Summer means so many things to so many teachers, and this year for me I plan to build up worthwhile activities for my first graders. There is a lot of small group instruction happening throughout our day. Here is a compilation of new small group and individual ideas that I hope to implement this year. None of these are my creation, and this is just a few of the many. If you have created any of the following ideas I would love to know! I can link everyone up! I have a lot of creating to do this Summer! My dining room is filled with boxes of tag board, construction paper, glue sticks, scissors, binders, file folders, paper clips, etc! An elementary teacher’s dream….
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This is a reading pointer! A fake nail on the end of a Popsicle stick with a dot of hot glue and those first graders will be ready to track as they read! |
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How cute and easy is this idea! I love it! Fractions are so fun. I think I saw this one on the first grade parade. |
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I wish I had this game last year…what a great idea. My first graders knew their tens and ones but weren’t as comfortable manipulating the numbers. I think this would help! |
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Just another way to make adding fun! The “lucky number” is the number on the orange card. If you roll that number than it’s lucky. |
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I know I have seen this one on a number of blogs! |
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The directions are on the red and blue stand…what an easy and fun idea… |
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This is like making words but individualized for word work. I would use this after my students were independent with manipulating sounds and building words. First Grade Parade Again! |
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(sorry it is sideways) They play sight word hopscotch here with a cotton ball..fun and easy. |
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practicing ordinals…the stickers can be anything that appeals to your students…dinosaurs, outer space, cartoon characters etc. |
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This is great for number practice, place value, and inside you can have them make addition or subtraction problems for the number featured on the outside. |
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Parts of Speech Cans. Make and record sentences while teaching parts of speech! Pick a stick of each color and make a silly sentence! |

Awesome resources!! Thank you so much for sharing. Do you have any printable to go with any of the centers? Again, wonderful ideas!!
Thanks for posting at Math Monday!!!
Cindy @ love2learn2day
So inspiring! I'm going to make sandwiches for our sight words for first grade! Thank you!
Just ran across your blog today. LOVE all the great ideas. I just bought some of the large dot cutouts for my wall, but I am going to buy another set to make the cute stand up signs for my stations!
Nicole
http://firstgradeowls.blogspot.com
great ideas! Are the printables somewhere on your site for these great centers?
The ideas shown above come from a large group of teachers and I think blogs too. They were shared at a workshop. I took pictures to remind myself of all the ideas I really liked. I didn't create these ideas so I don't have the printables to share. Wish I could!
Love these ideas! You must be very busy this summer!
These are such great ideas. I especially love the word bottles.
I LOVE all these great ideas! I am going to be very busy….. I think I'll need more cardstock!
I did some digging because I really wanted the blacklines to the Mystery Word bags. I found the idea posted at The First Grade Parade's blog. Hope this helps ~ thanks again.
Fun ideas! Thanks for sharing!
sANDWICH IDEA IS GREAT!
where can I get the direction sheet for Who's first?
On the donut activity, what standard would be used to go along with it? (I am an education student. I want to use this activity, but I have to have a standard to go along with it.)
I love your ideas and the way you have organized your room. Was wondering what you do with the Blooms Taxonomy wall . I have been using some of the question stems and was curious about what you were doing. I don't make comments but view you blog frequently.
Thanks for the great ideas.
Becky Guzman
[email protected]
this is cool…. nice article btw…
thats great article with great collection
Good information. Lucky me I recently found your site by
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