The blog documents the teaching ideas, lessons, and life of a grade one nut teaching grade one (first grade) to her squirrelly crew in Kelowna, BC, Canada.
This last Monday one of my little girls announced "I gotta get outta here!" I laughed quietly because I AGREE! It is TIME for a break!!! So, we started by creating our time capsules! To be opened at graduation!! I'm so excited - they turned out so cute!
Get your time capsule packet now!
In between various other activities we have experienced TONS of rain and torrential downpours. Alas, we have had to stay inside. Very quickly I pushed back the desks and lined up some Just Dance Wii for kids videos!! Here are my kiddos having a blast!!!
Here is one of their favourites. Also, be sure to check out Just Dance for Kids Wii S.I.M.P. Let's just say it's lots of nutty fun!!!
Today we had our year end field trip to the beach! We were so afraid it was going to rain but we LUCKED out and got lovely sun!! Thank you Mother Nature!!
YES!! Throwback Thursday!!! The perfect linky for this girl!!! Last year I was just starting my blog so it is a year old now I think!!!! Last year one of the funniest moments we had in class was this post - we laughed about it for days!!! What a great way to end the year!!! Be sure to link up with Cara Carroll over at The First Grade Parade!
So one day I was teaching my students a Health lesson. We were talking about appropriate ways to ask for help in the classroom. I started by saying that one mistake lots of grade one students make is rather than asking their teacher to get another pencil they say, "I can't find my pencil!!" or "I can't find my scissors!" I explained to my students that since they know where the extra pencils and scissors are they should turn their statement into a question - "May I please go get a new pencil?" - and teachers all over the world would be more than happy to allow them to go and retrieve another. Now, it may have been the fact that I used a silly voice when I demonstrated how not to ask for a pencil, but it turned into a running joke in my class. The following is what resulted! The best part is that this lesson really got the message across to my students. I heard many polite requests from then on to get pencils, scissors, glue sticks, etc. I hope it gives you a much needed laugh as you head into your summer break! I laugh every time I see it! Enjoy!
This year my squirrelly crew is ALWAYS ready for a party!! They tell jokes and stories that would captivate audiences world wide, they are fierce competitors in any game, they dance like crazy!! So I created these 8 math games to introduce/review/solidify the concept of the equal sign as a segue into addition and subtraction. Needless to say, the ol' crew rocked out!
One of the favourites was the equal sign bracelet. We discovered that it works as a little abacus as well!! Oh yeah!! I think I have about 5 of my own now, made especially for me by my little party goers!! Make it a little simpler by have only 5 beads on each side of the equal sign instead of 10.
You may want to save this little craftivity for February/Valentine's Day as a cute review and to teach about poetry:) That is my plan!!
Click on the picture below and join in the PARTY!!! Wahoo!
Are you ready for some Father's Day fun?? It is almost time for Donuts with Dad in my little corner of the world. We will start making our invitations, cards, and gifts tomorrow!! Check out my last year's post! It will be pretty similar - we are still making lid magnets, except I have a new invitation!! Oh yeah - FREEBIE!! Thank goodness because it is getting near the end of the year, and you are probably exhausted, eh?
Have your muffins colour and cut out the donut. Fold and glue it back to back. In the past I have had the kids glue on sprinkles and eat a few for fun!
If you have never hosted a Donuts with Dad it is super easy and fun! Invite all the dads to school - I usually do this before school for about half an hour. We eat donuts and have coffee - juice for the kids. The squirrelly crew give their cards and gifts to their dads. Then we play a game and sometimes make a quick craft - we made paper airplanes with our dads one year! Easy and fun! Sometimes I show a slideshow of the year so far!!
