Happy Fall, everyone!
I have to admit, Fall is my favorite season of the year! The changing color of the leaves. Falling leaves. The crisp cool air, and possibly my favorite part, being able to pull long-sleeved shirts out. Then, of course, there is apple and pumpkin everything everywhere. Cinnamon-scented broom sticks for your home decor- LOVE and the scent of hot apple pie. Don’t you love the fall, too?! I have to tell you that I was never truly able to experience the fall when I lived in Florida. There are no real seasons in South Florida. There’s only hot, hotter, and/or raining again. LOL I wasn’t able to begin to experience fall until I went to college in North Florida at Florida State University. Then, I truly experienced fall when I moved to Georgia.
Usher in Fall With Pumpkin-Sprinkled Language Arts and Math Centers
It’s time! If you are like me, you have been in school since the end of July. Yes, since July! We have officially been in school for two months already. I am looking forward to cooler playground days and to sharing the change of the season with students. I’m also readying my classroom Centers. I’m pulling out a set of fall-themed Centers that I created for my students that are pumpkin-themed and academically challenging and supportive.
There is a splash of real words versus nonsense words, addition fluency with sums to 20, and creative writing in this set. To my delight, my students really enjoyed the activities. At first, I couldn’t have been more nervous introducing them, but it went very well. I am always anxious to see whether or not students will like my new resources, and to discover how easy it is for them to interact and learn from them. The fall-themed activities are versatile. Students can sort Real Words from Nonsense words. They can practice reading the Nonsense Words with fluency. Students can use whiteboards and Dry Erase markers or the work mats that are included to solve addition problems. They can use mental math and sort the cards by their sum. Or, they can use the writing sheets to create a creative writing piece. To top it off, there are adorable pumpkins to sprinkle that magical sense of fall upon everyone!
Do You Need to Integrate Literacy with Science?
Bats, pumpkins, harvest, the autumnal equinox, school, scarecrows… oh, my! If you are like me, you might need to integrate your science and/or social studies block with literacy. This has become increasingly important as we try to increase student literacy AND as we try to “fit it all in” in one school day. I have a feeling that you know exactly what I mean. Plus, this is a great way to bring non-fiction text right to your students’ fingertips. I have had great success with pulling in passages that are science-inspired! Fall Science Reading Comprehension Passages are my go-to resource! Let’s face it, there are so many things about science that are cool.
Learning new facts and having the opportunity to perform research is always so exciting for my students. I love that I had the flexibility to complete the activities in Whole Group, Small Group, or by allowing students to work together. If your students are not familiar with finding evidence in the text, this is an easy place to start. We completed the activity that you see in the picture below in small group. We read the passage together and used highlighters (Highlighters make everything awesome in First Grade!) to find the information in the passage. I have to tell you that I really enjoyed working with my students with this resource. We had so much fun learning new facts and working together. It’s special to see the wheels turning in their minds and hear the level of questions that they have.
I hope that your fall flows with ease and lots of joy!
You can click on the images to grab these fall-themed resources and bring the wonderful essence of fall to your classroom for your students.
