Sunday, March 31, 2013

Spring Sale


I'm having a two-day sale at my Teachers Pay Teachers® store. All products are 20% off on March 31st and April 1st, 2013.

Featured products:

I Love Spring Literacy and Math is a packet of literacy and math activities. It also includes 3 literacy and 3 math centers. Check out the entire series of I Love holidays and seasons. I created these specifically for FIRST GRADE.

Spring into Math Story Problems Additon includes math story problems with a SPRING theme. Differentiate instruction with different math problem types and a range of numbers for each story problem. I also have Spring into Math Story Problems Subtraction.

Earth Day Celebration Literacy Activities includes writing activities to celebrate EARTH DAY. Your students can practice literacy skills while learning about Earth Day. Literacy centers include making sentences, compound words, opposites, and contractions.


Our study of spring includes learning about life cycles of plants and animals. The Chicken Life Cycle Booklet is a FREE download. It's a great nonfiction writing activity.


Happy Easter, everyone!

Sale graphics by KPM Doodles and Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah Designs.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Pigs: Learning, Reading, and Writing About Them

This week we read If you Give A Pig A Pancake by Laura Numeroff.


I told my students that I was excited about this week, because we would be reading this story, and they would be doing lots of fun activities with it. We would even be learning some things about pigs.

As soon as I said "pigs," they all started laughing. I asked them why they were laughing, and they said, "Because pigs are funny!" Their responses to my question, "What is so funny about pigs?":

"They have funny, curly tails."

"They like to be dirty."

"They roll in the mud."

"They make funny noises." {Of course, they all started oinking and snorting.}

"Their noses are funny, too!"

Each year, my students do a study of pigs along with this story. An abundance of stories can be found with pig characters. But, I also have the students read non-fiction books about pigs. They're really quite fascinating creatures to study.

I begin with Pigs by Gail Gibbons. I think her non-fiction books for children are some of the best.


It's just filled with interesting information about pigs and written in a way that first graders can understand. 

My favorite non-fiction pig book and a favorite of my students is Pig by Jules Older.


This book also has a variety of information in it, and it's told in a humorous way. The children learn about different kinds of pigs around the world, pig trivia, pig vocabulary words, and even take some quizzes. The children love the humor and are completely engaged when listening to the book. The illustrations are large, simple, and colorful.

After listening to these two books, the children had so much to say about pigs. They couldn't wait to start writing. I was amazed at what they were able to write about pigs.

I used writing printables from the packet, Writing About Pigs.








The printables in the packet can be used for a study of pigs or a thematic unit on farm animals. Click below to visit my store and download for FREE.