Friday Featured Freebies - Veterans Day

 

This week's Friday Featured Freebies focuses on Veterans Day!

 Art with Jenny K. has a fun collaborative flag project.  Pair the flag with student writing for a beautiful hall or bulletin board display. 

Send a poster to a soldier currently serving or veteran! You can find this heart craft and 10 more Veterans Day crafts HERE.

Read alouds are such a fun way to teach students new information. The Poppy Lady explains why poppies are so important for remembering our veterans.   Crafty Morning has so many poppy crafts that your firsties can create.  Directed drawings are fantastic for firsties also.  Go HERE for a video on how to draw poppies.

Add these Military Branch Puzzles from Fantastic Fun and Learning to your Veterans Day stash! 

Let your firsties read about Veterans Day on their own with this Emergent Reader from A Dab of Glue Will Do. 

Create anchor charts with your firsties to help "anchor" their learning about Veterans Day!

Veterans Day Book and Video List

Sometimes understanding what Veterans Day is all about can be difficult for young ones.  Read alouds and videos are perfect in a virtual or traditional setting for introducing firsties to new information. I've compiled a list of some of my favorite  Veterans Day books and videos to help stock your classroom library.

Veterans Day Books

VETERANS HEROES IN OUR NEIGHBORHOOD 

What's it about?  Veterans: Heroes in Our Neighborhood is an engaging rhyming picture book for readers of all ages that fosters mindfulness of and appreciation for the brave service men and women who are also our family, friends, and neighbors.  These are the men and women who bravely served our great country and now humbly serve in our communities.

THE POPPY LADY

What's it about? When American soldiers entered World War I, Moina Belle Michael, a schoolteacher from Georgia, knew she had to act. Some of the soldiers were her students and friends. Almost single-handedly, Moina worked to establish the red poppy as the symbol to honor and remember soldiers. And she devoted the rest of her life to making sure the symbol would last forever. Thanks to her hard work, that symbol remains strong today. Author Barbara Elizabeth Walsh and artist Layne Johnson worked with experts, primary documents, and Moina's great-nieces to better understand Moina's determination to honor the war veterans.

****Pair this book with the directed drawing video below for a lesson on the meaning of poppies and our veterans. Huge confession:  I was never taught about poppies and didn't learn about this special symbol until I was an adult!  Let's teach our firsties and carry on the tradition early in life!

H IS FOR HONOR

What's it About? Written by the son of a career officer, this book explores the branches of the Armed Services and speaks from the heart about the honor, privileges and sacrifices of military families everywhere. Children will discover why drill sergeants have to be so tough, what it means to be patriotic and why we need Special Forces such as the Navy SEALS, the Green Berets and the Army Rangers. H is for Honor also explains why the annual Army/Navy football game is more than just a game, how much letters from home mean to soldiers, how often military families have to move and what life on base is like. With an underlying message of courage and commitment that every child can relate to, the book will be especially meaningful to those whose parents, siblings or other relatives serve in the Armed Forces.

GRANDDAD BUD

What's it about? When a young boy's great-grandfather comes to his school to talk about Veterans Day, the boy is unsure what to expect. Why exactly do we celebrate Veterans Day - and will his classmates be interested in what Granddad Bud has to say?

HERO MOM

What's it about?  The moms in the book are superheroes. They may not leap over tall buildings, and they may not have super-human speed. But these moms construct buildings, fly planes, and make tanks roll. They do all kinds of things to help create a safer world. These superheroes are moms. Military moms. Hero moms.

HERO DAD

What's it about?  A boy compares his father, a U.S. soldier, to a superhero. 

THE WALL

What's it about?  

A young boy and his father visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. 

Veterans Day Videos 

Veterans Day by Kid History

Sesame Street Veteran's Greeting

Veterans Day Poppy Song

How to Draw Poppies

Weekly Dollar Deal - Halloween Creative Writing Project

This week's dollar deal is perfect if you need a fun Halloween activity.  The creative writing project comes with a week long lesson plan or you can choose to just use the quick write activity.  Within the unit you will find a list of my favorite Halloween books, ideas for anchor charts and how to help students generate their own ideas for writing.   Here is a peek at the unit:

You can grab the unit HERE.

Friday Featured Freebies

 

This week's Friday Featured Freebies will focus on free digital activities.  

1.  Our first freebie is a GIVEAWAY.  You can enter for a chance to win a $60 TPT gift card!  You could find lots of digital resources with that gift card!!!

.

Go HERE to enter!

2. I think this next freebie is my FAVE!  The Techie Teacher has compiled a collection of Virtual Math Manipulatives.  It so child friendly and easy to use.  Students choose the manipulative they want to use and click on the picture. 

 

3.  First Grade Buddies and Company take you through the steps of creating digital resources from your print resources. 

4. You can find lots of FREE Boom cards Boom Learning. Go to the top of the page and click on STORE.  Type in your subject matter in the search box and click enter.  All of the cards associated with that subject will pop up.  Click on the drop down box next to Sort by and select Price - Low to High.  The free decks will be listed first. You can also find Boom cards on TPT!!!  When you download the cards on TPT you will get a link to the cards on Boom Learning.  Below are sets of free Boom cards.

Counting Digital Task Cards

Sentence Sorting

Sight Words

Let me know in the comments if you want me to find freebies for a certain subject, theme, etc.  Happy Friday!!!

Boom Cards...What are They?

 

Have you tried Boom cards??? They are essentially digital task cards that can be used for both traditional and distance learning.

•  All cards are interactive.  The game-like feel of the cards keep students engaged and asking to work on Boom cards often. 
•  All cards are self-grading.  Teachers can access scores immediately and use the data to help drive instruction. This is a huge time saver and we all need more time in our lives.
• All cards are digital and completed individually.  During this time of Covid, Boom cards are an excellent center choice for the traditional classroom so that students are not in close proximity and they are an easily assigned activity for your virtual students.
• Easily differentiate instruction by assigning different decks of cards to students depending on their needs.

Check out the video below! Della Larsen will help you get started!

You can join Boom Learning for free. There are paid options available if you plan on utilizing more often in your classroom or you choose to use with all of your students.  See below.

To get started you can find lots of FREE Boom cards. Go to the top of the page and click on STORE.  Type in your subject matter in the search box and click enter.  All of the cards associated with that subject will pop up.  Click on the drop down box next to Sort by and select Price - Low to High.  The free decks will be listed first. You can also find Boom cards on TPT!!!  When you download the cards on TPT you will get a link to the cards on Boom Learning. 

Watch for my FRIDAY FEATURED FREEBIES  post this Friday.  I will be focusing on free digital resources and will include several Boom cards. In the meantime you can grab my Sentence Sense Boom Cards for FREE.

Include some play in your digital teaching!!! Your babies will love you and the cards!!!

Friday Featured Freebies

 

1. Mummy Writing Template:  Such a fun way to write about a book!

You can find this fun FREE activity HERE over on Primary Theme Park. If you want to keep the theme of mummies going, below are some books that would be fun to read aloud or have available for your students to read.

Mummies in the Morning

Mummies

Where's My Mummy?

The Missing Mummy

2.  Using Mentor texts to teach concepts: 

As a principal I always loved when I popped into the classroom and rich literature was being used to teach concepts!  Head over to Collaboration Cuties to find out how to teach cause and effect, sequencing, alliteration, adjectives, and verbs using The Runaway Pumpkin. Grab this FREEBIE. 

Go to First Grade Fairy Tales to grab a freebie using Where's My Mummy to teach sentence types.  You can purchase Where's My Mummy HERE.

Head over to The Applicious Teacher to see how she uses The Legend of Spookley the Square Pumpkin to teach theme.  If you don't have a copy of the book, you can purchase it here.

The Primary Pack has a sequencing packet for Room on the Broom.  You can purchase the book here.

3. Some fun Halloween Story Starters:

Grab this FREEBIE.

4. Pumpkin Freebies:

First Grade Blue Skies has some fabulous ideas and freebies for a week full of pumpkin fun.  

My hope is that you can use these ideas in both traditional and virtual settings.  If you have a favorite Halloween freebie please share below in the comments!

 

 

Weekly Dinner Menu

 Sunday

Poppyseed Chicken Casserole

Ingredients:

4 boneless chicken breasts

2 cans of cream of chicken soup

Butter

1 sleeve of Ritz Crackers

Poppy Seeds

16 oz sour cream

1.  Cook the chicken breasts.  I prefer to put frozen chicken breasts in the crock pot and cook on low for 4 hours.

2.  Shred cooked chicken.  Huge time saver:  throw in your Mixer and let it do the work.  So much quicker! Spread the chicken in the bottom of a casserole dish.

3.  Mix the soup and sour cream together with a tablespoon of poppy seeds.  Spread the mixture over the top of the chicken.  Sprinkle additional poppy seeds over the top of the mixture.

4.  Crush the Ritz crackers and spread over the top of the sour cream mixture.  Dab with butter across the top. 

5. Bake at 400 for 20 minutes.

I serve with green beans and fresh corn.

Monday

Chili Dogs with Chips and Fruit (Because it's Monday and no one wants to cook!)

Tuesday

Bang Bang Shrimp Pasta

Wednesday

Chicken Quesadillas

Ingredients:

Tortillas

Shredded Colby and Monterey Jack Cheese

Butter

2 Frozen Grilled Chicken Breasts - Our favorite is Members Mark from Sams 

Vigo Yellow Rice

1 cup Frozen Corn

Black Beans

1. Cook rice according to package but add a cup of frozen corn.

2. Cook the chicken according to the package. Once it is done. Slice to place on the quesadillas.

3. Spread butter on half of the tortilla and place in a hot pan.  Place shredded cheese and chicken on half of the tortilla and folder over.  Spread butter on the top side of the tortilla.  Cook until golden brown and flip. Cook until the other side is golden brown.

4.  Slice the quesadilla and serve with rice and black beans.

Thursday

Loaded Potato Soup

1 26-30 oz bag of shredded hashbrowns

42 oz Chicken Broth

1 tbsp of onion powder

1/4 tsp black pepper

1 pkg of cream cheese

Sour Cream

Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Bacon Bits - I purchase the real bacon bits

1. Combine everything in the crockpot except the cream cheese.  Cook on low for 8 hours. 

2. Add the cream cheese the last hour of cooking. I cut the cream cheese into cubes so that it melts easier.

3.  Serve with sour cream, bacon bits, and cheese.

Friday

Out to dinner

Saturday

Oven Baked Pork Chops with Mashed Potatoes 

Ingredients:

Pork Chops

Sour Cream

Seasoned Bread Crumbs

Salt

Pepper

Gold Potatoes

Butter

1.  Bring a pan of salted water to boil.  Add about 2 cups of gold potatoes. Cook for 15 - 20 minutes. Drain and reserve some of the water for later.

2.  Pat the pork chops dry on both sides. Season with salt and pepper.  Top each side of the pork chop with sour cream.  Add bread crumbs to a large freezer bag.  Add one pork chop at a time to coat with crumbs.  Spray a baking sheet with Pam and place the pork chops on the pan. Bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes.

3.  Add the potatoes to your mixer with 2 tbsp of sour cream, 2 tbsp of butter, and a splash of the reserved water.  Season with salt and pepper.   

Serve with vegetable and bread of your choice.

A Halloween Creative Writing Project

I got a little carried away with this creative writing project, but I LOVE it!! Writing is an area that our school is really focusing on this year so my creativity seems to be going in that direction too. :0) Not only is this Halloween writing unit engaging but it will strengthen your students' writing skills. Here is a peek at the unit:

Whose Shoes?

2020 Update:  I have added a quick write activity to the unit and a list of some of my favorite Halloween books. 

If you want to purchase the books I have a post HERE with Amazon links to the books. Happy Halloween!

A Spooktacular List of Halloween Books

Halloween in the first grade classroom is magical!  Firsties love a good Halloween book and I'm right there with them.   Below is a list of some of our faves!  No particular order...they will all crack you up. Use these books to help spark some creative writing in your firsties or read for story time because it's FUN and our children need to know that they can read just to enjoy the story!!!

Even Monsters Need Haircuts

Just before midnight, on the night of a full moon, a young barber stays out past his bedtime to go to work. Although his customers are mostly regulars, they are anything but normal-after all, even monsters need haircuts. Business is steady all night, and this barber is prepared for anything with his scissors, rotting tonic, horn polish, and stink wax. It's a tough job, but someone's got to help these creatures maintain their ghoulish good looks.

Frankenstein

Frankenstein is the scariest of all the monsters in Miss Devel's castle. He can frighten anything―animals, parents, even rocks. Until one night, Miss Devel wakes up and runs downstairs to find that Frankenstein has lost his head.  Such a fun parody of Madeleine.

Bonaparte Falls Apart

Bonaparte is having a tough time. It’s hard for this young skeleton to just hang loose when he can’t keep hold of himself.
 
When he plays catch, his throwing arm literally takes a flyer. Eating lunch can be a real jaw-dropping occasion. How can he start school when he has so many screws loose?

Luckily, Bonaparte hit the bone-anza when it came to his friends. Franky Stein, Black Widow, and Mummicula all have some boneheaded ideas to help pull him together. But will it be enough to boost his confidence and get him ready for the first day of school?

The Halloweiner

Oscar is a little dog with a big problem -- he gets more tricks than treats because other dogs tease him all the time. But one brave act on Halloween makes Oscar a Grade-A hero, proving that a little wiener can be a real winner.  Great intro into discussing bullying and being kind to everyone.

Room on the Broom

The witch and her cat are happily flying through the sky on a broomstick when the wind picks up and blows away the witch's hat, then her bow, and then her wand!  Luckily, three helpful animals find the missing items, and all they want in return is a ride on the broom.  But is there room on the broom for so many friends?  And when disaster strikes, will they be able to save the witch from a hungry dragon?

Piggie Pie

Gritch the witch flies to Old MacDonald's farm for some pigs to make piggie pie.       

My Monster Mama Loves Me So

A sweet story of a monster and his mama.  

Brunhilda's Backwards Day

Brunhilda the witch loves making trouble. Each morning, she wakes up on the wrong side of the bed, puts on her ugliest dress, eats spider mush for breakfast, and brushes her teeth with candy. Then she looks in the mirror and happily observes, “You are utterly repulsive!” As soon as she leaves the house, she begins to spread her misery. No one is safe from her rainy-day spells or her wart-growing charms!