Dr. S Inspired -ink Word Family Freebie!

I know that Read Across America Week is over, but last week our word family was -ink.  I couldn't help but make a connection with the book "Oh the Thinks You Can Think"!  So we read the book and put together these funny little guys from the book.  I drew these on a piece of paper and then copied onto construction paper. 

Students then turned them over and wrote a silly sentence using their -ink words.  Here was my example:

Sorry for the crummy picture.  You don't actually realize how filthy your whiteboard is until you take a close-up picture.  Anyway, we tried to THINK of as many -ink words as we could.

Here was our chart of -ink words we thought of after reading the book:



After we created our chart the kids got to work making their "Think Characters".  We hung them from our clips from the ceiling so we could see our words and the sentences we created.  Here are a few examples of the kids work:

Here is another example.  I just loved the faces they put on these characters!

I scanned my drawings and placed them in google docs in case anyone would want to make these cuties with their kiddos.  The scanned images are not that great so I apologize for the quality but hope you can make it work if you like the idea. I can't believe tomorrow is already hump day!  Only 3 more days and then our Spring Break begins!  The weather here has been beautiful - sunny and 70 degrees!  Hope this beautiful weather continues into next week.  Have a great evening!

Click on either picture to download the patterns or click HERE!

Apple Activity Freebies

As I planned out the week, I decided to make a few apple activities to go along with what we will be learning.  I purchased Mrs. Magee's Johnny Appleseed Unit and can't wait to  do all the activities with my first graders.  If you haven't checked it out you should.   This week we will be making applesauce, taste testing a variety of apples, try apple juice, make our own little apple pies, and try apple cider.  We will then graph our results about which apple item is our favorite (which is included in her unit).  I will be taking lots of pictures this week since it is Spirit Week. We have lots of dress up days to add to the excitement!

Here are the apple activities I created. They are nothing fabulous, but thought I would share.  Just click on the picture to download.

I decided to create a rhyming word coloring page to go along with our -ump word family this week.  I also made a word activity page based on our last few word families.  Students have to read the word and figure out if the word is a real or non-sense word.  I made two versions to differentiate for students who are ready to read blends and digraphs.  I also whipped up another word activity to see how many words students can make using the letters in the word apples.  I love the book by Dr. Seuss - Ten Apples on Top.  So I thought why not Ten Worms on Top?  I thought my students could show different ways to make ten by drawing and recording their problems.  I found a great resource at mathwire.com that allows students to use ten frames to help organize ways to make ten. I will have them use this first before they make their worms.

I absolutely love the fall weather and hope it stays this way for a while.  I'm looking forward to all the apple activities and I hope you all have a fabulous and fun week!  

First Full Week in First Grade - Randomness.

I just finished my first full week of first grade and I am T-I-R-E-D.  I don't have a whole lot to share (I have some things I'd like to share but FORGOT to take pictures ~ I'll have to save those until next week).  So, I thought I would share a few pictures from our first week.  We started our word study this week and began learning our first word family (-an).  Here is a picture of how our tree looks after we thought of all those -an words.  Take a look:

My students were so excited to see our first Word FAMILY up on our tree. 

On Friday, we added our words this week to our word wall.  We only had three words, so I can't wait until next week to add three more.

Remember my Good Work Spotted Here wall?  Well, my first graders couldn't wait to get something hangin' up there on an owl - so we wrote about something fun we did over the summer.  Here is how our wall looks now. 

I had some really good writing and illustrations for our first week of school. 

Did I mention we have a class pet?  We have a guinea pig named Lenny (Yes - Lenny the Guinea).  He has been staying with one of my first graders from last year over the summer.  His mom said he took really good care of Lenny and they are going to miss him terribly.  Lenny has been adjusting quite nicely to our classroom environment.

We read Sammy the Classroom Guinea Pig which is a great story about a classroom guinea pig that was making strange noises and the class couldn't figure out what was wrong.  It turns out, Sammy was just wanting some attention so the kids love hearing Lenny "Wheep, wheep, wheep" when we enter our room.   We also read I Love Guinea Pigs to learn about where guinea pigs come from, what they like to eat, how to take care of them and that they don't like LOUD noises.  (Maybe it will help on our noise level??)  On Friday afternoon, we sat on the carpet in a circle and let Lenny walk around and "get to know everyone".  She did a lot of sniffing and loved being out of her cage.  We have lots of class pets at our school (mostly guinea pigs, fish, and hermit crabs).  Do you have a class pet?  We will do some writing pieces about Lenny later in the year.  I would love to hear about your class pet experiences.

OH!  And we started Saxon Math and I'm really liking it so far.  It is starting out slow but the kids are really engaged in the morning meeting and lessons.  If anyone has anything to share regarding Saxon - I would love to hear it!

Have a great weekend!



Word Family Tree Files Now on TpT

I've now added my Word Family Tree Word Clouds to Tpt.  You may want to read my original post.  If you'd like to make a tree of your own, I've included directions and added additional word families (41).  If anyone makes a Word Family Tree, I would love to see pictures of how yours turns out! 

I have been busy preparing for Open House/Orientation.  More classroom pictures coming soon! Enjoy your weekend!

 

WORD Family Tree

Last year our team of first grade teachers sat down and developed our reading curriculum.  Part of our curriculum includes teaching word families.  There are about 25 word families we teach throughout the year and last year I used those posters that are in the shape of the family - like a picture of a cat for the -at family.  I liked being able to post them around the room so that my students can refer back to the words we create using that family in their writing or during word work.  However, they are HUGE and take up so much space.  I just didn't like how they looked.  So this year I was trying to think of a way to display my word family words in a way that fit my classroom theme.  That's when I thought of our WORD Family Tree.  Take a look:

I thought about making a trunk, painting a trunk... then I remembered I had an old oak tree bulletin board trunk I could use and it turned out to be just the right size.  I hot glued it to my wall.  To create my groups of leaves, I  created clouds using autoshapes in word and made it the color I wanted.  I used text boxes to add all my word families.  BUT, I quickly found out that the 8X11 1/2 sheet of paper was not going to be big enough!  It was too small and I wouldn't be able to write all the words my firsties come up with on the cloud.  So, I took the file to my local Office Max and they blew them up to just under 11 X 17 - I think they were more like 10 X 15. They turned out PERFECT! Then of course I laminated and cut them out and WAHLAH!  Here is another close up picture:

Now I bet you are wondering - HOW am I going to write words on those groups of leaves?  Well I'm NOT going to write on them while they are attached to the wall.  I used velcro strips cut into sections about 3 inches long. I did this on both sides of the cloud. I hot glued the hook side to the wall and the other (loop side) stuck perfectly to the laminated paper.  When it is time to teach for example -ad words, I just walk up to our Word Family Tree, take down the family group of leaves - (our class will brainstorm a list of -ad words) and I will write our words on the leaves and then reattach to our tree.  I think it will be very exciting to see all the words added to our tree as the year progresses.  Here is a picture of how I attached them to the wall:

I am very excited how it turned out and hope my students will use our Word Family Tree to make connections with word families and use these words in their writing.  Our school district does not use a reading series so we have developed our own curriculum guide as well as use the common core standards.  Do you focus on word families in your reading curriculum? Looking forward to lots of comments!  Have a great weekend. Smiles ~