Flip books are a great way to provide students with a note taking tool that they can then enjoy going back to revisit. I love using them for my math units. It allows me to provide students with vocabulary of concepts that I want them to focus on. Since I teach first grade, most of my flip books are pretty simple. I just have students write the word that we are focused on and then maybe a short sentence. They then include the modeled drawing to help them remember what the word means. After students complete the books I have them keep them in their desk in a folder or in a zic-loc bag. I have them take the books back out before a lesson on that particular concept.
My shape flip book is a little different. I wanted students to have more for their definition and still be able to read it. I also wanted them to have a picture to go with the definition, so I created a Shape Flip Book packet that I use with them. They really seem to enjoy this as an introduction to shapes and I like doing it with them. I have made this packet available on my teacher's store if you are interested in it.
I am realizing that I love sharing ideas almost as much as I love teaching. As I pulled out my set of classroom Learning Sticks and remembered how much I like them I decided to share this very simple and inexpensive idea with you. Learning Sticks are a good way for students to practice/review skills that they are working on in the classroom. Learning Sticks make good center activities and you can create them for just about anything that will fit on a popsicle stick. I have made them for counting, missing numbers, less than/greater than, correctly written sentences, compound words, root words/inflectional endings, and contractions.
In order to completely share this idea with you I have posted it as a FREEBIE on my teacher's store. The free download includeds complete instructions for getting started and lists for the Learning Sticks that I use in my classroom. Please feel free to check it out if you are interested in this idea.
Do you teach money? I always like to find fun ways for my students to learn. Right now we are working on money, so I created a new game called the Roll Five Money Game. We have been having fun with it in my classroom all this week.
My students already have a pretty good grasp of money, but I still need to provide them with practice time and make sure everyone is getting it. I started off using this game as a whole class activity, dividing the class up into small groups. I did this by giving everyone a recording sheet and a coin chart. Then I placed a cup of coins for the group to share. It was a little loud, but they were excited. I had them do this for a couple of days and then had them play as partners.
When I'm done with this game in the classroom I will have my students take it home so that they can continue to use it with their families. This game has been a good way for my students to practice money and have fun with it.
It is a very simple packet that is easy to use and easy to prep. The most difficult part was making sure that I had enough coins, which wasn't really that difficult since I keep a coin jar at home.
Please feel free to click on the link if you would like to learn more about this resource.
Everyone in my classroom has a pocket sheet protector and a whiteboard marker, which I love. This allows them to reuse this activity over and over again. You could also do this for a center activity.
I hope that you like this fun math idea. I have several other resources for teaching money if you are interested. Click the link to visit my TPT Store and enter "money" in search.
Okay, so I'm really trying to step out in faith and learn to use all of today's resources and technology. My new goal is to post videos on Youtube. Well, I'm up to four now. The video I just posted is on money. I talk through the different coins and their value. I made a video like this once before, but I found that it was really too long for students to sit through. This one is a short video that I can show to my students and still expand on or I can use it as a review before we do a worksheet.
Actually, it looks like this blog lets me insert the video, but the link is above just in case this doesn't work. Also, I have some resources on my TPT Store that you might be interested in. Please feel free to check them out.
This is one of my favorite resources for teaching money. Students really get a hands-on approach to learning and even the parents get involved. It does take some work to manage, but it is well worth it.
This resource works well as a way of providing students with money practice at a math center.
I have several other money practice activities, but I don't want the list to be too long. You can visit my TPT Store to see more. Just type "money" into my store search.
My Easter Basket Adjective Egg Hunt was a big hit, so I thought I would revamp it a bit into something that is a little less seasonal. I created Fish Bowl Adjective Splash. I hope that you will enjoy this FREEBIE. It is a good way for students to not just practice using adjectives in a sentence, but to develop a better understanding of which words are adjectives. There are fish, fish bowls, and a sentence practice sheet.
I was at a meeting the other day. The purpose was to create a video library as a resource for teachers. We ran into some problems with accessing Youtube on our laptops, but we were able to get onto the Teaching Channel. I was reminded of how many people still don't know about this great resource. In the end, we discovered that the videos provided on this website were sufficient for our needs. There are videos in all subject areas, all grade levels, Common Core, assessment, behavior and just about anything else you can think of. I recommend checking it out if you haven't already.
Butterfly Art is a project that I use in my classroom as an Original Art Fundraiser project. I've done it for a couple of years now and I love the way that all of the pictures turn out. If you are looking for an art project that really looks special, whether for a fundraiser project, a gift idea, or just for fun then I highly recommend this project. It is a project that is well worth the time spent on it.
I'm providing a quick overview of how we do this project, but for detailed instructions and the butterfly pattern you can visit my TPT Store to get the free download.
Quick Overview Instructions:
This project is done in layers. The first layer being the scenery in which students use a sharpie to draw the sun and the grass. They then color everything with crayons and then paint over it.
The second layer is the butterfly layer. I provide students with a copy of the butterfly page in which they color the butterflies with markers, cut them out, glue them onto the scenery, and draw the antennae.
The final step is mounting the project onto black construction paper to give it a framed look.
