Friends.

I have a very exciting announcement to make! 

I have decided to team up with some of my very best first grade buddies to write for a collaborative blog! 

That means ONE blog with TONS of great ideas from several super awesome First Grade teachers!

One thing I L-O-V-E about this blog, is you will know exactly what to expect each day of the week.  For every day, there is a blogging theme.  Check them out! 

I'm SO excited to get started on this new adventure, and am thrilled to invite you along for the ride.  Let's celebrate with a little giveaway!  

You can win my new Healthy Eating Mini Unit...just in time for National Nutrition Month.

All you have to do to enter is follow us over at iTeachFirst then follow the instructions

**sorry...this giveaway has ended

 a Rafflecopter giveaway

Can't wait to get started sharing some great First Grade ideas with you! 

Clipart Credit: Melonheadz Illustrating, Creative Clips, Sonya DeHart Design

It's National Nutrition Month!

I must admit...I find it difficult to fit health curriculum into my day.  Finding ways to fit content area curriculum into my literacy block makes it a win-win.  After teaching my little Healthy Eating Mini-Unit, I'm glad I found a way to fit it in.

I was shocked that my sweet little first graders did not know the difference between a fruit, vegetable, grain, protein, and dairy food.  Yikes!  We get so wrapped up in making sure they are at the appropriate reading level, that they are at benchmark for DIBELS, know their sight words and math facts, that we forget about vocabulary.

We used the shared reading powerpoint to learn about healthy eating, then we made healthy choices to add to our plate at the end of our easy reader.  My littles always enjoy interactive notebook-type activities.

After seeing that my students need help identifying the food groups, I think I may be adding a food sort to this mini-unit.  Stay tuned!