Giving Thanks

November 17, 2017

Aw, yeah!! It's finally THANKSGIVING BREAK! I always feel a little guilty saying this. I truly LOVE teaching and seeing my students every day! They make me laugh & just make my day.  This year has been incredibly busy as I am working on getting my National Board certification as well as holding many leadership roles at my campus & of course have a life out side of work...so I am really excited to have the TIME to get check off many things that are on my to-do list so I can remain present with my students when I get back!

When things get crazy and our emotions get the best of us it's then that we must remember what we are truly thankful for.  There are so many things to be thankful for!

Originally, I wanted to make wreaths with my students and so I made the example above and everything; but then decided that since the first graders had already done the Thankful place mats, that it was too much of the same thing.

THEN I decided that I wanted my students to think a little deeper about what they were thankful for. So, instead of making the wreaths this year (although I plan to make them next year instead of the place mats), the students made turkey bags!


I made a template that they could follow and an example but honestly, I forgot to make copies of all the templates. Well, that was the best thing ever because it forced me to allow the students to make it however they wanted! Which was a WAY better idea that them all making the exact same thing.

Then, the students wrote about what they were thankful for and why.  They then put the thankful notes in their bags. They also had to fill out a thankful pilgrim hat for each of their table mates (they wrote their name on the backs of those hats so the recipient child would know who it was from). But instead of putting those hats in their bag, they put them in the bag of the child they wrote about!

My dream would be that the students all open the bag with their families sometime during Thanksgiving dinner and read to their families what they wrote down that they were thankful for. I just think that would be such a wonderful experience for everyone involved!
Andrea Sign

Turkey Tuesday!

November 14, 2017
One of my favorite things is all of the turkey fun that happens during the days before Thanksgiving.



They remind me of the turkeys that are around in the Texas Hill Country during Thanksgiving, where I often celebrated Thanksgiving growing up. 


Above is a #throwback turkey activity that I put on my classroom door my first year that I taught. The students thought about something they were thankful for and wrote it on a feather. 

My 2nd or 3rd year teaching, a sweet student of mine introduced me to Albuquerque Turkey (the book). Everyone in the classroom fell in love with the song and we've been singing it in room 111 all turkey season long! 
We also had some fun hearing and sharing our own Turkey themed jokes throughout the day. 

Here are some fun Turkey projects we did this year...

These thankful turkeys were a great google search and are super cute. 
We read some wonderful turkey themed books! 

After reading some of our favorite books, we decided to disguise the turkeys so they wouldn't be eaten! Note to self: since I can never remember where I get the templates...This year I got the template here. Last year I got the template here.

This one is one of my favorite kid writing pieces from the year! It has made me laugh all day!  



The first graders made text-to-text connections.

We did these ADORABLE turkey directed drawings! 
Side notes: I was super bummed when something fell on the artwork right in the middle of the turkey body :/


Finally, one of my favorite activities that my first graders make are these turkey place mats. They turn out so great each year. In the past, I've always used painted handprints but think these are super cute & less messy too! 

Andrea Sign

Quick Thanksgiving Themed Activities For First Graders

November 13, 2017
We had a couple of random times today for some short Thanksgiving themed activities.


The first graders practiced their fine motor skills by cutting out these words & gluing them in a ABC order. Then they drew illustrations that matched the words.

Then, I needed some math/Thanksgiving activities and these ones I found were perfectly thematic, quick, & super easy to prep!! 


I didn't have the students roll the dice though or use the bingo dots. They just came up with an addition fact that equals 10 & then colored in one of the numbers in the 10 frame & used the cut outs for the other number.


Andrea Sign

All About The Pilgrims & The Wampanoags

November 11, 2017
November has been flying by! I cannot believe that there is only one more week until Thanksgiving Break! 

 There's been a lot of little things popping up into our school schedule that I've been reverting to a "we will get to this lesson when we get to it" mentality more than usual. Usually I teach Pilgrims & Wampanoags in one week...this year it's taking about 2 weeks to fit it all in with scheduling!

We started our unit on Pilgrims by learning all about who the pilgrims were and what life was like on the Mayflower. This is a big research unit for my first graders. 

 To start learning about the pilgrims, I have the students act out what happened. I have some be the separatists/Pilgrims, one be the king, one be the businessmen who funded the Pilgrims journey.


Then, my Mayflower activities have always been a hit, so we did those same activities this year.


After the students make their chests, they watch about 5 minutes of Charlie Brown's voyage. After about 5 minutes, we pause the video and as a class we research more about what the Mayflower was like by reading this book. 


Basically, I read some more pages of the Mayflower book and then the first graders write about it in their own Mayflower books and then continue watching a little more of the video. 


Once they completed their books we talked about how in order to get off the Mayflower the Pilgrims need a smaller boat called a shallop because the water was too shallow. This boat also helped them explore different locations until they settled at Plymouth. We didn't have too much time this day so I had my students work on these shallop puzzles. 

I don't use too many videos in my instruction because I think that real life practicing is more efficient. My first graders do love going on their Mayflower journey with Charlie Brown. I pause the video frequently. When Charlie Brown & his friends are about to get off the Mayflower, I pause the video & my first graders must complete the "Life Of A Pilgrim" activities before we can continue on (and finish) the journey with Charlie Brown. 


Then, we continue learning about life in the New World by reading all about Squanto & the Wampanoag Native American tribe. After we read each section of the book, the students think about 1-2 facts they learned and they write it in their All About The Wampanoag booklets. The students are still working on these books and learning about the Wampanoags.
Andrea Sign

Happy Halloween!

October 31, 2017
  
Happy Halloween! 
How adorable is this sign that one of my homeroom parents made me a few years ago?! I absolutely LOVE putting it out each year!

  
Today was Crazy Hat Day at our school. I thought it would be so fun to make our own hats for the day! I googled "newspaper hats" on youtube & found so many great tutorials. My students were so creative! I loved all the hats that they made & how they showed their individual style as they created them. The parents seemed super happy too. Many said they were glad they didn't have to have finding a crazy hat on their plate with all of the other Halloween stuff going on.

This morning we had a class halloween breakfast. My homeroom parent came with so many great activities for the students to do! They are probably pinterest finds. 
  




 Monster Pencil Toppers
        
 
Roll A Monster 

These adorable Jack-O-Lantern decorations!


These ghost lanterns were so fun! The kids had such great ideas of what to do with them - some said they were going to put them in their jack-o-lanterns, some said they were going to use them as night lights in their room!

They also made a super cute spider & a web but I forgot to take a photo of it. :/
The rest of the day was filled with pumpkin fun! 

         

At the end of the day, it was time for me to take down my October classroom decor. I am "batty" for Octobers decor! 

Here's to a great Halloween!
Andrea Sign

Pumpkin Palooza!

October 31, 2017
It's a Pumpkin Party!


Today was filled with so much pumpkin fun!


We started out by reading all about pumpkins! 


 Then we spent time measuring how tall our pumpkin was, finding out it if would float or sink, measuring how wide it was, how many seeds were in it, and more! Unfortunately, we were so busy I forgot to take pictures! 


After reading, we talked about the pumpkin life cycle and created our own mini pumpkin life cycle booklet. 


We learned sequencing terms and did this pumpkin craftivitiy. 

Finally, we planted a pumpkin and are going to spend the next few weeks observing the life cycle of a pumpkin! We planted some seeds into a pumpkin and others into cups for each of the children. The pictures I took didn't turn out. I hope our pumpkins turn out as well as the one in the picture above!  

 We also made a pumpkin volcano which the students thought was so fun to watch! 
Andrea Sign

Around The World in One School Year!

October 30, 2017
During the year, I host an after school club. It is one of my favorite things that I do with my students. During this club we focus on one country each month. Last month, it was England. This month it is France.

This month we've been doing the same activities as last year. I've also added some new activities and twists on past ones.

I don't have any tissue paper readily available this year so we made these flags.
Next, I wanted to do something for the students to remember the lavender fields. So we made these cute lavender flowers.

                                        
We also went on a scavenger hunt around the school for Eiffel Towers, learned many different French words, and made our own nutella & banana crepes! 
Andrea Sign