Lenten Cross

It's hard to see in this photo but these are the Lenten promises my students made this year.  I gave each student a popsicle stick and they wrote down what they promised to do to show their love to Jesus.  Some students added flowers and hearts.    Then I hot glued all the sticks together to make a cross.  

The cross was not very sturdy so I taped all the the sticks together as well.

Now this beautiful cross hangs in our classroom and reminds us daily of our promises to Jesus.  

Books Are Good Poetry

Hello  Happy Spring

I have so much to share but no time to edit and type up what I am doing.  There just is not enough time in the day for all the things I want to do in life.  However I am trying hard to make sure I share at least two or three things a week.

Here is my weekly freebie,  this week we are learning map skills and long o sound.  This is the poem we picked for first grade.  I have been working so hard on reading strategies in my reading classes it is starting to pay off.

Click Here for your free copy

This is what the copy of the poem looks like that I put in my poetry basket.

Each week the students take home a copy of the poem and review the skills we are practicing in class with a poem worksheet.

I hope you and your class enjoy this poem just as much as my class did.

Happy Reading,

Sue

March Poem

It's time for a new poem!  

It has been a few weeks since I last shared a poem with you.  I skipped a few weeks in my classroom of poetry because I was busy.  

One of the main things I worked on in the past few weeks was the Wedding shower for my son and soon to be new daughter in law.  

My daughter, daughter in law, oldest son and I were making all kinds of decorations for the party, it turned out super cute.    Click Here is you want to see more pictures.  

Anyways I have been trying, and with not much success to juggle family events, sickness and school work and there has been no time for blogging and creating.  

 I have one maybe two calm weeks before it gets crazy again so I thought I would take a moment and share a poem with you for March.

This is my poem for the week.  I am reviewing the verb unit in my English book so I added some of that to the homework sheets for review.

If you would like a FREE copy of this poem packet please Click Here.

The poem packet includes:

Colored Copy of Poem for Poetry Box

Black/White Copy of Poem for Student Poetry Book

Homework Pages for Review

Thanks for reading and following The Very Busy Classroom, Sue

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss

Dr. Seuss Activities

This was my first year celebrating Dr. Seuss’ birthday.  I wasn't sure if I could find fun things to do.  But thanks to Pinterest I ended up stretching it out for two weeks.  We did lots of fun activities. 

Monday:  One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish

We did graphing with goldfish crackers.

Tuesday:  I Can Read with My Eyes Shut

We made glasses with pipe cleaners and then had a photo shoot.  I made the Dr. Seuss banner in the background with old Dr. Seuss books.  We hung up our fun pictures on a bulletin board.

Thursday:  Green Eggs and Ham

I didn’t think the kids would eat much right as they arrived to school, but I was wrong.  They loved Green Eggs and Ham.  They ate seconds and thirds.  

Friday:  Bartholomew and Oobleck

I wish I had pictures from this.  I was so busy making the oobleck that I did not get a change to snap pictures.  The kids loved this.  I wish I had more time for this.

Monday:  If I Ran the Zoo

Tuesday:  If I Ran the Circus

Writing Activity:  If I ran the school.

Wednesday:  My Many Colored Days

We created a bulletin board I saw on Pinterest with the other first grade class.  

Thursday:  Yertle the Turtle

We painted and glued and made our own turtles and then we stacked them up.  They are so cute.   

Thursday and Friday:  The Cat in the Hat/The Cat and the Hat Comes Back.

A parent made some red and white hats with bananas and strawberries and an oreo cookie.  The kids loved them.  I only wish I took a picture.  

101 Activity

101 Day of First Grade

When I went searching for ideas for 101 day of first grade most of the ideas I found were repeats of 100 day.

I was looking for some new ideas that I did not do last year in kindergarten.  After talking with my new partner teacher, Diana, this is what we came up with. 

This first idea is not in the booklet.  Build a structure with 101 marshmallows and 101 toothpicks.  And yes you have to use all the materials ….and no you may not eat the marshmallows. 

The second idea was that the students worked in the booklets:

·    101 math equations

·    Find 101 nouns

·    Read & spell 101 words

·    101 acts of kindness

·    Measuring 101 centimeters. 

·    In addition I attached some coloring pages I found from coloring books. 

Hands down the kids favorite activities were the marshmallow building and measuring centimeters. 

Well of course the children did like watching the movie 101 Dalmatians and the yummy puppy chow.  I was surprised at how many children had not seen the movie.  

Anyways, in the booklet all the pages are black and white (just like the dogs) and easy to run off.  

If you are interested stop by my TPT store for more information.  

First Grade Play

Who’s In Rabbit’s House

The last several weeks I have been so busy working at school on my first grade play, Who’s In Rabbit’s House.   It is based on the book by VernaAardema.

My students and I have been so busy making masks, backgrounds and rabbit’s house.  The first graders were so excited to preform the play for their parents. I was so fortunate to have a parent help build a frame for rabbit's house, that was so nice.

The students also made these cute character mobiles in class for one of our classroom activities.

This is my favorite one.  I think this little boy will grow up to be an artist.