Daily Language and Grammar for First Grade

For the past 5 years that I've been teaching first grade, I struggled to cover the grammar and language standards. At the beginning of the year, I'd teach that nouns are a person, place, thing, or animal. Students could grasp this pretty well. Then after a couple of months I would teach verbs. Most of the kids could tell the difference between a noun and a verb in a list of words. Then when spring came around, I started teaching adjectives and that is when everything started falling apart. No matter how many times I taught it, they just couldn't differentiate nouns, verbs, and adjectives.

So then I reread the language standards. Nowhere in the first grade standards does it say they should identify them. It says they should USE them. That was my lightbulb moment.

I needed to incorporate teaching the language and grammar skills into my reading and writing instruction. So that is where this resource began. I went through all the standards and put them in an order of difficulty and then made pages that covered all of these skills within reading and writing. I decided that the best way to cover all the skills was to do a daily half sheet. It doesn't take a lot of time, but the skills are reinforced over and over. 

At the beginning of each week, I give students a new booklet with the weeks' pages. Each day we do one page and at the end of the week, they take them home. The kids like it because it has kid-friendly language and I like it because they are engaged and it doesn't take a lot of time. Most of all, they are finally learning those language and grammar skills - the ones in the standards that is!

There are 4 units, one for each quarter of the school year. For each page you have a page to project and a page for the students to follow along. The projection page also has a key so you can check your work. Or if you have the students do it independently, you can put it up for them to check their own work. 

The bundle has an exclusive grammar posters set included! Click here to see it!

Download this freebie and get a free page from each unit!

Grammar and Language Freebie

September Ideas and Activities for 1st Grade and a FREEBIE!

It's SEPTEMBER! We are already a month into the school year. I can't believe it, but we sure have been busy in 1st grade! Here are some of the things we've been doing! 

Sentence building is always a great guided reading activity at the beginning of the year. I left words out of the sentence, and they helped me fill them in. Writing on a table? Really? It is dry erase and wipes right off!

Our reading/phonics series reintroduces the letters at the beginning of the year, but my students always need extra handwriting practice, especially on those b's and d's and basement letters. The Handwriting House is a great visual for kids to see where their letters should be placed on the lines. Click here to see these resources in my store!

We always read and do some fun activities with apples in September, so this BUMP game is perfect. BIG dice make it extra fun! The numbers are on the leaves so they can see them even when the apple is covered to bump off their opponent. I do this in small groups at first until they learn how to play, and then it becomes a center. Click here to see this seasonal resource!

We have a whole school initiative this year to improve sight word fluency. This Sight Word Phrase resource uses simple, high frequency, and irregularly spelled sight words in phrases and short sentences to practice them in context. The kids love to check off the boxes when they have read them! Click here to see in my store.  

We haven't done a ton of writing yet, mostly modeling and filling in the blanks but this Fall Writing Pack has fun story picture starters. Click to see it here.

One of my favorite activities for early finishers and as a reward for hard work is Write the Room. The kids get so excited when I say we're going to hunt! This is from the September version, but I have one for each month of the year. They are editable so you can use the skills I have included, or enter your own. At the very beginning of the year, we do it together in a pocket chart with the kids using clipboards on their laps while sitting on the carpet. Great for centers too! Click here to see them in my store! 

Write the Room Freebie!

I hope you have an awesome September and year!

August Back to School Ideas for 1st Grade - plus a FREEBIE!

It's time to go back to school! What curriculum are you using? How about centers? Have you thought about morning work? If you're drawing a blank, here are some things I'll be using!

At the beginning of the year, all of my students use the same morning work. I am getting to know them and them me. I want morning work to be independent but they will need help getting started. Here are some of the choices in my Customizable Morning Work for 1st Quarter. 

I put 4 on a page which takes 15-30 minutes to complete with a spelling practice page on the back. Perfect for me to take attendance and take care of allllllllllllll those morning tasks that pop up! 
Here's what one of the pages looks like.  

I have included a checklist so I don't use the same pages twice when choosing morning work. 

Click Customizable Morning Work to see this in my store! 

We start off the year subitizing, then adding using pictures, and then number bonds 5-10. My Headfirst Math Curriculum has made planning and teaching math a snap! 

Click Headfirst Math Curriculum Unit 1 to see them in my store! 

At the beginning of the year, I teach a lot of repeated centers that I use throughout the year. 

Click Editable August Learning Hunts to see these in my store! 

 

My students love these play-doh mats. Enter your own words! Click Editable Play-doh Mats to see them in my store. 

Simple but fun! Click to see Alphabet Soup Magnet Letter Center in my store!

Cars make reading so much fun!
Click Phonics Parking Lot to see in my store!

Using QR Codes and a tablet with a QR Code reader, kids can read and write CVC words. Click Phonics QR Codes to see in my store!

My students really like this center. I have cards for each month of the year. I start out with APPLES! We practice counting every day during math and this is a great way for them to practice independently. Click 120 Chart Cards to see them in my store! 

Have a great August!

Phonics Parking Lot Freebie