Summer Math Activities!

Two weeks away folks! 

10 more school days. Well, 9 and a half if you want to be specific... and I do... so 9.5 more days.

We are trying our hardest to remain engaged while still having fun in class these days. The sun is blazing and the last thing my kids want to do is sit in class for 8 hours a day. So in room 102, games are where it's at!

I introduced our last themed math centers for the year, Summer Math, and the biggest hit of this pack was our board game, "The Summer Before 2nd":

This is a simple, yet engaging game that allows students to review all sorts of math before they head out for the summer! Students roll a die and move that many spaces. In order to stay on that space they must choose the matching card and answer it correctly (the other students check). There are 6 different categories of cards: subtraction, addition, time, place value, number sense, and challenge!

In my summer math unit there are also the usual story problem booklet and quite a few print-and-go games with no prep needed. I figured the end of the year is all about easy my students love partner games:

These activities and more are in my Summer Math unit:

and this COMPLETES my math centers for the whole year - Yahoo!

You can snag all 10 units below for pretty dang good discount - you get 2 free with the bundle :)

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Close Reading in 1st Grade - Summer Edition

This teacher has a BIG smile on her face for lots of reasons.

First and foremost, THIS:

Parker and I found out last Tuesday that we were having a BOY!! Our sweet little Theo will be arriving in early October and I literally have not stopped smiling since we found out.

:) :) :)

The second reason I just plain giddy these days is because my students took their end of the year diagnostic tests online and the vast majority of them did AH-MAZING! I am so proud of them. This year I teach in a high poverty, title one school and it was quite the learning curve for me coming from a very affluent, high-performing school in Las Vegas. Many of the skills and standards I taught at the beginning of the year were geared towards early Kindergarten, but these kids have just blown me away with what they were able to accomplish in just 8 short months.

Okay, short bragging session over, but I am sure you other 1st grade teachers can relate to that proud, proud feeling that you get as you see your kiddos get ready for 2nd grade. It is truly remarkable!

Onto what this post was supposed to be about... CLOSE READING! I had been hoping to get my Summer pack out earlier, but just couldn't get around to finishing it/uploading it until last night, so I apologize for the delay. My kids have been working on a few different passages the past two weeks.

For non-fiction we went with parrots:

and for fiction I chose a story that had a "cliff-hanger" ending:

My highest two groups are just pros at this skill by now and I just sat back and snapped a few photos as they read and re-read their passages with their pencils and highlighters in hand:

As always, we went over some vocabulary and used evidence from the text to answer questions about our non-fiction parrots text:

Our fiction story was a little trickier this week as we had to make a big prediction and put our inferencing skills to the test:

While we probably won't complete ALL of the stories in this summer-themed pack, I will be sending home quite a few of them for the summer! The kids are well-trained in how to respond to the questions, so I am hoping a little practice with these skills over the summer will keep them sharp!

I put the summer pack on sale through Tuesday (5/13) in case you would like to grab it!

Nonfiction texts included:

- Parrots

- Dolphins

- The Sun

- Ice Cream

- Independence Day

Fiction texts included:

The Sandcastle Contest - a story about a boy who enters a sandcastle contest and eagerly awaits the announcement of who wins

Look What I Caught! - a story about a boy who finds a big, red crab at the beach and doesn't understand why his mom and sisters aren't as excited as he is

Learning to Swim - a story about a boy who gets scared in the middle of his swim lessons and makes him mom very proud

My Summer Vacation - a story about a girl who overcomes her fear of flying to vacation in Hawaii

Pool Party - a story about a girl who is about to throw a big pool party when all of a sudden a storm threatens to ruin it

For those of you who have tried my close reading passages, I hope you and your students have enjoyed them! My students have shown so much growth and I hope yours have too!

If you want to try the winter or spring ones you can see them here:

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The End is Near!!

It is that time of year people...

the sun is shining, schools in the south and west have only a few short weeks left and we have a couple more weeks after that!

It is THE END OF THE YEAR!

I get giddy around this time.

I can feel the summer right around the corner, I become nostalgic about this year, I look at the growth of my students and get excited for them to be second graders, and I get stressed about my littles who haven't made as much growth as I would've preferred.  Overall, it is a joyous time of year!

One of my good friends, Michelle,  from Vegas shared this picture with me last week that brightened up my day:

One of the first grade teachers did these little "end of the year experts" with her kids and they came out SO CUTE!!! I was so excited. My class will be completing this in a couple more weeks and I can't wait to see what they are proud of!

These cute little guys n gals come from my Writing Through the Seasons (Summer) pack. It has the perfect amount of writing prompts and activities to get your students writing through the end of the year and into the summer!

I also want to remind those who don't know that there is a biiiiiiiiig sale on TPT starting tomorrow! It is the Teacher Appreciation Sale and it lasts all Tuesday and Wednesday! Everything in my store will be 20% off and if you use the TPT discount code, you will get another 10% off!

Just click the adorable link below to visit my store:

^Thank you, Amy, for the button!^

Last, but not least, I am working my hardest to finish this by Wednesday, but it might not happen until the weekend, so be on the lookout:

Enjoy the week!

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Summer Bucket List & Some Lucky Winners!

I am so excited to join a FUN linky party hosted by some of my favorite bloggin' friends!

 Thank you Hadar, Teri, and April for hosting the 2nd annual Summer Bucket List linky!

This will a busyyyy Summer for me.. so here it goes!

{1}

WE'RE MOVING!!!! Cross-country, that is! Back to Massachusetts to be with the fam. Parker and I surprised our family last weekend with a fun gift and now we get to plan a road trip! [You can click here to see the video of the surprise reveal - it went great!] I get out of school June 5th and we are set to leave June 30th. I want to spend the a couple weeks planning a memorable road trip with Parks!

{2}

I want to get a job!

 I feel ya, kid
Wahhhhhh.... Moving back home is VERY exciting... but I need to find a job - ASAP. I have just started applying to schools back east and I am hoping some more positions will open up as the Summer season begins.

{3}

I want to plan a wedding!

Marriage date is 9/20/2013 and it is finally getting closer!!

 

source

Wedding bands, centerpieces, flowers, invitations... the list goes on...

I am loving coral dahlias in bud vases and I am thinking of centerpiece ideas as I type!

{4}

I want to decorate a house!

source

If you have been following my blog for awhile, you would know that Parker and I had been looking for a house in Vegas. Well, obviously that has changed (see #1). This means we will likely have to rent for a bit in Mass. before we can save more money to buy a home. I just want to decorate something - even if I have to settle for a little apartment. While I wait not-so-patiently, I will be stalking Pinterest looking for fun decorating tips!

{5}

I want to organize!

 source

Jewelry, kitchen stuff, school stuff, office, bathroom - LIFE! I want to organize my life.

If you don't know of the blog, IHeart Organizing, I grant you full permission to leave here immediately and go scour her website for days. Then, take a bathroom break, and go back for a few more days. I drool in jealousy while looking at her organization skills. I have started making a list of all the things I need to organize and I think if I can take the time to tackle one project at a time, I will be off to a good start!

So there you have it - my Summer bucket list of 2013! 

Oh and if you are here looking for the winners of my 1k Giveaway!

I will be sending out emails soon! Congrats!!!

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Swimming into Summer!

I gave a little "face-lift" to my end of the year product I made last year!

It is amazing how much you can learn in a year...

Here is a preview of the pack:

Swimming into Summer!

My favorite thing in this pack is our end-of-the-year trivia game! 

I made these questions based on the 1st grade common core standards and I have sample questions for reading, math, language, science, and social studies. There are blank cards as well for you to make your own questions!

This is a veryyyyy popular group game in our class at the end of the year.

Some other activities in this pack are:

Language activities:

-Long/short vowel review

-Digraph seach and sort

-Inflected endings board game (3 sounds of ed)

Math activities:

-I have, who has? 2D/3D shape and fractions game

-Froot Loops graphing activity.

There are also some opinion writing prompts for the end of the year as well as a simple end of the year medal craft!

If you bought this last year, please re-download!
If you want to get your own copy, click HERE!

Happy Sunday :)

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3.5 more days!

Oh me, oh my!

Thursday is my last day and I will be equipped with sunglasses and tissues all day because I hate goodbyes and I turn into a blubbering fool when they give me hugs and tell me they're going to miss me :(

I am trying to mentally prepare myself and focus on all the things I have to look forward to this summer. Like flying home to Salem, MA to visit my family, going to a friend's wedding, and trying on my own wedding dresses for the first time!!! (Note-to-self: must lose 327819364 lbs before August)

Until then, this is what we've been up to:

This is the cover I made to a Father's day book I found from 1st Grade Hip Hip Hooray. It was free and really, really cute! These are some of the activities in it:

 

 So cute... for that first one #4 says "affectionate" and #5 is "angelic" - this lil lady is so smart!!

 

 

 This was my favorite part of this packet. The students made Do Not Disturb signs to hang on the door when their dads want to be alone. Then they said why their dad might not want to be disturbed. Hilarious!

 ^^That second one is supposed to be watching *inappropriate movies. Uh-oh!!

 ^^This one was funny.... and if you read my last post you know what this little girl means when she says her dad is busy doing "private work." Eeeek!!

 Tomorrow I am giving out Reagan's Candy Awards (seriously adorable!) and these little gifts:

I found some cute water bottles at the dollar store and I call my kids "smarty pants" all year long. After we gave out these little smartie gifts to our 5th grade buddies I thought my kiddos deserved some of their own.

You can click on the picture below to get the freebie labels! 

P.S. I need a color printer next year... I am sick of black and white!!

And one last thing... I hit the teacher jackpot!!!!!

I have won TWO giveaways in the past couple weeks... TWO!!

A big shout out and thank you to:

Kelley Dolling @ Teacher Idea Factory

and 

Jessica Stanford @ Mrs. Stanford's Class

These ladies are fantastic :) much love to both!

Have a great Sunday!!!

Susan

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Summer Bucket List Linky & Giveaway!

I linked up with A Cupcake for the Teacher to let you know what I plan on doing this summer - and its lots! I have been so inspired this year from the blogging world that I can't wait to get organized and start a fresh new year of fun in first!

(1)

I love these numbered bags I found on Mrs. Terhune's First Grade Site. I plan on using them as weekly reading book bags for the kids to bring home on Monday and return on Friday with their books and phonics/reading comprehension activities.

(2)

 

I plan to buy some beads and chains to make these reading incentive necklaces from The Teacher Wife! I loved this when I first saw it and it such a good visual for the students all year long!

(3)

Fast finisher cards from Rachelle's What the Teacher Wants. As of recent I had been out of ideas for early finishers and fell into a bit of a "just read a book on the rug" slump... whoops :( This is such an easy way to let the kids know what to do when they finish early! All I have to do is print, laminate, add magnet and pick the one I want for each lesson!

There are so many other things I need/want to do this summer... including making many trips to The Container Store which is opening this weekend here in Vegas - SO excited!!

Also, if you haven't seen my giveaway for my addition with 3 addends packet, go ahead and enter it!! Not many people have.... so you have a good chance of winning ;)

 

Happy Friday!!

Susan

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