Homophone and Homonym Heroes FREEBIE

    Today is the last day of my Spring Break....booooohoooohooo!!  It went by WAY too fast.... Ugh.  But I did get a LOT done around the house, spent some QT time with my hubby, and enjoyed friends and family.  So I guess I'm kind of ready to get back and finish up the school year at the same time.  I'm already blooming with ideas for next year, and I have to keep reminding myself that this year isn't over yet....does that happen to anyone of you gals around March/April every year??

   Anyway, I was super proud of myself for ACTUALLY DOING SCHOOL WORK over Spring Break.  Normally I fall into the same rut every break.... I bring a stack of stuff home to do and email myself a mile long school to-do list and NEVER even look at it, but I actually worked on a few things.  I'm proud of myself!  So, I've been working on a unit on Homophones and Homonyms, and let me tell you this.. there is some MAJOR mis-information out there about what a Homophone vs. Homonym is.  Geez!! You would think teachers/educational websites would be more accurate about these terms so as not to confuse students.  But anyway, I did quite a bit of research before making this unit, and I assure you my definitions of the two terms are correct. This unit is 28 pages of fun-filled activities on both Homophones and Homonyms (click on the picture to purchase from my TPT Store). Hope you enjoy it!!  The FIRST 5 TO LEAVE A COMMENT AND FOLLOW OUR BLOG GET THIS UNIT FOR FREE!!!  Make sure to leave your email.  Wish me luck getting back into the swing of things!! :)   - Beth

First Grade Fun Careers Research Project

     Yay!!!!  I'm officially on Spring Break!!!!  Okay....now that is officially out of the way - on to blog posting... :) 

     This past week was Career Week at our school.  We had a Career/Vehicle Day where many community members brought their vehicles to school and set up a rotation where all the classes could go from vehicle to vehicle, learning about all the different jobs and how everyone uses their vehicles to do their jobs.  The kids LOVED it!!  There was a fire truck, police car, SLED car, ambulance, dump truck, Pet Grooming van, a wrecking ball truck, and more...  But what was even more fun this week was intertwining our study of careers into our writing block by doing research projects on careers.  The kids chose a career that they wanted to learn more about and came up with 4 questions they each had about that career.  Then we got books from the library and used the internet to research the answers to the questions.  Our final products were some pretty AWESOME non-fiction books in question and answer format.  Now.... I learned with my last animal research project that the kids definitely need a LOT of guidance when it comes to research (whew!!), so this time around I made a planning template for them to write down their questions and answers and left room for them to write out what their table of contents, etc. would look like, so when it came time to actually write their non-fiction books, everything would be in order and organized!!  So much easier!  Hope it is helpful to you...just click the picture to download the planning template from my TPT store.  Have a great weekend!! 

                                                                  Lot's of love!!!               - Beth

I LOVE the "exterminator" one...look at the little bugs!! So cute!!

Apparently, I needed to have "colij" AND "ejucashon" to be a teacher...darn

.  I didn't know those were different! haha.

Let's Celebrate!

Beth came down to my school on Friday for a surprise visit to wish me congrats on teacher of the year for my school. Thanks for the sweet comments you left :) I decided to post a few freebies for everyone. The vowel teams sort is great for a small group or literacy center to review the Long E sound.  The second activity is used to review consonant blends. I used the consonant blends activity during the second half of the year, so I tried to make the words a little more challenging for my first grade student. I posted the blenders around the room and used it as a write the room activity.
Feel free to click on the pictures below for your FREE downloads! ENJOY!

Spring Break Long Vowel FREEBIE!

It's Beth here again....T-Minus 3 days until Spring Break baby!! Woot woot!  Katie is already out for Spring Break..blah... no fair! She just had to brag the other day about the fact that she was basking in the sun at the Ritz Carlton in Amelia Island, FL......while I was doing SCHOOL WORK.  Soooooo not cool! :)  Anyway, in honor of a much needed Spring Break right around the corner, I have FREEBIE for you!! (Click the picture to download from my TPT page). I actually did this with my kids today in collaborative groups, and they really enjoyed it!  It was a great review of those long vowel spellings and forced the kids to really hear the sounds in the words to differentiate true long vowel sounds from others (for example, the word "are" has the a_e spelling, but it doesn't have the Long A sound...etc).  Enjoy my friends!!!

Math Games with Dice & Money

So.... I've noticed a pattern with my blogging. I will blog like 3 things in a 3-4 day period, and then take a week off.  Is that bad???  Oh well. I guess I just get on a roll, and then I'm like, "Okay, I need a break!" Anyway, my district teaches the Everyday Math series, which is a spiral curriculum that is  game-based.  With every unit there are math games for students to play that help solidify the concepts being taught and help students to practice certain skills.  Now, of course, the math series gives you game materials to use to play the games, but I just really don't like the game boards that comes with Everyday Math.  They aren't cute!!! :) And of course, there are several math games I have found or come up with that I like to use as well that are not part of the series....so, I just decided to come up with my own set of math game boards that are way cuter and more user friendly than the ones from Everyday Math.  They can be used with dice and/or coins, and one of them requires Base 10 Blocks.  These games are great for practicing several different math concepts including addition, counting money, exchanging money, place value, comparing numbers, and more!  Click the picture to download from my TPT store.  

   And....the first 5 friends to comment on this post and tell Katie "Congratulations!!" for getting Teacher of the Year will get these games for FREE! Make sure to post your email! :)