Showing posts with label Fall. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fall. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 3, 2017

Fall Centers

Our Fall Centers are up and running and we are LOVING them!! 
These centers work on a variety of skills that meet the needs of all of my students.  If you have students that can complete them independently, you can leave these centers at a center for independent work. However, if you have students that cannot do these independently, then you can use the activity during your guided reading time!

We have been working on rhyming lately and this center was so much fun! All of the rhyming words are also CVC words which made it easier for my high students to do independently. I did this center at my reading group with three of the four of my groups to make sure they understood the concept and were listening to the rhyming words correctly.
This sight word center was a HIT! Even my ESE students were having a blast with it and this was one of the first times that I saw them super excited at a center--they didn't want to leave! I think they really enjoyed using different writing utensils to write their words. I am telling you...normally my ESE group doesn't even want to write! Look at how great they did!
Nouns were another skill that we started during the first month of school and my kiddos pretty much have nouns down pat! They sorted their noun cards in a pocket chart before recording them on their activity sheet.
We played another rhyming game, Rhyme Time, during reading groups. I gave each student a tongue depressor with a 'thumbs up' on one side and a 'thumbs down' on the other. 
I would flip two cards over and students would have to figure out whether the cards rhymed or not. Then, they would change their tongue depressor accordingly. We had lots of giggles during this game! It was fun!
Another center that my students worked on was Fall Sentence Scramble.  The sentences were all predictable sentences using very simple sight words that we have already worked on in class. I made sure to point out beforehand that all of the sentences should start with a capital letter and they all should end with a period.  Pointing that out to students always makes building sentences a little bit easier. I left a small pointer at this center as well for students to use as they reread the sentences to each other. 
I always leave an 'I Can' chart at the center in hopes that my students can refer to that if they aren't sure what to do next.  These 'I Can' charts also have the standard in the bottom right hand corner which makes lesson planning easy!
My Fall Centers pack includes all of the above skills and more! There are activities to work on letters, letters/beginning sounds, short vowel sounds, middle sounds in CVC words, and an activity to work on building sight words. 

Monday, November 21, 2016

Writing Collaboration on the Mayflower [Freebie Included]

I LOVE collaboration projects in the classroom.  I start them very early on in the year and by now, they are awesome at working together, sharing, talking, making sure everyone in their group 'agrees', presenting, and so much more!
During the month of November we spend a lot of time on the Mayflower and learning about Pilgrims and Native Americans.  One of my favorite books to read (I read it throughout the week because it is lengthy) is ...If You Sailed on the Mayflower in 1620
Throughout the week we add all of our 'learned' Mayflower facts onto our KWL.  On Friday during our writing block we do a collaboration writing project.  
Each table group has to work together to think of at least 3 Mayflower facts and record their facts, working together to sound out their words.  
They can use our vocabulary word cards from the unit to help them spell as well (vocab cards provided HERE).
Since there can be up to 5 students in the group, we always want to make sure that everyone has a 'job'. The kids are great at coming up with jobs for one another and sharing their responsibilities.  One of their favorite jobs is tracing with a sharpie.
As the groups finished their facts, they went to the carpet while they waited for their classmates to finish up.  When all groups were ready, we presented our Mayflower facts.
They read what they wrote and when they were finished we made sure to celebrate their success!
After each group read their facts they were allowed to go over to our Mayflower and tape their facts onto the ship!
This is always one of my favorite bulletin boards! You can also add little pilgrim faces into the Mayflower from my craft HERE. You can also see a picture from my Instagram page HERE.
'There was a poop deck.' is a fact that makes it onto my Mayflower EVERY single school year! Definitely a class favorite!
Now for a little freebie!  We only have school Monday and Tuesday this week so I wanted to have a little fun with the students before we leave for Thanksgiving break.  I thought this dice activity would be perfect for a little 'bonding' activity.
We are going to sit in a circle and take turns passing the dice.  Students will have to roll the dice and answer the questions that they rolled. 
This freebie includes a make your own dice template as well as inserts for the pocket dice seen HERE. Download the freebie by clicking on the image below.
Happy Thanksgiving!
SaveSave
SaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSave