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Fun in First

A Teaching Blog by Jodi Southard

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Science/Social Studies

Columbus Day

October 9, 2016 by Jodi 4 Comments

Students take a Columbus Day Voyage throughout the school.

We are usually on Fall Break during Columbus Day, but this year Fall Break is pushed back a week.  So, tomorrow we will be learning about Christopher Columbus and taking our annual Columbus Voyage through the school.

Students take a Columbus Day Voyage throughout the school.I truly like to put the focus on learning new vocabulary during this voyage instead of focusing completely on Columbus.  I absolutely understand that Columbus Day is controversial in many ways, so for my first graders, I put the main focus on the idea of being an explorer.  We discuss the meaning of the words voyage, explore, discover, explorer, trade, etc.

We have done this a couple of different ways throughout the years.  We started off years ago by having the students in different classrooms be the Native Americans, and the first graders be the explorers to the “new world.”  Our first graders would trade their trinkets (gold, mirrors, beads, etc.) with the Natives.  One year, we had a LOT of 1st graders, so we decided to do all of the trading in the same room.  This year, we will be placing the items in different locations through the school, so we can “voyage” through the school and do our trading.

Students take a Columbus Day Voyage throughout the school.We start off by passing out our Columbus Voyage packets, their bag of trinkets to trade (beads, jewels, gold painted rocks, etc.) and their snack bags of dried meat, fish, and crackers (beef jerky sticks, Goldfish and saltine crackers) for the long voyage.  I explain to the students that the people on the ship had to ration their food and not eat it all at once.

Students take a Columbus Day Voyage throughout the school.Then, we start our voyage.  We read about our first trade item, and the students choose a trinket to trade.  Then, we travel to the first location on our map.  The students trade their trinket for the item from the Natives.

Students take a Columbus Day Voyage throughout the school.We trade for all types of items that the explorers traded for with the Native Americans (popcorn, spices, feathers, shells, etc.).

Students take a Columbus Day Voyage throughout the school.After we make each trade, we learn about the item in our booklets, and then write about our learning.

Students take a Columbus Day Voyage throughout the school.It’s a fun day, and the students love it.

Students take a Columbus Day Voyage throughout the school.At some point during the day, we also complete these Columbus Day Booklets to add to our learning.

Columbus Day Booklet from Fun in FirstColumbus Day Booklet from Fun in FirstI’m looking forward to another Columbus Voyage tomorrow.

Filed Under: Fall, Science/Social Studies Tagged With: Columbus Day

Bats are Everywhere! Our Bat Cave Day

September 30, 2016 by Jodi 10 Comments

Students will love having a Bat Cave Day using these ideas and activities from Fun in First.

I absolutely LOVE teaching my students about bats.  It’s a week that I look forward to every single year.  The students just get so excited and can’t wait to learn more.  This year after learning  about bats all week, I decided to transform my classroom into a Bat Cave for the day.

Students will love having a Bat Cave Day using these ideas and activities from Fun in First.This will definitely be a new annual tradition.  My students were so unbelievably excited.  I wish I would have videotaped their reactions when they came in this morning.  When the students walked down the hall, my door was closed and the lights were off.

Students will love having a Bat Cave Day using these ideas and activities from Fun in First.

The night before, I had pulled down the blinds and covered the windows with black tablecloths.  I also covered the desks and tables with black tablecloths.

Students will love having a Bat Cave Day using these ideas and activities from Fun in First.I also hung plastic bats from Dollar Tree onto my lanterns.

Students will love having a Bat Cave Day using these ideas and activities from Fun in First.

Along with some other Dollar Tree and Walmart items (plastic bag bats, mesh fabric, purple Bat lights and LED lights, etc.) the room came together pretty quickly.

Students will love having a Bat Cave Day using these ideas and activities from Fun in First.Students will love having a Bat Cave Day using these ideas and activities from Fun in First.Students will love having a Bat Cave Day using these ideas and activities from Fun in First.

It was such a simple transformation that I wondered if it would hold up to the hype of the day. (It definitely did!)  Before school started, I closed the door and turned off the lights.  I put in our weekly newsletter to have the students bring in flashlights on Friday.  When the bell rang, I opened up the classroom door and whispered for them to come in.  I had bat noises playing using You Tube on Repeat.  Click HERE for the link to the one I used.  I had this playing ALL day.  It added so much to the feel of the “cave.”

The students got out their flashlights and came into the room.  I had a glow stick bracelet on everyone’s desk along with a bat dot-to-dot activity.  The students loved using their flashlights to work.

Students will love having a Bat Cave Day using these ideas and activities from Fun in First.The purple lights and flashlights added such a wonderful glow to the room.

Students will love having a Bat Cave Day using these ideas and activities from Fun in First.

What activities did we complete about bats?

We learned about bats all week.  We read a lot of nonfiction books about bats and created this anchor chart to we could reference it all week.

Students will love these bat ideas and activities from Fun in First.We wrote a lot about bats, and the students were great about using this as a helper.

Students will love these bat ideas and activities from Fun in First.

We completed these Bat Flip Books, which were a great addition to our bat week.

Students will love these October Flip Books from Fun in First.Students will love these October Flip Books from Fun in First.What did we do on Bat Cave Day?

Check out the activities in my BAT CAVE CLASSROOM TRANSFORMATION packet!

On Bat Cave Day, we spent a lot of time with bat fiction using the book Stellaluna.  We also completed a lot of activities in my Bats Fun with Fiction packet.

I made these bat headbands for everyone with foam bats that I found at Hobby Lobby.

Students will love these bat activities from Fun in First.

You also HAVE to show this cute echolocation video.

It is such a catchy little tune that I found myself singing it throughout the day.

The Bat Cave transformation really didn’t take too long, and it was completely and totally worth it!

Students will love these Bat Cave ideas and activities from Fun in First.The students must have told me a hundred times today that this was the best day ever.  Some of the best reactions…”Now, this is what I call a Friday!”  “Thank you so much for doing this for us, Mrs. Southard.  It is really cool!”  “You are just like Ms. Frizzle!”

Want to know which activities we used during our Bat Week and Bat Cave Day?  Click on the links below.

BAT CAVE DAY

October Flip Books (Includes bats, spiders, fire safety, owls and pumpkins)

Bat Fun with Fiction

Nonfiction in October

FREE Bat Activities Packet

Filed Under: Fall, Science/Social Studies

My Morning Routine

August 20, 2016 by Jodi 29 Comments

My morning routine with my first graders has definitely evolved over the years.  I have always used some type of morning work, but it wasn’t until about 4 years ago that I became really intentional about my morning work.  I wanted to create something that allowed my students to hit all of their important reading and math skills.  A couple years ago, I created my Differentiated Morning Work for my students.  I love that it reviews so many 1st grade standards, and it truly helps to ensure that I am teaching all of the concepts.Slide3

This year I also decided to implement morning tubs into our morning routine.  I wanted to give early finishers a chance to explore classroom manipulatives and add some STEM activities into our day.

When students come into the classroom, they hang up their backpacks, turn in their LION books and begin working on the morning work paper on their desks.

Morning Work

At the beginning of the year, the students need a lot of guidance with their morning work.  However, I am always amazed at how quickly they can become independent with these.  When the students are finished with their morning work page, they turn it over on their desks because we go over these together later on in the morning.

Then, the students can go and get their morning tub.

Slide1

I have assigned groups of 3 to 4 students per tub.  Some mornings all 4 students make it to the tubs, other mornings breakfast or morning work may take longer and only 1 or 2 students end up using a tub.  I leave a group at a tub for 3 days, then I rotate.  So, I will only have to change tub activities every 18 days.

Slide10I want the students to be able to use plenty of hands-on activities in these tubs.  For this first round, I have placed the following items and activities in my tubs.

1. Legos – The students have to make their names using Legos.

Slide6

2. Play-doh – The students have to make 2-dimensional or 3-dimensional shapes using Play-Doh.

3.  Shape Templates – Students draw a picture using the geometric shape templates from our Everyday Math series.

Slide7

4. Jenga Blocks – The students have to build a shelter using Jenga blocks.

Slide5

Slide12

5. Color Squares – Students use colored squares to build a tower.  The goal is to build the tallest tower possible.

Slide96.  Dice – Students roll two dice and write a number sentence on the dry erase board.

Slide8I am excited to continue adding new things to the tubs this year.  I can change these up and use a variety of STEM activities as well as reading skills.  I think these will be a great addition to our classroom.

Slide4After reading The Brown Bag Teacher’s take on Morning Tubs, I knew I wanted to give it a try this year.  I love that I am still able to incorporate the morning tubs with the traditional morning work.

Do you use traditional morning work, morning tubs, or a combination of both?

 

Filed Under: Back to School, Curriculum, Math, Reading, Science/Social Studies

American Symbols and Veterans Day

November 8, 2015 by Jodi Leave a Comment

Last week we started learning about famous American symbols. 
I put together this little comprehension packet to supplement our learning.  It includes pages about the Liberty Bell, the Statue of Liberty, The White House, Mount Rushmore, the American Flag, the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, and bald eagles.
You can check out the entire packet by clicking on the picture below.
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/American-Symbols-2186356
This week we will continue learning about some of our American symbols, but we will also be focusing on Veterans Day.  I finished a complete update of my little Veterans Day booklet with new fonts and clipart.
You can click on the picture below to check it out.  Don’t forget that if you have purchased this in the past, you can redownload the updated file at no additional charge.
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Veterans-Day-Booklet-165349
Thank you to all past and present military members and your families!!!


Filed Under: Fall, Science/Social Studies, Seasonal Tagged With: American symbols, Veteran's Day

Integrating Science and Social Studies

July 24, 2015 by Jodi 2 Comments

How many times have you said that there just isn’t time in your school day to fit everything in?  I know I have said it plenty of times.  Now…this is not necessarily saying that I want to have a longer school day, because I know how tired the students and I are by the end of the day.  I can’t imagine making it longer.  However, we can work smarter, not longer.  Science and social studies often get pushed to the side in order to fit in reading, writing, and math.  By not teaching science and social studies to our students, we are doing them a disservice.  So, what do we do?  INTEGRATE!

You can truly integrate science and social studies into almost every part of your day.
Here is a break down of how I integrate science and/or social studies into my day.
Morning Meeting
We begin our morning with a Morning Meeting.  During this time, we greet each other, discuss our day, and sing a song or read a poem together.  I LOVE to integrate our science or social studies theme into our morning songs.
I pull a lot of my songs from my A Year of Songs packet.
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Songs-for-the-Year-1905598
Reading
I LOVE nonfiction books!  Kids LOVE nonfiction books!  When I first started teaching, I purchased books galore.  I eventually discovered that I had a huge collection of fiction books, but my nonfiction collection was lacking!  Over the past couple of years, I have been stocking up on nonfiction books.
Some of my favorites are:
Smart Kids Books by Roger Priddy
National Geographic Readers
I love that these come in different levels.
Magic School Bus
Scholastic True or False

There are tons more, but those are just some of my favorites that come to mind.
I also use my monthly Nonfiction packets.
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/A-Year-of-Nonfiction-1564581
We read the passages together, and then go back into the text to highlight the answers to our questions.  We also use the graphic organizers and writing pages included in the packets.
I recently finished up my August and September packets in order to complete my ENTIRE year.
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Nonfiction-in-August-1964681
My August packet includes units on Watermelons, Germs, Safety Skills (including bike safety, car safety, and stranger danger), and Community Helpers.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Nonfiction-in-September-1974794
My September packet includes units on Apples, Johnny Appleseed, The Constitution, Leaves, and States of Matter.
Writing
I truly believe that writing is the easiest subject to integrate your science and social studies curriculum.
We are constantly writing about our unit of study.  The students love to research facts, and write about what they know.
Math
This is not an area that I can integrate into every day, but I still do it when I can.  We graph, sort, and complete word problems about our unit of study.

Integrated Studies
We have a 30 minute block at the end of our day for Integrated Studies.  This is when I really dive deep into our science and social studies topic.
We create anchor charts, complete experiments, read more nonfiction text, etc. during this time.

I LOVE integrating science and social studies into our day.  Integration allows for children to use what they are learning into many different formats.  It helps make connections across the curriculum.  Integration ties everything together!


Filed Under: Science/Social Studies Tagged With: integration, science

Using Songs in Your Classroom

June 15, 2015 by Jodi 7 Comments

Kids love music!  I try to find ways to incorporate it throughout our school day.  It is such an amazing learning tool.
My Songs for the Year packet is the perfect tool for any primary classroom. 
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Songs-for-the-Year-1905598
I love using songs during our school day!  Kids LOVE to sing.  They sing with abandon, and they do not care who is listening.  I, on the other hand, cannot carry a tune to save my life!  You will NEVER catch me doing karaoke.  Thankfully, 1st graders don’t judge, and I can get away with singing to them 😉
Our Morning Meeting each morning is the perfect time to add song to our day.  I always sing a “welcome song” to invite my students to the carpet area.
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Songs-for-the-Year-1905598
I also included songs to fit some common themes that you may be teaching this school year.  It’s all about integration!!!
 
Every song comes in a color, and a black and white version.  The color version is perfect for displaying on an easel or on a document camera.  The black and white version is great for song and/or poetry journals.  Your students will love practicing these songs, and it’s perfect for working on fluency!

I also love the idea of printing these 4 to a sheet, laminating them, and putting them on a metal ring.  You can carry the songs with you for those times when you may need a quick song to fill “wait time,” or put the songs at a literacy station for your students to sing.
 
My girls always like to try out my items, so here is a little video of my soon to be 3rd grader teaching my soon to be Kindergartener one of the songs.
 
This is the song that they were singing.
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Songs-for-the-Year-1905598
 
Here is the Table of Contents, so you can see which themes are covered in the packet.
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Songs-for-the-Year-1905598
 
Head on over to my TpT store to check out this packet of 37 songs.
 
Do you use songs in your classroom?
 
 


Filed Under: Back to School, Classroom Management, Science/Social Studies Tagged With: Songs

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funinfirstblog

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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