Going Batty!

I am so excited!  Not only do I have a really good class this year, but this is the first year I've really tried to teach mostly seasonally/thematically.  We are having sooo much fun!  I just wish I had a camera so I could take more pictures for you guys (I do ask my teamies to borrow a camera every now and then, but I don't want to bother them all the time).  For the last couple of weeks, we've been learning about "spooky" animals - first spiders, then owls, and now bats. 
   Our main story that we are focusing on this week is Stellaluna.  We're doing lots of reading activities, but our main comprehension focus this week is on retelling/sequencing the events in the story.  In our small reading groups, we are reading:


and
 I really like these sight word readers from Scholastic for my lowest readers.  They have good information in a very easy to read, repetitive format. 

Since we've been learning about contractions, I made a "Batty Contractions" activity for our word work center.  I got a very simple bat shape from The Mailbox magazine, but you could use any simple bat shape (just make sure there is room to write on the wings and the body).  I wrote a contraction on the body, and the two words that make that contraction on the wings (one word on each wing).  I then cut the wings off each body and the kids had to match the wings to the right body.  I made this recording sheet for them to record their work:

Batty Contractions
I hope some of you can use this.  We're planning to do some fun math activities with bats later in the week!  Check back for some pics (I'll borrow a camera for these!).