Daily Five!

September 29, 2013

Daily Five!
Rotations for my Daily Five are going well. The kids are getting the hang of working independently and making choices.  I definitely have some that I need to keep a close eye on.

This week we were working with a non-fiction reading story called "Animal Moms and Dads"in our Treasure series.  I made a cut, paste, and write activity for Read to Self as one of the tasks this week.  The students had to match the animal baby to its mother.  Then they had to tell me some sentences about what they know about those animals.  We are also writing our "How to" books in Work on Writing.  I made some phonics sorts with an animal theme to match the stories of the week.
Take a look!

Here is what my one page looked like.  I added handwriting lines before I copied it.  I did this in Publisher and used the clipart within it.
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1wIXS5oXcNLX2pXZkw0TUVuc3M/edit?usp=drive_web




The phonics sort for word work was also given an animal theme and a few words to practice for spelling.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1wIXS5oXcNLOHpUS2JsYmNGZW8/edit?usp=drive_web


I am trying to get the students to be independent when looking for words too.  I introduced the dictionary this week and they loved looking for the word that they needed.

We finally have our I pad cart up and running so I was able to have some children work on them during the Word Work part of the Daily 5.  There is an awesome app called Build a Word Express which lets me have students practice the vowel sound/word family of the week and then test them on it.  It is a great way to collect data so that I can differentiate their instruction.

This is what the app button looks like in the  iTunes App store. Check it out!

Have a wonderful week!

Working With My Young Writers!

September 17, 2013

What a busy couple of weeks! We have been hitting the routines hard and I am collecting data on my kids so that I can get some book clubs and conferencing groups together.

Last week we did a couple of really nice writing mini-lessons.
Take a peek....I'm not the best artist, but I try!




I know that is a quite impressive drawing. Look at my beefy arms, that must be a heavy umbrella!
I followed up the next day with this anchor chart.




After a full week my little people are starting to catch on. I think these charts help them connect with some familiar items. I had them do a practice page that made the beginning capital green and ending mark red.

Exploring Microsoft Publisher....

August 30, 2013

This week I decided to explore Publisher.  I see some really neat worksheets and things on Pinterest and some of them are made in Publisher.  I have never used it so I thought I would give it a try.

I began with some things for my Word Work during the Daily 5 and my Spelling test paper.
Here is a look at a couple of them.  As I am learning this new and wonderful world of creating, I am trying to figure out how to

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1wIXS5oXcNLRWR6clZwNTRaeWc/edit?usp=sharing

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1wIXS5oXcNLUDVoWkJGa1dQQ00/edit?usp=sharing

This is my first time making a link for these so I hope you can open them and print them!

The First Week!

August 25, 2013

I can't believe the first week of school has come and gone.  I have 26 beautiful students and we began the year learning about each other and what is expected.
I am very excited about our first reading mini-lessons and the introduction to Daily 5.
We began with what readers can do.  The students helped me to think of ideas.  Check it out:

I am not the best artist, but I always tell the kids that we are only expected to do our personal best.

We also began talking about the difference between Read to Self and Read to Someone.  I am proud of those anchor charts too, but forgot to snap pictures.

During Read to Self my students are allowed to have a book buddy read with them.  We go over the rules and expectations of the book buddies too.  Check it out:

During Read to Someone we learned about the expectations of how we sit.  Our chant for this goes:

Elbow, elbow,

knee, knee,

that's how

you sit with me!

They did a great job for the first few days.  Check it out:

I found some great resources on Pinterest to use with the Daily 5.  I used a great handout to use with Read to Someone that I found by First Grade is Weinerful on Teachers Pay Teachers.

Here is the link: 

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Reading-Stations-FREEBIE-782973

I also found a great way to have the students monitor the Daily 5.  It was made by Sabrina Robinson and I also found it on TPT. The checklist has shaded boxes so the students know exactly what is expected.  The form is editable so you can change the boxes from week to week. Awesome tool!

Here is the link:

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Literacy-Rotation-Checklist-Template-206372

That's all for now!  Talk to you soon!

August 15, 2013

Last night was meet the teacher and supply drop off at school.  Like all schools, the roster changes right before the beginning of school.  So last night a new student comes and registers.  I am out of table space, I already have a star student desk, so I thought about it over night and came up with a Help Desk.  I always have the children ask friends a question before they ask me to see if they can help each other.  So I thought that a child in the Help Desk would come in handy and provide a nice seat for an extra student without bringing in a whole other table.
I am not ultra crafty, but I tried!

The other thing that I created is my table numbers.  On one side of the sign it has the Team number of the table.  On the opposite side I put a saying or message.  I put them in clay pots that have flower foam in them.  I had to put some hot glue on the end of the stick so that it would stay put in the foam.
It has been a crafty start to the year!  Click on the link to see the picture!

https://www.dropbox.com/sc/y0zvboy0oiajg2l/DZCNFiHxq4

Project Based Learning Presentation

August 12, 2013

Today I finished my Prezi for a presentation I have to do tomorrow on Project Based Learning.
I am very new to Prezis but I thought I would share.

If you are new to Project Based Learning, check out www.bie.org.  It is so helpful and teacher friendly.
http://prezi.com/upemzw8ra_01/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

A Special Seat!

Tales of a First Grade Teacher

August 10, 2013

Today I went into my classroom to begin getting ready.  I can't believe school begins in one week.

I decided to have a special seat in my room for a "Star Student." So I found an old desk and decided to give it a crafty upgrade.  I am not the most artistic person, but I did my best. Take a look!

I think that my first graders will enjoy taking turns sitting at this special desk!