Dr. Jean Summer Camp

Just came back from a Dr. Jean summer camp!  Wow!  She's amazing!  I've owned several of her CDs but never really knew how to use them effectively in class.  I have a feeling I will be spending several hours at her blog this summer.   There are so many great ideas for early childhood.  I love when I can make learning fun!

After yesterday and today, I feel so much more confident about teaching and using her songs in my class.  I was planning on incorporating them into our language curriculum, which I've worked on, daily, to get on Smart Notebook.  I'm really looking forward to next school year and adding these great ideas and songs.  Now, if only I can remember all these great ideas.  Yes, I wrote them down, but how often do you go to a conference/workshop, write down tons of great ideas, then read them later, and ask yourself "What did I mean by that scribble?"  I WILL use the great ideas I learned! ~that is the mantra for next school year.

I would love to share all the work that I've done to make the language curriculum available on Smart, but since I can't put up those files (as the work is not mine to give away), I've decided to share the few slides of Smart Notebook that I created to practice ABC order.  On these slides, I change the words weekly to our sight words, and then work (whole group) to put them in ABC order.  Once we've done it several times as a group, I give students their own copies, and we do it whole group and individually. Lastly, I let them try it individually, and go over the answers whole group.  Always my class has done well with ABC order, and it's interactive with the board, which the kids love!

Go to My TPT Store and snatch up this freebie!

Summer Catch Up

This summer seems to be flying by!  I have so many ideas and plans, but not near enough time to complete all of them.  Since summer began so unexpectedly, I haven't felt like I've really started my vacation.  My summer break started several days early because I work in the Moore Public School district, which had a devastating tornado come through and damage/destroy several of our schools.  (I don't feel I can explain any better than my amazing colleague what that was like, and so I will direct you to her blog, as my experience was so similar being also a first grade teacher in the same school: Mrs. Terhune's First Grade Site!: May 20th - Moore, OK Tornado.)

One of my big goals has been to get all my homework that I created and used last school year up on Teachers Pay Teachers.  It worked great for my class, and followed the new Common Core guidelines, too!  I created homework for both literacy and math for all 36 weeks of school, and will be adding them to my TPT store, as I get them ready for others to use.  Below is the front side and back side of Week 1 of the first 9 weeks Math Menu.

Get the first 9 Weeks homework for math here.

I will be adding the full year soon, along with my literacy packets.

Guided Reading

It's been a while since I've blogged so I thought I better get on it! 

Well, I've been working on a way to reduce the stress of changing out what goes in my guided reading group area.  I have bins that match my groups for their leveled readers, but I was having trouble getting activities prepared each week, and putting them away after.  I think I finally created something that will help with this problem.

I've been working on a Guided Reading Toolbox to use in small groups.  I bought a tower with 10 drawers, labeled each drawer with a reading component (phonemic awareness, letter/sound correspondence, fluency, etc.), then filled the drawers with activities that matched that component.  Each group has different needs, so I use the drawers that match that group.  The drawers are in order from those with Intervention activities, such as flash cards with letters and sounds, to much more in- depth text connectivity activities at the bottom.  This makes it easy to find what I need, quickly.

I've been using this system for about 3 months, now, and I really like it!  Here are some pictures of what I'm using.

COMING SOON!  I have a Guided Reading Toolbox Table of Contents I use to help me remember what activities I have included that I will upload later!

Sub Tub

Recently, I had to miss several days of school.  I have always had an emergency sub file, but this was a whole week I would be gone!  There were several substitute files that I liked online, but so much wouldn't work for my class because it wasn't specific to my class's needs.  As I deliberated on how to create my sub file, I realized that there was no way I could use an already created file, and that there was a very definite need for a file that would have the base set for teachers to fill in their own information that would be very specific to their class's needs.  All this I write to say because I finally came up with a file that worked for me, then generalized it to share here!  Yay!

Below are pictures of how I am using this sub file in my class, as well as a link to download.  Enjoy!

Click Here to Get my Sub File!

Need Votes

This is my first year to try Limeades For Learning, where Sonic will pay for fabulous educational products for the class who has the most votes.  My class really needs some help.  Many teachers have had many awesome products funded so I know it is a good program, but my class just isn't getting the votes needed.  We would greatly appreciate any votes!
http://www.limeadesforlearning.com/teachers/view/1525163/default/849837

On a totally different note, my class will be so excited to have our pets, Toot and Puddles, return to class tomorrow!  I have missed their presence when I'm alone planning.  They are sweet fellas to encourage kindness, responsibility, and empathy, among many other things.

  

First Big Post!

Hello, everyone!  So I'm up late tonight (or early tomorrow), and just couldn't stop thinking about how I needed to get something on my blog.  I've had the desire to get my blog started since the middle of the summer, but changed schools so I have been very busy with moving a whole classroom!  Who would have thought moving a class full of stuff to a new school would be so difficult, and make the first 6 weeks of school so crazy?  I am still trying to get organized and remember where everything is!  Well, here are just a few pictures of my classroom (many more to come).  It's been a crazy start to the school year, but I'm loving it.  First grade is always so full of excitement and anxiety that I think it's just a great year to teach.  The kiddos come in with a lot of motivation to learn and please every one that I don't know how any teacher just wouldn't love this age group!

Here is to a great year and many more posts to come!   Happy blogging!