Getting Ready for February in 1st Grade - Themes and Freebies

Can't believe it!! This week is February. I actually just typed January and had to change it - that's how much I can't believe it's February - haha.

So, before I dive into my themes and such, I want to share with you some things that I'll be doing for centers.  FIRST- I have to share with you!!  You guys have been asking for a LONG time now about my center rotations powerpoint....

Well, I FINALLY figured out how to make it work to where I can share it... and I've made it EDITABLE!! Even better, right!?  Sweet. So you can grab it in my TpT store and you can get it in a {bundle} with my Guided Reading Binder to save money!

If you've never seen my reading rotations - check out {THIS} post! TONS of ideas on how I run small groups.

For centers, I'll be using my February Centers.... 

Grade 1 {HERE}

Grade 2 {HERE}

{Label and Write About It! February} pack - great for differentiating!

Some more activities coming out of my {Valentine} centers pack.

One of my favorite "series" of books is {Splat the Cat}!  I try to use him as much as possible through out the year - and {Pete the Cat} too!

Click {HERE} to check out my Love, Splat pack!

Monday's writing lesson will be their January Memory Book Page. {THESE} are some of my favorite things to do...and the parents LOVE keeping them! You can also read another post on them {HERE}

I love these writing packs because I don't even have to think.... well, I DO, but everything I need is included in these writing packs!  I will be using both the {Winter} version and {NonFiction} version this month because we're doing Space too. 

The morning they walk in, it'll be time to color their January Journal covers for their {Poetry Journals} and {writing Journals}! These are freebies, click the links to grab them.

We'll be finishing up our {Space Unit} this week - I'll be back to blog about it more later this week! 

Oh my goodness - {WORMS}!! The kids just LOVE this. We always have SO. MUCH. FUN.  Check out {last year's post} on our Worm Week. 

And for phonics, we'll be working with long vowel patterns. I will probably be updating these packs as I use them, since I've added some new activities to my newsest phonics packs.

I'll also be doing my {RTI packs} with our "SMART" time groups - I'm doing blends this time 'round. But I also have the {CVC and CVCE packs}.  Check out {THIS} post to see how I use them.

Check out {THIS} post to see how I use Graphs EVERY day to help with math!

I don't go all crazy for Valentine's Day. It's actually my LEAST favorite "holiday" - IF you call it a holiday. lol. BUT, I do a few things... like this Hershey Kiss Simile. You can grab it for free {HERE}. 

And {Candy Heart Math} - that's ALWAYS a favorite!

And before I left on Friday, I copied all of the calendar activities in my Ultimate Calendar Bundle.  You can check out {THIS} post to see how I have it all organized for the year!

Grab these bookmarks for FREE {HERE}  Since I have kids in the {Chapter Book Club} they will definitely be need these! 

And one of my favorite activities each month is my Monthly Family Projects. You can actually grab a February for FREE in {THIS} post to try out!!

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Spelling Journals - a Classroom Life Saver

One of my MUST HAVES in my classroom is our Spelling Journal.

We use it ALL. THE. TIME.

We use to add in our spelling words each week.

We also use it whenever we do ANY writing.

There are 2 different sections in the spelling journal. 

Alphabet words - where there are already sight words and commonly misspelled words written in the boxes and plenty of lines to add your own!

And there's also the "Category Words" section with school words, holidays, and seasons.

I've recently added the Half-size version to the files.

You can either just print the different letters back to back....

Or you can print the blank page on back for more lines to add more words throughout the year.

I absolutely LOVE the Spelling Journals. My kids are trained to come up to me with their journal opened to the page for the word (or rather, what they think is the page for the word) and a pencil for me to write in the word for them. They DO NOT raise their hand to ask me "how do you spell ....??" anymore. I love it!!

There are 2 versions for each size - handwriting lines and regular writing lines included.

Each "letter" has a page WITH the box of words and without the words.

There are also alternate pages you can use that combine some letters (like xyz) and there are also "digraph" pages you can use.

The category pages include:

school

colorsfamilynumberscalendartravelpetscommunityhomefallHalloweenThanksgivingChristmasWinterValentine's daySt. Patrick's DaySpringEasterSummer

Click {HERE} to check it out!

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The Chapter Book Club

When my little first graders make it to a high enough level to be able to read chapter books, it's kind of a big deal!  They are so excited! So we make it a big deal.

I have a little frame on top of my chapter book bookshelf that has their name on it and they get to celebrate with their friends as they're over there trading out books.

I have a lot of copies of the same books, so they love getting the one their friend has and talking about the book they've been reading.

If you want to see how I manage my students borrowing my books from me, check out {THIS} post.

And to see where my Book bin labels are, check out {THIS} post.

Click the picture below to download the freebie!

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