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I must admit...I'm not a great blogger.  I have great plans and ideas to blog...just no time.  That's why I love Instagram.  Join me there to follow my daily...and not so daily...life in first grade.

Happy Hump Day!  I am joining in for my first EVER, EVER linky party. I'm so excited!  I'm linking up with Jessica at Mrs. Stanford's Class for Hump Day Highlights.

We were back at school Monday, then out for a snow day yesterday.  Tomorrow is going to be super cold, around -4 when my firsties arrive at school.  Brrrr!

It may be freezing outside, but we're thinking flip-flop weather with our Flip-Flop Match Up Memory Game.  I'm just getting started with math stations and guided math so I made this little game to give my students extra practice with math facts and the commutative property of addition.  

My kids absolutely LOVE math stations!  I'm going to love them too...when I get the schedule to my liking, when I have all of my station materials made, laminated and filed, and when I feel comfortable with my small group plans.  It's a lot to get organized, but so very worth it!

I'm putting  this packet my whole TPT store on sale!  Grab it through Friday and get 20% off...in honor of my first-ever linky party. 

Now head over to Mrs. Stanford's Class to check out other Hump Day Highlights. 

Freebie Alert

Be sure to check out my Teachers Pay Teachers Store if you teach using the Reading Street curriculum.  I recently added word card freebies for every story for each unit.  The word cards include cards for Amazing Words, High Frequency Words, and Spelling Words.  To find the freebies, click on "Sort By:  Price"  There are about 30 sets of Word Card Freebies for you to download.

The word cards are great to use for your focus wall.  You can also print them smaller ( using a smaller scale) and use them for word work stations.

Look Who's In First Grade

I would love to hear how you use them in your classroom.  Let's work "smarter, not harder" by sharing ideas about how we use resources in our classrooms.

How do you count the days in school?

I've tried counting the days in school several ways but have never been satisfied with anything...until now.  In the past, I used bundles of sticks and bundles of straws.  I never really felt that my kids were making the connection between that bundle  and a group of tens. It was too abstract for them.

This year, I've used ten-frames for teaching subitizing and unitizing. That's when it hit me that I should probably add ten frames to my calendar  time.

Of course, I always have to have something cute...plain black and white ten-frames would never do. So, I created a larger, cuter set of ten-frames to use on my math focus wall. Now my kids are engaged in counting the days and all of that great math content that goes along with it.

 

So how do you count the days in school with your students?

I Have a Little Freebie to Share!

Today I'm sharing a Partner Reading bookmark I made for my kids.  We buddy read with a kindergarten class once a week.  I made these bookmarks to help my firsties and their kindergarten buddies remember what good partner reading "looks like" and "sounds like."  You can download your bookmark by clicking on the picture below.

I laminate the bookmarks and then write both partner's names on the back.  They feel very "official" with a bookmark!

Happy Reading!

Look Who Finally Has a Blog!

As a long time blog stalker, I have many times thought of starting my own blog, but never decided to take the leap.  But, now...I have jumped into blog land and I'm so excited. 

Every day (well maybe once or twice a week) one of my kids will do or say something that I think would be blog worthy--but I didn't have a blog.  Now I do!  I can't wait to start sharing the sweet little things my firsties do. 

Later this week, I'm going to share a freebie I made for my kids and their kindergarten book buddies. Stay tuned.