Thankful Turkeys!

Thanksgiving is around the corner and we are getting ready for the season.  I started planning all the fun activities that we are going to have this month.

These are the vocabulary cards, game, and some of the worksheets we will use. This is a product that I sell on TPT. It comes in both English and Spanish.

English - http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/A-Thanksgiving-Mini-Unit-957745

Spanish - http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Leccion-sobre-el-dia-de-accion-de-gracias-Thanksgiving-961887

We also started writing about things we are thankful for. I gave each kid a feather and they had to write what they are thankful for. As you can tell, my turkey is still missing some feathers, but I'm hoping my kids will finish this tomorrow!

The day before Thanksgiving break, we are going to have a Thanksgiving Feast. We are going to eat together as a grade level. Some classes will be Indians, some will be Pilgrims, and others will be turkeys. 

I used to love being the indians because my kids used to earn feathers for their headdresses for displaying positive behaviors or for doing random acts of kindness. The student with the most feathers became the "Chief" and he/she was the one getting the 1st meal of Thanksgiving! However, not many teachers from my team know how to make the coif for the girls, so we will be pilgrims. I might make some kind of badges that the students can earn for displaying good behavior. 

On Thursday we are going have a super fun activity with our reading buddies. They will have to create costumes to disguise their turkey so it won't get eaten this Thanksgiving. They will have to choose a character from a book as their inspiration. I cannot wait to see their creations!!!

A Day to Give Thanks!

Today is Veteran's Day and I couldn't let this day go by without expressing my most sincere gratitude to all the men and women that risk their lives so we can live in a wonderful nation. Today in class we talked about the different branches of the military and how brave these men and women truly are. I used the Scholastic News Magazine to launch the lesson and then we watched a video in Safari Montage about Veteran's Day.
The best part was when we wrote letters to some of the parents of my students that are active military officers. I sent them home today and I hope they liked them! The kids put forth so much effort and they wrote their hearts out!

Here is the template that I used. It is a free download. Just click on the link below:

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/A-Letter-to-a-Hero-Veterans-Day-972015

Next year I am planning on hosting a breakfast for our heroes. I will have the kids serve them and maybe recite some poems or something like that. I might even do it during Valentine's Day...who says that we cannot show our heroes some love during the rest of the year, right? 

It's Pumpkin Centers Day!

This is definitely my favorite time of the school year. I love how much you can teach the students using realia (real life objects). During our pumpkin centers yesterday we measured, inspected, weighed, wrote, and read about pumpkins and their life cycle. According to my students...It was the BEST day ever!!!! LOL...okay, they always say that when we have fun activities!

Tuesday afternoon, after the students left, I set up our classroom for pumpkin centers day. I created their pumpkin activity books they took with them while rotating to each center.

The first center we had was the "Pumpkin Inspection Station." Here the students inspected the outside and the inside of their pumpkin. They got to "dig" deeper ;) They also got to label the parts of the inside and outside of a pumpkin.

The second center was the "Sink or Float" center. Here the students made predictions and tested their hypothesis. The observed which side the stem was facing too.

The third center was the "Life Cycle" center. Here the students got to read books and use the life cycle cards I made to figure out the stages. All of these activities are found in my "All About Pumpkins" unit on TPT (http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/All-about-Pumpkins-791709). - This lesson also comes in Spanish. I use both at the same time to help my ESOL students acquire the social/academic language.

Here are some pictures:

These are the pages I put inside their activity books. 

As part of their morning work, my students had to decorate their book covers.

I used flash cards and posters in both English and Spanish to help my kiddos acquire new vocabulary in both languages

After rotating to all the centers, we had McDonald's Lunch. The first grade teachers ordered Happy Meals for our students. They were so happy with their Halloween Buckets! 

After lunch, we tasted different pumpkin products (pumpkin pies, pumpkin seeds, etc.)

We then work on some art projects. I let the students use the seeds and pulp from their pumpkins.

Here is an examples of it (the top part is where the students glued the real seeds and pulp):

 

To finish the day in style, we carved a pumpkin! :) 

This year we decided to have pumpkin centers day with our 5th grade reading buddies. It was the best idea ever since I didn't have any parent volunteers and I couldn't run all the centers on my own. We were able to complete everything in one short day! 

More and More Bats!

Today we continued learning about bats. We actually focused more on nocturnal animals. We read books about bats and owls facts and then we completed an interactive Venn Diagram as a class. It went along with the books. After we completed the Venn Diagram, I gave them their independent activity; which was the same Venn Diagram but in paper.

This is the independent activity they had to complete after. I have it in both English and Spanish.

This is a free product in my TPT store. If you like it, please click on the links below.

PS- I have not yet figured out how to add the "pin it" button. I like the one that you hover over...so if you know how to do it, please teach me (step by step directions, please!) Thanks so much!!! :) 

English version: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FREE-Comparing-and-Contrasting-Owls-Bats-Venn-Diagram-939717

Spanish version: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Gratis-Diagrama-de-Venn-939787

It's a Bat day!

Today we had our annual Bat Day. It was so much fun and the kids loved all the activities we did. Especially the Predator/Prey game we played!

I started the day by reading Stellaluna by Janell Cannon and we had some worksheets to go with it. I put all those worksheets plus the ones I created for my All about Bats Mini Unit that I sell on TPT (http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/All-About-Bats-Mini-Unit-933296) inside the "All about Bats" book that you see in the picture below. Then, we watched the movie and compared and contrasted the movie/book.  After, we read our Scholastic News magazine and more books about bat facts.  We also watched some videos on Safari Montage.




Here you can see the books I read, the Scholastic News, a puppet made from construction paper and a lunch bag, and the book we made to keep all of our worksheets together.

These are some the activities I have in my All about Bats Mini unit on TPT

This is my wonderful class rocking their bat masks!

Here we were playing the Predator/Pray game with Mrs. Johnson's class.  We, Mrs. Johnson and I, scattered tiny colored sticks all over the ground. The students (predators) had to collect as many as the sticks (prey) as possible. The had to make sure they were not dropping them because another predator could come and take them.  After collecting the sticks, we went back to the class and graphed their findings. We talked about how some colors were easier to find than others (camouflage). It was a great and fun learning experience!


Tomorrow we will continue learning about bats and more nocturnal animals. We will complete a interactive Venn Diagram about the differences and similarities of Owls and Bats. I cannot wait!

Fire! Fire! Fire Safety Week!

I love this time of year! We get to do some many fun and educational activities. On Monday we started our fire safety lessons and today we became Jr. Fire Safety Marshals! I am so proud of how much my students have learned during these past two days. It makes me feel a little better knowing that they now know what to do during a fire emergency.

These are some of the things I used during my lessons:
(You can find all of these worksheets, badges, and certificates in my Fire Safety Mini Lesson in my TPT store)

For this lesson I used vocabulary cards (both in English and Spanish), vocabulary games (in both languages too), worksheets, books, and a PowerPoint presentation about fire prevention.

I read several books about fire safety and showed them a video on Brainpop.com.

After I quizzed the students and they earned their Jr. Fire Marshal badge, helmet, and certificate.  They were so proud of themselves!!! It was a great learning opportunity and we had a blast!





Here are my wonderful Jr. Fire Marshal's!

Spiders! A fun October Activity

Every year our reading buddies, Mrs. Wilbur's fifth grade class and my class, have our annual Spiders' Day. It is such a great activity and our students love it! Not only do they get to learn a lot about spiders and their life cycle, but they get to eat chocolate covered spiders! YUM!!!! This year we are going to have our Spider Day on Thursday. We can hardly wait!

Here is what we do:

We start by reading "Spiders" by Luke Kindley which is a great book about Spiders' facts.

Then, the students have to write a paragraph about spider facts using a graphic organizer for informational text. You can get this free resource by clicking on the link below:

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Graphic-Organizer-for-Informational-Text-608119

After the students have written the paragraph, we have them create a spider web using a paper plate, yarn, and the spider life cycle graphics (you can find those at my TPT store). ;)

Have the kids cut slits around the plate. Then give them a big piece of yarn and have them cross it around the plate.

After, have the students glue the graphics and draw the arrows (sorry my arrows are going counter-clockwise...I don't know what I was thinking and I don't have another paper plate at home ;) )

When the students are done writing their informational paragraph and creating their life cycle wheel, we let them make their own chocolate covered spiders!!!!

For this activity you will need: a large bag of large marshmallows, chocolate syrup, small M&M's, and pretzel sticks.

Enjoy and have fun teaching and learning!

Best regards,

Maria Okraska

DATA, DATA, and more DATA

Wow, it's been a while since I updated this blog! This year has been a bit challenging and I have been very overwhelmed and busy. It is not easy having a new reading and math program, implementing Common Core, and new expectations from the county...and a class of 19 children where 15 are below grade level. Let's just say that I am very stressed but optimistic. I am going to do everything in my power to help my students reach the grade level expectations (in both languages). Needless to say, I am glad we are using data binders this year to show parents where their child is at and where he/she needs to be.  As a parent, I like to see what is expected from my children and which areas are of concern so I can work on them at home.  Data folders are a great way to keep parents informed! It also helps avoid misunderstandings when report cards come home. ;)

This data also helped me communicate my concerns and needs to my administration. Now they have a clear picture of our areas of deficiency. Data is like a picture of your class. :)

Here are some pictures of the Data Folders I have inside the kids' binders:

This is a fluency chart I use to track my students reading fluency. (This is a free product in my Teachers Pay Teachers Store). Every Friday we have "Fluency Fridays." The kids love to track their growth!
I like to write the expectations of each marking period and the focus skill of the week.

This is a list of Common Core words that our first graders need to learn. Next to it is a bar graph for it.

This graph was created by two members of my team. It tracks our math unit tests:

Here is how we track our growth in class. This keeps the kids motivated and focused!!! It also makes them responsible for their own learning. :) If you like the Math fluency Data Wall, please visit my store. I have one for addition, subtraction, and multiplication fluency.

The tree with owls is for reading fluency, the lily pads with frogs are for addition fact fluency, and the little faces next to the alphabet is to track their LRP's scores (Level Readers Passages from Houghton Mifflin)

Tracking DATA might be a tedious job, but it is a great tool to use in the classroom!

If you have more ideas, please share! :) 

First Day of School

Today was the first day of school and one would think that after 8 years of teaching it would be like nothing. Well, let's just say that I've been up since 3:00am. I got the "first day jitters" for sure! I am happy to report that it all went well and my new students and I had a wonderful and memorable first day of first grade.

To help the kids get to know the school, we went on our annual "Clifford Hunt." We left bones with clues around the school leading us to Clifford. We went to the office, the clinic, media center, art room, STEM lab, playground, PE pavilion, music room, etc. We ended up in our classroom and Clifford was waiting for us!!! The kids really enjoyed this activity. It helped us all release the stress and nerves of the first day.

After the hunt, the kids made their own Clifford and they wrote about their adventures.

Ready, Set, Meet-the-Teacher!

I cannot believe Meet-the-Teacher has come and gone! I've been preparing for this day for over 2 weeks. You only get 1 chance to make a great first impression. Everything went well today and I hope my new parents got to see how much I LOVE teaching. I hope they noticed that I truly care about the well-being of their children. As a parent I understand how difficult it is to let go of our children. I always pray that my daughters will have teachers that will love them and help them discover their potential. I am so ready for a magnificent year! :) Following are some pictures of today's Meet-the-Teacher.

This is me:

Getting the folders ready for Meet-the-Teacher:

 

    

Technology Challenged, Me?!?...No More!

At the end of the school year we had a faculty luncheon and we nominated each other for funny awards. Let's just say that I was given the prestigious "Technology Challenged Award!"...okay, I nominated me for that. So, this summer I decided to turn things around. I made it my goal to improve my technology skills. It wasn't easy, but I am proud with my results! Watch out Bill Gates...Here I come!!!!!

The first thing I had to do was to invest in a good computer (iMac) and it was the best decision I've made. I have learned so much that I'm starting to feel like a Pro! Today I even made my own clipart! You may check it out at my TPT store (Pumpkin Life Cycle Clip Art).  ;)

In brief, all I wanted to say is that it's never too late to learn. Never give up just because something seems complicated. :) The satisfaction you'll feel at the end is the most amazing reward! :)

Best regards,
Maria

New Year - New Blog

The 2013-2014 School year is around the corner and I've decided to make it the best one yet! I want to use this blog as my teaching diary. I want to reflect on my own teaching practices and keep track of all the things I do with/for my students. I want to share the successes and challenges I'll face with my bilingual class...and the funny stories too ;) .

This year is going to be a bit difficult because we are fully implementing Common Core, we are getting new reading/math series, and we are going to use the VAM evaluation system...ahhhh!!! yet, I am still planning on enjoying this year! :)

I still have a bit of summer left and I am planning on enjoying every single day, so I might not post things until school starts! Teachers have a life, too..right?  I hope you will consider following me and hopefully we'll be able to help, motivate, and support each other! :)

Best regards,
Maria

PS- Here is a picture of a new product I just created for my TPT store. I used something similar last year and it was a great/easy way to let people at our school know where we were. Enjoy! :)

End of Year Parties

The End of the Year party is a big deal for me. It is my time to celebrate my students' accomplishments and hard work. Every year I tried to have a different theme. Here are some pictures of some of the parties I have thrown. Hope you like them! :)

Pirate Theme

  Safari

  
Mexican Fiesta

Candyland