A-Z Mysteries and Seeds!

You know that super smarty I wrote about in yesterday's post?  I went to three libraries trying to get some good chapter books for him.  I decided on the A-Z Mysteries series by Ron Roy.  Of course, the library nearest to me didn't have the "A" book... so I searched and searched until I found it.  I wanted to get the first couple of books early so I could make some comprehension questions and activities to go along with the chapters.  As I was reading the books to get some ideas together, I just kept thinking that these books are probably too easy for him.  But, we'll try them!

I also think it's really important that he understands all those big words I'm having him read.  So, I made up a set of word cards with matching definition cards for him to sort.  I'll have the tricky words be his sight words for the week so he has something a little more challenging to work with.  :)  I even might make those tricky words his spelling words.  He will also be getting his own journal prompts that go along with the books.  Wowzas!  I think I have his Reading lessons figured out!  Yippeeee!

If you want to check out the 99 pages of awesomeness that I made him, I added it to my TpT store.  :)

On a different note, we're learning about plants in Science.  I'm SO excited because I can add in some cutesy pumpkin books and activities with the unit!  I also saw that you can put soil in a cut open pumpkin and the pumpkin will start growing!  I originally saw it on Pinterest and it led me back to this blog.   You don't have to scoop anything out... just cut that little baby open, dump some soil in, and water.  Voila!  Plants! She did mention that you use a little pumpkin pie pumpkin.  I'm definitely going to try it with my kiddos!  Maybe we can do a little experiment and see if it will work with a big pumpkin too.  Why not, right? :)

I found some super cute "seed" books at the library.  If anyone is doing a Living Things/Plant/Seed unit... these would be helpful!

This book gives a lot of information about living things - plants, animals, where they live, and how they grow and change.

 I'm trying REALLY hard to read non-fiction books more often this year.  The students have to do so much with them with the new CCSS... so, even though I prefer cute rhymes and pretty pictures, I'll read informational text.  This book tells about how a seed turns into a plant.  VERY informational!

This book is about two friends who plant seeds in their community garden, give them what they need, and watch them grow!  It's very informative but also has the cute pictures that I love! 

Here are my cute rhymes and pretty pictures!  This book might have a tad bit too much information for a first grader... but, it goes over the basics, too!  Sometimes I worry about "overwhelming" their brains with too much info.  But, who doesn't love Dr. Seuss?!

This last one is about how seeds travel to different places.  I know for sure that our Science book has a lesson on this.  I got the book hoping that I could make the lesson more fun.  For some reason, my kids always walk away from the lesson only knowing that dogs can move seeds to new places.  :)


Time to figure out exactly what I'm teaching the other 19 students I have! Thanks for stopping by!