End of Year Writing Craftivity

Hey Everyone!  I'm excited to be posting for the first time here on I Teach First!  Since it's my first time here, let me introduce myself.  I'm Alice from Look Who's in First Grade  I am married (28 years!) with two grown children.  My daughter, Abby, is 25 and a nurse.  My son, Justin, is 22 and a college student.  My husband and I have two dogs, an Australian cattle dog and a toy poodle.  

Red and Mr. Darcy

So I'd love to share something I've been doing with my first-graders for several years.  At the end of the year I have my students write to my future first graders telling them what to expect in first grade. We start by reflecting on everything we've done throughout the year.

Yikes! Don't mind my handwriting!  I'm envious of teachers who have  beautifully handwritten anchor charts.  When I'm making anchor charts, writing quickly so I don't lose my firsties' attention, my handwriting tends to get a bit messy. :)  

One of my students told me to write my name down because I was his favorite thing about first grade...my heart melted. 

Next, I send my students off to write about their favorite things about first grade.

Finally the fun part...adding a cute little peekover.

I will laminate these darling little pieces of art and use them to decorate the hallway for our Open House/Meet the Teacher night in August.  New first grade parents love reading what their children will be experiencing in first grade.  My former students love coming to visit and seeing their work hanging in the hallway. I love having a ready-made display for Meet the Teacher night!

If you're still in school and would like to try this cute little writing craftivity, check it out in my TpT store here.  I've added the writing paper as a flash freebie to my TpT store.  Check it out here

Thanks for stopping by!

Parent Appreciation

Hi there!

  

Today I'm going to share how we celebrate our parents at the end of the school year!

So, every year we invite our moms and dads to our classroom to say, "THANK YOU" for a wonderful school year.  We started off just moms, and then when my youngest son was in first grade, he asked why we didn't invite dads. So, the tradition changed, and I'm so glad it did!

We decorate our sweet little classroom, and have two different times for parents to come.  Students create a book for mom and a book for dad.  We also do a small craft for mom (the flower with their cute little thumb prints as bees) and we (I) create a video of our year together for dad.  I always make extra DVDs for families that are no longer together, so that mom will get one as well. Obviously the DVD is treasured for many, many years.  I show a shortened version (about 8 minutes) during our Appreciation Day, but I give them the extended version (usually about 30-45 minutes long).  

HOW IT WORKS!

The parents come in and the students direct them to their spot. Then they read their special little book to their mom and then their dad.  The poster board (on their chair) is full of their writings throughout the year.  Usually the students decorate this on the first few days of school, as a time filler, but this year I'm waiting until a few weeks before our appreciation day.  I think they will come out a little better now that they've had a school year to grow and take pride in their work. Yep - just a little OCD.  Students also serve their parents punch and snacks (usually mini-muffins), while parents enjoy our school-year video.  **Show the video several times to the students before this day - or else they will be shouting out something about every.SINGLE.picture. (Learned that the hard way! :)  They just can't contain their excitement.

Last year we did flowers, but this year we are going to do a candle inside the mason jar with their thumb prints in yellow.  We will attach a saying, "You light up my life".  

   CRAFTIVITY!

Here's the craftivity that we create as well. (I'll put the link to TPT once product is complete with new clip art.)  This year my mom and dad faces will look a little different.  I have a new clip artist that is creating a mom and dad specifically for this product.  I can't wait to see how they turn out.  Suggestion:  Always read the final written product (even though you've read the "sloppy copies" many times!)  One of my students decided to change up the wording on their final copy.  Need I say more?

Here's the new craftivity for this year.  A sweet friend designed these faces for me.  The dad has with and without glasses.  (Click on the picture to see it in my store.) Here's the real reason we've decided to switch images - check out dad's teeth in the above image.  I didn't realize that until the child's mom brought it to my attention many years later.  The student that did the above is now in 7th grade, and I had her little brother last year. (That's when mom commented on the teeth... YIKES!)  

ALL ABOUT MOM & DAD

Here's our 5-page booklet.  Many moons ago we did a 10-page book.  HAHA!  I still laugh when I think about that.  We are now down to 5 pages, and I'm sure a few co-workers would like it to be The Best 3 things! ;)  Even though this book takes a while to do, I know that this is a keepsake for many years to come.  I still have mine.  Anyway - this booklet has a cover, then a poem for the inside cover (A poem for a girl to give to dad, a poem for a girl to give to mom, a poem for a boy to give to mom, and a poem for a boy to give to dad).  There's also a back cover that has some funny things to write about mom and dad.  (height, favorite foods, weight...) Yep, weight is on there, and that's always priceless!!


Anyway - I hope you've enjoyed my little SHOW-N-TELL Appreciation Day Celebration!  You can click on the picture to see these two products in my store! (Five page booklet and craftivity are old separately!) 

Science Fun and Flower Rings

Hi There,

I'm Sarah Tharpe Winchell from Teaching Resources for the Classroom.  I am so excited to be part of this amazing group of people that care about teachers and children.

I love teaching science and integrate it as much as possible into our school day! Some days we have those great teachable moments that seem to be getting rarer during these assessment driven times.  This is one of those times! Here in North Carolina it has been raining quite a bit recently. As soon as the rain stops we head outside looking for any place we can play. Well of course rain makes puddles and as long as there are puddles.....kids will play in them! The bigger the rock, the harder the throw.......check out the picture. A nice little lesson about force.

Rain also help flowers to grow! One of our favorite things to do is to put these little buttercup flowers under our chins to see if we like butter.  I'm not sure how this all started. It is one of those passed down traditions.  The sunlight bounces off the little yellow flower onto the bottom of your chin and you see a yellow spot on your chin. No yellow....well you don't like butter! It doesn't work in the shade.  Since this is a Make-It Monday post I'm going to show you how to make a little yellow buttercup flower ring with your kids if you don't have any flowers. Then your children can see the sun reflect onto their chins. Get them to use their inquiry skills by testing the flower under different conditions such as classroom light, shade and bright sunlight. The children just love the magic of it all! It also makes a lovely Mother's Day present!!

 

You can find the pattern to make the flower ring here.  Flower Ring Pattern Print the pattern on the color of paper you want. I used yellow because I wanted buttercups. Each flower needs two flower pieces. Glue the flowers together with a glue stick. Use the hole punch to place the holes in the flowers. Closer is better. After the holes are punched, thread the ribbon through so it makes a loop on the back and then tie in the front. You can also make a bracelet using the same method just make the ribbon longer. I hope you do have buttercups but if you don't you can still have a sunny day and keep a folk legend going for a whole new group of children!

Cheers and sunshine,
Sarah from Teaching Resources for the Classroom

Spring Themed Project! 1st Grade Hip Hip Hooray!

Spring Themed Project

Here in the northern parts of the USA we are waking up from a LONG winter's nap so the thought of sunshine, warm weather, and life are exciting.  Here are a two projects that will brighten up your room and highlight your student's work no matter where you live .

I like doing projects that spotlight kiddos work.  This type project encourages students to apply "best effort" and in my opinion lets them know you appreciate their work and efforts.

In the packet below you will find all the patterns to complete the project.  Pieces can be simply run on the colored paper described and then the kiddos can cut and assemble the pictures.  To make it a little easier kiddos can draw the orange stripes on the chicks legs and the whiskers can be drawn on the bunny.

As for the writing here are some graphic organizers that will help kiddos collect their thoughts before writing their final copy.  I tried to differentiate between early writers and those ready for more detail.  These also will be available in the packet found below.  

I am sharing the Spring ones here BUT there are ones available for writing about a chick or bunny theme too!  The graphic organizer above is simple and students just have to add their ideas.

The page above is a bit more complex but I love how it encourages a perfect paragraph that includes DETAIL.  Let's support our opening sentence.

Here you will find a page for the  "final copy".

Encourage best penmanship and add the craft.

Below is the link to download the craft and the packet.

Take a peek or download.

I also included some colorful vocab cards for posting.

It is so exciting to be a part of this blog.  You can follow me at 1st Grade Hip Hip Hooray!

I hope you'll stop by and learn more about me!  I always find something to "cheer" about.

Today I am cheering for my MSU Spartans...onto the sweet sixteen.  

As you get to know me you'll see...I am an avid MSU Spartan fan, past cheerleader for the Spartans, married to an amazing husband of 37 years who is also a Spartan and was a varsity swimmer, raised three sons who are now independent, successful young men, have a black 100 pound lab who we adore, waiting for our new chocolate lab who we pick up on April 10th, a crazy tennis fanatic, and retiring after 38 years of teaching not because I want to but because of the retirement benefits....I will be back though and involved in education somehow, someway in the future as I am truly young at heart and still passionate about the field of education.  Can't wait to share with all of you!!