This is a worksheet that can be used to assess the ability to recognize numbers and their spellings.
Recommended Grade Level: First
Archive for March, 2009
Number-to-Word Match
March 15th, 2009Color Recognition
March 15th, 2009Abstract: This activity is primarily used as an informal tool to assess the recognition of various colors, animals and their sounds. It can be used with a small or large group.
Objective: To assess students’ ability to recognize various colors, animals and their sounds.
Grade level: Pre-K and Kindergarten
Materials: Brown, Brown, What Do You See? by Eric Carle
Animal printouts (print on heavy paper, cut and laminate)
Procedure: Large Group
Gather students on the “carpet area”. Students are told that they are going to hear a story that they may have heard before. Share some of the elements of the book-title, author, characteristics of Eric Carle books (use of animals, bright colors). This will lead into stating the objective. Students are told that you want to see if they can find the animals as you read the book. Also, that you are going to ask them questions about each animals’ color and the sound they make. Remind students that they will be called on and that you don’t want them to blurt out. Everyone will get turn. This rule is usually repeated several times! Encourage students to read ALONG with you if they remember the story. Lay some of the animals out in front of you or magnet clip them to the board so the students can see them. As you read, call on students to physically choose the animal from the group of animals that corresponds to the page you are on. Once an animal is chosen, ask another student to tell you the color and another to tell the sound of the animal. After each animal is chosen, add more to the group to be selected. I usually have no more than a field of 3-4 animals for the children to choose from. Towards the end of the story, a page filled with children is shown. This page can be used to identify students within the class that may look similar to the children in the book. The last page of the book lists all of the animals. It can be used to initiate physical activity. Have the children stand and repeat with you each animal, their color, their sound and movement as you point to each. You will find that after this activity, students will request it over and over throughout the school year.
Warm and Cool Colors
March 15th, 2009Objective:
Students will recognize “warm” and “cool” colors within nature and works of art.
Students will recognize the purpose of using warm and cool colors within a work of art.
Procedure:
The lesson will begin with the students seated at their desks. Students will be shown some pictures-a yellow sun, a sunflower, a pitcher of lemonade, and a bowl of oranges. The students will be asked what the pictures make them think of. Various answers will be given. The students will then be asked how the pictures make them feel. They will be asked to pay particluar attention to the colors represented in the pictures. The students may recognize that the colors have an energizing effect on the mood. The students will be told that colors such as red, yellow, orange, and even brown and black are considered warm colors and are vivid in nature. The students will then be shown a new set of pictures-a blue ocean, a green meadow, and a purple sunset. Again, the students will be asked what the pictures make them think of and how they make them feel. The students may recognize that the colors tend to have a calming effect on the mood. The students will be told that colors such as blue, green, and purple are considered cool colors and are soothing in nature. The students will then be asked to draw a picture of something they have seen in the outdoors using warm colors and then a second picture using cool colors. Once the pictures are completed. The students will be asked to meet on the “carpet area”. The students will be asked about what kind of pictures they drew and how they want the pictures to make people feel. The lesson will come to a close with the students being asked to share something they learned from the lesson.
Materials:
Photographic pictures, crayons, two pieces of drawing paper per child
Author Study
March 15th, 2009During the first two weeks of school, I engage my first grade students in an author study. This is a great way to introduce your students to the elements of literature and your favorite author. I personally love Eric Carle and find him to be a hit with most kids because of the nature of his stories. His illustrations are also very recognizable for young readers.
How to: I begin by telling the students about the author. I show pictures of the author and give a brief history of the author’s life. Each day I read a selection from one of Eric Carle’s collection of books. After a story has been read, the story is discussed in detail (title, author, patterns in the illustrations, story plot, etc.). Using large chart paper, I make a large graph to hang during our author study. The graph is something that we fill in as we read each book. The graph allows us to see commonalities between the books the author has written. An example of the graph categories are:
Book Title Kind of Pictures Main Idea Main Characters Setting Problem Solved?
I then lead the class in a written activity based on what we discussed about the book. I have on hand a copy of the front cover of the book (for the kids to refer to) and an overhead projector. I use a transparency of the “Author Study Worksheet” on the overhead projector and guide the students through the completion of their own worksheet. This activity is a great way to assess your students’ handwriting and speed during those first days of school.
Extension: For each book we study, I also have the students engage in a follow-up art activity in which they can make a character or something related to the book.
An author study can be a great project for any time of the year. Complete one so children understand what an author study entails. Children can then choose their own author to study by reading from their collection.
These are the books I suggest by Eric Carle:
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
The Mixed-Up Chameleon
The Honeybee and the Robber
The Very Busy Spider
The Very Foolish Tortoise
A House for Hermit Crab
Little Cloud
The Very Lonely Firefly
Pancakes, Pancakes!
A list of additional authors for your study can be viewed here.
Henri Matisse
March 15th, 2009Objective:
Students will recognize the difference between a “realistic” piece of art and an “abstract” piece of art.
Students will recognize the cutout work of Henri Matisse.
Students will create an abstract collage that contains a pattern.
Description:
The lesson will begin with the students seated on the “carpet area”. The students will be given a brief history of Henri Matisse. The students will be told that due to illness and age he became unable to paint, so he began experimenting with cutouts using bright colors and unusual shapes. The students will be told that these works are called “collages”, which means that shapes were cut and stuck to a background to create a picture. The students will then be introduced to what “abstract” means. They will be told that although Mr. Matisse painted realistic pictures early in his career, his pictures gradually became more “abstract”, meaning that they did not look exactly like real life. The students will also be told that although his collages were very abstract, recognizable objects can be found by looking closely. The students will then be shown examples of Matisse’s work and we will discuss the shapes that students see. The students will be told the title of each work and asked if they find any of the objects in the picture (for example, “The Beasts of the Sea”). Students will also be asked if they see any repeated patterns throughout the pictures. The students will then be introduced to the activity. The students will be told that they are going to make an abstract collage using some of Mr. Matisse’s ideas. The students will then be directed to return to their seats. I will first demonstrate how to cut an interesting abstract shape by starting at the bottom of a piece of construction paper and cutting up and around in order to eventually return to the bottom of the piece. Each child will then receive 2 pieces of 6 x 9″ construction paper. The children will be told that they will be using all of the paper. I will then guide the students in cutting an abstract shape. The end result should result in a “cutout” (or “positive”) shape, and a “leftover” (or “negative”) shape, both of which are from one piece. The students will then be told to glue one of their negative shapes in a top corner of their background paper, lining up the edges as neatly as possible. The students will then be shown how to reposition the positive shape within the negative shape (it should fit together like a puzzle). Next, the positive shape will be flipped down beneath the negative one and glued into place, creating a mirror-image effect. The students will then be given the opportunity to glue various shapes around the images as they prefer. The students will be encouraged to add shapes that repeat. The students will be shown an example and asked to notice how the picture is “balanced” by the surrounding shapes. The students will be told that Matisse sometimes used small repeating shapes, or patterns, to create a pathway for our eyes. Students will be given about 15-20 minutes to work on their art. The students will then be brought back to the carpet area. We will briefly review the new concepts. The students will then be asked to share what shapes and patterns they used throughout their artwork.
Materials:
White drawing paper, scissors, glue, 4.5 x 6″ construction paper in various colors, various examples of Matisse’s work.
Assesment:
Students will be assessed according to their participation in the group discussion as well as their completion of an abstract piece of artwork that contains a pattern.
Writing Paper
March 15th, 2009Need to find just the right paper? Here are a few that I created to use with my kiddos. Please e-mail me any ideas you may have for various writing paper and I will see what I can come up with!
Printable lined paper with Name and Date
Weekly Lesson Plan Template
March 15th, 2009Here are a few versions of a weekly lesson plan template. If you don’t want to buy a lesson plan book, just print off one of these, make copies and place in a binder. You’ll be set for the whole year!
Offers a place for time, subject, objective, and notes for every day of the week.
This simple template allows for total freedom. Just fill in for each day of the week.
I personaly like using this template. It keeps me focused by scheduling the day in blocks of time with the objective and activity for each.
Sample Newsletter
March 15th, 2009This is a sample parent newsletter that I used my first year of teaching. It organizes the information into two columns. I sent home a newsletter to my parents every week. and included my contact info each week (you’ll have parents that will lose almost everything three times over!). I also incorporated what our focus was for each subject area as well as “reminders” about upcoming events. I made sure to include a small space that allowed a child to “shine” each week.
Social Etiquette Party
March 15th, 2009This is a copy of the letter that I sent home informing parents of a party to be held in celebration of Valentine’s Day. Instead of a traditional party, I held a “Social Etiquette Party”. My students and I dressed the “part”. We had table settings complete with decorative name cards for each child. We practiced using “good” manners like those we would use in a restaurant. The party was complete with classical music playing in the background. Your kids and parents really will appreciate the social skills this lesson teaches!
Birthday Sort
March 15th, 2009Abstract:
This lesson is an interactive way to teach students how and why graphs are used. This lesson is fun for the kids and they get to learn about their classmates birthdays.
| Subject(s): |
Mathematics
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| Grade/Level: |
Kindergarten
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| Objective: |
Students will sort themselves according to birth date. Students will graph the number of birthdays within each month and determine what information the graph provides (e.g. which month has the most, which has the least, and which (if any) has the same number of birthdays).
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| IMPLEMENTATION | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Learning Context: |
Students have already been introduced to sorting and graphing. A lesson on sorting students according to hair color, eye color, and gender precedes this lesson.
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| Procedure: |
Students will gather and sit on the carpet area. Students will be asked if they know when their birthday is. They will then be asked if they think they share the same birthday with someone else in the classroom. They will then be asked if they think they share the same month as someone else in the classroom. As a group, we will briefly discuss that it is more likely that two people will share the same birth month rather than an actual birthday. The students will then be given instructions for the acitivity. Students will write their first names on a strip of paper. Large cards will be placed on the floor in the classroom. Each card will have the name of a month (pictures could also be added to help students identify the months-ex. a clover for March). The students will be directed to find the card with the name of the month they were born in and form a line behind it. Once the students have found their particular birth month, the students will be directed to count the number of students in the line they are in. The students will then be directed to look at the number of people in other months. On the dry-erase board at the front of the classroom, a graph will be present. The “x” axis will have numbers 1-10 and the “y” axis will have the name of each month in order from January to December. Once prompted, each group will be called up to the board. With teacher assistance, each student will place their name (written on a strip of paper) in the column of their month. Once completed, the students will be asked what the graph tells us. The students should be able to recognize that the graph reveals which month(s) has the most bithdays, which month(s) has the least number of birthdays, and which months have the same number of birthdays (if any). As a group, we will check our answers by counting the number of names for each month to accurately determine which month has the most, the least or the same number of birthdays. Students will then be directed to ask members in their month to determine if any share the same birthdate. In closing, students will be asked to share what they learned about using a graph.
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| Collaboration: |
Students will work collaboratively & individually.
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| Time Allotment: |
1 class period. 30 Min. per class.
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| MATERIALS AND RESOURCES | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Standards: |
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| Assessment/Rubrics: |
Students will be assessed acording to their participation, understanding of what is taking place, and their ability to follow directions throughout the group activity.
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