Measuring with Nonstandard Units

 We recently did a fun measuring lesson that I wanted to share.  It was a simple, fun lesson that packed a punch.  Students really got the concept.

Objective:  Students will measure the same object with units of two different lengths and describe how and why the measurements were different.   (TEKS 1.7C)

We watched the read aloud "How Big is a Foot?" by Rolf Mylier on youtube since I didn't have the book.  

I made feet template, one for the King's foot and one for the apprentice's foot.  We used the feet to visualize the bed size while reading the book.  When we finished the read aloud, we measured a couple of things in the room with the feet and discussed why the measurements were different.  NOTE:  Scroll down to the bottom of this post to get the link for the footprints if you want to print them.  

I then gave students two different measuring tools.  We used pretzel sticks and cereal.  

Students measured several things in their boxes and then the length of their desks.  I used the recording sheet I had from First Grade Math Unit 14 Standard Nonstandard Measurement Activities that I purchased on TpT from Miss Giraffe.  If you have purchased anything from her, then you know her stuff is wonderful!

At the end of the lesson, I put a question on the board for them to answer.  They just flipped over their worksheet and wrote on the back.

I've attached the link for the footprints and added a couple recording sheets.  I thought this might be fun to do with pretzel sticks and Cheese Its™ and I also included a copy with no measurement units in case you wanted to add your own.

Measuring with Nonstandard Units Activity

Happy Teaching Friends!

Poetry ~ First Grade Style!

I wanted my students to write a poem with rhythm and they did not disappoint.

This activity was simple and we got it done in about 45 minutes from start to finish (including a little mini lesson on rhythm in poetry).

I provided a link at the end where you can grab this.

*For my Texas teaching friends:

  1st grade TEKS for this activity are 1.9B, 1.11A, 1.11B, 1.11E, 1.12A, 1.2F

(If you want to see what those TEKS are the click on the following link: Texas 1st Grade TEKS)

Here are a few of my first grader's poems with rhythm, repetition and onomatopoeia.

This last one is a little hard to read.  It says:

dirt bike on the road

dirt bike on the road

rrr    rrr

rrr   rrr

dirt bike on the road

If you would like to grab this to do with your class, click on the picture below.

Happy Teaching!

Nonfiction Writing: Texas Symbols

Hi Friends!
I know it's been awhile since I posted anything here and there is a reason.  This school year, I moved to a new town and a new school.  I now teach first grade at Woodland Heights Elementary in Brownwood, Tx.  I have been busy adjusting to a new house, new school, and  making supplemental activities for the new Into Reading HMH adoption.  I have been saving some things that I have been doing with my class (my camera roll on my phone is FULL) to share with you when I get a chance and that is what I am here to do today.

This past week, we were learning about Texas Symbols and I needed to get in some nonfiction writing so I combined the two.
Here is a finished product from one of my firsties:

We completed these in one week.  

On Monday, I went over the nonfiction features we would put in our book.  These were:  

Title Page, Table of Contents and a "fun fact" that needed to be included on at least one symbol.

I used two nonfiction books that had these features and we went over them.

On Tuesday, we read about Texas symbols. I used a  PowerPoint I purchased on TpT by Cheryl Martin.  If you are interested in the one I used, you can check it out HERE.

Then, I had the students fold a piece of white paper into fourths and draw 4 symbols they wanted to write about.  (To save time, as they were working, I went around and spelled/wrote the name of their symbol for them)  Here are a few samples of our prewriting:

On Wednesday and Thursday, we wrote our books.

On Friday, my students shared their booklets with each other.

You can grab a copy of the booklet by clicking on the picture below.

Happy Teaching!

Retelling using ChatterPix

We recently read the story "The Tree" that is in our Journeys reading basil.  It is a chapter from the book "Poppleton Forever."

First, I had my first graders write sentences telling what happened at the beginning, middle and end of the story.

The students then got out the ipads and used the 

ChatterPix Kids app to retell and share their writing.

Here are a few examples:

Happy Teaching!