Product Swap: Think Spring...Plants & Flowers!

I am excited to link up over at Jessica Stanford's blog for the current product swap.

We have had some crazy weather here in Indiana in the last several weeks.  We went from warm to a blizzard and within one night the left over foot of snow melted off the ground and now it is 60 degrees and raining with flood warnings.  Monday it's supposed to be a high of 29 degrees!  They always say if you don't like the weather in Indiana wait an hour.  What's that have to do with the product swap?  Well, I got the opportunity to check out Rebecca Sutton's "Plant and Flower Activities"and it made me excited for spring when the weather just seems more consistent, the sun shines, the plants are growing, and you don't have to look at the mounds of dirty snow piles in parking lots anymore.  Click on the button below to head over to Rebecca's Blog.  Click HERE to head to TpT to check it out over there!

Let me say that this packet is AMAZING!  I love everything about it but mostly that it covers just the right amount of information for my first graders.  Pair it up with  growing your own plants and flowers in the classroom and it is even more amazing!

Here are some of my personal favorite parts of this 87 page unit.  First, "The Parts of A Plant Book" is just the right fit for explaining the parts of a plant to first graders.  It comes in a color version I printed full page for myself to read aloud and it also comes in black in white so that you can print off copies for your students!  Also there are Word Wall Word cards that you can display in your room.  I love having these up because I always direct my students to check the word wall for these words before they ask for help.

My next favorite part of this packet has to be the seed sorting mat.  There are so many possibilities here for math.  Students sort different kinds of seed onto mats.  Once they are done, they use the recording sheet to record how many of each seed they had.  I thought this would be a great way to teach or review tallying and graphing.  Rebecca included both a recording sheet and a graphing sheet to go along with the mat.

Also included in this packet is a really great sentence editing center.  Students choose a plant related sentence and edit it for mistakes.  These sentence editing centers are always a favorite because they hit on so many Common Core Language Standards.

  

Finally, there are tons of activities that involve observing and recording plants growing in your classroom.  These hands on activities really engage the kids and give them a sense of ownership and responsibility for growing their own plants.  There is so much in this packet that I could go on forever but I'll leave you to go head over and check it out at TpT.  Download the preview and check it out... it is totally worth it!  Also head over to the Product Swap Post and browse through the other product reviews.

Head on over to Rebecca's blog where she is highlighting my Ladybug unit. 

THINK SPRING!!!
Stephany