Last week was our bat unit. I'm not quite sure what it was but my kiddos literally drove me batty! Here is a peek at our 'batty' week in pictures.
We started our unit off reading a few non-fiction books about bats and filling out a Bats Can-Have-Are chart. They then picked 2 facts from each category and made their own can-have-are chart.
I also introduced the concept of labeling to my firsties using this 'Parts of a Bat' chart. I showed them a diagram of a bat in a book we read and talked to them about all the different and interesting parts of a bat. I then had them help me label the parts. We also drew our own diagram and labeled the parts but....let's face it, my drawing is horrible and isn't blog-worthy!
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We have been talking all about story elements the past few weeks. I chose to read Stellaluna to my kiddos because I just love the book...such a sweet story.
We broke down the book and talked about these story elements: character, setting, problem, solution, and main idea. I had them make a little craftivity to go with it.
On one side the had to fill in the characters and setting.
On the opposite side, they wrote the problem and solution.
And when they walked in the next day they saw this:
You would have thought I won a teacher of the year award or something ya'll! They were beyond excited about their bats hanging upside down from the ceiling.
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We have been working hard on our short vowel sounds. I made these assorted vowel word work pages. They help me know whether or not my students understand the concept of the short vowel sound in a word since they are generating their own words in the circles and drawing a picture of their word.
Click on the picture below and it will take you to my original post with the assorted vowels packet where you can download 3 different worksheets!
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Up next week is our spider unit! There's 4 things I strongly despise in life: snakes, roaches, junebugs, and spiders. There is just nothing cute about these creepy, crawly things but there is just something about the brain of a first grader that absolutely LOVES learning about them. So all fears aside, here goes nothing. 
We definitely won't be making any creepy crawly spiders. Only cute ones that have descriptive 'sandwich poems'. Here is one activity we will be doing to go in our hall. These 2 wonderful ladies {Doodlebugs Teaching} & {Amy Lemons} inspired me to put their 2 creations together into 1.
And when my little loves walk in tomorrow this is the spooky scene they will see! We had a spider invasion over the weekend...boo-ha-ha!!!
Here's to a creepy-crawly 'drug-free' red ribbon week!
