Monday, December 22, 2014

New Year's Goals Freebie

Welcome!  Renee here from Fantastic First Grade Froggies.  Happy almost end of 2014, crazy let me tell you.  I have a love-hate relationship with the new year.  I secretly hate that the Christmas season has to end, but I love starting fresh with new goals during the new year.

One of the things I love to do with my kids when we return to school is set some goals.  I like to use the word goals instead of resolutions, just a personal preference.  We brainstorm various goals and I share what my personal goals are.

Here are a couple of books I enjoy reading to my class:



After we have read about goals and brainstormed goals, I like for them to document them.  I like to keep it simple.  So here is what I made.  Click below to grab yours for free.


What are some of your personal goals this year.  I am still thinking what mine will be.  I need to get through Christmas and then I can focus on the new year!  

Happy New Year friends!



Monday, December 15, 2014

Christmas Cards FREEBIE

One more week with my Firsties before Christmas Break!  They couldn't be more excited! Our Elf "Snow" showed up last week and I couldn't believe the excitement it created!  On Friday, Snow even cut up our morning work!



We also wrote our Santa Letters last week and sent them off to the North Pole!  Here are some pictures of how they turned out.







This product introduces Letter Writing using a Notebook File and has day by day lessons on writing a letter to Santa.

Then, after we learned how to write letters, we put these fun Christmas Cards into our Work on Writing Center so they can make a card for family, friends, and teachers!  You can pick these up on my TPT Store for FREE!










Friday, December 5, 2014

Math and Literacy Connect in a Jan Brett Author Study!

Hello, Teaching Friends!


December is here ... bring on the beautiful winter books by Jan Brett! Although she has written wonderful books on other themes, the number and pure beauty of her winter books makes Ms. Brett the perfect subject for an author study in the winter!





But ... I'm not here to talk to you about how to do your author study. Between Pinterest and Jan Brett's own amazing website (over 5000 pages of activities, coloring, and videos!), that's been pretty well covered!

What I would like to share is an idea for a math activity that will dovetail nicely into your reading of Jan's books. I almost feel disrespectful calling her "Jan", but it's a funny thing... after cozying up with a few of her books, my students always referred to her as Jan. In fact, sometimes I almost expected somebody to call her "Aunt Jan".  I love when an author becomes that real to my students! And I dearly, dearly love when students take an author and her books into their hearts! And I dearly, dearly, dearly love when they feel such an attachment to an author that they beg the school librarian for more books by that author!

This little activity will address numerous standards. Your students will be seeking out the copyright in books (non-fiction text features!). They'll also be reading, writing, and sequencing four-digit numbers. And all this while reading and discussing some truly delicious books!

Here's your prep for completing this number line as a whole class activity: Create a number line on a long strip of paper, with the dots spaced about three inches apart.  Sentence strips work well for this. Hint: start at 1985, when Fritz and The Beautiful Horses was published.  If you plug in 2000 and the current year for support, lots of your first graders should be able to write the years on the appropriate dots.

After each book you read, have one of your students write the title and the copyright date on a sticky note, and then put it on the appropriate date on your number line. After you've read five or six books - voila! There's your number line!

There are so many other interesting discussions that come out of completing this number line together! What book was Jan Brett writing the year you were born?  How long does it take to write a book? {It can take a long time to produce a good piece of writing - a writers' workshop mini-lesson!} 

Another way to accomplish the same objectives is to use these two printable sets of book cards, one with the publication dates and one without, left blank for your students to complete. They're in color, in case you just want to print on cardstock and put in a math center, but they also print nicely in black and white, to use as an independent activity. Just click on the picture to download them both from Google Drive.


https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8LaCTimmHFZeUdjOHpiYjdpa0U/view?usp=sharing
 
 
 
If you're looking for a January math-literacy connection, consider making Jan Brett calendars for next year. She has the printables ready-to-go on her website. I like to add in the students' names on their birthdates before I make the copies - and enjoy the surprised and happy little faces when they discover them! 

Making the calendars on the first day back after Christmas vacation is a fun way to kick math back into gear ... especially if you let your students work on the floor and glue the calendars onto a looong scroll, making a wall calendar that's taller than they are! Anything huge is a hit with them, right? ;)
 
Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful December, and a Merry Christmas!
 
 
 





Thursday, December 4, 2014

Give-Aways, Holidays, and Events, OH MY! Plus a FREEBIE!

Let's Start With Give-Aways:

How would you like a chance to win $25 to spend at one of twelve great bloggers' stores AND an entire year of ESGI FREE?  It started on Dec. 1, but it lasts for 12 days!  So you still have time to get in on this give-away!
You can enter by 


The Holidays Are Here:

And here are my most popular holiday products:

Common Core Fluency with Sums To 5:

Click the image to grab this counting book.
Here is what one of the pages looks like.
Click the image to grab the entire book.


And Holiday Graphing FUN:

I dress my students up with reindeer antlers, a snowman scarf & hat,
 an elf cap, or a gingerbread cut-out that they can peek through
and I take their pictures for our class graph.  

Click the image to grab the graph sign & icons.

And The Upcoming Events:

You won't want to miss these "Meet the Bloggers" events and Conferences:
If you don't live in California, winter is a wonderful time of year to visit!

January 16-18 (That's Dr. MLK, Jr. Weekend!):  

The PK1 2015 Conference & Blogger Fiesta in 
Santa Clara, CA.

Click on the image for more info.

Every Blogger Event attendee receives a FREE CD filled with goodies!
Click the image for more info.
Download the brochure and scroll to the Blogger Fiesta info.

Look at all of the bloggers you'll meet!
Click the image, download the brochure, & scroll to the Blogger Fiesta info.

February 27-28:  
The Southern CA Kindergarten Conference in 
Pasadena, CA

Click the image for more info & to
download the brochure & scroll to the Blogger Bash info.


Every Blogger Event attendee receives a FREE CD filled with goodies!
So many GREAT bloggers to meet!
Click the image above and scroll to the Blogger Bash info.

And... here's a FREEBIE just in time for Kawnaaz:


Click the image to grab your FREEBIE.
Use it to teach cardinality, subtilizing, sequencing, winter celebrations, & following directions!

Check these out:

Check out my blog:  CLICK HERE

Check out my TPT Store (with more than 15 FREEBIES) :  CLICK HERE

Check out my KFUN Facebook page:  CLICK HERE


Follow me on Instagram:  CLICK HERE


Wishing you ALL a wonderfully blessed holiday season!
I'm so grateful for your support!

What is your wish for 2015?
Leave a comment and let me know!

I'll see you all next year 
on Jan. 4, 2015!

Palma :)




Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Winter Holiday eBooks are Here!

Hello, everyone!  It's Andrea from Reading Toward the Stars!

It's that time of year again!  The big Teachers Pay Teachers Winter Holiday eBooks are now here!  I have to say these are some of my favorite things since they are full of such great ideas and freebies!

2014 Winter Holiday Tips and Freebies: PreK/K Edition

2014 Winter Holidays Tips and Freebies: Grades 1-2 Edition

2014 Winter Holidays Tips and Freebies: Grades 3-5 Edition

2014 Winter Holidays Tips and Freebies eBook: Grades 6-12

2014 Winter Holiday Tips and Freebies for Grades 6-12, Sci

Enjoy the Winter Holiday eBooks!

Happy holidays and a Happy New Year!

I will see you again in 2015!