10 Page My First Day in ______ Grade Freebie!

Friends~Don't miss this fun 10 page freebie from The Schroeder Page.  Your students will love recording all of their first in class with this simple draw and write booklet.  

Copy it on half sheets of paper back to back to save paper!  It is perfect for a time capsule activity!  Click over to grab this freebie and sign up for The Schroeder Page News!  You will get a free link to my Singing is Learning songs on Sound Cloud.  

Creative Ways to Line Up Your Class {Freebie}

Sometimes, if you're like me, you need a fresh idea for lining up your little sweet peas.  Walk on over to I Love 2 Teach to scoop up a free copy of twenty-four ideas that you can use to creatively get your kiddos in line.  Here's a sneak peek...

See you soon!

Earth Day Writing Freebie

I'm a big fan of Earth Day.  I think looking out for our world is HUGE and it needs to happen now.  Each and every one of us needs to do what we can to help this place be around for our grandchildren and our grandchildren's grandchildren.

I always celebrate every Earth Day with plenty of good literature.  Here are some of my favorite children's books with an Earth Day theme:

          

Earth Day is an ABC book, and makes a great introduction to the concept of protecting the environment.

The Lorax, is classic Seuss!  He tells about a mystical land of fantasy, which, in true Seuss fashion, a much deeper real story.  Even my second graders understand this valuable lesson.

The Wump World is a fun book to read to the children and NOT show the illustrations (even the cover) until the children have had a chance to show the Wumps and Pollutians that they visualized while listening to the story.  Another great story about a fantasy world with very real lessons!

This one is a new discovery to me, and my new "Earth Day Favorite". 

A River Ran Wild is a story that dates back to the days the Native Americans ruled this area, and respected the earth.  It continues through European settlers, the industrial age, and attempts to clean up the river.  This book is based on a local river, which makes it near and dear to my heart, but it's a valuable message about protecting our world.  My students became very upset when they saw what happened to the beautiful river!

See THIS BLOG POST for more about this book, and an art activity to go with it.

You can click the images above for a link to Amazon, to learn more about these books.

After reading, I intend to have the children do some opinion writing and/ or explanatory/ informational writing based on what they have learned about protecting the environment.

Here's a collection of writing paper with the Earth Day theme that I'll be using.  

Come over to Elementary Matters to download this freebie.

How are you honoring Earth Day this year?

Prefix and Suffix {Freebie}

I'm not a fan of worksheets, so when it comes to understanding and using prefixes and suffixes, a foldable came to mind.  Grab your free copy at I Love 2 Teach.

 

Enjoy!

Eggs-cellent Freebie

Looking for some ideas for those cute little plastic eggs you find everywhere this time of year?

I've got a few ideas!  Come on over to Elementary Matters to download this freebie, and check out a few other ideas!

Easter Freebies!

Do you have an Easter freebie to share?  Are you looking for Easter ideas?

I felt it was time for an Easter Linky Party.  I hadn't seen any, so I decided to set one up!

Just hop on over to Elementary Matters, link up, or check out the freebies left from others!  Have fun!

St. Patty's Day Fun and a Freebie

Don't you just love St. Patrick's Day?  It's one of my very favorite special days!

Why?  Well, I admit, I have Irish blood in me, but I think it's because of the timing.  In New England, the winters are so very long that by the middle of March, we need something fun and silly to celebrate.  So we all wear green and wear silly leprechaun pins and headbands.  It's good for lifting spirits while waiting for those first signs of spring.

Plus, it's an opportunity to sneak in extra practice on those important skills!  Below are some free addition and subtraction story problems.  (I don't think they can get enough problem solving practice, and adding stories about leprechauns makes it more fun!)  These are designed for second grade, but would be useful for high first graders or review for third graders.

Come on over to Elementary Matters to download your freebie and see a "shillelagh full of ideas" for the big day!  (If you're not sure what a shillelagh is, see THIS LINK to Wikipedia!)

Move It With Brain Breaks Music Videos {FREEBIE}

If you're like me, you'd like one place with all your fun music and movement videos at your fingertips.  And it'd be great if those videos were in a safe format so that annoying content wasn't displayed before or after your video played.

Swing by {I Love 2 Teach} today to see how you can have just what I described FOR FREE!

Place Value Monster Game {freebie}

Stop on by I Love 2 Teach for a {free place value game} that can be used with kids working on building numbers from 2-digits to 6-digits.  The materials you need are super simple and the fun your kids will have while working on place value is super high!

Rockin' Teacher Materials: A Trip Down Kindergarten Lane & a Freebie!

Rockin' Teacher Materials: A Trip Down Kindergarten Lane & a Freebie!: A long time ago, I taught kindergarten and I always had a full length mirror at my cut and paste station so the kids could look at themselves as they created their paper people. You would be amazed at how quickly the paper people went from 'heads with arms and legs' to 'heads, necks, bodies with arms and legs', and the list goes on.
Stop by to see more!

Recently, I was talking with a friend of mine who still teaches the little ones and she asked me to come up with a rhyming activity sometime. I had so much fun coming up with this! I just love the clip art that is available now too!

If you would like to check out a close up of the pack and get a free rhyming worksheet, just click {here}.

Presidents' Day Isn't Over Yet!

Ever notice how many car dealerships extend Presidents' Day throughout the whole month of February?  Well, that's what I do in the classroom!

February is incredibly busy, and I want to give the presidents the amount of time they're worth!  

I've been teaching the children about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.  

We've spent a couple of days talking about the strengths and qualities of both presidents. 

Here is one of the Writing Common Core Standards for Second Grade:  

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.2.1 Write opinion pieces in which they introduce the topic or book they are writing about, state an opinion, supply reasons that support the opinion, use linking words (e.g., because, and,also) to connect opinion and reasons, and provide a concluding statement or section.

Check out Elementary Matters to find this freebie on opinion writing we'll be using to address this Common Core standard.

Happy Presidents' Month!

Happy Presidents' Day!

Looking for something for Presidents' Day?

I plan on spending most of next week celebrating our presidents as well as our country.

If you've been following my blog, you know I have a strong sense of patriotism, and feel children should take pride in their country.  I also love teaching social studies, and mapping skills.

Here's a freebie I made that includes 2 Fact mini-books on George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.  It also has a mapping activity on finding places related to these presidents. (Click image for freebie.)

  

Number Sense with Cuisenaire Rods

I have some students in my class who don't quite have "number sense".  These are the kids who still don't automatically "count on" when adding two numbers together.  When determining the sum of two dice, they still count the dots!  These kids need more "hands on" opportunity to get to know these numbers inside out!

I absolutely LOVE Cuisenaire Rods for helping children develop their number sense.  I posted about them a while ago with THIS POST about using Cuisenaire Rods to practice math facts and fact families.  I've got some kids who need to back up even further and really need to get to know the individual numbers by using these manipulatives.


Come on over to Elementary Matters to see my ideas on using Cuisenaire Rods to develop Number Sense and download this freebie!

Groundhog Day Word Work

Groundhog Day is next Saturday!  I sure hope that little guy doesn't get scared by his shadow, since I've already had enough of winter!  Of course, here in New England, we know better than to think a rodent can predict the weather.  There's a whole lot more than 6 weeks of winter here!

Here's a little Groundhog Day freebie to practice the consonant +le syllable.   

Here's another Groundhog Themed game on prefixes and suffixes:  My kids love this, and they're getting awesome at naming the baseword in words with prefixes and suffixes! 

Come on over to Elementary Matters to download these items!