Mrs. Wanke's Wonderful Whales: Welcome Back!

Mrs. Wanke's Wonderful Whales: Welcome Back!: We had a little bit of SNOW and some Pumpkin Jack to start our Monday off! Today we played in the "SNOW!"  Mrs. Wanke gave us so...

Doodle Bugs Ditto's Is Having A Sale

 

Check out Doodle Bugs Dittos on December 2 and December 3...15% off select items!

 

Thank You JCPENNY!

 

I got an email today informing me that JCPenny Cares "adopted" my classroom by giving us a $100 grant!  WOW!  I was shocked and excited! 

 

I was able to get...

 

for our writing center!

 

Thank you JCPenny Cares!

 

 

 

 

The Mayflower Voyage

Today we read an article called, Meet the Pilgrims. (Which was from All About Thanksgiving, by Stephanie Stewart.) We answered questions about article by going back and locating the information in the text. Then we compared the information in the article to the information presented in the website below. 

 

Click on the picture to visit the website.

We then made our own maps of the Mayflowers Voyage.  (Also from All About Thanksgiving..I highly recommend the purchase!)

 

 

Lastly, we discussed if we would like to go on the Mayflower.  Most of us said, despite the terrible conditions and leaving everything we have ever known, we would still go on the Mayflower.

 

Four of us have changed our minds since creating our graph.

 

 I then created an online survey for my students families to take so we could analyze the data.  We can't wait to see the results!

 

What would you do?  Fill out our survey below so we can analyze the data! 

 

Would you leave everything and take the voyage on the Mayflower?
	Yes
	No
pollcode.com free polls

 

 

Mrs. Wanke's Wonderful Whales: Pumpkin Jack: Day 18

We love our Pumpkin Jack!

Mrs. Wanke's Wonderful Whales: Pumpkin Jack: Day 18: Well the decomposing of Pumpkin Jack has begun!  One pumpkin is completely flat and the other pumpkin is white and "furry."  YU...

 Do Pumpkin Jack with your students!

 

Special moments before a long night

My daughter is learning her letters...we are on letter E. We thought we would make some E cookies. Since, we are at school until 8:00 tonight for conferences, we don't have to be in until 12...I had some extra time this morning.
We had fun rolling, cutting, and rolling some more. I love these little moments. Great way to start my morning.

Can you tell which one the 2 1/2 year old rolled?

Ready for Conferences

I am so excited to sit down and meet with each of my student's parents tomorrow and Friday. I feel extremely blessed to have each one of their children in my class!

Mrs. Wanke's Wonderful Whales: Pumpkin Jack: Day 6

We are having sooo much fun with Pumpkin Jack!  Click on my classroom blog link below to see picture of our Pumpkin Jack and read some of our Pumpkin Jack Observation Book entries.

If you would like to do the Pumpkin Jack Experiment with your class, I have uploaded the Pumpkin Jack Observation Book and directions for the experiment on my TPT store.

  

Cover

book pages

Mrs. Wanke's Wonderful Whales: Pumpkin Jack: Day 6:   Today is Day 6 of our Pumpkin Jack experiment, and boy has he changed!  We each took turns observing the pumpkin through the foggy, w...

Help Our Class

 

Right now all donations made for $25 or not will enter our class in a drawing for more cash and solid. Please donate if you can.

Mrs. Wanke's Wonderful Whales: Pumpkin Jack: Day 1

Mrs. Wanke's Wonderful Whales: Pumpkin Jack: Day 1:   Pumpkin Jack Experiment Day 1 Here is our Pumpkin Jack experiment box.    We placed two Jack-O-Lanterns into the b...

No GRADING Timed Math Tests

One thing that I feel that I lacked as a 1st and 2nd grade teacher was getting my students to memorize their math facts. I think it is partially due to the fact that I HATE grading timed math tests just as much as I HATE giving them! (I loathed those tests as a child too!) However, with Common Core I NEED to make sure that my students are learning them and I need to hold them and myself accountable. This year I was thrilled with the system my students are using to test, grade, and track their progress all INDEPENDENTLY!


1.  Students work in partners at a fast facts station during guided math

2.  Students get materials. (timer, laminated test, laminated answer key, and graph)   
           

 

3.  Students sit facing each other. One student has answer key, one student has the blank test.
4.  Student with the answer key, starts the time for three minutes.
5.  Student with the test, orally says the answers. The student with the answer key follows along; circling any wrong answers.
6.  Student with the answer key marks where they left off after 3 minutes and reports how many the student got correct.
7.  Student with test marks his graph showing level, date, and number correct.
8.  Students switch roles and repeat.

 



 

 

9.  Once a student has gotten all the problems correct within the time limit, they can move on to the next level. Students get all their materials for the next level.

10.  Teacher can give a paper and pencil test at any point to verify students assessment. :)

Contraction Surgery



Mrs. Wanke's Wonderful Whales: Contraction Surgery:   Our reading group performed contraction surgery today! We had to take two words, cut them apart, and put them back together with ...

Strategic Thinkin' in 1st

 

 

I am in LOVE with this FREE game that I found on TPT!

My class and I had so many good discussions about strategy and probability from one adorable little game.  I was amazed at the thinking my students did...and they are ONLY first graders!

If you want to see what my Wonderful Whales and I did with this game, click on the link below to read my classroom blog: www.wankeswonderfulwhales.blogspot.com 

 

 

Mrs. Wanke's Wonderful Whales: "Sum" Halloween Fun: Yesterday we played a Halloween Addition game. We had to roll a dice. Move that number of spaces, in any direction, on the game board. ...

 

 

 

Click on the picture below to download your free copy and begin strategizing with your firsties! 

 

Mrs. Wanke's Wonderful Whales: We LOVE pizza!

This week we read the boom The Runaway Pizza. We discussed how good readers think about what they read. We added the "tool" (strategy) asking questions to our readers toolbox. We talked about how we ask questions before, during, and after reading. My students even made the connection that when we ask questions before reading we are predicting. Something we learned how to do from the Candy Corn Bandit. (From the Inspiring Apple blog)

To celebrate our hard work we made pizzas that we could eat that would NOT runaway!

Mrs. Wanke's Wonderful Whales: We LOVE pizza!:  After reading the book The Runaway Pizza and working very hard on asking questions before, during, and after reading we decided to ...

The Candy Corn Bandit!

 

I have recently fallen in love with the blog, The Inspired Apple!



   

Through her blog and her awesome TPT store, I found this amazing activity that teaches making predictions.

 

 

My students and I had so much fun with this activity!  Here is the entry off my classroom blog. 

 

*****************************************************************************



 

 

 

 

The Candy Corn Bandit stole Mrs. Wanke's candy!  Mrs. Wanke was very excited to share her jar of Candy Corns with us.  However, when we came back from lunch it was gone!  It it's places...

 

 

  was a letter on our SMART board from the Candy Corn Bandit...

 

 

a Candy Corn Bandit booklets for each of us, a prediction poster, and a clue!

 

 

Before we read the clue, we read the Prediction poster.  We learned that a prediction is a guess you make about the way something might be in the future.

 

Then, we looked at the Candy Corn booklets. On the inside we had to draw what we predicted the Candy Corn Bandit to look like. 

Then, we had to predict three places we thought the candy corns might be.

 

 

Finally it was time to read the first clue!

 

 

 

We made a prediction based upon what we read in clue one.  we predicted the candy would be in the lunch room!

 

When we got to the lunch room...all we found was another clue.  After reading that clue, we predicted that we would find the candy in the gym.

 

When we got to the gym, all we found was another clue.  After reading that clue, we predicted we would find the candy on the play ground.

 

When we got outside, all we found was ANOTHER clue!  After reading that clue, we predicted we would find the candy in the library.

    

 

But, when we got the the library, all we found was ANOTHER clue! Boy oh boy this Candy Corn bandit was causing some trouble!

 

After reading the clue, we predicted we would find the candy in the classroom.

 

When we got to the classroom...what do YOU predict we found?

 

You got it...the CANDY and another clue!

 

 

 

This activity was great for making predictions.  Not only did we predict where the candy would be, we also made predictions about how the bandit was able to pull off this crime, did the bandit have an accomplice, how big was the bandit, and what was the bandits motive. 

 

When we got back to the class, Mrs. Wanke had a light bulb moment.  She said that we could use predictions when we read!  WOW...she is right.  Tomorrow, Mrs. Wanke is going to show us how we can make predictions when we read and how this will help us comprehend what we are reading!

 

SMART about 1.MD.1

As I have begun teaching first again...this time around with Common Core by my side, I eager to create fun SMART board lessons that are aligned to Common Core, but still engaging to the students. 

This week we were working on Common Core standard 1.MD.1.  This standard asks kids to arrange items from smallest to tallest, tallest to smallest, longest to shortest, and shortest to longest.  At first, I thought this was easy.  Then...dun dun dun...I came across this question.

 

Three friends compared how tall they are.  Sasha is taller than Lynn, but shorter than Dawn. Write the friends/ names in order from tallest to shortest.

 

WHAT?!?

 

 

We worked on it for a while, but I decided a SMART lesson was in order.

 

I  came up with this lesson called, Help Pack Billy's Backpack.  In this lesson, students have to choose which supplies go into Billy's backpack based upon clues that are given, similar to the problem above.  If they are correct, the supplies are sucked into Billy's backpack.  If they are wrong, the supplies bounce back out.  On the last slide of the lesson, there is a link to a free worksheet that I created to help assess students understanding.

 

 



First Grade Pinspiration

Well who hasn't been inspired by Pinterest?!

This summer I was pinning away and came across this little gem.  Since my class theme is the Ocean and we are called the Wonderful Whales, I thought this would be super fun and cut to do with my students!

Here is our finished product!  I am super pleased with how it turned out!  The kids loved it too...isn't that what is most important?

 

Check out our classroom blog.

www.wankeswonderfulwhales.blogspot.com