Sound Boxes

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!}

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)

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.

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

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*

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...

*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

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!

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!

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

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!

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

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!

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

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!

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).