Dirt Pudding





     April Showers bring May Flowers and we have had plenty of rain lately so we decided to make good old Dirt Pudding.  First, I showed the students the ingredients for this delectable dessert...1 pudding cup, 2 oreos, and 1 gummy worm.  Next, I then modeled to the students how to make the recipe.  We then wrote words we might need in our writing because the students had to write the directions on how to make Dirt Pudding on our First, Next, Then, Last planning sheet.  Once the students wrote the directions down and shared them with me, they could then make their Dirt Pudding.  The students thought it was a delicious dessert and their faces covered with pudding looked adorable!

Blending Books

 I love Blending Books!  I made several Blending Books for our classroom.  Basically, a Blending Book is made using a three ring binder and index cards.  As we learn our sounds throughout the year, we add the cards to the book so that we can blend the sounds into words.  All of the consonants are placed on white index cards and the vowels are placed on yellow.  The index cards can then be turned to make new words.  These books are cheap, easy to use, and so effective in teaching children to blend their sounds into words.  I use these books at group time and during guided reading groups for extra practice too.

 

"Egg-stra" Special Animals Hatch From Eggs!

We have been learning about animals that hatch from eggs in class.  The students each chose an animal that hatched from an egg and then wrote some sentences to describe the animal's egg.  The students then drew their animal to show it bursting it's way out of the egg.  The students loved cutting the middle of the egg and tearing the paper back a little to show the full effect.

We also made a graph of what kind of eggs we liked to eat.  The choices included hardboiled eggs, scrambled eggs, and fried eggs.   One student also admited that he could not stand to eat eggs so we added an extra row just for him!

Little Yellow Chicks

 We had a great time making little yellow chicks in nests as a fun craft during our study on eggs.  The students first cut out a circle from yellow craft foam and then decorated the circle with an orange beak and googly eyes.  They then glued the feathers and head onto a mini yellow craft stick.


 Next, we filled a little bag full of yellow M&M's.  Lemon Heads or any other yellow candy could also be used.  We stuck the craft stick down into the baggie and then placed the chick in the nest with the Eggs.   This was such a cute, fun, and simple craft.  The students loved it and I gained a few pounds nibbling on all of the left over chocolate eggs!

Happy Spring Everyone!

Browsing Bags

      Every student in our classroom has a Browsing Bag.  The Browsing Bag has books that are on each student's guided reading level.  These are books that have already been worked on in our guided reading groups and have been taken home to read with family.
       The Browsing Bags also have a Red Word ring which are high frequency words that the student needs to know how to spell by the end of first grade.  One or two Red Words are added weekly to the ring.  The yellow Browsing Bag word ring is a ring of sight words that the student needs to be able to read quickly by the end of first grade.  Five words are added each week to this ring.
   The students use these Browsing Bags every day during our Daily Five literacy block.  The students use these bags during the Read to Self portion of Daily Five.  Often our Word Work activities will focus on our Red Words too.  I love these bags because it helps keep us organized and I know that every student has materials that are appropriate for their reading level. 

Word Rings

My son brought home this darling Cat in the Hat from school the other day.  I just thought it was too cute!  I also love having a little guy to get ideas from his great teachers.  My mind has been lacking in creativity lately!







I also tried to add up the other day the cost I spend on those little rings you can buy at the store.  I use them for word rings, vocabulary rings, math rings, etc.  They keep all of my student's words organized and words can be added and taken away as needed.  The students keep the card rings in their Browsing Bags so when we have our quiet reading time the students are not only reading their browsing books but also the card rings.  I have seen a really nice improvement in sight word recognition because the students are practicing them daily.

Over the Rainbow Treats

I gave these little rainbow treasures out on St. Patrick's Day to each of my students.  The students loved these licorice rainbows.  I got this great idea off one of my favorite blogs it is what it is.  The licorice is placed in a pretzel bag with gold coins placed at the bottom.  These little treats sure were cute and fun to eat!