Engaging students in learning is sometimes a difficult task. With elementary aged children, it is often easier to develop a theme for a lesson or unit in order to help students make a connection to the material that will help them remember it. Here are some themes I have created for specific standards in 1st grade:
1.OA.A.1- Add and subtract within 20 to solve contextual problems, with unknowns
in all positions, involving situations of add to, take from, put together/take apart, and
compare. Use objects, drawings, and equations with a symbol for the unknown
number to represent the problem.
For this standard, I have developed a pirate themed lesson with activities, songs, and games. The title of the unit would be “Pirate Subtraction.” In order to carry out this theme, the teacher could dress up as a pirate, play the Pirate Subtraction song on Youtube, utilize worksheets from Teachers Pay Teachers to act as independent practice, and make a craft/visual to allow a time for creativity.
In researching things that have already been created for this theme, I found an adorable hands-on activity that has treasure boxes on cut up papers and behind the chest is a subtraction problem. If the students get the problem right, they get a reward (stickers, candy, etc). Another idea is using either real or chocolate coins to demonstrate problems visually. Tactile learners would love the activity of having a box of sand and tracing problems into the sand.
There are TONS of other options and games to implement for this theme! Overall, I believe that students, especially younger children, would LOVE this lesson and the fun activities to go along with it.
1.FL.PWR.3 d- Use knowledge that every syllable must have a vowel sound to determine the
number of syllables in a printed word.
This standard can be so much fun for first graders! It can fit multiple themes, but I believe that a popcorn theme would engage students immensely. For this lesson, the main activities surround the idea of multi-syllable words. As shown in the picture, there are visuals for different words and based on how many syllables are in that word, each popcorn piece is placed in the corresponding bag. Along with that activity, the teacher could give students actual popcorn as a snack. There is definitely a cross-curricular activity of counting each bag of sorted pieces and seeing which has more/less. I believe there are several different ways that the popcorn theme can be used with this standard and in the classroom!
1.ETS1.1- Solve scientific problems by asking testable questions, making short-term and long-term
observations, and gathering information
Hear me out when I suggest this theme… I researched some ideas on how to teach the scientific method (the questions, observations, and information part of the standard) and my favorite activity was about pickles. Now I know, that isn’t a great theme but the activities are FANTASTIC! With the scientific method, first graders adore working hands-on. With that being said, the students would answer many questions about pickles. Things like how it tastes, smells, looks and if it would last a long or short time are types of observations students would make. This is an easy lesson because all you need in preparation is a pickle for every student and worksheets to go along with it.
I truly believe that students would be extremely engaged and interested in this lesson, especially because it involves food and a snack for them.
These themes are only a small fraction of the ideas that could be developed for first grade standards. Honestly, seeing other teachers develop ideas is very inspiring to me and I cannot wait to implement fun themes to teach my kids with!
Positively Primary 