Here's a look at the centers and activities we did during the crazy month of December! We studied Kwanzaa, Hannukah, and Christmas in social studies and force and motion in science. And SOMEHOW, we managed to continue doing both literacy and math centers, too!
Some math centers:
Ten frame recognize and write (we are TRYING not to count the dots and to use our recognition skills to tell the number, only then can we count to check)
Sorting addition equations by sum
Roll, record and compare
And of course, we have a write and wipe 1-20 practice center each week so that we are sure our numbers are recognizable, easy to read and write.
Number sequencing
Whole group, we practiced our classifying and describing skills as we manipulated different shapes. We then used the chart to recognize and discuss patterns between shapes that are alike.
Literacy Centers
143 is becoming a classroom full of readers! Whether we are reading sight word books, on-level texts or above-level texts, all of my students are working on their CAPs, sight words, and reading skills. Go Bees! Here are a few of our centers that work on these skills when the students are NOT at the reading table with me.
CVC write and wipe practice cards. Everything's more fun with EXPO markers...
Cookie Monster sight word grab, say and write. Don't grab the Cookie Monster! He'll steal all your words!
So simple, and so beneficial. Here, I typed two letter word combinations so the bees could practice hooking their letters together to blend and read and also to practice reading words with all of the common vowel sounds. We practice each day at the reading table to improve our fluency! We also have a large chart at the rug that children who feel confident enough reading can try to read to the classroom.
Sight word word search for the "I'm done!" 's
This is a medial vowel sort using pictures of common items. Love that children can work with a partner and finish as a team!
For my highest readers, we are working on reading and recognizing real and nonsense CVC words. Here, they are sorting these words into their correct cookie jar and recording them appropriately on paper.
At the reading table, I use this whiteboard to write down unknown or trick words in the text we are reading. We preview them and then review them after the book is finished. I use a book stand to hold it up as we read so the students can use it as a reference.
This center is for my struggling readers. The students attempt to read the word at the bottom of the present and then use the image "peeking out" from the present to help them check their answer by giving themselves a clue. Then, of course, we record our answers.
This is a writing mini lesson we completed that we were so proud of! The students were asked to take the common items on the left of the board and create a creative make-believe story on the right using the character from the left. This activity followed the reading of the book Spoon about a spoon who doesn't believe he can do anything special and discovers he actually can do things other utensils can't! The kids decided a doll would make a pretend home out of her box she was sold in, salt would practice being a shaker and shake to music, pencil would have trouble writing because he is so ticklish each time someone picks him up and lamp would have a hard time playing video games because his light would shine in the way of the screen. So creative!
Here's an activity we do whole group during our 25 minute phonics review each day. We so far have only used the three box Elkonians but will soon use four. I will say a cvc word, the students will segment the word aloud using their fingers for help and then write the word the best they can. I like to mix up real words (which many of them memorized) and nonsense words to see their true skills!
Here's our CVC word bingo again! I find the boxes are a great visualization of the segmentation of each word. The students pick up a letter at random and segment each word on their card to see if the letter belongs in any space. When you fill up the card, you win!
A little holiday CVC building!
This was a super hard center for my first grade readers. I found I still needed to sit with them so that they could successfully complete the task. The students were to pick up a word card, read the word and sort the word by long or short vowel sound. They then recorded the word on their sheets.
I found these cards needed some teacher direction as well, at least for the first use. The students were asked to say the first word, spell it with magnetic letters and then change that word to make the second. I did not yet worry about vowel pairs in the center of the words (i.e. ai in rain). This student made RAN (rain) into rake (RAK). Very soon some of my students will be using these cards with the expectation to create the vowel pairs and use sneaky e as an ending.
Some holiday rhyming... every things more fun when its themed...
Plural and singular nouns sorting. The students had to look for ending s and had to read the word and visualize how many it represents. This was a new center and was very helpful for me to see who understands, in both verbal and written language, the meaning of plurals.
Holiday word syllable sort
Weaving Kwanzaa mats! This was surprisingly difficult for them! Yet I found that they all enjoyed it and it was great for noticing and continuing patterns and, of course, for fine motor skills!
We decided to do a book study on The Gingerbread Boy and read five different texts. This was the activity we completed after reading the first book. While they were completing the sequencing activity, I played an audio recording of the story to aid them if they forgot which character followed which. This also helped them remain quiet and focus on the task at hand.
Here's our comparison chart we used to keep track of the differences between each of the stories and also notice any similarities. At the very end of our unit, and very close to break, we chose whether we would be a gingerbread boy or girl and completed a biography. We learned what a biography is and then wrote about what we would look like as a gingerbread person and what we would fear and lastly, where we would live. Some students flipped over the paper and wrote a story about their gingerbread person.
Lastly... of course, we made gingerbread from scratch! This time, we covered the floor with excess butcher paper for protection for the rug. We use the fair sticks (popsicle sticks with their names) to choose who pours or mixes what. Then at the end, we pass around the bowl so that everyone can take a turn making our creation!
The next day, we use frosting and decorations to make our gingerbread boy or girl and then watch The Grinch and eat them... if we want!
Writing
I was noticing that while our writing is coming along well, our illustrations are suffering (greatly..). Our people are still mainly a big circle head and stick arms and legs. Yet our writing says so much more! So we read the book Tilly and focused on the drawings and how realistic they seem. I then modeled how to draw people using oval shapes and we discussed how our drawings currently look very flat. I placed a piece of transparency over the book and traced Tilly's body with ovals, when we were finished, I took off the transparency and showed them the realistic figure. Then we all tried on photocopies of the page with our own transparencies! Let's hope we use this strategy when we are back from break!
During our study of Christmas, we read The Grinch and discussed how and why the Ginch feels the way he does about Christmas. We learned how Christmas is not a holiday celebrated by giving presents, but for being thankful for family and friends and showing them how much we care. To include the Ginch in this holiday, we brainstormed ideas on how we could make the Grinch grin! Here are a few!
"Give him candy!"
"Make funny faces!"
"Buy him a dirt bike"
For the crazy month of December, we study force and motion and at the end of the unit, we do discovery stations. Four stations are set up around the room where the students can discover and experiment with gravity, force, speed, and friction. The students have a recording sheet where they can draw pictures of what happened at the station or write using words and phrases they know.
Friction station... is it harder to push on the rug or the laminate floor?
Force and motion of spinning objects
Experimenting with gravity and speed of items dropped
Using ramps to increase speed and measure distance. The goal was: we have to work as a team... this was harder than you think!
When we come back from break, we will be exploring habitats and teamwork and beginning to practice segmenting and writing four sound words with blends and digraphs! Get ready Bees!
