Changing it up!

Watching So You Think You Can Dance... typing during commercials.

So, as I mentioned I am changing when I do calendar time to before math. However, I have made some other minor changes, as well.

First- furniture (pictures to follow). I do not have a giant teacher desk. I have a modest table with a pink plaid tablecloth. It is so homey :) . Last year my computer was on the computer station table. Now I have moved it onto my desk! I does take up a bit of space... But I think it will be handy.
Behind my desk I had my low kidney table. This is a kidney table with my own twist! I took the legs off! This lets me get rid of chairs (yay!) and it gives the kids a bit of wiggle room. I was lucky enough to find some foot shaped carpets at Old Time Pottery last summer. When I am at the low table I use a rolling chair that I make as short as possible. I had a separate chair for my desk and the low table. This year I moved my low table so I can just spin from my desk to the low table! Voila! I know this may be hard to imagine... Pictures soon!


Second- behavior system. Last year I used pennies. They exchanged them every Thursday to get prizes- the cheapest was eating lunch in our classroom on Friday! Big seller :) Here was the problem. Child spends all his pennies Thursday on a prize. Friday he breaks a rule- I tell them to bring me a penny for the offense... "But I don't have anymore!"..... grrrrrrr. Can't take away the prize... They earned it.... So... New tactics.
I used the clipchart my first year (check it out HERE if you aren't familiar!) and liked it. So this year I will magically combine the two! My mantra this year will be "School is your job!" I teach in a community where a lot of parents don't work, and I want my kids to understand having a job is important. So we will use the clip chart, and based on their behavior for the day they will earn pennies!! Even if they get to the very bottom of the chart they still get a penny cause they showed up to work :) There are 7 levels to the chart and if they make it to the top they get a BONUS! 10 cents! Wha-hoo!! I think it will be a big hit!


Last- Math Workstations!! If you haven't read it yet, here's a free link of the book... for FREE. I was pleased when I read the organization chapter. I am ahead of the game on that one! I have very little storage space, so I try to keep tidy and don't keep superfluous materials. Again, pictures soon.
The chapter on the procedures was great! A lot like D5- model, model, model.
The best chapters are the ones with all the station ideas! I realized I simply ~NEED~ these markers I've wanted for awhile anyway... So fun! I also realized which materials I am short on, fractions/geometry/money. But, before I buy anything I am going to wait for out NEW math series to arrive. Surely it will have some good stuff in it :)

And, you lovely readers, since you made it this far- a freebie game!! I used Scrappin Doodles clip art and some that I just found using Word. Grab it Here!!

New Schedule

Hello friends!

Well, today I went to work in my classroom. It was weird/exciting to see all my stuff in the hallway. It was also kinda inspiring because I love new beginnings! So I have decided to change a few furniture things around. I have also made the decision to change my schedule *gasp*! I am a creature of habit and I love my schedule, but I need to move something... my least favorite something... CALENDAR TIME! (bum bum buuuuummmmm). Since we will be doing calendar along with out math series, it just makes sense to NOT start the day with calendar and instead, do it at the beginning of math. Lovely. I am excited!

Also, my sweet girls I am going to be tutoring didn't show up today. I was so sad. Then the oldest sister called me and said they forgot! Haha. They want to come next week though. So I told them when to come and that I would call them to remind them. Precious girls!! I wish I could have talked to her mom. I could understand all the things she was saying in Spanish, I'm just not fluent enough to reply... Blerg! Anyone want to teach me conversational Spanish?? Anyone??

End of the Year Wrap Up

Here are the last pictures!
Popcorn Adjectives! Such a fun lesson. We had a bit of trouble with the word good. Apparently popcorn looks good, smells good, feels good, sounds good and tastes good.... Sigh. Next year we will be talking about "BORING WORDS" and good will be first on the list!!!

This is one of our Wizard of Oz projects! Where would you go if you had the ruby slippers/sneakers? What I loved about this was how every first grade teacher did it differently! But they all turned out super cute!

Off to see the Wizard! Our torn paper art project. While we worked we listened to my playlist of 9 different versions of Over the Rainbow. It was lovely :)

Not pictured: The publishing party! So much fun. We had about 5 classes come through and listen to their books. The kids loved getting compliments on their work. It was a good day!


So, the year is over. I still don't believe it. I had a wonderful year! My kids are sweethearts and I am so proud of all they accomplished. As for myself, I feel that I learned alot this year about what I am good at and what I need to do to be even better next year.
Here's a list of things to work on this summer:
have word work for each story in the text (pretty easy as some of you awesome bloggers post that very thing and all I have to do is download it:) )
create writer's workshop plans for the year (Mrs. Kirby got some awesome books to help me in this endeavor. Our kids are going to be bookmakers next year!!)
level my books differently- this year I had them by genre, which I liked. But the problem was in the beginning of the year, I just didn't have enough low material. So I've been collecting and I will organize by level this time.
create math stations- this could go slowly. I need to READ the book first... Then I want to create differentiated materials. So, it may be slow going, but I will try! Hands on is SO important in math, we've got to give them time and opportunity for it.
find some alternative material for reading basal- let me explain. I like our text, but there are a few stories that just didn't grab me... or the kids... and there are so many stories that DO! So, I am going to go through and find the weeks I wasn't thrilled about and replace them with books that we will love and still can be used to teach the same skills.
LAST- plan Daily 5 better! I love D5 and Cafe so much. And I did a fair job with them this year, but I know I can do better. Our reading block wasn't D5, it was centers that I scrambled to put together. boooo. So, I am going to commit to getting this set up so we can do it all year. Mostly, I need to just sit and think about it. There seems to be little time for that in teaching :)

Hope you have a great and productive summer!

So much to show!

I have determined that I am not good at keeping the ole blog current. I do apologize.
Today I have PICTURES! We've been so busy lately. This week starts The Wizard of Oz!!! Yay!!!

Ok, to catch up: here are some of the non-fiction bubbles we made. I checked out about 25 non fiction books on their levels and they each chose one. We practiced reading them, then used post-its to mark 3 important facts, one thing the subject loves (or if their subject was non-living, something they loved about their subject), and one picture they would draw. They turned out so CUTE!!Scarecrows... What in interesting topic to choose!
OH- I almost forgot! We decorated the bubbles to look sort of like the subject. We did NOT draw the subject on the bubble, just tried to make it look kind of like it... She did a good job on decorating the scarecrow bubble with plaid patches! So awesome!Firetrucks. Lovely diagram.


This one is sweet because its about Taylor Swift. LOVE the diagram. She labeled her guitar and feet. Hilarious!
I realized that the kids really did understand what they were doing. However, the final product wasn't perfect. There were quite a few incomplete sentences. I get torn between proofing every thing they do, and just letting them do it on their own. *sigh* Its hard to know what is best.


We did a quick week of small groups focused on dinosaurs. I had some leveled texts so we used them and then did a whole class art project. Here is where I got the idea! Genius!


Demise of the dinosaurs by meteorites!

Then for Penguin Week we made a tree map, picked three sentences and wrote them on a penguin belly! Adorable.


Alright, I will TRY to update more frequently during the Wizard of Oz amazingness! :D
I hope you are having a great end of the school year!

PENGUINS!

So this week is penguin week for me and my firsties! Yes, I know it is spring. I know penguins are generally discussed in the winter. I am aware. But, our county pacing guide did not allow me time in the winter to discuss penguins, so I waited it out. I'm VERY excited!

We are, of course, reading Tacky the Penguin. SO funny. I love him. When I write a musical it will be based on Tacky. We are using this fabulous unit by Deanna Jump I found on TpT to help us out!
It has lots of thinking maps with penguin clipart, book templates, reading, and math activities.
We will be using a blubber glove (!) to experiment (!) and see how penguins stay warm. Basically, you coat a ziploc with crisco and it mimics the blubber. Kinda makes me sad when I think about Crisco being in cookies AND being blubber... Anyway, we will hold ice with and without the glove and compare and contrast! How fun?

I have put together a penguin book basket full of fiction and non fiction for browsing and partner reading. They are super excited and think the penguins are SO cute!

I need to find a penguin cam somewhere online so we can see some in action! I just love this week!



Also- I have decided as the year comes to a close (22 days) to only do one-on-one conferencing with my kiddos for reading. No more small groups! I did 5 today and they were really great for me to see where the kid is excelling/struggling. Here's my breakdown of the conference.

1. Choose which 5 kids to see each day. 2 low, 2 mid, 1 high.
2. Choose a text to hear them read (I am only doing cold readings. I made a end-of-the-year basket including BOB books of varied levels, Level 1 books, and a few 2nd grade level books- all fiction)
3. Call the child over, intro the text, listen to them read. I do assist them with words, giving them strategies to use. I also take notes in my CAFE notebook while I listen .
4. Ask comp questions about the text.
5. Ask student what they did well on and what they need to work on. (encourage, encourage, encourage)
6. I identify something to work on as well. I model, they practice. **this is a point I am working on this week. I'm bad about modeling it myself and forgetting to have them practice**
7. I write down the strength and point to work on. They SEE me write it down. No secrets in the notebook :)
8. Repeat! It takes less than 15 minutes with each child.
It's pretty easy and I love how much I get to see them using the strategies with a brand new text. I would love to hear how other people run their conferences!!

Have a happy week!

Bragging... Just a little!

So- we got our ThinkLink scores back and I am PROUD! The dear firsties did a great job and really improved on our big goal number sense. Not just my class, all of first grade made a leap in the area!
So let's give a big round of applause to the factors that made this growth possible.

First of all- to Singapore math (the crowd goes wild)! We just adopted Math in Focus and decided to use it with our students to review/reinforce number sense. Everyday we did an activity to help them identify numbers, order numbers, compare numbers, and even wear number bracelets!! We used ten frames as card games and flash cards. The curriculum was followed to a T. And it definitely paid off. Hurrah for Math in Focus!

Secondly, we must give a cheer to the kiddos! Whoo whoo! Every day they practiced their number sense. They counted until their brains almost turned to mush! They gave up precious end-of-the-day reading time to practice more. Rather than be intimidated, they arose to the challenge of conquering number sense! My class is great and I appreciate them each day I come to school. Thanks for working so hard, Penguins!

Last, and NOT least, the teachers. Let's hear it for ourselves! We met and planned, copied, searched, bought, and created extra practice for our kids. We gave up the precious reading time. We taught 2 math lessons each day. We twisted approximately 150 pipe cleaner number bracelets to fit little wrists. Each day we focused on using number bonds- the math secret weapon. And it all paid off! Congratulations to us, we all deserve a cupcake!

*thanks to smithy for the corrections :) *

Teachers Pay Teachers

Hello friends,
I am proud to say I started my own TPT store today! My first **FREE** item is Read, Write, Glue, Draw pages for plants. We are studying plants this week for Earth day! These sheets are a perfect way for my firsties to practice some much needed skills. They LOVE doing these! Their pictures are always so cute.

I will be posting more RWGD's priced at $1.50, so if you want to have them for the rest of the year, I'll be putting them up shortly.

Here's how to visit my store!! TpT Person
So excited!