Theme Layout

Boxed or Wide or Framed

Theme Translation

Display Featured Slider

No

Featured Slider Styles

Display Grid Slider

Grid Slider Styles

Display Trending Posts

Display Author Bio

Display Instagram Footer

Search This Blog

Powered by Blogger.

Pages

About Me

My photo
I am a first grade teacher who has rediscovered a love for firsties this year. I have taught pre-k, kindergarten, first grade and even second over the past 16 years. I have been married for 17 years to my wonderful husband and have been blessed with 2 very active boys.

Pre-K Back to School

Pre-K Back to School
Pre-K Back to School

Pre-K/Kindergarten Literacy

Pre-K/Kindergarten Literacy
Pre-K/Kindergarten Literacy

Pre-K/Kindergarten Literacy

Pre-K/Kindergarten Literacy
Pre-K/Kindergarten Literacy

Phonics Games

Phonics Games
Phonics Games
Image Map
   
Blog Design by:
.
Graphics by: MareeTrueLove.
Widget by:Gabby Barba

Calendar Math for Primary Grades

Calendar Math for Primary Grades
Primary Calendar for the Year

Plant Week & Five for Friday


What a better way to celebrate my favorite day of the week 
than joining up with Doodle Bugs Teaching with Five for Friday?
Jack and the Bean Stalk has definitely been one of out favorite fairy tales and was the PERFECT story to integrate literacy, math (shapes) and science (planting)!  This activity was Pinterest inspired, so be sure to check out my Science board on Pinterest.

We brought a a Milk Weed Plant into the classroom in hopes of finding a caterpillar only to find out we have FIVE caterpillars!  We are very excited to learn all about them. I love the text in this Butterfly Life Cycle book by Amanda Richardson. This product also has a life cycle poster and several other activities perfect for the primary grades. 

Butterfly Life Cycle


Mother's Day is just around the corner. These finger print flowers are a favorite of mine. We will add the stems and fingerprint leaves next week.  I am trying to decide if I should frame them or add them to the front of a card.  It doesn't happen too often that I am actually ahead of the game!



Skill building puzzles have brought life back to the puzzle center!  I found this idea over at The Applicious Teacher years ago and had it tucked away in the back of my mind.  You should check out her post on Puzzles in the Classroom



We are down to the final 28 days of school.  I love that I have the most awesome paraprofessional! She is prepping Alphabet Flip Books for next year and yes, that is the final letter Z is see!!  
Well this week is a wrap! Lots of learning and excitement with our plants and catties:)
post signature
QuickEdit
Mrs. Wathen
1 Comments
Share :

Picture Graphs and FREEBIE


Graphing in the primary grades can be so much fun!  
Picture graphs give my students time to think about their responses 
while using a little creativity.
There are so many ways to incorporate graphing into
monthly activities, themes, science and social studies and special interests. 
 Just in the past three weeks, we have done a graphing mini unit 
and the topics are limitless.
We started with Our Favorite Color graph.
Colored hand prints are always fun and 
would also be great at the beginning of the school year.

I hand wrote a title to get us through the week, 
but soon realized I would love to have cuter go to titles.

We then moved on to a Fairy Tale unit in Language Arts and spent two weeks reading different versions on The Three Little Pigs, Three Billy Goats Gruff and Jack and the Bean Stalk. That naturally lead to the discussion of our favorite story and another graph.
I love using authentic drawings to create the graph. 
 It gives the children more buy in
 as they are creating their card as a part of the graph.  
There is a sense of pride and more of a connection.
And once again, I was in need of a title card.  I finally realized that I may 
NOT be the only teacher who could use a collection of graph titles.
Another great graph that could be used now or at the beginning of the year is More Boys or Girls?  Let's just say I have WAY more girls than boys this year!
In the morning class of nineteen students, I have 5 boys and 14 girls!
In pre-k, we have REALLY been working on body parts and adding details.
Some of getting it and others are a work in progress:)

So I created another title and decided I LOVE the print and go easibility 
of these titles.  I print them on card stock 
and decided NOT to laminate them to avoid the glare.
I have put these three graph titles in a little bundle 
and even added a fourth as a sampling of what is to come! 
You can download them for FREE here.
I can't wait to read you feedback to see what you think!
Feel free to leave suggestions for upcoming graph titles.
post signature
QuickEdit
Mrs. Wathen
0 Comments
Share :

Five for Friday


Happy Friday Saturday Friends!  

Do you know how some weeks feel like they are NEVER going to end?  Yes, that would be this week for me! Coming back from spring break is always hard, but we also had a sick dog, vet visits and I had a student fall on the playground who need stitches!  #heavyheart


So I am looking forward to some down time this weekend and to yes, catch up on some much needed sleep...I am linking with with Doodle Bugs Teaching with Five for Friday.

There is nothing like a little pick me than a new tote and lunch bag from Thirty One!  I love this new summer print and my husband can't believe there isn't any black in it! #mygotocolor


We are working on graphing and what better time than Easter? This week we graphed "Our Favorite Flavor Jelly Bean" and "Have You Ever Colored Easter Eggs?"  Next week we will be using our self portraits to graph "Are You a Boy or a Girl?" and "What Is Your Favorite Color?" with colored hand prints.  We talked about what is a graph, sorting/categorizing  information and comparing quantities with more and less.


Our Dramatic Play area has turned into a Chinese Restaurant.  We have added Pei Wei to go boxes, "noodles" and "rice" made from yarn, chopsticks and a wok set from Melissa and Doug toys. This has been one of their favorite centers to date!

We are working hard on phonological awareness and phonics.  We are in the last quarter of school and are now moving to blending words with the majority of our students.  Our go to resource is CVC Words by Learn to Play.  There are a handful of littles who needs LOTS of practice with letters and sounds. 


Spring is the perfect time for a Farm Unit.  My littles loved exploring farms through literature and hands on literacy and math activities.  You can check out my Farm Unit HERE and it is 25% off through Sunday night!
So don't forget to check out Doodle Bugs Teaching and then get some much needed rest!
QuickEdit
Mrs. Wathen
2 Comments
Share :

Follow @georgialoustudios