Three Activities for Teaching Earth Day in First Grade and a Free Earth Day Book

Earth Day Activities for First Grade

I LOVE April! The weather is beginning to warm, and the flowers are starting to bloom. It's the Goldilocks month- not too hot, not too cold...but JUST RIGHT! It really is such a great month to teach about how awesome our Earth is and ways we can take care of it. I hope these Earth Day activities for first grade will help you plan some quick and easy lessons this month.

Activity 1- Reduce

1. The word reduce is likely a new word for many of your students. Start by teaching kids that the word "reduce" means to use less of something. Water is a great item to teach students about using less of it, electricity is also a good option.
2. Brainstorm with kids all of the ways they use water. Write down their ideas as they share them. They might think of drinking, bathing, washing clothes or dishes, watering grass, swimming. 
3. Next, talk about "why". Why should we use less water? Many students have probably never thought about using less water. We turn on the tap and water magically comes out!
4. Last, have students think of ways to use less water. Again, you may want to write down their ideas as they share them. Some simple ideas for first graders to grasp are: turning off the water while they brush their teeth and making sure they shut the tap completely off when they are finished washing. This is a great prompt for students to write about in their journals.
   

Want some ready to go activities for teaching Earth Day?  I have written mini-books to help teach these topics to your students.

Activity 2- Reuse

1. Bring some reusable and nonreusable items into your classrooms such as disposable and reusable water bottles, plastic and reusable grocery bags, paper towels and dishcloths, regular and paper plates. 
2. Show the "pairs" of items to your class one at a time. Ask what happens when you finish using the items. Help students see that some items get used once and then thrown away (or recycled) while others can be used again and again!
3. Last have students get creative! Show items such as a cardboard box or glass jar and have them write about ways they could reuse one of the items.

Want a craft project to go along with this lesson?  Check out this fun reuse-it craft project!

Activity 3- Recycle

1. Consider reading a book such as The Adventures of a Plastic Bottle: A Story About Recycling by Alison Inches. 
2. Bring a variety of items (recyclables and non-recyclables) into your classroom. Some good non-recyclable items include styrofoam, fast food cups and packaging, used pizza boxes, and plastic utensils.
3. Go through the items together the first time and sort them into two groups: recyclables & trash.
4. Talk about how the non-recyclable items will go to the landfill.
5. Now sort the recyclable items into categories: glass, cans, plastics, and cardboard/paper.
6. Since you have learned all three R's, today is a good day to talk about which one is better? While recycling is good, we want students to begin to grasp that reducing and reusing is even better!

Try one of the Earth Day books for free here.

Ten More and Ten Less: Hands on Activities for First Grade

Ten More and Ten Less

Teaching ten more and ten less is a lot of fun in first grade!  There are so many fun, hands-on activities you can do with your students to work on this place value skill. 

There are a variety of skills students need to be successful with this standard:

• Can students orally count on from a given number?
• Do students have good number sense? Can they easily compare and order numbers?
• Do they understand our base-ten number system?

If not, you may need to do some pre-teaching before they are ready to mentally find 10 more and 10 less than a given number. These activities can help you build these skills.

Hands-On Activities

Use cubes to count on. Start with a given number and touch or push cubes as students count on ten more. Once students can count on ten, then work on counting back ten. You could use a simple ten frame to do this activity- or you can make it more enticing with these fun snail mail mats!

We know that students love variety, and many students learn in different ways! Cubes and fingers are another way to practice in a hands-on concrete way.

Once students can orally count on and back ten, then work on writing the numerals. This is a great way to continue building number sense. Number lines are a great way to practice. You can use a simple number line or spice it up with math mats to make it feel like a game!

After students have mastered the skill of orally counting on ten less and ten more and can write the numerals then they are ready to dive deeper into place value understandings.  

Here are some of my favorite activities:

Use Place Value Blocks

Students build a two-digit number with place value blocks. They add another "ten" to make ten more. Then they take away a "ten" to show ten less. You can use a simple two-column place value mat, or these pails are super fun!

Use a 100 or 120 Chart

I love that "aha moment" when first graders realize they can use a 100 or 120 chart and go up and down a row to find ten more and ten less! Be sure to talk with your students about why this works and how it relates to our number system. This mat is perfect for using a math link to "circle" the numbers.

Mentally Finding 10 More and Ten Less

Now that you have spent a good amount of time building students' place value understanding, most students will be ready to mentally find ten more and ten less. This is the math standard students are expected to master in first grade.

I love that this mat connects the idea of addition and subtraction to the skill. Children place a number card in the middle and then they write the ten less and ten more numbers. Students shouldn't need to "count" our goal now is automaticity. You can download a free black and white version of this mat and number cards here.

Task cards are a great way to fluency! This set comes with three sets of cards and recording sheets for three different activities to practice ten more and ten less: Scoot, Write the Room, and a Math Station. Your students will love these games!

Your students will love using these hero number mats at a center. The starting number is written in the middle and students write the ten less and ten more numbers. This is also a great small group activity.

Kids always love to play Bingo! This is another great way to work on fluency for the skill of 10 more and 10 less. It is perfect for use in small groups, or at centers.  

Want to learn more about this set?  Click here.

Check out more of my first-grade hands-on math units:

Six Tips for Successful First Grade Math Centers

Six Tips for First Grade Math Centers

We want students to be able to work independently at their first-grade math centers. This allows the teacher time to be able to work with small groups or individual students and meet a variety of needs within the classroom. Here are six of my best tips for successful first-grade math centers.  

#1- Math Centers should be fun

Math centers need to be fun and engaging for your students. Look for ways you can provide opportunities for students to move and interact with others during the activities. Write the Room is a favorite center activity that allows students to move around the classroom. 

Partner or small group games are also great! You will want to think through your level of comfort with students moving around the room and working with others. Take the time to train your students to work at an appropriate volume level for your classroom.

#2- Keep your centers predictable

One of the easiest ways to encourage independent work at centers is to keep the format of the activities similar from week to week. This helps students know how to use the center and reduces the number of questions your students will have. It will also cut down on the amount of time you spend explaining centers each week. You can easily change the skill you are working on while keep the activity the same. Activities like dice games, memory, and task cards work great for centers and can be used a lot of different ways.

Kids love playing memory!  This set is available as a free download in my TPT store.

# 3- Use math centers for review

Centers are the perfect place to practice and refine past learned skills. It's okay to place items in centers that seem "easy" or were taught several months ago. This increases the opportunity for students to work independently and gain fluency in their math skills. 

Avoid placing new content into math centers too quickly. Your students may have too many questions, or they may practice the skill incorrectly if the content isn't review work. You want to know your students have a strong understanding of the math concept before they are working without your guidance or support.

# 4- Students need accountability

We want centers to be fun AND we want students to stay focused on the task. Without something to turn in, some students will not be on task. One option is to include some type of recording sheet or exit ticket for students to complete with their center activity. It isn't usually necessary to grade these tasks, but it allows you to track that your students were engaged and on task. A sticker or stamp for completion of the task works great for accountability.

Recording sheets work great for student accountability!

#5- Utilize Technology

Classrooms today are full of technology and digital resources. Utilize the resources you used during remote learning and repurpose them for digital math centers. Platforms like Google, Seesaw, and Boom Cards make great first grade math centers.

Digital activity for practicing ten more and ten less from my digital place value bundle.

Students love digital activities that incorporate moveable pieces!

#6- Stay Organized

One of the most challenging aspects of math centers is keeping your supplies organized and picked up.  Develop an organizational system of containers, labels, etc. and train your students well on how you want them to clean up. Allow plenty of time for students to clean up centers correctly and put supplies away. Take the time to teach and practice clean-up procedures. Check out this blog post for ideas on staying organized.

Need some easy to use first grade math centers? Check out this bundle that works great for memory, write the room, and task cards. 

 

Polar Bears Reading Comprehension

Polar Bears Reading Comprehension {and Freebie}

First graders love learning about polar bears!  It is always a fun topic to teach during the winter months.

Using paired fiction and nonfiction texts is a great way to learn about polar bears because there are SO many opportunities for teaching your core English Language Arts Standards. 

I paired the read-aloud books The Snowy Day by Jan Brett and National Geographic Kids: Polar Bears by Laura Marsh for this resource.  

You can check out my other Winter Paired Text set here.

The Three Snow Bears is wonderful for teaching the skills of sequencing key details, studying characters and their traits, comparing and contrasting texts with Goldilocks and the Three Bears, and opinion writing.

The nonfiction text about polar bears provides opportunities to teach finding key details, close studying the text feature of a diagram, learning how glossaries work, and writing informative pieces. 

Informative Standards

Using a graphic organizer is the perfect way for students to find and record key details. This graphic organizer helps them focus on one topic at a time: polar bear bodies, food, environment, and cubs.

Main idea and detail is a tricky topic that students need a LOT of practice with!  This sheet scaffolds their learning by providing the main idea- students then add some related details.  A version without the main idea already listed is also included.

Kids will study a diagram of the polar bear paw.  Then they make their own diagram.  

Students will write a 5-sentence informative paragraph about polar bears.  This version provides a topic and closing sentence to support emergent learners.  A version for students to write all 5 sentences is also included. 

Free download: Click here to download the writing page.

Your class will learn how the text feature of a glossary works.  They will also also create their own picture glossary with the vocabulary words.

Literature Standards

After listening to The Three Snow Bears by Jan Brett students will work together to sequence key details from the text.

Students will focus on character traits and search for text evidence of each trait.  Versions with and without character traits listed are included for easy differentiation.

The Three Snow Bears is the perfect text to compare and contrast with a more traditional version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.  Cut and glue pieces are included, or students can fill in their own ideas.

Students will write a 5-sentence opinion piece about which story is their favorite!  

You will love all of the options for easy differentiation!  Many more ideas included.

Detailed lesson plans aligned to Common Core State Standards are included!

You can click here to learn more about this polar bears reading comprehension resource.

 

Christmas Countdown: A Fun Way to Keep Your Students Learning!

December is one of the most fun- and most challenging- months of the year!  There are so many great activities to do- but the KIDS are so excited that it is hard to keep them focused and working hard!  This Christmas Countdown is a great way to take advantage of every opportunity to keep students learning.  

I am a firm believer in positive reinforcement!  So, I came up with this fun idea for a whole class behavior incentive for December using a Christmas Countdown themed punchboard.  

How to Create a Christmas Countdown Punchboard:

The board is easy to make with a few basic supplies: foam board, disposable cups, tissue paper, rubber bands, a glue stick, and a hot glue gun. Add a cute heading and some clipart at the top using glue stick. Then, hot glue the cups to the board.

Next, fill the cups with reward slips for the students to earn.

Glue the circle pictures to the top of green tissue paper and then rubber band the paper around the cups. Be sure the reward slip and the top picture match!

Now the board can be displayed and your students can start earning the rewards!  There is a different reward for each cup- enough for at least 12 days.

Work on one reward cup at a time. Each student receives their own page to color in with the matching picture. When the whole-class exhibits great behavior, they all earn a coloring clue!  

I recommend using a cute Christmas themed box to store the clues.  You can read the clues out loud to your class, or choose a student to read it to them. You can reward any behavior that is important to you.  

Some behavior ideas might include:

• listening carefully to teacher directions
• working without distractions
• walking quietly in the hallway
• lining up quickly and appropriately

When they color an entire picture (the clue box is empty for that picture), then they get to open the matching punch box cup and reveal the class reward!  Once students have enjoyed the reward, you can begin working on the next cup. Your students will love making memories with this project, and you will love how it keeps them focused! 

Want to learn more about this Christmas countdown resource?  You can check it out in my TPT store!