Red Ribbion Week & Random

Hey blog friends! 

I've been slacking on my blog a bit! I want to share with you some of our Red Ribbon Week doors from this past week. These are all of my first grade teammates doors.

Be Drug Free Anything Less is Despicable! 

This is my door. :) I got the idea via Pinterest! The kids made the iPods and wrote on them iPledge to be drug free! and signed their names.

On the left side she posted all of her kids putting fake bugs in their mouth. Super silly and fun!

We promise to "leaf" drugs alone! 

We don't fall for drugs! She had the kids all sign a leaf.

The small sign on the tree says "Drugs make you batty!" All her kids made bats and sign their names in white crayon. 

I think they are all pretty awesome, cute, and creative! We had a contest where admin voted on doors. I won for my grade level. I was kinda floored because I never win anything. My class got some rocking guitars keychains and Twizzlers as a prize. FUN! 

I just discovered this great site...check out this awesome FREE math resource: 

There are several math games for K-7 using interactive boards. I will be using this for warming up their brains for sure! My kids love anything to do with our Smart Board!

In other news, I have parent-teacher conferences this week! I had 17 out of 18 parents sign up! So I have many meetings before and after school. I have also started AAA tutoring to help 3-5 graders build their reading comprehension and raise their test scores for the FCAT (our state standardized test). It is an hour each morning. I tutor one group for thirty minutes and then they go on the computer for Reading Plus and I tutor another group that was just on the computer. 

I'm enjoying this "chilly" front on the east coast and looking forward to Halloween this week! I'll post back here on Friday with all the fun that happens during our week.

Have a wonderful week! 

I heart school shopping!

Our school district gave us a debit card to use for classroom supplies this year. We just got it a few weeks ago and I've been looking for deals before I purchase anything. I got a 50% of coupon for Lakeshore tonight so I decided to go ahead and spend the card!

I love Lakeshore Learning materials because the stand the test of time and last.

Here are a few things I got: 

Word Building Blocks: I thought these would be super for word work. The kids will use these to make their spelling and sight words.

Wipe and write number strips: These are perfect for math centers! My kids use their number lines on their desk all the time so this will be great for them to use on the floor or even at the computer.

Lowercase magnetic letters: I have a mix of letters I've collected over the years but I don't have enough vowels and I'm missing some. This will be a good addition to the collection of letters. The kids use these during word work to make their spelling and sight words. 

I also picked up some new exemplar text for Common Core and easy readers. Some of the titles include books with the titles: How People Learned to Fly, Frog and Toad, Zin! Zin! Zin! a Violin, and  Hi! Fly Guy. I picked read aloud stories, poetry books, and informational text for a healthy balance. 

I also stopped by Joann's this afternoon for these awesome Native American headbands. Our first grade is doing a Thanksgiving program in November. Half of our kids will be Native Americans and half will be Pilgrims. We can't wait to tell the true story of Thanksgiving. Our program is based off the alphabet book "T is for Turkey." 

Have a wonderful evening! 

1st week of October {Five for Friday}

I can't believe it is already October! This school year is just flying by! Time to link up for another Friday to show you all about my week!

ONE

We have a furry friend in our classroom! I just adopted a guinea pig from a teacher who could no longer have two. Our principal made a rule that teachers could only have one pet per classroom so this teacher had to split her guinea pigs up. I took over the little guy. My kids could not be happier! 

I  LOVE having a classroom pet. He is an inspiration for writing, keeps them quiet when he is napping, teaches them about healthy fruits and veggies, and taking responsibility. A special thanks goes out to the Critters in the Classroom blog! It helped me to get things going with our guinea pig.

My kids named him Shadow. We love our little friend!

TWO

We have been learning our doubles facts this week. My kids love this doubles video.

They also love to use these Halloween erasers as counters.

THREE

Fall is all around our classroom now. I put up fall decorations this week and the kids wrote about the season.

FOUR

We had our Boosterthon Fun Run this week. This is a great fundraiser that promotes health and raising money for a good cause. The kids had so much fun running their laps! (think 5k kid style)  I think the program helps character building and is a positive way to raise money.You can read more the Fun Run here: Boosterthon Fun Run  Our school has used this fundraiser for the past three years to raise money for technology. Now every classroom has a SmartBoard! 

FIVE

Not the greatest picture but this is our brag box! Let me explain...our staff morale has been low and we need a way to pump it up! Our old principal used to write us sweet, encouraging e-mails or leave notes in our mailboxes. We thought we could continue doing that with each other by writing positive things on a little note and putting in this brag box. At the end of our team meetings our team leader will read the notes. Hopefully everyone will feel more encourage, uplifted, and ready to take on anything! At least that is my thought. I'll let you know next week how it goes! We want to stay positive and continue to lift each other up through changes that are happening. I hope this helps foster our love for each other even more!

Hope you all have a beautiful and restful weekend!