Spelling is a skill that develops with time, teaching and practice. We work hard all school year to build solid spelling foundations in our little learners. To do this, we provide our students with engaging tools that assist and challenge them to be responsible for their own learning. Now's the time for us to up the ante a bit when it comes to their spelling. “My Writing Words Interactive Spelling Dictionary for Primary Writers” empowers our students to take a dive into their dictionary and ... VIEW POST
Interactive Spelling Dictionaries & Spelling Styles Freebie
Fine Motor Matters
First grade fine motor skills can always use a tune up now and again. We like to keep things in the class circulation that are disguised as fun, but double as fine motor practice. Here's a few of our favorite tricks of the fine motor trade that have become popular with the little fingers in our classroom. Lacing activities hit the Dollar Tree every once in awhile. They can be found on Aisle Impulse Buy...Next to the containers, stickers, and seasonal decor we don't necessarily ... VIEW POST
My Interactive Story of the First Thanksgiving
We realize Halloween is tomorrow, but we're pretty sure all teachers everywhere would agree that we are done with October now...And November is just around the corner. We're always trying to work a week ahead, so we don't Fall behind, so here's what we're prepping now... Reading and Writing about the first Thanksgiving during the month of November is one of our favorite times of year. Here are a few titles we use to guide our learning all month long. We love getting our students involved in ... VIEW POST
Message Center Kindness Cards with Treat by Shutterfly
What a treat to learn that one of our favorite photo sites, Shutterfly, has a sister site called Treat Greeting Cards! What a treat to be given creative carte blanche by Treat to create a class set of greeting cards! The possibilities are endless...But, we were super excited with our choice! Totally perfect for first grade! Don't you think? We found a similar picture of kids' hands in the shape of a heart on Pinterest. The image led to nowhere, so if it's yours please let us ... VIEW POST
Fishing for Ideas ~ Writing Topic Cards and Tools for Your Sea of Writers
We're diving into writing and swimming through stories beautifully these days...As long as we're given a topic and told what to write... Teacher Sigh... But, a lot of our first graders still have trouble coming up with writing ideas on their own. Let's face it...A lot of people, no matter the grade have trouble with this! We say write, and they hear "Stare blankly into space and master that deer in headlights look...Hold it...Goooood..." ;) So, we came up with a master plan and they dove ... VIEW POST
Leprechauns on the Loose! St. Patrick’s Day in the Classroom
Come this time tomorrow, Christy is either going to LOVE or HATE job sharing... Tammy will love it...As she posted on Instagram. :) You can do the same for your little leprechauns! We didn't do anything fancy or pricey. We found stuff at the 99 Cent Store. It's also easy enough to just use what you have, like green and white unifix cubes, green pens, green torn up paper, basically anything you have that's green. Our "Lucky Juice" is simply made of Sierra Mist with the label peeled off, ... VIEW POST
