What We Have Been Up To in 1 & 2

Yup, you read that right.....1 & 2! A couple of days before school started, I was offered a 1 & 2 combo/multi-age/split (whatever you want to call it) class.  I have heard, "Oh, I am so sorry!"  "I will be praying for you."  "Bless you."  While those people meant well, they were wrong.   I was so excited at the offer, I JUMPED at the chance and have loved the first two weeks of school.  I am not going to sugar coat it, it has been very hectic and I am already playing catch up.  Remember I said this happened a couple of days before school, so I didn't have long to move classrooms, color code everything and plan!  Plan....yikes!

One of the BIG plusses of having a combo class is the kids!  (My 18 students were pretty much hand picked......ssshhhhhh, don't tell anyone!) I love having many of the same students as last year.  They AND their parents were just as excited as me.  I was a little worried how the parents would feel about a combo class.  So far, they are all VERY happy!  I have 9 first graders and 9 second graders.  All of which are hard working, well behaved, good students.  Right now I am integrating as much as I can.  Like I said, PLANNING is the biggest obstacle.  It is a good thing I am slightly extremely OCD.  Daily 5 Reading and Math Stations are my friends and saviors!  They will allow me to spend time with each individual grade level once we become independent with them.

Since I have been so busy playing catch up, I have done very little creating.  All of the things you are about to see are ideas from other teachers I found on Pinterest, blogs or TPT!   I am trying to be very creative so my second graders don't feel like they are doing something they did last year.  (With the exception of Zero the Hero....they were appalled when I suggested they would be doing something different during Calendar Math time!)

Like all of you, we focused on rules and procedures the first week.  I used a No, David! activity from Angie Neal at Fall Into First's .  You can find it for FREE on TPT {HERE}.

 I made tracers from the templates.  The kids used construction paper to trace and create most parts of their Davids.  They did the mouth and teeth on their own! Their personalities really showed through!

Check out Rule #2....Don't take your shirt off.   For the record, we did not discuss this as a classroom rule!  Maybe I should talk the her Kindergarten teacher.  Lol!

Last week our theme was COLORS.  Our main texts were The Day the Crayons Quit, The Crayon Box That Talked and Yesterday I Was Blue.  

If you have not read The Day the Crayons Quit, you should!  It is fantabulous!  One of the activities we did after reading The Day the Crayons Quit was to write letters to a crayon apologizing and telling them how we would meet their demands!   This activity, along with many others can be found {HERE} and {HERE}.

My new classroom has a lack of wall space, so I am using every inch I can find!

Then we read Yesterday I Had the Blues and did a colors feelings activity I got from Lyndsey at A Year of Many Firsts.  Check out her blog post {HERE}.  (We will be using her You're Quite a Character unit this week!)
Sorry about the poor pics, you know how hectic it is and you quickly snap a few pictures when you have 2 extra seconds!

I was blown away by their ideas.  I mean, come on....stoked! That was one of my first graders.  Guess it is because we are a beachside school and surfing is a huge part of their lives!

Okay, I am off to PLAN and add more to my already stuffed TPT cart!  Have a great 3 day weekend!
Meredith