The Reading Rollercoaster: PLOT

WOW...

I'm introducing PLOT to my Firsties in the 3rd week of school!

 

I admit that it is a watered down version for introductory purposes .... but my kiddos did fairly well!

 

I use this anchor chart to help as a visual!

(Who doesn't love rollercoasters?)

 

Cute right?

 

We listened to the story "Enemy Pie" by Derek Munson and Tara Calahan King on Storyline Online. (great resource that has wonderful book read alouds)

After listening to the book we discuss as a class the Beginning, Middle, and End of the story.

Then we read our weekly story from our textbook and discussed the Plot again!

Then we completed our Interactive Reading Journal!

 



Three CHEERS for EVEN Steven and ODD Todd

Three CHEERS for

EVEN Steven and ODD Todd!!

 

My Firsties are learning about Even and Odd numbers!

I introduced them to my friends...

EVEN Steven and ODD Todd!

I made these little characters to go along with the book "Even Steven Odd Todd" by Kathryn Cristaldi, Marilyn Burns and Henry B. Morehouse.

Steven is nice and neat. He always has a partner and loves for everything to be just perfect! Todd is messy and unorganized! His room is always a mess, and he has trouble keeping partners!

 

We also learned a CHEER to go along with our learning!

Even my little boys were enjoying clapping and chanting along!

 





10 More .... 10 Less

What a mess...

10 More and 10 Less

 

 

My class had been working HARD on 1 More 1 Less, and I could tell they were finally GETTING it!

SO I packed on something more...

10 More 10 Less!

I was so SCARED this would throw my kiddos for a LOOP, but BOY did they prove me wrong!!

I think since we worked so hard to master 1 more 1 less, the 10 more 10 less concept sunk in much easier! Of course these little gadgets I made HELPED A WHOLE BUNCH!

 

I simply drew the tool (I call it our number T) out on paper, made copies, laminated, and cut! I would call out a number aloud and prompt them to write that number in the middle. Then they had to find 1 more, 1 less, 10 more, and 10 less. I also made a BIG version of the tool that stuck to my board. I would call up volunteers to help me complete my "number T." I think this tool really helped them to visualize their numbers!

 
 



 



MON-STAR CENTERS and a GIVEAWAY!!!

MON-STAR CENTERS

I love the way that I operate my Literacy Centers!

It is very simple, hardly no prep, and the kids love it ALL year long!

Here is a peek at all my CENTERS and how each one works!

This picture shows how my centers are organized!
I take photos of my kiddos and group them with partners (2 groups will have 3 students)! I place their picture on the board and pin my "Mon-STAR" center labels underneath their picture. We typically do 1 center a day .... so the next day I just rotate the centers around by moving down the "Mon-STAR" labels.
I find the pictures make it very visual for the students to see what they are doing for Literacy Center time. Plus, they think it is so neat to have their picture displayed for all to see!

BIG BOOK CENTER
The students go to my BIG BOOK area (little storage unit I found specifically for big books) and pull out a book of their choice! While they are reading I have them look for any of our weekly vocabulary words, amazing words, or focused "sounds" that we are working on. For instance, this week we reviewed letters Cc, Nn, Pp, and short /a/. This student is writing down any words that display these skills! To BEEF up the center throughout the year I easily change out pointers that they students can use to help track their reading. Once I decided to staple 5-6 pieces of poster board together and I let a group write and illustrate their own BIG BOOK! I still have their finished product at the center! SO NEAT!

LIBRARY CENTER
My library is my PRIDE and JOY! I organized my library based on book levels. I have a folder with each level and I place students' names under the level that is appropriate for them. When students go to the library they check the folder to see what level they should pull from, and then simply pull a book that looks interesting to them. They read the book silently to themselves while enjoying a comfy chair or rug! Later in the year I may have them read a book and complete a foldable or worksheet that correlates with a recent reading skill we have studied. For instance I may have them reproduce a foldable identifying the characters and setting in the book that they read. This early in the year I just let them read a book, and if they finish prior to the end of centers they just select a new book! 

Listening Center
I have to admit that this center is a class favorite! You can tell the kids are always anxious to get their turn at the Listening Center. I was blessed to be given wireless headphones this past year, which made this center SO much easier! Our library has a large stock of books on CDs that I check out once a week. The children get their book out, put on their headphones, and press play! How EASY is that! Better yet they are engaged the WHOLE time! Check out my kiddos following along with their POINTER fingers ........ Not trying to honk my own horn but .... TOOT TOOT!!

MAGNETIC CENTER
I owe this center to my WONDERFUL husband! When I realized I needed some cubbies for my classroom, we got busy building (much cheaper than buying them already made)! I knew I would place my red cubby so that I would create a "hallway" type entrance into my classroom. So my brain started pondering because I KNEW I wanted to still use that space! So we went and found a sheet of metal, drilled it to the back of the cubby, and BAM you have a magnetic center! The kiddos grab my bucket of magnetic letters and build words. They can build spelling words, vocabulary words, or focused letters/sounds that we are focusing on during the week!

READ TO SELF
Granted this isn't the class favorite, BUT it is SO IMPORTANT!
The students use their reading textbook at this center and simply read to themselves! I have them read the weekly story twice, and then they are allowed to check out a library book to read! I make it engaging by allowing them a variety of tools to help them read! They can use our "Reading Phones," they can wear REALLY big glasses (another Dollar Tree treasure), or a magnifying glass! These little tools make this center fun and engaging for the students!

WORD WORK CENTER
This is the only center that takes a LITTLE bit of prep from me each week! I change this center up each week or every other week depending on what skills we are working with in reading. This week (beginning of the year) we reviewed the letters Cc, Pp, Nn, and short /a/. So I BUSTED out my stamps. The students used the stamps to create words with the sounds/letters we were studying. Sometimes they have a cut/paste type of Word Work activity, sometimes they have a Phonics related board game they can play. This is the only center that really varies from week to week.

Writing Center
Write, Write, Write!
The only thing the students have to do at this center is WRITE! I have a Writing Center wall that offers the students a multitude of ideas of things to write about, or different forms of writing! I provide a little buckets with writing tools. Since this is the beginning of the year I only have some pencils and crayons in the box. Later on I will spice it up by providing funky pencils/pens, markers, fun stationary, and anything else I may find that will engage them and make them excellent authors! First week of school and these babies are writing away ....... and it is so neat to see how PROUD they are of their work!

READY FOR THE GIVEAWAY.....

All you have to do is FOLLOW my blog and then leave a COMMENT with your email address! In the next week you will receive some FREE GOODIES that your children will LOVE to have as a Reading resource!

I can't wait to start sending this FREE Reading Response packet!




 

 



One More One Less

One More, One Less

is about to make me go BONKERS!

This is such a HARD skill for beginning 1st Graders to grasp! I have worked and worked at this skill ALL week ..... and today I was almost brought to TEARS when I watched it "click" with some struggling students!

 

So I thought I would share some of my TRICKS in hopes that it may work for someone else too!

I searched and searched for a hands-on manipulative for my students to use with this concept and came up empty handed! SO I made my own ......

I made these tables on Word, printed them, laminated them, and HORRAY we have a tool to use!

The kids loved using their dry erase markers and I think it really helped them to have the visual of "before" and "after" without using those words! I really try to make myself say "one more" and "one less."

I would call a number and they would write that number in the middle. Then I would prompt them to figure out One More and One Less. I would walk around and observe who was getting it .... and who was still struggling!

 

Later in the week I found this Dice Game...

Who doesn't love playing with dice?

The student's roll two dice, pick a number, write it in the middle column, and then answer One More and One Less! I had my kiddos work with a partner! This was also differentiated very easily in a sense due to the students getting to choose their number!

For instance if their die was a 2 and a 5 .... they could use the number 25 or 52!

The struggling students I noticed were more apt to choose the smaller numbers!

 I found this interesting!

Students' differentiating their own work .... Who would have thought!?

 

This is how we ROLL...

 

I picked up these little containers at the Dollar Tree!

 (yes I'm a Dollar Tree Diva)

I place two Dice inside so that the kiddos can shake them and look at their numbers, without the hassle of dice being thrown around the room or falling off their desk! PLUS, they think its SUPER cool! Much better than your plain ole' dice!

 

 





Nouns, Nouns, Nouns

I'm LOVING those NOUNS!

 

My class hit NOUNS this week ..... and we hit the HARD!

 

Not the prettiest anchor chart you have ever seen .... but it served it's purpose WELL! Check out what it looked like after our Introduction to Nouns and our classroom brainstorming of WORDS...

 

After our Noun Introduction and Brainstorming session we watched a FUN video about Nouns! BEWARE this tune will be stuck in your head for hours! Just click on the link to watch!

 

Insert Foldable!
The kiddos love making these!
When you open up the flap you will find 3-4 examples of each kind of noun!

 

 

 



Characters and Setting

Characters and Setting

 

We jumped off the diving board and DOVE right into identifying Characters and Setting this week! My school has the Reading Street series, so this week we were reading the story "Snap." Of course I just can't read the story and complete the workbook pages ..... my GOAL is always to make it ENGAGING and FUN!

 

So..... we started to listening to "The Rainbow Fish" at Storyline Online! LOVE THIS BOOK!

(This is a great website that has famous actors/actresses read popular children's books)

 

After listening to the story, I play the SILLY teacher (I do this often) and stated that the setting of the story was in a jungle! The kids almost had a come-apart! "NO Mrs. Jessica, you are wrong," they exclaimed! I then had them prove to me that I was wrong! Hmmm.... higher order thinking anyone .... common core anyone??? LOVE IT!

I then let them work with a partner and complete a Character/Setting Sort! This was a quick way for me to assess if they could distinguish what a character/setting was!

 

Finally, we dug into our weekly story "Snap." After reading I assessed my student's mastery of the skill by having them complete this Character/Setting Interactive Journal page! This was our first time with an Interactive Journal page so it took some time and modeling to ensure they got it right (where to cut and where to glue to ensure success)! It was SUCCESSFUL to say the least!

 

 



We proudly displayed our work on the wall for all to see!