Chirstmas Rewind!

I know this is a little late, but worth the post non-the less!

I told you all that we were going to do If  You Take a Mouse to the Movies... we did all of my worksheets that I posted a few weeks ago and we also did a few fun projects!   First we read the story and made Cara Carroll's cute mouse! I just love her projects over at The First Grade Parade :)

If you take me to the movies I will want popcorn with chocolate balls.

Then we did some popcorn fact families and strung them on our Christmas Tree! Can I just say the kids LOVED this!! Some kiddos got pre-determined fact family numbers and other got to make up their own. Then they wrote each equation on a popcorn paper and strung them on the string.

As they finished I helped the kids place them on our tree.

Okay... its not a real tree and we attached with tape, but hey, it totally works!

Then we read this great book that I got from Scholastic in November.

Did you get this one too? Santa looses his reindeer and asks some farm animals to help him out. The kids thought the pictures were funny and what a great book for a story response... What animal would you ask to help you, if your reindeer got away?

I would want a horse to pull my sleigh because they are faster than a dog.

I would want a bunny to pull the sleigh because they can jump up.

Thanks for going back with me :) See you tomorrow for a rewind of Snowman day and some fun freebies!

It's SANTA-TREE!

OK... this is it... the one and only SANTA-TREE!

Tree on the front, Santa on the back; hang and spin!

The picture doesn't do it justice. This is my FAVORITE holiday craft that we do in class. I LOVE it! Seriously, the ooos and aaahhs from the kids doesn't compare to the excitement I get from this dang project. I mean it's a Santa AND a tree all in one.... L-O-V-E! I wish I had come it with it, but I picked it up from my district's TRC one year and have done it ever since.

I usually wait till the last week before break to do this VERY labor intensive project, but we were able to squeeze it in early this year so I could hang it up! Hooray!

I like to pair this activity with the skill compare and contrast... how? you ask... with these two books.

We read both stories (not back to back, but within a few days of each other) and talk about their similarities and differences.

Then the kids do this follow up independent activity (which you can get HERE), while I work with my strugglers on the skill.

Same: They both go in a house Different: One had Santa the other has Goldilocks

If you are interested in the Santa Tree pattern let me know, and I'll post it!

And... one more fun little project that we do for the holiday is this reindeer. It is a fun direct instruction cutting project great for giving the kiddos a chance to practice tracing, cutting squares into circles and rectangles into ovals, and the awful task of cutting out a triangle from the rectangle (I have to have MILLIONS of extras for this; tons of "it's okay, just try again" going on for this project). But, in the end they come out super cute.

The girls stick a bow in their antlers and the boys tuck it under the nose as a bow tie. I'm sure you you can figure this little project out on your own, but if you are interested in the paper dimensions let me know!

Okay... that's enough, LOL! Happy Wednesday!

It's Bud's Day Out!

This week we read Bud's Day Out in HM. I LOVE this story. Most weeks I could live without the anthology story provided by HM, but not this one. It is cute, easy to follow, has a great pictures and the kids can totally relate to the main character. So, this story gets a little "extra love" in my class.

I made theses story summary cards (inspired by Mrs. Bainbridge) and worked through a story retell...for the first time the kids did surprisingly well and we will definitely use these cards more. Click the pick to get them too!

the cards are: somebody, wanted, but, so, and

First the story's background... Bud gets away. Ben and his mom find him causing trouble in the pet shop. They get Bud, help clean up and apologize to the shop owner. The shop owner gives Ben a book titled, The 10 Rules for Dogs, to read to Bud.

So we talked rules for dogs and made a long list. The kids came up with everything from "always give me kisses to don't potty in the house"! Then they set off to write down the 4 most important rules for their dog.

1. don't fight 2. keep your leash on 3. do not bark at other dogs 4. listen to me

After, we put together my replica of Bud and had him hold the rules. I think they came out precious.

loving the ring around the eye!

Could you use this pattern too? I hope so... if not now...maybe at Easter? (run him on white and have the ears pointing up!) Click the pic to get the patten and the writing page :)

Have a happy Saturday! I will be shopping and decorating our Christmas tree. Hooray!

October Quilt

We made it to the weekend... yea!

One of my favorite things we do each month is our literature quilt. My intention is to do this every month beginning when school starts, but we never seem to get a handle on it till October.. you know how that goes. So needless to say, we completed our first quilt on Friday.

I choose Spookley the Square Pumpkin as our October book (about a pumpkin different from the rest that will end up saving the day... great for touching on problem solving, hard work, diversity, and rhyming...seriously a cute story... check it out). We responded by answering the question: How would you stop the pumpkins from rolling out of the patch?

I was really surprised by some of their great answers! Catching it with a net, building a wall, asking people for help, mend the fence...those smart firsties  :)

And I can't do anything without a corresponding art project, so that's where the quilt comes in. A tissue paper and starch pumpkin with a pipe cleaner vine. The kids had so much fun with this! I love doing art mediums they have never done before.

"I will make a wall. The wall will be strong."

And our finished bulletin board...

crooked... grrr

Do you make a classroom quilt? Try it out if you don't... it is a great change of pace from the everyday reading program and a fun filled art project to go along! Happy October!