Last week we was all about American symbols. Here in Texas, we have TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills) that we follow, which leaves me feeling left out of all the Common Core stuff. {sad face} As part of our TEKS for first grade, we are to explain the national patriotic symbols. Last week we worked the US flag, the bald eagle, and the Statue of Liberty. Y’all. My brain was on major overload this past week due to RTI, lesson plans, grants, paper mountains all over my house,… annd I forgot to snap pictures of our anchor charts. Geez. Do forgive. We started off using picture charts and book suggestions from Deanna Jump’s American Symbols unit. *Ah.maz.ing* The kiddos created these flags by tearing or cutting red and white construction paper to create the 13 stripes. We used Q-Tips, and white paint to create the 50 stars. They turned out pretty stinkin’ cute if I do say so myself. 
We read a few non-fiction books about bald eagles and created these bald eagles. 
We also have been working non-stop during our RTI and small group time. This past week we used the vowel sort activity from my Got RTI? unit. The kiddos really enjoyed this. I loved being able to have something that showed their mastery or lack of in short vowel sounds for documentation purposes. 
Not quite sure what is going on with the print of the clipart in the short vowel picture. I printed these on the school printer…it’s been struggling to work lately. This week, we will use the initial sounds activity from my unit. Click on the picture below or click {here} to get. 
Happy Saturday friends!
