Plants, Polygons, and Circus... Oh My! {Five for Friday}

It has been a long, but good week. I'm joining in with Doodlebugs Teaching for Five for Friday again this week.

1 - First up, I had my solo week for my second placement this week.... Man am I tired. (But on one note, one of the little cuties went to my cooperating teacher and asked if she was going to teach again. When she said yes, he looked at her and said "Oh darn" {melts my heart}).

2 - We started our study on plants this week. I made a need/have/give anchor chart with the students over the course of a couple of days. They surprised me by how much they already knew about plants. They came up with everything on the chart, with a little guidance that plants need space. 

Here's a picture of the chart we made: (if you click on the picture, it takes you to the blog that I was inspired by - found through Pinterest)

Here's a video I used to help students remember the parts of a plant. I also made up some movements for the students to use this song as a brain/movement break during our Daily 5. I found this video on none other than Pinterest.

Here's another video I used to help students remember the needs of a plant. The kids had fun singing this song and repeating it over and over again.

The last video we watched was a recording of The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle. Someone has uploaded a video of the book pages with the audio of someone reading the text. We used this video to introduce how seeds travel - wind, water, people/animals.

We wrapped up the week by planting marigold seeds for the students to observe the growth of a plant. We also watched the Magic School Bus Gets Planted Video on Discovery Education.

3 - In math, we worked on geometry. We talked about defining attributes and non-defining attributes. We made an anchor chart of 2-D shapes.

We also talked about the differences between polygons and non-polygons. We did a shape sort to create an anchor chart about polygons and non-polygons. I had some shapes sorted on the anchor chart prior to the lesson and had students help me figure out the rules/attributes I used to sort. I wrote the attributes as they were mentioned. I also told students that I remembered that I sorted the shapes into polygon and non-polygon categories and wrote those titles at the top of the chart. Then, all students were given a shape to determine where it belonged on the chart under the polygons or the non-polygons section.

We also used marshmallows and toothpicks to build shapes. Thanks to TpT, I found a fun handout for students to record their shape during the lesson. Click the picture below to go to the TpT freebie.

4 - We had our circus day in first grade. The kids had a blast! We made clown hats using images found on Google and long strips of construction paper. We read circus books. We completed math and literacy centers from my Circus Themed Math and Literacy Centers. 

5 - The last thing I'd like to share is not school related. I have enjoyed watching my little brother play baseball recently. He's a senior in high school who starts for the baseball team. He has recently set a record for the most triples during the high school career at our high school. Last season, he set the single season record for triples. To say I'm a proud big sister is an understatement.

Whew, I was long-winded today. I'm glad you made it through that long post.

-Sami