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Friday, April 29, 2011

Tic-Tac-Toe

Here's an activity I've been doing with my kids to practice our five weekly Word Wall words.  I display the Tic-Tac-Toe board on my Promethean Board and the kids do their work on the recording sheet.  They enjoy the independence of choosing the activities they want... and they think it's the coolest think ever to make silly letters or letters with dots!  This could also be used as a Literacy Station.





Monday, April 25, 2011

Alien Math-- addition & subtraction

I've been seeing a ton of cute alien things on the blogs lately.  Although I don't specifically teach aliens/space, it's a fun theme for the kids to practice with during stations so I got the clip art from Scrappin Doodles.  Here's a simple math station... my kiddos can ALWAYS use extra addition and subtraction practice.





--Mrs. Pollard

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Friday, April 22, 2011

Fly Swat Y Sort

First, I must say... it's finally Spring Break!  Phew!

When we return from break, we'll be doing a two week study of insects so I'm working on making stations to use.  This is a word sort focusing on the ending y sound.





--Mrs. Pollard

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Comparing & Contrasting Insects

I made this to accompany Mrs. Jump's Insect Unit from TPT.  In math we'll follow the glyph directions to make our insects and the next day we'll pair up to compare and constrast them during writing using a Double Bubble Map.



--Mrs. Pollard

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Button Lamp

A kindergarten teacher that I work with is a polka dot addict!  She had a lamp with buttons on it in her room and I just had to have one of my own.

The lamp is from Target and the buttons are from Walmart.... then just a little hot glue and you're good to go!

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Batter's Up!

Last weekend I posted about baseball eggs and a bucket that I picked up at the store.  Here's the game I made to go with them.



This is the bucket and eggs.  I'll put the words on the bats inside the balls.

Today my kids made the discovery that I can actually make these stations they are using so they began putting in requests for specific themes-- race cars and princesses were on the top of their list!  (I don't know where they think all of this stuff has been coming from all along... maybe a station fairy!)

--Mrs. Pollard

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Flower Bubble Map

We've been learning about plants this week and will continue next week.  On Monday we are going to complete this activity.  Each student will get a flower to glue in the middle of their Bubble Map.  Then, they will use an adjective in each bubble to describe their flower.  When finished, they will write about their flower (can be fictional, as long as they use their adjectives).



Thursday, April 7, 2011

Letter Frogs on a Log

This idea is very basic, but can be adapted to be more challenging... some of my firsties can still use CVC word practice.  I hope someone out there can use this station, too!  (I included some blank frogs in case you want to add blends or word families.  Also, I plan to mat the vowels differently so kids know that needs to go in the middle for CVC.)



Monday, April 4, 2011

Popcorn Words

I know I'm not the creator of the whole popcorn word idea, but here's what I plan to use as a station.... I am just going to write words on yellow paper and cut them out with a bubbly edge, then crumple them up and put them in the popcorn container.  Students will select five different pieces to record on their paper and then use in a sentence.




Sunday, April 3, 2011

I never knew Easter could be so much fun!

Thank you to Mrs. Anna Brantley at Crazy for First Grade for this great idea!  After I saw her adorable little chick and carrot Easter eggs I ran straight to the Dollar Tree to pick up my own.  Personally, I prefer the carrots so I got 3 packs of those (3/pack).  I had trouble with the chicks staying closed so those aren't being used yet.  Any ideas?


I also picked up the little bunny head containers that Mrs. Brantley posted to use as dice shakers... brilliant!  All of these creative ideas on the blogs just blow my mind!

While out and about at the Dollar Tree, Walmart, and Target (my FAVORITE), my brain was working overtime trying to come up with ideas.  I ended up with a $1 popcorn container that I'll use to hold words that I write on yellow paper and crumple up... details to come.  I'm most excited with my baseball find.  Walmart had baseball themed Easter eggs, but they were actually round instead of egg shaped.  They were 12 for $1.97.  Then at Target I found the most perfect baseball pail with the Easter baskets for $5.  (Starting to get a little pricey, but I know my boys will adore this station!)  I don't have an idea yet, but was thinking something about the -all and -at word families.  Hmmm.... any other ideas out there??!

Monster Mania 3

I forgot to share this wonderful little creature when I posted about monsters....



Have a mentioned how amazing my husband is?!  I cannot take credit for this adorable trash can.  Mr. Pollard just loves helping me with these creative projects.  Whenever we do something really fun and cool in the classroom the kids ask if Mr. Pollard made it for us!  (And the answer is usually yes.)

We made this monster to be used with the book The Hungry Thing.  (Scholastic is the only place my co-worker and I were able to find this book.)  It's made out of a trash can so the mouth opens for words to be put in.

Saturday, April 2, 2011

A Fun-Tastic Zoo Adventure

Seriously, who can't resist a good animal print?!?  I must admit I love me some zebra print!!!

Anyways, with the help of my husband on the game board, I've created a zoo themed fluency phrase game.  (I was inspired by someone's post a few weeks ago with an Easter egg fast phrase game-- which my kids are really enjoying.)  In May we will be exploring animal habitats and classification so I'm trying to make more zoo stations to carry the theme across every part of our day.  If you'll be doing a zoo theme, you should really check out Mrs. Jump's TPT unit.

This game includes 32 fluency phrase cards and a gameboard.  (You'll need to provide the game piece markers for the players.)





If anyone has any station ideas, please share!  I absolutely love to create them, but sometimes my brain won't cooperate with me!