Literacy Help for the Summer

Some of my first graders are just beginning to grasp reading and they are doing so well!  I am so proud and excited for them, but I hate to lose them at this point in the year because I don't want their reading to regress.  As a result, I have been trying to come up with a literacy packet or ideas to send home for extra practice over the summer months.  I have to say that in order to become a successful reader, the first step is sight word recognition.  With my lowest group of readers this year, I have pushed and pushed sight word activities during our guided reading time.  After reading a book on their level we usually do some kind of practice or review depending on how much time we have left.  Their favorite game is sight word go fish, but we have also played sight word bingo, flash cards, and memory.  Here are a few more activities I plan to incorporate next year, but that I also plan to send home with some of my students over the summer. 
I recently found this I Can Speed Read packet on TpT, which focuses on racing against yourself on reading sight words.  It is $2.00, but I figure if I can get a child excited about reading and it helps them to recognize their sight words quicker, it is totally worth it!

If fluency and sight word recognition is your goal, you can try this idea called One breath boxes from Teacher Tipster.  Swamp First Graders adapted this idea to create her own one breath boxes based on the Reading Street program.  See if your child/student is able to read all the words in a box in one breath in order to build fluency.  Did I mention that both are free!?!

 These roll and read fluency practice sheets come from First Grade Brain.  They were created based on the Scott Foresman Reading Street.  My school district does not use this program, but they still look like great practice for fluency.  You can find units 2 - 5 on TpT for $2.00 each.

I have also come up with a list of book suggestions for summer, based on guided reading levels.  So many times I have parents frustrated after visiting the library because they just aren't sure what their child is capable of reading.  Hopefully this list will not only offer a few suggestions, but will also allow the parents to compare the varying levels of difficulties.  Please let me know if there are other great books or series I should include or if you disagree with anything you see.  Thank you!

F Books

Cookie’s Week

G books

The Carrot Seed

If You Give a Pig a Party

Clifford series

H Books

Shoo Fly Guy

Danny and the Dinosaur Go to Camp

A Kiss For Little Bear

I Books

A Color of His Own                                                                          

Parts by Tedd Arnold

The Kissing Hand

Froggy series

J Books

Little Critter by Mercer Mayer                                                   

 Curious George

Cowgirl Kate                                                                                        

Nate the Great                                

Henry & Mudge                                                                                                

Fox and His Friends

Little Bear

K Books

Froggy Books

Frog & Toad                                                                                         

Bedtime For Francis

Corduroy                                                                                              

Caps For Sale

Diary of a ________ series

 

L  Books

Cam Jansen                                                                                       

Berenstein Bears

Amelia Bedelia                                                                                 

Get Ready for 2^nd Grade, Amber Brown

Ready Freddy

M Books

Bailey School Kids

Junie B. Jones                                                                                     

Tikki Tikki Tembo

Freckly Juice                                                                                        

Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs

Horrible Harry                                                                                     

Skippyjon Jones

The Littles

Recent Spelling Activities

I thought I would take a break from my teacher appreciation door decoration posts to fill you in on what spelling activities we have been working on in my first grade classroom.  Recently my grade covered the OU/OW words.  I grabbed this activity from Babbling Abby at The Inspired Apple.  Where do I start with her?  Her talents totally inspire me to become a better teacher!

My kids wrote an OU and an OW sentence and illustrated each (as seen above).  I made a cow and mouse poster, which are now displayed in my room for the students to refer to.  Later in the week, I had my kids write about a time they got an OWie.  Trust me when I say that EVERY child has a story about that!! 

The kids enjoyed writing their stories, but even more so, they loved illustrating their hurt bodies and putting a band-aid on their owies.  I am going to have to stock up on cute band-aids just for this writing activity!

I didn't use this "My ouch story" paper, but it definitely a cute one to use! 

You can grab a copy of the paper at What the Teacher Wants.

Here are a couple of Owie stories from my students:

 And here are all of them, proudly displayed on the hallway bulletin board.

I came across these perfect little posters (via Differentiation Station) to reinforce R-controlled words (OR, AR and IR/ER/UR).  This is just one of the 3 posters, so head on over to grab all 3 for your classroom.

I printed them out, backed them with construction paper (to add more color), laminated and have all 3 currently hanging in my classroom.  I can't tell you how often I see my students looking at these as a reminder of how to spell a word.
Last week our words were "double o" words.  As spelling practice one day, we used Froot Loops for the OO's. 

 You can grab your free copy from First Grade Wow.

I told the kids if they were able to all get 100% on our spelling test, we would celebrate by having a cOOkie & bOOk party! 

Put the word party with anything, and the kids get excited.  Apparently this trick worked, because EVERY SINGLE STUDENT got 100%!!  I was so proud of them!
I found these "You are one SMART cookie on TpT for $1.00 if you are interested, otherwise I am sure you could create your own little sign.

This time of year I find to be the hardest because the kids are all so ready for summer and things get a little crazy!  With that being said, this time of the year is also my FAVORITE as far as what my kids are capable of doing and what we teach.  I will be sad to let these cute kids go in a month, but for now we are still learning while squeezing a little fun in too!

Tacky the Penguin Sequencing Activity

Since coming back from Christmas break, my class has been learning about penguins and other arctic animals.  We just finished up this unit, but before it came to a close I thought I would complete my 2nd lesson for my yearly principal evaluation.  I decided to tie in what we have been learning about in our reading program (sequencing) to what we have been learning about in class (penguins), and thus Lesson 2 (Literacy) was created.
When learning about penguins we read both fiction and nonfiction books and so of course I had to throw Tacky the Penguin somewhere into the mix!  I saw this anchor chart from Life in First Grade and decided to change it to the story we read, which of course was Tacky the Penguin.

I premade the anchor chart with everything you see above, except for the blue writing of first, next, then and last.  That part we did as a class after discussing elements of the story.  I gave each student 4 index cards and we began to break apart the story.  We talked about what happened first in the story and came up with the important thing being that Tacky was an odd bird.  The students wrote that on index card #1.  Next we discussed what happened next or secondly in the story and wrote that on index card #2 and so on until all 4 index cards were filled up.  The students then went back to their seats and were each given a 12 x 18 sheet of construction paper and told to fold it in half "hotdog" way.  They wrote the title of the book on the front along with their name.

 When the students opened their paper, they were to glue their 4 index cards down on the left side in order or events.  Then they were given 4 more index cards to draw a picture to match up with the event described in the story.  The kids had fun with this activity and I thought it was a fun twist on learning more on sequencing.

100th Day of School

If you are an elementary teacher, primarily grades K-2, you know just how important the 100th day of school is!  In my classroom we keep track on a 100's chart how many days we have been in school, including adding a popsicle stick to the ones pocket and then bundling at each 10.  Trust me, my kids KNOW when the 100th day of school is!!  That crazy day just happened to fall yesterday and can I just say how sad I am.  The reason you ask?  I thought I was totally prepared with my camera for some good pictures for our class end of the year video, but in truth my camera's memory stick was not in my camera and would not work for me. :(  Here are 2 pictures that I snapped today of projects that were left in the classroom...
One project was to make a classbook of what the kids would buy if they had $100.  Some of the answers included a horse, a limousine, a truck, and a fancy place to live, but this student must be thinking more of the future!

 We made these hats (which now I can't remember where they were found.  Let me know if you know.)

 The headband was a strip of 2 x 18 construction paper.  Before stapling the hat together, the kids had to write to 100 using tally marks.  Surprisingly, they thought it was really fun math!

If you are in need of a hat design, here is a link to a 100th day of school crown from The Virtual Vine.

Ok so this is where you use your imagination to visualize the other activities.  For a snack, I surprised the kids when they came back in from recess with a "100" on their desks made from a wafer cookie and 2 donut holes. 

We also played this math game from Making Learning Fun.  I shrunk the 2 pages down so they fit side by side on one paper and had the kids play the game in partners.  (Click the link above for directions on how to play.)

The kids were each asked to bring in 100 items that fit inside of a paper lunch sack I provided.  On the front of the bag I had stapled a paper explaining what were doing, but basically the kids were to write 3 clues of what was in the sack so we could guess.  Once everyone had a turn, we shared all the items so the kids could take home a piece of everyone's collection.  I think this was my students' favorite activity!  Yesterday was such a fun day, and one that my students had been looking forward to for...well...100 days!

If the 100th day of school is equally important to you or your students, here are a few ideas I have come across:
* Make a classbook using one of the following ideas: 
I would like to have 100 _________ , but I would not like to have 100 __________ .
If I had $100, I would buy ___________ .
In 100 days of school, I have learned how to __________ .
* Have the students fill out a blank 100's chart...good assessment tool too!
* Do 100 math problems.
* Have the students make posters using 100 items.  Here are a few I came across...

100 sugar cubes makes an igloo.

100 gumballs

OR you could use this FREE gumball printable from Plum Adorable.



100 Flowers (Idea from Circle of Quiet)

Here's an easy one you could put together at the last minute...10 hand prints!

Looking for a super cute bulletin art project?  This one was put together by Mrs. Williamson in Room 36.

Still need more ideas?  Check out my 100th Day of School board on Pinterest.  Hope you have a happy and hectic 100th day of school too!

January Bulletin Board

Even though January is half way through, you can still use this idea for a few more weeks, or store it away for next year.  One thing about me, is that I love scrapbooking, being crafty and doing art (with my students), but changing out the bulletin board may be one of my LEAST  favorite parts of teaching.  I love looking at what others do in class and display on their bulletin boards, but with everything else there is to do as a teacher, I feel it falls to the back burner sometimes.  So, with that in mind, I like to keep the ideas simple and preferably last for a month or longer.  In fact, if you look at the background for my bulletin boards, you may even notice to same butcher paper ALL YEAR LONG! lol  At least I am saving paper right!?!

I actually saw this art idea on where else, but Pinterest!  (The idea came from Oopsey Daisy.)  When I saw it, I knew I wanted to try it! 

First we read the book Snowmen At Night by Mark Buehner (great book by the way!)  I had a parent volunteer in class that day to help, so I decided it would be a perfect day for a potentially messy art project.  After reading the story, I called about 5 students over to my kidney table at a time to make their snowmen.  The other students stayed at their seats cutting their "extras" out, such as scarf, carrot nose, etc. out of scrap paper.  Truthfully, had I had any scrap fabric on hand at the time, we would have used that for the scarfs.  The kids didn't seem to notice or mind though.  I had my parent volunteer walk around the students to ask what their snowman did at night.  She then wrote their responses on a post it note so they could copy it onto their already printed out paper.  (Their paper said:  "My snowman _____________ at night.") 

I must say that I enjoyed this activity and can see myself using it again in the future, however the next time around I would like to involve more writing.  I think that by mid-year my students could have written a story to go along with their snowman, but like I said that will have to wait until next year. 

The snowmen were created by mixing approximately equal parts of shaving cream to Elmer's glue.  The students painted their snowman with their choice of a popsicle stick or their fingers onto a 8 x 8 piece of blue construction paper.  Before their snowman dried, they attached googly eyes, carrot nose and anything else they wanted to add.  Once the snowmen were dried, we backed them with a 8 1/2 x 8 1/2 sheet of white cardstock for more support.  I couldn't believe how soft and fluffy looking the snowmen dried!  The hardest part has been keeping the students from touching their masterpieces as they have been on display in the hall!  The kids were definitely proud of their projects!

Here are a few up close shots:



"My snowman delivers presents at night."

"My snowman goes sledding at night."



"My snowman feeds my horse at night."

Where's My Mummy?

Here's a fun Halloween book and writing/art activity to go along.  This idea comes from The First Grade Parade.  I love doing an activity to go along with a story and this will be perfect for my 1st graders this year!  The art is made by using a paper plate, a black strip of construction paper and 2 orange circles for the eyes.  Have the kids rip pieces of white paper to create the mummy effect.  The kids then write about what their "mummy" does for them when they get scared. 

Using the same story and idea, here is a variation of the paper plate mummy from Deanna Jump.

What fun Halloween ideas!  Thanks ladies for sharing these ideas.  I'm thinking how cute this would be for a bulletin board display!

Pete the Cat

Earlier this year I won the book Pete the Cat from Mrs. Parker.  At that time, I had never heard of the then new children's book, but now it seems it is everywhere.  If you have ever listened to the song that goes along with the story, you would know why.  It is so cute and so catchy!
To begin, I think the most popular thing out there is this Pete the Cat unit from Deanna Jump. 

Can you see why?  You can purchase this entire 70 page download on Mrs. Jump's TpT for just $6.00!

After reading the story to your class, you will need to create a classbook to go along with it, so try this download from Finally in First.

Or from Made For 1st Grade, this classbook:

Mrs. Parker created these darling Pete the Cat puppets using blue paper sacks found at Target.

and her bulletin board idea using Pete the Cat...oh my!

Making Learning Fun has TONS of great printables for the book, including a dot to dot, coloring pages, reader book, math activities and more...

Kindergarten Crayons has SO MANY Pete the Cat printables/downloads, including this great little printable book...

This cut and glue in the right order sentence and draw your own picture page...wow and I call myself a  teacher?  {Nice sentence!  LOL}

(Kindergarten Crayons)

I love this idea of using shapes to create a Pete the Cat.

I also love this pocket chart center idea.  Click HERE to get your own for FREE!

The following ideas were found on Pinterest, so I am not sure where they originate from since the link takes you straight to Scribd.  If you know, please let me know so that I may give credit where it's due.  Anyway...this Pete the Cat school tour idea would be so fun if you used this at the beginning of the year to familiarize your students with the school.  Also, a great color book HERE...I can see it's from Kinderpond, but couldn't find the original post to link to.

Want to have a Pete the Cat classroom mascot?  Head over to Erika Bohrer's First Grade to see how.

From Cecelia Magro, here is a FREE 1st grade math journal download from TpT.

If you are a primary elementary teacher, or a mother of a young child, then this Pete the Cat idea is for you!  Peace, Love and Learning created this FREE unit which motivates your child to want to learn how to tie their shoes so they can join "Pete's Shoe Tying Club".  You have to check it out!

OK and finally, if you are into totally ridiculous birthday parties for your children, you have to read about this Pete the Cat birthday, where "Mr. Eric" (the author himself) was a guest!  You can read more about that at Made During Nap Time.

Hattie and the Fox

Hattie and the Fox is a younger aged children's book, written by Mem Fox.  Hattie tries warning her animal friends that she sees something in the bushes, but nobody pays attention to her, until they realize that what she is saying is true.  Here are a few activities to accompany the story...
I love this tear art project from Bloesem Kids.

Use the animal printables from Hubbards Cupboard to create the masks needed for a reader's theatre.