Making a Complete Sentence

We spent most of the first quarter learning about writing sentences.  One of the key things the children have to understand is what makes a complete sentence.  I've found one of the most effective ways to get this concept across to the children is to tell them a sentence is made up of two parts, a who part, and a what part.  For the sake of not confusing first graders, I don't distinguish between people and animals and other inanimate objects as the who in a sentence.

We spend several weeks looking at various sentences and identifying the who and what part of each sentence to makes sure they are complete sentences.  When we do group writing, I often will put just one part or the other of the sentence and have them tell me whether or not it's a complete sentence and why it is or is not a complete sentence.

I also provide lots of opportunities for the children to write in complete sentences by providing a daily writing prompt in our morning work time and having the children respond in sentences.  When I check their writing, if I see a child only has a phrase, I'll ask them to apply the test.  For instance, if the prompt was what is your favorite pet, and they write "my dog," I'll ask them who.  They will respond "my dog."  Then I will say "what," and they realize that there is no what part of the sentence. So after they tell me "what," they go back and rewrite their sentence to make it a complete sentence.

After practicing this for around three to four weeks, I'm ready to let the children work on making compete sentences independently.  I use the free resource that I created for my store, Fall Subject Predicate Sentence Puzzles, as an independent center.
                         

 I use the sentence recording sheet as a formative assessment to judge whether or not they understand that sentences have two parts, the who and the what part.  If they can correctly color the who and what part of the sentences, they understand the concept.  If they have trouble distinguishing between the who and what part of the sentences, they need more instruction on the concept.

If you would like to try out this resource in your classroom, click on any of the pictures above to visit my store and download it for free!

I've joined up with many other sellers to bring you some wonderful freebies to help you with your fall planning.  Check out the link up below to see all the great resources available!

Be sure to enter the Rafflecopter for TpT giftcard giveaways as well!

An InLinkz Link-up

                           


Thanks for stopping by!

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Practicing Addition Strategies through Games

Hello!  Welcome to the first iTeachFirst linkup!                         
In these monthly linkups, we will be sharing timely tips, teaching strategies, resources, and some freebies with you.  If you like what you see in this blog post, be sure to follow me (or any of the participating bloggers) and check back at the beginning of the each month for a new link up.  Today, I will be sharing some  free and paid teaching resources with you that I use during November and December to keep the children active and focused on learning math!

I spent November introducing several addition strategies to my students, such as counting on from the larger number, using a number line, using doubles, and doubles plus one.  While most of the children quickly caught on to these strategies, there were a few who struggled with them, and our math text, as is the case with so many texts these days, spent 1 day -- ONE day -- on each strategy.  I know my kiddos need more practice recognizing when to use the strategies and more practice with actually applying the strategies.

Cue the math games!  Every Friday, I pick a fun math game for my students to play that allows them to apply and practice the various strategies.

For Thanksgiving, we used my Turkey Toss game.  It's a ramped up and extra challenge added version of Bump.  The kids love playing it, and I love that they don't even realize they are practicing math strategies.

 Turkey Toss can be played on the SMARTBoard

Or, if you don't have a SMARTBoard, use the PDF version.  I like to play a few times on the SMARTBoard with the whole group, then let them team up and play using the PDF version.

After the fun of playing the game, you can use the included sheets for more practice, homework, or as a summative assessment for acquisition of basic facts.

Now that Thanksgiving has passed, and Christmas is coming, I have a similar game called Elf Toss.
Christmas Elf Toss is a fun and fast-paced Christmas math game played similar to Bump, but with a twist. There are two Elf Toss game boards for differentiated learning. The two-dice gameboard requires the children to add or subtract to place or lock their squares or bump their opponent off a square. It requires strategic thinking to figure out what is the best move.
The second game board uses three dice and is played either like the traditional Bump, or -- I just thought of this -- the children can add or subtract in any combination to get the best strategic move!

After playing the game, you can use the follow-up worksheets for practice, formative assessment, or homework!

 And, as an added bonus, this game also includes a Notebook file for SMARTBoard use!

Let's end with a longtime freebie in my store, another game I developed for practicing addition strategies, in particular the counting on to add strategy.  You can download it from my store by clicking on the cover picture.  Enjoy!

Be sure to check below to see more great ideas from other iTeachFirst bloggers!

An InLinkz Link-up

Silly Sentence Fun!

Last week, I finished up this new Thanksgiving resource. I developed it to use with my students because we've been working on writing complete sentences.  I wanted them to practice deciding if a sentence was complete by identifying the who part and the what part of a sentence.

I finally got to use this activity with my children today.  We did it first as a whole group activity, and then I put it into our literacy center rotation for this month.  It really is perfect because there are so many different combinations of sentences the children can make.

So I ran off the color saving option in totally black and white.  I put each sheet into a wipe off pocket. 

We used the paperclip spinners to find a word or phrase on each spinner.  Then we put the words together in the order of the spinners.  The first time we spun, we came up with "sailed hunted corn and stuffing."  The kids decided that was not a sentence because it didn't tell us who. 

The second spin, we got the words "the pilgrims ate corn and stuffing"  The kids agreed that was a sentence because it told us who -- the Pilgrims and what ate corn and stuffing.  All right.  Now to write it correctly on the recording sheet!  After everyone finished writing the sentence, I showed them how to check it using the check boxes and fix the sentence if necessary.  

After a few more non-sentence spins, we spun "the mayflower cooked in the forest."  At first, some of the children said it wasn't a sentence, and some said it was.  So we applied the test.  Does it tell us who?  Yes - The Mayflower.  Does it tell us what it does?  Yes -- cooks in the forest.  So it's a sentence, albeit a silly sentence!    Don't you just love the picture of the Mayflower cooking in the forest?  Again, the children wrote the sentence and used the check boxes to check for capitalization and ending punctuation.  We continued on in this manner until we had four sentences written and proofread for capitalization and end marks. The favorite silly sentence was "Turkeys cooked the spider."   Then the children illustrated the sentences.  

I was so pleased with the way this activity turned out.  The children were engaged and attentive the whole time.  They loved the novel approach of spinning a sentence and deciding if what they spun was really a sentence. Now that they know how to use it, I'm anxious to put the activity into centers for November and hear them working through the process themselves!

In addition to the center work, there are 8 pages of follow-up black and white activities that practice and reinforce complete sentences.  

If you would like to try out these activities with your students, click on the picture above and visit my TpT store.  

If you're looking for Christmas spin-a-sentence, you can find it here:

Have a great day, everyone!

Count Down to Thanksgiving Break

I don't know about you all, but I am so ready for an extended break.  I'm just plain old tired.  We've only had one day off since school started, Veteran's Day.  We've had half days followed by faculty meetings and teacher clerical days as well.  I don't know how some schools get fall breaks and a week off at Thanksgiving and still manage to get out of school before we do?  Maybe they started earlier.

But before I can luxuriate in some time off -- well, if you don't count planning and searching out resources and checking papers and entering grades, all of which I will be doing -- we still have 2 1/2 days this week.  I know from past experience that the kids will be antsy and hard to keep focused, so I've saved some of my best November lessons for these few days.

In math, we just started formally learning about addition strategies.  On Monday, I will introduce the add in any order and count on from the bigger number strategies.  Now, technically, my kids do know about this because we've talked about turn-around facts.  I've pointed out the facts to them when we've come across them.  I've helped them think through problems with oral prompts -- you know what 4+1 equals right? So what's 1+4?  But we've never actually used manipulatives and shown how it works.

After introducing and practicing the strategies, on Tuesday the children will get the chance to practice applying the strategies while using the SMARTBoard Game I created called Turkey Toss. It is a fun game, similar to Bump, but I have added differentiation to the game by adding a few twists.  In the two-dice version, the children can add or subtract to find an open number.  The three-dice version, shown below, is played the traditional way.  I'll divide the class into two teams, and we'll use the SMARTBoard to play the game as a group.

As the children are playing, I am encouraging them to add in any order and add from the bigger number.  If they roll a 3 and a 6, I'll use think-alouds to help them by saying, "If it were me, I'd start with the 6 and count on 3.  It's a great and fun game to have the children practice addition, subtraction, strategy, and mental math.

On Wednesday, I will have the children work in groups of 2 or 3 with a game board of their own, and play the same game again.  This time, I'm circulating, watching, assessing, and seeing who is applying the strategies to solve the problems already, and who may need to have the concepts reinforced.

I've also created two worksheet to go along with the game that I will give the children as homework on Monday and  Tuesday evening.

You can find this bundled set in my TPT store.  It is bundled as zip file that includes the game in a PDF version and the Notebook file for the SMARTBoard.  Click on the picture below to see this resource in my store.

I also have a freebie for you!  If you click on the picture below, you can download this addition and subtraction practice sheet from the game.  It's one of the sheets I use for homework.  

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!  I hope you have a wonderful break with many things to be thankful for. 

Making Sentences and a Thanksgiving Linky!

Hey, everyone!  Happy Saturday!  With only a week and half before Thanksgiving, I wanted to share my fun Thanksgiving-themed freebie with you.  It makes a great center, small group activity, or even a lesson on subject and predicates.

Some of my firsties are still struggling with the concept of what makes a complete sentence.  Our reading series introduces the concept of subject and predicate by calling it the naming part and the action part.  When I use these cards with my class, I start by showing them just one piece of the sentence. 

 We identify it as either the naming or the action part, and talk about what part is missing to make the sentence complete.  We then make up oral sentences that would complete the sentence. We repeat the process with other parts of the sentence.

After doing it orally about 4 times, I put the children into groups of 2 or 3, give them wipe off boards, and a part of a sentence.  They work together to come up with the missing part of the sentence to make a complete sentence.  When they share, they say whether they had a naming part or an action part, and then read their complete sentence to the class. 

Finally, after practicing with the whole class, I put the cut apart puzzle pieces into a center, and they can use it during center time to practice matching naming and action parts of sentences to make complete sentences. each puzzle has a unique cut for self checking.

Click on the expanded pin above to download your free Subject/Predicate teaching resource.  While you're there, be sure to visit my {Thanksgiving}section for additional resources to help you through these last weeks before Thanksgiving break.

And check out my newest resource that I adapted for use in a first grade classroom in conjunction with my sweet friend, Wendy, from Teacher's Toolkit.  It's a quick and clever way to track your students' progress as they journey through the common core standards.  I have the ELA standards, and Wendy has the math standards in her store.

You can track your children's progress several different ways using this resource.  

You can track for complete mastery, partial and complete mastery, or basic, proficient, and advanced mastery.  All of this is explained in the directions on the resource.  Click the cover below if you would like to learn more about Delicious Data Tracking.  

     

You can find the link to the Wendy's Math Delicious Data Tracking in the product description on my page, or you can click {here} to visit her store.

Looking for more Thanksgiving ideas?  Click on the button below to visit Tales from Outside the Classroom and see what others are sharing!

I'm also linking up this post to another Thanksgiving freebie hosted by Life Over C's.  Head on over there for even more Thanksgiving-themed freebies!

It's Center Time!

Jessica over at Second Grade Nest is hosting a Thanksgiving Linky Party, which I linked up to.   Thanks for the opportunity, Jessica!

She asked what we will be doing with our kids these last few days before Thanksgving break, when everyone is really looking forward to a few days off, and concentration wanders.

I plan on doing centers daily!  I find that centers really help my kids to be settled and focused on work.  During center time today, there was that satisfying, low murmur of kids who were totally engaged in their work.   Here are some pictures.  I've included links to all the great TpT products that I'm using at the centers.  Some are free, some are not, but all have made my life sooo much easier!  Just click on the pictures!

Here are my center clips.  I hot-glued the kids' names to clothespin.  We store them on this little chart I bought at Target for a buck a few years ago.

They clip their names to this center pocket chart.  The blue dots tell the kids how many can be at that center at one time.

At the SMARTBoard center, the kids are playing "Turkey Toss."  They LOVE this game.  I have this linked to the PDF version of the game.  If you are interested in the SMARTBoard version, just let me know!  I'd be happy to talk to you about it.  In this picture, the kids are playing the three dice version like in "Bump."  In Math class, we will also play "Turkey Toss" but use the two dice version.  In that version, they have to add or subtract and use strategy to decide which operation gives them the best move.  For instance, if they roll 4, 2, they can get a 6 and put a chip on the board, or they can subtract and bump the opposing team off the board!

Here are two of my centers, one in the math center and one in my library center.  "Turkey Feathers" focuses on common core objective 1.NBT.2. Understand that the two digits of a two-digit number represent amounts of tens and ones.  The "Plenty of Vowels" center, which I've been using for years, was the inspiration for the short vowel center in my TpT store.

There are tons of books available in my library center at all times, from big books to magazines, to student-made books.  I have them all color coded and sorted into baskest using my free differentiated   book basket labels.

At the pocket chart craft center, the girls are hard at work on their cornecopias.  I don't have a product for this, but maybe this summer I'll create one.  My kids love doing the different paper crafts at this center!

At the writing center, the kids are using a free Thanksgiving mini-book by Doodles and Kreations.

 

In addition to these centers, I have two computer centers, a painting center, and a shelf toys center.  As you can see, I am quite prepared for the last two days before Thanksgiving break with lots of great and engaging learning centers, many of them from TpT!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Thanksgiving Linky Party

The Constant Kindergartener is having a Thanksgiving Linky Party to celebrate her first 300 sales!  Head on over and check out all the great products.  Thanks to Konstantina for hosting!

Too Good not to Share

Hey all!  I am so excited to have my freebie featured on Primary Paradise's new weekly Facebook Feature (mine is #2)

:

There are five fantastic free resources for teachers today, all dealing with Thanksgiving themes! She plans on doing it every week, so be sure to like her page so you don't miss any of the freebies.  This made my day; I love quality freebies!

It's Turkey Time!

Now that Halloween is past, it's time to gear up for Thanksgiving-themed activites.  I created a Thanksgiving subject/predicate center to use at my library center, and I would like to offer it to you as well.  Click on the picture below to get your free copy of "Thanksgiving Sentence Puzzles."  Enjoy!