Getting Ready for January: Numbers for the Pocket Chart up to 120

What a week! I KNOW y'all know what I'm talking about. My class is the sweetest! On Monday and Tuesday, they were completely delightful. Wednesday was challenging. Now I'm just hoping that we all survive until Friday!

Today we completely finished off the calendar projects. Yahoo! And math was awesome (more on that later--with pictures!) And we read The Gingerbread Cowboy and did some activities (more on that later!)

But just to keep myself from going completely nuts, I'm prepping materials for January.



I made these numbers for the pocket chart, plus an extra 20, since 120 is the "magic number" for first grade Common Core math.

Snag a set for yourself HERE, laminate this week, and cut out at your leisure (in front of the TV!) during the break. You'll be all set!

Two. More. Days.

Thanksgiving Literacy and Math: Reading Response, Interactive Journals, Graphing, and more!

First of all, I'm happy for those of you who have next week off. I'm not gonna lie, though... I'm a little jealous, too. Yesterday I told a friend, "I'd rather add three days to the end of the year than work next week!" But y'all know I'll be changing that story come May!

I spent some time updating my Thanksgiving: Math and Literacy for Primary Grades pack that is available on TpT. It's even more full of seasonal goodness! It's a cornucopia of Common Core activities!



 

The unit now includes several activities that you can just print and use. Immediately. No prep required. I've included activities to support Informational Reading and Literature standards. Simply print, read the book, and your kiddos will be good to go. And think. And work. And write.

Check the library or your own collections. These are some of the Thanksgiving books for which I've included lessons aligned with CCSS.







 

 

Thanksgiving at the Tappletons has a couple of different versions of illustrations, but they all have the same hilarious story!





 



I've been using Interactive Journals with my students for a couple of years now. This year, last year, and the year before, that is. At first, I was very, very careful about what I wanted to include. Everything that was added met my own, self-imposed, ridiculously strict criteria. Now, though, I include a much wider variety of activities, skills, formats, etc. I love looking back to see how much we've accomplished and how much my students' skills have improved. I've adopted the attitude that I can make almost anything into an appropriate entry for students' interactive journals. Last week, students added information about what life was like on the Mayflower. We read, and read, and discussed, and made a chart of important words/ideas, and then the students did their own writing. Did I mention that this year's class absolutely goes nuts for any kind of writing?! They love it!

I added some activities for Interactive Journals when I updated this pack. Check out the preview!

To my friends on vacation--- enjoy! You KNOW how fast it will fly by, and I hope you can savor every moment. For the rest of us--- our time is coming! Just a few more days until the long weekend!