Election 2016

Today's post is all about the election.  WAAAITT!! Not THAT election!  Let's talk voting in first grade world!  We had today off of school, so yesterday was our "official" voting day in first grade!  We started off by reading Duck for President.  The class discussed the qualities of a good president (oh those sweet innocent minds), the job of a president, and whether or not Duck should/should not be president.  They voted and here is the result...

Then, came the REAL voting....Oreos or Chocolate Chip?!?!?!?!  We discussed the qualities of a good cookie, flavors that may/may not make it delicious, etc!!!  Each first grader received a cookie of each type...I mean, how could they vote without a taste test, right?!  After they taste tested and gave it some thought, ballots were given and a choice was selected.  The kiddos got to go up to a ballot box to drop off their vote and received an "I Voted" sticker!  The votes were carefully counted and recorded and the winner was.....OREOS!!! 

Well, here's to Election 2016 and the OREO!!  Hope everyone has a great rest of the week!  







Pete the Cat and Cause and Effect

Happy November!!  I wanted to type up a quick post on an activity I have done in my classroom to help understand cause and effect.  For first graders this can be tricky so I looked up ways to help increase the understanding of this on the internet  (probably Pinterest).  I don't remember where I found this idea, but wherever it came from, thank you!!!  What group of first graders don't like Pete the Cat? My class does, so this was perfect!  I read Pete the Cat I Love My White Shoes.  In the story, Pete wears white shoes but when he steps in strawberries, the shoes turn red.  When he steps in blueberries, the shoes turn blue!  You can see in the picture, that the boys and girls wrote the word "WHY" over "cause" and "WHAT" over "effect."  They were able to pick which event to write about (strawberries, blueberries, mud, water) and then tell what happened.  Once they were done with the writing, they made a picture showing the cause and effect!

I think using this story and drawing Pete the Cat would be a great anchor chart to help teach the little ones about cause and effect! Leave me a comment letting me know how you teach cause and effect in your classroom!  I hope everyone has been having a great Monday!!!