Apple Unit

And finally the L part of our KWL. All week we read books about apples and think if there is new information to add to the apple. Interesting to know that an apple tree will start producing apples when it is between 5 and 8 years old--just like our little first graders--not that they will begin producing apples anytime soon, though.
The bottom of the apple is the 'eye', in the middle of the 'tips.' Fun.

Apple Unit

Here is the W part of the KWL activity. "Why do apples have tips?" Caught us all off guard and needed some explanation. The bottom of the apple has tips and the top is more smooth. Oh...

Apple Unit

Crazy sideways picture! So we did this little KWL to start our Apple Unit. It's nice to do an activity where the kids are learning, but it's also nice when the activity makes the teacher laugh the whole time, because of their responses. Win, win. They were so intense about the apples not having a stem--or leaves--especially those from the store. One girl said that apples could be poisonous--also got a lot of response from the class. So true, though. "Ya, but only if a person does it to the apple."

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

The first day of school, I always do this activity with the kids in the afternoon. A full day is just a little bit too long for most of them, so this takes their mind off of school and gives me an opportunity to just observe their different personalities and skills. I also get a feel for those who need immediate help with letter recognition or their own name recognition. I just dump all the letters on the back table and the kids have to find their own letters for their names. I'm running low on letters, so I always count all the letters from my class list and count out all the letters, so I know there will be enough. Makes a cute bulletin board to start the year off.

Birthday Chart

Yes, another copy from _____. I have to figure out how to link things to the original idea. I used to have the clown holding balloons with the students' names and the number of their birthday, but this is so much more fun! I have two copies of the pictures--wallet size from Wal-Mart. On the class calendar, I tape their picture in the square of their birthday. I'll have to post another picture of the calendar in action. When the month is over, they get to take that picture home. My two favorite color combos lately are aqua and red, so it is pretty much everywhere this year. I need to update the picture, because now I have 2 more September birthdays. We had birthday treats every Friday the whole month.

Apple Graph

In this apple center, the students roll the dice and put that many apples in the first column--of the ice cube tray. Yes, I found the ice-cube trays at Target and then when I got the apples out of the Lakeshore math center, I was so excited to see that they fit the ice-cube tray perfectly. Why did I buy the ice-cube trays in the first place you ask? Well, originally, I bought them so the kids could use the tweezers and practice putting beads in the trays by color and taking them out for their fine motor skills. Since then, I have found other trays that have smaller holes in them for that. Anyway, you get the idea for the center: make a bar graph, record the tally marks, and write the color words of the most/least apples.

Wormy Apples and Fine Motor Skills

It seems like my students' handwriting is getting worse as the years go by, so this year, we are doing a lot of activities that just develop their muscles and their fine motor skills. Somewhere in my internet adventures, I found a million ideas to use, but can't remember where they came from. I have the ideas written down in my handy-dandy notebook.

This center, the kids read the number word--or look really close on the apple leaf to find the number--and then pick up that many 'worms' to put on the apple. Simple, but gets the job done.

The tweezers can be found at Lakeshore.

Three Way Apple Addition

For this center, the students roll the dice and add that many die-cut apples to the first tree and continue rolling the dice until all three trees have apples on them. It is important to have a plus sign and an equal sign, so the students know what to write between each number on the recording sheet. Most of them know, but there were a few that you turn away for a second and look back to their papers, Ahh! "Ok, let's look at this..." The apple tree mat is from Lakeshore and the Apple Pie Addition worksheet comes from First Grade Parade. Free Download? Yes, please! Thank you.

Bobbing for Sight Words

I found these apples at Oriental Trading and it reminded me of the Valentine Hearts at First Grade Parade. The students pick an apple, read the word, spell the word and then write the word on the corresponding number of apple on the recording sheet. Gotta love Lettering Delights to make the worksheets cute.

Apple Centers

Ok, so I totally started stalking a few of your blogs-The First Grade Parade, etc, and used your ideas, or tweaked them a bit to fit my style or use what I have on hand. Whew. Total F-U-N... especially when you have parents that like to come in and volunteer and help manage the centers!

So last year was one of the craziest teaching years, where I would think, "What else should I be when I grow up?"-- a back-up dancer for the Pet Shop Boys? a professional book reader?

The room was filled with the oldest child or the only child. I've never laughed so hard and never had so many mini-nervous breakdowns. Thank goodness for Snicker bars and Diet Coke!

During the summer, I had a few girlfriends that I did some 'crafty' things with, and I realized I had been missing something for awhile. I took some summer classes and the excitement of teaching started coming back as well. Then I was introduced to Pinterest. Seriously, I felt the heavens open and the Spirit of Enlightenment fall upon me! Ahhhhh! (in a high-pitched angel voice)

Thanks for all the cute teaching blogs and making THE cutest units that go along with the Common Core. I just love that the whole nation is doing the same thing now.

Sunflowers

After we did the name Venn Diagrams we had a little fun with sunflowers. We compared two different sunflowers and wrote down the results. I gave each student a petal from the smaller sunflower, saying, "He loves me. He loves me not" so they could see how to make a petal. They made their own petals and I had them sort them in 2 baskets. One with large petals and ones that were 'mutant', I mean small. I had to calm my OCD about what some of them looked like. But when I glued them around the large Venn Diagram Sunflowers, they looked so real. I used chalk to write with and then sprayed over it with hairspray so it wouldn't smudge. Love sunflowers!

Venn Diagrams

Here is an activity we did with Venn Diagrams and getting to know each other in the class. I randomly selected students to be partners with each other. I gave them their name on red paper and also their name cut into squares. The students had to compare the letters in their names. If they had a match, they glued them on top of each other in the center. If they did not match, they glued them on their own side. They still talk about the similarities in their names with their partner. We have gotten some new kids in class, so we will do this again using our last names.