The First Week of First Grade - Activities and More!

My, oh my! The first week of first grade is OVER!

I swear, 5 years later and I still forget just how little and "new" to school 1st graders are. The growth is just so amazing and HUGE in first grade that all I can do is picture last year's class at the end of the year. I forget that when they come into 1st grade they are squirrely and wild and talkative and can't seem to follow any directions. 

Is this how it always is?!?!?!?

The answer is yes.

In between shaking my head and pulling my hair out, I remember that this is all part of the challenge! The great first grade challenge. Can these students turn into the straight-line walking, directions following, raising hands before we speak type of students that I dream of?!?

I am hoping the answer is YES!

My new class... I can't wait to get to know them more and see them grow and learn!

Getting back into the swing of things has been a bit more challenging this year since I look like this:

**technically I am 34 weeks pregnant now and my belly is probably even bigger**

But alas, we are still trucking along! Here's some of the fun we had this week:

The first day of school we took out some buttons and starting graphing. It gave me some time to get paperwork sorted through and also let me see who could sort and follow directions easily. I offered this graph up on my blog for free last year!

We read The Kissing Hand and talked about our 1st day of school feelings. They ranged from happy and excited all the way to scared and "really mad." Craft idea from Kindergarten Days. These little racoons and sentence stems will be the first student decor up on our big, blank walls!

We also completed quite a few activities from my First Week Fun unit, including this mini-book about our new class!

We started a few, easy centers to get used to the routines and procedures during center time:

 CVC cards with magnets and recording sheets - made them a long time ago!

Color match up freebie by Smitten with First!

Roll, add, and color from my Apple Math unit.

We also had a bit of coloring fun in math with this great book from Steve Harpster! This was an easy after-lunch, let's relax and color and review some simple numbers to 10 type of activity!

Last, but not least, we brainstormed some of the fun we had over the summer and then I let my students write their first story of the year. No rules or organization, just write about some of the things you did this summer. This is also in my First Week Fun pack.

Phew! I'm tired again just looking at everything we did this week. Next week, we will start the real learning! Phonics, reader's workshop, writer's workshop.. etc!

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Is it really almost back to school?!?

2 weeks from today I report back at school.

WHHYYYYYYYY?!?!?

is the first thing that comes to mind.

Once I get over the initial depression, I actually get a little excited.

A new batch of smiling little first graders will show up in room 102 and I will be a little nervous and jittery as I start my 5th year of teaching. Once we all get over the jittery stage we will all get to know one another and then it will be smooth sailing through the year and into next summer! Right?! (smile and nod, smile and nod)

Also, once school starts there are only 7 more weeks until my baby boy is due! GAH! I think it is going to FLY and I just pray that I can get everything ready in time!

To help relieve some stress, I am doing more during the summer to prepare for school than I ever have before. I usually wait until about 2 days before school starts to even think about anything. Now... not so much!

I can't actually get into my classroom yet, but in the meantime I am printing, laminating, and organizing. Printing, laminating, and organizing. Wash, rinse, and repeat.

Here are some of the things I am getting ready:

 

The activities in these two packs are perfect icebreakers for the first couple weeks of school!

I am also getting my close reading passages prepared for small groups:

Once September rolls in, we will be learning all about apples so this little pack will come in quite handy:

Lastly, I am getting my newest "I have, who has?" math games prepped as we speak:

I will have a post on these ready for tomorrow.

All these items and more in my store are on sale for 28% off on TPT today and tomorrow!

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First Week of School Activities and a FREEBIE!

My first day of school is in less than one month. 29 more days.

The countdown is on.

It is not as exciting as the countdown that happens at the end of the year, but I know a new school year is just around the corner, so I might as well start getting excited!

(No worries, I am not a freak... I fully intend to enjoy every.last.second of my summer as well)

As the new year approaches, I wanted to get my mind (and printer) ready for those first days of school. I opened up my files and VOILA I found my first week fun unit.

It is always a hit and helps my new batch of first graders get to know one another and their classroom better.

There was only teensy weensy problem. The unit needed some major updating! It was actually one of the first units I ever uploaded to TPT, so please forgive the old looks and say HHHEEEELLLOOOO to a new look:

This product has all the same great material. It is just updated with some new clipart! I also added a few new activities that your students are sure to love.

Here is a part of the mini-book my students complete throughout the week:

It also still includes one of my favorite activities that we complete after we read My Mouth is a Volcano! by Julia Cook. It is a must at the beginning of the year!

There are 11 total activities for your students to complete during those first weeks of school. The list is as follows:
- My new class mini-book (boy and girl version)
- Writing response: “One important class rule is….”
- All About Me! Brainstorming map
- Things I am good at! Brainstorming map
- Ice breaker: “Find someone…”
- Partner activity: Classroom Checklist!
- Library Exploration: My Book Hunt!
- This Year vs. Last Year Venn Diagrom
- Summer personal narrative – organizers and writing paper
- Things I love about my new class – organizer and writing paper
- “My Mouth is a Volcano!” craft and writing activity

 I also decided to make one of the new additions to the unit a FAN FREEBIE on my facebook page. This is a classroom checklist for you students to complete with a partner. It is a fun way for them to get to know the classroom and their surroundings a little better!

In order to grab your own copy of the checklist, make sure you click the picture above and it will send you to my facebook page. When you are there you will click on "Fan Freebie" shown below:

 If you already like my facebook page it will take you to the freebie! If you don't like my FB page yet, you just click "like" and then it will take you to it! EZ-PZ!

Also don't forget, if you already purchased this item, just re-download it on TPT and you will get the new version!

Have a happy, happy weekend everyone!

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Quick Common Core Assessments for 1st Grade!

DATA!

Data. Data. Data.

 I love data. That's probably really nerdy, but it's true. I like to assess and re-assess my students. I like pre-tests, post-tests, formative assessments and summative assessments. I like making charts, keeping track, moving students from group to group and tier to tier. I like to SEE it all in front of me.

My dilemma?

I don't like the act of actually giving my students these tests all the time. I absolutely don't want to feel like I am testing them all day every day because if I feel like that, can you only imagine what my poor 6 year olds feel like?!

While there are certain diagnostic and end-of-year tests I have to give, those tend to be quite lengthy. If I want to collect some data quickly, I don't want to give my student a longggggg test. Especially when I just want to see if a student has made progress on one skill.

To help solve some of my testing problems, I created Quick Checks!

I made each assessment a maximum of 3 questions because I wanted them to be QUICK! I don't want my students bogged down in lengthy tests. I always think of my students who are struggling when I think about the length of tests. Do I really need to see them struggle on a 20 question test to know that they need more help or can I see that right away?!

Same goes for my higher students, if they get it... they get it! I don't need to have them sit in their chairs for another 15 minutes doing something redundant when they can be learning something new!

Here are two math quick checks and two phonics quick checks:

 1.RF.2c and 1.RF.2d

1.OA.8 and 1.MD. 4

I have created two different types of checklists that I like to use in my classroom. The first is just a mastery checklist. I use this one to mark when my class has mastered a certain skill. It allows me to quickly look at which standards my class might not have mastered yet. It also lets me group students quickly.

The other data tracker is a progress sheet. This one is for each individual student and allows me to track their pre and post data along with the dates I administered the quick check. These sheets have a place for me to take notes and a place for me to record a student's score if they needed to be re-assessed.

This unit includes all of the Common Core PHONICS standards (RF.1.2 and RF.1.3 with all the subsets under those) and all the Common Core MATH standards (OA, NBT, MD, and G).

**If the past two sentences look like another language to you than click on my product and you can see a more detailed description of each standard that is assessed.**

There are, of course, some Common Core standards that are not addressed in this unit such as all the writing standards and reading standards. I use my guided reading groups to assess all reading standards and writing rubrics to assess the writing standards. Basically, the phonics and math standards are the only ones that made sense for me to turn into "quick checks."

If you think these will work for your classroom, go ahead and click on the cover below to see more!

Happy Sunday! :)

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