Friday, September 28, 2012

Maps and I am LOVING TPT!

This week I taught about Spatial Sense and Maps.  Learning about the students city, state, country, and continent are always very confusing for them.  I thought this idea from Pinterest would help the students understand better.  We read Me on a Map and then each day we talked about one of the circles.  I have always used a Core Knowledge lesson plan to teach maps with so I just incorporated this circle activity into the lesson.  I also LOVE using Google Earth to show the students a real picture of what I am talking about and Brainpop Jr.
Photo of Circle Map

This activity did seem to help the students understand the difference.  

 Here are some of the items I recently purchased from Teachers Pay Teachers.  I think I am officially a TPT addict! 



I have always struggled with teaching writing to my kiddos.  I knew this year I wanted to focus more on writing especially since we moved to the Common Core Standards.  Since I am using Daily Five I am able to add a mini lesson of writing everyday!  I have already noticed a difference in the students writing so far.  I purchased Writing through the Years Unit 1 because it seemed like it would be perfect for what I wanted.  The unit does use a writing workshop format, however I just use the mini lessons that come with it for the mini lesson during Daily Five.  We have been working on labeling our drawings and I am so amazed by how well the students are doing with this.  
Photo of writing through the years


 The week before last we started teaching the season of Fall to our kiddos.  I found this wonderful book and I knew it would be perfect to have my students add to their book box. 


 A few weeks ago we talked about Johnny Appleseed.  I have always taught a wonderful lesson using a Core  Knowledge lesson plan, but this year I wanted to add to it to make it better.  I found these awesome craftivities at TPT and I knew they would be perfect.
The students loved making Johnny Appleseed and his tree.  Also, the hats turned out super cute.
Photo of Johnny Appleseed Craftivities

 Calendar is always a tough concept for 5 year old's to comprehend.  When I found these amazing papers to go with calendar, I knew I needed them.  There are so many concepts that the students need in them.  This is probably one of my favorite things I have purchased.
Photo of It's Calendar Time
 I went ahead this week and printed all the calendars for the rest of the year.  It does take a lot of paper to print, however I do feel it is worth it!  There are so many concepts being covered in these that I look forward to filling them out every day.  I know my students love it too because they are heart broken when we skip a certain part one day because we are running behind.  They want to complete the whole page every single day.
 Photo of Calendar Helper

 The last one I am going to share is actually one that I created.  Every year I have had the students write their name, draw a picture of themselves and write their numbers.  The paper I have always done it on, I personally didn't really care for it because the line for the name was to little.  If a student had a big name, it wouldn't fit.  So I decided to create a new one that I could use and show the growth of my students.
Photo of My Book

 Thanks for reading my post!  I hope you found some new things that you haven't seen before and try them out!


Wolfelicious Teacher Pay Teachers Shop, Kindergarten, 2nd - Reading, Education - TeachersPayTeachers.com
Wolfelicious Teachers Notebook Shop, Kindergarten through second


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