Telling Time

We have been working SO hard this week learning to tell time.  Those half-hour times are super tricky!  We had so much fun asking our friends "What time is it?"  Then we showed each other our watches and recorded everyone's times.  My favorite part of this activity...we played it several days in a row!  All we had to do was wear a different watch and it was like a whole new game.

Click here to check out the watches in my TPT store.

Contractions

Have you ever noticed how sometimes the simplest activities are the best?  A few weeks ago we were studying some of the most common contractions.  We had been using some of our Words Their Way activities to sort and notice patterns in the contractions.

By Friday I could tell the students were ready for something a little fun and low-key.  I grabbed some index cards from my desk, and my bag of elbow macaroni from my cabinet.  {Seriously, elbow macaroni is the best.  We have also used them to learn quotation marks, and commas in a series. They provide a great hands-on experience that the students will remember.}

I had students use their word cards from the week to write the contractions with pencil.  Then they glued a piece of elbow macaroni for the apostrophe.  Last they traced their words with a marker. They really enjoyed the activity.  If I did it again, I would also have students write the two words of the contractions on the other side of the cards.

This would make a great center too!

Thanksgiving Week

This week we only have school Monday and Tuesday.  I am definitely ready for the break!  Since we only have two days we won't be using our normal ELA curriculum, and that frees up a little time for some seasonal activities.


We are going to read my favorite Thanksgiving story A Turkey for Thanksgiving by Eve Bunting.  If you haven't read it before, it is a super cute book.  Mrs. Moose wants to have a turkey for Thanksgiving.  She sends Mr. Moose out to find a turkey, which he drags to their house.  The surprise ending is that Mrs. Moose wants turkey to be a guest, not dinner!

After we read we are going to make a flap-book to retell the story.

We are also going to read All About Turkeys by Jim Arnosky.  I love pairing fiction and nonfiction titles on the same topic.  After reading students are going to web four new facts they learned about turkeys.

I also created a fact family practice sheet to go with our theme this week.

You can click on any of the pictures to head over to my TPT store and pick up this free download.

Solar Smores

Last week we completed one of our favorite projects of the year...Solar Smores.  It is a great introduction to our solar energy unit.  The solar cooker is easy to make.  Start with a couple of copy paper lids.  Line them with foil. Place one graham cracker, chocolate, and marshmallow in the cooker per child (you can fit about nine in a box).  Cover the top of the box with cling wrap.  Tape well around the edges to seal the cling wrap.  Set the cooker in a sunny spot.  They only take about 15-20 minutes to make, depending how hot the day is.  Be careful, the chocolate gets very hot!  Then top with the second graham cracker and enjoy. You can also make individual boxes with old shoe boxes, if you prefer.

It is a great project to teach kids that the sun give us heat.  We talk about how the aluminum foil absorbs the sunlight and how the cling wrap traps the heat.

The day after the project I had the students write about the steps to make Solar Smores.  Click on the picture to get the freebie.  

Math Stations

Today I wanted to share my new lesson form I am going to use for math this year.  My math block includes 40 minutes of a whole group math lesson and 20 minutes of small group intervention and enrichment.  This year for my intervention/enrichment time I am going to try math stations.  My plan is to have five math stations.  This way students will visit one station each day and I will only have to change the stations once a week.  One of the math stations will be the computer component that goes with our district math program.  Then while students are working at their math stations I will have time to meet with students in small groups for intervention and enrichment work.

 

Click here to download

 

I am going to copy the form front to back.  On the front side of the form  I will list my daily math lessons in the long boxes and my math stations for the week in the left column.  Then on the back side of the form I will plan for my small group interventions, students for intervention, and notes on their progress.  I hope you find this form helpful!