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I'm very proud to take part in my third Magical Product Swap put together by Jessica Stanford, author of the blog entitled Mrs. Stanford's Class.
It was so cool emailing back and forth with Nicole, prior to the swap. We have a lot in common. We are both former reading teachers, her from Title I and myself from Reading First. We share the passion of having a classroom and a group of kiddos to call "our own." As a result, we both returned to the classroom as first grade teachers. What could be better? It's obvious Nicole has a love of teaching. She's created countless, quality resources, supplementary materials, science units and mini-books. Check out her TpT store by clicking HERE. Her blog's a lot of fun to browse, for you can learn a lot more than teaching tips--like what she likes to read, where she likes to shop and her favorite places to grab a bite--I really enjoy her personal touch. I'd be all set if I were to leave Boston for a trip to Oregon!
On to my product...
There were so many of Nicole's items that aligned with my first grade curriculum in MA (life cycles, living/nonliving, etc.), but I chose to review her item entitled "My Book of Fact Families." You see, that was what I was just starting to teach. I've seen adorable ideas out there with the "fact family in a house" theme, but never came across any first-hand. This item was exactly what I needed. It includes over 60 (yes, 60) pages of all the possible fact families for numbers 1-10. There's a colorful cover too. Each page has a house with a cloud backdrop and is decorated with charming clipart.
Here's how I used Nicole's "My Book of Fact Families" in my classroom. I printed, in color, and laminated a bunch of her sheets. I love laminating...woohoo.
Next, I got a shiny new clipboard and tied a bunch of colored curling ribbon to the top (spring has hit New England). I was a bit cheerful. I also attached a dry-erase marker.
In my math center I let children fill out the members of the fact family and show me when they were done. Then, they easily erased their answers and got another sheet.
I also decided to print out the cover page, in color. I printed the other pages in black and white ink and decided to make a book with most of the pages for all of my first graders, because they were really into this activity. How neat is this cover?
In my math center, I made our number lines, 120 grids and 10-frames with colored counters readily available to complete the fact families if needed. My two furbabies are standing quite proud by the final product. They both give it two paws up! Oh, I also used some sheets for Before School Work and for homework--so many uses...
There you have it! "My Book of Fact Families" is a valuable addition to my unit of addition--obviously it's Common Core-aligned and ready-to-go. To get this item, please click away HERE. Click HERE to check out some more quality resources out there in the blogging world. This swap is always so much fun. It's great to meet other teachers from all over the country and to have a chance to grab and try out a great product.
For the second time, I have been fortunate enough to take part in the Magical Swap created by Mrs. Stanford author of her blog, "Mrs. Stanford's Class." For this swap, my partner was Danielle, the author of the blog "Crayonbox Learning." Among the many items offered at her TpT store, I chose the item entitled United States Activity Pack which you can download by clicking here. It was hard to pick from her many tempting products, but I went ahead with this one. I'm glad I did! Here's what the title page of this almost two hundred page resource (in color and black and white) looks like.
Choosing this item was an easy decision, as I need to teach many of its components in my History and Social Studies unit on American Symbols. I went right to work printing and cutting as you can see here. I love this Fiskars paper cutter, by the way.
Three of my favorite parts of this item are the original nonfiction, informational texts entitled "American Symbols," "The American Flag" and "Happy Birthday America!" All three of these books that I printed out, trimmed and stapled on the left side are perfect reads for my first graders. They contain accurate information written in an appropriate text level--so hard to find out there. Check out these terrific books all assembled. I'm having the parents help me assemble these.
One of the things I do as part of my Calendar Time is to create a 100 Day Puzzle. When complete, it creates the United States of America. As we put on a puzzle piece each day, we go over the state and capital if there happens to be one on the puzzle piece. My students really enjoy trying to memorize the states and capitals. Some even take it upon themselves to study them at home. This item includes a set of state cards with their capitals--perfect for my kids to check out.
Also included in this item is an ABC order sorting activity. This is a skill I just taught right after our winter break, so this item will come in handy. I used a set of alphabet mini-posters included in the item as category headers. I plan to, in a center, have my students place all 50 states in alphabet order using the alphabet cards. They will really love this. I started to do this myself. I was off to a good start. No states that start with the letter "B?"
In addition, this item comes with a bonus set of printable to make a Patriotic Bulletin Board , a flag puzzle, as well as a set of cards to utilize in a United States Card Game, also a lot of fun and perfect for my students to play during indoor recess in these snowy months.
It was a pleasure taking part in this swap for the second time and exchanging resources with Danielle from Crayonbox Learning! You can stop by her blog and learn many neat tips on creating bulletin boards, scrapbookinng for teachers and tips for "thinking outside of the box." Bring your snow shoes because her blog appears to be going through a blizzard. BRRRR! Danielle also has an etsy shop where you can purchase many of her products and literacy bags already assembled for the teacher on-the-go! Stop on over by clicking here.
I'm always pleased to meet a fellow blogger and share ideas. To celebrate, I am hold a 20% off sale throughout my TpT store all week long! Be sure to stop on by by clicking here.
Also, check out all the other swappers by clicking here.
I'm pleased to have been a part of the swap put together by Mrs. Stanford from the blog Mrs. Stanford's Class. My talented swap buddy has been Mrs. Foxwell from the blog First Grade in Foxwell Forest.
For the past month or so, Mrs. Foxwell and I have been trading messages and ideas back and forth to prepare for our Magical Product Swap blog entries. We have been pretty bust getting each other's products printed, assembled and photographed. It's been a lot of fun. Here's the must have item I received in the swap. Look at all the printables!
Obviously, I went right to work cutting, laminating and bagging away--all while catching up on some of my favorite reality television shows (Survivor, Project Runway and Dance Moms). Here's my at home laminator hard at work.
For one of the activities, I got to make these fun tennis rackets. This was right up my alley! I love fun ways to get my students to learn concepts. As Mrs. Foxwell suggested in the preparation directions, I used those paint mixer sticks to keep them nice and sturdy. Of course, I had a bunch in my garage, just in case of something like this! You never know when you are going have to make tennis rackets. Yes, you see a different laminator, this is my at school one.
Each set of materials came with amazing directions for preparation. I can't believe how organized things were presented. Look at this!
And this...
I guess I should interrupt to tell you about Mrs. Foxwell's item. It's called "Tennis Long e Teams for /ee/ and /ea/" (found by clicking here). It's a "phonics unit including learning activities, characters, and a long e gesture for the /ee/ and /ea/ pattern." As you can see from the Table of Contents below, it has 6 "sets" or components, all tennis-themed. How fun?
This item includes a way to introduce the students to the /ee/ and /ea/ patterns in "Meet and Greet." Here I explained to my first graders the Dream Team and the Sweet Team's favorite animal, food, beverage, hobby and color. Through these introductions, we see words that have /ea/ for the Dream Team and words that have /ee/ for the Sweet Team. Here's what the first activity looks like ready to go. Check out the adorable bag labels included.
The next Set in the activities is called "Pick the Teams." This is a word sort that gives the students practice with the /ea/ and /ee/ words. They can sort just pictures, words or both onto the colorful sorting mats. My students loved this. Mrs. Foxwell suggests, for an extension, using the picture and the word cards in a memory game. I'm adding this to my list of things to do when "You're Done" in my classroom. The sorting materials are second from the left in this pic.
The third Set is a whole class game in which my first graders got to identify /ee/ and /ea/ words called "What's the Racket?" Here's where those tennis rackets were needed. I was the most excited to try this activity out because of the props needed! I lined the children up into two teams. Words on tennis balls were put up on the front board. I called a word, gave a series of clues, or used the word in a cloze sentence. The first player to hit the correct word earned a point. This activity got rave reviews! You can clearly see why when you check this item out below.
I am a huge fan of Read and Write the Room Hunts. They are perfect for supporting and reviewing newly learned phonics patterns. Mrs. Foxwell includes one of these as the fourth Set. It's titled "Tennis Tournament." Here I hid a different set of words on tennis balls around my room. On an very cute record sheet with two tennis courts, my first graders "read" and then "wrote" the /ea/ and /ee/ words in the correct places. This item has a bonus "Cool Off" class book activity too--WOW.
Just when you thought it couldn't get any batter, there is a homophone component to this bundle of activities too! Totally Awesome! Using a homophone poster, students learn what a homophone is. Then you distribute MORE colorful cards with words and pictures and students find their homophone buddy. For example, "meet" pairs with "meat." Then, there's a handy sheet for them to write sentences for a pair of homophones for reinforcement.
Last but not least, is the Creative Writing option which is now in my Author Corner. Students get to design a pair of sneakers for both tennis teams. The catch is the theme of the design must connect to either the /ea/ team of the /ee/ team. For example, the sneaker for the Sweet Team can include trees all over it. This is a very creative extension and terrific way to end the unit. Check it out.
Mrs. Foxwell was nice enough to share her newest unit on Fancy Y (long /e/ spelled "y") with me too. Lucky me. What a score! It's just as good with the same high quality printables, detailed directions and instead of tennis rackets, we get to assemble wands this time. I'm all over this. Don't miss out on this item too by clicking HERE to be directed to her TpT store.
It was so rewarding getting to share ideas with Becca, and I can't wait to share more in the future. Please stop on by her blog to see more of her ideas. Also, you have to see her review a product of mine. Check her blog regularly for updates, as she often puts many things up for free if you're on top of her posts! You will be inspired by her talents. Why not grab her button?
She is also has a sale going on, so you're in luck.
I'd like to also give a special "shout out" for Mrs. Stanford for taking all the precious time required to set up this Magical Product Swap. Click the button below to read all about the other swappers and their experiences. Grab some new ideas, too!
