely perfect and they asked me to do it everyday.

Here's how I used the strategy in my classroom. I handed out whiteboards, socks, and dry erase markers to my students. I had all of them seated on the carpet. I wrote a sight word on my whiteboard easel.

Then, I turned the easel around and my students had to write a sentence using that sight word onto their whiteboards. I slowly counted down from 10. When I got to 1, they had to be finished writing their sentence and put their dry erase marker inside their sock. Once I reached 1, they had to stand and find a partner by placing their hand to their partners.

 

 

This time I counted down from 5. Once, they were partnered they took turns reading their sentence. After they read their sentence, they would sit down on the carpet and I would repeat with a different sight word. The next time they partnered up, they could not be with the same partner they were with before. I have 20 students in my class so, they were easily paired up, but I did have a student leave for speech in the middle of this activity. I simply inserted myself into the process and one student got to read their sentence to me. They loved that! Here they are working on their sentences.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also did this activity in Math with addition. I wrote a sum on the board and they had to write an addition sentence.

Check out Falling Into First to see how she implemented the strategy into her classroom.

This past week we have been working on gifts for our parents for Thanksgiving. We made handprint turkeys on pot holders. I got the pot holders 2 for $1 at Dollar Tree. We then used fabric paint to make the turkeys. I wanted to use paint that would be fine if they chose to wash them at any time.

 

 



Of course, we needed a cute gift bag to place them in so, we made these adorable turkey bags.

 

I love the off center eyes on this one. The tissue paper looks like feathers. I am in LOVE with how these turned out. SO ADORABLE! What do you think?

 

I shared with you earlier this week my new Turkey Lurkey Craftivity. Here are the ones that my students made.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love how they turned out. Super cute! You can find the craftivity by clicking below.

 

 

 

Well, I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend and those of you who are starting their Thanksgiving Break are enjoying it. 

 

 



On Top of Spaghetti All Covered with Sounds

On Top of Spaghetti All Covered with Cheese, I lost my poor meatball when somebody...Oh, boy! Can you tell I had that song stuck in my head when I created this new fun literacy activity for my students. My daughter was walking around the house singing this song and I just couldn't get it out of my head. Well, it got me thinking and that sometimes is a bad thing. Ha! I started searching for spaghetti clip art and came across a cute set from Scrappin Doodles. I ended up creating 2 different editions for my students. A made a Beginning Sounds Edition and a Rhyming Edition. Can I tell you that these were a hit with my students? They loved doing the activity and practicing there sounds. Here are some of my little cuties working on the Beginning Sound Edition.

 

 

 

 

 



It's a very simple activity to set up. All you need is the activity set, a colander (I purchased mine at Dollar Tree), and yellow yarn to represent the spaghetti. I place the spaghetti, meatball calling cards, and spaghetti plates in the envelope for easy storage. The students take out the spaghetti and meatball calling cards and place them into the colander. Then, they choose a spaghetti place mat out of the envelope and get ready to play. Each student takes turns taking a meatball from the colander. They read the letter on the meatball calling card. If they have a picture on their card that has the same beginning sound, they place the letter meatball onto their card. If they do not, they place the meatball back into the colander. Each student takes turns until one student has their card filled. The activity is the same for the Rhyming Edition except the meatball calling cards have pictures on the cards. My cuties LOVED this activity.

 

You can find my On Top of Spaghetti Activities by clicking below:

 

 

 

 

 

So this week, we will be learning about Thanksgiving. I love all the fun activities we get to do at this time of year. How about you all? Here's a little preview of a Turkey Craftivity that we will be doing this week.

 

 

I can't wait so see my students versions. I'll post pictures of them later this week.

 

 

 

I also want to introduce everyone to Dayna, who is a first year teacher at my school and has just started her journey on TPT. This is a freebie that she created to use in her classroom and is now offering it in her store for everyone. Enjoy!

 

 

Make sure to follow me on Facebook. I'll be offering Flash Freebies very soon!

 

 



Apples, Apples, Everywhere- Part 2

Well, I can say it has been an eventful week so far. How about for all of you?

I'm finally getting the chance to finish my post about our Apple Unit. I last left off, we worked on Adjectives for Apples and using them in a sentence. During the week, we also worked on "How To" writing. We made crockpot applesauce and made a "How To" book on the process. I sat all the students down on the carpet and we took turns adding in the ingredients. Silly me, forgot to take pictures of them adding in all the ingredients so I only got the end picture.

Here is the recipe in case you want to make it.

Ingredients:

10 apples peeled, cored, and cut into pieces

1 tablespoon Ground Cinnamon

1 cup Sugar

1 cup of water

 

Directions:

1. Place apples into crockpot.

2. Sprinkle on sugar.

3. Sprinkle on ground cinnamon.

4. Add 1 cup of water.

5. Cook on high for 4-6 hours.

 

My room smelled heavenly while this cooked all day. After putting the ingredients in we started our "How to" book. It took us three days to complete. we added a little each day. The first day, we completed the cover, ingredients page, and the first two direction pages. Here is what the book looked like. throughout the week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the end of the day, I served the applesauce to them. Many of them decided they didn't want it at first but then when they saw the others eating it, they changed their minds. I got many compliments. "This is soooo good." "Your the best cook in the world." Haha! Got to love them. Many of them said they liked this applesauce better than the store bought.

 

Now on to the centers for the week. Here is just a sampling of some of the centers we did.

Label It: Apples

We completed this together in whole group, but the students had to reference it at centers and complete their own. The copy they had also has a word bank.

 

Pocket Chart Sentences:

My students had to work with partners to create sentences in the pocket chart then record them onto their recording sheet. (I model it at the beginning of the week and this is always a big hit with them.)

 

 

Apple Sentence Scramble:

My students take a set of cards and match the pictures together. Then they must unscramble the cards to make a sentence for each set.

 

I also had Write the Room, Apple Life Cycle Sequencing, Applelicious Rhymes for literacy centers and several Math Centers such as, Roll and Cover (greater than version), Apple Patterning, and Bushels of Apples- Missing Numbers.

 

 

 

 

 

For some reason, these pictures got deleted from my phone when I did an update so I don't have many pictures of them. : (

 

We also made this cute Apple Tree Craft with their handprints. I LOVE how they turned out. Super Cute!

Here is my Apple Unit with the activities above, except the craft.

 

Have a good day everyone! Comment and let me know what you think. I will choose one lucky person who leaves a comment to get the unit free. Comment by Sunday, September 29th.