Insta… what?

 

Ok, people. I am in! I started instagram. I have no pictures to show you, but its going to be fun! Click the pic of the camera to go to my account. 

SPOILER WARNING!

There are no pictures there yet… I mean I could run around my house taking pictures of stuff or wait until I take take pictures that matter… like my bribery and corruption drawer, the messiest desk you have ever seen, and the PILE of art I need to hang for open house in a week.   You know you want to see that… so follow and you will.  The art will send a shudder down your spine… it’s a lot.

LOVE ya… click the camera, leave me a comment with your instagram and I will follow you back.

 

Link back up { here }

To read my post about these { click here }

Snuggle Bags

I love Open House once all the work is done and displayed.  But once it’s over and you take it down, how can you get all that work home?



I do these Snuggle Bags as a way of getting all those goodies home without them getting destroyed! My grocery store charged me 5 cents per bag, so it was $1.50 which is pretty good. I like free better, but I only get them for free when I wear a low cut top and ask the box boy.



These bags go home three times a year since I am a year round teacher, and they are a real highlight of the trimester.  I usually get a sweet card from a parent or two in response to the snuggle time they had with their child.  {As a side note- I do send home work daily, but 3 times a year I strip the walls to prepare for the incoming teacher.  So that is a lot to send home at once. As you can see, my classroom was in the process if being torn down at the time of this picture.}



Now, do you cringe at the idea of having to hand out a stack of papers and art?  Try this idea.  Circle them up. Like a big circle…. big…. with bags next to them or behind them.  Then start calling out names and tossing the art in the center of the circle.  I try to have my boys sit right and my girls sit left.  When I toss, I toss center left or center right.  It takes me almost NO time time to hand out a ton a of work. 


I feel like these snuggle bags really help connect my families to our classroom.  How do you help families and school come together? Or if you are not a teacher, what did your teachers do that was so memorable? I am always looking for ways to make deeper connections. 

The snuggle bag note is waiting for you on Google docs as a little freebie.  I hope you enjoy.

Now, speaking of things to make a deep and long lasting connection with, I have a love affair with Target. I go in to buy tape, leave with 15 bags of who knows what, and I am happy.  Do you feel the same way?  Sometimes I am not happy though when it hits me that I spent $275 when I went in to buy tape. Then the wave of guilt hits, and I plan to return "most" of it.  Does this ever happen to you??? The guilt too??? Are you addicted to the dollar bin as well? I'm not alone??? Thank God! 

Well, to help ease any guilt and keep the "Target Joy" coming My Hubby and I are giving away a Target card. Let the shopping begin! US Residents only - Rafflecoper joy. Ready Set Enter!

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Remember to enter the giveaway for the mystery box! The box is chock full of teacher goodies and comes with a digital file of our great units. The box is over $60 in value, and will arrive on your doorstep!!! How great is that? You have to live in the United States though.  I hope you win :0)

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Mystery Box

Who's ready for a fun, new kind of giveaway??

Well, are you as obsessed with Ipsy as we are? I mean, you've got to admit, it's pretty amazing.  Who doesn't love a little surprise something in the mail? We sure do! And it seems like most of the developed world does too! Monthly Subscription Boxes are all the rage -- and just about every kind of company is hopping onto this wagon!  You can even get a monthly subscription box for a fisher lover... or your dog! How's that for cool?

So some of us bloggers got together and thought, "Why can't WE do this?" Obviously we don't have the inventory to have a subscription box... but we can't resist a little mystery box!

Special thanks to Melonheadz for making our "box" and to Teacher to the Core for designing the graphic!

Each month, the bloggers above will host a giveaway of special goodies AND digital products! What kind of goodies, you ask? It's a mystery! But we'll be sure to put some of our favorite teacher goodies in there. If you win, a special mystery box filled with our favorites will arrive at your door! You'll enter by visiting, following, and leaving a comment on each of the blogs. The more blogs you follow and comment on, the better your chance to win! Admit it. You're totally psyched. And you should be! April's box is ready to ship!

What amazing goodies could possibly be inside this box?? One lucky winner will soon find out! Will it be YOU? US residents only.

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Will they ever reach grade level?

I don’t know if you ever ask yourself this question.  "Will these 5 kids EVER get to grade level?"  "How can I help?" "I have tried everything!"  {Cue melodramatic soap opera music}. 

This year I have a few little souls who just need so so so so much from me, and it’s never enough.  But I have learned a few little tricks that have been Ahhhhh-mazing. 

I have 3 comprehension tips for you today!

Use your Fall curriculum at the Guided Reading table in the Spring. Do this with your struggling readers:
 We are reading the stories in “small group” that we read “whole group” in August.  I have to tell you the kids are thrilled beyond measure with themselves. The last time the class was interacting with this material it was way too hard for them. Now it’s just right! 

That feels so good to them! Never mind that it is far below grade level. They could be reading a far below grade level “little reader” book and feel terrible about themselves. Instead, they can “see” how much they have grown and they are beaming! They are flying through the stories. I mean FLYING, and we all know that success breeds more success.  We are reading about 2 stories a week, maybe 3, and have moved on to the second anthology!

Breaking it down: 
Do they really have to eat the whole banana in one bite? Of course not, but as simple as it sounds these kids have a hard time trying things bite by bite. They “think” they can’t do hard things, so often they won’t even take the first step or the first bite.We have to cut it up for them, like babies until they build confidence. I am hoping that someday they will be avid readers, and that when they look back on first grade they remember being proud of themselves at my reading table.

Helping them read accurately and build rich mental images: 
I created some pages on making mental images/following directions, and it really helped my kids in Trimester 2. This is one that I did with my whole class in January. They read and interact with the text in order to learn to focus and to build richer and more detailed metal images.   These pages will also tell you really quickly who is not reading carefully.

The "following directions" poster is helping students throughout the whole day! I see them access the poster in math as well as English Language Arts.  The unit grows in complexity ever so slowly over the course of 35 school days. There are 35 half sheet activities and a test.   I hope this unit helps your students shine! It has made a world of difference in my classroom.

Magical Product Swappin’ Fun!

Flying into First Grade is such a fun blog. The weekly Sunday night link ups are keeping me smiling, and the talented Latoya Reed is helping my student achieve and grow with her Common Core Math Mini Books.



I have been using these the past two months and they are great.  My students get so excited to see the books being made by our room mom.



Them: “When will we get to do those?”
Me: “Tomorrow”
Them: “I’m not going to be absent tomorrow!”
“Can we do them outside again!?!”
Me: “Maybe. You never know where we will do our math mini books.”

The weather has been so nice that I have been taking my students outside for some of their lessons. These math books were perfect for that.  But take a few extra pencils out with you to account for breakage. 

 Other fun places I plan to do mini books:

~ The multi-use room

~The library

~ The office (If they allow it)

~ An upper grade classroom while they are at lunch. Can you imagine how excited they will be to sit in the big chairs?  I might even let them use a pen like the big kids get to!

The point is that these books are very portable so they let me get out of my room and bring the academic joy all over campus.  Each book  has 7 glorious topics, and, since it’s in book form and not a worksheet, the kids eat it up!

Latoya has offered a freebie mini book for you!!!  Are you so excited???  I love this girl!!!! It’s waiting for you on TpT so click the heart.

By some crazy accident I got double booked for the magical blog swap, but that was fine with me.  I got to review another of my sweet favorite bloggers. Stefanie Galvin from Miss Galvin Learns is just the cutest! I wrote about her earlier this month {here}. She is an adorable Aussie!  I know if I lived any closer we might throw some shrimp on the barbi and have a grand old time together!

I got to tryout one of Stefanie’s amazing games. It helps students decide if a number is part of the 5’s counting pattern. 



The fact that a kid can count to 5 is great, but I want them to be able to think through the skill.  They can count to five like singing Mary Had a Little Lamb, but can they think while doing it?  That is different.  In second grade they need to count to 5 in their money skills topic and in telling time.  So I am using this game to get the thinking going! A mix of cards goes face down.



Some cards fit the 5’s pattern (5, 10, 15… all the way to 200) I only used to 120 since that meet our first grade standard.

Some cards don’t’ fit the pattern (7, 18, 21)

Some cards say “JIVE”

If you draw a jive card all your cards go back in the pile.



My students had an absolute BLAST! After playing the game, they transferred their numbers with a pencil, so they had something to turn in to me as evidence of learning.



Too sweet and builds great thinking! My favorite part of this activity was hearing the kids chant the 5’s pattern with their buddy in order to decide if it fits the pattern. 
 


This is such a sweet game and a bargain at $1.  You know you want it!



It was such a joy to review these awesome units. I loved them and can’t wait to get more games from Stefanie and more mini math books from Latoya!  Both of these ladies reviewed my Easy Ecology unit.  Hop on over to their blogs to read up on how they liked it. Just click their names to see their magical blog swap posts.

To go back to the blog swap click the swap button.

Oh, but before you go, did you enter this fabulous giveaway!?! You know you want $25 to buy yourself that "something special" you have had your eye on! 

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Earth Day, Glorious Earth Day!

Education starts at home.  Yep, that’s what my Grandpa says, and he is right.  Our yard was channeling Halloween, what with a dead tree and all, so we loved on the Earth and did some planting.

My hubby’s take on planting is {here}.  I know I say it all the time, but the man is funny and has a way with words.  You will not be sad if you click {here}.

Now, you all know Earth day is coming, and I created a unit I love!  I am working through it and LoViNg life.  I issued a challenge to “Reduce your use at home”, and the kids wrote about what they have been doing.

 

I really like how the lettering turned out on my Earth Day boards, and it comes with the unit ! ! ! 

 Then we “Hugged the Earth”.  The kids go crazy when I do skin color art.  I know it builds their self esteem, and it always gives me a giggle watching them choose their skin color. 





You know I did fluency all week… It’s such a great way to build skills. These are the medium passages because my class is ready, but I went back and wrote MUCH easier passages for a few low babies.



What are those cool bookmarks??? They are fluency bookmarks. I almost wet my pants when they arrived in my inbox. I have to tell you about them and one other unit I used this week.  Click any pic to see more.

I am using the fluency bookmarks from Fluttering Through First . They have made bookmarks for every month !!!!! Here are my kids reading with their classmates, bookmarks at the ready. After you listen, you sign… Easy. I used the bookmarks in three ways this week.

#1. Adopted Curriculum Practice in class and for homework

#2. Fluency Practice ( I know I already showed you this picture )

I left my camera at home Wednesday.

#3 Bribery

The bookmarks are helping so so so much and here is why they love them SO SO SO much. Toss in your completed bookmark, and if our class helper pulls yours, you win a trip to the prize box.

 

Them: “Can I PLEASE have another bookmark!?!”

Me:  “Why yes, yes you can.”

God: “Send a choir of angels down there to sing, Gabriel. I like to see kids enjoy reading! Oh, and give Mrs. Knight some extra patience because little Mr. ________ is about to drive her to dink.”

My flip flap books from Anna at Simply Skilled in Second turned out great! There were so many goodies included, that it was a treasure trove to pick from.  I chose the “E-A-R-T-H” flap pages to grace a quick bulletin board.  These will come down and be stored until open house. Inside I have our little book and writing. Anna has tons of goodies you can include in your flip flap books. I am impressed with the quality of this product. LOVE.

The students were over the moon making these books.  Seriously, check out Anna’s blog and this unit. Amazing.

Have I ever mentioned that ABC order rocks? I mean I might be a little obsessed….Just a little… Here is a little freebie for you.

Remember to check out this unit, and if you want more freebies for Earth Day, check out my peeps below. 

We have teamed up to bring you some great goodies!

Kate from Second Grade Sparkle made this little baby for you and will make you laugh out loud with her first grade story {here} . Her story is about first graders arguing about where babies come from. Yep, you are so wanting to read that!



Anna at Simply Skilled in Second is rocking this freebie for you.  Anna and i are giving you a chance to win our units too.  I have loved working with Anna!

Lisa at Growing Firsties made this glorious page.  Can anybody say yes please? Plus when you log onto Lisa's blog to grab her freebie you can enter her "U Pick" giveaway. That's right U pick the gift card you want. 


Rachel Lamb made a Trash Tracker for your class. Cute and smart...just like her! Go to her blog The Tattooed Teacher to grab it.




Greg from Kindergarten Smorgasboard made you this cute hat!!! Click {here} to go grab it. 

You can win my Easy Ecology and Anna's Earth Day Flip Flap Unit

by following and commenting on your favorite part of Earth Day.
1. Follow  both of us.
2. Comment 
3. Tell the rafflecopter below that you commented.

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Don't forget you can enter to win $25 below :0) 

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Latoya's linky question is: What is your favorite area of your classroom?
  I love this area of my classroom  because the black backers stay up all year long, and I change out what goes on top of them. In this case the art has a black background so you can't see the backers.  But having the backers up already makes this board so easy to swap out.  I put up new lettering, rewrite a new standard with dry erase marker, and I have a new, perfectly straight bulletin board in 15 minutes flat. It always looks so nice and is so easy!  Who wouldn't love that!?!

Link back up {here}