One Fish, Two Fish Graphing Activity

In honor of Read Across America Week and Dr. Seuss' birthday on March 2nd, I made up this graphing activity for my first graders. I read aloud One Fish, Two Fish to students prior to the lesson so they could connect with the activity. Students should have some prior experience with basic bar graphs/pictographs because this activity introduces students to scaled graphs. On the pictograph, each fish symbol represents two goldfish crackers.......(wait for it).......ONE FISH = TWO FISH! Get it!?!? First grade shouldn't be so much fun...

I also incorporated tally marks because that is a standard in my curriculum. It was neat to have the students counting by 5's (and 1's) and translating that into counting by 2's (and 1's)...good "math talk"!

Each student just needs a cup of "Goldfish Colors" crackers and the activity sheet. Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

Name Tags with a Purpose - Free Printable

Browsing through catalogs filled with classroom supplies and teaching materials is a great way to get ideas for Do-It-Yourself projects. Not only can you save money, but you can tailor a product to your own preferences to better meet the needs of your students and classroom. While looking through one of these catalogs (my favorite - Really Good Stuff: Fun & Creative Tools for Today’s Classroom), I found some name-tags that serve a variety of purposes...

Name-tags don’t just have to be a way to identify whose desk is whose or to assist a classroom visitor with the names of students. Name-tags can serve as an opportunity to meet the needs of young learners in other ways. First and foremost, a good name tag models for students correct letter formation of their own name. It's an opportunity for a highly visible reinforcement. 

...Back to the neat name-tags! ReallyGoodStuff has a couple different options in the multi-purpose name tag department. Here is a video that discusses the uses of these "desk top helpers" and shows all the different types offered:

These name tags provide additional and appropriate support for young students by containing alpha and number strips and color names. However, at $20-$30 (plus shipping) for a class set, you might find yourself not as excited about using these in your classroom. While I love these, I wanted something that also had a picture cue for each letter of the alphabet since so many of my learners struggle with short vowels and b/d reversals for the first part of the year...so, I made my own!

I pulled from a variety of resources and made something that works better for me. And since it might work for your classroom as well, I'm including the files so that you can use it and make it your own! I will print these out on cardstock and cover with clear contact paper on the desks for year-long durability. 

Basic Template 

Using a D'Nealian font or a website like Writing Wizard , I will type my names in so that they come out looking like this: 

I created these using a basic table in my word processor. Once I can figure out how to upload documents, I will have the originals up here so you can make them your own. 

There you have it - name tags with a purpose! 

Open House Magnets

Something I like to do for the Open House is get a business-card sized magnet to pass out to families with contact information for both the school and for me. Last year, I designed and ordered mine from VistaPrint. They came out great and were well-received!

This year, I am embracing the creative and economical spirit of Do-It-Yourself for this project. Using my word processor template for business cards, I created a new version of my Open House magnet for this year. Using the business card template, I can print 10 to a page. Here are the how-to's of business card templates:
Microsoft Office Users and Mac Pages Users

Here is this year's edition of my Open House magnet:

My plan is to print, laminate, and stick a small piece of adhesive magnetic tape to the back of each contact card. Adhesive magnetic tape comes in a small roll and is available at many dollar stores. 

This is a quick, fun way to make a lasting first impression. Families will know right away where to go to find important contact information for the school or to shoot you an email message.

Beginning of the Year Prep

As August sneaks closer on the calendar, what are some of your beginning-of-the-year preps? I find that these small projects ease my First Day Jitters and get me excited for a fresh year. This first series of posts will document my own beginning-of-year projects and preps as another school year prepares for take-off.
                                    

First Post

Welcome to my blog. This is a space and place for me to share the ideas of myself and other educators. Feel free to leave comments and share these resources with others.