Social Studies Love

I am on a big science and social studies kick right now...big time. The first few weeks of school I have been focusing on social studies but science is not far behind. I'm so inspired by my friend Jenny who teaches a science lesson everyday to her class but I love social studies too much so I have to switch off from week to week. Just wanted to share two amazing lessons that I have recently taught that turned out amazing and that I feel my students really understood and "got it". For all of you NC readers this lesson goes with the Social Studies essential standard

 

1.E.1.2 Identify examples of goods and services in the home, school and community.

 

I began this lesson with a little vocabulary. First I wrote the word "goods" on a small white board and held it up for students to see. We read it together out loud and I had students turn and talk to an elbow buddy about what they thought the word meant. I let a few of them share what they thought it was and to explain their thinking but I never told them if they were right or wrong, I simply listened. Then I wrote the word "services" on my white board and had students turn and talk about what they thought this word meant and then share their thoughts agian never telling them if they were right or wrong.

 

After this little discussion I told students that I had small posters hanging up around the room with pictures on them. Their next job was to walk around the room with their sticky pads {they each have one in their pencil box} and put a sticky on each picture with either a "G" for goods or an "S" for services. Here are the pictures that I used {click on the picture to download from google docs}:

 

 

After students silently stickied each of the 6 posters we watched a brainpopjr video on goods and services. {If your school doesn't have an account you can sign up for a free trial or you can find a nonfiction book on goods and services that would work just as well.} Next I held up each poster and we checked our answers. If a student missed it I asked them how they know that this picture is either a good or a service. My formative assessment was a ticket out the door where students wrote an example of a good.

 

It rocked ya'll. I mean they reeeeaaaalllly got it. It was a great way to introduce vocabulary that was fun, interactive, and student led.

 

Next I will have students brainstorm in groups examples of goods and services in the home.....the school....and the community. I'm thinking of spreading this out and completing each place on a different day where students present their ideas in front of the class. For examples of goods and services in the school I'm thinking of giving each group a digital camera and having them take pictures for their examples. For goods and services in  the home they can find pictures in magazines and make a collage. For the community, I would love to have a farmer or someone in agriculture talk about the goods in our area and how his/her job is a service. Soo excited!

 

But before I could finish this series of lessons Constituition Day activities overshadowed today. I'm sure you have seen my posts about the unit I created. We played the game today and it was hysterical and perfect. They fell right in to my little plan. {Aren't first graders just so predictable?} It was the perfect hands on approach to get them to understand just what the country was like before the Constitution. Here is our anchor chart from today...too funny!

 

If you have my Constitution Day unit I would love to know how it went today!

 

Love to everyone!

 



Constitution Day

Did you remember that Constitution Day is next Monday? Did you know that we have to teach it by law?

I have great news! You don't have to plan for it. I created a little Constitution Day Pack over the summer because it ALWAYS slips up on me and poor little Constitution, I just never teach him right, especially to those little 6 and 7 year olds. Here is a little preview:

 

I am starting off my lesson by playing an original {hands on} game "Capture the Flag" with special directions...none! The students play the game with no directions...I'm telling them that there aren't any directions, it's just all about fun. Then after the chaos sets in as well as the bickering and frusturation we will stop and talk about how they felt and then I will give them the real directions (which are included in the pack) as well as other ideas and directions that go with teaching this lesson. It will be amazing to watch the difference before and after the rules of the game.

 

Included in this pack:

 

original game with directions and printables

graphic organizers

directions and materials for writing a class Constitution

a fun student led group activity

two Constitution math/math tub activities

adorable Constitution Day craftivity

three writing prompts

formative assessment

 

It's everything that you need to teach the Constitution {the right way}. Don't let him {the Constitution} down. By teaching this pack your students will understand and be able to relate to the basic ideas of the Constitution. Why it was created? What it is for? When do we use it? How long ago was it written? What does it mean to me? Click {here} and get started planning!!

 

Update!!!

Here is a picture of part of my bulletin board that I created from the materials in this pack. Wish I could take a head on picture of the whole thing but our halls are too narrow so this was the best I could get!

 

 

 

 

 

 



The First Week

I love Labor Day weekend. It's apple season in NC and the Apple Festival where I live is in full swing. Little man and I picked apples today at a beautiful orchard and plan on enjoying all the festivies of the festival tomorrow.

 

I just wanted to write a little post on some of my favorite activities from our first week of school.

 

 

 

Check out this adorable name flower one of my students made after we read Chrysanthemum. We counted the letters and vowels in our name to know how many petals and leaves to put on our flower. Cute right? I got the idea from Mrs. H over at Once Upon a First Grade Adventure. She has a Kevin Henkes back to school pack in her tpt store and it is amazing!

 

Here is another activity I did from her pack.

 

 

Its Wemberly Worried. The students wrote what Wemberly worried about and then things that they worry about. So stinkin cute!

 

In math we explored with manipulatives: pattern blocks, dominoes, connecting cubes, geoblocks and the computer while in small groups we practiced writing our numbers the correct way and we learned how to count objects accurately {by touching each object and moving it with our finger}. I just love this poem about how to write numbers!

 

 

 

In writing we wrote all of our letters, capital and lowercase, matched letters to letter sounds, and discussed the differences between sentences and nonsentences. This activity turned out awesome and the students LOVED it.

 

First we sorted premade sentences that I had written on sentence strips. We talked about what sentences need and then we practiced writing a sentence on a sticky note. {Keeping sticky notes in our pencil boxes work great for quick formative assessments like this}. We shared our sentences and then just for fun we practiced writing a nonsentence. They all giggled at the silly nonsentences!

 

Looking forward to another great week and sharing more fun ideas!

 

 

Love to all!

Back to School Classroom Pictures

Still surviving my first week of school. Whoever thought that beginning the first day of school on a Monday was a good idea, surely has never taught elementary! Whew!!! And these babies are EXHAUSTED! I swear by 10:00 most of them are D.O.N.E.!! But thats because we are big first graders and we are working so hard. I have lots to share about our first week coming soon. But first I want to share some pictures that I have been too busy to post!

 

First is my back to school bulletin board.

 

I wish I could have gotten a straight shot of it but our halls are too narrow! Here it is from the other angle.

 

My classroom is not sports themed, I just thought that this was a cute idea. I think my husband inspired me, he's been counting down football season ever since the summer. Me? I could care less! :)

 

I made the cute little football players and cheerleaders by purchasing a few sets from Scrappin Doodles. Then I projected the images and traced them out. You probably can't see it from the pictures but the little footballs have the students names on them. We are working on a writing piece about how we can be a team player this year to go up with their footballs. I love it. Back to school bulletin boards are probably my most favorite part of coming back to school. I love to walk the halls and see what everyone else comes up with and I gotta tell ya, my school has some pretty cute stuff!

 

Next are pictures of my classroom. Keep in mind that it is pretty bare bones. Lots of student work and decorations will be coming soon. But stalking seeing other classrooms is one of my favorite things to look at in blog land.

 

 

 

I love my writing area. On the back of the shelves, facing the cubbies are the students book boxes. I have my letterland cards on the writing table. Usually these are on the floor or sitting on the board but it was meet the teacher night so I was trying to get it out of the way.

 

Look at all of this storage!!! The two tables in the back are my assistant and my small group tables. We have small groups during daily five, math, and phonics.  

 

 

This is our reading area.The picture turned out kind of dark. I'm working on some better/bigger pillows.

 

It's a work in progress but it's my second home!

 

I'll have more on my first week of school soon!

 

 

 

 

 



Must Have Monday {Teacher Week}

Must have Monday Countdown:

#1 A strong phonics program!

Our school adopted Letterland last year and my teammates and I couldn't be any more thrilled. Its geared for K-2 phonics instruction and teaches the students phonics and spelling patterns through stories that they actually understand, remember, and love. Ya'll this program has a story and an explanation for every spelling pattern and sight word. It amazes me the creativity that was involved with making this program. And the best part is, I LOVE to teach it. If you aren't satisfied with your phonics program I highly recommend looking into Letterland.

#2 A good pencil sharpener!

Ya'll, I can't even count the number of pencil sharpeners that I have gone through in just 6 years. Finally last year with a little help from our Fall Festival earnings, I invested in this beauty. Pencil sharpening has never felt so good and obviously by this picture I have quite a few pencils to sharpen before school starts.

#3 A lesson plan book {with lines!}

Does this old school blue lesson plan book look familiar to any of you? We used to get these free at the beginning of each year and then all of a sudden they stopped giving us lesson plan books. So last year I ordered one without looking carefully enough and it didn't have lines {gasp}! It was a tough year with no lines. But over the summer I ordered old faithful and  decorated her with some stickers. I love all of the awesome computer template lesson plans that I've been seeing but for some reason, I like to have it hand written. This lesson plan book will follow me everywhere...meetings, weekends, car trips, you name it just in case an idea hits me or I want to change something around. Let me know if any of you still like to do it old school style with me! ;)

#4 Diet Coke!

Yep, I'm an addict and I know it! I limit myself to one a day. I don't even drink it for the caffine, just for the fizz and the flava!

Check out what other teachers say is their must haves! Click on the picture to take you there!

Have a great day!

Meghan

How We Get Home Labels! {Freebie}

Who doesn't get confused and sometimes frusturated with the constant changes of how your student(s) get home each day. For me the most terrifying part of a changing schedule is sending the student home the wrong way. Scary! So I got some inspiration from pintrest {of course} and made these little tags. Click on the picture to download yours for free!

I have mounted them to my wall with ribbon and will have a clip for each student. After I check agendas each day or when my secretary calls me throughout the day with a change, I can go over to this display and move that child's clip in the appropriate place. Then when it is time to line up and go home, I have everyone organized where they need to be. Here is the general idea {without student names yet}.

This idea came from  tattling to the teacher and you can see her blog post and labels here!

Visit Tara at 4th Grade Frolics to see what other ideas teachers have made this week!

 

Don't forget, today is the last day for the teachers pay teachers back to school sale. Be sure to check out my Constitution Day Packet!



Let me know what you think!

Love to all!!



Back to School Sale!

It's back to school time and tpt is having a sale! We all know that I just started this blog so I don't have a whole lot on here. But I do have one little packet in my tpt store that I spent a whole lot of time and put lots of thought into. It's for Constitution Day. How many of you forget about teaching Constitution Day until the week of? Guilty!!! Did you know that its required by law that all of us have to teach it? But how do you teach K-2 students about the Constitution??? Ya'll, I came up with the easiest way...by playing a game!! It actually teaches them about the Constitution with hands on learning. And after playing this game, they are sure to remember why we have a Constitution. I also included two math games to use during math tubs, an adorable craftivity, writing prompts {for formative assessment} and a whole lot more. Here is a preview!

After buying this packet, I promise you, no more scrambling around trying to find things at the last minute and not doing the Constitution justice by teaching it the right way to little minds.

Here's the best part....it's on sale!!! This Constitution Day Pack is only a little over $2.00. Worth it??? Yes!

Check out all the other great sales going on by other fabulous teachers over at blog hoppin.

To go to my store and see more previews of this packet click here!

Happy shopping and love to all!!

Meghan