Awesome Automobiles...TPT, Three Little Pigs, and Inventions

How's that for a random post title? It's been awhile since my last post, but it's been beyond busy here lately. How many of you are counting down the days 'til summer??? My creativity is just about gone (you'll see what I mean in a little bit!) and summer's calling my name! A little inspiration did finally come to me last night and I whipped up a sound sorting packet for our sound skill next week, which is /aw/ and /au/.

Just uploaded it to Teachers Pay Teachers and you can find it by clicking the picture or by clicking here!
I cannot say thank you enough to everyone who has purchased items from my store!!!! :)

I've been meaning to post our Three Little Pigs project that we did awhile back. Our comprehension skill was sequence so we used a familiar story to reinforce this skill. I divided my kids into four groups. Three groups were in charge of making a house, while one group made the pigs. Afterwards, we discussed the sequence of the events in the story.  I thought it turned out really cute.

We are in our last unit in our reading series and all you Scott Foresman Reading Street teachers know this unit is all about great ideas and inventions. This is a really hard topic that is especially difficult to teach at the end of the year. I have been thinking and thinking and thinking of good activities to go along with this theme, but can't for the life of me come up with anything creative. So, I turned to one of my favorite blogs, The First Grade Parade and found a wonderful post on inventions. Ms. Carroll had her students come up with inventions and write about them. They were beyond adorable! Reading Street teachers....go check it out! It fits in perfectly with Alexander G. Bell...Here are some of my kids' inventions.



I so wish someone would invent this! So creative! :)





Captain Hook and His -ook Coins...TPT!

Just uploaded my new sound sorting activity for this week to Teachers Pay Teachers, which deals with the "ook" word family. Captain Hook has made a special visit to our classroom this week to deliver this 'game' Check it out by clicking the picture above or click here!

Fairy Tales Glog

Check out my class wiki to see more projects from our fairy tales unit!
Ms. Leslie Ann's Class Wiki

Fairy Tales Unit....Cinderella and The Wizard of Oz

I haven't shared pictures of some of the activities we've been doing with fairy tales lately, so I thought I would. Last week we talked a lot about Cinderella and did an activity from Babbling Abby's Wizard of Oz Unit (which you must check out!). She has the most adorable pattern for the ruby slippers that I modified for glass slippers. Then we attached the writing activity "If I had a fairy godmother..." Check out their cute responses!

"If I had a fairy godmother, I would have a heart attack!"

"I would freak out!"

"I would see if she would turn me into a princess"

"I would hug her" :)

We've also started reading The Wizard of Oz. I wasn't so sure this would hold my kids attention because of how long the book was, but they are lovin' it! I've used Ms. Abby's unit to make the adorable ruby slippers and then I created Emerald City and my kids predicted what Dorthy and her friends would find once they got to their destination. 



Scout the Grouchy Hound Center Activity...TPT!

I have just uploaded my activity for next week at my word work center onto TPT. It focuses on the diphthong /ou/. Students have to sort bones and record their findings. Click Scout above to go to my teachers pay teachers listing or you can find it here! :)

SmartBoard Help!

I need help yet again! This year I was lucky enough recieve a Smartboard for my classroom. I love this piece of technology and use it every day, but I'm stuck on how to use it as a center. I've seen it used as a center where kids play a phonics game. I really want to start using it like this, but I have no idea where to start. Please, please, please share if you have a smartboard and let the kids use it. How do you use it? Where do you get the activities to use on it??

Check out Glady's blog Once Upon a Time in First Grade! She's hosting a giveaway that includes my Princess and the Pea packet and Anna from Crazy for First Grade's Fun in the Sun Math and Literacy centers. These are wonderful teacher blogs if you haven't found them...Go enter the giveaway now! :) :)