Fun in First

A Teaching Blog by Jodi Southard

Dr. Seuss

A Week on Instagram

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I love Instagram.  I’m such a visual person, and it’s just so easy to share a quick picture to show what we are working on in the classroom.  (If you’re not already following me, you can find me at @funinfirstblog.)
I wanted to blog about some of the things that I have shared this week over on Instagram, plus give you a couple freebies.
Since next week is all about Dr. Seuss, I “Seuss styled” my classroom door.
 
We also created this bulletin board.
 It’s one of my favorites to do each year for March.  You can download the printable HERE.
 
We also brightened up our classroom with this simple Saint Patrick’s Day project.
 The students wrote a reason why they felt lucky onto each strip of paper.
After the students finished all of their strips, I taped them onto a string and hung them from the ceiling.
They turned out so cute!
You can download the clover HERE.
 
Something else I shared on my Instagram last week was this article from Scholastic Teacher Magazine.
I was so excited to be a part of it.  It’s always neat to see something in print 🙂
Hope you had a great week!
 


Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

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I love Dr. Seuss books.  I am always amazed at how brilliant he was and how many wonderful quotes come from his books.
I created a couple of pictures this morning with my favorite Seuss quotes that I wanted to share with you today.  
{Feel free to pin any of the pictures below.}

Happy birthday Dr. Seuss!

Oh, the Places You’ll Go!

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I know everyone is probably Dr. Seussed out, but I wanted to share one more fun and easy bulletin board idea.  I wasn’t planning on doing anything special wih the book “Oh, the Places You’ll Go,” but after reading it, this idea just popped in my head and I think they turned out SO cute!  We made hot air balloons.

I just set out a variety of different scrapbook paper and had the students pick their favorite.  Then they wrote about what they wanted to do when they grew up.  You can download the writing paper by clicking HERE.
I didn’t include the part on the balloon because I personalized each of those with the student’s names.

Spelling Supplement and The Lorax

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I was given the opportunity to go to the Special Education Inclusion Conference in Indianapolis on Thursday and Friday.  It was a nice break from school and I walked away with numerous ideas for my classroom.  Not just ideas for special education students, but ALL learners.  I hope to get some of these ideas going in my classroom this week and to be able to share some of the strategies with you later on in the week.  For now, I just wanted to recap and show you a spelling supplement that I finally finished.
Last week, we read The Lorax.  {Really, who didn’t though.}  After reading, we made these Lorax’s.

You can download the pattern by clicking HERE.

Off to a completely new topic.  I have been wanting to put together a spelling supplement for our reading series forever!  Well, now that it’s March, I finally got around to it.  Better late than never, right?  Plus, I can use it all next year!

This was created to use with the 1st grade Treasures reading series by Macmillan McGraw-Hill.  It includes the spelling list and four other pages to use with the spelling list.  I plan on using some of these in the classroom, but mainly for homework.  They would also work at a spelling station.
You can click on the picture above to download a free sample to see if it’s something you would find useful in your classroom.  If you think it’s something you could use in your classroom, check it out by clicking below.

This is the spelling test paper that we use each week, just in case you are wanting something new.  Just click the picture to download.

Now to catch up on my blogstalking.  I’m sure I’ve missed out on a lot in the last couple of days!

Fox in Socks & Oh Say Can You Say

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Today we read Fox in Socks and Oh Say Can You Say and discussed alliterations and tongue twisters.  Wow!  Those are hard books to read.  Then we came up with our own alliteration sentences using our names.
Then each student wrote their sentence on a strip of pink paper and rolled it up around a pencil.
Then we stapled the tongue onto a picture of their face.  They are SO much cuter in person!!  My pictures didn’t do them justice.
We also read The Sleep Book and made our sleeping people today.  They turned out cute.
Here are some of the Horton’s that I posted about earlier this week.
Tomorrow we’re making Oobleck.  So much fun!

Green Eggs & Ham

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Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!  What a fun day.  We started off the day with a breakfast of Green Eggs and Ham casserole.  Before trying it, students came up and predicted if they would like it or not.  After trying it, they came back up and filled in whether or not they liked it.
Since I did not have any way to actually cook green eggs and ham in my classroom, I got up early this morning and made two green egg and ham casseroles.  It’s just the same egg casserole that I always make, but I put in green food coloring with the eggs.  I have to admit, it did look disgusting because of the green, but it tasted pretty good.
Recipe:
Lay out one package of crescent rolls on the bottom of a sprayed pan.  Cut up ham and sprinkle over the crescent rolls.  Beat 12 eggs in a dish and stir in about 1/4 cup of milk (put in green food coloring).  Pour over ham.  Sprinkle about 1 cup of cheese on top.  Bake 40 minutes at 350.
Some of the kiddos just could not get over the color, but others LOVED it and kept saying, “You’re the best cook ever.” LOL!

Then of course, we read Green Eggs and Ham and talked about the lesson we learned from the story.
We also made Dr. Seuss hats to wear today.
We read the book Cat in the Hat and discussed the difference between the cat and the fish.
We also read The Cat in the Hat Came Back and compared and contrasted the two stories. 
I have really enjoyed watching my students eyes light up while reading Dr. Seuss books this week.  They are so into it.