Teaching First Grade Tips!

Hi friends, it's SEPTEMBER! School is back in session!

I saw an awesome post from Mary at Sharing Kindergarten about Kindergarten tips and I thought {and asked her permission} I could use it to start a "First Grade Teacher Tips" blog. So here are my 3 tips for a successful first grade classroom!

First graders have the attention span of a gnat {pretty sure I do too...}. This means you only have about 6 minutes to get your point across and MOVE ON. Thankfully, I'm a bit ADD myself, so if things are taking too long, I get bored {sometimes I have to entertain myself}. The rule of thumb is, kids have the attention in minutes as their age {example, if a student is 5 years old, he/she has a 5 minute attention span}. 

This does not mean you have to change subjects EVERY 6 minutes. BUT you as the teacher should not be talking solo for over that amount of time. Introduce concepts in small, understandable chunks. Once you've hit your time limit, get some practice in with activities or small groups {I know this doesn't work for EVERY lesson, sometimes you have to plow through ;)}.

I learned from the great Rick Morris {the king of classroom management}, one option is to set a timer, when it goes off, switch your activity. 

Small groups are wonderful. Their attention span tends to expand when they are working independently on what THEY want {or at least what they THINK they want to be doing, we teachers are great at making kids think they are choosing ;)}.

Catherine from The Brown Bag Teacher is the queen of small group Daily 5. You should most definitely check her posts out!

Set high-measurable expectations. Your students WILL meet them! If you only expect them to write one sentence, that's all they will write. How should they act in the classroom, how should they respond when they are upset, what does finished work look like, what does my teacher expect me to do during this time? Push your students, they need you to expect much from them! We all know you believe in your students! Expect much of them, and they will exceed your expectations.

{disclaimer: I know there are some outliers in our first grade classrooms, but some of them will not test your boundaries if you set your expectations early and strong}

This is likely a no-brainer, but entertain, entertain, ENTERTAIN. I am the silliest of silly teachers. Not all first grade teachers are and that is perfectly fine! For me though, sometimes I just have to sing a song, talk in an accent, or dance-because some things I teach are BORING and I just can't make them exciting. Thankfully Teachers Pay Teachers and Teacher Bloggers have made it a little easier to think of those crazy entertaining ideas. Ya'll, we are competing with cartoons, iPhones, etc! Step up your game ;)

Here are a couple examples of making everything engaging for FREE {and it doesn't take much effort either}:

{this is a great pinning image ;)}

Do you have some simple {& easy to implement} tips for teaching first grade? Leave them in the comments :)

Happy first days of school!

Show-n-Tell Saturday: First Week in First!

Hi first grade friends!

Jen here from Sparkling in Second :)

The school year is coming up quickly! I wanted to share with you what we did in my classroom last year, so have a read:

It was the most successful first week I've ever had. Not because I over planned and had 1,000 things ready to do and only did 3 of them. Not because we sang so many songs, danced so many dances, and  GoNoOdled our hearts out. Not because I gave so many praise compliments that I no longer have a voice. No. Although I consider all of those things as successes. But here's the real success:

NO ONE PEED IN THEIR PANTS OR CRIED THE ENTIRE FIRST WEEK OF SCHOOL!

now that is success

Can I get an amen!?

{yes I had one student who decided to shout out every 5-minutes the last part of Friday, "IS IT TIME TO GO HOME YET? LIKE WHEN DO I WALK TO SEE MY MOM?? I HAVE TO PICK UP MY SISTER FROM KINDER!"--okay mister, calm yourself down, just because you're in first grade doesn't mean you are responsible for another life.}

Well, I sure was jittery to be at a brand new school, in a brand new district, in a brand new grade. This read was SO perfect! If you don't have this, get it now!

We did a little mapping of our feelings for the first day of school. It looks like some of us were pretty scared... {NOT me...}

We also had a nice discussion about recess rules from The Recess Queen {along with our modified Whole Brain Teaching Rules for the classroom}. The red is what Mean Jean did before she met Katie Sue, the green is how Mean Jean changed after she met Katie Sue. 

We took some first day pictures. This was actually my first year doing the frame! Yes, I'm WAY behind the times. I know, I know, people have come up with bigger and better.

Side note: I LOVE NAUTICAL! Check out my classroom reveal! I think it's my best classroom yet!

  

I took this awesome idea from A Brown Bag Teacher. RACE TO 120! {She has some great posts on working with the 120's chart: HERE, HERE, & HERE} One of our CCSS is to be able to count to 120. So we started right away! I used this little sheet to test my kiddos and see how far they could get. I spy this little guy writing a pattern first ;) We've been practicing this almost daily since & they actually like it! 

{We also did a RACE TO Z, not picture, same deal but with the alphabet}

You can grab my Race to 120 & Race to Z freebie templates here!

Or click the pictures.

I took this snazzy idea from Reagan Tunstall over at Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits. We went over what our morning routine looks like and we practice each morning, with this flow map reminding us. {Since then, I promise I have fixed the fact that there is no arrow from 3 to 4 & there is no #4....}. 

Oh & our morning work is an amazing daily powerpoint from Teacher's Clubhouse. I had it in 2nd and I knew I had to have it in 1st!

We started right off the bat with our "Eye" Spy Jar for whole-class incentives, inspired by Katie Knight from Teacher to the Core. You can check out her post on that here or my post on it here {same idea, different ways}.

Love love love these Listen Up Activities from the ladies at Fluttering through First. I could tell right away who my good listeners were and also who were my ELs. It was a fun way to start the students listening correctly the first time.

We had an...interesting time....putting together our All About Me Flip Books. First time cutting and pasting a booklet together and it was in the first week of school? I think I'm crazy. But some survived, like this one picture :) I hung them all up on our writing wall as our first writing assignment! The Melonheadz clipart really does the trick doesn't it? *swoon*

I've been dying to do this for a year now. I first saw it from Amy Lemons from Step into Second Grade. The student-made alphabet! We had such a fun time drawing pictures and coming up with words for each letter. Now they are hung all around my room and the kids are so happy to see their work. If you like my Striped Alphabet Template you can grab it here {I also have a matching smaller set for word walls}.
{Note to self: have students write the words in marker}

Once we settled into class a little more, we were assigned our numbers. I loved this idea that I saw on instagram & cannot remember what brilliant teacher thought of it! I cut out little jerseys and had the kids decorate their number to help them remember it!

I got a sweet little present over the first week! {Thank goodness too because the heat MELTED almost all of my student crayons...yes it's been hot}. Read more about how you can get some free goodies to start your year off right HERE.

Holy moly we had a birthday on the first day of school! All I do is give them this supply bin of birthday fun they can use throughout the day. At the end of the day, they can keep the sparkly pencils & new box of crayons. Then we take a few minutes at the end of the day to read the birthday boy/girl's favorite picture book! Visit my inspiration for my birthday procedures from A Brown Bag Teacher. I love it, so simple, easy, and sweet!

At the end of this crazy long day, I prepped my "Welcome to First Grade" post cards and sent those off to my new babies. You can snag these cute post cards here. 

Anytime's a good time for a little note :)

And I just wanted to #keepitreal here with this picture. Not every day is perfect. Sometimes we cut our hair off...

I hope this gives you a little inspiration as school approaches!

Using Voicethreads with Mrs. Groom's Room

Hello sweet friends!  

It's Shana Grooms from Mrs. Grooms' Room!  I hope everyone is having a great summer.  School has already started for some, (Can you believe that?  Wow!), and some of us are getting ready for the big day. Yikes!!  

I wanted to share one of my favorite websites and app called Voicethreads that I like to use throughout the year:

VOICETHREAD!!!

What is a VoiceThread anyway?

I don't know how often many of my friends out there use VoiceThread but it is such an easy website to use and it's an AWESOME way to showcase your student's work, ideas, and projects.  It is a website that you can use to showcase and tell about your work, whether it is a painting or story or project. Friends, family, or teachers can comment on the project as well.  So if Johnny tells about his writing, then Grandma can say, "Johnny, you did a great job!"

Here is one that I did a couple of years ago with my students.  They wrote the script themselves AND read it on the mic!   Their voices are so cute especially when the roots hold the plant in the ground!!  :)

http://voicethread.com/share/3595068/

Here is one that I did for my substitute teachers...ya know...when I am out because of mental exhaustion and anxieties?    It goes along with my sub plans for The Little Red Hen!  If you have them, use my Voicethread!  And you can hear me!!  Aaghh!  :)  (And the funny part is I tried to use character voices! What was I thinking?)

THE LITTLE RED HEN

Here is what you can do to get started on VoiceThread:
1)  Set up an account.  It is free for the first five VoiceThreads!
2)  Take pictures of what you want to comment on or read about.
3)  Upload your pictures to VoiceThread.
4)  Comment on your pictures.  (This means reading the page or saying something about your picture.  It could be you commenting, one of your students commenting, or it could be many of your students commenting!)
5)  You can share your work with family and friends.  They can comment on your work too!  Cool, huh?

6)  You can use it on your iPad, too!!!  

It is very, very easy.  In fact, I would dare say it is easier than most programs. I promise, if you try it...you will love it.  I do one or two every year.  It is great technology practice for the younger students and they just die a little when the hear their voices.  Haha!  


By the way, here is one I did of Pumpkin Jack....not my best by far but my poor copy of Pumpkin Jack was truly decomposing so I had to find a way to save him!

PUMPKIN JACK

Let me know how you use VoiceThread!  Hope you have a great start to your year!! 

It's almost TIME for school!!!

Hey y'all!  

It's Freebie Friday!!!  I am so glad I get to hang out with you today!  I am Shana Grooms from Mrs. Grooms' Room. 

 (Pronounced Shauna...I think I need to start telling my online friends that.)   

And today, I am sharing part of my unit with YOU!  One of my favorite units that I have created is Telling Time with Momma Minute and Baby Hour.  You can check out the entire unit by clicking here.  Everything you need is in this unit. From centers, games, to practice sheets, you are set for the year.  It is the perfect way to start the year off!  

I always incorporate time into my calendar time EVERY DAY. We use Every Day Counts calendar math in my school district.  I LOVE IT!!  It takes a about 5 minutes a day but let me tell you...your children know time by the time you get to it.   

Howeverrrrr, I had to spice it up a little!!!  And since I use Momma Minute and Baby Hour, they are introduced in the very beginning of the year. 

So one of the things that we talk about in the very beginning of the year are the minutes.  We count minutes for 60 days and every day Momma Minute counts the number of minutes on the clock.  If it is the 15th day of school, then we count fifteen minutes on the clock with Momma.  

We always put our minutes into groups of five by coloring the minutes two different colors.  I use our school colors red and blue to color groups of five minutes.  You will end up having an AB pattern.  Also, a perfect way to show those patterns! ; )   

You will want to count the groups of five on the clock with your students every day.  (I promise...it will only take fives minutes to do!! BUT that pattern of fives will stick like glue!)    

We do the same for Baby Hour when we count the hours.  We count ALL the minutes in an hour before Baby Hour can go to the next hour or number.  

Helpful Hint: ONLY have Momma Minute on the clock when you count the first 60 days!  You can add Baby Hour later when you talk about hours. 

Now, it's freebie time!!

Inside your freebie, you will find... a clock to use with your students, visual aids for you to show Momma Minute and Baby hour, and little hands as Momma Minute and Baby Hour.  Of course, there is a practice sheet to use, too! 

We do a lot of prep work in the throughout the year to get us ready for our lessons on time. I know it sounds a little painful BUT the end results will make you cry only tears of joy. And your littles won't be crying at all!!  : )

Let us know how you help your students learn all about time in the comments below!!!  I would love to hear from you! 

Communities: Supplementing the Social Studies Texts

Hello, everyone!  I'm thrilled to be a part of this fantastic group of first grade teachers/bloggers/collaborators!  I am Lesley Boatright, and I run the TpT shop Practice Makes Perfect.  I've been a teacher for a really long time.  I taught kindergarten for 10 years, and then switched to first grade and never looked back.  I love teaching first grade!  I love teaching math and reading and social studies and Spanish. When I'm not teaching, I'm wife to my supportive husband, and mother to my two children.  My oldest son, 20, is in the service and living with his wife in North Carolina.  My daughter, 11, is in fifth grade, and often models for my resources, especially in the summer or if I want to include a face.  We've worked out a deal where I pay her $1.00 per resource sold if she models for it.

Supplementing the Text

Teaching social studies is always a challenge for me.  Being in a smallish Catholic school, there is a limited textbook budget, and it seems like every time it's time to upgrade the first grade social studies books, the money runs out.  The copyright date on the books I currently use is 2003!

I have no problem with the text.  It's a perfectly good text, and the information for first grade probably hasn't changed all that much that we need to get new books every five years like we do in reading and math.  But we no longer get any supplemental materials that come along with the texts, so we're left to our own devices as to how we want to teach the objectives.  So I was thrilled to find these two little books from Hameray Publishing's My World series, What's a Community and Very Important People.  I knew they tied in nicely with the social studies objectives.

I started with What's a Community?.  Using the posters I made to accompany the book, I started by introducing the key vocabulary from the book.

Then I read the story and we discussed all the different communities of which we are a member.  We made an anchor chart on big paper as we talked about our communities.

After that, we talked about our place in the world, starting with our neighborhood.  From there, we discussed that our neighborhoods were all a part of our town (city, if you live in an urban environment).  We went on to say that our town (city) is a part of our state, our state is a part of our country, and our country is on the continent of North America.  We completed this little foldable booklet to reinforce what we learned.

After we completed the foldable, I guided the children through completing a craftivity to again reinforce what we learned about our place in the world and hung them in the hallway.

Now, I can't guarantee you will have the same result, but my principal made it a point to stop by and tell me how cute these turned out!  I must say, the children's drawings of our state, our country, and our continent were quite funny.  Some of them did a fantastic job,

 and others -- well, let's just say it's a good thing we wrote the name as well as the picture!

 

I love reading The Little House, by Virginia Lee Burton, as part of my social studies unit on communities.

It is a great example of rural, suburban, and urban.  I created this little flapbook to finish after reading the story to my children.  

You can tell by reading the tabs the children are meant to make illustrations that depict what each type of community environment looks like.  A quick glance at the finished product, and you can tell whether your students understand the differences between the types of community environments.

After reading Very Important People, I made this fun Community Helpers puzzle booklet.  The children, or you, read the description, than cut and glue the correct community helper to the page.  

My kids loved completing this puzzle booklet.  The reading was easy enough that, working in groups of 3 to 4, most of the children were able to independently read the text, and if they got stuck on a word, they were able to help each other.  They loved the feeling of working independently and completing the booklet, then taking them home to share with their families.

So that is a closer look at how I used this social studies unit in my classroom. It's a great way to meet the objectives in first grade social studies in a relaxed and engaging way! If you'd like to take a closer look at the resource and download the free sample included in the preview, you can click on the picture below. 

Have a great weekend, everyone!