Christmas in July - 1 Day ONLY!

Ho ho ho!  There's a Christmas in July sale going on over at TPT starting tomorrow, Wednesday, July 25th. I decided to get JOLLY and join the fun by having a sale at my TPT store tomorrow (one day only) also!

 This cute button was designed by the fabulous Babbling Abby!  

Click on the link below and check out all the awesome teacher bloggers that are having a sale too!

Please note that Teachers pay Teachers will be offline from 12:00am-8:00am EST for upgrades so please plan your shopping with that in mind.

Merry Christmas in July! 

OWL-Standing Behavior Chart!

Hi ya'll! (My family and I are back from vacation from Tennessee!) We had the best time!  I can't believe that summer will soon be coming to a close... the stores already are stocking up with back to school supplies and I actually made my first trip to my classroom to take a look around.  

Even though I only did a bit of furniture arranging and cleaning - I had time to put together an idea that I've had for a while to see if it would work.  This year I thought I would use an owl behavior chart.  I put together a large owl but after I got it done realized I didn't bring my poster printouts to attach to him!  Ugh!

So I took a picture of my owl and then placed photos of my charts on him to see how it will look eventually.  I'm asking everyone to VISUALIZE here... so hopefully you get the idea.  

I think he will eventually look pretty cute... I still have to add a little detail and laminate him but I think he will work out perfectly.  I am loving my new charts.  However, I could not decide between polka dotted owls and solid owls so I made charts using both.  Here is a close up!

As you can see, I included Purple and Pink as color choices for Outstanding.  With my last behavior chart, I had many requests to change it to purple - so I made charts using both colors.  If you would like to see a better preview you can check it out at my TPT store or click on the pictures above.  

On another note, does anyone out there use Whole Brain Teaching?  A bunch of teachers from our school went to a session recently and I am excited about using some of these methods.  I would love to hear your thoughts about WBT and results if you've used it in your classroom.  At the end of the year I began using the class-yes and liked it. I'm a little iffy on the scoreboard, mirror, class-teach stuff.  I have been watching videos and reading more about how WBT works in the classroom.  I would love to hear thoughts and experiences!   

OWLS, Reading Street, and a Freebie!

Well ~ we've had a break in the weather... high today 98! At least we are out of the triple digits.  Yesterday, I found some of the cutest clipart and decided I had to make a few things using owls.  {I just LOVE owls!}  I bet you didn't know that!?  So for ALL the owl fans out there, I hope you like these.  I started out by creating some nameplates using bright colorful owls.  I thought these were just the cutest... take a look:

If you notice - some of the nameplates have cute sayings and some do not.  I made them both ways  so you could choose if you wanted the sayings or not.  There are actually even more nameplates in the file.  I used 6 different backgrounds.  Click on any picture above to take you to my TPT store.

As I started using the chocolate brown backgrounds (which I love since it is the theme in my room) I began creating another file using brown owls.  I fell in love INSTANTLY!

I'm not sure which one I'm going to use this year... I may just use one of each!  Again - I created these so there are 2 copies in each file - one with the cute sayings - and one without.  Just print out the ones you want to use.  If you are interested, click on any picture above or HERE to go to my TPT store.

If you teach Reading Street, I created some grammar posters that I plan to use this year as we make our way through each week.  I will post these as references for each unit and then make them available in my writing center either on a ring, or in a binder, etc.  I'm not sure yet.  I wanted something that I could project on my Smart Board as we learn about each grammar concept.  Here are a few examples of what I came up with:

These are both from Unit 1.

These are from Unit 2.

These are from Unit 3.

These are from Unit 4.

These are from Unit 5.

Each unit has 6 different posters for each of the weekly skills.  These are all available in my TPT store if you are interested. 

NOW for the freebie!  I hope all you OWL lovers out there will like this. You can get one brown owl and one bright owl name plate for free by clicking HERE!  I am thinking about creating new book box labels, binder covers and cubby numbers using these cute owls.  What do you think?  Hope everyone has a great week... I am off to take my kids to Six Flags today.  Thank goodness it has cooled down a little.  (Heh heh)!

Saxon Math FREEBIE!

It's still H.O.T. in Missouri ~ 107 degrees today!  I was going through all my math stuff today and thought I would share my printable math calendar pages I created to go along with our Saxon Math Meeting.  I know many of you do not teach Saxon but if you use any of these same components, these pages might work for you.  If you teach Saxon (1st Grade) then this should be perfect!

Last year, I found that my kiddos needed something more to keep them engaged during our math meeting.  We started using white boards - but some aspects were hard for them to do on a blank white board and then I saw lots of doodling... SO - I came up with these pages to help keep them engaged, on track, and as a nice reference for many of my kiddos - especially my intervention students.  I used these two pages copied front to back for the first 40 lessons:

After the first 40 lessons - I began using one page with all the calendar components.  To save paper, I placed these pages in plastic sleeves and students used (skinny) dry erase markers to interact with their calendar page.  It definitely helped keep my kiddos on track, focused and my intervention students loved having the resources at their fingertips to answer questions and follow along.  Click on any of the pictures to download for FREE!

I'm not sure how many Saxon Math users are out there ~ but I hope you find this to be a good resource.  I would love to hear your thoughts!  My TPT 20% off sale ends tonight, Friday, July 6th at midnight.  Have a wonderful weekend and stay COOL! 

Camping/Forest Theme Classroom Ideas

Is tomorrow already the 4th of July?!  Yikes!  I don't know about you - but it is H-O-T here in Missouri!  Since I have been spending a lot of time indoors due to the heat, I have been able to sit down and create some things that I want to use in my classroom next year.  Many of them were pinterest inspired but I thought I would share what I've been up to.

Don't you just LOVE the writing choice boards that have been floating around pinterest?  I have seen several that I love but I wanted to create one that went along with my camping/forest themed classroom.  So I sat down and came up with this... Warning:  I had to lay these out on my table or my bed to see how they will look on a bulletin board.  Sorry for the ugliness - but hopefully you can use your imagination and see the possibilities with a cute background and border.  We cannot get into our classrooms until August!

This will give you an idea of what my bulletin board will look like:

So then I thought it was too dark of a background so here is another picture:

After I cut these out - I decided I wanted to have the option to just cut out a square instead of all the little nooks and crannies!  Whew...my hands were aching!  So I came up with this - I haven't decided which one I will use yet - So I printed this one out on paper so I could see how it looked.

I made some generic list cards to go with "Make a List" part of the board.  There are 12 cards but here are a few of them. I plan to laminate, put on a ring and hang on my board next to the "Make a List" choice.

While I was at it, I created some recipe cards, letter templates (forest themed), list templates, and created the cards to make the title of this board.  I'm not sure how many out there do a camping theme - but if you are interested you can find them here at my TPT store.

I also made some new name plates for my student desks.  I print these out and laminate them and then USUALLY adhere them to my desks with contact paper.  This year I think I'm going to use velcro to attach my name plates.  I like to use cable ties to hold my desks together so when I need to move students around - I don't have to move their desks - just their name plates!  

I made 2 sets - one set is specifically geared for FIRST GRADE and the other is for ANY GRADE.  Here are a few examples:

You can find the first grade set below and the one for ANY GRADE here.

Next year we are going to be focusing more on the six traits and I decided that I wanted some posters that went along with my theme that students could reference after I teach each trait.  I just LOVE how they turned out... here are a few:

I tried to use simple language that my first graders could understand.  I made a poster for each of the traits plus 1 for Presentation.  If you are interested here is the link:

Last, I just love some of the alphabet cards that I have seen lately and I have been wanting to do something that was "foresty" or camping related so I sat down today and made these cards.  I printed some of them out and hung them in my office just to see if I would like them.  I can't wait to replace my old, faded, ugly alphabet line above my Smart Board!  Here is a picture but it was very sunny so it is a little dark:

Here are some of the cards included in the set... I just LOVE dots on chocolate!

I decided to outline the vowels in pink so they will stand out a bit from the consonants.  I am so excited about these - I am ready to head to the laminator!  Click on the picture below to go to my TPT store.

Well - I didn't mean for this post to be SOOOOO long.  I had several emails asking me to create some more woodland themed items.  I have a few more ideas that I hope to add very soon - but I almost forgot - I am having a SALE in celebration of the 4th of July!  Everything in my store is 20% off until Friday, July 6th.  Hope you are keeping cool in this 100+ degree heat!  Have a great day!

End of Year Student Gift

I have two and a half days left of school!  I am already feeling the tears coming on.  I know my students are ready to move on and I think I'm ready for summer but the last day is always bittersweet.  I get so attached to my students and I will miss each and everyone of them.  I decided to create a little gift bag for summer for my students.  It looks like this:

Inside you will find a water gun, a splash bomb, a diving stick, a crazy straw and a Hawaiian Punch Singles Packet. Here is what it looks like from the back:

 

I made some cute tags that say "Hope your summer is a SPLASH!"  I gave these away last year and the kids were excited!  If you would like the tags you can get your free copy here minus my name.

I would also like to thank everyone again for the nomination of One of the Most Fascinating Teacher Blogs of 2012.  I am thrilled, honored and so thankful to be a part of an awesome blog community.  Thanks in advance if you would like to vote for me.  Just click on the Vote for Me button at the top left hand of my blog.  Have a great week!

Countdown Finale and a freebie!

So I've been an awful blogger and haven't kept up like I said I would.  Everyday I am just keeping up with what is due the following day, plus planning, grad work and my own kiddos at home...my head is spinning.  But I thought I would catch you up on our countdown.  By the way, a few had commented about seeing the balloon pop on Pinterest.  Mrs. Gray works down the hall from me.  Last year I introduced this idea to the other first grade teachers in the building and our classes participated last year.  She was already blogging, so she blogged about our days last year. {I just didn't want you guys to think I was not giving her credit or stealing her idea}. Here are some of our days from the last few weeks:

Extra Recess, Bring a Snack and Drink Day - or as we like to call it a "Read and Feed".  [Students get to read while enjoying a snack and drink].  They LOVE this!  We also had Sit by a Friend Day, Hat day (in the classroom only), and Stinky Feet Day - students got to kick off their shoes and walk around in their socks all day as long as they were in the classroom! I was out 3 days of this week and did not get many pictures.  We also had Lollipop Day and I managed to snap a picture with my iphone:

We had several dum dum suckers throughout the day and then these multi flavored ones at the end of the day.  Needless to say they were a big hit!

The following week we celebrated Cinco de Mayo and had a Mexican party - complete with quesadillas, maracas and pinatas. We also did the Mexican Hat Dance!  One of my awesome parents came in and made the cheese quesadillas and we had chips, salsa and sour cream with them... delicious!

We made maraccas with paper plates and beans.  One of my kiddos brought in some real maracas from Mexico to share with us!

Finally we made pinatas out of paper sacks.  We created them in groups and then I filled them with a little candy and trinkets and we headed outside to have some fun!

We began by using my long pointer to hit the pinata.  My pointer BROKE!  Oops - should've brought my wiffle bat from home. So we improvised and used my broom.

I had each of them hit it very softly the first time around so everyone got a turn.

And then once everyone had a turn, they could whack away!  I had to include this picture of this little guy busting down the pinata!  He hit it with all his might!

We also have a park day every year.  Our grade level classes get to go to the park to play for a day.  I had to include it in my balloon countdown.  Here are a couple of my favorite pictures from the park:

Such cutie pies!

I just LOVE this one!

We also have a Reading Counts Party at the end of the year.  Every student that has earned their points for the quarter gets to attend.  It is outside and includes tons of events.  We have Rockets through Rings, Art in the Pavilion, Water Balloons, Bubbles, Football throw, Volleyball, Kickball, Playground, a Wii hooked up in the Art Room, Open computer lab... and so much more.  Students travel around to the different stations and each teacher is assigned to the stations.  Kindergarten teachers stay with their class and rotate with them through each station.  We also had our Field Day last week. We've spent lots of time out in the sun this week.  I have gone through almost a whole bottle of sunscreen between me and my kiddos.

We also do a day called "Mystery Guest Reader".  I arrange in advance several parents that come in to read to the kids.  I keep some books handy for them but a lot of them will bring in a book to read.  I give the class 3 hints before they get there and they try to guess who will be our next guest.  Here is a picture of our poster I made to help us keep track of all the guests who came to our classroom:

We had a visit from our current Principal, our new Principal for next year and the other first grade teacher.  We switched classes so we could read to each other's class.  It was so much fun!

Here are a few pictures of some parents reading.

This parent read Walter the Farting Dog... always a favorite!

We have 3 and a half days left!  I can't believe it!  It has passed by so fast.  This week we are having a popsicle party, arts and craft day, and game day.  Game day is scheduled for the last full day of school.  The kids get to bring in their DS or other electronic games and we usually hook up an XBOX or Wii to the smartboard.  Last year the kids loved playing Just Dance on the Wii.  The last day we have an awards assembly and the kids wear their class shirts and sign each others shirts to say goodbye!  I am including my countdown ideas in a printout in case you can use any of these ideas for next year.  I just cut them apart and fold them up to put them in the balloons.  Hope someone out there can use them.  There is also a science experiment day we had planned to make homemade icecream but we ran out of time.  I plan to make an activity packet over the summer with lots more details and activities that go with each day.  Click on the picture below to grab a copy:

Last, but not LEAST, I have been nominated as one of the most fascinating blogs of 2012!  Wow!  I am so honored and want to say thank you!  There are so many fascinating blogs out there I really don't think I measure up, but if you would like to vote for me I would be so appreciative!  You can click on the button at the top left hand corner of my blog to vote beginning tomorrow, Monday May 14th.  

Voting is open until May 21st so thank you, thank you, thank you! 

Have an awesome week!