Last year I decided to continue a classroom blog & post yearly photos to share with the parents. After looking at the page views from my first year I knew they were really into it. If I were a parent (I wish :o(), I know I would love to see pictures of my child in the classroom. I posted pictures on this blog throughout the year but decided to have them all in one place for you! Unfortunately, I don't have pics of the first week but I do starting in September. I actually just used a boring old sign that said "I am a first grader". It was very cute don't get me wrong. I have something in the works that I will post soon. I've been making photo props all year long for my nuggets. All I did was take the graphics that I already had & just blew them up & printed them on card stock & taped a dowel rod onto the back of it. I also had props that I have picked up throughout the years. Here are some examples of different photos we took. This … [Read more...] about Classroom Photo Ideas
Classroom Management Linky Party
READ ALL THE WAY TO THE BOTTOM................HINT...HINT! I'm joining some of my blogging bff's over @ our collaborative blog, Freebie-licious for week #5 of our summer linky party series. I believe it was my 3rd or even 4th year of teaching when my former principal, Mr. Ja**a** had the nerve to mark me off on an evaluation because my students were talking when they transitioned into a the line to leave. Oh, they also were too loud while adding dice...really???? Don't even get me started. Well, I don't take criticism well at all but my kids were good! You know how you promise them 10,000 fuzzies if they are good or everyone gets a sucker...come on, admit it! We all do it. Well, that day I did & they were very well behaved. Anyway, when I had the meeting afterwords I had written a rebuttal to my evaluation...ever since then I was a target. He actually handed me a classroom management book by Harry Wong!!!!!! I was absolutely appalled beyond belief. … [Read more...] about Classroom Management Linky Party
Educents Back to School Bundle
Did you see, did you see, did you see? Seusstastic and all the gals over at Freebielicious have teamed with Educents with this amazing deal for Back to School! Our Back to School bundle is 23 of our best selling products! Included in your download is craftivities, centers, small group games, printables, activities, organization items, posters, readers, and much more! Over 2000 pages of Back to School fun! All this for $30 - that's over 80% off the retail price! Seusstastic's contribution is my best selling Candy Land Long Vowel Bundle! This game includes the following: Long A (a_e, -ay, -ai), Long E (ee, ea, ie, ey, y), Long I (i_e, igh, -y, -ie), Long O (o_e, oa, ow, oo, +), & Long U (u_e, ew, ue, +) word cards. All the vowel cards are on look-alike Candy Land cards. You just need a game board and game pieces. Print out cards on card stock, laminate, cut and use for years to come! My kids LOVE & … [Read more...] about Educents Back to School Bundle
Work on Writing Linky Party
Thank you to Caitlin from Kindergarten Smiles for hosting this Freebie-licious summer linky party! I will be honest......I have always struggled getting my firsties to love writing until this past year. There are some fabulous resources out there in blogland to help you. I am confident they leave my classroom with a love of reading but my goal this year was to do that with writing.We are giving them the foundation for reading and writing and it's our job to prepare them for the dreaded "writing" portion of state tests. If you have been following my blog then you know I use warm fuzzies. Last year I actually started taking warm fuzzies if they forgot a capital or punctuation. They would get so frustrated but it did work. Daily 5 provided my class with the opportunity to write daily and they ended up being the BEST writers I've ever taught. You have to make it exciting for them & change things up. As soon as I sniffed out any boredom at all I would … [Read more...] about Work on Writing Linky Party
Throwback Thursday
I'm linking up with the fabulous one & only Cara from the First Grade Parade! This is a very popular post from last summer when we did a Daily 5 book study. Hope you get some ideas friends! This is by far one of my favorite parts of D5. My students have loved all the activities I've made for them. I split up this chapter because I have so many ideas that I have used for writing & word work & wanted to share them with you! I do work work activities based around spelling, vocab, seasonal, word wall, amazing & sight words. First I show them some but not all the materials they can use during word work. They must know where to find the materials and where to put them back independently. Then I go over the following chart. Click on the pic to take you to your freebie Work on Writing/Word Work packet. Now I'd like to show you some of my ideas for Word Work. You have to make it fun & exciting for them. Make things so they … [Read more...] about Throwback Thursday
New Teacher Tips-Summer Linky Party #2
I would like to start this out by apologizing to the first class I taught. College DOES NOT teach you how to run a classroom, not even close. I think of different occurrences that happened my first several years...oh.my.word. After teaching for ten years, I myself am still learning & still changing things up from year to year. EVERY class you will have is a different...lets say "bird". As you start teaching you will know what I am talking about. You will have years like this last one I had, that you never want to end. The kids are near perfect, most of the parents are fabulous! You are just in la la land over in your room and then....it ends. The class that is coming up I am truly frightened....frightened to the point that I am shopping for prosthetic bumps to fake a baby...not kidding. They scare me. I couldn't even walk through the cafeteria while they were eating...well rolling, skipping, jumping, standing on tables...if there was chandeliers in the … [Read more...] about New Teacher Tips-Summer Linky Party #2