Are you ready for some football?

I don't know about you...but even though the Vikings or the Packers are not in the Super Bowl this year...my kiddos are busy talking about who is going to win the Super Bowl game this year.  In my class, I will have my kids wear the colors of their favorite team the Patriots or the Giants.  We will then do some fun activities that I uploaded to my TPT store! 

You may check them out here.
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Super-BowlFootball-Math-and-Literacy-Activities

100 Technology websites to visit

Well...it's been a while since my last post.  I am not sure where the year has gone!  I have a fantastic class this year and have done so many fun things with them!  A week before Christmas break...I had bunion surgery...worst pain ever...the recovery...that is!!!!  I have been laying around for the past few weeks and will be posting some stuff soon...until then....here are some links you might want to check out!  Happy New Year!!!

100 Technology websites to visit.

Fall Activities

I cannot believe it is fall already.  The first month of school has gone by so fast and we have had so much fun.  We are now starting to do many activities related to fall.  Our first big project was our DOWN, DOWN poem that we did.  We located OW words in the poem and then ripped pieces of paper to look like falling leaves.  We glued these around the poem.  The steps of what we did are listed below.

I have uploaded many other activities that we are going to be doing during our fall unit to my TPT store.  I hope you are having a great fall!

In this unit we will be learning about graphing, concepts about print, sentences, OW words, ABC order, punctuation marks, and syllables.

Watch Me As I Grow: A Collection of Self Portraits/Writing Samples Throughout the Year

Watch Me As I Grow

First Grade is a huge year of growth for first graders.  Each year I do a scrapbook for my kids with lots of pictures throughout the year.  In this packet I am including the “main pages” that I put into my scrapbook.  Each month we do a number of different things that I hold onto to share with my first grade parents at the end of the year.  I start with the cover.  Each month I have the kids do their self portrait.  This is the first page of their monthly collection.  I then have them do a name writing sample and they write as many words as they know how to spell.  I then include a class picture and a couple snapshots that I have taken throughout the month.  I put this book together month by month so that the first grade parents can see the progression that their child has made throughout the year.  I sometime add random journal entries in these books, or whatever else I have collected throughout the year.  Have fun!

Clip Art From:  Creative Keepsakes & Scrappin Doodles

You can purchase all 40 pages at my TPT store by clicking on the link:

http://classic.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Watch-Me-As-I-Grow-Collections-Throughout-the-Year

Parent Information Night: Guided Reading Idea

It's been a busy beginning of the school year and I am loving my class.  We have been sooo busy learning about each other and how to work well together in our classroom.  We have learned rules, routines and we have been learning each other's names.  To top all lf that off...we had our Parent Information Night last night.  One of the areas that I talk about is Guided Reading.  We play a game (from Mad Gab) where I give each person a card.  I have them try to read the words and make sense out of them.  Most people cannot figure out what is on their card or what the words mean.  I tell them that this is what kids sometimes feel like when we hand them a book to read.  For most of our kids, the words are foreign and really don't mean anything.  I then tell them that we need to teach kids strategies to figure out what the words mean.  I have them try to say the words slowly and think about what makes sense.  After reading the cards, some parents are able to figure out what their words mean.  This is so much what like reading is like for our first graders.  They need to learn to use strategies, such as looking at picture clues, re-reading the words, asking what makes sense, etc.  Finally, I have leveled books (a 3, 8 and 16) to show what the different levels of books look like.  I am downloading the cards that I put out at PIN for the parents to read. 

                                                                Click here for picture cards

Writer's Workshop Bin Labels

Today was officially my first day back at school.  After sitting through four hours of meetings this morning and working another four in my classroom, I still feel like I have a lot to do.  Today I spent some time creating some labels for different parts of my room.

Throughout the year my first graders write different kinds of books during Writer's Workshop.  I have them put completed books in a bin with their name on them.  At the end of the year, we celebrate our writing accomplishments during Author's Tea...where we read our best story.  Let's face it...most kiddos coming into first grade are barely writing.  By the end of the year they are creating books.  That's a lot to be proud of!!!



                                                          Click HERE to download labels

Reality Finally Set In...

 I packed up my car...

 It was full!

 View as I entered my room...

 Everything in the corner...

Minor heart attack....

Looking to the right of my room...

My boys came and brought me McDonald's for lunch!  This really made me smile!!!

And a GIANT COOKIE.  I ate it all!!!!  The chocolate chips were the size of quarters!

All my laminating on the floor...

Another view....

Love my new sign!  Thanks to Vistaprint...it was free!

Labels on individual book bins for reading...

I had to take this picture of my trash.  It was proof to me...even though it didn't seem like it, I actually did get stuff done!

I couldn't avoid it any longer.  I finally went back to school to start setting up my classroom today.  We have workshops starting on Monday with time set aside to work in our classrooms...but let's face it, with me being a social person and with team meetings scheduled, I knew I would not get ANYTHING done in my room with other people in the morning.  So...today I packed up my car (with all the stuff I have been collecting and working on at home) and headed into school.  I was there from 9:30 - 6:15 p.m. or so.  I feel like I got nothing done and one of the reasons is because I have discovered the blogging world.  I feel like a brand new teacher because of all the ideas I have found on blogs that I follow.  I am soooo excited to start the new year!  I took some pictures of my room today...as I started and as I walked out the door. I have sooo much left to do!  I'll post pictures later of my walls and areas of my class.  Monday is coming WAY to soon!