Nuts About Nouns and a Freebie too!

Well to be quite honest I am nuts about a lot of things and nous are just one of them! I am kind of nuts about teaching all forms of grammar period. It is concrete and a grammar lesson can happen by simply analyzing any sentence you come across.  You don’t need a worksheet!

In my ongoing effort to hit multiple standards during my lessons, I am doing a lot of “reading pauses”. During a pause I’ll pick a sentence, write it on the board and we look at it in depth.  We look for nouns. But we also look for verbs (action and helping), and then if possible I’ll talk about adverbs, adjectives, synonyms, antonyms, and phonics sounds we have covered. My students attention level seems more intense because we are dealing with these grammar components in the real reading we are doing.  It also make grammar real.

You all know enough about me by now to know that we are going to do art to reinforce these grammar concepts.  Here is our nouns tree. Each month it changes to reflect the season.

        

 I forgot to take a picture of the Acorn tree.  Darn it! That might have been because of what I call Friday Amnesia! I kind of lose my minds on Fridays! All I can think about is starting the weekend and I forget about anything else. Can you be happy without the picture above for just a few days? I promise to a picture Monday.

      

I have an entire series of Smart Art for nouns.

Here are the ones you might love for winter.  

The peppermint stick is big. Size matters when you are trying to compete for their mental attention.  Santa takes up a lot of their mental space in the coming weeks, but this pulls in the holiday joy and academic rigor. They may or may not get to do this project with a candy cane in their mouth… don’t tell the nutrition police

Are you looking for ways to help your “Littles” understand thankfulness in these coming days?  If so, download this little two page comprehension builder and enjoy!

  

Sending Love, Katie

November Treats in The Classroom

Aloha! It's Corinna from Surfin' Through Second. I am happy to be sharing here on The Primary Chalkboard today.

Next week is a short week at school and I always like to throw in some fun activities for Thanksgiving. I know some teachers have their own Thanksgiving feast, but I scale it down a bit and have students prepare a recipe in class.

I love cooking with my second graders.  It makes them focus on what they are reading, they practice their measuring skills and they can't wait to eat what they have made.  This year I am going to have my students make their own pumpkin pies.  This is a no bake recipe and doesn't require too many ingredients.

I usually send home a letter a week ahead of time and have parents donate one item for our activity.

  Just mix up the wet ingredients to make the filling. One batch makes enough for 5 kids.

Then comes the fun part.  The kids make their own crust.

Place one graham cracker in a zippered sandwich bag and squeeze out all the air.

Then crush the graham cracker into small crumbs.

Pour the graham cracker crumbs into the cup.

Spoon in some filling. (Not too much, it is very rich!)

Add some whipped cream on top.

Yummy!! Their own mini pumpkin pie.  I usually have a parent volunteer come in to help.  I also set it up as a station in the back of the classroom while the other students are working at their desks.

The students at their desks color in their recipe page and finish up any projects or Thanksgiving activities we have been working on.

Here is the recipe page for your students.

and the donation letter.

I bring in the cinnamon and the pumpkin pie spice.  Adjust ingredients for the size of your class. For a class of 20 you need a few cans of pumpkin, 1 box of graham crackers, 4 boxes of pudding, 2-3 tubs of whipped cream, and one can of milk. (I dilute the milk in water since it is so rich, plus you don't have to worry about keeping it cold)

If this recipe looks a bit too messy, here is another one that is easy to make.  It's perfect for Thanksgiving in the classroom.

Click on any of the pictures to download from Google Docs.

I hope these recipes add some fun to your celebrations. What activities do you have planned in class for Thanksgiving?  I always love hearing what others do in their classrooms.

Countdown to Turkey Time!

Happy almost Thanksgiving Break! 

Tammy and Christy here from Fluttering Through First Grade, officially counting down to turkey time. 

We're pretty sure you may be counting down too...

Us teachers have a tendency to do that. 

Right?

November is a quick month for us at school {Insert two teachers jumping for joy, maybe, *possibly* even screaming like school girls here}, but just enough time to share some of our favorite activities.

We love to bring the story of Thanksgiving to life with Dr. Jean's Thanksgiving bracelet. You can read about it {here}. We created a class read aloud poster and worksheet to go along with the bracelet. It's free by clicking the image above. Enjoy!

A class that cooks together, stays together. Right? Well, for the school year at least. 

We are one of the *lucky* classes who get to go to school the few days before Thanksgiving.

Are you *lucky* too?

It's the perfect opportunity to sharpen our annual cooking skills by baking with our class.

We pull up our sleeves and bake pumpkin bread turkeys with our favorite little turkeys. 

This will be our 12th year baking for Thanksgiving. It quickly became an experience they remember for years to come. Plus, the pumpkin bread is kind of ridiculously moist and super delicious...just saying.

On the days that drag follow we decorate our turkey pumpkin breads to look like turkeys and take our class through the entire writing process about their baking experience.

We collect one pound coffee cans for this project, but have adapted it so you can use small bread loaf pans as well. We bake in our school oven, but have also asked parents to take them home to bake or have even stuffed our own ovens. 

Click the pic above to see it in our TpT Shop.

Ummm...We know. We love him too.

We make these every year for our parent volunteers. But, shhh...Please don't tell them. We haven't made them quite yet this year. We know, we'd better get cracking crafting!

Are you a crafter? 

Is that a silly question for a teacher?

If you answered, yes and yes,  hop on over to our blog {here}to see how to make him too.

Happy Thanksgiving sweet friends!

Gearing Up for Turkey and a FREEBIE!

Hey Guys! It's Leigh here from The Applicious Teacher. 

I am just popping in to share with you one of my FAVORITE crafts to do with the kiddos at this time of year! 

 It is one of those activities that you pull out year after year because it is so cute and the kiddos love it! I love it because it is SUPER DUPER EASY! 

 I am, of course, talking about the "Turkey Place-mat" How stinkin' cute is this?

To make, just print out and create tracers for the tail and the head. Then, on colored construction paper print out the beak and the giblet. Print out the eyes on plain white paper. 

Then, cut one tail for each of your kiddos and have them decorate. My sample shows sponge painting, but you could do hand prints, regular paint, shapes, or even have the kiddos write what they are thankful for. 

After the paint dries (usually a day) have the kiddos cut out and glue on the head, eyes, beak, and giblet. I like to send them to be laminated for durability. Your kiddos will love  pulling these out at your class feast, or for their Thanksgiving meal at home. 

Like this guy? You can grab all the templates to make him at my store for FREE! 

Also, want more turkey fun? Swing by my blog tonight for a chance to win some AMAZING Thanksgiving products!

Leigh

 

Thanksgiving Math With Teaching and Tapas

Hi everyone! It's Alyssha from Teaching and Tapas!

I am writing here all snuggled in my pajamas at 6:30 pm because I am fighting some serious exhaustion. It's the GOOD kind of exhaustion though! Late last night I flew back into Madrid after spending the past 5 days in Rome for our regional Professional Development conference. Sometimes I have to pinch myself to realize that I am living in Spain and a weekend trip like this is no longer only a dream! It's fun and I am so THANKFUL for these adventures happening in my life!

This trip wasn't only pasta, pizza, and vino. I spent most of it inside a conference room. Luckily, I was learning some great stuff! One presentation in particular stands out. We learned all about using the Singapore Math bar model method.

With Common Core, this year I have been all expecting my students to use a model to show their understanding. This is another model that is great for any teacher or classroom! This model can't work with ALL word problems, but it think it is another modeling tool that I am excited to share with my students.

I am going to delve into using this modeling method with my students this week using a little Thanksgiving problem solving freebie I am happy to share with you all! 

This FREEBIE includes 12 problem solving questions that fit perfectly with the upcoming holiday! Download it here. Enjoy :)

Alyssha

Thankful Saturday!

Happy Saturday everyone! It's Leslie from First Grade and Flip Flops! 

SO excited to be blogging with you today! It's the month of November and it's a month that we all say what we are most thankful for-- well, really, we should be thankful every day, right? LOL! So here are some things I am thankful for!

I really do love this month in my classroom because I get to do some of my favourite activities with my first graders. One of them is the Disguise the Turkey project and the other is my Thankful Hearts project. Can I just say, heartwarming tears and hearts!!! I pass out hearts to all the families with a simple letter and families are to write what they are more thankful for in their child. Here are a few examples:

This is the one I did for my own son who is in first grade! xoxo

I always read them during writing block and call the kids up with me as I read the hearts. They beam and shine as they listen to the words their families write. All you need is a large heart (I used the large heart die cut from our Ellison machine) and attached the parent letter. Simple, easy and very heartwarming. Here is the letter I used if you'd like a copy:

Click on the pic to grab yours! 

I am also extremely thankful to work on a team that I call family! I love the girls I work with! They are truly my family. It totally makes coming to school so much fun! Some of us have come and gone but we have remained great friends and sisters. Do you work in a school like that? 

Then there's my family and boys. Love them to pieces. 

Thankful for these after school. I call them Brownie Crack. Seriously, you need to try these! Especially after a very trying day at school!

Lastly, thankful for the fabulous ladies of the Primary Chalkboard and our equally fabulous followers! Here is a freebie for you! I created it to help my students with l-blends. 

Click on the pic to grab your FREEBIE!

I hope that each and every day you find the little and big things to be thankful for! Have a great Saturday and hope you see you back here, on our blogs, and on our FB pages! 

Love to you!

Leslie