Winter

As you can tell I like to start out by reading a book to the children to start a lesson. So for today's winter lesson I would start out by reading the book "The Mitten" by Jan Brett and then we would read the book "The Hat" also by Jan Brett. The reason I would read both is because of the activity I will do with them after I read the book.

After reading the book I would take out my easel and I would introduce to them what a Venn diagram is. I would explain to them that the one circle was the details of the one book and than the other circle is the details about the other book. Then I would explain that the middle part where the two circles overlap are the similarities in the books. I would explain that this is what comparing and contrasting is. I would ask the children to compare and contrast the two stories. I would ask for the details of "The Mitten" and then I would ask the details about "The Hat". I would then ask the children if there were any details that appeared in both circles. If there was I would then erase that information and then move it to into the middle section and explain that the reason I am moving it into the middle section because is appears in both stories.

After the group activity I would have the children go back to their seats and hand out a worksheet with a Venn diagram on it already. I would have the children choose two different animals for the stories. (one animal from one story and than the other animal from the other story)

"What good is the warmth of summer, without the 

cold of winter to give it sweetness." - John Steinbeck

Thanksgiving

The day before we go on break for Thanksgiving I will have activities based on Thanksgiving. I will ask the children if they know what the reason we celebrate Thanksgiving. Then I would read the book "If you Sailed on The Mayflower in 1620" by Ann McGovern. This book is a question answer kind of book, it is also filled with factual information for the children to absorb. This book illustrates the Pilgrims first year in America. It will better explain to the children what Thanksgiving is all about. After reading the book I would ask the children if they had any further questions about what Thanksgiving was all about. I would also go around and ask each child to name one thing they are thankful for.

I would have all the children go back to their seats and I would hand out a writing worksheet. I would have them write a short story about what they would did if they were on the Mayflower in 1620 and coming to America for the first time. I would tell them to write about what they would bring, who they would bring, and why. After all the children were done writing I would ask the children if their were anyone that would like to share their story. I would have them go to the front of the room and read their story. 

After we were done the writing and speaking activity I would have a couple of fun worksheets for the children to do that have to do with Thanksgiving. This is so that the children can relax and wine down a little bit. 

I would rather be able to appreciate things I cannot have than to 

have things I am not able to appreciate. - Elbert Hubbard

Halloween

On Halloween I would do all the real academic lessons in the morning and then in the afternoon I would have fun things for the children to do. On Halloween we usually have a costume parade around the school so this lesson plan is for the afternoon after the parade. Since it is a fun holiday I want to make the afternoon fun so here are some of the things we would do at a class. After the parade we would come back to the room and it would be a Halloween party some of the class mothers will be there helping out. We would pass around candy.

Then to start some activities one thing we would do would require a pumpkin. It would be based on estimation. Every children would have a worksheet I made up for them with "How many seeds, how much does it weight, and how many inches around it is." Each child puts down what they think and then we will weight it, count the seeds, and measure it. This is a fun math lesson on estimation for the children and they will have no idea they are learning. For the child who guessed right or the child who guessed the closest to each question wins a prize.


After the pumpkin measuring I would have a few different fun worksheets for the the children to do like coloring pages, word searches, and unscrambling words.

Just for fun I would read them two halloween books before they left for the day to go trick or treating. I would read them "The Biggest Pumpkin Ever" by Steve Kroll and "In the Haunted House" by Eve Bunting

"May Jack-o-lanterns burning bright

Of soft and golden hue

Pierce through the future's veil and show

What fate now holds for you."

-Author Unknown

Fire Safety Week (October 7th through October 13th)

Fire Safety Week is October 7th through October 13th. During this week I think it would be appropriate to go over fire safety on one or two days.

What I would do is start out by reading a book to them "Clifford The Firehouse Dog" by Norman Bridwell. This tells a story about how Clifford saves people and puts out a fire. After reading the story each child will go back to their seats and list all the important fire safety tips and rules they know and have learned from the story. After they do that individually we will then regroup as a class and we will list all the fire safety tips and rules on a big piece of paper and will hang it in the back of the room so everyone can see it and know how important it is to remember the rules. 

Another thing I would have the children watch this video about all the important fire safety tips and rules. I know it is an old video and it seems corny but it has a lot of good information for the children to watch and understand about fire safety. http://youtu.be/3JqWpGGARjc

Then to close fire safety lessons I would have a little fun activity for the children to do. It is a little puzzle. They have to fill in the blanks of fairy-tale titles then place the correct letter with the number thats underneath that letter to spell out the fire safety tip. The tip is "Get outside, stay outside!"

"Don't let your dreams go up in smoke - practice fire safety." -author unknown

We're Going On A Leaf Hunt!

To start out the Fall season I would read "We're Going On A Leaf Hunt" by Steve Metzger. This book is about three children that are going on a leaf hunt and find all different colors leaves. This book is just like the book "Going On A Bear Hunt" by Michael Rosen. It has the same concept with the rhythm, repetitive text format and great sound words. Children really seem to like this book it is fun and they really get into it. This lesson plan would focused on number sense and counting.

Introductory Activity: I would invite all the children onto the reading rug so I can read them the story “We’re Going on a Leaf Hunt”. I would ask the all the children if they have ever gone on a leaf hunt. If some of the children say yes I would ask them what they saw and what was different about the leaves. I would also ask them what is different about the leaves now then from when it was hot out. Then I would read them the story and ask them if they wanted to go on a leaf hunt.

Main Activity: I would explain to the children that we were going on a leaf hunt. Each child gets three lunch bags. We are going to go outside and you guys are going to collect as many leaves as you or as many as you can fit in your paper bag. I would tell them that I would like for each child to grab two orange leaves and then as many other colors as they want. Ask the child to count their leaves as they put them in their bags. Stop at 10 – make groups of 10 and then have the child count the leaves by 10s. I would have all the children put on their coats and hand each child a paper bag. We would go outside and collect the leaves.

Follow-up Activity: This activity will begin when we come back into the classroom from collecting our leaves. I would then place the five labeled buckets on the ground. Each child will then go to their sit and with their paper bag filled with the leaves. I will then instruct them to separate there leaves by color. After all the children are done separating them I will have each child individually go to the rug where the buckets and out loud count how many of each color leave they have. Then on the board we will have a chart with the colors and have each child write the number of leaves they have for each color in the correct column.

Evaluation: I would have five different children come to the front of the room and dump out the bucket of leaves and count one of buckets of colors out loud. Then I would write down how many of each color leaf we have and after all are counted I would ask the class which color did we have the most leave of and which one did we have the least.

"Falling leaves hide the path so quietly." -John Bailey

Back to School

So since it is September I thought that it would be appropriate to start out with a lesson plan that has to do with the first day of school.


I would start out by having all the children come into the classroom and get settled. After the class is settled and we are ready to go I would start out with a handout that has to do with their summer. I would have them write one thing that they did over the summer and then draw a picture corresponding with the story. I would then ask if any of the children would like to volunteer and share what they wrote about. I would also share what I did over the summer as well.

I would then do a little ice breaker activity with all the children. I would have a bucket with small pieces of paper with questions on them. Each child will have to pick one piece and then we would go around the class and have everyone answer their question on the page including myself. This will help everyone get to know each other a little bit more and start to get more comfortable with each other so we will begin to form our little community. 

Another thing I would do on the first day is reading the book "First Day Jitters" by Julie Danneberg. It is a good story to start the first day with because I know everyone including myself will have the jitters. After reading we will discuss the story. Then I will have the children go back to their seat and pass out the handout about "First Day Jitters". They will then have to write about their experience with first day jitters. After everyone writes about it we will then have voluteers go around and read their story out loud to the class if they want to. I will also tell them my first day jitters. When we are done reading out loud to the class with have to draw a picture that corresponds with their story.

There are just some of the things I would do on the first day of school. Hope you enjoy! Have a happy school year!

"What we want is to see the child in pursuit of knowledge,
and not knowledge in pursuit of the child." - Georg Bernard Shaw

Hello and welcome to my blog!!

I am Becky and I will be blogging about fun, exciting, and creative activities and lesson plans to do with first and second graders. I am currently a student at Kean University going for a degree in K-5 special ed with a content area of english writing.  On my blog I will be sharing with you activities, lesson plans, pictures, possibly some videos - all educational things that you can do in the classroom with first and second graders. 

Please feel free to comment on any post with your experience with any of the activities you have done or if you have done an activity I post about I want to hear how your experience went with your class! I hope to hear from you. 

"Teaching creates all other professions." ~ Author Unknown