First Grader...at Last!

Me...In a Nutshell

2012-01-24T19:37:00.000-08:00

This is a randomly random post. I am sorry I have been MIA lately, but we are in the process of searching for a new house! Yay! {Don't worry, parents, I'm not going anywhere--if anything, we will be even closer to the school!}

As I was beginning to clean out our closets and organize like a mad, crazy woman--I came across an idea I had years ago, and completely forgot about it--until now. Although it might be a better idea for a beginning of the year activity, I think it could still be used at anytime throughout the year in order to learn more about your students.

So, I present to you the "Me...in a Nutshell" bag.

I am going to use it as a student of the week sharing bag, challenging my students to find items to place in the bag that will tell us things that we do not already know about them!

So, here are some things you don't know about me..."In a Nutshell":

1. I was on T.V.

When I was little, I was on a science experiment show with the awesome STEVE SPANGLER! {Mentos rockets, anyone? He makes all kinds of crazy science toys, and is a downright GENIUS.} He is on Ellen all the time now, y'all! Anyway, I was one of the kids who did the experiments on his weekly show for our local news station for several weeks in a row. I thought it was fantastic. I also told all the kids in my class I was famous. {Ha!} It is my ultimate goal to go to one of Steve's teacher workshops. I just have to go do some cool science experiments with this guy!

2. I lived in Colorado.

I lived in Aurora, Colorado with my mom until I was in the 4th grade--when we moved to Birmingham to be near my older brother and sister-in-law who was having my mom's first grandchild, and my very first niece! {That sweet little niece of mine is graduating high school this year. I CAN'T believe it!!!} On a side note, I have NEVER been skiing, even though we lived in the Rockies. WHAT?! So, I really want to ski one day, just to say I have done it!

3. I am afraid of clowns.

Seriously...terrified. I have no idea why. If I get near a clown, even a friendly one, I break out in a sweat and feel like I can't breathe. {I have got to get over this so I can take my child to the circus one day!}

4. I want to write and publish a children's book.

This has been my dream since first grade! Writing in my journal was my absolute favorite thing to do in school. I have written one story that I want to send to a publisher, but just haven't done it. I might be scared. But how COOL would it be to read my students a book I have written myself? I would LOVE to say, "Oh, and by the way, the author of this story is...ME!"

5. I have been to Hawaii.

I went in the 5th grade because older brother played football for the Air Force Academy (Go Falcons!), and they played Hawaii! So, our family went for the game and had a fantastic vacation, too! I really want to go back there one day! It was amazing!

6. My first major wasn't education.

I would like to say that I had always wanted to be a teacher, but when I started college, I actually wanted to go into advertising. I had an advertising internship that was great, but the experience revealed to me that I didn't have a passion for it. I was led into teaching when I found out that I loved working with students at vacation bible school at my church! I can't imagine doing anything else. I LOVE my job. {But y'all know that already.}

7. Favorite movie of all time: Father of the Bride.

{Steve Martin edition.} I think I know every word of the movie, and watched it every day of the week leading up to my wedding. I even had the theme song from the movie played after we were pronounced husband and wife! {Um, I'm kind of cheesy, and I'm okay with that!} I cry every single time I watch the part when it is the night before the wedding and the dad and his daughter play basketball together in the snow, and they share their special moment of saying goodbye to her childhood. It is just too sweet! I cry even harder now, when I picture my sweet Emma getting married one day!

8. I can't sing.

At all. It's really kind of embarrassing.

9. I wish there was a show called, "Dancing with the Regular People".

I'm not a star, and will never be one, but I sure wish I could be on that show! I may not be able to sing, but I *might* be able to dance!!!

10. My husband was a White House intern

Yes, I know, that has nothing to do with me, but when he went to work at the White House, it was a huge part of both of our lives. He had to leave for D.C. only a week after we got engaged. I was broken hearted that he had to leave for months-- but so, so proud of him at the same time! I went to D.C. several times while he was there and was able to tour some of the cool places that most people don't get to see! We both will have a special place in our hearts for that city!

So, that's "Me...in a Nutshell"!

*Teachers...click HERE to get your FREE "Me...in a Nutshell" cover page!

"CHEER-ios!" Classroom Cheers for Super Smarties!

2012-01-01T09:21:00.000-08:00

CHEER-ios! Classroom cheers printed on cheerios, get it?! HA! I have wanted to make this project for awhile now--it has been in my idea book for at least a year--and I am so happy I finally found the time to make it! This past year, I have added classroom cheers to my daily routine--and it has been the single BEST thing I have done to encourage participation, build classroom community, and create a room full of ENERGIZED and eager learners! {Seriously...no "sleepy time" in my classroom with cheers!} I use cheers ALL the TIME. When doing SmartBoard lessons, and I call on a student to come to the board to help complete a task or find the correct answer, I call out the name of a cheer, and the rest of the class will encourage their little friend by doing one of the cheers in my "Cheerios" book! It may be a dance--like my personal favorite--The Sprinkler Dance! Or it can be something like The Cowboy, "YEE-HAW!" I started out by teaching my students five or six cheers, then added more each week. They caught on so quickly! The kids love encouraging one another, and it is so neat to just call out the name of a cheer and see everyone do it!

I printed these out on card stock, cut out the circles (and I cut out the middle--but you don't have to), laminated the set, and put them on a metal ring so I can flip through them easily, and have all of my cheers right in front of me, so I won't have to come up with them on the spot!

Teacher friends, go here to get CHEERios for your class! (I have made 20 of my absolute personal FAVES!) I hope you will love doing cheers as much as we do!!!

P.S. To show my appreciation to all of my ROCKIN' Readers, I am giving away TWO of these guys to the first TWO to comment under this post! As always, I appreciate all of you for reading my little blog! It has been so wonderful to share ideas with so many incredible teachers and parents out there! Thanks for all of your encouraging comments, uplifting emails, and inspiration. I am so very grateful!

We've Been Around the World... and Back!

2011-12-19T18:53:00.000-08:00

They are finished...and they are PRECIOUS! {Just sayin'.} Look at this great example of our finished scrapbooks:

My sweet student teacher copied all of these books for me in full color--for FREE! I am so grateful! (Thanks, Mrs. Wideman!) She also took the time to put all of them in page protectors and tie them with curly ribbon! Cute, cute, cute!!!

First, we visited Mexico and broke open a piñata! One little friend almost hit me with the piñata stick! Kinda scary, and pretty hilarious! I think I will remember that day the most. The piñata didn't break open when it hit the ground--so you better believe those first graders ripped that colorful paper donkey to SHREDS! Seriously, there were pieces of it everywhere! HA!

Our next stop took us to France. We sampled Yule Logs {Swiss Cake Rolls}--which they thought Mrs. Wideman and I made ourselves, and we sort of let them believe it! It wasn't until snack time about a week or so later that someone brought some Swiss Cake Rolls and they had us figured out. Oh well! We also took a little trip to the very top of the Eiffel Tower! We visited The Leaning Tower of Pisa (and learned that it really is NOT the Leaning Tower of PIZZA). Then we went over to the Colosseum and learned that they used to have some great battles there! We read the story of Old Befana, and drew pictures of her and her broomstick. She sure did love to sweep!

In Sweden, we learned that they have a Christmas gnome named the Tomte, and he delivers gifts in a sleigh pulled by goats! How interesting--and strange! In England, we learned about the Christmas Cracker tradition, and even got our own pieces of Evergreen tree! Long ago, people believed that Evergreens were magical! Neat! We even got a coin to keep from the Plum Pudding!

We had a special visitor come talk to us about Christmas in Germany. She brought real artifacts from her childhood Christmas celebrations in Germany! We sampled real gingerbread and German candy! YUM. We made paper gingerbread guys and girls too! After flying all around the world on Christmas Airlines, our Passport books were finally full! We have a flag stamp from every country!

We also learned how to say Santa Claus in 6 other languages! I think our favorite was "Babbo Natale". {Say it with a fake Italian accent--super fun.}

Whew! This teacher is exhausted from the huge journey--but I wouldn't trade it for the world! We had a blast, and I hope this is something my students will remember (and keep) forever!!

{If you would like to still purchase a copy of my Christmas Around the World Scrapbook, it will be ON SALE in my TpT store tomorrow! 20% off! Woot! Who loves a bargain?! It may be a little late to use this year, but save it for next year. You'll be SO happy you did.}

Reindeer Games

2011-11-29T18:59:00.000-08:00

Our trip around the world on Christmas Airlines has begun--and we are having all kinds of fun learning about Christmas traditions in other countries! To go along with our Christmas themed classroom fun, I have added some precious reindeer activities to my reading stations! The little silly reindeer pictured below are placed in a pocket chart and matched to the words that best describe them. {My faves...the rock n' roll reindeer and stinky reindeer--which I sadly did not get a picture of those two!}

The adorable guys in the picture below are just a fun little decoration right now--but I am planning on attaching magnets to the back of each reindeer, and the kids can use them to put in ABC order, and then complete a matching cut and paste work page to go with it!

I CAN'T wait to make my swirly-antlered, root beer lovin' reindeer guy. He is holding a teeny tiny book titled, "If You Give a Reindeer Some Root Beer..." {which is all about him, and the kids fill in missing words and illustrate each tiny page--AH! I just love him!} In his other hand is a delicious root beer...because of course reindeer get thirsty on their journey to help Santa deliver presents!

If you are a teacher friend, and would like to read and write and sing about reindeer too--you can find all these activities (and much more) in my Reindeer Games activity packet! Grab yours *here*!

*Pictures of our adventures with our Christmas Around the World Scrapbook coming soon...*

Super Readers

2011-11-20T08:37:00.000-08:00

You may have heard of Superman, but have you heard of Super Reader? The Super Reader is a hero who finishes 5 reading logs during the month (which is the equivalent of 100 books)! For being so super and reading so much, the Super Reader is given the "Super Reader Cheer", and is presented with a Super Reader headband, a fantastic Super Reader recognition (colored by Mrs. Cooley!) and wears the Super Reader emblem around his or her neck! I was inspired by this idea from my wonderful sister-in-law Cindy--she and her team teacher do something similar to this in their Kindergarten classroom! Parents, please keep encouraging your child to read at home! I would love to have a whole class full of Super Readers each month!

Wondrous Word Files

2011-11-17T15:16:00.000-08:00

Vocabulary words are known as "Wondrous Words" in my classroom! One of my new favorite activities to review and reinforce using our new vocabulary words is the Wondrous Word File Folder! Each student has a mini Wondrous Word file folder like the one pictured above, and each week, they pick one of their favorite new Wondrous Words to add to the file. The kids have to use the word correctly in a sentence and draw a picture to go with the sentence. Each new page is attached to the file on a metal ring. (Having the ring makes it easy for the kids to flip through and review their previous Wondrous Words!)

Love this guy's word file! He definitely earned the "Sugar Cookie with Icing and Sprinkles Award" for his fantastic work!

Skinny Pencil Club

2011-11-15T18:28:00.000-08:00

In first grade, we all begin the school year with our "fat" pencils. As a motivator to use their best first grade handwriting all day, everyday--students can become members of the "Skinny Pencil Club"! Students that consistently use proper spacing and letter formation are inducted as new members! Students are presented with a brand-new, fresh "skinny" pencil and a note to remind them to keep up the great work!

Pigeon Perfect!!!

2011-11-15T18:00:00.000-08:00

As many of y'all know by now...I LOVE Mo Willems! The pigeon author study is one of my favorite times of the year! I usually begin this fantastically fun author study near the end of the school year, but I'm just too excited to wait, so we may be reading some pigeon books early! I have *FINALLY* finished and posted this little activity pack to my TpT store! Here are just a few preview pages:

The "Coffee Cup of Stay Up Late Excuses" to go along with Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late!

Which hot dog is your favorite graph (comes with large poster sized pieces, too) to go with The Pigeon Wants a Hot Dog!

Paper pigeon (and a duckling too!) in small and large sizes--for Reader's Theatre or stick puppets!

{Click here if you are interested!}

Christmas Around the World Scrapbook

2011-11-11T13:07:00.000-08:00

Hey there, teacher friends! I have gotten so many emails from all of you asking about my Christmas Around the World Scrapbook from last year, so I decided to make a "new and improved" version. I am SO ridiculously excited about this packet!!! I am seriously counting down the days until December so I can give my kids their tickets aboard "Christmas Airlines", and we can fly around the world to learn all about Christmas traditions in other countries! The scrapbook comes with a little teacher's guide to help spark creativity, and it also gives real facts about each country--to help us "tour guides" on the journey! If you are doing a Christmas Around the World Unit, I hope you will go check this out!!! As always, thank you so much for your continued support, encouragement, and sweet notes and emails. I am very thankful that I can share and receive ideas with amazing teachers from all over the world!

Edgar the Sick Ghost Helper

2011-10-31T20:10:00.000-07:00

One of my wonderful first grade teacher friends came up with a fun idea--she thought of a pretend a character named Edgar the ghost helper, who helps out sick ghosts who say, "Ehhh" {the sound of short vowel e}! I loved this idea, and decided to come up with a few little things to go along with our ghost helping friend named Edgar. I wrote the silly poem above--and it was read aloud as an introduction to the station activity pictures below. Our first "write the room" station choice this year was to go find the sick ghosts saying "Ehhhh" that were hanging around the room, and record the words they found on the ghosts onto their own ghost page.

We've Got a Bat Mobile...

2011-10-24T18:00:00.000-07:00

We don't have Batman, but we do have his Bat Mobile...well, sort of. As we learned all kinds of interesting facts about bats last week, the kids placed cool new bat facts they learned on our "Bat Fact Mobile!" We also recorded all of our new learning in our Bat Fact Journals, complete with hand drawn bat diagrams, foods that different bats eat, types of bats, and a design for a button to wear to show people that bats really aren't all that bad!

Yuck Soup

2011-10-17T17:51:00.000-07:00

Yuck! Soup...that is. To practice reading words with /ck/, some of my first grade friends helped to illustrate /ck/ ingredients to put into "Yuck Soup"--a soup made entirely of /ck/ things! This silly anchor chart is one that many buddy readers like to read over and over again, using cool pointers and laughing at all the weird ingredients: socks, a duck, Cracker Jacks, a clock, crackers, snack cakes, black licorice, a Snickers bar, a cricket {ew!}, a sticker, chicken nuggets, bricks, blocks, rocks, and...a package of pop-tarts. Do NOT try this recipe at home. :)

Adventures with Pete the Paleontologist

2011-10-03T18:59:00.000-07:00

A little afraid of dinos? Never fear, because Pete the Paleontologist is here! Pete popped up in our classroom early last week--but we quickly realized that he was missing all of his important Paleontologist tools! We decided he needed to have his tools in order to teach us all about dinosaurs and fossils, so the kids read about tools a Paleontologist needs to have for a day on the job, then created their own tools to give to Pete! Some of the tools pictured are a dinosaur research book, a flashlight, a shovel, a pick axe, a notebook and a pencil (to take detailed notes), glasses (to look at things carefully), goggles (to protect his eyes), a brush (to brush away dirt), a magnifying glass, and a tool belt to hold his tools. Although we were surprised when Pete showed up in our class, we were completely SHOCKED and excited to find the next day that GIANT dinosaurs had moved into our classroom overnight! WOAH!

We learned about carnivores and herbivores, and after reading Trouble at the Dinosaur Cafe, we created some meals for our carnivore and herbivore dino friends. Stuck to Mr. Carnivore's face are the foods we drew for him to eat. He has a delicious variety of meats: meatballs, hot dogs, steak, ribs, chicken legs, hamburgers, and sausage. Stuck to Mr. Herbivore are a variety of plant foods we thought he'd enjoy: trees, oranges, apples, leaves, broccoli, grass, and...hot peppers! We even brought in our favorite toy dinosaurs and sorted them into carnivores and herbivores--just by looking at their teeth, necks, and claws! We also learned that slower moving dinosaurs walked on all 4 legs, and the faster dinosaurs could speed after prey on just 2 hind legs! Cool!

We used Crayola air dry clay to create our very own fossils! Most of us used shells to press into our clay. This is a little "Fossil Exhibit"that shows off all the interesting fossils everyone made!

To top off all of our adventures, we really became little Paleontologists--and were able to dig for dinosaur bones and other fossils!

Do you see the dinosaur bone?

As we pieced together parts of "dinosaur eggs", we learned just how hard a Paleontologist's job can be--especially when there are pieces of bone or egg shell that don't belong with the others! So tricky!

Junie B. says, "Reading Rules!"

2011-09-25T19:27:00.000-07:00

Dear First Grade Journal,

I am really excited to be a member of Mrs. Cooley's First Grade Class! I love sitting over in the corner listening to all the little smarties read books to themselves and to their buddies. I might just actually stay in Mrs. Cooley's Class forever, I think.

Love,

"Junie B."

Many of you have asked me where I got my Junie B. cut-out! This summer, Books-a-Million was having a Summer Reading Program with Junie B., and I just asked the sweet people over there to save her for me, and they did! I was so excited to finally set her up in the reading corner! She reminds us everyday that "Reading Rules!" We have been so busy learning new routines and modeling and practicing expectations during reading. We learned that there are 3 ways to read a book, and my sweet baby Emma was the "model" for our anchor chart!

We have settled into The Daily Five, and I couldn't be prouder of how well my little friends are doing by taking charge and working so hard to become great readers! When it is time to share something they have learned during reading, or something that they are proud of, I am amazed at the variety of answers I get! Some are excited that they read a whole Dr. Seuss book to themselves, while others have written a story and beam as they share it aloud. Others share a favorite part of a favorite book they read, and some smile as they tell me they have learned to spell our new "Challenge Words". One of my favorite moments every year comes when I am teaching a small group at my back table, and take a moment to just look around and see the kids enjoying reading and writing and learning new words. Even though everyone is busy, and the room isn't exactly quiet, it is still one of the most peaceful times in our classroom. Junie B. is right. Reading Rules.

This is my "new and improved" Daily Five Chart. I seriously love it, because this year it has real photos of the kids modeling how you should look at each station!

Picture Perfect Work

2011-08-30T18:07:00.000-07:00

So, this is officially my most favorite hallway work display...ever! This is our complete gallery of frames, all ready to hang some beautiful first grade work! I had so many wonderful suggestions for titles for the gallery of frames, but I finally decided on "Picture Perfect Work"! So, a very big thank you to Lisa T. who "imagined up" that title and shared it with me! Here are some of the frames below, holding self-portraits the kids made using construction paper and scrapbook paper! I have probably left these in my hallway a little too long--but I just do not want to take them down yet! They really make me smile!

Each kid is holding an "All About Me" book.

Look at this precious person, with her little red glasses!

This one has pigtails! Fun!

Lovin' those glasses again!

You're a First Grader...at Last!

2011-08-07T19:40:00.000-07:00

Dear First Graders (and families of first graders),

Hurray, hurray! You're a first grader...at last! That's me {Mrs. Cooley} and my pal, Junie B. just hanging out talking about all the wonderful things about first grade! I have been waiting all summer long to meet you, and I can't wait to take you on the most wonderful learning adventures this year! Get excited--we are going to be reading oodles of the BEST books ever written, conducting fun science experiments, writing and illustrating books just like real authors, solving all kinds of puzzling math problems, and all along the way we'll be dancing, singing, laughing, and having a GREAT time learning together! Some of you may have butterflies flapping around in your little bellies-- maybe some of you are so nervous, you even have whole birds in there! Don't worry. First grade is going to be a BLAST! I promise. Pinky promise. See you soon, first grader!

Love,

Mrs. Cooley

Best "Beehavior" Catalog

2011-07-26T20:28:00.000-07:00

We have 5 rules in our classroom, known as "The Five Bees Promise". You can see the 5 bees {here}. I have learned over the years that positive reinforcement is a wonderful way to manage behavior, and makes the classroom environment one that is happy and encouraging! When my students follow The Five Bees Promise, they have the opportunity to earn "punches" on their "Good Behavior Golden Tickets" a.k.a. "Punch Cards". When the ticket is full of punches, that little friend can redeem the ticket for any prize found in the Best "Beehavior" Catalog. All items found in the catalog are meaningful, fun little prizes that cost me absolutely nothing. I do not have a treasure box--and believe me, they really don't miss it! Here are some of the "bee-utiful" prizes:

We have something called recognitions at our school. They are like tiny certificates that the teacher fills out, the child takes to the front office for a big sticker, and they wear it for the rest of the day. You would think these things were made of gold! They love them!

The prizes have worked out wonderfully! My most popular choices are "Swip-Swap" and "Friendly Lunch". Any other great ideas for fun and free prizes to add to my catalog?

P.S. I would love to share this with my teacher friends, but I don't know the rules about sharing with Lettering Delights materials. Does anyone know if it is okay?

It's a "Picto-Schedule!"

2011-07-25T18:29:00.000-07:00

I finally find out who my new little friends will be this Friday! I hope that by this time next week some of my new first grade families will be checking out our blog {hi!} and viewing this fun little picto-schedule, showing everything your busy first grader will be doing throughout the day! Our schedule is very different this year--we have our specials first thing in the morning followed immediately by P.E. The rest of our day is packed full of learning fun! This teacher is definitely getting excited for a brand new year!!!

My Hands Smell Like Rice Krispy Treats...

2011-07-02T16:30:00.000-07:00

After spending way too much money at the mall today, I just HAD to pick up these great little "Lunch Box" hand sanitizers at Bath & Body Works! I am all about keeping those germs away, and I have a feeling my first graders will be more than happy to keep the germs away too--because these miniature hand gels can make their hands smell like delicious treats! Each day, my two class helpers are responsible for giving everyone in the class a squirt of hand sanitizer right before lining up for lunch and snack! I've tried scented hand gel before--and I found out that my little friends who would always avoid getting the plain old Germ X would be happy to grab some of the "fancy smelling" kind! As an added bonus, your room smells good after everyone gets their hand gel! Today I bought "Marshmallow Treat", "Juice Box", "PB & J", and "Bag of Grapes"!

Light Sabers and...Reading?

2011-07-01T13:30:00.000-07:00

So, I'm probably going to completely regret this whole idea later this year...but HOW COOL will it be for the boys {or girls!} to read the room with inflatable LIGHT SABER pointers ($2.00, Target Party Aisle)!? And, they actually light up! Batteries included! I know I will have to seriously drive home that these light sabers are for pointing at words around the room only...NO light saber battles allowed in the classroom (unless they want to meet "Darth Cooley").

Ocean Food Chains

2011-06-29T13:05:00.000-07:00

There were so many ideas I didn't get a chance to share this year, so travel "back in time"with me to about 2 months ago, when we were studying ocean animals and food chains...I started doing these little ocean food chains back when I was a student teacher! They are so stinkin' fun to make, and they are such a fun visual to reinforce the concept! Each child drew a giant shark, cut out a circle for the belly {well, I cut the circles--this was pretty hard for most of them}, then drew a fish, and cut out a circle belly, then added some plankton inside the fish! Each piece was then taped to a piece of curling ribbon--but I have used yarn and string before too! Teacher friends...this idea could be used with any food chain--you wouldn't have to wait until your ocean animals unit!

You've Been Framed!

2011-06-29T06:13:00.000-07:00

This is a little preview of the poster board frames I will be using this year to "frame" my students' work for our hallway display! It is going to take some serious time to design a fun and unique frame for each first grade friend, then cut it, paint it, and laminate, but I can see the finished wall in my head...and I think that all the funky frames together will make one precious work display! I'll post pictures of all the frames on the wall as soon as they are ready! I need some help, though! What should the title above the display say? I was thinking "You've Been Framed!" But, not entirely loving it! I would love to hear your ideas!

Cats, Cupcakes, and Story Retelling!

2011-06-13T12:56:00.000-07:00

I just posted these little story retelling pieces to my TpT store if you are interested! I hope you'll check it out! I thought I'd see how these go before posting the ones I have made for the other books! My kids really enjoyed these when we did our Laura Numeroff author study. I printed my story pieces on cardstock, laminated them, then attached magnets to the back--and the kids used them to retell the story on my magnetic white board! I also kept them in my "Story Retelling" station choice basket along with the book for the kids to do as a choice for buddy reading or independent reading!

I am working really hard on my first author study/unit: Pigeon Perfect...{Mo Willems!!!!} It is looking super cute, but it is taking me *for-ev-er* to finish! I don't know how some of my favorite teachers out there create these 80 page units--after working on this one, I now know just how much work goes into putting them together!!! :)

Come into my Ginormous Closet. It's {finally} organized!

2011-06-09T13:15:00.000-07:00

This was my major project before school let out for summer. I am so proud of it. It's truly glorious. :) Just kidding--I wouldn't say glorious, but I feel so much better when things are organized, and my massive closet of teaching essentials has been cleaned out, labeled, leveled, sorted, stacked, etc. The picture above shows my two shelves of materials and leveled books that I use for guided reading groups! Having these buckets organized like this is going to make finding my books and returning them each week SO much easier!

This is another huge shelf in my closet--this has math manipulatives, my science "stuff" box, station basket games, teacher's editions, extra supplies, and holiday unit boxes. It has never looked this pretty. I hope I can keep it this way!

Here is another huge set of shelves--this is what you see when you first walk into the closet. I know it looks pretty full, but again, it has never looked this organized before! {Woot!} The tall white shelf on the left side is my paper organizer. These shelves hold craft supplies, games, teacher books, my HUGE tub of Harcourt resource folders (I'll have to post all about that later!), and unit binders.

I even use the walls in my closet for storage space! I use this pocket chart to hold my "printable" math games and practice pages I use often in math tubs. I make sure I have many extra copies on hand, in case a math tub runs out of a game, or for those times I need a quick (but educational) time filler! Right next door to this pocket chart, I have one more hanging--and it holds all of my copies for literacy stations! I have loved having these. I'm not a huge filing cabinet fan--so these charts have been perfect, and they are easy for me to see everything at a glance!

Another thing I should mention about my "gi-normous" closet is that it is also the place where my students hang their backpacks and coats. The picture below was obviously taken after school was out, because if there had been children there, you would see backpacks all over the floor! I usually trip over a backpack or coat or random toy a few times a week on my way to grab something from my shelves! Good times.

So, that's the end of my little tour of organization! How do you keep your piles of teaching stuff organized?

Debbie Diller Math Tubs!

2011-06-05T19:02:00.000-07:00

Hey there! I haven't forgotten you, my sweet friends! It is summer vacation here, and I have been a busy, busy lady chasing around my 15 month old little baby who has learned two new words this week: baby and car! Not too exciting to others, but super exciting to me! Ha! Being a mommy rocks.

Anyway, I've seen several of my favorite teacher friends blogging about Debbie Diller's Math Work Stations book--{awesome} and I wanted to share how I organized my math tubs near the end of this past year! I wish I had these cute little tubs all year long, but I am so excited to begin a new year with them! I usually begin my math block with 15-20 minutes of whole group instruction--beginning with a number talk, daily review of basic skills (addition facts, counting by 2s, 5s, 10s, coin values, math journaling, etc.), then moving into an explicit lesson on the math skill of the day. After whole group instruction, the kids are given time to independently practice the skill--sometimes this is a game, other times it is a work page, or a math craft-tivity/activity. Following independent practice, it is finally time for Math Work Stations! {Woot!} My students can't wait to do math stations! I try to put a few games and activities inside each tub that will relate to the math topic of the week, and the other tubs are mainly review activities. Like Debbie Diller suggested, I found that keeping math work station groups to 2 or 3 kids really kept my students more engaged in learning and resulted in less conflict! Each tub is numbered, and the kids are assigned to 2 tubs each day, but sometimes we only have time for 1 tub.

I promise to try to post more ideas throughout the summer!

A Hollywood Ending...

2011-05-24T20:33:00.000-07:00

Last week, the stars of Mrs. Cooley's first grade were invited to dress up in red carpet attire and party in "Hollywood" to celebrate the ending of an amazing year! {And, y'all, the kids looked ADORABLE.} The little celebrities had fun walking the red carpet, posing with friends in front of the Hollywood sign, visiting the Walk of Fame, feasting on popcorn and other delicious treats, and, of course, signing autograph books for their "fans"! The "mama"-razzi and "papa"-razzi showed up and snapped some of the cutest photos of all the kids! I sure am going to miss these kiddos!

The Walk of Fame...each celebrity first grader had a star with his or her name and handprints!

First grade autograph and picture book! Each child had a black and white photo made for posters on display in the hallway, and I used those same photos for the autograph book! The girls looked so sweet with fancy necklaces, a scarf, and sunglasses--and the boys looked so handsome with their little fedora hats! I so wish I could share the photos of these cuties!

It's All About the Pigeon. {I Love Mo. 2nd Edition}

2011-05-14T05:58:00.000-07:00

It's the last few weeks of first grade, which means it's time for little blue pigeons to cover the walls of our classroom! And, in case you haven't seen my last post about Mo--you should know that I love him. He writes the cutest, funniest, and sweetest books for children! Mo {Willems} is author of the Pigeon books, Knuffle Bunny series, and Elephant and Piggie series! If it is possible, I think my students love Mo even more than I do! For the past week, they have been busy reading every Mo book on the shelf, performing reader's theater plays based on the books, writing and illustrating their very own pigeon books, designing new characters, laughing with friends as they buddy read a favorite story, and making connections between the books to themselves and to real life! It is AWESOME.

Here is our "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive..." class wall story!

The kids read the wall story with a buddy using a fun pointer!

Below is our GIANT pigeon. After this picture was taken, we decided to add descriptive word cards all around him. One student described the pigeon as "extraordinary." Great use of our first grade vocabulary! :)

Okay, I know I said it was "All About the Pigeon", but I have to share this fun art and writing project we did after reading the Knuffle Bunny series! In the Knuffle Bunny books, Mo uses real black and white photographs as the background setting for his pictures, and his characters are drawn as bright little cartoons that seem to pop off the page. They are the neatest books! I printed out some black and white photos and had the kids draw Trixie, her Daddy, and Knuffle Bunny and add them to the photos. Some even added the pigeon, because Mo hides the pigeon at least once in all of his books. In the one below, the pigeon is washing off in the fountain...

The author and illustrator below even used some of Mo's language that he uses in all of the Knuffle Bunny books--"Then...Trixie REALIZED...SOMETHING..." So cute!

We Made...Lemonade!

2011-05-09T15:04:00.000-07:00

We are lovin' lemons lately! The "lemon madness" started with a "how to" writing lesson. The kids helped me brainstorm everything we would need to make lemonade {they didn't know I already had everything there at school!} Then, we worked together to write how to make lemonade on an anchor chart! We had to use the words first, next, then, and finally. The kids even wrote their own recipes for lemonade! After a little writing, we needed a treat! So we took all of our ingredients and made...lemonade!!! Many of us, including me, had never made lemonade from REAL lemons before--so we were all pretty excited to get to squeeze the lemons into our pitcher! *Yep, didn't bring one of those handy juicers...could have been helpful!* Anyway, we had a lemonade tasting party, and we decided that our first grade lemonade was very yummy!

This lemonade lesson kicked off a little "When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Lemonade" mini unit that I will post more pictures of later! Fun stuff!

Long i...Ipad

2011-04-22T18:21:00.000-07:00

I don't know what it is about long i that is so inspiring, but along with my long i fries {check out the post from a few weeks ago}, I have created a mini activity kit {that I used...and LOVED this past week} called "The Long i Ipad!" Maybe I just have Ipads on the brain since Jon Cooley {a.k.a Mr. Cooley/hubs} bought a fantastic new Ipad! We might have an Apple purchasing addiction in our household. Anyway...back to the cool phonics ideas...in small groups the kids played iBingo (looks like an ipad with long i apps!). We also created a long i Ipad anchor chart as a class! The long i apps they came up with were hilarious!! Examples: Fat guys, drive the car, find the baby, my tunes, ice cream catch, guinea pig fight, the Right I Spy! WOW! I am always so impressed with their creativity! It is posted on TpT if my teacher friends are interested! Click the cloud near the bottom of my blog to take you to my store!

***In other news....I hope you like the new blog design as much as I do!!! It was created by Becca at Jumping Jax Designs! It matches my personality to a T! Ha! Thanks so much, Becca!***

Here is our GLORIOUS new iPad! It is the COOLEST thing ever! {Of course I was checking out the new blog design.} I wish that I could have 4 or 5 for my classroom! :)

The Litterbug Museum

2011-04-21T18:41:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Litterbug museum, where trash is reused and becomes a treasure! Using lids, paper cups and plastic cups, old Clorox Wipe containers, light bulb boxes, cookie cups, a little scrapbook paper and fuzzy pipe cleaners, the kids created these funny little creatures. {Of course they had to give them names too.} We discovered how fun reusing old items can be, and it is just a little something we can do to help save the Earth! Happy Earth Day!

It that a Clorox Wipe Lid? Nope. It's Dave, the Litterbug!

Selena the Litterbug was created using the lid from a shaving gel!

Nick {Saban} the giant-eyed Litterbug!

Beanie Baby Habitats

2011-04-18T16:41:00.000-07:00

I found some old beanie babies in my closet at school--perfect timing for our animals and habitats unit! I assigned groups of kids one animal, and they worked together as a team to research the animal's habitat, and then build a habitat for their animal using paper and a cardboard box lid! Just a cute class project that I had to share!

{Funny little walrus. I like the icebergs!}

And the Egg Goes To...

2011-04-14T20:27:00.000-07:00

The Pressley Family! Congrats! I will be sending you your egg door hanger tomorrow! Please send me your contact info! (scooley2 (at) gmail (dot) com)!

Many thanks to everyone who entered, and a HUGE thank you to sweet LeAnn Cox at Rustic Chic for donating her awesome egg creation! Please email LeAnn if you are interested in door hangers or cool baby banners. She made this very sweet banner for the baby shower my class threw for me last year--which matched Emma's nursery colors and theme! {Love.}

Giveaways Galore!

2011-04-11T15:15:00.000-07:00

If you like cute things, I know you will love this ADORABLE burlap door hanger created by the talented LeAnn Cox of Rustic Chic! {She is the wonderful and talented parent of one of my first graders from last year! :)} LeAnn was sweet enough to give me one of her beautiful egg door hangers to giveaway to one LUCKY reader! {Plus, she gave me one to keep for myself. Woo hoo!} I know you want one of these darling things for yourself, so here is how you can win one:

1. Become a follower of First Grader...at Last!
2. Follow my TpT store (I don't have much there yet, still a work in progress)!
3. Leave me a comment telling me about your favorite spring project/idea!
4. Leave a comment telling me which one(s) of these you have done!

This giveaway will end Thursday at 10:00 p.m.! Good luck my friends! Thanks again for reading and for all of your wonderful help and encouragement!

If you don't win, and feel kind of sad...please contact LeAnn to order one of these for yourself! leanncox (at) bellsouth (dot) net! You can also visit www.twinkieboutique.com.

Also...I told you, GIVEAWAYS GALORE... another sweet teacher friend out there is having a giveaway on her blog! Katie, from Queen of the First Grade Jungle is giving away a cool planet book and a free copy of my "Adventures in Space" astronaut journal! You should visit her great blog to enter! {I was so honored that she wanted to giveaway something I made! Exciting!}

A Giant Little Giraffe Exhibit

2011-04-09T19:13:00.000-07:00

Look. At. These.

{Sorry. Bad picture. Cute giraffe.}

Um, TOO PRECIOUS right?! In a few weeks, first grade is headed to the zoo, and to kick off our huge animals/habitats unit, we have decided to create a "First Grade Zoo" on display throughout the first grade hallway! Each class is responsible for researching an animal, creating the animals for the exhibit, and some classes are even making animal "plaques" to tell important information about the animal--just like a real zoo! I can't wait to see how it all turns out! I just had to show off the adorable beginnings of our {giant} little giraffe exhibit! The kids worked together as teams to create these giant guys out of butcher paper! I love them so much they may be staying up until the end of the year...Ha! :) I'll post the finished product soon!

Adventures in Space

2011-04-06T19:17:00.000-07:00

Get ready for...AN ADVENTURE in SPACE! The kids had so much fun designing their very own astronaut scrapbook pages each day as we visited new places in the Solar System! I dressed up in my fuzzy astronaut helmet, and we began by learning all about Amazing Astronauts! {Isn't this one adorable?}

We went on a virtual field trip with NASA and learned that the sun is not just yellow--it is all the colors of the rainbow! {This is our ROY G BIV sun, complete with solar flares, sunspots, and solar winds.}

We visited each planet in the Solar System and journaled the cool facts we learned there!

These scrapbooks were such a fun way for my students to record their learning! They loved looking back and reading why "Mars is Magnificent" and why "Earth is Extraordinary"!

I have uploaded *a new and improved--seriously very cool* Adventures in Space scrapbook (created on my brand new MacBook--WOOT!) to my TpT store for $4.00--but I will send 2 out for free to the first two friends who comment! {Just leave me your email address!}

Hope you have amazing adventures in space...

Beware of Bossy E...

2011-04-02T06:38:00.000-07:00

Bossy e was our class visitor the past couple of weeks! He came strutting into the room with his backwards cap, bossing around all the vowels...and KICKING them in the pants to make them say their own names! Oh no! What a bully! I don't know why I started this whole "kicking vowels in the pants" business, but it sticks with the kids, and they think its pretty hilarious. I just hope their 2nd grade teachers understand when they ask one of my students if they know the CVCe rule, and the kids say, "The e kicks the vowel in the pants!" Ha! Anyway, it has been fun reading words with bossy e, and I created a little mini packet (my first Teachers Pay Teachers venture) available for f-r-e-e if you'd like to download it! It comes with a silly story about Bossy e, a printable for creating a wanted poster, and a set of flash cards that have a real photo of bossy e on each!

We used the bossy e flash cards during guided reading, and sorted the bossy e words by vowel sounds.

**Update! I just uploaded a precious, new and improved version of Bowling for Facts to TpT! It comes with 10 game mats if you are interested in having a fun little addition math game!**

Shooting Stars!

2011-03-28T19:09:00.000-07:00

Space craft-tivity of the week: shooting stars! Very simple to make (just takes a little prep work to cut all the ribbon), and the kids will have a BLAST making them fly!

Directions:

Cut 2 different lengths of banner strips (any color), and 3 or more different lengths of curling ribbon. {Curl one or 2 of the curling ribbons with your scissors!}
Have the kids gather all of the ribbons together at one end, then twist together tightly, and tape to a square of aluminum foil.
Crumble up a paper ball, then wrap the foil (with ribbons attached) around the paper ball.
Tie a piece of yarn to the ribbon bunch found right underneath the foil ball. {This is your flying string.}
Take the shooting stars outside to watch them fly!

They are AWESOME!!!!

Flying Saucers

2011-03-23T18:18:00.000-07:00

What's that in the math station tub? A bird? A plane? It's a UFO! One of the "alien addition" themed activities this week is Flying Saucers! The kids have a bucket full of 20 flying saucers {really they are those 25 cent machine prize pods} and they choose a saucer, read the addition fact inside, then solve the problem on their recording sheet! Just something a little different from the old math worksheet! Parents, please keep working with your first grader on doubles (to 20), doubles +1 (to 20), and addition facts to 10! If anyone has fun ideas or things you have tried for home practice with addition, please share!!!

{Click the picture above to download a copy of Flying Saucers!}

Alien Addition!

2011-03-22T18:11:00.000-07:00

You've seen the penguins...now meet my little green space aliens! They have arrived just in time for "Adventures in Space" week! I found these green pebbles at Hobby Lobby, and created unique faces on each one using a black sharpie! I can't wait for the kids to see these! I am thinking about giving each child one to keep as a little alien pet--they can write about them, introduce them to planet Earth, and "imagine up" a name and planet where their new and unusual friend used to live! I will be using the rest as counters and addition helpers. I found the cutest flying saucer notepad {pictured below} at the Parent-Teacher Store, and will have the kids create story problems using the mat and aliens. Stay tuned for more alien addition activities this week! Space ROCKS!

Long i fries!

2011-03-11T19:51:00.000-08:00

{"I'm lovin' it...} Here is a fun little word sorting activity using letter combinations that make the long vowel i sound! The kids will read the words on each "fry" and then decide in which box to put the fry.

A pile of long i fries. {Just use fun scrapbook paper!}

And...sort.

What is a Wonder Pug?

2011-03-06T20:05:00.000-08:00

I am a picture book collector, and this is one I just bought for Emma *who turned ONE this weekend*! (Can't believe it!) Anyway, this book is one of my new favorites. It ranks right up there with Skippyjonjones, and that is kinda a big deal {for me}. This story begins with an adorable little chick who is reading "The Adventures of Wonder Pug", and daydreaming of a life of adventure as a super hero. He desperately wants to be Wonder Pug. The chick is beside himself with excitement when he runs into a real life pug (who is far from being Wonder Pug!) The story is so sweet and funny, and the pictures are incredible. I highly recommend it for your own classroom or home libraries!

Meet Teddy! (Our own little Wonder Pug.)

He could be a super hero, right?

Skills Checklist Download

2011-03-03T18:53:00.000-08:00

Many of you have asked to see the skills checklist that my wonderful teacher friend Kim Smith created for our first grade team. We keep a copy of the checklist in our assessment binders, and the kids keep one in their WOW binders for the parents to see which skills are highlighted for more practice and review!

Click on the picture above to download an example of the checklist! (I posted it as a PDF to keep the cute font! I'm sure you will want to change the skills based upon the standards for your state and district.)

{Paper Alphabet Font} for Station Baskets!

2011-02-25T18:07:00.000-08:00

My station baskets recently got a make-over! I love finding adorable fun fonts and letter clip art. Most of my favorite lettering comes from Lettering Delights, DJ Inkers, and Kevin and Amanda--but I found a new place to look for great clip art and fonts: ETSY! Etsy is going to make me broke--this site has everything you could ever want! This lettering was made by TracyAnnDigitalArt. It is called "Paper Alphabet" and is only $4.50! Super deal and super cute!

{Click the picture above to visit TracyAnnDigitalArt!}

I was so excited about my new lettering, I made these too:

"Stir it up" The kids used the soup ladle to scoop out letter cubes, then build r-controlled vowel words!

Place Value Pockets: filled with a variety of place value games to review!

The Pieces of our Hearts

2011-02-19T14:32:00.000-08:00

Apparently it is the new thing for me to get sick around all of my favorite holidays--the most recent being Valentine's Day. I woke up with the flu, {yuck!} and was very sad to miss the class Valentine exchange! Luckily, the kids completed the pieces of our hearts project the week before Valentine's Day, so I was able to see all the sweet things that fill their hearts up with love! Cute things: Godzilla (yes, a little friend of mine loves Godzilla very, very much), Nick Saban, family, friends, Mrs. Cooley, school, and, of course, Hannah Montana.

We also talked about how to describe love! Here is our "Love is..." anchor chart:

Introducing the WOW Binder! It's WOW.

2011-02-19T06:30:00.000-08:00

I can't take credit for it, I didn't invent it, but whoever did is a genius. There are many variations of a take home folder/binder out there, but this is by far my favorite. Let me introduce you to...THE WOW BINDER! WOW= We Organize Work. The kids take home this binder every night, and they leave it on my small group table as soon as they walk in the door in the morning. I check through the binder for lunch money, notes from home, homework, and to see if they have completed their reading log.

Start with a 1.5'' white binder. Insert adorable paper of your choice labeled with the child's name and class name. I found the cute stick kid paper at Wal-Mart!

When you open the WOW binder, the first thing you will see is the directions page. I put it in a clear page protector. The directions page tells the parents about each part of the binder.

On the backside of the directions page, I have a nine weeks skills checklist. It lists all the skills we will cover for that nine weeks. I will highlight any skills that parents need to work on at home.

The front inside cover of the binder holds our weekly newsletter.

After the directions page and skills checklist, there is a zippered pencil pouch (see through). This pouch is for money--lunch money, field trips, book orders, etc.

Next is the parent communication notebook. I will write notes to parents here, and they can write to me!

This is a terrible picture, but next in the binder are 5 pocket dividers. They are: Important Papers from School, Class Work, Homework, Graded Work, and Reading Log.

Here is a reading log! Oooh, and it's all filled out! Good job!

To end our tour, the last item in the WOW binder is The Reading Briefcase. It is a poly envelope that stays in the binder, and the kids put any book we have read during guided reading in the briefcase, along with poems, fluency builder cards, etc. I love that The Reading Briefcase is in the binder, because I know books are getting home, and most likely, they won't be lost!

So, that's the WOW binder! I think it's pretty WOW. What type of take home folder do you use in your classrooms? What do you put in your take home folders? {Let's make this a share and tell!}

A Pair of Pears...

2011-02-11T17:00:00.000-08:00

.
First graders can be busy bees...which is perfect, because this week the kids were very busy learning all about homophones! After using our fancy new Smartboard {LOVE it} to introduce this exciting and tricky new skill--we made pairs of homophone pears! Each child was given a homophone pair, and they had to write each word correctly in a sentence, then draw a small picture to go with each word. I was so proud of the work they did on these! {Sugar cookie with icing and sprinkles awards for everyone--I think so!}

Potato Groundhogs

2011-02-02T18:54:00.000-08:00

Ever since I was a student teacher, I have had each of my classes make potato groundhogs--so I was very excited for this year's class to join in the silly tradition! They are very simple, but the kids just get a kick out of having their very own "groundhog" to take outside to find out if it will see it's shadow! Our little guys did see their shadows...so we aren't sure who to believe: Punxatawney Phil or our own groundhogs?!

Super /ir/ /er/ /ur/ Girl!

2011-01-30T18:55:00.000-08:00

This super girl (I think I'll name her Fern) is flying into our classroom this week to teach r-controlled vowels! She is going to be one of the choices at word work station--the kids will use the magnetic words to label her with super words. I also made an identical workpage (just much, much smaller!) for the kids to practice spelling the words on the labels!

"Qu" Quints Baby Shower!

2011-01-28T18:58:00.000-08:00

On Monday, I introduced five new little friends to the class--the quints: Queenie, Quintin, Quigley, Quinn, and Quincy. While a few of my students rocked the babies (so cute!), I explained that these little ones were here to help us learn to read and write /qu/ words. {And, since our reading series said so, I also had to teach /wh/ this week. Just a little confusing for my kiddos.} Anyway, we practiced reading our giant baby shower invitation that had many /wh/ words, then each student took home a baby shower invitation to share with their families! The quints stayed in our room all week long, and today we threw a /qu/ {and /wh/} baby shower for them! The kids brought in /qu/ and /wh/ gifts like white blankies/booties/hats, quarters, hot wheels cars, white quilts, squeaky books, and quacking ducks! After the gifts were all set up on a table, and most of the quints were wrapped up in new quilts, the kids visited baby-themed reading stations!

The Giant Invitation!

Baby bottled up words: The kids had to unscramble the letter beads to figure out which /wh/ and /qu/ word was inside each bottle! (This was a little tricky, so we had a word bank to help!)

Rattle toss: The kids were given two soft baby rattles, and were to toss them onto a large word mat (just a Dollar Tree table cloth). If the rattle landed on a word, they would read it, then get a point for their team! They really loved this game!

Descriptive writing--baby clothes edition! I left a bag of baby clothes at the writing table. The kids chose an outfit, then used descriptive words to describe the outfit. When stations were over, they took turns reading their descriptive writing and having their friends guess which outfit they were describing! It was so much fun, and many realized that a few more details could have made it easier for others to guess!

PowerPoint Download and SMART Board!

2011-01-27T19:52:00.000-08:00

Here is an "Animal Fun" PowerPoint I made for teaching inflections -er and -est! Just thought I'd share with my teacher friends out there! {I wish I could figure out how to attach a picture of the first slide...anyone know how to do this?} Anyway, I hope you will enjoy it!

Download Animal Fun!

In other news...my class is getting a SMART BOARD! Hooray, hooray! I am BEYOND excited! When we found out, the whole class did a WOW cheer, a sprinkler dance, and jumped for joy! I can't wait to use this incredible resource, and see all the wonderful learning that will take place!!!

Have you ever seen a pink penguin?

2011-01-21T17:14:00.000-08:00

I know you want to hear all about this pink penguin, but first, let me just tell you, my class has had an absolute BLAST learning about penguins this week! During independent reading, the kids have used our penguin research tub of books to discover new learning! They have been busy writing down fun facts on sticky notes and adding them to our fat little penguin anchor chart! {It has crazy big eyes, of course!}

We used rulers to find out exactly how tall a 4 foot Emperor Penguin is, and everyone had fun standing next to a life sized Emperor Penguin chart to see how they would measure up! We even started adding some facts we learned about Emperor Penguins!

During buddy reading, the performer was brought out in many of my little friends as they practiced plays like "Tacky the Penguin" and "Winter Friends"! One of my favorite activities of the week has been reading the picture book Pink! After we read about Patrick the pink penguin, we decided to create our own little guys using pink scrapbook paper. Then the kids had a writing activity called, "Meet my Pink Penguin!" I love that one of the penguins is named Michael and takes karate lessons. First graders are creative...and funny!

Our Fact Family Album

2011-01-15T18:55:00.000-08:00

Fact families can be pretty tricky for first graders, but there are so many great visuals to help reinforce this concept--building fact family houses, using number triangles, and even making actual fact "families" with cute little kid-drawn people! I gave each student a different set of numbers, and they were to draw a family of four with the 4 number sentences for the fact family displayed on each person. The kids glued their family "photos" to scrapbook paper, and we compiled them into a class fact family album! I think they turned out pretty cute!

The Crunchy Munchies Party

2011-01-11T15:31:00.000-08:00

~~Teachers~~ First graders love snacks, and for some reason, this teacher kept thinking of all the delicious treats that begin with /ch/ as we practiced reading and spelling with /ch/ last week! We sampled chewy chocolate chip cookies, Chocolate Cheerios, Cheetos, Cheez-its, and my absolute favorite snack of all time: Cheddar Chex Mix! Yum. I think the kids enjoyed it too...

Other ideas to add to any fantastic /ch/ Crunchy Munchies Party:

*Chick-fil-A chicken nuggets! The BEST!

*Chips and cheese/nachos

*Cherries

*Chocolate {anything.}

*Enchiladas

*Chili

*Cheddar cheese cubes

ROCKin' Penguin Counters!

2010-12-30T20:43:00.000-08:00

These penguin counters make me smile. I can't wait to use them the week after next when we begin our penguin unit! I have a few ideas for how to use these little guys:

1. Use them as counters to help with penguin addition and subtraction word problems.
2. Use them to "push" the sounds in words with Elkonin Boxes {or Elkonin ice cubes!}
3. Write small numbers on the flat side (or back side) of each penguin. Have the kids draw 2 out of a bag, then write addition sentences with the numbers.
4. Use them for game pieces!

How to make your very own ROCKin' Penguins:

1. Go to Hobby Lobby. {Tip: Go ONLY to the section with the vase fillers. If you go anywhere else, you'll spend ridiculous amounts of money, like me.}
2. Find the vase fillers, or glass gems/marbles. They have a many different and fun colors, but of course, you'll want black ones for your penguins.
3. You will need 3 fine-tip paint markers in white, orange, and black.
4. Draw on the eyes and belly using the white marker. Let them dry.
5. Draw on the beak and feet using the orange marker. You should also be able to add the black dots for the middle of each eye.

Enjoy your adorable baby ROCKin' penguins! {Teacher friends, please fill me in on how you use these guys or plan to use them in your room! I'd love some more ideas!}

Contraction Cupcakes

2010-12-27T07:57:00.000-08:00

For as long as I have been teaching, I've wanted to send home take home activity bags, and this is the first year I have tried it! I want the activities in each bag to be a meaningful and fun way to practice and review skills we are learning in first grade! One of the first activities I put in a take home bag this year was the Contraction Cupcake puzzle. The kids had to match the two words found on the icing to the correct contraction found on the bottom part of the cupcake!

"Must be Santa, Santa Claus!"

2010-12-18T19:39:00.000-08:00

T'was the week before Christmas, and all that was on the minds of my first graders was...SANTA! Since Santa was on their minds anyway, I thought it might be fun to create a descriptive word poster of Santa and all the things that are important about him. And as if the Santa excitement wasn't enough, we were very happy to also find out that Santa dropped off a special elf for our class named Scout. I was a little worried he'd make too much mischief, but he turned out to be a very nice little elf who liked to play with pattern blocks and write with our letter magnets! Since elves are pretty important little guys too, every first grade class at our school made these adorable elf glyphs found on mathwire.com:

Roll a Christmas Tree

2010-12-16T20:25:00.000-08:00

There are so many versions of this fun dice game, but I am loving this cute Christmas Tree graphic I found at Lettering Delights! To play the game, each player will need the Christmas Tree mat, 2 dice, and see through counters or small Christmas erasers to use as markers. The first player rolls the dice and adds them together, then they cover that number on the mat with a marker. If they roll the same number again, they lose a turn. The players continue to take turns until someone has all the "ornaments" on their Christmas Tree!

Download Roll a Christmas Tree!

How do you like your hot chocolate?

2010-12-15T19:53:00.000-08:00

We enjoyed a wonderful Polar Express Day! We watched the movie in our P.J.'s and snuggled with our favorite stuffed toys, we even enjoyed some delicious hot chocolate! After enjoying our chocolately treat, the kids decorated a mug to show how they like their hot chocolate. Some like it without any toppings, but others liked it with just marshmallows, and some liked it with just chocolate chips. Most of us liked our hot chocolate with marshmallows and chocolate chips! (I'm not surprised!) Yum.

Christmas Trees For Sale!

2010-12-15T19:35:00.000-08:00

Christmas Trees for Sale! This creative writing activity is one of my favorites. The kids imagine a special and magical Christmas tree that they will try to get others to buy. They have to describe what is unique about their tree and how much they would charge for it. The tree ideas this year were very imaginative! We had a Rock and Roll Tree, a Candy Cane Making Tree, a Drilling Tree (to drill holes in your yard), a Decorating Tree that decorates the house for Christmas, a Wishing Tree that grants wishes, an Elf Tree (comes with FREE elves!), a Flying and Disappearing Tree, and even a Protecting Tree (tells on those bad guys trying to take the presents!). Most of the first graders charged about a dollar for their trees, while some were $28.99. One tree was pretty expensive--9 trillion dollars!

Christmas Around the World

2010-12-12T18:26:00.000-08:00

Last week our class "traveled" the world to learn about Christmas traditions in other countries! As we traveled, we took in some of the sights, and we created a scrapbook page to remind us of all that we learned along the way. We began our trip by going to Hawaii! We read this adorable book (that just so happened to be written and illustrated by a first grader--very cool):

We thought it was pretty funny that Santa decided to vacation in Hawaii, and we decided to pretend to be Santa and write postcards back to the North Pole. Here is a fun one:

Feliz Navidad! We also visited Mexico and learned the Legend of the Poinsettia:

Buon Natale! We loved touring Italy! We learned about La Bafana and we took "photos" at some of the famous landmarks!

Dasher's Reindeer Sort

2010-12-05T18:47:00.000-08:00

A reindeer literacy game I have planned for this upcoming week is called "Dasher's Reindeer Sort". {The phonics skill this week is /sh/!} The kids pull one ornament out of a box at a time. They read the /sh/ word on the ornament, then place the ornament into the correct reindeer bucket--"Begins with /sh/" or "Ends with /sh/". They will record their words on a little reindeer sort work mat. *I would love for my teacher friends out there to share any fun and "Christmasy" ideas for teaching /sh/!

Candy Land: Sight Word Edition!

2010-11-28T08:14:00.000-08:00

There are so many fun games out there to teach sight words, but this might just be my new favorite! I mean, who doesn't love Candy Land? As soon as I put this game out in the classroom, the kids instantly seemed excited! To make Candy Land: Sight Word Edition, I found the game on sale at Target for super cheap (only $5!) then typed up a list of Dolch words, cut them apart, and taped the words to the color cards with clear packing tape! The game is played just like regular old Candy Land, but instead of just moving to the color pictured on the card, the kids will have to read the word on the card before moving to the color space on the board. If they read the word incorrectly, they would not be able to move to the color pictured on the card. Easy! I can't wait to put the game in stations this week! {Parents...this would also be a great game for home practice. If you notice your child is missing several words on the sight word assessments, you can use the list sent home and make your own version especially for your child!}

A Thankful Plate Full

2010-11-24T06:53:00.000-08:00

I am so Thankful to be a first grade teacher, and to build relationships with the children I teach and their families! Speaking of being thankful, a project my class has done each year is the Thankful "Plate Full". The kids take home a large plastic plate, and they decorate it with items for which they are thankful. I love seeing how different each plate turns out! One of my students last year said he was thankful for Nick Saban (in case you don't live in the South...he's the Coach for Alabama)! So funny! {Me too, little buddy.} Anyway, here are some of the wonderful plates created by my fabulous first graders:

On Monday, the first grade teachers presented Thanksgiving activities by rotating in and out of each classroom. The kids made butter, popped popcorn, created indian headbands, and the activity I had the kids make was Mayflower Story Bracelets like the one below:

I found this adorable poem on Dr. Jean's website. The poem goes with the colors on the bracelet!

As I was retelling the story of the first Thanksgiving, I used the picture magnets above! This also helped the kids remember the order of the colors for the bracelets.

We also created a new class book called The Turkey Hid. The kids had to think of a place a turkey would hide to escape being Thanksgiving dinner! This is a lift-the-flap book. The turkey is hiding underneath each drawing!

We also went shopping at the Thanksgiving Store!

The kids used this list to help them shop for items:

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!!!

Short vowel "u" Pumpkin Hunt and Glitter Bottles

2010-11-20T16:56:00.000-08:00

To "spice" up the word work station for short vowel u week, I had two activities for the kids to choose from: go on a short u pumpkin hunt, or look for short u words in glitter bottles. I was inspired to do the glitter bottles by one of the best teachers out there--Jessica Meacham! {Love her!}

I got the "Baby Soda Bottles" from a local Parent-Teacher Store. They are made by Steve Spangler Science--another one of my favorites! I stored the bottles and workpages in this plastic suitcase:
The kids would pick a bottle, look carefully at the letters found on the beads inside it, then try to figure out which short u word it spelled. When they figured out the word, they placed the bottle on top of the coordinating square on this work mat:
When they had all the bottles, the kids used this workpage to extend the learning a little bit more:

Now, let's go on a short u "pumpkin hunt"! I hung short u words on pumpkin cut outs all around the room. The kids read the pumpkins, then chose the correct box to write the word in using the workpage below:

Graph-tivities and Give Me Five, Turkey!

2010-11-19T18:55:00.001-08:00

You can't be 7 years old and not make a hand turkey--it just wouldn't be right! This week we have been practicing counting by 5's, and of course, we needed an anchor chart to help us practice! The kids traced their little hands and colored their very own hand turkeys, and they loved it so much I have been seeing hand turkeys all over the place! Thanksgiving is such a fun time to create themed activities for math! I have seen some really cute turkey graphs out there in "blog world" that I can't wait to try next week. Here are a few of the graphs we have done lately:

We have been learning a lot about bar graphs! Hmmm--seems like most of my graph ideas are about food!

This tally chart shows that most of us like pumpkin pancakes! Yum.

How to Catch a Plump and Perky Turkey...

2010-11-18T16:44:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, we read this super cute book:
In the story, all the turkeys have left town because they don't want to get eaten for Thanksgiving dinner! To keep the town of Squawk Valley from eating shredded wheat for their annual feast, the townspeople designed a trap to get the turkeys to come to them. So...we designed our own turkey traps, too! I had the kids work together to brainstorm and share ideas, and they had a blast drawing the traps and writing directions for them. I really did love all the hilarious and genius ideas, but the boat trap idea cracks me up! You have to check out the poster below!

All the posters are on display in the hallway. Here is one of them...

I love that she thinks the oven is a tanning place! So funny!

Poor turkey. She has no idea her vacation is about to end...

Noun Town

2010-11-16T18:34:00.001-08:00

Where do people, places, things, and animals live? In Noun Town, of course! The kids thought of everything they wanted to put in Noun Town, and then we created an oversized anchor chart to read during stations. Some of my favorites: a submarine, an army guy, a banjo, and Wal-Mart. I mean, you can't have a town without all of those essentials, right?!

Totally "Turkified"

2010-11-12T16:18:00.000-08:00

Our school is totally "turkified". There are unique turkeys everywhere! Big ones, ones in disguise, handprint turkeys, sparkly turkeys, turkey glyphs, turkeys with real feathers, and turkeys with paper feathers. My class has done the same little turkeys every year, and I will probably do them every year until I decide to retire--coffee filter turkeys! I just love these little guys! This year has been the first year I tried them with googly eyes, and they turned out just as precious as always. To make the coloful feathers, the kids color all over a coffee filter with washable markers, then dip the coffee filter into a cup of water and let the marker colors run together. Next week I'm going to have the kids tell me how they would cook a turkey and compile their answers into a turkey cook book...should be hilarious!

Pumpkins and...Peduncles?

2010-11-02T18:24:00.000-07:00

What IS a peduncle? Hint: it's not a name you call someone! A peduncle is actually another name for a pumpkin stem! Interesting, huh? This is just one of the fun facts we learned about pumpkins last week! The kids became scientists as they made detailed observations of the outside and inside of our class pumpkin! In math, we learned how to make estimations by estimating how many seeds we thought were inside our pumpkin. After exploring the inside of the pumpkin, the kids counted the seeds by putting them in piles of ten. We tasted real roasted pumpkin seeds then made a graph of who liked them! Check out our graph results below! We labeled the parts of a pumpkin using the poster at the top of this post! To top it all off, we had an exciting field trip to pick out our very own little pumpkins. {One of the kids lost her pumpkin peduncle. She wanted to go look for it to try to glue it back on--they sure do love those peduncles!}

Most of my first grade friends say, "Yes, Please!" to pumpkin seeds!

Adorable little paper bag pumpkin patch! All you do to make the pumpkins is stuff the bottom of a brown lunch bag with a few paper towels, twist the top to create a *peduncle*, then paint with tempera paints. I tied the middle with some fun ribbon!

Monsters, Treats, and Class Books!

2010-10-25T16:46:00.000-07:00

After laughing hysterically through Junie B. Jones has a Monster Under Her Bed, and then reading an adorable new picture book called I Need My Monster, we first and foremost concluded that monsters are not real. (*That Paulie Allen Puffer is a real trickster, I tell you!) Then we decided to use our imaginations to think of a monster we would want to have under our beds!

*Paulie Allen Puffer is a character in Junie B. who likes to trick first graders into believing things that aren't true. (Parents, ask your first grader about Paulie Allen Puffer and the 5 secrets of Halloween--hilarious!)

This little friend has a fat monster under his bed. I love those big eyes!!!

Trick or Treat! This book has been a hit year after year in my room! The kids love to read it over and over again!

I hope to get Reese's Cups and candy corn, but this little first grade friend hopes to get "hot gum"!

Spooky Shake-Up!

2010-10-23T05:10:00.000-07:00

One of our math tub choices this past week was a game called "Spooky Shake-Up"! This game is very easy to make, and another fun way to practice addition facts! I grabbed an egg carton, then put numbers on round stickers to stick into the bottom of each "egg cup". I found cute Halloween themed erasers in the dollar bins at Target, and I used two different ones for this game. The kids close the carton, shake it, then open to see where the two erasers have landed. They add the two numbers together, then they pass it to a partner so they can have a turn! The neat thing about this game is you can change the numbers easily, so you can make it as easy or advanced as you'd like!

Funky Owls

2010-10-22T17:30:00.001-07:00

We had a great time learning all about owls this week! Today, we didn't just make regular old owls--but funky owls! I think they are just adorable and a little hilarious! I passed out paper bags to cut out the owl body, and then let the kids choose two different kinds of funky scrapbook paper to use for the eyes and wings. I love how unique each owl turned out! Parents, ask your first grader to point out his or her owl to you. They are so proud of them!

Boo-Mallow Bar Graphs

2010-10-16T18:13:00.000-07:00

Graphing and food are always a good idea. You learn, and you get to have a little treat too! I found little "trick-or-treat sized" packages of Boo-Mallows (Halloween shaped marshmallows) that were perfect for this activity! The kids first sorted the shapes and placed them on their graphs. After they figured out how many they had of each shape, they removed the Boo-Mallows and colored in the correct number of spaces on the graph. To extend the learning, I had the kids write the total number of Boo-Mallows they had along with the shapes that appeared the most and least on their graphs.

Download the Boo-Mallow Bar Graph!

Countdown to Candy!

2010-10-14T14:23:00.001-07:00

We are getting very excited about Halloween in our room, so excited that everyone keeps asking, "How many days left until Halloween?" I thought it would be fun to have a "Countdown to Candy!" If you love the cute font on the sign as much as I do, you can find it at Lettering Delights. I am loving Lettering Delights! Almost as much as I love candy.

Baby Emma is ready for Halloween too...

Bowling for Facts!

2010-10-12T15:55:00.000-07:00

Today during math stations, the kids went bowling for addition facts...without the real pins and bowling balls, but still pretty fun! This is a partner game, and each player gets a bowling mat and a handful of colorful chips (I call them mini bowling balls). The players take turns rolling 2 dice, then adding the sums of the numbers rolled. When one of the players rolls a number found on one of their pins, they "knock over" that pin with a chip. The first player to have all pins knocked over wins the game!

If you'd like a copy of this game, there is a precious, new and improved version uploaded to Teachers pay Teachers for $1.00! It includes directions and 10 game mats--perfect for math stations!!!

"Short O" Lollipop Sort

2010-10-08T18:34:00.000-07:00

This is an idea I had for next week's phonics skill--short o! I put a variety of short o words onto clip art lollipops and placed them in a Tootsie Roll Pop bag. The kids will work in pairs at word work station to sort the words, then write the words onto a lollipop sorting page! Sweet...practice! Now that we're getting closer to Halloween, I thought it could be fun to do some themes with candy--I have a few ideas for candy addition, but would love some other ideas from my awesome teacher friends out there!

Dalmatian Addition

2010-10-04T18:10:00.000-07:00

This week we are learning about fire safety, and I wanted a way to connect our fire safety unit to the math skill this week, which is addition. Using some sturdy Chinet plates, Word Clip Art, and just a little packing tape--I created what I like to call "fire engine plates"! During small group math instruction, I gave each child in the group a "fire engine plate" and a pile of "dalmatians" (lima beans with black Sharpie polka dots). I asked the kids to put a certain number of dalmatians on the fire hydrant, a certain number on the dog house, and then I had them pull the dalmatians out of the two top pockets and place all of them in the bottom section of the plate onto the fire engine to count the total number of dalmatians. After practicing this a few times, I had the kids write number sentences to go with the dalmatian problems. This turned out to be a great visual to reinforce the concept that addition means to join two numbers! I guess they looked good enough to eat, too--one student asked, "Can we eat 'em?"

**A few other fire safety ideas...**

We covered a large cardboard box with red paper, and made a cool little fire engine! See the little fireman in the window drawn by Bear? Cute.

Dollar Tree had some really cute fire hat cut-outs, so I put fire safety words on them and added the hats to the word wall for the week! (Teachers...they may still have these cut outs! They come in a pack with sheriff badges and construction hats.)

Apples, Apples Everywhere!

2010-10-02T18:21:00.000-07:00

The beginning of our apple unit means fall has finally arrived! I think. It's still kind of hot here, but I know that fall "feeling" is on it's way! I like to kick off the apple unit by having everyone bring in their favorite kind of apple, and then we create a pictograph to show the results. Another fun activity is reading the story "The Little Red House Without Doors or Windows and a Star Inside" and cutting open the apple to reveal that the seeds in the apple make the star! A hilarious writing activity: having the kids explain how they would make an apple pie! I didn't know that gummy worms would be an essential ingredient to apple pie, but my first grade chefs think they are pretty important! We always finish our apple unit by doing an apple tasting. The items sampled this year: apple pie, apple juice, apple jacks, apple butter, apple sauce, and apple chips. Yum. Here are a few pictures of some of my other favorite apple-tivities this year:

A construction paper apple cut-away diagram.

A giant apple guy. You know I love those big crazy eyes! The kids wrote words on white slips of paper to describe an apple. From far away, it kind of looks like the apple has little band-aids stuck all over it! Ha!

During math, we were learning how to solve simple word problems, so we had to do apple problems, of course!

A favorite apple poem with illustrations by my first grade artists. I really liked the poem being this large--great for buddy reading station!

Sound Boxes

2010-09-24T18:45:00.000-07:00

One of my focus skills during guided reading is phonemic awareness, and one of the ways we practice is by using Elkonin Boxes. The kids push counters into boxes for each phoneme they hear. Well, I loved the idea of this activity, but it just didn't sound or look like a whole lot of fun, so I "spiced up" my Elkonin Boxes using colorful paint sample strips! {You know me. It's got to be cute.} I just picked a few bright colors from the paint sample station at Lowe's, glued them to a sheet of paper, and laminated it. I found some cute mini cars the kids can use to "push" or "park" the sounds! The squares on the paint strips kind of look like little parking places for the cars!

Stay tuned this week for...ApPleS! I'll post pictures of some of our apple activities!

Growing Good Readers {and Spellers!}

2010-09-18T07:00:00.000-07:00

The poster above is on display by our classroom reading nook. The kids helped me brainstorm all the things they think good readers do! So far, I have been very impressed with my class of readers. They LOVE to read, and they LOVE to listen to stories! Woo hoo! They can't wait to get their book bags to "shop" for new books in the morning, and that makes me a very happy teacher. In talking with my fantastic first grade parents over the years, it seems that some of my first grade friends don't feel as motivated to read or practice sight words and spelling at home! Although I try not to give too much homework, I believe strongly in reading each night, and in making reading a bonding experience that is enjoyable for everyone involved! It is my hope that reading and spelling practice at home will no longer be a chore, but something those energetic first graders can look forward to! Here are some ideas that could make spelling and reading practice a little more exciting...

Make spelling words glow with the glow station!

Find a fun font and have your child type their words.

Put sight words on sticky notes and use a fun pointer. Call out words you want them to find.

Cut up old magazines. Look for sight words, or cut the letters out to spell the words and glue onto a piece of paper.

Fun spelling snack! Yum.

Write words with the Aquadoodle!

Bath time and learning time combined! Write words with bath crayons or bath markers!

Beware of Dinos...(and Mrs. Cooley Finds her Inner Mrs. Frizzle)

2010-09-10T18:53:00.000-07:00

I want to be Mrs. Frizzle. (If you have no idea who I'm talking about, grab some Magic School Bus books--they're the best!) When I say I want to be Mrs. Frizzle, I'm talking about wanting to create an environment in which learning is visible everywhere, and the theme is integrated into all aspects of the curriculum! In Mrs. Frizzle's room, her class is magically taken on learning adventures in the Magic School Bus. Although I don't have a magic bus, I want the learning that is taking place to be so much fun that it feels as if a Magic School Bus has whizzed into the room and transported everyone into another time and place!!! {I also want Mrs. Frizzle's themed outfits and earrings.} Anyway, this week, I have channeled my inner Mrs. Frizzle, and have tried to make the classroom into a room that revolves all around dinosaurs! The picture above, and the one below, are two of our classroom dinosaurs! It's kind of hard to tell from the picture, but the dinosaurs are pretty big--the T-Rex almost touches the ceiling, and the Brontosaurus is about as tall as the white board! I used the two dinos in my lesson about carnivores and herbivores, and I had the kids draw and label food items for each of the dinosaurs. My personal favorites were the "grassy poptart" made especially for our herbivore dino, and the meatball made for our carnivore dino!

We made fossils using play-doh and shells! This is the fossil display station.

This is Pete the Paleontologist. When I introduced Pete to the class, he didn't have any tools at all. We studied pictures of Paleontologists, looked at real photos and slides from the Sue T-Rex Exhibit in Chicago, and then created tools for Pete. We labeled them together on the poster!

Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse. Wow.

2010-09-04T20:15:00.000-07:00

Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse. As I read the story each year, it always reminds me to think about what is most important to my students. Is it 3 shiny quarters? A purse that plays a silly tune? New sunglasses? On the flipside, I think it reminds my students to be kind to their teacher ;). I think many of us can relate to Lilly's excitement about having something new, and wanting to share that something new with the world! Which brings me to share my newest idea for a Kevin Henkes author study: character map posters. Simple concept, but excellent for helping first graders recall specific things about Kevin's complex characters. We made two posters, one for Lilly and one for Chrysanthemum. In creating the posters, I prompted the kids to think of characteristics about the mice that made them seem like they were humans! We also brainstormed the important things about each character, and how they were different and alike! At the imagination station, the kids wrote advice to Lilly. One said, "I think you should be nice to your teacher. He's just trying to help you learn." Wow. "That's just about all I can say is, wow."

Counting Cups

2010-09-01T18:14:00.000-07:00

Our math focus skill this week has been number sense and counting! Instead of just counting objects on worksheets, I thought it could be more fun for my students to count real objects! I put a different number of items inside reused play-doh cups. I think it works best as a station activity. Ideas for items to put inside the cups: buttons, pom-poms, paper clips, shells, clear stones, erasers...anything will work! Counting is cool with counting cups.

The Sugar Cookie With Icing and Sprinkles Award

2010-08-26T18:15:00.000-07:00

To encourage my students to try their very best on each and every assignment,I tell them to imagine one of those super soft sugar cookies that is topped with icing and colorful sprinkles. Anyone who completes an assignment is classified as a sugar cookie--but it is those who try their very best and go over and beyond what is expected who are the sugar cookies with icing and sprinkles! When I see work that is a great example for the others in the class, I will proudly declare it as the sugar cookie award winner, and place it on display below the sugar cookie sign!

{Does anyone out there know where I could find a really cute graphic of a sugar cookie with icing and sprinkles? I would love to find a way to attach a *small* cookie to the award-winning work...}

Chunky Monkey and His Word Helper Friends...

2010-08-21T21:09:00.000-07:00

*Check out my new and improved word helper signs! (Above) April at Chalk Talk made them and sent me a copy! I think she did a great job! Now I have to go purchase some DJ Inkers Clip Art...

This past week my class has been very busy brainstorming the qualities of good readers, discussing where readers read, learning how to find books in our classroom library, practicing how to read independently, and most of all, we have been enjoying good books together! Soon they will learn the strategies that good readers use when they come to unknown words--with a little help from my word helping animal friends! The posters (pictured at the top of this post) hang on the wall above my small group table, and my students are reminded daily of the strategies they should try when they get stuck on a word! After a few weeks, all I have to say is, "Skippy Kangaroo" or one of the names of the other strategies, and the kids know what to do. These are the descriptions for our word helping animals:

*Chunky Monkey: Look for smaller chunks you know inside the word.
*Stretchy Snake: Stretch out the sounds in the word, and blend them together.
*Eagle Eyes: Check the picture!
*Skippy Kangaroo: Skip over the word and read the rest of the sentence, then try it again.
*Flippy the Dolphin: "Flip" the vowel sound. If you tried the short vowel sound, try the word with the long vowel sound. Which one makes sense?
*Lips the Fish: Get your mouth ready. Make the beginning sound of the word.

The Five Bees Promise

2010-08-13T20:48:00.000-07:00

This year, we have 5 main rules in our classroom. Our rules are known as the "Five Bees Promise." We have spent the first 2 days of school talking about the importance of our 5 bees, and why we need rules at school! Here are the little bees:

First Day=Fantastic!

2010-08-13T20:22:00.000-07:00

Well, we've made it through the first two days of school! It has been very busy, and few of my sweet little ones have already asked me if we get to have nap time. I felt so bad for them when I had to break the news..."Not this year, sweetie." (Bless their little hearts.) But even without nap time, I know this year is going to be wonderful!

After reading Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes, we discussed how the words we use can either help or hurt others. We played a name matching game and decorated our names, then we cut each letter out and placed them onto posters:

I introduced myself to my new friends using my all about me poster:

We played with "MAGIC DOUGH"--*secret recipe*: Wrap a small amount of play-doh inside another color of play-doh. I always tell my first graders that if their magic dough changes color, that means they will have an amazing year! They LOVE it!

Chandler was chosen as our first Super Star of the Day! He brought 3 things to share about about himself in the super star bag, we asked him questions about his likes and dislikes, created a poster of the things we learned about him, then we each drew a picture of him and cut out the pieces of his name!

Favorite Things: Classroom Edition!

2010-08-10T18:41:00.000-07:00

I am pretty new to the blogging world, and I didn't realize how many wonderful teaching blogs are out there! I came across Babbling Abby today,and she has a great post link up for teachers to share their must haves. I thought I'd join the fun and share my must haves with all of you wonderful people! So, these are few of my favorite things. I kind of feel like Oprah, but without all the screaming and giveaways...

1. First and foremost, I have to have my Starbucks! You will see me with a very large coffee mug every morning!

2. Mavalus Tape and Magnet Tape. If you haven't used the Mavalus Tape, you should! It is "mavalus"! It keeps those anchor charts on the wall all year.

I LOVE magnet tape. I put magnets on everything!

3. Scholastic Word Families Song Book. My students can't get enough of this book. The songs are so cute, and we love singing songs to go with our phonics skill of the week!

4. Magic Wand. It's magical. I use this wand ALL the time. I use it as a signal to change centers, or just to get everyone's attention. It has such a pleasant little sound!

5. Cut outs. I love all kinds of cut outs! I have a huge box of bears, cupcakes, stars, owls, pumpkins, penguins, you name it. I love turning my cut outs into reading and math games, or using them to hang around the room with words on them for the kids to read.

6. Twistables colored pencils and crayons. These are the BEST coloring tools ever. I really wish everyone in my class could have them. Just think--no more crayon peels or broken pieces lying on the floor! I think they would last longer than plain crayons or colored pencils too.

7. Scrapbook paper. I love getting giant scrapbook paper packs. New paper makes everything more fun.

The Imagination Station

2010-08-08T15:37:00.000-07:00

The imagination station. I think the name says it all, but it could also be named the inspiration station. This is the place in our room where children become authors and illustrators. Stories come to life, and favorite books we have read together inspire my students to create their own characters and new stories. I like to think they become "little imagineers"! I had two little boys a few years ago who loved to sit and make up their own non-fiction books together. They seriously blew me away with the things they wrote! Usually the first page would begin with a serious, yet simple introduction like, "Sharks are dangerous. Stay away from them." Or, "Fires are dangerous. Stay away from them." Everything was dangerous. But the pages following the introduction would be full of charts, diagrams, labeled drawings, timelines, and interesting facts they had learned about volcanoes, tornadoes, snakes, bears...you know, all the dangerous things! I really wish I had kept some of their books. They loved to share everyday, and the other kids in the class really looked forward to hearing what else was dangerous! It was amazing though--their excitement and enjoyment for writing got the other kids excited too!

I added the chalkboard and bird tree mural to the inspiration station this year, but I am still on the hunt for a larger writing table! The two blue boxes on top of the table are the "author's toolbox" and "illustrator's toolbox".

Mini Blog Make Over!

2010-08-06T11:30:00.000-07:00

I am so excited to have a precious new blog header, thanks to my sweet blog friend, Janae, and her talented friend Whitney! Janae has a really cute new blog, First Grade Fun, and right now she has some great ideas for bottle cap lids! Janae and Whitney, thank you SO much for the new header! I LOVE it!!!

Wondrous Word Work

2010-08-05T07:16:00.001-07:00

If I were a first grader, I think my favorite literacy station would be word work! I try to allow my students a variety of choices for working with words of the week. There are so many possibilities for activties, and I am often making up new ideas as I introduce new phonics patterns. For example, when we learn the digraph ch, I created a "Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie" game, and the kids would put pretend cookies on a pan, then flip them over with a spatula to practice reading and spelling the word found on the other side. The following activties are what you might see in the word work basket from week to week. Usually, I allow 2 or 3 activities in the basket at a time, then rotate them back in every few weeks to keep the kids from getting bored.

Play-Doh letters: use letter cookie cutters to create words! *Voted most popular by my first graders*

Sparkle letters: these are sparkly foam stickers.

Scrabble Words: I have a cute worksheet to go with this activity. It incorporates math by having the kids add up the letters of the words they create.

Mini Magna-Doodles.

Also, the chip board letters pictured at the top of this post are fun for spelling!

Other ideas:

*Mini chalkboards/whiteboards
*Magnet letters
*Fun fonts: cut out letters from magazines to build words.
*Letter stamps
*Sand box: put sand in the lid of a shoebox, and draw words in the sand
*Rainbow spelling: use different colored markers to spell words
*Wikki Stix
*Bottle cap spelling: put letters on the tops of bottle caps

When I do a fun phonics based activity, I will try to post pictures! Any teachers out there with some great new ideas for word work? I'd love to hear them!

Must Have Learning Gadgets!

2010-08-04T07:50:00.000-07:00

The following items are on my mega wish list. Meaning, I don't expect to get these anytime soon, but maybe one day when I'm rich and famous (just kidding). I will probably need to write a grant for some of these awesome gadgets, but I LOVE these little learning gems:

The Boogie Board (love the name). It is an LCD writing tablet that I think would be fantastic for spelling activities during small group, or for working math problems. They are actually very affordable--only $35.00 on Amazon! I think these might be my new MUST HAVE. So cool.

The Leapster Explorer. This one is pretty expensive, $64.99, and you have to purchase the learning cartridges to go with it separately, but I love it anyway. It has games to teach handwriting, math, science, and geography! I think it would be a fantastic addition to any center.

Vtech V.Reader. It's like a Kindle for kids! The V.Reader is a touch screen ebook that has interactive stories! Can you imagine how much fun the kids would have at listening station?! This one is $59.99.

I love technology.

Whimsical Giant Tissue Paper Flowers

2010-08-03T13:35:00.001-07:00

Need a cute and cheap way to decorate a classroom? Make giant tissue paper flowers! I made them this summer, and I think they make my room look kind of whimsical! I couldn't believe how easy they are to make. You can find video tutorials online if you need to see someone make an example--I'm a visual learner, so I had to seek out the tutorials!

1. Flatten out 8 sheets of tissue paper.
2. Fold it accordion style.
3. While the paper is still folded, tie the middle with string or a twist tie.
4. Scallop cut the edges of the tissue paper.
5. Gently pull the tissue outward, and it will begin to look like a flower!

Easy, and it adds a bright pop of color to the room! I also thought they would be great for parties!

Work to Tweet About!

2010-08-03T12:49:00.000-07:00

As the first day gets closer and closer, I am slowly checking things off my never ending "to do" list! To go along with the bird/outdoor theme this year, I finally finished making the little birds for our classroom work display in the hallway! I had a hard time finding the right type of bird (they just weren't "Richardy" enough!) so I just decided to draw my own! *If you don't understand my made up word, Richardy, just see my post about Richard the class mascot!* It's getting exciting going up to the school--everyone is finishing their rooms, and the halls are starting to look bright and cheery again! Now my task is to find a cute picnic table for the writing station, organize my center baskets for reading and math, prepare for meet the teacher, plan for the first two days, finish my last bulletin board, make notebook labels, create new poem charts...the list goes on. Oh well. At least my birds are cute (and Richardy).

Lid Sorting Math-tivity

2010-08-01T20:07:00.000-07:00

Speaking of water bottle caps (see previous post) I also have a very large collection of lids! I love putting everyday items into some sort of creative use in my classroom. You know how sometimes kids like the box better than than actual gift? All it takes is some imagination-- and that's what makes those everyday items new and exciting! Who knew lids could be exciting?! I use the lids for math sorting activities, based on a lesson from the Investigations hands-on math series. Parents, if you have any cool and different lids at home, please send them! The kids love to sort the lids!

Some of the sorting possibilities:

metal, plastic
round, square
holes, no holes
snap caps, solid lids
writing, no writing
sorting by color or size...

Ice Cream Lid Example:

Metal Lid Example:

Name Caps

2010-07-27T13:39:00.000-07:00

Save your water bottle caps! Those little guys can be used to make fun center activities! You can write numbers on the top of each cap and have the kids put them in order--I call it the "number order caterpillar". So far my number caps go all the way to 100, but you could try different variations: counting by 5s, 10s, etc. The newest idea I have found for bottle caps is to put student names on them! I love the way they turned out, and they were quick and easy to make--started and finished them during Emma's naptime! You could use these for beginning of the year games, the kids can practice putting the words in ABC order, make 2 of each child's name to create a matching game, or put them in a sack and choose a name for times when you need to pick a helper.

Study Like a Scholar...

2010-07-27T07:20:00.000-07:00

"Look at your grades. Now look at mine..." Too cute!

Anchor Charts

2010-07-26T16:59:00.000-07:00

As the first day of school approaches, I have been looking through some of my beginning of the year files, and trying to prepare for our school/county reading foundation for the year, called "The First 20 Days." In those first 20 days, we focus on building classroom routines and stamina in reading, and daily modeling of procedures and expectations during the literacy block. As we introduce the procedures that are ultimately responsible for the success of the literacy block, we develop anchor charts to hang on the walls to serve as a visual reminder for the kids to remember station choices and behavior expectations.

These are few of my anchor charts from last year.

Favorite Books Scrapbook?

2010-07-26T09:04:00.000-07:00

As I was going through my closet this morning, I found some of my college projects and binders. It felt strange looking back through all the things I had written and created before I truly knew what teaching was all about! I found one of my favorite projects from my Elementary Literature class. The assignment was to create a Newbery books scrapbook (yes,teachers, the front cover happens to be spelled incorrectly)! Anyway, I thought this same concept could be used for my first graders, but I will ask them each to choose any favorite book and make a page for a class scrapbook! I think it could be another fun way to get kids to share wonderful books with each other!

Here are few examples from my Newbery scrapbook. I left this near my classroom library when I taught 4th grade. It was a huge hit! The kids loved reading my "homework"! If you are just feeling crafty, you could make one yourself!

Labels, Labels, Everywhere!

2010-07-22T20:17:00.000-07:00

I went to work in my room today with my little helper, baby Emma! Today my job was to try to label everything with my new first grade friends' names. Here is what I have done so far:

First week name tags! I like putting them into plastic ID badge holders--they last all week. The dots match my new bulletin board border.

Helper Owls! I have two new helpers each day, one boy and one girl.

Birthday cupcakes! When one of my students celebrates a birthday, I attach the cupcake to a sentence strip, and they wear it all day as their birthday crown!

Book bags! (These are new!) Books that the kids choose to read from the classroom library will go in these colorful book pouches!