April Fools' Day from the Black Lagoon Literature Companion and Freebie

There is nothing better than having a special bonding moment with the whole class! 

Kids love word searches so I made them a special one just for them!

We will be on spring break during April Fools' Day so I had a little fun early!

This special word search doesn't have any answers!

Look at this serious thinking!

Soon there were shout outs, "I found fool - oops no I didn't" "I found..." "I found..."

"This is hard!"

I let this go on for a few minutes and then asked them, "Did you find the words, got you?".  

It was so funny. They started looking for the words and shouted when they found them.

Then it quickly dawned on them and I shouted, "April Fools'"

Hey You!!! You tricked us!!!

This is a fun book to read aloud. Hubie finds himself in another dilemma!  What prank should he pull on his friends? He gets all worked up over this and even has a bad dream.  Read this funny story and find out what Hubie decided to do.

This super fun mini-unit is only $3!  

You can also find other Literature Companions to help you with your lessons! 

Be on the look out for Earth Day and Field Day!

I can't believe we are coming into the last stretch of the school year!

Pick up this freebie to start off some fun!!

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Informational Text - Ireland and a Freebie

Not sure about your kiddos but my kids just love learning about factual topic.  Their book boxes are full of nonfiction books.  They get so excited when I add a new book to the library.

We have been focusing on the word "genre"!  They feel so grown up saying that word. I have posters of all the different genres on the wall.  First we preview the cover to see if we get any clues for the type of genre.  I catch the kids looking up to the posters.  You can find some great resources on TpT to use in your room too.

In the younger grades we tend to focus on the holidays but I also like to teach them some of the history and background of the holiday. The book St. Patrick's Day by Gail Gibbons is a nice nonfiction choice.  I like how Gail Gibbons lays out the facts and makes it easy enough to understand but yet fun with her illustrations.

After reading the book we work on a fact sheet to help remember some key details and learn on the map where Ireland is and color the flag of Ireland. Pullout your globe and travel from Ireland to the USA.

Here's a template of the Irish flag.  It's a simple flag of green, white and orange. Discuss with the class what the colors mean just like our flag has meaning.

The green represents the native people of Ireland, orange represents the people who supported William of Orange and settled in Northern Ireland and the white is the peace between the two groups.

Click on the flag to pick up a copy for your kiddos.

Read my previous post on more St. Patrick's Day books and an ABC Freebie!

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Everyday Math Unit 3 Flipchart for First Grade

I don't know what I would do without my Promethean Board!  I just love the interaction it provides.  I've made my math units on it and it really keeps me organized and class seems to flow better.  I really like that the page numbers are listed and I don't have to look in the teacher's guide.

If you'd like to get your own Flipchart click here!

Tomorrow we are carving pumpkins!!

Parents are coming in and then they will make baked seeds for us! 

We already did our pre-writing.  They were so excited to use their five senses to describe their group's pumpkin.  Click the picture below to get your own copy.

Happy Halloween!

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Pumpkin Carving Writing Project and a Freebie Literacy Center

Every year I carve pumpkins with my class and to make sure it relates to curriculum, I have developed this writing and math integration unit.  This pack includes all the notes you need to send home.  You still have time to do this!!  I've also added some math and literacy centers.  Scroll to the bottom and get one for free!

To get this at my TpT Shop Click Here!

To get this at my TN Shop Click Here!

There are journal pages for each stage of carving: Pumpkin, While Carving and Jack-o-lantern

An additional Math Center (multiple levels included)

You can get this center for free.

Click Here!  If you like it add some love in the comments!  I love to hear from you!

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Chrismas Countdown

I bought this great Christmas craft from TpT.  We made the bells on December 1st and we are starting the Christmas countdown.  I however, have a student that is Jehovah Witness and doesn't celebrate Christmas so I gave her a snowman pattern and she added features to it and we used blue and white chains.  She is doing a countdown to winter break and the others are counting to Christmas.  It turned out pretty good.

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