Catch the Rainbow if You Can't Catch a Leprechaun

This week we have been learning about Ireland, St. Patrick's Day and reading lots and lots of books about those little pesky leprechauns. We have left our leprechaun traps (cruel free ;0) out tonight to try to catch one of those little guys and see if he will take us to his gold at the end of the rainbow.  Well, if we can't catch one, we have a back up plan. We are going to CATCH RAINBOWS!!
If you have never had the opportunity to catch a rainbow, you can now!

Before doing this, we are going to do a writing activity entitled "How to Catch a Rainbow."  First graders are so creative so I know they will come up with some amazing ways.  I will post these soon.

Materials Needed:  Cheap clear fingernail polish
                               Aluminum pie pan (not your good ones- the disposable kind)
                               Black construction paper cut into fourths
                               Sunlight

Fill up a pie pan with water

Add 3-4 drops of clear finger nail polish

Once you see a rainbow sheen on the water,
dip in the side and go under the rainbow and scoop it up!

Wa-la!! You have caught a rainbow.


Now, this is just plain magic for first graders!!

                                                             

Retelling Road or Motor Skill Development???

Being that I have 9 children in my class that are EL students, and two others that are on the autistic spectrum, we are ALL ABOUT oral language.  Pretty much everything we do, we talk, talk, talk about it first.  Turn and Talk is our best friend!!  We have been working all year on retelling a story and the Retelling Road has been, by far, their favorite way to practice. My bear paw path has seen it's better days so I created the spring edition....with flip flops. ( We're all about flip flops here in the south.) The new road  was one of our stations this week in our Daily 5 Rotation.  The kids were great at the retelling but my, oh my, we have some gross motor issues. :0)

Check out those cute boots!

Ta Daaa! I made it!!

I have a freebie Retelling Road here:

Link to Beginning Middle and End Retelling Road

Please visit my TPT store for the full version. It contains 4 different retelling styles to use as the children get more advanced with retelling.          My TPT store  

Whole Brain Teaching

I have been exploring and toying with the concept of Whole Brain Teaching.  Tonight on you tube I found a great video to share.  Have you used this in your classroom? Can you share with me what you have found using it?  Does it help the students retain information?

I have, Who has game /More and Less Lesson Freebie

Who Knew Math Could Be So FUN!!

I know back when I was in school all we did was page after page of math in the book.  It was a "fun" day if we had a worksheet. Hey, at least we got to feel the cool, fresh smelling ditto on our hands and face. haha!  How far we have come in education!  This week we have been working on one more, one less, ten more and ten less.  We started off using the big 120 chart and playing class games with it. Then, we used the following lesson to continue learning and exploring. Today, while my class was playing I have, Who has, my class was buzzing so loudly with the excitement and joy of learning, I got that old familiar feeling of "Uh, Oh....what if the Principal walks by...."  These are the kinds of lessons that we "seasoned" teachers live for, this is what keeps us coming back day after day.  Here is the lesson we have been working on and some pictures of my class playing I have, Who has. What are some lessons that you have done lately that have you jazzed??? 


Get your lesson and freebie I have, Who has game here.

First Blog Post and St Patrick's Day Freebie!

Well, here goes.  I have been lurking for about a year following all of the first grade blogs I can and have learned so much from all of you.....so I decided to venture out and create a blog and start posting some of the activities that we do in our classroom and share them with you.  This week I plan to post lots of St. Patrick Day Freebies.  As an early elementary teacher, I am always looking for fun and creative ways for children to learn their sight words.  I know that the most effective way to learn these is to read, read, read but I try to mix it up with games as well....because we know that children love fun and games. Here is one that I made for my kiddos that they have loved called Shamrocked. What are some fun ways your class learns sight words?

 Click here to download Shamrocked Sight Word Game