Yeah! My Unit 11 CORE Math is posted. We are just finishing Unit 10 this week and my kids are having so much fun learning about 3D Shapes! I have been creating these math units because of the lack of curriculum we have been given when switching to the CORE standards. Unfortunately, because of the budget we may not be getting curriculum that aligns with the new standards for several years! 

These units have a lesson plan for each day, a guided practice page and a spiraled review page. I am AMAZED at my students math abilities and I truly believe it is because the concepts are reviewed again and again. I have recieved so many positive comments from teachers who have been using these units in their class. Here are a few from TpT.

• "My teaching partner and I love your units. We have received many compliments from parents and don't have any complaints!"
• "This packet is awesome, Angie! I will be purchasing the other Common Core packets you have made available."
• "My students really love the lessons and enjoy the fun activities that reinforce the skills. I am thrilled that it is spiraled to ensure that I am hitting all the standards. Thanks for your continuous hard work in developing these!"
• "I am a 1st grade teacher that is using the Common Core State Standards. I LOVE your math units!! They are exactly what I have been looking for. Thank you SO much for all of the work you have done!! I look forward to your reply!! Your work is awesome!!"
• "I wanted to let you know how much I LOVE your core math units! It has really allowed me to focus on the new common core standards and feel like I am actually covering all of them!"

THANK YOU for all of the positive comments! I had MANY request for Units 1-4 for first quarter and I am excited to announce I have Units 1 and 2 posted for 20% off. I will have Units 3 and 4 soon!

Science Night:Dental Health Style

Last Thursday night was our annual Science Night and I took a couple pictures to share. First we had the giant toothbrush to walk through. The kids LOVED this!

On the back wall students had their tooth fairies displayed and their science EGGsperiments. Students were responsible for knowing about each groups experiment and results. I loved listening to the first graders lecturing their parents about their bad dental habits (coffee drinkers and soda drinkers). 

  On their tables students had their "Guess Who - Tooth Edition" Game and their Totally Teeth Book. I had such a great time listening to the kids tell their parents about all the things they learned.

The Tooth Fairy

What does the tooth fairy do with all the teeth she collects? That is exactly what we plan to answer with this fun art/writing activity. Download the FREE file here to get all the black lines to create the tooth fairy.

After students hear the story "What Do the Fairies Do with All Those Teeth?" students will answer the question "What do the fairies do with all those teeth?"

Do they make them into necklaces? Do they use them for magic potions? Or do they collect them just for fun? What do you think?

Guess Who? Tooth Edition

Hey All! Time to prepare for Science Night! Science Night is a big deal at our school and we spend so much time preparing for it. I thought I would share some ideas and information so you can take a look at this fun event.

I just finished and posted my newest Totally Teeth Printables packet and I am so excited to share it with you. I created this packet to go with my Totally Teeth Student book pictured below.

On Science Night, I hang a giant toothbrush for students and their parent to walk through. The kids LOVE this!

To make sure my students are motivated to attend Science Night, and I am not spending the evening alone, I created this fun Guess Who??? Tooth Edition activity. We practiced doing some toothy smiles and I took each students picture. I crop the picture so only their tooth grin is showing. I open the template in Powerpoint, insert a table and randomly put each toothy grin into a cell. I copy one page for each students and they write their guess of who each smile is below the picture. Here is the catch: Students can only find out if their predictions are right when they come to Science Night. I hang the "key" on the board and the first thing they do when they walk in their room is run to the board to see how many they got right. So fun! The best part, most of them don't even correctly identify their own smile. HA! 

This activity is highly pinned on Pinterest and so many teachers have asked for the template so....I have included it in my Totally Teeth Printables packet :) 

Students display their Totally Teeth Student book on their desk. They share this book with their parents and discuss: Parts of a Tooth, Dental Do's and Don'ts, Tooth Traditions for Around the World and Tips for keeping their teeth healthy. 

On the back bulletin board, we display their Tooth Fairy craftivity and writing prompt. 

They tell their parents all about Dental Health Vocabulary with their Vocab book. 

They tell their parents all about our January Math Tubs with Dental Health Measurement, Graphing and Data Analysis, Roll, Add and Color and Build-A-Word Scrabble. They also share our class graphs: How Many Teeth Have You Lost? Have You Had a Cavity? 

  

3D Space Shapes

I have just posted a 3D Space Shapes Unit based on Stuart J. Murphy's book Captain Invincible and the Space Shapes. This quarter a major math focus will be geometry, so of course all of these activites are included in my CORE Math Standards Units but I thought I would also post them separately as well.

Here is a little sneak peak of what the packet has to offer! 

Happy New Year FREEBIE!

Our first Writers Workshop topic in 2012 was our New Year's Resolutions! First we made this fun project in which we trace 2012 with markers then we wrote about our resolutions! I asked the kids to write one school resolution and one resolution for home. They turned out AMAZING! Each one was so different because the kids picked such different colored patterns. They were oohing and aaahing over each others artwork, it was so cute.   

To get this page and the writing page for FREE click here! I included black lines for 2012, 2013 and 2014 (Gotta plan ahead right!) Don't forget to follow my blog so you don't miss out on other great freebies!

Snowman Mallows!

Edible Snowmen! Does it get any better! I LOVE these marshmallows and when I bought four bags of them I decided I had better quickly come up with an activity at school to avoid eating them all myself. 

We have spent a lot of time working on number lines this last quarter and so we practiced some addition with number lines and edible snowmen. The kids had a blast! They jumped their snowman across the numberline and loved every minute of it! To make it slightly more challenging some of the problems are missing an addend. 

You can get this activity as a FREEBIE here. I also created a Snowman Subtraction and that is available in my "Let It Snow" packet on TpT.

Dental Health FREEBIE!!!

As part of our Dental Health Unit students will become little scientist to discover what happens to our teeth when we eat different types of food/drinks. Students will conduct the experiment and document their discoveries along the way. There "EGGsperiment" will be displayed on a display board, two file folders glued together. Here is a sample of what the display will look like.

To begin the EGGspirement students will be told that we are going to use an egg as a pretend tooth and we will talk about why an egg makes a good tooth substitute (outer shell is like the enamel of our tooth). We will then brainstorm different types of food/juices that might stain or have an affect on our teeth. Each "team" (a group of 4 students) will choose which food/drink they would like to complete the experiment with. They will then write their question ex: Is soda bad for teeth? or Will soda stain my teeth? Each students will write their own hypothesis in step 2 ex: Mark thinks that soda is bad for teeth and can stain them. Sarah thinks that soda is good for teeth and will not stain them etc... Students will then get a hard boiled egg (1/team) and a cup with the liquid of their choice (1/team). Students will submerse their egg in the liquid overnight. The next day students will document their findings and attempt to clean their egg by brushing it with a toothbrush and toothpaste. (Don't forget to take a picture of this for the display board) Students will put their egg back into their liquid for one more night and return tomorrow to document their experiment. As a team, students will write a conclusion to their experiment detailing their findings.
(I will have one group choose to experiment with vinegar. The kids are amazed by what happens with this liquid!)
 If you think this is something you can use download it here for FREE! Don't forget to follow my blog so you don't miss out on other great freebies!

Dental Health Unit for Science Night

 
We have our annual Science Night coming up in January at our school. Our first grade team has decided to do a Dental Health Unit! I have created a Totally Teeth Book for each student to have displayed at their desk and each table will also have a science "Eggsperiment" displayed. After learning all about teeth, students will discover the effects that different types of foods/drinks have on their teeth.

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In the totally teeth unit students will discover the parts of the tooth and create a diagram of a tooth, students will learn about which types of foods are good/bad for teeth, students will make a toothbrush with "Tips for Teeth", students will learn all about the different types of teeth and where they are located in their mouth and finally after reading "Throw Your Tooth on the Roof- Tooth Traditions from Around the World" students will write about the diverse tooth traditions around the globe.

Third Quarter Math

It has been awhile since I have posted but what an amazing Christmas we had here! Now I am back to work creating math resources for the CORE Math Standards. I just uploaded Unit 9 to TpT! This unit is meant for the beginning of 3rd Quarter and contains a 3rd Quarter Pre Assessment. I am excited about teaching 3D shapes this quarter but thought it appropriate to review 2D shapes and geometry vocabulary before we jump into 3D shapes. This unit also works more on comparing numbers and my favorite, word problems. Each math unit includes everything you need for 10 days of instruction including a daily lesson plan, worksheet for students (one side is guided practice and the other is review of prior concepts), math facts flashcards, game templates, assessments, a problem of the day sheets. 

I am also available with any questions just email me at angielneal@gmail.com and I will get back to you ASAP. Here is a sample lesson from Unit 9 so you can get a look at it.

Super Sale!

 Okay Thanksgiving is (almost) over so let the shopping begin! To kick off the holiday shopping season, I am having a sale! EVERYTHING in my TPT store is 20% off! The sale begins tonight at midnight and last until Monday so stop by and check it out! 

I just added a Snowman Unit with TONS of great math and literacy activities for December and January.

The Story of the Pilgrims!

It is really November?! Time for our study of the Pilgrims and Native Americans! We make this book every year to go along with our study. This book takes us about a week to complete and my kids learn so much when we are finished.

This 24 page packet includes:
- front cover for student book (pictured above)
- direction page with pictures and activity suggestions
- mayflower art page with black lines for ALL shapes and labels for the parts of the boat
- mayflower facts writing page
- Mayflower suitcase black line with suitcase label
- Mayflower suitcase writing page
- Black lines to create pilgrim boy and girl
- Life as a Pilgrim sorting activity
- Black lines to create Squanto. Labels to describe his important role helping the pilgrims
- Letter to Squanto page
- Black lines to create Thanksgiving Turkey
- Venn Diagram to compare current Thanksgiving traditions to those of the past.

Click here to get it!

Here are a few of my favorite books that help us with our study of Pilgrims and Native Americans. My favorite of all is If You Sailed on The Mayflower in 1620 by Ann McGovern!

Harcourt Literacy Station for "Where Do Frogs Come From?"

Visit my TPT store to get the literacy stations I will be doing next week. These station align with the Harcourt Trophies story "Where Do Frogs Come From?"

Station 1: Spelling Word Search
Station 2: ing family (color king crown and glue ing words onto it) Write one sentence for each _ing word.
Station 3: Frog Life Cycle Wheel
Station 4: Life Cycle of a Frog cut and paste mini-book
Station 5: Scrabble Spelling
Station 6: Froggy Racing Sight Word Game
Station 7: Frog Art with life cycle of a frog poem on tongue (pictured above)

It's Turkey Time!

 Thanksgiving is here! 

I just finished my "It's Turkey Time" thematic unit. Check it out. It includes a nonfiction book for students, activities for: spelling, ABC order, sentence revisions, graphing and data analysis, word problems, addition, place value, true and false statements, tally marks, skip counting and art!!! This packet has TONS of literacy station and math tub activities for the month of November.

Happy Halloween!!

 We had so much fun today! All day was filled with Candy Corn activities! 

- ABC order
- Art
- Graphing and Data Analysis
- Creating Words
- Measurement
- Estimation
- Sight Word BINGO
...and the best part of all, Candy Corn Popcorn Balls!!! DELICIOUS! All of these activities are available in my "Candy Corn Fun!" packet on TPT. These activities would make great stations at a Fall Party!

Addition and Subtraction Posters

Okay I know the picture stinks...I should have taken the picture before sending it through the laminator, OOPS! I will work on getting a better picture posted BUT....these are the addition and subtraction posters that I created this week. They are hanging above our windows adjacent to the calendar wall.

A very important part of our daily math routine is our Problem of the Day. I am always trying to find ways to help students identify those key words that will give them the clues they need to solve the problem. My students have found it so helpful to be able to reference the vocabulary words they should be looking for in the math problems. I also created "mini-posters" to glue to the inside of their Math Journal. I put everything you need to create these anchor charts in your class in a 17 page packet. It is available in my TPT store if you are interested.

Fall Party

With this Friday being the Friday before Halloween, our first grade team is having our Fall Party. I know it's a school day early but...

1. Monday/Halloween is our "Candy Corn Celebration Day" check out that packet at my TPT store!

2. I don't "party" on Monday!

Anyway..back to the Fall Party Post, each teacher chooses an activity and the classes rotate through the different rooms. It is so fun to get a feel for your teammates class. I always feel so happy when I get my kids back (not that they are any better or worse they just know my expectations, rules, etc.. and I know their names). My activity this year is going to be Sight Word BINGO. I am going to put a bank of sight words on the board and let students pick which words they want to put on their BINGO boards. Note: Have them write their words with a marker, you always get those 1 or 2 kids who are secretly attempting to change their boards mid-game :) Click here to get this activity for your class.

Calendar Companion

Now that second quarter has begun, my students have be given their "Calendar Companion". Let me tell you they were SO excited! (that's why I LOVE first grade) There are many versions of calendar notebooks but I was just not able to find one that fit our exact needs with the new CORE Math Standards so I created one. 

I found that student engagement during calendar tends to decrease as students get used to the routine of calendar. So, now that we have spent time learning the routine it is time for each student to get their own Calendar Companion.  Students bring their 3 prong notebook and a pencil back to calendar everyday. I have attached the label pictured above to their folder. Students complete calendar everyday in their notebook.

Here is what is inside their Calendar Companion:
- the above label to attach to the front of their Calendar Companion
- monthly calendar fill-in
- number of the day sheet (tally the number, write the number word, find ten more, ten less, one more and one less, write the number in expanded notation, represent the number in base ten)
- weather graph/analysis
- reference sheet (months of the year, days of the week, number line, color words, number words, hundreds chart)
- tooth and birthday graph
- counting days at school chart
- write the date page

I took the Calendar Companion .pdf file to Staples and had them print poster size images of the file for our calendar wall. It cost about $20 for the 11 posters, SO worth it! My calendar is EXACTLY the same as their Calendar Companion. The amount of students engagement has increased dramatically since students have received their Calendar Companion! I took a picture of my calendar area so you could get an idea of the space I have to work with (notice the beautiful electrical box in the middle of the wall). The picture is not the best but hopefully you get the idea please feel free to email me with any questions!

Whoooo Am I?

 

Whoooo Am I? We just spent some time learning about several different types of owls. The kids were so intrigued by them! After collecting facts and creating a mini-book about the different types of owls the students were challenged to pick one owl and write about it. They were given the owl wings and asked to write one clue about their owl on each wing. Then they got the owl body and wrote the answer in the middle. They attached the wings with brad clips. I told the kids to keep their owl a secret so that they can give their clues to the class and we would try to guess which owl they picked, they were HILARIOUS trying to hide their owls from each others inquiring eyes. The kids had such a great time and they wanted to take their owls home but then how would I create this adorable bulletin board? We compromised and decided to have them hang up for just a week. I posted the black lines and mini-book here if you would like to do this fun unit with your kiddos!

Pumpkin Life Cycle

This is a short week for us so this week has been devoted to everything pumpkin! Today the students painted their own pumpkin patch, did a pumpkin life cycle sequencing activity and wrote a mini-book. We learned so much and their art projects turned out so CUTE!Tomorrow we are going to work on a pumpkin place value mystery picture (my kids LOVE these), pumpkin seed measurement, pumpkin seed addition, pumpkin spelling, pumpkin tally marks and then create a pumpkin number line to do some word problems. WOW are we busy!

I have put all the activities together in a Pumpkin Life Cycle packet if you are interested.