This post contains affiliate links. Contractions can be pretty tricky for first graders to nail down! To make it fun and give my students a bit of scaffolding, I created this free Contraction Conversation Hearts literacy center. Since the “matching” hearts are the same color, the focus is less on students knowing the matches, but…
This post contains affiliate links. Almost every day, my first grade students have a writing “job”. We might be starting a week-long writing project, responding to prompts, adding a new entry into our independent journals, or we could be doing some sort of writing craft! I like to mix it up, but regardless, my students…
This post contains affiliate links. When I teach my first graders in guided reading groups, we almost always start out word work with magnetic letters. I have my metal stove burner covers prepped ahead of time with magnetic letters so all my students have to do is “pull down” the letters needed to make a…
This post contains affiliate links. My first graders are OBSESSED with our mini erasers from Target… maybe even more than me! Is that even possible??? But really, during indoor recess, they just want to sort them, stack them, and put them in piles! To harness all this eraser love, I created this Editable Unicorn Spin…
This post contains affiliate links. Every day my students have plenty of writing opportunities! After putting their things away first thing in the morning, they know their job is to write in their “Morning Journal”. Each day of the week has a guideline: Monday — Weekend update. Tuesday — True story Tuesday. Wednesday —…
This post contains affiliate links. Each day, my first graders complete a few hands-on literacy activities during our reading rotations. Students get to choose what they work on, and I even have some kiddos who take centers home a few nights a week to do for fun with their families– it melts my teacher heart!…
This post contains affiliate links. Although I currently teach first grade, I do occasionally have students move-in from other areas in need of some kindergarten skills. To help these kiddos out, I like to have literacy and math centers on hand that they can do independently and feel successful with! These adorable zoo-themed matching puzzles…
This post contains affiliate links. My first graders are really starting to take flight with their reading and writing, but I’ve noticed lately that some of my kiddos still haven’t quite made it over that tricky B/D and P/Q “hump”. Because I’m somewhat obsessed with centers, I whipped up this quick and easy letter identification…
This post contains affiliate links. Even though my first graders have come such a long way since the beginning of the year, there is still so much room for them to grow their little literacy brains! I wanted to help my kiddos practice their reading and also take notice of the features of print– AKA…