Snowman Cups

My younger son is in charge of snack for his preschool tomorrow.  Snack day = Pinterest in my house! After checking out a few choices, he picked snowman popcorn cups.  

Ry was working very hard putting faces on each cup. He was also very excited to use Mom's special markers. (It's not every day that I let my 4 year old use Sharpies at my kitchen table!)  He even set up his Frosty book so he could look at the face, it was too cute.  I might have to make these as a special snack for the kids in my class, with Ry's help of course!

These are a few of my favorite faces.  (Popcorn to be added tomorrow!)

This guy even got glasses, cheeks and one - yes one- eyebrow!

Owl Fiction

Moving on from our owl non-fiction, we spent the end of the week reading owl fiction stories.  The Little White Owl is a great story for so many things. I could read this story every day of the week and find something new to do with it.

Day 1 - we made our own owls and did descriptive writing.  Look how cute these owls are!

Day 2 -  we compared fiction and non-fiction owls. The students completed a t-chart of true and false. Then, they wrote about things owls can do and things owls can not do.  

Day 3 - we discussed author's message.  This story has such a strong message of individuality and friendship.  The kids in my class love this little owl, and they love rereading this story over and over again. 

Another owl story I love to read is Owl Babies. These little owls are just too cute for words. We discussed our favorite parts of this book and why. My students are working on not only choosing a specific part of the story (instead of the generic "the end") but also a giving a reason why they liked that part the best.  

Here is a link to my whole owl packet.  It is filled with owl activities, including the ones above!

I hope you enjoy studying owls as much as I do!!  

~Tara

Owls

Owls are one of my favorite animals to study.  The children seem to always enjoy this week too.  You have to admit, owls are pretty cute, right?!

We always start the owl week off with our non-fiction learning.  We will read about owl facts and create an informational writing piece based on what we have learned.  We will discuss different owl vocabulary and different types of owls.

Here is the packet I created to go along with our owl unit.  It is packed with information on owls and has activities for non-fiction and fiction reading.  Just click on the picture to see the full packet.

Check back later in the week to see more owl activities!

Tara

Time to Leap

Welcome to My First Grade Zoo!  I am Tara.  I have been reading and following educational blogs for many years now.  Starting my own blog is something that I have always wanted to do, just never took the leap.  Today... I'm leaping!

To give you a little background on me - I am a wife and mother of two amazing boys.  I am currently in my fifth year as a first grade teacher.  I have also taught Preschool, Kindergarten and Third Grade. I have been teaching children for 15 years.  It's amazing how quickly the time goes!

Since this is one of my favorite times of year, and there is so much we do, I am jumping right in...

Today we read The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything by Linda D. Williams.  My kids LOVE this book. It is a fun and silly story that they can join in on.  And... there are so many things to do with this book!  We sequence the story, act it out, retell, talk about our opinions and even make predictions.  

First, the students had to sequence the story onto a setting they made.  Then, moving the old lady along the path, they retold the story to other students. As a follow up, the students also took these home to retell to their families.  Their favorite part was definitely the BOO part!  

You can click on the link below to see the packet I created using this book. 

The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything