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Fun in First

A Teaching Blog by Jodi Southard

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Classroom Management

Interactive Task Folder

August 24, 2017 by Jodi 3 Comments

Interactive Task Folders are great for early finishers and when you have a couple extra minutes in your day. Your students will take ownership in their work after making these.

“I’m done.  What do I do now?”  I know you’ve heard this.  My go-to answer is almost always “Go read a book.”  This is always a great choice, but I also wanted to come up with a way for my students to have some other options.  This Interactive Task Folder was the perfect answer.

Interactive Task Folders are great for early finishers and when you have a couple extra minutes in your day. Your students will take ownership in their work after making these.

After creating a Solar Eclipse Lapbook to use with my students, I knew that I needed to make something else like this that we could use on a regular basis.  My students took so much ownership in their work and commented over and over again how much fun they had while making it.

This Interactive Task Folder is great for my early finishers.  They can pull out their folders and work on sight words, phonics skills, vocabulary words, math facts, and more.  These are also great for students to use when you find yourself with a couple of extra minutes before lunch or at the end of the day.

Interactive Task Folders are great for early finishers and when you have a couple extra minutes in your day. Your students will take ownership in their work after making these.

You will need a file folder for each student.  Open up each folder and fold the two sides in towards the middle of the folder.  Then, print off the pages needed to create the folder.  I used Astrobrights colored paper, but you could definitely use white paper and have your students color their pages if they’d like.  The front of the task folder includes a cover sheet, a 120’s chart, and a writing idea list.

Interactive Task Folders are great for early finishers and when you have a couple extra minutes in your day. Your students will take ownership in their work after making these.

For the inside, I have included a BOGGLE board that can be edited.  This way, you can change out the letters when needed and just have the students glue the new board right on top of the old one.  I also had someone give me the idea to put this on with velcro to make it easy to change out.

Students will also be able to practice their math facts and sight words.  These pockets are sized to fit a 3×5 index card, or I have included editable math fact and sight word cards.  The Reading Response sheets are perfect comprehension practice for students if they read a book in their spare time.  I have included 4 different response sheets in this file.

Interactive Task Folders are great for early finishers and when you have a couple extra minutes in your day. Your students will take ownership in their work after making these.

The Making Words activity is a great way to practice spelling and phonics skills.  I have included templates to create your own Making Words cards.  I have also included a template for you to make your own vocabulary word strips.  These can be changed out each week to keep the items fresh.  I like to include the vocabulary words from our reading selections for the week.

Interactive Task Folders are great for early finishers and when you have a couple extra minutes in your day. Your students will take ownership in their work after making these.

On the back, I have included a Word List that is helpful for students when they are writing.  It makes a great resource for them to use throughout the day.

These folders can take a bit of time to make, but once they are done, they are such a helpful resource.  I highly recommend having your students make these instead of you or a parent volunteer.  The students really take ownership in their work and are much more likely to use these if they are the ones making them.

What are teachers saying about this product? 
“Very helpful; It’s nice to have everything a student needs in one place.” 
“A great way to review basics on a daily basis! I love that I can edit parts of it, and can differentiate for all my students!” – Jennifer
“I think this is my favorite lap book ever! Such a useful tool and easy to individualize in my resource room.”

You can check these Interactive Task Folders out by clicking on any of the pictures in this post.

 

Interactive Task Folders are great for early finishers and when you have a couple extra minutes in your day. Your students will take ownership in their work after making these.

Filed Under: Back to School, Classroom Management, Curriculum, Math, Reading Tagged With: Interactive Folder

Morning Tubs – Round 6

March 9, 2017 by Jodi 3 Comments

Check out these morning tub ideas.

I just switched out our morning tubs again this week.  Technically, I think this is our 7th round of morning tubs, but I repeated some of our items during the last round.

Morning Tubs - A great way to start the morning!Read more about our full morning routine HERE.

What is in our Morning Tubs this time?

I purchased some new items from Amazon to add to my tubs this time around.  I love searching for new things that I think my students will enjoy.  It makes new tub day even more exciting.

This post contains affiliate links.  Any purchase made through these links (at no additional cost to you) helps to support this little area of cyber space and keeps the blog up and running.

These Bristle Blocks were a great addition to our morning tubs this round.  Check out more morning tub ideas on the blog.These Bristle Blocks are a huge hit this time around.  They go together really easily and attach in so many different ways.  My class also loves that this packet came with wheels.

These Bristle Blocks have been a great addition to our morning tubs.  You can check out more morning tub ideas in this blog post.

They have been so creative with these blocks.

Check out these morning tub ideas.This iTrax Critical Thinking mind game is a fun little addition to our tubs.  The students are supposed to look at the cards and find the path that connects the two blocks.  Then, they race to build that path with their blocks.  Many of them wanted to explore with building on these cards first.  This one will take a little practice, but eventually they’ll get the hang of it.

These gears are a fun addition to our morning tubs this round.  You can find more ideas over on the blog.These gears from Learning Resources have been fun for the students as well.  I love seeing the ideas that they come up with to make all of the gears work together.

This blog is full of morning tub ideas.I purchased these Smartie Pants cards a couple of years ago, and I’ve had the Brain Quest Cards for ages.  I placed both of these in one of our tubs.  The students have had fun quizzing each other using these cards.

This BOGGLE game is a great addition to our morning tubs.  Check out all of these morning tub ideas.I bought this BOGGLE game at Walmart about a month ago and decided to put it in one of our morning tubs.

This BOGGLE game is a great addition to our morning tubs.  Check out all of these other ideas.The students turn over the timer and write as many words as possible on their white boards before the time runs out.

This blog is full of morning tub ideas.I placed dominoes in our last morning tub.  They can build with these, group them by numbers, put them into patterns, etc.  Morning tubs are really just a time for them to explore and be creative.

Want to know what else we have done during Morning Tub time?

Here are the links to my other posts:

Morning Tubs – Round 1

Morning Tubs – Round 2

Morning Tubs – Round 3

Morning Tubs – Round 4

Morning Tubs – Round 5

Filed Under: Classroom Management, Curriculum Tagged With: Morning Tubs

5 Ways to Get Your Students Up and Moving

January 16, 2017 by Jodi Leave a Comment

5 ways to get your students up and moving throughout the day.

If you have any experience with children, you know that they need to get up and move throughout they day.  Even as an adult, I do not sit still very well.  I cannot stand when I have to sit through a meeting all day.  I need to move around.  Research has shown that movement can increase focus and retention.  Brain researcher, John Medina, stated in Brain Rules (2008), that “physical activity is cognitive candy and exercise boosts brain power.”  Did you know that in Finland, it is typical for students to get a 15 minute break for every 45 minutes of instruction?  With our push for longer school days and more time on task, this seems almost impossible.  But, we truly have to think about if our “time on task” involves the students giving 100% of their focus and attention to what we are teaching.  So, how can we incorporate more movement into our classrooms?

5 ways to get your students up and moving throughout the day.

1. Have Students Transition Around the Classroom Throughout the Day

We are constantly moving to different areas of our classroom during the day.  We do not stay in one area for too long.  As soon as I notice that my students are losing focus, we change it up.  I do whole group instruction at our desks or on the carpet together.  I do small group instruction at my reading table, while my students transition around the classroom doing learning stations.5 ways to get students up and moving in your classroom.My students also love to find a spot in the classroom to work on their Morning Tubs in the morning.

5 Ways to get your students up and moving in your classroom.The most important thing to remember, is to be very aware of when your students are starting to lose focus.  As the year progresses, students will be able to stay in one spot for longer periods of time, but definitely switch it up often.

2.  Integrate Movement into Learning

5 ways to get your students up and moving

The easiest way to get your students up and moving is to find ways to integrate movement into your learning.  Have students act out vocabulary words or play games that get them moving around the classroom.

5 ways to get your students up and moving throughout the school day.One of my students favorite games is 4 corners.  There are a couple different ways you can play this game.  One that we played recently was Vowel Sound 4 Corners.  (You could definitely do 5 areas instead of 4.)  I hung signs up in each corner of my room labeled short a, short e, short i, and short o.  Each student stood under a sign of their choice.  Then, I drew a short vowel word from a jar.  For example, “cat.”  All of the students under the Short a sign, went and sat down.  Then, the students picked a new sign to stand under.  This continued until there was one winner.  This can easily be adapted to many reading and math skills.

Another favorite game that gets students out of their seats is Splat.  I group the students into 4 or 5 teams.  I place skill cards on the board.  In the example above, we were working with soft and hard c and g.  I read a word, and the first person to “Splat” the correct answer scored a point for their team.  (The Splat flyswatter were purchased at Walmart.)

These Reading on the Move packets are a great way to integrate reading fluency and exercise.An easy and fun way that I integrate academics and exercise is with my Reading on the Move and Math on the Move packets.  The students roll the dice after reading to see what “movement” they are going to complete before rereading the passage.  (The passage above is from my Reading on the Move – Winter Edition).  You can check out all of my Reading on the Move packets HERE.

5 Ways to get students up and moving throughout the day.

We also use my Math on the Move packets to integrate math and exercise.  The students love getting up and moving after each section of work that they complete.

Math on the Move is a great way to integrate math and exercise.3. Allow Flexible Seating in your Classroom

This is something that is still evolving in my classroom.  I have Wobble Chairs at my reading table that the students may use at their desks if they need them.  I also allow the students to stand at their desks if they work better this way.  A couple of my students also prefer to use clipboards on the floor.  My only absolute “no” with seating is that students may not sit dangerously in their seats.  (Leaning back on two legs, turned around backwards with their feet stuck in the back, shoes tied to their chair legs.  I mean…not that I’ve learned those from previous experiences or anything.)

5 Ways to Allow Movement in your Classroom.4.  Take Brain Breaks

When you notice that students are losing focus, take a Brain Break.  We absolutely love using GoNoodle for our Brain Breaks.  There are so many great options to choose from depending on what the students need at that time.  I love all of the KooKoo Kangaroo videos when I need my students to “wake up” and recharge.  However, sometimes I need the opposite effect, and I want them to settle down.  The Flow and Maximo videos are perfect for this.

5 ways to incorporate movement into your classroom.Another great way to add a little bit of movement to your day is to use this movement dice.

Using a Movement Dice is an easy way to incorporate movement into your classroom.This can be used as a whole group when you notice that students are starting to get off task.  It also works great for students that may need to keep it at their desk to use when they need an extra break.  You can download it for free HERE.

5.  Head Outside

Weather permitting, I love to take learning outside.  Living in Indiana, this is not always possible, but on nice spring and fall days, we love to head outside.  You can take books outside and let students read.  We have also taken our white boards and dry erase markers out to a picnic table to work on math.  Sidewalk chalk is a great way to practice spelling words and math facts.  Another idea is to have students use their senses while outside to enhance their writing.  The possibility are endless.

How do you use movement in your classroom? 

5 Ways to Get Your Students Up and Moving - Great ideas for incorporating movement throughout your day.

Filed Under: Classroom Management, Math, Reading

Morning Tubs – Round 5

January 8, 2017 by Jodi 6 Comments

We are on our 5th round of morning tubs, and my students still absolutely love this time in our day.  It gives them a chance to socialize with other students in the morning, while being creative and using their imaginations.

Morning Tubs are a wonderful way to get your students moving and their brains thinking creatively in the morning.  These ideas from Fun in First are perfect.What does my morning look like?

I get asked a lot about my schedule and how long all of this lasts.  My students can start coming into the classroom at 8:00, but the tardy bell does not ring until 8:15.  Some bring breakfast to the classroom as well.  This makes it very difficult to do any type of whole group instruction first thing in the morning.  Even if I could, I really think that the students need to come in and have some time to adjust to the day.  After the students put their coats and backpacks away, they complete the Morning Work on their desks.  Since the morning work follows the same type of format each morning, it really only takes them about 5-10 minutes to finish it.  Then, they go to their tub for the morning.  I post my Morning Tub rotation on the board, and we rotate each group every 3 days.  This allows me to only have to switch out tubs every 18 school days.  Around 8:30, we clean up our tubs and go over our morning work together.  Then, we are ready to start our day with our Morning Meeting time.

What is in our Morning Tubs this time?

This post contains affiliate links.  Any purchase made through these links (at no additional cost to you) helps to support this little area of cyber space and keeps the blog up and running.

I ordered these Quadpro Magnetic Blocks from Amazon.  My own son also got a set for Christmas from my parents, and they are so much fun!

These magnetic shapes are a perfect addition to Morning Tubs.  Check out all of these other ideas for what to put into Morning Tubs from Fun in First.This set came with magnetic squares and triangles.  The students have been so creative with these.

These Magnetic Blocks make a great morning tub for students.These will definitely come back out in another round of morning tubs.

These magnetic shapes are a perfect addition to Morning Tubs.  Check out all of these other ideas for what to put into Morning Tubs from Fun in First.In our next tub, I placed these winter themed coloring sheets from Creative Clips.

This post contains so many Morning Tub ideas from Fun in First.For our third tub, I purchased these Keva Brain Builder blocks.

These Keva Brain Builders are a great addition to Morning Tubs.  This post contains so many ideas of items to include in Morning Tubs.The box came with these small wooden pieces and cards with items to make using the blocks.

These Keva Brain Builders are a great addition to Morning Tubs.  This post contains so many ideas of items to include in Morning Tubs.My students are always thrilled when they get to build things.  I do wish that these came with more wooden pieces, but the students are having to cooperate together to make the items.

Our fourth tub contains Rory’s Story Cubes.  This is the original set, but they do have other sets of these cubes that I may look into purchasing.

Story Cubes are a great addition to morning tubs in your classroom.  This post contains many other ideas for morning tubs.I placed the Story Cubes along with a pad of writing paper in the tub.  I gave them the option of deciding how many cubes to roll.  I love that they have to be really creative in their writing to include each of the pictures that they rolled on the dice.

Our fifth and sixth tubs are repeat tubs of geoboards and pattern blocks.  These math manipulatives never get old.  The students love them.

Pattern blocks are a great addition to morning tubs.  This post contains many ideas for using morning tubs in your classroom.Morning Tub ideas This is definitely one of my students favorite times of the day.

Want to know what else we have done during Morning Tub time?

Here are the links to my other posts:

Morning Tubs – Round 1

Morning Tubs – Round 2

Morning Tubs – Round 3

Morning Tubs – Round 4

Morning Tubs has become one of my students favorite times of the school day.  Here are so many ideas of things to place into your morning tubs.

Filed Under: Classroom Management, Curriculum Tagged With: Morning Tubs

Morning Tubs – Round 3

October 10, 2016 by Jodi 7 Comments

Morning Tub Ideas from Fun in First

Last week, I changed out my Morning Tubs for the third time this year.  The 3 day rotation is still working out really well for my students.  I really think it is just the right amount of time for the kids to spend at their tubs.

Morning Tub Ideas from Fun in FirstIn the first tub, I placed my new Phonics Dice that I ordered a couple weeks ago.  We have been using these during small group reading instruction, so my students have had practice making real and nonsense words with these dice.  The students grab a dry erase board and marker to use at this tub.

Morning Tub Ideas from Fun in FirstThe second tub is filled with Halloween erasers that I purchased from the Dollar Spot at Target two years ago.  These seasonal erasers are always a great find and can be used for so many things.  For the morning tub, I didn’t give the students a particular task for these.  I just like to let their creativity take over.  They have had so much fun making shapes, patterns, and pictures with these.

Morning Tub Ideas from Fun in FirstMorning Tub Ideas from Fun in FirstThe third tub contains letter tiles.  These tiles have all of the individual letters as well as common vowel pairs and word families.  The letter tiles came with small magnetic boards, but cookie sheets would also work really well with these.  I truly have no clue what brand these tiles are, but you could always just put regular magnetic letters in a tub.

Morning Tub Ideas from Fun in FirstMy fourth tub contains Base-10 Blocks.  The students always love building towers and houses with these blocks.

Morning Tub Ideas from Fun in FirstMorning Tub Ideas from Fun in FirstI was so excited when I ordered this Goobi Construction Set from Amazon a couple weeks ago.  I knew my students would love them, and they would be perfect for morning tubs.

Morning Tub Ideas from Fun in FirstMorning Tub Ideas from Fun in FirstThe sixth tub contains coloring pages.  I included some primary type coloring pages that I downloaded for free from Creative Clips, as well as some more difficult adult coloring pages that I found as free downloads online.

Morning Tub Ideas from Fun in FirstMorning Tub Ideas from Fun in FirstYou can read about my first two rounds of Morning Tubs by clicking on the links below.

Morning Tubs – Round 1

Morning Tubs – Round 2

Are you using Morning Tubs this year?  I’d love to hear the types of things you have placed in yours lately.

This post does contain some affiliate links for your shopping convenience.  I do receive a small commission when someone purchases an item after clicking on a link.  These commissions help with the cost of maintaining this blog and allow me to continue to bringing you valuable content, activities and ideas.

Filed Under: Classroom Management, Fall Tagged With: Morning Tubs

Parent Teacher Conference Forms

October 3, 2016 by Jodi 2 Comments

FREE Parent Teacher Conference Forms from Fun in First

I cannot believe that it’s already time to start thinking about Parent-Teacher Conferences.  We will start scheduling ours tomorrow, and then we will meet with parents in two weeks.  The beginning of the school year has just flown by!  Last year, I shared some FREE Parent-Teacher Conference forms and wanted to remind you of those if you wanted to use them again.

FREE Parent Teacher Conference Forms from Fun in FirstThese are great for students to fill out prior to conferences.  It really gives you an insight into how they see their school year.

FREE Parent Teacher Conference Forms from Fun in FirstIt’s so interesting because I have actually found that some of my best students are the hardest on themselves when it comes to self-evaluations.

FREE Parent Teacher Conference Forms from Fun in FirstThe parents always enjoy seeing which subjects interest their child as well.

FREE Parent Teacher Conference Forms from Fun in FirstYou will also find conference reminder forms in this FREE download.

FREE Parent Teacher Conference Forms from Fun in FirstThese are editable, so you can add your student’s name, date, and time of the conference.

You can download all of these for FREE in my Teachers Pay Teachers store.

Filed Under: Classroom Management, Fall, Freebies Tagged With: Parent Conferences

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Definitely not my favorite of his costumes, but he Definitely not my favorite of his costumes, but he loves it, so that’s all that matters 🦴🎃
We will be completing our Halloween Challenge on F We will be completing our Halloween Challenge on Friday. It’s such a great way to make learning fun while working cooperatively.🎃
Check it out by following the link in my profile.
Thank you, Halloween!!🎃👻 Thank you, Halloween!!🎃👻
🌟Easy small group activity🌟 Give each studen 🌟Easy small group activity🌟
Give each student the vowels using foam or magnetic letters. Say a CVC word.  The students hold up the vowel to show the middle sound that they hear.
Super easy and effective💙
I could not be happier that Halloween falls on a S I could not be happier that Halloween falls on a Saturday this year, but that definitely does not mean that the kids will be calm this coming week🤪
If you can’t beat them, join them, right? We will be working on reading fluency using my Halloween Reading on the Move.
Check it out by following the link in my profile.🎃
I’ve definitely need some coffee to get through I’ve definitely need some coffee to get through this past week that I swear was actually 15 days long 😂 But, I’m officially done with my parent-teacher conferences✔️👏👏
We normally do a student pumpkin decorating contes We normally do a student pumpkin decorating contest at school, and the pumpkins are always AMAZING. Due to Covid, we had to cancel it this year, but each classroom created a pumpkin.
We finished ours today, and I actually think it turned out pretty cute🦁
At this point in the year, I am definitely feeling At this point in the year, I am definitely feeling like my soup of the day should be coffee.
I’m *almost* done with Parent-Teacher Conferences. Only 2 more left👏👏
How are you holding up? Do you need some coffee soup along with me?
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