Five for Friday

Cheers to a four-day weekend! I had a teacher workday today.

 I got so much done in my classroom and got to leave half day. I got report card comments and grades in last night so I could focus on setting up new centers, new reading groups, getting ready for the next week, data, interventions, organizing, etc. The list was really long but I got it all accomplished.

I love having a teacher workday. We have one every marking period to get report cards done. Does your district give you teacher workdays?

 We did this winter writing last week and decorate mittens to go with our winter writing. I print two pages for kids that have larger handwriting.

Next up for writing we are starting polar animal research project. The kids are going to pick their favorite polar animal.

The first book in this stack will be great for our research projects. Some one was cleaning out their room and put all these books to take in the workroom.

Our PTA is wonderful and got each classroom in the school two of these “wiggle” balls for our students who could benefit from them. I have to say it makes a big difference with my kids that have problems sitting still during times they are working at their desk.. At first everyone wanted to use the ball. I explained that they are used for student’s that really need help focusing. Now everyone is used to seeing them and has tried it out during our center rotations. The novelty of the ball is over but it works so well for those students who need to bounce and move while sitting. It also has little legs on the bottom to stabilize the ball and not roll.

How do you hold up your anchor charts? I hold them up by using these hooks on my board. I use tacks and large binder clips to hold up anchor charts. It’s easy to change out and visible to all the students.

Hope you have a great MLK weekend! 

1st day back in the New Year!

I survived my first day back! Yeah! It was a really good day.

-The weather was cooler today. (65 degrees don’t hate please I know it’s super cold everywhere else!)

-   I was productive before school and everything was organized and ready to go!

-   My kids were super excited to be back and were well behaved.

-   I only had 14 out of 18 kids today in class.

-We got everything done we were supposed to in class! Whoa!!

-Everyone's writing was amazing today!

-   The morning went by really fast.

-   We changed up our schedule and it worked out really well!

-   I got so much work done after school and left before 5.

Today was just a great day all around. I had healthy meals and now I’m off to the gym!

 2015 is looking really good!

Goodbye Winter Break & Tips for Tomorrow

Tonight is the last night of winter break. I’m going to have a rude awakening tomorrow at 5:30 a.m. I didn’t get out of bed until 10:00 a.m. this morning!

All good things must come to an end and I am feeling ready for the second half of the school year. Thankfully before I left for break, I organized all my literacy and math centers. I think I’m ready for tomorrow but I’ll still be going in early to make sure.

Tips for tomorrow:

1. Give my kids HUGE hugs! I know we’ll be happy to see each other. I want them to feel loved.

2. Let my kids talk about their winter break. I know they’ll be super chatty so I should give them the opportunity to talk to each other in a structured way. I’ll do a team building activity with their tables.

3. Go over the rules! I know my kids will need a refresher on all the rules. I will go over the rules and play a class building game so they can talk about the rules with each other. Yeah for movement and talking…. they are going to need that tomorrow.

4. Remember everything does NOT need to get done in one day! Often times the first day back from break I want to squeeze in so many activities. It is okay if it doesn’t all get done. Tomorrow is another day. This also goes for my work after school. It will still be there the next day.

5. Smile and take a deep breath. I’m back at work but that doesn’t mean I need to be stressed out. I enjoy teaching, my team mates, and love my kids. Data, observations, evaluations, testing, and negative co-workers DO NOT need to get me down. I make my own happiness. I will focus on the positives. 

December Happenings

As promised, I’m blogging today about last month’s happenings. December is a crazy, wonderful month full of activity in and out of the classroom.

We had so many gingerbread activities. I snapped some pictures of fabulous door/hallways around our school that looked like gingerbread houses. 

This is a first grade teacher on my hallway. Below is two Kindergarten teachers that worked together to make a festive nook in the hallway.

We read several gingerbread stories over the week. So Of course we had to write all about gingerbread people. I had my students write their own gingerbread stories. They could use girl, boy, man, women, baby, or animal in their story. It had to have a beginning, middle, and end and follow the gingerbread story pattern. Example: The gingerbread gets baked, runs away, runs away from many people, runs into a fox, and then either gets away somehow or gets eaten. My kids did such a great job with this creative writing. 

 I love how they brighten the hallway and all look different. Just like my kiddos. This craft was from First Grade Blue Skies. Check it out here.

We also wrote about how to bake a gingerbread. We thought about the steps together as a class and then they wrote the steps they would take. It was adorable and I loved their illustrations of baking. 

During the month of December we also studied the four seasons and holidays around the world. As awesome as these units were, I didn't take any pictures. :/ Whoops! Need to get better about that.

Moving on to the last week of school. We had a snowman party and a Polar Express Day! Super fun-super exhausting. I know you're with me on this one. Here are some of the crafts we made and my little ones in their PJ's peacefully watching the Polar Express.

Hope you have a beautiful Saturday! I’m off to enjoy this last bit of break! 

Flashback Friday: November Recap

Here is a flashback of happenings in November. This is a short version of the month. 

We studied Native Americans and Pilgrims. We had a Native American come to school and show the first graders tools, sign songs, and talk about Native Americans.

We did a few interactive notebooks on Native Americans/Pilgrims and past/present. Here is one I actually took a picture of.

We dressed up in hats that were from last years Thanksgiving play and had a “feast”. It was the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving feast… full of jellybeans and toast. Ohh those silly kids in Charlie Brown.

Then it was Thanksgiving break. I get a week off from school every year. I left town for the cold north to see my family and snow. Before I did I saw Hunger Games. The movie theatre had each door decorated for each district. Pretty cool if you are a fan of the books!

I had a fantastic time with my seeing my extended family up north for Thanksgiving. I was ready to get back to the sunshine and finish 2014.

December recap will be posted tomorrow!

Enjoy the last few days of winter break!