Dalmatians and Year Of The Dog

Thursday was such a busy day at school! It was the 101st day of school and it was Chinese New Year! I know Friday was technically Chinese New Year but we were out of school for a professional development day so we learned about it on Thursday!

So Thursday was Dalmatians and Year of the Dog! Of course y kiddos thought that was awesome because they were dogs on the day we learned about Year of the Dog!! Lol!!!

First the Dalmatians! For the 101st day of school (first grade doesn101 since they do 100 in kindergarten) we dressed like Dalmatians, did activities with the number 101 and got a sweet snack to bring home! 

Then we focused on Chinese New Year! We transformed the room for Chinese New Year! 

We started by reading an awesome book about a little girl who who went to her grandmothers house to celebrate Chinese New Year because her grandmother could not come to her this year. She met the animals of the Chinese zodiac along the way and they went with her! The book is called Ruby’s Chinese New Year.

I bought mine at barnes and noble but it is also available on Amazon. Click here for amazon link! 

I read this before we began my smart board about Chinese New Year. I told them to remember what happened and to make a connection with the information they will soon be learning!

They were so excited! 

As we learned about a tradition, we stopped and went back to our seats to make it! First we learned about paper lanterns! Thanks to oriental Trading  I got foam lanterns for them to decorate! We learned about the lanterns and then went to our seats and created them to bring home! 

After the lanterns we then went back and learned about the red envelopes and the coins! Of course, we had to make these also!!! Thanks to Oriental trading, we made really cool ones!

If you noticed the items on their tables! They all got a Chinese New Year, placemat ( which they search for traditional Chinese New Year items) a coloring book and a pencil! I got all of these from Oriental Trading!

 

Of course , we had to get chocolate coins for good luck!

I am a blogger for oriental Trading and I revived these materials in exchange for my own honest opinions. These are my own opinions and they have not been affected by oriental Trading in any way! 

A valentine craft or random acts of kindness craft and a give away

I love children’s literature! I love kwikstix paint sticks and I love making things with my kiddos! So for Valentine’s Day, I combined all of these and also have a giveaway for you!!!!

I saw this cute book online and had to buy it! I love the pictures and the story line! Click here to purchase on amazonClick here to purchase on amazon!!

This is a story about two friends who love each other so much that they create lists telling each other what they love about each other! 

My kids loved it! So since it is Valentine’s Day, I thought what an awesome book to use to introduce our parent gift! This can also be done for random acts of kindness week which is in February as well! 

We read the book and then went back to our seats to write a list of ten things they love about their mom and/or dad!!!

I found white cardstock hearts at michaels and I had them decorate one side using the Kwik Stix paint sticks! I love how vibrant these are! They are amazing and dry within 90 seconds! Painting without the mess!!! What can be better in a first grade classroom?! These can be purchased at michaels  and target! They are also found in amazon! 

After they decorated their heart, they glued it to the front of a larger red heart! 

Then they glued their list of ten things they live about their mom and dad on the back.

Finally, I had taken their pictures and made them into silhouettes. I glued them to the front of their heart!

To make the silhouettes:

1. Take their picture in front of a white background. I used white bulletin board paper.

2. Upload it to google drive and then save to your desktop.

3. Open PowerPoint.

4. Insert photo into a PowerPoint slide.

5. Crop photo and format to remove background.

6. Click on picture. Go to format then color. 

7. Choose black.

8. Print and cut!

There are your silhouettes!! 

I am excited to share this book, activity and product with you! I am even more excited to share that I have a set of paint sticks to give away to one of you!! 

Please enter the rafflecopter below!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck!!!!!!

Subtraction with Pete the Cat

Subtraction is always such a difficult concept to teach my firsties. They seem to just be getting addition and then wham we hit them with subtraction. To some, subtraction is mind blowing!!

Kids at this age need multimodality activities and lots of practice to understand many of the concepts we are trying to teach them. I have found that with subtraction just reviewing and having them physically put things on and take things away ingrain into them what subtraction is. 

I am also a firm believer that children's literature is needed to introduce many of the skills we teach throughout the day. 

When I teach subtraction, I always introduce it using the book Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons! I mean who doesn't love the books written by Eric  Litwin! 

After we listen to the story and we do a number talk, then we dive into subtracting. I made a Pete the Cat for each of them and they get a small container of buttons! This is where the fun begins! They go back to their seats and we just practice doing subtraction problems with our Pete the Cats!

If you notice there are no worksheets present. J do not believe in giving them worksheets when I am just introducing the topic. We are focusing on what is subtraction and how does subtraction look! They are acting it out and we are talking as they add buttons and take them away! They are practicing writing subtraction sentences on their desk next to their Pete the Cat and we are talking about the sentences they are writing as focusing on the difference! And yes, I make them use the vocabulary!

Talk like a pirate day!

There are several days throughout the year that I love to teach my children about. Talk like a pirate is one of them!!!

It is a fun day that you can turn into an educational experience and one that the kids love and never forget!

Thanks to oriental Trading and their new site, Learn365, you can get all that you need for this day to be a success!

First of course you need the pirate head gear! 

My kids loved their head gear from Oriental Trading! They also loved their eyepatches as well!!

Here is a picture of their whole look!!

The blow up pirate, ship wheel and pirate border are all from Oriental Trading! The pirate background is from target! It is a tablecloth for birthdays! 

Here is a picture of my photo area before the day began! I also love the talk like a pirate melonheadz that I got for this special day!

For ELA! I used my Pirate unit I created! I sell this on teachers pay teachers. Click on the picture below for the link!

We also used my talk like a pirate free unit from teachers pay teachers! Click on the photo below for the link!

We also read the book, How I Became a Pirate written by David Shannon! This was my first graders first experience with reading a nonfiction and fiction book and comparing and contrasting! They did an excellent job!

What Pirates day is not complete without getting a booty! Here is the treasure my pirates earned.

Here we are as a gang of pirates learning all that we can while we are still having an enjoyable time! Isn't that what education is supposed to be about!

Oriental Trading and Learn365 did not pay me for my opinions! I was given the products in return for my own honest thoughts and opinions, my opinions are my own and are not influenced by Oriental Trading in any way!

Thanks oriental Trading and Learn365 for always having what we need!!