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Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Contraction Activities {First Grade}

You're never going to believe it: MORE SNOW is coming my way.  I would like to act like it bothers me that I'm going to spend the first part of June in a school building, but let's be honest - the last week of school is always fluff anyway, so I'm okay with a few extra days at the end of the year.  My motto: embrace the snow. I can't control the weather, so why complain about it?

Anyways...

We've been working on the not-contractions the past few days in language arts, and as nerdy as it sounds, I've really liked teaching it!  

I started with the chart pictured below.  I wrote the little poem at the top, which we've been reciting each day as reminder about what a contraction is.  I showed them how you can substitute the 'o' with an apostrophe for every one except "cannot."  We used green painters tape to eliminate the 'o' and then the students volunteered to write the contraction to complete the "contraction equation."


We also played Contraction Kid Match-Up.  I gave each student a pre-printed name tag with either a contraction on it or the two words that make the contraction (if you want the Word doc, email me!).  Then, they had to search the room for their partner.  Once they matched up, the students returned to me and I gave them a paper "contraction kid" to decorate and to put their name tag on.  We hung them up on our cubbies as a visual reminder of the not-contractions.  The kids LOVED finding their match and it was a great physical reminder {for those kinesthetic learners!} that 2 words make up a single contraction.  I thought they turned out pretty stinkin' cute :)


Of course, we're also doing contraction activities in one of our literacy centers.  I stole this idea from the amazingly creative Sarah Cooley of First Grader...at Last!.  I purchased the cupcakes from our local school supply store.  I also made a recording sheet for my students to use.  You can download it by clicking the picture below.


I also made a contraction memory game.  You can also download it by clicking the picture below. 

Lastly, to ensure their learning, the students completed a quick contraction quiz.  You can download it by clicking the picture below.


* * * * *

Some other exciting things going on in first grade lately have included:

More of Deanna Jumps' Snow Unit & timelines in math. {Does anyone dislike Everyday Math as much as I do?!  It bounces around so much it drives me bananas!!!}


Deanna, if you're reading: EVERYONE has complimented this activity!  They are DARLING!
{As always, please let me know if a link isn't working!  You can always email me for a document, too!!  I'd also love to hear if you have any great contraction activities!!!!!}

Happy Wednesday and, if you're in the midwest: Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!!!

38 comments:

Jamie said...

CUTE activities as always!

Ginger Snaps said...

very cute contraction ideas! I also love the Snowglobe bulletin board. Adorable!

lovetwoteach said...

Everyday Math drives me bonkers!!!! Today I was teaching greater than, less than, and equal. All of a sudden they threw two digit numbers of animal weight. Seriously! Teach us two digit addition first! Ugghhh!

Ms. Durning said...

I have my kids perform contraction surgery. I have them write the word on a strip of paper (or you can have them preprinted). I also have the kids wear latex gloves to dramatize it and when I tell them to perform surgery they cut the word apart and "sew" it back together with an apostrophe (flip the vowel over and just write an apostrophe). The kids love this activity. I submitted this lesson last year to Mailbox Magazine and it was published in the grade 2-3 edition.

www.msdurning.blogspot.com

Anna & Kirby said...

...love the cute ideas! I am a first grade teacher as well, but we teach from a scriped program (SRA Imagine-It) and so we don't get to use our creativity much anymore. Boo...

Cristy Wagner said...

Love, love, LOVE the timeline. I always find it a hard concept for kinders to understand of day before or day after. This is a great idea. I am going to try it out in my clare toss. I will make sure to give you a shout out. Good luck with the remodel. It's going to look fabulous.

You have inspired me to give blogging a try. Check it out and give me your feedback. Thanks.

www.krazy4kinders.blogspot.com

megandw said...

Totally agree about Everyday Math! In kindergarten, just about every lesson is something different. I try so hard to provide continuity for my little kinders!

Oh...and Teen Mom 2...love, love, love it!

Rachelle said...

Just downloaded all of your activities for contractions!!! L.O.V.E!

-Rachelle
www.whattheteacherwants.blogspot.com

MrsKinne said...

Contractions are one of my favorite things to teach! We do "Word Surgery" where we cut apart words and "stitch" the parts back together with a contraction. Of course, we all wear doctor's hats while we do this. :)

Anonymous said...

Everyday Math drives me nuts! I hate the questions that ask who has more money then ask how much more. We have never even taught that! grrr...

Cara Carroll said...

GIRL.FRIEND. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!!! Cute as always my friend!! Your downloads rock my face off! THANK YOU!! <3

Kristen said...

I really really love the contractions activities--thank you SO much for sharing them! I know they will be a hit with my ELL students!

Thanks again!

http://ladybugsteacherfiles.blogspot.com/

Kristen said...

I absolutely love the contraction activities, I'll be printing them tonight! Thank you so much, they will be a big hit with my students! :) :) :)

http://ladybugsteacherfiles.blogspot.com/

Elisabeth said...

I love all your contraction activities!! TOOOO CUTE!!! We have been working with contractions this week.. boy you make me feel like a slacker! ha I would love the template for the contraction kids if you wouldn't mind sharing. That is too stinking cute! My email address is edelk@allonselementary.com
I love your blog! Thanks for sharing!!

Mrs. Ibarra said...

Love the contraction kids! Our Language Arts program reviews them every few weeks...guess what I'll be doing =) Thanks for sharing!

Anonymous said...

SUPER CUTE! I actually liked EDM when I taught first grade. For some reason I am terrible at math, but I always felt like I can teach it better than other subjects. I know I am in the minority b/c all the teachers at my school didn't like it either.

California Wife said...

I absolutely LOVE all of your stuff, you're so creative!!

I made similar snow globes with my kids, but used clear plastic dessert plates, and hot glued then around the edge to give a "globe" effect. You can then put glitter, snowflake confetti, or hole punches under the plate before you glue it so when they shake it the snow falls like an actual globe. They turned out really cute, and it wouldn't be hard at all to add to your current project for next year. : )

I hope your snow day comes!!!

Janine said...

Your contraction activities are perfect!

Anonymous said...

Love your contraction ideas! Could you pleae email me the template for the contractions kids? My email address is questions0882@yahoo.com.

Gina said...

I want L to have you for a teacher!!

I pretend to complain about snow days too but I am secretly thrilled (we have another one tomorrow!)...part of the reason is because parent drop-off duty is much less painful in the pretty weather!

absees123s said...

Thank you so much for sharing! I love your ideas and know we'll be using them as we review contractions..like all year long..AAGGGHHHH, lol. I would love to have the word document for the name tags if possible...my email is:

ellisonc1@k12tn.net or absees123s@aol.com

Thanks so much!

Lisa said...

I LOVE all your contraction activities!! It's something the kids always have trouble getting a good understanding of, but I know they will love all your ideas! Can't wait to use them! Could you email me the word doc for the contraction kid match-up?
And I totally agree about Everyday Math :(
Thanks so much for all your fabulous ideas!

shannon said...

Oh Abby, how I am enjoying your blog! I feel like I need some therapy however as I have become addicted to looking at blogs! I tried to download your activities but all of the text was just black blurry lines - can you help???
thanks,
Shannon

Abby said...

Shannon, when you see the google doc, look on the lefthand side for "file." Click on that and then click on Print (PDF) and see if that works! Let me know!

Rikki said...

I would love a copy too!
rikkileeusu@yahoo.com

shannon said...

Abby, Thanks for getting back to me so quickly - I tried that but it still was blurry. Could you email it to me and let me see if that works?
grahams2@k12tn.net
Thanks so much!
Shannon

Kristen said...

Abby,
Thanks for the comment and passing my blog on to your ESL teacher :)
I just wanted to say I absolutely love your blog and look forward to reading it with each new post. Thanks again!

Anonymous said...

I LOVE the contraction kid match up! That is so cute! I teach Kindergarten so I'm thinking of ways to incorporate this into my lessons next week! Thanks!!

Unknown said...

I would love a copy of your name tags. Thank you.

g8tr410@yahoo.com

Miss Trayers said...

You always post the most fabulous ideas! I'm going to have to change my plans for tomorrow...:) Thank you so much for sharing!

Sarah said...

Stumbled upon your blog and love it. I'm teaching contractions this week and would love it if you could email the word doc for the pre printed name tag.

Thanks...can't wait to read more

nifty484 at gmail.com

Anonymous said...

Love these ideas! Can you please email me the template for the contraction kids? Thanks!
meghanschaefer@gmail.com

Anonymous said...

Hi Abbey, thanks so much for all your resources! I'm downloading like crazy :) Love love love your blog, will definitely keep following :)

Malarie said...

Hi Abby, I linked this blog post from mine today. I hope that's ok! I love all of your helpful tips and creative ideas!

www.youcanmakethesunshineanytime.blogspot.com

Julie said...

Thanks so much for the cute ideas!! It helps so much seeing new ways to teach things. I don't know if you've used a game like this or not, but I used one in math for addition and have seen them with compound words. I made one with contractions and thought I'd share! Also, do you have a template for the contraction kids? so cute! I'll email the game to you b/c i don't have a blog!

Lori said...

I really enjoyed looking at all your ideas for contractions. I even dowloaded to the memory game to to try out with my kids. Thanks so much for sharing your wonderful ideas!!

Anonymous said...

I came looking for some ideas for a formative assessment on contractions. I LOVE what you have posted! I like the font, I like that there isn't too much decoration on the quiz, and I like that the words are very 1st-grade appropriate and that the kiddos have to construct and deconstruct the contractions. Thank you so much for making this and so many other cute ideas available.

Sheila said...

Thanks so much for the great ideas! Could you email me the word doc for the contraction kid match-up?
alarcon_sheila@hotmail.com