Showing posts with label Valentine's Day. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Valentine's Day. Show all posts

February is jam packed with holidays and celebrations!  From Groundhog Day, Black History Month, Valentine's Day and President's Day, it's a lot. 


(And then there was that one year the 100th day of school fell in February thanks to a bazillion snow days!)


For me, all of the celebrations are welcome.  After January drags on and on and on, all the things in February seem to help us move along quickly into Spring!


Plus, as usual, these holidays provide some really great social studies content for first graders.  So let's get started talking about my four favorite February activities! (Hint: one of them is technically NOT for February... but I'm making it fit anyways!)


Black History Month

February is black history month.  In my classroom, we operate on content units.  We have 6 science or social studies based units during the year.  In January, we kick off our unit on Famous Americans with MLK day.  And Black History is a huge part of that Famous People and Inventors unit!


We research each person and chart them on anchor charts.  It's not secret that I love a good shaped anchor chart.  And Black History anchor charts are some of my very favorite.


It is so so important to teach our kids ALL of our history.  Like our own lives, our history is full of highs and lows, light and dark spots, and studying how people overcome adversity and persevere to make the most of their life is invaluable to us all...even 6 year olds!


Read this blog post for more about our Black History month activities and routines.


Valentine's Day + The Wizard of Oz

I know what you're thinking... how in the world are these two things connected??


Well, Valentine's Day is about the time we start our fifth first grade unit on weather.  The Wizard of Oz is our big class read aloud during this weather and cause and effect unit (Hello, tornadoes and severe weather!)


The year we kicked off this "Winds of Change" weather unit with a Oz Valentine's Party was the absolute cutest.  I mean, Pin the Heart of Tin Man and all the cute themed snacks.  


I mean, y'all.  You'll have to see all of the details in this Wizard of Oz Valentine's Party post to understand just how fun this was for our first graders!


President's Day

Another holiday about Famous Americans in February.... see why it's so perfect to be learning about Famous Americans in January and February?!?


We spend some time learning about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln and comparing and contrasting them.  You can read about all the Washington lessons and activities here and the Lincoln lessons and activities here.


Then, these President's Day crafts are easy and adorable February hallway decorations.  


Dr. Seuss

Yes, I Know that Read Across America is in March.  And yes, I know that Dr. Seuss' birthday is March 2nd.  BUT I love to end our mini-study of Dr. Seuss with his birthday.  It's a fun birthday celebration after learning all about him!


In first grade, our Dr. Seuss mini-unit focuses on poetry.  We use his books as a mentor texts for learning to create rhyming sentences and write couplets and short poems!


I don't think there's another writing unit that is more engaging for my first graders that this one!  Read all about our week long mini-unit on Dr. Seuss in this post!



YA'LL.

Today was Valentine's party day and, well, there was just 50 shades of crazy up in my room today...and basically just this week! :)

I'm exhausted and over it and ready for spring....and...thank God for a week off next week for February Break!  Yes, the good Lord knew I would need that break! *wink*

Here's a 5 for Friday look at some of our February happenings from the last two weeks!

1.  "Show What You Know"
Our team has decided to start giving a short "show what you know" kind of math quiz each Friday to see how our kids are getting our math skill focus for the week.

And I REALLY love that we are doing this.  I think this has been a big missing piece for me the last few years in my CGI journey and I am glad to bring back a few more assessments with evidence to show parents how their kids are doing.  With CGI, it can be difficult to help parents know how to help their kids, but I've found that sending home these skill checks is great feedback for parents and gives them something a little more tangible to work on at home in math!

I also am able to keep a running spreadsheet on who isn't getting which skill so I can pull intervention groups during our Counting Collections or Fact Fluency times {read more about RTI math ideas HERE}.

I have some of these "show what you knows" already in my store and will be adding all of them to my math assessments packet over my February break next week!

2. Presidents' Day Craft
One of my favorite crafts of the year happens in February.  I just love looking at Abe and George hanging out in our hallway each year!

This fun craft plus a bunch more presidents' activities you can read about here are in my Presidents' Day Packet.

3. Tic-Tac-Toe Valentines
Cooper just loved making these for his friends and family!  And he even liked playing tic-tac-toe with me!  He got to sign his name to each one, but his favorite part was tearing the tape and putting the washi tape on!

4. Piece of Cake Valentines
These were a HUGE hit today with my firsties.  They loved the cake and I think they turned out so fun.  And they were super cheap and easy too!  Also, snack bags are just the absolute best! #teacherobsessions

Working on all of our Valentines this year, reminded me just how much I love washi tape.  Like ***LOVE*** it.  I really don't know what I did before washi tape.

BUT the one downfall with washi tape and kids (as I discovered in December when I made Grinch-Doh), is it's not all that sticky.  And once you put a bunch in a bag altogether, they just start coming off!

So, this time around, I stapled first and then covered up the staple with the washi tape.  SUCCESS!  I'm sure I'm not the first one to discover this, but when this idea came to me this week it was like angelic choruses playing in my head!  It doesn't take much to make this teacher happy! :)

5. Mommy's King of Hearts
I'd be breaking tradition if I let February get by without sharing some more pics from my awesome father-in-law photographer of my little valentine.

So glad I stumbled upon this adorable shirt from gap.com because it made taking pics super simple...and thank goodness for that!  My February was just too crazy to make things difficult with pictures!

And because I'm biased and it's just too hard to pick a favorite, here are a few lot of pictures of the king of our hearts!

I've decided to start a blog series on my favorites for each month: favorite books, favorite activities, just anything I love about that month for teaching!  Here's a look at February Fav's!

February Must Reads:

Here are the links for purchasing these awesome books!
>>Guess How Much I Love You
This is a favorite all year long at my house with my preschooler, but we definitely read it a few extra times around Valentine's Day!

>>Pete the Cat's Groovy Guide to Love
Anything Pete the Cat is a winner in the classroom, so of course my firsties love this one too!

>>Clifford First Valentine's Day
My 3 year old is AHHHHbsessed with Clifford right now.  Last weekend, we read 5 Clifford stories in a row including the Christmas one and the Valentine's Day one! ;)  And Clifford is a winner with elementary kiddos too!

>>Happy Valentine's Day, Mouse
I love reading this story before making Valentine's with kids because it's so good for brainstorming who to give Valentine's to and what kind of Valentine each person might appreciate!

>>The Day it Rained Hearts
When I teach our weather unit around Valentine's Day, this book is the perfect tie in.  I even have some creative writing prompts and crafts with this story in my weather unit.

>>I Love You, Snugglesaurus
My Cooper is in LOVE with this book.  It's seriously one of his fav's.  And it's so simple that he could "read" it on his own when he was 2 and a half.  It's a great bedtime story all year long, but especially in February!  And I love displaying it in his play room in February too!

>>Groundhog Day
This is a must read for Groundhog Day.  Gail Gibbons is one of my very favorite authors for non-fiction because she gives so much information that's ENGAGING to young kids.  Find activities and crafts to go with Groundhog Day here.

>>Martin's Big Words
Yes, MLK day is in January, but black history month is in February.  Either way, this is a must have book for your classroom.  The firsties really get this book.  I used this in my MLK packet which is also part of my American Contributors unit.

>>A Weed is a Flower: The Life of George Washington Carver
You can read about all of the people in black history I cover in first grade in another blog, but George Washington Carver is always a crowd pleaser, because...let's face it: who doesn't love peanut butter?? :)

>>A Picture Book of George Washington
>>Abraham Lincoln
There are SO many books about these 2 awesome presidents that it's sometimes hard to choose, but I just love the picture book series during our American Contributors unit (they cover many other great inventors and contributors!).  And I came across this book on Abraham Lincoln a couple of years ago and it is HANDS DOWN my favorite.  So much information and lots of fun facts and trivia for the kiddos.  The love this one!

...and, of course, my poetry packet has plenty of February poems for students to read in shared reading, practice independently, or order poem lines in a literacy station...

February Activities:
Here are a few of my favorite mini-units for February...

I loved teaching this Sunday School unit to my preschool babies last year {Read more HERE}!  And I even steal a few of these crafts and lessons for my firsties from time to time!


And I love this mini-packet for President's Day!  We are now in the middle of our American Contributors unit and will be starting our research on George and Abe next week!  See more of this packet in action on another blog post!

What are your favorites for February?
I've had a bit of writer's block the last week or so.  So here's a hodge podge of #allthethings in the world of first grade lately!

Hurt Hearts

Usually, I do this lesson at the beginning of the year, but for some reason I didn't.  And now, 2 weeks after Valentine's Day, this lesson was necessary.  My firsties have gotten a bad case of the meanies!  This truly is one of the sweetest classes I've ever had and they really love each other dearly.  But I think they last few weeks we've graduated to a brother/sister relationship between my firsties.  Ya know, cat fighting, name calling, I love you, I hate you kinda stuff???

We sat in our class meeting circle on the carpet and read Chrysanthemum.  I had made a beautiful clean red heart....and forgot to take a picture....because this was not a preplanned activity.  This was a "Okay, everybody stop what you're doing and come to the carpet right now" kinda lesson.  You know the kind.

Every time one of Chrysanthemum's classmates laughed or said mean things to Chrysanthemum we crushed her heart.  The heart got passed around in our circle so everyone had a chance.  There is actually not enough for all 25 of my firsties to squish the heart.  So when we finished the book, we talked about other things friends or siblings have said that crush our hearts.  Therapy session 101!

At the end, our heart looked like this...

Usually, when this is a preplanned activity, I use butcher paper to make a large heart and we each sign bandaids promising to be caring and to help repair our friends' hearts when they are hurt.  But I didn't have room on my impromptu construction paper heart!  However, I use this same lesson with my preschool Sunday Schoolers at church and this is what their response page looks like after the lesson.

You can find this lesson and other love & Valentine's lessons in my Love One Another packet.  Perfect all year long!

Math Games

I've super pumped about my newest pack because it is WAAAAAAAY overdue!  I've been using these tried and true number sense games for the last 9 years, and it was about time I updated the Comic Sans versions I had from my first year...*wince!*

Here's the Game of Double Compare from this packet from a few weeks ago...so still the less exciting version of handouts... It's basically double war.  Each partner draws 2 cards, adds the numbers and then they compare the sums.  The partner with the greatest sum, keeps the card.

And for my low babies, they just played Compare with me in a small group while the others played Double Compare with partners.  We used cubes to build the numbers to make it easier to compare!  The packet has cards with ten frames and without for differentiation as well!

9 games, 20 total differentiated version.  Posters, I can cards, instruction posters, playing cards, and student recording sheets!  The only thing it doesn't have ready for you are dice!  Print and play.  It's that simple!

Seasons Writing

After a short break to research and write about presidents for President's Day, we are back to trucking along in our Weather Unit!  This week we started researching seasons.  We researched Winter and Summer this week and 2 next week.


Unlike last year, I decided to chart the details for each season within categories.  And this actually was for a more important reason other than my OCD...

We've been doing informative writing for a while. And while most of my firsties could write an informative paragraph in their sleep, their detail sentences are quite random.

Like this...

So, we've been focusing on grouping related detail sentences together instead of randomly writing whatever about a large topic.  Having a "categorized" anchor chart REALLY helped.  We were able to easily see during share time who had facts from all over the place versus kids who wrote all of their details about weather together and animals together, and so on...

During share time, we highlighted and color coded the related details.  
And while my lower writers didn't quite get this independently, my on and higher kiddos did really, really well.  And now I can totally see how much easier the transition to writing multi-paragraphs will be for these kiddos!

Dr. Seuss

Next week is Dr. Seuss' birthday and I can't wait to celebrate with some old and new activities!

Follow me on Facebook to see all of the literacy activities we use from this mini-unit!  My firsties love becoming poets like Dr. Seuss!
Party Day!  Such a fun last 2 weeks reading and studying the Wizard of Oz...

...and today was a great celebration of everything we had learned...Valentine's style!

The first thing I should make clear is that this was not solely my idea.  My sweet and more-creative-than-I-am teammate texted a few weekends ago with the inspiration for this party.  I was driving in the car with my husband, read aloud this fantastic idea and we (okay, mostly my more-creative-than-I-am husband) had added to her ideas in no-time!  After much collaboration...the result was uh-dor-uh-ble.  End of discussion!  And, I really thought this might be a time consuming party...but honestly, this party was pretty simple and not really any more difficult than a regular class party!  Here's a look at everything that made this party a success!

Wizard of Oz Dress-Up

The thing that took the most time were the Tin-Man hats.
...and really, it was a pretty simple process.  I bought silver metallic scrapbook paper from my second home, Hobby Lobby.  I cut them in half (portrait).  Then folded the end in a cone shape and taped the seam in the back.  So, it wasn't perfectly round in the back, but it still looked cute on the boys' heads and super simple!  Once the cones were made, I just taped pieces of yarn on the inside and put felt heart stickers on the front!  I think they turned out perfect!

The girls got blue gingham ribbons tied in their hair!


Table Decorations

My teammate and I split the cost of the blue gingham tablecloths from Oriental Trading.  We got a 100 foot roll and I think between 2 classes we only used half of the roll.  Yay for one less thing to do for next year!  I added yellow napkins spread out as placemats and red plates.  Perfect color palette and el-cheap-o {my favorite!}

My back table was just a little too empty {I decorated while the kids watched the movie before the party}, and I had extra napkins, so....I had to make a yellow brick road!

Wizard of Oz Menu & Treats

We had so much fun coming up with snacks for this party!

This year we ordered pizza...although next year, I'm thinking there's no need for pizza...just add pretzel sticks as "scarecrow stuffing!"

And, finally...my valentines for the kiddos...



Wizard of Oz Party Games

Every party has to have games...and these were just perfect!

Pin the heart on the Tin Man...I traced a cartoon tin man from my Smart Board on metallic poster board.  They had so much fun watching and giggling through each turn!  We played while they were eating which was a great time saver!

Winners who touched the actual heart, got some nuggets of "tin."

Next game was my husband's personal favorite and his claim to party-planning fame: Hot PoTOTO.

I forgot to take a pic of the adorable stuffed brown doggy my teammate bought, but we shared the "Toto" for our game...
Hot poTOTO, hot poTOTO,
Hot poTOTO, hot!
Hot poTOTO, hot poTOTO,
Hot poTOTO, stop!

As they got "out," they were able to go back to their desk and open their valentine's.  Winner got extra chocolate...although I looked so hard for a mini-Toto to give away!  Better luck next year!

Our last game was "Follow the Yellow Brick Road" musical chairs.  While the firsties were going through their valentines, I taped yellow construction paper bricks to our carpet.

We used the YouTube video of the yellow brick road song as our music!

Prizes for getting "out" of this game?  A yellow Twinkie "brick," of course!

So thankful for my friend's inspiration, my hubby's party planning skills {ha!}...this party's a keeper!
It's week 2 of my PreK Sunday School Valentine's Unit, Love One Another.

I love being able to make Valentine's Day a spiritual holiday for my preschoolers.  I've taught variations of this same unit for about 3 years now and we have so much fun!  And what I love about is that I've used the some of the same concepts and craftivities with my firsties over the years {minus the Bible verses...darn you, public schools!} and they have been perfect for that age group too!  Church goer or not...we can all use a little more practice in loving one another, no matter your age!

Exploration Stations

The first 10-15 minutes of each week in Sunday School we spend in exploration stations.  The preschoolers are welcomed in and then choose a station to explore.  Most stations are themed to support our big idea or lesson for the day or unit.  Here are some a couple of my favorites from this unit!



My preschoolers LOVE puzzles!  These heart puzzles show kids with all kinds of emotions.  They match the emotions and talk about ways to show kindness to friends showing that emotion!

Of course, we must always have blocks to play with.  But I love making their play purposeful and connecting it to our big ideas.  This one was last minute, so I just drew a heart and wrote in the "I can" at the top.  But I've added this to the unit if you already have it!

We also have mirrors for the kids to play with and show people that God loves!

God Loves Me

The first week, we learned that God loves me!  No matter what I look like and no matter what kind of choices I make, God will always love me!  We made self-portraits and talked about how much God loves our differences!

Love the Lord

Then, we learned that God wants us to love Him back.  We read a trade book and talked about how we give people we love things.  When we love God, we want to give him our heart.  We learned the Bible verse, "I will love the Lord with all my heart..." Luke 10:27.
Then, we made heart crafts to hang as a reminder of our gift of love to God!


Love Others

Our last week, we learned that we are to love other people the way God loves us.  We read about The Good Samaritan during our Bible Time.

Then, we brainstormed ways to show love to others and added the heart leaves to our kindness tree!

I also did this with my own kid and added hearts each time he did something kind on his own.

Such fun celebrating Valentine's Day with my Sunday Schoolers!  And check out my TPT store for my other Sunday School units.

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