Graphic Organizers

I love using graphic organizers in the classroom. I have found that they really help focus the children's thinking. This is a picture of one we did when we were studying penguins.
First, the children thought about what they already knew about penguins to answer the top questions. As we learned about penguins and found information to answer the question, we wrote down the "truth" and the children checked to see if their prediction/schema was correct.
I use graphic organizers all the time- almost everyday. I will post more pictures of them in the future when I download more of my pictures.

Class Organization

Woo Hoo! What a day! The kids are crazy! I can definitely tell that it is May.

My class was wonderful this morning (for about an hour) and then they went to their Special Area class. I don't know why, but it was crazy after that. Luckily, our testing today was first thing this morning. I think my mistake was in having them work in groups on comprehension activities. Right now, they are getting on each other's nerves and/or they are such good friends that they are acting up together.

Sooooo, tomorrow they will have lots of independent work to do. They had been doing well at that lately.

Anyway, at the end of each year, I start thinking of how to better organize my classroom for the following year and what worked well and I want to be sure to keep.

Here is a picture of how I helped my kids keep track of their AR tests. I think I downloaded it from Teachers pay Teachers last fall. (I changed the word "points" to "books" just so it was simpler.

This has been a good visual for the kids. Our First Grade goal has been 3 points for the past 2 9-weeks. (which would be 6 tests if they got 100%). Unfortunately, I just found out that since the AR program is going to be web-based next year, the cost is going to increase A LOT and my school can't afford to spend the money on it. My kids really enjoy taking the quizzes on the computer and it makes them feel so grown up. I hope to find a website that has quizzes for the kids based on books they read- hopefully for free:) If anyone knows of anything, I would appreciate the info.

Fractions

We are starting our math unit on Fractions. In addition to the resources I already have, I have created some more in my "Fractions are a Hoot!" packet.

You can click on the picture above to look at it on Teachers Pay Teachers.

It includes fraction cards for centers and student worksheets.

These activities help meet the new First Grade Common Core Math Standard 1.G3.