School Week Linky: Tech Tips

Day 4 of The Teacher's Chair linky is all about tech tips!

I am not exactly "tech savvy," so unfortunately I don't think I have all that much to contribute to this topic ...so I cannot wait to see what everyone else posts about!!!

Today, rather than sharing tech tips, I'll share some lessons I have created for my SmartBoard, as well as one of my go-to websites during my kiddies' computer time.

Let's start with the SmartBoard. 

Despite not being a computer wiz, I *love* my SmartBoard and use it every single day in my classroom. Not only does it make my life easier, but the second I incorporate it into my lessons, my kiddies are completely engaged!

MATH: Patterning

The first file I will share is a hands-on graphing activity:

(I use the above file during our Hot Chocolate theme!)

The images in the coloured boxes near each of the graphs are "infinitely cloned," which means students can grab the image of their choice by tapping and dragging the picture to the appropriate location on the bar graph. Each student can take turns dragging and dropping their choice until all students have been "surveyed." When the graph is complete, either the teacher or students can fill in the information to the right of the graph using a SmartBoard marker.

Here are the other graphing pages in the file:

Click HERE to see an example of how I used this mini-lesson in my own classroom and download your FREE copy of the SmartBoard file :)

DOWNLOAD DIRECTLY

MATH: Addition & Subtraction

These simple, hands-on activities are a quick way to review/practice basic problem solving skills. They also connect word problems with the basic number sentences and symbols that we learn about in our addition and subtraction math unit:

Each activity includes an answer page to help you better understand how to complete the activity:

DOWNLOAD this SmartBoard activity (it's FREE)!

SCIENCE

This next SmartBoard page can be used during a science unit on energy.

This activity focuses on energy chains; the process of how the sun passes its energy to each and every living thing, OR how the energy of each and every living thing can eventually be traced back to energy from the sun. As shown by the example on the top right, students & teacher can work together to drag and drop the images in the correct order (answer page is included).

DOWNLOAD this for FREE :)

(I have also recently blogged a FREE DPA SmartBoard activity HERE if you're interested!)

Finally, one of my (and my firsties') favourite websites to visit during computer time is 

I love it because it features a mix of both educational and just-for-fun games, and a clear organization of grade level (as you can see from the screenshot below). I love the way the website is organized as it allows for easy differentiation (e.g. my higher firsties can easily challenge themselves by visiting activities one grade-level up). If you haven't already checked it out, GO!

See ya'll tomorrow for the last day of The Teacher's Chair School Week Linky...let's end with a bang!!!

Let's be friends!

Get teaching tips, ideas, and FREEBIES every now and then.

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Earth Day, Probability, and Kandinsky...Oh, My!

Hello everyone! We started off the week with one of my favourite celebrations: Earth Day! We kept our lights off and made lots of promises to help the Earth throughout the day. 

This little writing craftivity was inspired by Cara over at The First Grade Parade. I fell in love with the handprint idea and had my kiddies "lend a helping hand" to Mother Nature on Monday.

(click the pick for the FREE download of the above writing paper as well as an Earth Day opinion writing activity!)

We ended up dedicating this whole week to the Earth and kept our classroom lights off for the week...it was actually quite calming so that might become a new "healthy habit" of ours!

Moving right along to math...We finished up our quick 2D & 3D Shapes unit with position and direction words. Here's the anchor chart I whipped up (the smiley faces really helped my emergent readers become more confident with these words)

...And the Poultry Party continues! 

We spent a period this week with our precious soon-to-be-hatching eggs; observing, recording, drawing, labelling, reading, and discussing. I pulled out a bunch of resources for the kiddies to simply explore and they went to town.

...there's my "inquiry" for the week (that totally counts. Right, Mrs. Montgomery? haha)

As a mini review/introduction to our oh-so-short Probability unit (that we began and finished all this week!) we graphed our opinions of pet chickens. I was quite surprised by how many kiddies did NOT want a pet chicken (although, I'll admit I may have mentioned something about "stinky chicken poop" prior to popping the question!)

After graphing our answers as a whole group, we completed this worksheet to reinforce our knowledge:

(Graphing labels and worksheet included in my Holy Hens! Pack)

*2016: THIS PACK HAS SINCE BEEN COMPLETELY UPDATED!* 

(images in this post do not reflect the updates)

We wrapped up our speedy probability unit on Friday with 3 math centres...

#1: my crazy chickens took turns surveying their group and graphing the results (who would have thought that the simplest centre would be the biggest hit?! They were ALL.ABOUT. that giant graph)

#2: next, the kiddies got to create their very own die and use their creation to build a graph:

#3: finally, a make-your-own spinner activity! Similar to the dice, the kids made a spinner and graphed their results:

It was exciting to see how much they loved these three simple centres. 

Here is a closer look at activity #2 and #3:

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Built with Kit

Now for my favourite subject...ART! I have such a creative bunch and I LOVE that they love to do art. This week, our art period focused all around Kandinsky. I was inspired by a particular piece that I saw floating around Pinterest, "Concentric Circles"...

Like most people, I concededly thought, "I could do that!"...well, more like, "my Grade Ones could do that!" ...so we did!

They couldn't get enough of the fact that they could paint something that looked just like a famous piece of artwork...also that Kandinsky closely "looks just like" our Parish Priest (HA! They crack me up...it's so true though)

Here are some of their final masterpieces:

Amazing, right??!! They also painted "Kandinsky circles" on paper plates. My plan is to make a Kandinsky tree to brighten up our hallway like the one I found on Pinterest:

I can't wait! ...More pictures to come when I finally have ours up!

Anyways, it's Friday and I could not be happier that the warm weather is FINALLY here in NWO. I cannot wait to spend my entire weekend outside in something other than goose-down. So in celebration, here is an opinion writing FREEBIE for you all :) 

(Click the pic for the above--and two other--topics for when your class is focused on Opinion Writing)

Have a happy weekend :) Enjoy the warm weather!