Shake a tail feather... it's turkey time.

Not that I eat turkey, I am vegan, but hey that doesn't stop me from enjoying the holiday with my students. I have to say that this year is the most comfortable I have been talking about Thanksgiving with my students. Thanks to you ladies I have a plethora of activities to choose from. Actually WAY too many.I didn't get to them all so I got to send some home for some holiday homework. I know I am terrible, don't look at me that way. They get Wed, Thurs, Fri, Sat and Sun off here. I couldn't let them sit at home for 5 days and do nothing educational. It was mostly fun stuff anyway. :P

What we did get done was great fun too.
With my Kinder Students, I started the Thanksgiving bash on Friday by reading
10 Fat Turkeys.

 My all time favorite turkey story.
We then made some turkey patterns. Several of them ignored me and did not make a pattern. :/
(Click on pictures to enlarge.)

 

 

Next, we worked on some vocabulary. For this I used Itsy, Bitys Learners Thanksgiving day preschool pack.

Then worked on initial sounds.
(from the same packet)

There were so many great activities we did not have enough time. So I sent some home as homework.
We finished off the day with another favorite, T is for Turkey.

On Monday they heard the story of The First Thanksgiving.

Then we colored a worksheet I created using some of Jessica Weible Illlustrations stamps.

and colored in a Mayflower coloring page. We finished off Monday with another favorite, The Littlest Pilgrim.

And I started talking about being thankful, which I stretch out until Tuesday.

Tuesday we read Thanks for Thanksgiving.

Then wrote what we were thankful for on some feathers and attached to a sentence strip and made a headband.
We then watched the the infamous Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving.

We had a few minutes left so I took the time to read Over the River A Turkey's Tale.

WOW that was a lot, and it was only my Kinder Kids.

My First graders started on Friday by reading Who Will Carve the Turkey this Thanksgiving?

Then they colored in a turkey and crazy legs again from Jessica Weible Illlustrations stamps. Then we assembled them and added a sign that said "No Turkey! Eat..." They came out so darn cute! Here are some pictures.


 

 We then completed First Grade Blue Skies Thanksgiving alphabetical order word sort.

We finished the day reading One is a Feast for Mouse, and talking about what a feast was.

Monday was all about Pilgrims and their voyage. We read the story of The First Thanksgiving.

Then we created a cut & paste Mayflower and a Native American puzzle from Itsy, Bitys Learners Thanksgiving day preschool pack. I tell them these are tools to help them retell the story to their parents for homework. :P

Next we worked on a couple of First Grade Blue Skies Let Us Give Thanks for Adjectives! -Thinking Maps!

 We also read The Littlest Pilgrim.

And I started talking about being thankful, which again I stretch out until Tuesday.

Tuesday, was very similar to the kindergarten kids. We read Thanks for Thanksgiving.

Then wrote what we were thankful for on some feathers and attached to a sentence strip and made a headband.
We then watched the Charlie Brown's Mayflower Voyagers.

 Then we made an ear of corn!

I am officially worn out and ready for my break, but alas I have a teacher plan day tomorrow. No rest for the wicked I guess. I hope you can take some ideas away for next year.

School Town

The return of "Insert your school name here" Town.

 If you are a long time reader you might remember my yearly "School Town" lesson. Because I teach ELL students, we spend quite a bit of time learning names of every day items. One of the lessons I love to teach yearly is when I teach about homes & rooms in them. Seems like a simple concept but for children that just arrived from a refuge camp in Burma that have never had a bedroom or working bathroom, it is not.

 Each student gets their very own house. They get super excited about this. We learn about the different rooms, what we use them for and what we keep in them.

Here is a look at this years town.

A few close ups.

Another long shot.

Unfortunately I can't put out the furniture because it is part of my ELL teaching series and copyrighted. However I can post the house because I made that myself! You could have your students draw the furniture or if you teach older kids you can have them write the names of items that go in the rooms. I always send a blank one home with the kids and they get to draw in their furniture then share with their families. This makes them feel better about not being able to take these home. :P

Without further ado...

Kinder House

FYI: This printable is meant to be printed on a 11X17 sheet of paper or card stock. I only ask that if you download, please leave a comment telling me how you will use it. Thanks and have a great weekend.

The Late Leaf Man

The Leaf Man

(Click on the image to go to her site.)
I love this book, and so do my students.

Actually think that what they love more guessing what was made with the leaves, as opposed to the wonderful story, but hey who can blame them? I was a little bit late reading this book this year an but once again the Leaf Man has visited our room.

After reading the story, I take my students out and pick several different kinds of leaves. Once back in the room we make a leaf person and have a cut apart sentence to go with the leaf person. The sentence says "The Leaf Man goes where the wind blows." Here are the pictures.

A whole group shot.

 A few close ups.

If you enjoyed this book you might also enjoy ...
Snowballs

On my December to be read pile. :)

Teaching Tips Expo

I am super late with this post, sorry T, but it is not too late. The Expo is today and you still have time to purchase your ticket and watch your videos... from the comfort of your own home! This Expo is all about Teaching Tips.

"Teachers love getting tidbits, tips and helpful hints from each other! The teaching community is unique in that teachers share, inspire and learn from one another. With all the demands that are placed on teachers today, getting tips on how to save time, save sanity and keep the fun in learning is HUGE! In Teaching Tips, four presenters will be sharing ideas, strategies, materials and more to help teachers find the exact recipe they need to make the classroom work for them and their students.

Learn how to FLIP your classroom in to the exact one you want! Maximize your effectiveness, minimize distractions, get organized and find out how to meet student needs without losing the fun in the process. You're sure not to want to miss out on getting any of these teaching tips!"

The guest speakers are...
* Tamara from Teaching with TLC and co-founder of Teaching Blog Addict. She is sharing how to add excitement and fun to your class.
* Charity from The Organized Classroom. Charity is talking about something we ALL are always try to get, organization.
* Jennifer from Rowdy in First Grade. I always look forward to Jennifer's teaching tips on her blog. I can't wait to hear what she has to say about RTI, or Response to Intervention.
*Monica from the Schroeder Page. Monica will talk about how to create more independent students.

Don't forget that you also get a virtual goodie bag filled with over $50.00 worth of items made by teachers for teachers. So what are you still doing here? Click on the button below to get there. I am on my way there now.

Cupcakes and Cadies for your baby...

Are you looking for a baby shower gift? 

 I was. Two teachers in my school are having babies this winter and I was looking for something cute and affordable to give them. They both have other kids so I was not sure how much baby stuff they would need, but I did know that onesies are always welcomed.

I was on ETSY, my new obsession, when I found the cutest thing! Cupcake Onesies!

There are many shops that offer the cupcake onesies but there was one that I really fell in love with, Miso Sweet Boutique!

Just look at these cuties.

 

The cuteness doesn't stop there she also has...

Candy Baby washcloth gifts

Baby Lollypop Washcloths 

Baby Sushi Gift Sets

La Patisserie boxed baby double cupcake gift set

Baby Ice Cream Gift

and more!!!

 So if your looking for a gift or just something cute for your own kids hop on over to Miso Sweet Boutique and get some yummy baby treats.

Punctuation.?!

Last week I introduced the CAPS Man to my Kinder Kids. Who is the CAPS Man you ask? This is the CAPS Man.

In my district we introduce the Conventions trait, in Kinder, with this poster. He is the CAPS Man and he helps us remember the things we have to have on our paper. For my ELL kids, this can be a bit abstract. It takes a lot of modeling and connecting of ideas. We get there... eventually. After writing a story, the kids are supposed to write CAPS on their paper and cross out the letters that they can show on their paper. Ie: Cross out the C if you have capital letters at the start of the sentence. Cross out the A if you have art on your paper, etc...

I don't really want to talk about the CAPS Man though. I wanted to tell about a punctuation freebie I am going to share with you all. One of the SPED teachers at my school has a very cool poster of the abc's with punctuation marks in it. I have admired it from afar for a few years now and finally got the bright idea of copying it.

I thought it would be a great and easy way for my ELL students to practice their abc's and punctuation marks. I matched it to the abc song, but just added the punctuation marks. All they have to do when they read it is change their voice to match the punctuation. I didn't add too much clip-art because I didn't want it to be distracting.

I think we will read this daily for a week or two and then I will add it to my charts and poems workstation/ center. I think I might even add it to the Overhead center with the punctuation missing and have the kids add the different marks and read it different ways. I digress...

Because you are so fab I thought I would share it with you all too.

Punctuation Poster

*Edit: I made it so it would print poster size, 11x17.

All I ask is if you download please leave a comment.
Thanks and have a great week.

11-11-11

I've been super busy with Parent Conferences. I am sooo backed up on reading blogs, I feel like I have missed out on a ton of great activities. I tried to catch up and think I am only halfway there. However, I have a question for you...

Do you have any celebrations planed for this special day??? The Kinder and 1st grade team at my school was discussing celebrating this day, but aside from 100 day activities that have been tweeked to 11 instead of 100, I am a bit clueless. I was asked if I saw anything on the wonderful blogs I read and I had to say... "I don't know I haven't read any in a week." :( I looked around but have not found anything so far.

So I am starting a linky party. If you have an activity you will do with your kids/ students this year, on 11-11-11, and post it on your blog link it up here! No blog? No problem, leave a comment. I am curious to see if anyone else is celebrating 11-11-11.

The Linky Party will stay open until 11-18-11. So if you don't get to post your activity until after 11-11-11, don't fret. I would still love to see what you did. I might tweak it for next years, 12-12-12. :)

My Memories Winner

I hate to post and run, but I have to make this one a quickie.

Then winner of the My Memories giveaway is...

EJSweet please email me at msk1ell(at)gmail(dot)com to get your promo code.

Red Ribbon Week

Like many of you, this week my school is celebrating Red Ribbon Week. We had a different theme each day but I only had a chance to snap pictures on "No bones about it, Drugs are scarey!" day. On this day, each class got a set of skeleton bones. They then brainstormed and wrote some healthy activities and foods they would do or eat instead of drugs.

 

Here s a close up of the bones.

(click on the images to enlarge)

I think they came out really cute and fit in perfectly with Halloween.

Other themes included

-I’m A Jean-ius because I am Drug Free: Staff and students wear jeans

- Team up against drugs: Staff and students wear team apparel

- Drugs Bug Me! I’d rather eat bugs than do drugs!: kids make and eat assorted bug snacks 

- Paws-itively Drug Free: Kids sign a great big Paw

- 2 smart 2 start = Drug Free 4 Ever: Students get Smarties at the end of the day

What is your class doing for Drug Free Week?

It's my birthday.

Today is my favorite day of the year...

it's my birthday!

Thought I would share what my 1st grade class has been doing.

After studying nouns I dove right into verbs. I used Lindsey, The Teacher Wife, Verb unit. Disclaimer: I love all of Lindsey's units, I used the Noun unit, and the Word Endings unit just a week before. The best part is that my kids love them too.
Click here to go to her shop.

But before you go check out our Action heroes with their action words.

The Action Hero worksheet and the word bubbles are in the Verb unit and instead of having them draw in the face, I used a picture of them!

 I had never thought of introducing the Verbs as action heroes before this unit, I must say that my kids loved it.

Hope you have a fab day.