To celebrate the quickly approaching Back to School season, me and my girls at Freebielicious have teamed up with Educents to share some instant downloads for you! Loaded with great products for back to school including book studies, craftivities, classroom prep, and content materials for back to school! With 23 instant downloads... you have to check it out! I included one of my popular Candy Land games. You NEED to give them a try this year if you haven't yet. I promise you will be hooked! This is my students ALL.TIME.FAVORITE thing to do during word work and math stations! THEY BEG TO PLAY! They don't even realize they are learning! Bonus! If you are getting into the back to school mode, like me, check out this post from last year! You also want to make sure & follow my back to school board on Pinterest below! Follow Melissa's board Back To School on Pinterest. For a limited time you can grab this … [Read more...] about Back to School with Freebielicious
Daily 5-2nd Edition Chapter 7 + FREEBIES!
The Sisters recommend launching the next component of Daily 5 after students have built stamina for a certain number of minutes. Intermediate students is 12-14 minutes Primary is 10-12 minutes Kindergarten is 7-8 minutes Just remember EVERY CLASS IS DIFFERENT. This couldn't be a truer statement. Each class is unique. You will definitely KNOW when your students are ready to move on. Please do not rush them. I used to introduce Work on Writing last because my students always struggled in this station. We do start out slow and I do not introduce everything up my sleeve at once. Remember, we are just starting to build our stamina. With students getting daily writing time they will become proficient writers before you know it! They will love the choices they have during writing and the choice of which station they CHOOSE to go into first, second, or third. Since we are at the beginning of the year I … [Read more...] about Daily 5-2nd Edition Chapter 7 + FREEBIES!
Daily 5 Book Study-2nd Edition Chapter 5 + FREEBIES
Each chapter I read I am getting more and more excited about implementing some changes. The Sister's are clearly geniuses. You know how much I LOVE them! Let's jump right in! This chapter scared the bejeezus out of me! The first day!!!!!! Are you kidding me?!?! I usually let them explore the classroom library & observe them picking out their books for their bins. I also let them read just to see how much stamina they have without them knowing I am timing them. I guess it all does make sense. The way the first day or the first week goes basically sets the precedent for your entire year. If you let them yell out & follow you around on the first day, they will think they can do that all the time. Nip it & nip it quick! You need to start training them the second they step foot in the door. Remember....they are little sponges and you don't want to change up a procedure or routine out of nowhere. You want to have the steps … [Read more...] about Daily 5 Book Study-2nd Edition Chapter 5 + FREEBIES
Daily 5 Book Study-2nd Edition-Chapters 3-4+FREEBIES
This week we are blogging about Chapters 3-4. After hours upon hours of work last night..... I made several freebies...I lost all my work :o( I did remake most of it for you. Technology has not been my friend for the last two days. These chapters are mostly about INDEPENDENCE which is my favorite word. I've been teaching first grade now for 10 years and wouldn't change it for the world. Visitors always ask me how my students are so independent. I believe you have to make your students independent by not doing every little thing for them. Lots of teachers think that you need to hold their hand for everything. Trust me, they become independent quickly when they are made to be. I'll never forget about 8 years ago I had a little girl that was in line ready to go to Library. She looks at me & snaps her fingers & said "Go get my library book!". She is very lucky that I loved her & that it made me giggle & not get aggravated. I told her … [Read more...] about Daily 5 Book Study-2nd Edition-Chapters 3-4+FREEBIES
Marble Mania Review
My students were super excited when this box came in! These little geniuses were ready to put this together immediately! This comes with easy enough directions for my first graders to figure out! I'm so glad because I would not have been able to help....ha! Since we had so much rain and snow this year, my students were thrilled to have this as an indoor recess option. I even rolled it down to the nurse's office once the weather was nice. There is usually students in there that can't go out for recess. Although, I'm not too happy with the handwriting...I'm glad we created memories with the building of Raceway Marble Mania for our classroom. Check out all that The Learning Journey has to offer! You will be shopping for hours! … [Read more...] about Marble Mania Review
Daily 5 Book Study-2nd Edition-Chapters 1-2
If you have been following me for a while then you know how much I love Daily 5. I have been doing Daily 5 full force for 3 years now and I would NEVER give it up....EVER. My blogging friends and I did a Daily 5 book study a few summers ago...you can check out all those posts HERE. Before I start talking about the 2nd Edition of Daily 5 for this book study, I want to introduce you to some freebies if you were not a follower during our first book study. Click on each picture to grab your freebies. My Freebielicious BFF's and I will be blogging about each Daily 5 chapter every Friday until we are through the 2nd edition. This first post on the first two chapters will be short and sweet. Let me just say that this book is also an easy read. They are real teachers directly from a classroom and they "get it". The Sisters really have the best basis for all their research...a classroom. They get that we have "barometer children" in each and every classroom. … [Read more...] about Daily 5 Book Study-2nd Edition-Chapters 1-2