Abby's Crayon Adjective Lesson

This week in our reading series, Storytown, the main story is At the Crayon Factory. I can think of no better way to introduce this story then to teach Abby's Color Word Adjective Lesson!

Anchor Chart: Before

This bright anchor chart peaked their interest for sure!

At my school, all classes must begin their day teaching an RTI group, which means that my students were bugging me the whole thirty minutes of RTI asking me what they were going to do with crayons!!

Box of brand spanking new crayons, fun!

The night before, I pulled the 18 crayons that Abby suggested in her lesson. And let me tell you, it was not easy finding some of those crayons out of a box of 96. I had almost given up on melon. I was convinced that my box JUST DIDN'T HAVE IT! Then, after the 20th time looking I finally found it. I was so happy!

With the kiddos all snug on the rug, we discussed adjectives and how we use them. Then, I reminded them that color words are adjectives, too. I told them that the six colors posted on the chart are pretty cool, but there are other colors we may need to use that would describe things better. However, sometimes the names of those colors can be a little tricky. Next, I pulled the names of the colors one at a time and let the kids predict which family it belonged to. I made sure to ask them what their thinking processes were before I revealed the correct answer. I let each student color one of the words and add it to the chart. They loved learning the names of the colors.

Anchor Chart: After

 When the chart was complete, we discussed how we could use these new words as adjectives. I modeled how I would use one of the words, and I completed one of the activity sheets. Then, I let them each choose a color to complete their own activity sheet. Before I let them go with their crayon, they told me what their sentence was going to say. This helped them be more independent when they went back to their seats.

Here are some of my favorites:

"I got a new dress that is cornflower blue."

"I wish that I had melon hair."

"The pyramid is so goldenrod!"

"I have denim jeans."
The crayon is the head!

"The flowers were dandelion yellow."

When everyone had completed their sheets we added them with the anchor chart on the wall. It is so pretty!

The lesson was AWESOME!!

Thank you, Abby!

Click {here} to go to the lesson at The Inspired Apple.

Listening Linky-Loo

Brenda at Primary Inspired is hosting a Linky party about Listening Stations. I am really curious and excited to see how everyone else sets up their stations.
I'm not too thrilled about mine for two reasons:
1. Lack of furniture
2. Lack of space
However, there is a silver lining. This year, I have a class set of iPods. Now, they don't need a place to listen. They can go anywhere.

Ta-dah!
The side you can see is a CD player and on the other side is the old fashioned tape player. The CD's and tapes are located under the tape player. The story books are sorted and color coded in the 3 cubbies against the wall. Inside the green pouch is response sheets.
"LAME-O"


Now with the iPods:

The kids really like the StoryChimes app.
They have classic stories like The Three Little Pigs and Hansel and Gretel.

I have story telling apps loaded onto their iPods. A few of them are the Story Chimes app and the Learning A to Z app. 

These three are listening to the same story book using their iPods.

Also, they can choose to listen to a story from the Listening Station that I added onto the iTunes library of each iPod.


Another listening station is at the computer. Our school has a subscription to Tumblebooks. I LOVE Tumblebooks! If your school doesn't have a subscription, you need to beg for it!


Don't forget to link up with Brenda at Primary Inspired and add your own Listening Station!

Change the y to i ...

This week I am on StoryTown, Lesson 28. I am so excited because we are almost completed with the series, and then I can teach using actual literature!

Anywho, we are working on inflections es, ed, est. I've made this little Making Words activity to use in my Word Work station.

Download (1 MB)

Enjoy!


*So, my sister just laughed at me because "kitties" is not the proper term. I am well aware it is kittens. I plan on talking about that with the kids, BUT kitties is 
W-A-Y cuter.
Don't you think?

It's Official

I have been waiting patiently (sort of) and I finally got the good news...

Wait For It...

I'm going to The Power of Literacy, IRA 56th Annual Convention! I am super-duper excited! Does that make me a total nerd or what? It's like going to Woodstock or something. If I can get into the sessions, I'll be able to see, hear, and learn from the following greats: Richard Allington, The Two Sisters: Gail and Joan, Regie Routman, Sharon Taberski, Tim Rasinski, Debbie Diller, Ruth Culham, Goldie Hawn, and Linda Hoyt. And that's just some of the names that popped out at me while I was looking quickly at the program.

I am so thrilled that my principal is sending me. I'll have to get him a really cool end of year gift!

I will make sure to take plenty of pictures to share with y'all!

Making Movies Using iMovie {a dvd}

I've created several videos for my students over the years, and I forget how to burn it onto a dvd every time!

It isn't too difficult, I just forget the steps.

Recently, I've had to assist a friend with making a dvd. Once again, I had forgotten the steps. This time, I decided to make a "How To" document to go along with my instructions. Hopefully, it will help me remember the steps!

Step 1: Create your movie using iMovie.

Step 2: Choose Media Browser

Step 3: Select the Size

Step 4: Open iDVD and choose a Theme

Step 5: Locate your video using the Media button on the right side of the screen.

Step 6: Give your movie a title.

Step 7: Go to File and choose Burn DVD

Step 8: Insert a DVD and wait for it to Burn

That's it!

I usually like to Preview the movie first before I burn it to a DVD. Also, the first burn takes the longest time. Afterwards, multiple copies of the movie burn quicker. (Which is good when you have to make a class set of videos.)

I take videos of Open House, field trips, plays/programs, end-of-year party, and then I'll put them all together along with a slideshow of my pictures as an End-of-Year DVD gift to my students.

*NOTE: THESE INSTRUCTIONS ARE FOR THOSE WHO USE A MAC. I HAVEN'T A FLIPPIN' CLUE HOW TO MAKE ONE WITH A PC!

If two trains are traveling at...

Check it out!

Here is a list of all the prime numbers up to 1,000: 

2	3	5	7	11	13	17	19	23	29	31	37	41	43	47	53	59	61	67
71	73	79	83	89	97	101	103	107	109	113	127	131	137	139	149	151	157	163
167	173	179	181	191	193	197	199	211	223	227	229	233	239	241	251	257	263	269
271	277	281	283	293	307	311	313	317	331	337	347	349	353	359	367	373	379	383
389	397	401	409	419	421	431	433	439	443	449	457	461	463	467	479	487	491	499
503	509	521	523	541	547	557	563	569	571	577	587	593	599	601	607	613	617	619
631	641	643	647	653	659	661	673	677	683	691	701	709	719	727	733	739	743	751
757	761	769	773	787	797	809	811	821	823	827	829	839	853	857	859	863	877	881
883	887	907	911	919	929	937	941	947	953	967	971	977	983	991	997

AND why am I sharing this with my bloggy friends?

The sad truth is because I am coaching two teams of fifth graders for a math competition at the end of the month.

Have I mentioned before that I am terrible at math? Well, I am!!!

So, for the past two hours I've been solving pages of math problems to prepare for our practices in the morning.

This certainly proves that if you don't use it, you lose it!

Let me just say that I am very thankful to be a first grade teacher!

Happy Calculating All!

Geometry Fun

Don't you just love Jerry Pallotta's Math Books?

Well, I do and so do my kids. I can never find my books when I need them because they are living in someone's book basket.

Also, aren't Bendaroos pretty cool?

Making words is a lot more enjoyable when you can use Bendaroos!

Now, when you can use Bendaroos with a Jerry Pallotta math book, be prepared for some fun!

We will begin learning about Geometry this week, and I can't wait!  Our new math series has the kiddos adding and subtracting with regrouping and it is has been torture for some of them. We have our third benchmark test (on the computer no less) this Tuesday and there are 4 questions with regrouping on it. I will be so happy to teach something different!

As a fun way to hook them into Geometry, I'll use this book and the kids will make the shapes using the Bendaroos.

While they are making the shapes, they will use this Shape Book to guide them along.

https://docs.google.com/uc?id=0B50IAhu4PvmBYWY3ZGYyNjUtNDIzMy00ZWRhLTllNWEtMjkyYmI3M2Y5NzBj&export=download&hl=en
Also, I use this PowerPoint at the beginning of our Geometry Unit. [click here] It is a little long, but I have found that the kids really get a lot out of it. Enjoy!

You Gotta Sign Up For This Giveaway!

Amanda at One Extra Degree is hosting a fantastic giveaway. She's giving away Cara's Fact and Opinion Packet,

 Babbling Abby's Astronaut Activities, 

and her own Poetry Unit. 

Now, you can get these awesome activities at their TPT stores, but it would be more fun to win them!

Please go to One Extra Degree to check out what you need to do to win these activities!