Common Core Math Big Top Circus Games: Grade 1

Common Core Math Big Top Circus Games:  Grade 1 learning centers.  This collection of FIVE math learning centers is sale priced at $1.80.  They are aligned to the Common Core Math Standards are make a great addition to any math center. 

This 35-page document includes FIVE math centers to provide a fun way to reinforce:

Fractions
Word Problems
Geometric Solids
Money Word Problems
Algebraic Expressions
Addition Concepts
Subtraction Concepts
Subtraction With Regrouping

Click the link for more information.

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10,000 Page View Celebration

10,000 page views in 2  1/2 months.  Wow!  You guys are fantastic!  To celebrate, I am giving out my Garden Clip Art bundle for free for the next 48 hours.  It is a collection of 12 high-resolution images that you can use for free in your upcoming projects, blog, classroom, etc.  Click Here

Almost 10,000 Views in 2 1/2 Months!

We are almost there!  Do you know what 10,000 page views means?  It means freebies!  Check back for the 10,000 page view celebration.

Long Vowel Sound Puzzles

The theme for the past few days has been puzzles.  This image above is an example of a self-checking phonics puzzle to review long vowel sounds.  Click the link for the complete set of long vowel sound puzzles.

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Reading Comprehension Puzzles

Children love puzzles.  How about using comprehension puzzles?  For about two years, I have created puzzles to teach comprehension.     The great thing about puzzles is they are self-checking.  View my collection of Sequence and Cause and Effect comprehension puzzles by clicking on the links below.  
Cause and Effect Puzzles
Sequence Puzzles

Creative Ways to Teach Grammar

Have you ever thought about using paintings to teach grammar?   Integrating art is great for teaching critical thinking skills.  This is a great way to help students learn how to analyze and evaluate information as well as explain their ideas.


Adjectives, nouns, and even verbs can easily be taught using art.


How to Teach This Concept

For Verbs:  
Artwork to Use
Mary Cassatt ( Her artwork often shows the daily life of women and children)
Diego Rivera (His murals show daily life in Mexico in the early 1900s).
Possible Activities For Verbs:

• Have students use vivid verbs to describe the actions they see in Mary Cassatt's artwork.  
• Use a thesaurus to find a synonym for a more common word used to describe the actions in Diego Rivera's artwork.
• Roy Lichtenstein's artwork.  His painting Whaam! can also be used to teach onomatopoeia.

For Adjectives:
Grant Wood (His most famous painting is American Gothic.  This is the picture of the farmer and his wife.)  
Georgia O'Keefe 
Vincent Van Gogh
Henri Matisse


Possible Activities For Adjectives:

• Discuss shades of meaning with vocabulary.  Students will select an adjective to describe the painting and then think of an even more descriptive synonym.
• Create a word splash.  On a sheet of paper, the student can write all the adjectives that come to mind when they see the picture.

Nouns (Specific paintings are listed):
A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte (Georges Seurat)
Roy Lichtenstein (use any of his art)  
The Builders (Jacob Lawrence)


Possible Activity For Nouns:

• Have a noun poetry slam.  Students can create a poem that only has nouns.  The nouns that they see in the painting will be written down.  While showing the painting on a screen, students can read their noun poem aloud while soft jazz plays.

Free Flower Clip Art for Your Learning Centers, Classroom, TpT Product, and More

Click the link to access completely free flower clip art for your learning centers, classroom, TpT product, blog or more!Click Here

Using Guided Play to Teach Social Studies, Reading, & the Common Core Standards

For the past year, I have been attending Common Core Standards training.  During these trainings, I have had the opportunity to speak directly to some of the writers of the Common Core Standards.  One of the key ideas that consistently comes to my mind is background knowledge. 

The more that students know about a broad range of topics, the more they will be able to handle the new demands of the Common Core Standards.  Getting students to touch, see, and develop an emotional feeling with what they are learning is consistent with brain research and makes it easier for information to be stored in long-term memory. 

These pictures are from guided play activities I have done with students this week.  Some of the students I am working with are learning about ancient civilizations.  Two other groups are learning about Colonial America.  Students spend 10 minutes reading a book at their reading level on this topic.  While they are reading, they must analyze life in Colonial America.  Then for five minutes, students act out life in colonial times using the props I have from this time period. 



 

Students pretended to make butter with the butter churn, collect water, and gather apples from my artificial tree.

This is an early form of bowling played by the Colonists.

These are the replicas of early American money the students played with.

Resources for the Common Core Standards

These Common Core Standards literacy centers are a great way to introduce and review the Common Core Standards with students. This 138 page document contains a literacy center for EVERY Common Core Informational Text standard.  10 Common Core Aligned Centers + 2 Bonus Common Core Centers= A Great Value!

The game cards even cover science, social studies, and health topics!  As students play the games over and over, they will actually GAIN useful content knowledge.

To access these Common Core Centers Click Here

Main Idea Street Learning Centers & Task Cards

Main Idea Street is not an ordinary street.  Students learn about main idea and details by matching the house detail cards to the main idea street signs.  This complete set includes two different learning center games and a set of 12 colorful task cards.  The learning centers and task cards are fiction and nonfiction. They integrate social studies, science, and reading instruction.


In the second game Main Idea Match Up, students match the main idea and detail cards.  This set of two learning centers and 12 task cards make a fun addition to any classroom.  

Click here to access it. Click Here

Camping Fun Phonics Games

This weekend, learn how to use one display board to create three learning centers.  Check back for pics and how-to instructions.


The image shown above is from my product called Camping Fun Phonics.  Students will enjoy sorting word cards by placing them into the correct sleeping bags.  They will also enjoy doing a word sort marshmallow roast. This center reviews all of the short and long vowel sounds.  Click Here

Math Similes and Metaphors

This collection of 20 math wall charts and a math simile game is a creative way to help students remember math concepts!  It contains math ideas in the form of colorful illustrations as well as metaphors and similes to help students remember and visualize their meanings.  It integrates reading and math and is also aligned to Common Core Standard RL.4.  Click Here

Free Ice Cream Stand Antonyms Learning Center

New learning center!  Click on the link for a free download.  This is the companion game to Hot Dog Stand Synonyms from my previous post.Click Here