Polar Bear Close Read

Friends~Do you LOVE close reads?  I sure do and so do my students.  Next week,  we will be studying the Polar Bear and I know they are going to be crazy about them!  They also love QR codes so I thought I would mix the two up.  I created a Polar Bear Close Read for our listening center.  

It was so simple to do.  I printed out my FREE Polar Bear Close Read and then mounted it to a file folder upside down.  (I wanted the tab at the bottom.)  Now my students can open the folder and read the text or scan the code to have it read to them by me!  I also added my Close Reading Boomarks.  I really like when my students use the bookmarks because they help them pick apart the text.  Because I laminated the folder, my students can use expo markers to write on the text to help them pinpoint important information.  They can also answer the comprehension questions on the back.  

Watch this quick tutorial showing how I put this close read listening center together for my students. 

One wipe and they are clean for the next student to use!

Plus, it saves tons on copies!  

You can grab a FREE copy of the file by clicking the image below!  

We will also be making life size models of polar bear paws!  Check them out! They are fascinating!
Click the image above to read more about our Polar Bear Study!

Stem

The new science standards have been tough to maneuver this year.  One strand that kept coming up in each unit was a stem project.  Stem was very new to me but I decided, along with my 1st grade team to go for it.  In December we did a mini-unit on Nutcrackers.  We were taking the kids to go see the Nutcracker play and thought, why not do a lesson on nutcrackers.  But the best part of all was that the kids would be making a nutcracker at home with their families.  The results were amazing!  We told the that the nutcracker should be able to crack just a regular peanut or a gold fish (for those allergy classrooms).  The families went above and beyond.  We got some great responses back from our families.  

Here are some pictures!!!