Weather Unit

Our weather unit is in full swing and we are already learning a lot! This past week we focused on the sun, wind,  and snow. Next week we will focus on rain/water cycle and the different types of clouds.  As always, our units are all aligned with Common Core standards for reading, writing, and math but are chosen because they match our science and social studies standards.  Our social studies focus for this unit is: Describe and give examples of seasonal weather changes, and illustrate how weather affects people and the environment.  We are also focusing on matter in science throughout this unit and using a couple crafts from the Bubbly Blonde that can be found here. 

This week in centers we wrote our weather words around the room.  

We also used Mrs. Miner's Guided Drawing pack to help teach us how to make a rainbow! I know throughout the unit my kids will be making rainbows all of the time--so this was the perfect way to teach that!

During writing we have REALLY been focusing on writing details. Now that majority of my class can write independently, I am trying to push them a little further.  I found this activity in Live, Love, Laugh's March Writing pack and it seemed to fit my lesson perfectly. 

During centers the children had to add details to their picture (which only had an umbrella on it). Then, we wrote detailed stories to describe our pictures. They came out adorable!

I am still working with my reading groups on digraphs.  Most groups have it down pat now and are ready to start completing digraph activities independently. Yay!

I am proud to say that ALL of my students were able to complete this CVC word/picture match up by themselves!! 

They were also able to sort all of their CVC pictures under the correct word family.  Don't you just love that feeling when even your struggling readers can sound out words!?! Makes me so happy!

I had mentioned in a previous post that my students needed more work on reading/building sentences.  I put this activity at a center with one of my parent volunteers in case they needed some guidances, but they all did really well.

On Friday we had a 'rainbow day'!  We ate these delicious rainbow cookies!! They are just sugar cookies with vanilla frosting (dyed blue).  Then I bought the rainbows and clouds in a little pack at Jo-Ann's Fabrics; however, you can just use fruit roll ups and marshmallows if you can't find them at a store near you!

 Then, we made these cute rainbow tear-art crafts! I LOVE how they turned out! They are currently hanging in the hallway :)

 At the bottom of the rainbow we used a freebie from Teaching With Love and Laughter. It is the cutest little poem and perfect for students' to complete independently!

You can find my All About Weather unit by clicking on the image below :) Enjoy!

Wrapping Up Our Weather Unit!

We wrapped up our weather unit last week, but I didn't have a chance to share last weeks centers :)

1. It's Raining Cats and Dogs! This activity was great for one-to-one correspondence with numbers 11-20. 

2. We finished up our 'All About Weather' books. They came out great! I love reading all of the facts that the students remember.

3. A Tornado of Digraphs! My class still needs practice with sh, ch, and th digraphs. I will be working on this in every unit now until they have it 'down pat'! 

4. Wacky Weather Subtraction. Students will look at the cards to create and finish their own subtraction equation.

5. Reading Rainbows. Students had to read the CVC word on one side of the rainbow and match it with the correct picture.

6. Label It! My kids loved labeling the water cycle! We had been talking about the water cycle so much and using those difficult vocab words all week that they couldn't wait to bring this home...one student even wanted to include it in his memory book he loved it so much haha

 I also had students working on their handwriting with 'Lightning Letters'. Before they could hand this activity in I made sure to check it quickly. I highlighted all of the letters that they needed to go back and try again on.

In reading groups we are discussing long and short vowels. The students sorted the pictures on the kites between long /i/ words and short /i/ words. They did a great job with it!

We wrapped up the unit by watching Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs...such a cute movie!!! This week we have already started our plant unit. I will be back soon to show you a little of what we are up to!!

Don't forget to grab my weather freebie here...

Weather Unit

We are in the second week now of our weather unit. The kids are loving it. I think their favorite part is checking the weather everyday. We don't have windows in our class so we get to go on a little 'field trip' and walk outside everyday to see what the weather is.  Haha. The first day we did this I opened the door and a lizard went inside! I am terrified of any creepy crawly things so I said to the boys, 'You are supposed to help me! Get the lizard out!' But they were all scared to help me!! So another teacher came down the hall and grabbed her papers and flung the lizard out the door. I don't think I ever screamed so loud! hahaha. The kids thought that was the best thing ever. So now everyday they can't wait to see if a lizard comes in the door--I think this is probably why checking the weather is their favorite!

 The students walked around the room to complete 'Scattered Sight Words'. They had to find the clouds, read, and record their sight words. They LOVE writing the room, definitely a favorite!

 Today they had to complete 'Cloudy Day Addition'. I am so proud of how fluent they are becoming with their simple addition facts.

The students also had to match together the rhyming pictures to finish 'It's Raining Rhymes!' Rhyming is becoming a tad easy for some of my students so this time I had them sound out and record some of the rhyming pairs on their activity sheet as well.

 Some students had the pocket chart center. Believe it or not, this was the first time I gave them scrambled sentences and it was definitely a hit!!

When she was finished unscrambling her 'Sunshine Sentences' she recorded them with her best handwriting. How cute?! ;)

 I am still using Deedee's writing center...and I still love it! You can find it HERE

All of my centers above can be found in my weather unit on TPT by clicking on the image below :) 

Five for Friday (or maybe six)

Thank you today for being Friday!! Man, this week was exhausting! I think the week after a break is always the hardest!

Got a basket full of candy for Easter. I never really crave candy/sweets, but if I have it...I am going to eat it! So yep...that means I had Easter candy for dinner 3 nights this week! Oops!

I was able to spend Easter with my family! Look at how perfect my niece is! She is just too cute! Love!

I know I told ya'll that I was spending my spring break out in Vail, CO. Well, I had the best time EVER! It was truly amazing! I ended up taking 5 days of ski school and then the last day I was able to ski with friends. I started the trip off learning how to put on skis for the first time and being SO nervous to fall when I got off the chair lift, to skiing on some blacks the last day! Ah, I just loved it! Do you like my snowman I made? haha

Now to the pictures that I actually took today! We started our weather unit this week. I thought this was the pefect activity to tie a little bit of poetry for Poetry Month into our weather unit. I found this adorable freebie from Lori over at Teaching With Love and Laughter HERE. This center was super relaxing today. My students were able to make the 'tear art' rainbows by themselves, no questions asked. They even filled in the poems by themselves! They came out adorable and definitely brightened up the hallway when I hung them up!

Sunny Sounds! I continue to put beginning and ending sound practice at my students centers. They all know their beginning and ending sounds, but I think it is a great review and also great for independent practice! It is really important that my children are able to work independently so I can really focus on my reading groups!

They also wrote the first page in their 'All About Weather' books. I thought this little one did an awesome job!

The weather activities can be found in my weather unit on TPT by clicking the image below

Now, head on over to Doodle Bugs to read what everyone else was up to today!!

Weather

I am almost officially ready for SPRING BREAK!! Well, I am ready....but, I am almost all prepped for my 3 week weather unit when I return from spring break :) It is nice knowing that I am all ready and will have no worries over break! Here are some of the activities in my weather unit...

 My students will be working on their reading skills by unscrambling sentences. They love this center!

It's Raining Cats and Dogs! This one-to-one correspondence activity is wonderful for some of my low ones and also great independent practice for my other students. I love when they can work independently and don't have any questions!

'Sum'where Over the Rainbow has my favorite activity name--thanks to my Facebook Followers for naming this one!! :) Some of my students are still counting the 'cube train' even though we continue to discuss that it has 10 cubes. I am hoping this activity will help that!

 Reading Rainbows is another great independent center for this time of the year. Students will match the CVC word with the CVC picture.

All of the above activities can be found in my new weather unit. There are 10 literacy centers, 8 math centers, lots of writing, and tons more!! ;)

We wrapped up on America Unit last week and I snapped a couple more pictures...

 Writing the Room is always my students favorite! They notice the cards around the room the second I open the door to say good morning!

My class is still working on digraphs. I feel like I have taught this so much, that they should be experts by now...but I still have a group that is having some difficulties with th, ch, and sh. So we will practice on! ;)

I hope if you are on spring beak now that you are enjoying every second of it!! I know I can't wait for that bell to ring on Friday!

Weather

I am back!! Returning to school this week, after spring break, was so tough!! I never got used to the time change because I was enjoying my break...that this past Monday it was like a double whammy waking up!! So that is where I have been...napping everyday after school! Haha..okay, okay, enough whining..

This week we started our weather unit. We started off by reading Cloudy With A Chance. It was a very cute way to get the children thinking about how crazy our weather can be and get the creative juices flowing. They all designed their own town and wrote on the back what would be 'raining' if they have a choice..

Throughout our unit, I tried to focus on a different type of weather every two days..sunny, rainy, cloudy, and windy. On Friday for writing all of the students pretended to be weather reporters and they wrote their own report:

The above activities can be found in my weather unit by clicking on the picture below.

 On Thursday I told the children that we would be meeting a new friend on Friday.  He is my friend Roy G. Biv and he only comes when the sun shines after it rains. They all got excited thinking we were going to have a new student in class.  Then Friday we made these cuties..

I typed up the words for the project and you can download them HERE.

This project is a must! The children LOVED making him. We also got the chance to talk about how colors come in all shades. They loved the fact that they actually had a crayon called indigo! We will be doing another week on weather before we move on to plants; but, I unfortunately won't be enjoying the week with the kids. I have to spend my next week in Common Core Academy!

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