Frog Fun

Hey peeps! Are you all as sleepy as I am? Man, I'm feeling drained! It has been a very busy week. I have a feeling the next four weeks are going to be just as busy! There are so many fun things that happen at the end of the year. I can't wait for our field trip and field day. Yeah!

A few posts ago, I talked about how I took tadpoles to my classroom, so we could watch them grow into frogs. Then, I talked about how they all died. So sad! Well, I went ahead and finished teaching about frogs. 

We started our learning with the famous KWL Chart. I think my little kiddos had a few great questions. We were supposed to fill out the 'L' part today, but I took the day off to go on a field trip with my 3rd grade daughter. That will have to be done next week. 

We also filled out a Frogs: Can-Have-Are Chart. I don't make the neatest anchor charts, but they work for our learning. :) The big books below are a couple of the books I inherited when I moved into my classroom. We read those, and they have some really great pictures in them. Kids love the nonfiction text! There were a lot of Oohhhs, Ahhhs and even some Eewwws over the pictures!

After reading and talking about frogs, you know writing comes next. All of my students are on different writing levels, but I am so proud of how far they've all come. Some of my children weren't able to write one word in their journals on their own at the beginning of the year. Now, my babes can write paragraphs. We may still be working on how to start a sentence with some of them, but there is SO much improvement. Some of my others can write an entire page and stay on topic. 

This is my example of the little frog craft. It is quite simple to put together. I showed my kids that you can make paper and ribbon curl by using their scissors. They thought that was the coolest thing.  

Everything here along with so much more is included in Frogs~A fun Science Unit for little learners. 

Click the links to check it out. 
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Real Live Tadpoles

On Easter weekend, I talked about our trip to the pond after the egg hunt. My girls were scooping tadpoles out of the pond. See that post {here}. Well, I had a bright idea to bring them to school. It's a win-win at school. My school kids and my own kids get to watch them grow. My kids even took them to their classrooms to show. They were so excited to share them. So far, they are all still alive, so we have 10 little tadpoles. Every time we leave and reenter the classroom, my kiddos are checking them out. Real Science people! We are all loving it. :)

Along with working on insects, this is what we started this week. It's our KWL for frogs. My kiddos had great questions about frogs. Those babies can ask good questions even if they forget to put a question mark on the end! They know they are asking a question, but most of them put a period anyway. Is there a magical way to get them to break that habit??!!

I created a Frog Life Cycle pack to help us learn. Of course, I haven't gotten it "TpT ready" yet. Maybe one day. 

Have you seen the FAN-TAB-U-LOUS giveaway from the amazing Khrys at Keepin' It Kool In Kinderland? If you haven't, you definitely want to click the picture and go enter. I'm so proud to be part of her giveaway. 

There is still time to enter the fabulous giveaway from Sara at Polka Dot Kinders. I love that I get to be part of this giveaway, too! Hurry before the time is up.

Reptiles-A Science Unit for Little Learners

Last week, we started studying reptiles. I went to our school library and checked out 19 books on reptiles to go along with the few books I have in my personal library. Most of the books were nonfiction. I introduced reptiles to my kiddos, and it was on from there! Once they saw all the real pictures in the nonfiction books, they were hooked. I couldn't have been happier with their reactions.

We started with a reptile chart that I traced using the cover of the unit I created. Somehow, my "turtle" looks more like an "alien". Thankfully, my kiddos didn't mind. :) We filled out the chart throughout the week as we learned more. We actually aren't done with it. We will finish it next week along with Read Across America activities. 

After the introduction of reptiles, I let my kiddos go with the books I borrowed from the library. They got to choose a reptile to create a report. After choosing their reptile and finding a book, off they went to get comfortable and read. I think this was my favorite part. Total engagement in reading. They read these books all throughout the week every chance they got. It makes my heart so happy. 

After reading their book on their chosen reptile, I had my kids go back and fill out their reptile fact page. I told them to think about what they thought was interesting. Things they would want a friend to know about their chosen reptile. 

Then it was time to transfer the facts onto a writing page, draw a picture of their reptile, and glue it to a piece of construction paper. I'm sad that I was out of the large green construction paper, so we had to improvise. That was a quick life lesson (use what you have and make it work).

A little funny piece added to a nonfiction unit...I made 3 funny journal prompts for this reptile unit. For one, we wrote about a reptile coming to dinner. I laughed and laughed and laughed when I read what they came up with. Let me tell you, first graders have great imaginations. They were all funny!

This is what this child wrote: 

A reptile came to dinner. It was a salamander. We ate chicken noodle soup. We played dominoes. The salamander slept with me. We ate waffles in the morning. Then we went to school. 

You can check this unit out on 

Teachers pay Teachers

or 

Teachers Notebook

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Solar System--so much excitement

Hi bloggy friends! I hope your Monday was grrrrrreat (in my 
Tony the Tiger voice)!! :) 
We study Space/Solar System for two weeks (while finishing all the Winter stuff I wanted to do that I haven't gotten to yet). There are not enough hours in a school day to get all the amazing stuff done that I'd like to do with my kiddos. It's funny, I find there are never enough hours in a day to get everything done in any area 

of my life. I know I'm not the only one who has that problem. 

I decided I would put a Solar System Unit together to use over the next two weeks. It is full of stuff my students love doing. We filled out the KWL chart this morning. Being first graders, there wasn't much my kids already know about the Solar System. If only I had my camera out when I told them I wanted them to write something they knew. I got the "huh??" look from most of them. It was quite funny. Then I mentioned the word planets. I had a couple who knew a thing or two then. One of my kiddos wrote that she knows the planets spin. I was proud of that. 
Then, on the W of the KWL, a couple wrote they want to know how many planets there are.  Some want to know more about specific planets. I have to be honest, I'm glad they don't know too much. That means I get to teach them more. They will be able to fill out the L of the KWL with several facts. 
This afternoon, we started talking more about what the Solar System is made up of. I gave a quick overview of what we would be learning. Then we discussed the sun and moon. I showed pictures of the moon and Neil Armstrong on the moon. They thought the craters were gross, but they thought going to the moon would be awesome. I also showed pictures of space suits, and we talked about how astronauts are not able to go to the moon without a suit because it's so cold and there isn't enough air. Gravity and floating in air was also brought up. They were just amazed by it all. My little ones were sooo very excited to be learning something new. Something fun. They love the word "Science". I think it makes them feel like the big kids. Their excitement about learning makes me even more excited to be teaching them. 

Click TpT or TN to check it out. 

TpT             TN

Sorry for the long post. I got a little carried away. :)

Have a marvelous week!!