Supplemental Math Activities for First Graders
Not enough curriculums come with engaging, hands-on activities and resources that allow students to apply and practice what they have learned from those lessons. I’ve spent tons of time creating resources that were more appropriate for busy little hands and I’m sharing a few of my favorite low-prep options below!
3 Ways to Use Reading Rods from Hand2Mind
If you’ve picked up a pack of Reading Rods from Hand2Mind and thought they were neat but weren’t sure how to use them, I’ve got you covered! I’m sharing three fun, low-prep ways to put them to use so that students are using them as an effective way to practice phonics skills.
Supplemental Literacy Activities for First Graders
Not enough curriculums come with engaging, hands-on activities and resources that allow students to apply and practice what they have learned from those lessons. I’ve spent tons of time creating resources that are more appropriate for busy little hands and I’m sharing a few of my favorite low-prep here!
10 Low-Prep Word Work Activities for K-1
For a long time, I struggled with wanting my word work options to be engaging and hands-on, but also low-prep. Over the years I came up with several word work options that meet all of my qualifications: engaging and standards-based, hands-on, and low-prep. Read about some of my fave options here.
What’s In My Literacy Small Group Caddy?
Wondering what tools to keep in your literacy small group caddy? These are a few of the things that I am constantly reaching for during small group literacy instruction, so I keep them all handy in a little caddy that I can easily move around.
Resources Used Every Day in My First Grade Classroom
These resources are used daily or weekly in my classroom and are absolute non-negotiables!
Sound Walls Just Make Sense!
Want to jump on the Sound Wall train but not sure where to start? Let me help you!
Star Student of the Week
Build a sweet classroom community by featuring each student as the Star of the Week!
Create a Classroom “Busy Bin” for Fast Finishing Students
We all have them… the students who finish an activity within 5 minutes of assigning it! After they’ve double-checked for their name, double-checked their work, added extra details, and made sure it was tip-top quality, it’s time for them to head to the “Busy Bin.” The Busy Bin is a space where early-finishing students can grab something to work on that’s meaningful, fun, and easy for me to prep for them. Find out what I keep in my Busy Bin!
Who is the Fabulous Firstie Fairy?
You've heard of the Desk Fairy, but what about the Fab Firstie Fairy? This fairy is the sweetest thing to enter into your classroom this year, and there's one for Kindergarten too!
Practice Independent Reading in a SUPER fun way!
It's SUPER important to build students' reading stamina during independent reading time.
Classroom Management Made Easy
Looking for easy ways to keep your class running smoothly?! Let me help you!
Solar Eclipse Classroom Activities
Celebrate the solar eclipse with these fun math activities, literacy activities, writing crafts and more! Plan your solar-bration!
Celebrating the Leap Year in First Grade
Looking for low-prep, chaos-controlled, and standards-based Leap Activities to celebrate the Leap Year in first grade? Read about them all here!
Question of the Day/Week: A Math Graphing Center
Looking for a fun way to incorporate a daily graphing station into your math center block? Read here to find out how this can be done with hardly any prep!
Using Student Data Binders to Track Data
Tracking student data would be a very daunting task if I didn’t have students help me do it! Of course I save their assessment and behavior data for my own records, but I also like having students track their data so that they can see their growth, and so I have visuals to show families during conference time. Read more about how I do this in my classroom!
An Easy Fact Fluency Center for K-2!
Want students to practice fact fluency daily in math centers but not sure how to do it in a low-prep way?! I’ve got you covered!
Why Crafts in the Classroom are Necessary
There is so much research that tells us that children learn so much more when they learn through hands-on learning, or play. That’s why I LOVE incorporating as many hands-on crafts as I can into our day to day learning. I’ve found ways to integrate crafts into phonics, writing, grammar, math, and science/social studies! Read here to find out more about my favorite “craftivities'“ for young learners.
Using Digital Math and Literacy Centers
love paper centers just as much as the next person because I love the hands-on approach to learning. What I don’t love is spending hours of my personal time cutting and laminating hundreds of math centers, just to have to redo them all in a few years because of wear and tear.
Newsbooks… A Weekly Letter Writing Activity
This is my favorite way to establish communication between school and home.