Space and Currently

Two weeks ago, we had a story in our Reading Street series that I hate very much dislike.  It's not that there is anything wrong with it, but I think it's boring and a little out there.  So,  the other first grade teacher in my building and I decided to come up with our own plan for the week.  We decided since The Lady in the Moon was about the moon, we would come up with something about the moon.  Well, our idea grew into teaching a mini-unit on space.  We still taught the skills from the book, but supplemented tons of other space ideas.  We did two days of center activities.  I planned 4 centers and so did she, then I taught my students at centers the first day, and hers the second day.  Clear as mud, right?  
The kiddos LOVED this unit and I am so glad we decided to change things up.  One of the centers we did was what I named Race Through Space.  It is a version of a dice game that we have done with students before, but with a space theme.  I have a couple of sets of big foam dice and students thought I was extra cool for letting them use them.  (It's the little things, right?)  You can see how they filled in the sheet in this picture.  

Would you like a copy?  Great- here you go.  Just click here to download a free copy.

We played another center that I named Words from Earth or Mars?  We talk about nonsense words when we do our Michael Heggerty Phonemic Awareness and AIMSWeb testing, so I want students to be able to tell the different between real and made-up words.  I wrote out a bunch of our sight words and nonsense words on sentence strips and had students sort them in a pocket chart.  I made students choose a job- we had a Secretary from Mars (to record Mars words), a Secretary from Earth (to record Earth words), and two Word Hunters (they had to take turns pulling words from the bucket).  All the students had to reach an agreement before the word was added to pocket chart and the correct secretary had to add the word to his/her list before the next word was pulled.  I was amazed at how smoothly this center ran- the students did an awesome job sorting words and getting along.  I would offer you the recording sheet, but I can't seem to find where I saved it.  If you want it, just leave a comment or send me a message and I will get it to you when I find it.  

Everyone's favorite center during this rotation, was the Alien Make-Over.  We printed each students' picture out and then he/she cut out the face.  They glued it down and then went to town creating an alien version of themselves.  The students loved using glitter glue, goggly eyes, and stickers. (Who wouldn't???)  They turned out so stinking cute!  We also had each student fill out a star with an "I wish..." phrase on it.  We also let the students decorate the mural and then put it in the hallway.  

Does anyone else have any cool space ideas for next year? 

 I'm definitely taking the boring suggested story out of my rotation again next year.  

I'm also Linking Up with Farley from Oh' Boy 4th Grade for this month's Currently.  

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Book Look Freebie

My class does learning centers at least once a week.  This is an easy time for me to get small groups reading while other students are engaged (and quiet).  One center I often have is a listening center.  In my classroom I have 3 iPod touches and 1 iPad, so my students use them for listening center.  I use TumbleBooks, available free through our local library.  You can also find lots of books on YouTube, but I only use those on the SmartBoard so that kids don't click on any not-so-great links.  
In the past, I have instructed my students on one must-watch book and then they could pick others if there was time left.  This was working okay, but I wanted to make sure that my students were getting something out of this center.  So, this weekend I sat down and make a couple of reflection pages.  I think I will let students chose which sheet they want to fill out.  This will teach them to reflect on stories they read, not just rush through them.   If you are interested, you can find them on my Teachers Pay Teachers account, for only $1.  Great, huh?  
Since I'm so new to this and I'm trying to get some followers, I am giving away one of these packets to anyone who leaves a comment!  If you would love to have one, just leave me a comment and tell your favorite book to read to students.  
 Thanks and enjoy!Pin It