First Grade Common Core

Wow!  Have you checked out this fantastic resource?  Everyone is blogging about it and how wonderful it is.
Manna from heaven in this day of common core.  We teachers are desperate for activities and worksheets that correlate to the common core standards and this book has it all!  Can you imagine over 500....yes FIVE HUNDRED pages of worksheets and activities all done for you.  Think of the hours of work, searching, and creating it will save you.  It is definitely worth every dollar!!  So First Grade Common Core can be your Halloween Trick or Treat to yourself this year.

And they give away FREE common core posters on their website!

Pumpkin Jack by Will Hubble
Wow!  It has been 5 months since I posted.  During that time I have painted my kitchen cupboards with Rustoleum's Transformation Kit.  I love the new bright look.  We went out to Montana and toured my home stomping grounds from first grade and my one room school house is still in operation though it has doubled in size.
How exciting it was to peek in the windows and see the very coat racks that I hung my coat on umpteen years ago!!  And, of course, we could not leave with out touring the ever-fascinating somewhat alien landforms of Yellowstone National Park.

Now it is back to school.  Here is our latest book.....getting ready for all things pumpkin.  If you would like the activities and worksheets  I created just send me an email and I will email the file to you.
 
 Pumpkin Jack by Will Hubble
    1.  Person/Character Chart
    2.  Story Elements with Pumpkin G.O.
    3.  Beginning, Middle, End G.O.
    4.  Context Clues
    5.   Summarizing with a Web

I brought a pumpkin into school last week and that sure raised the interest and excitement level of those little cherubs.  What a great time of year this is.

Hogwash

What an entertaining book that is bound to cause some giggles in your classroom!!  I can't wait to read it to my students.  First, I am going to create some  activities to go with it.


The pictures are so funny..those pigs have personality!
The first thing I have done is create some retelling story props.  Email me if you would like a copy of those pictures and I will send you one.  It is only 3 pages but google docs says it is too big.....frustration plus.

Here is a great site to go to for many free 
downloadable printables on this book!!






Here is Karma Wilson's review of her book:

Summary of Hogwash (by Karma Wilson)    

One warm day in early May,

Farmer had a plan

To spring-clean all his animals

Till each was spic ‘n’ span.

Sounds like a good plan, right?  It is for all the animals…except the pigs.  They board up their pen and will not let the Farmer in.  Instead, they write him a message using mud:

No hogwash

For us today.

Pigs love dirt—

So go away!

Farmer is not willing to give up so easily though. He decides to spray water through an opening, thinking he is going to give them a shower.  The pigs have a blast---hamming it up and play mud-ball war.   Farmer stomps his feet and yells.  The pigs respond with another mud-inked sign:

Keep your soap

And bucket, Bud.

Thanks for

Making all

This mud! 

This battle and banter goes on for a while until the Farmer wins…in an unexpected and comic fashion.

Mmmm...does this picture make you wish for summer?   It does for me.  But what it is really for is the short o sound.  Our themes will be "pop, dot, dog, fox, and hop".  I started with pop because it seems like a fun word.   I cannot find any books (except Hop on Pop) to go with it so I made a booklet up to show the students all the different kinds of pops.  Here it is if you would like to use it.  We will add more as the week 

goes on.  Perhaps we can do something with Pop goes the weasel.  

Black Bear Cub and short U medial sound

Easter Vacation is drawing to a close.  So after watching the Yankees and Baltimore Orioles in a three game series (did you know Baltimore is a little chilly in April?  Brrr!)  we are back home doing the necessary yard work.

Meanwhile we are concentrating on the short u sound in the medial position with Mud, Bugs, and Cubs.   Here are some things we made up that we will gladly email to you:
I Like Mud writing response
Stuck in Mud
Mud Splat sort
Bugs Before and After
Bug Booklet
Ugh! A Bug Writing Response
Number Words and Bugs
A cub Booklet with 2 activities

So, let's go have fun with that u sound.

 Here is a sample worksheet.

New Site

Here is a site that has books and cutouts for retelling the stories.  Thank you for all your hard work and generous spirit, Kindergarten Nana!

http://dbsenk.wordpress.com/

Short U Medial

This week with our kindergartners we are concentrating on the short u medial sound.
We like to open the week on Monday with a mystery box.  This week in our mystery box will be a cup of dirt, a small plastic jar of water, a spoon, and a letter from mother hen whose little chick got stuck in the mud....or did she?.  


Click here for our first mud splat sort.


The book we are using is Stuck in Mud.