We huffed and we puffed!

This week we are still working on our fairy tale unit. Our story was the Three Little Pigs! The kids really enjoyed this and many of them had already heard the stories! We are using some of the activities in my fairy tale unit aligned to the Common Core!

We read the following stories this week and compared and contrasted them. We also talked about the point of view in each story!

Original Version of the Three Little Pigs

The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig

The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs

I decided to include a science/math activity yesterday into the mix! I wanted to the kids to realize that the stories really couldn't happen! So I put some different objects in a bag and the kids had to see how far they could blow them. They used yard sticks to measure the distance. In the end we talked about how there was no way the wolf could really blow a house down! 

We also talked about contractions for our word structure for the week. I found the CUTEST unit from Christie at First Grade Fever! My kids really had a BLAST being surgeons and cutting up some contractions! 

Click here to check it out!

We also made this anchor chart to review what contractions are! 

Today I am at home in my p.j.'s because....

it is snowing! We are suppose to get 12 inches of snow. We haven't had any snow in almost two years, which is SUPER sad! Growing up in Kansas we had snow on the ground all winter but it just hasn't been like that in a long time. My school district actually canceled school yesterday before the kids even left. That was nice not having to get up early and look for our school to scroll across the t.v. We were only in school Tuesday/Wednesday this week and last week the kids were gone from Thursday-Monday! I feel like we haven't had a good full week of school in forever! Of course I brought everything home because I don't think we will be back tomorrow either and I have training on Monday so I have a sub! I will be working on our March plans that me and my teammate hashed out this week. I will also be working on this...

I will let you know when it is up! Also my b-day is on Monday (the BIG 25!!!) so of course I will be having a HUGE sale! 

Once Upon a.....

Fairy tales!!! We are starting our unit on fairy tales and it is probably one of my favorite themes to teach. We are teaching it the whole month of February and we still can't get every fairy tale we want to! Today we started off by making an anchor chart about fairy tales. I will keep this up the whole month!

This week we will be reading Goldilocks books...I have about ten of them! These are the ones we are reading this week. 

Today we read the original version of the story and did this sequencing craft! 

Check out more fairy tale activities in my new unit:

I am mad that I have nothing recorded to watch on the t.v....there were NO new shows on last night! I guess I will have to wait until 7 to watch something new! 

Happy Monday! 

Fe, Fi, Fo, Fumb....

I finally finished my Common Core Aligned Fairy Tale Unit! We will be using it the whole month the February. I am so excited because I love teaching and reading fairy tales! It is probably one of my favorite things to teach! Before I share my unit I have been meaning to share about our reading block and what it looks like...

Here is our schedule:

Monday:

Phonics: 8:35-8:50ish
Mentor Text Read Aloud: 8:50-9:10
Introduce Strategy or Topic for the week: 9:10-9:30
Partner Activity with Strategy: 9:30-9:50
Mini Lesson for Writing: 9:50-10:00
Independent Writing Time/Conferences 10:00-10:20
Wrap up and Share Out 10:20-10:35

*Our Mondays look at little different than the rest of the week because we don't do small group or Daily 5 (D5)

Tuesday-Friday

Phonics: 8:35-8:50
Mentor Text Read Aloud with Strategy 8:50-9:10
First Small Group Rotation 9:10-9:30
Second Small Group Rotation 9:30-9:50
Third Small Group Rotation 9:50-10:10
Fourth Small Group Rotation 10:10-10:30
Wrap up/Share Out 10:35

Some of you might be wondering how I do D5 with only 4 Rotations well....the students get through all of the D5 in two days. Each day they have small group and read to self. The other two rotations slots are either Listen to Reading/Read to Someone one day and the next day Word Work/Writing the second day. I don't allow the students to choose where they want to go. I wanted to get my feet wet this year before I made that BIG leap!

I love our reading block this year! This is the first year I feel like I am teaching reading and it is meaningful! During small group time I use an intervention program by Fountas and Pinnell called LLI. I am super excited because I have one group that has graduated from the program past a level N! I have two other groups that will graduate before the end of the month! I can't believe what a difference guided reading has made in my students reading. I honestly wish it was something our whole district embraced!

On to my Fairy Tale Unit! I will be using it during the Mentor Text Read Aloud time and it will be where I pull my Common Core aligned strategies from! I also included some word work that I will use during D5 to help reinforce skills I will be teaching!

Click on the picture to check it out! 

These are the standards that are addressed in the unit! 

This weekend has been jam packed already! We are putting our townhouse on the market therefore we are going through everything and deep cleaning! I am hoping it sells quickly but you never know with this market! Tomorrow will be much of the same thing....cleaning....cleaning...more cleaning! It will hopefully be worth it in the end! 

P.S. The first two people who comment with their email I will send you my new unit for free! 

Happy Saturday!