Writing, Rhyming, and Senses

Raise your hand if you love testing kiddos!?  Crickets anybody.....?  Oh-my-word, I am SO beyond tired of testing my kids. DRA, Universal Screening, report card testing.  Will it ever end?  I am ready to get into a *normal* routine with my kids and spend ALL of my precious time (that I never seem to have enough of) actually teaching what they need to know.  Can I get an amen?  Other than testing, we have been working hard on generating rhyming words, getting into our writer's workshop groove, and learning about our senses.  Here are a few cutsey activities we have been working on this week.

Up first is rhyming.  Well ya see, there is this book...that my firsties have fell in L.O.V.E with. It's called Rhyming Dust Bunnies. They BEG me to read it...and I have...3 times now.  They roll with laughter every time.  And this last time, they were even able to pretty much read it with me. If you teach rhyming words in any way, shape, or form you must use this book!!

 

If you click on the picture of the book, it will take you to an uber-cute rhyming activity to do with your kiddos. Thanks to Katie at Queen of the First Grade Jungle for sharing!

I had my class create a 'piggy rhyme'. I gave them a template for the infamous "This little piggy...." rhyme but left the ending of each sentence blank in which they had to fill it in with two sets of rhyming words.  Here is an example of how they turned out.

And I HAD to share this one with you...it reads "This little piggy played cars. This little piggy went to the bars."  I had me a good laugh!

 

Click on the picture below to download your Piggy Rhyme FREEBIE!

 

 

During writer's workshop this week we took on the wonderful Cara Carroll's idea from The First Grade Parade and made heart maps.  We are going to put these in our writing folders and refer to them whenever we can't think of an idea to write about. Here is my example. 

You can find Cara's original post here.

Click on the picture below to download a FREEBIE of the heart map.

 

 

 

On top of all that, we have also been learning about our 5 senses.  I have been using the free 5 senses from Mrs. Wills over at her blog Mrs. Wills Kindergarten.

 

 

Here are the kiddos getting to put their senses to work.

Using their sense of sight to view things through a magnifying glass and record what they see.

Using their sense of touch to go on a scavenger hunt around the room to find different textures (rough, smooth, fuzzy, etc.)  I think they were more excited to use clipboards than anything!

 

 

 

On a much happier note, tomorrow is Friday and next week we begin our Apple unit! This time of year is my absolute FAVorite. I don't know what it is about apples, spiders, bats, and pumpkins....but these units just make me happy!  Or maybe it's knowing I teach these during Fall (my favorite season) and that is the same time that Starbucks has their specialty drinks!?  Until next time...