Saturday

Penguin Scoot!

Well, it's the end of January and my New Year's Resolution was to blog more...hmmm not doing too good on that resolution!

We have been so busy in First Grade!  We've been writing and learning about penguins and having lots of fun! I found this great project on TpT, by Sherri Miller from Techie Chick!


This is one by my little lovely who always turns her creations into little girls!  Notice the eyelashes and placement of the bow!  :)

We're wrapping up our unit on these fun birds next week!  So this was a great project for my students to share what they have learned about penguins.   I loved reading their creations.

Fridays are a very dfferent schedule in my classroom because we have art instruction for an hour.   So I try hard to fit in some academics in the morning before art!  What better way to get them to focus than getting up and moving!  I put on some music and we played scoot!  My kids did 80 math problems filling in 10 more and less, 1 more and less for 20 number cards!  Wow!  That's a lot, but they loved it and did so well!  We've been practicing this concept with my Penguin Fill it in resource!

One of my favorite things to do with kiddos is playing scoot!  

When I add music it just ups the fun element!  They were so cute dancing around and doing math...love it!  I wish I could post the video for you, but it has their little faces!  :( They each got a clipboard and danced to the music until it stopped then looked at the number on the closest desk and filled in the numbers!! 

They loved dancing around and filling in the numbers!  





I'll be back soon with some fun ideas I've worked up for Valentine's Day!  Have a great weekend!



You Oughta Know Blog Hop

Howdy!  I'm so glad you hopped over for another "teacher tip!"

Happy Saturday! I am so excited to show off my new blog design!  Isn't it so cute?!  Thanks to the A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. Tenille Gates at Designs by Tenille.  I love, love, love it!  (Aren't those little froggies adorable?)

Ok...back to the hop!



I’m so happy to join Jasmine, from Buzzing With Mrs. McCain, for her You Really Oughta Know blog hop! It’s been fun to participate in the past and I love getting so many great ideas from teachers!

My school has embraced the use of technology in the classroom over the past several years. It’s been a steep learning curve for many of us, but so worthwhile for our 21st century learners. Something new I’ve tried this year is using YouTube in the classroom. Of course, I have shown videos and used clips in the classroom before, but this year I’ve been creating “playlists” for my teaching units. It’s super easy to do and saves me so much time. I simply put my search topic in and take a few minutes to preview the videos of interest. Then, and this is the A.W.E.S.O.M.E part, you just add the videos you like to a playlist! I can then access these saved videos quickly in the classroom!  So to recap...it's as easy as 1, 2, 3!
Of course, you need to preview the videos before showing them to students.  Most of the videos have an ad at the beginning.  I just wait until I can "skip the ad" and then display the screen!

I hope this tip helps you bring some more technology into your classroom!

Be sure and keep hopping for more tips from teachers!  





Monday

Brrrrr .... Having fun with Penguins

We are diving into the chilly waters down south!  I love teaching the kids about penguins!  I end up learning something new every year!  This year we are looking at everything through the eye of a conservationist!  I found some great resources to use in the classroom.  If you are waddling through the Antarctic too, you may find these useful!





Live Science - Penguin Facts: Species and Habitats


Hope these help!

Happy Monday!


Sunday

Penguin Prep!


Holy moly, it's been a while since I blogged!  Maybe blogging should be one of my New Year's Resolutions?  I'll think about that one.

I'm heading back to school tomorrow to start 2015 with my kiddos!  I can't wait to see them! I hope they haven't grown too much!

After having some New Year's fun, we'll start one of my favorite units of the year...PENGUINS!  I love these little (big) birds!  I've just finished some fun new resources to compliment this unit in my math and word work tubs!  If you're interested, check them out here!






I promise (crossing my fingers) to be back soon to show off what we are doing during our Penguins unit!

Happy New Year!!!