This week I taught about Spatial Sense and Maps. Learning about the students city, state, country, and continent are always very confusing for them. I thought this idea from Pinterest would help the students understand better. We read Me on a Map and then each day we talked about one of the circles. I have always used a Core Knowledge lesson plan to teach maps with so I just incorporated this circle activity into the lesson. I also LOVE using Google Earth to show the students a real picture of what I am talking about and Brainpop Jr.
This activity did seem to help the students understand the difference.
Here are some of the items I recently purchased from Teachers Pay Teachers. I think I am officially a TPT addict!
I have always struggled with teaching writing to my kiddos. I knew this year I wanted to focus more on writing especially since we moved to the Common Core Standards. Since I am using Daily Five I am able to add a mini lesson of writing everyday! I have already noticed a difference in the students writing so far. I purchased Writing through the Years Unit 1 because it seemed like it would be perfect for what I wanted. The unit does use a writing workshop format, however I just use the mini lessons that come with it for the mini lesson during Daily Five. We have been working on labeling our drawings and I am so amazed by how well the students are doing with this.
The week before last we started teaching the season of Fall to our kiddos. I found this wonderful book and I knew it would be perfect to have my students add to their book box.
A few weeks ago we talked about Johnny Appleseed. I have always taught a wonderful lesson using a Core Knowledge lesson plan, but this year I wanted to add to it to make it better. I found these awesome craftivities at TPT and I knew they would be perfect.
The students loved making Johnny Appleseed and his tree. Also, the hats turned out super cute.
Calendar is always a tough concept for 5 year old's to comprehend. When I found these amazing papers to go with calendar, I knew I needed them. There are so many concepts that the students need in them. This is probably one of my favorite things I have purchased.
I went ahead this week and printed all the calendars for the rest of the year. It does take a lot of paper to print, however I do feel it is worth it! There are so many concepts being covered in these that I look forward to filling them out every day. I know my students love it too because they are heart broken when we skip a certain part one day because we are running behind. They want to complete the whole page every single day.
The last one I am going to share is actually one that I created. Every year I have had the students write their name, draw a picture of themselves and write their numbers. The paper I have always done it on, I personally didn't really care for it because the line for the name was to little. If a student had a big name, it wouldn't fit. So I decided to create a new one that I could use and show the growth of my students.
Thanks for reading my post! I hope you found some new things that you haven't seen before and try them out!
Thank you for the Johnny shout-out!! :) :)
ReplyDelete❤Teri
A Cupcake for the Teacher