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! 

September Style {Monday Made It}

Whoa it is Monday...the weekend went fast! Today was a crazy day filled with lots of kiddos (a teacher had to leave unexpectedly so the other teachers absorbed her kids) but also full of fun because I threw those lesson plans out the window. Only for today...I wish I could for the week lol. We read a funny Curious George book, practiced Daily 5, did math centers, wrote about our weekend, explore and observed nature in science. 

Here is what I have been making so far for the month of September: 

1. Take home bags:

I decorate these bags with paint pens. As you can see I have a birthday bag, student of the week bag, and estimation bag. The kids love taking home these bags! The bags are fun but encourage reading, writing, estimating, individualism, and creativity!

2. Who knows their facts? An addition game!

I just added this to my TPT store last night.

You can use this product as an assessment for addition fact fluency, in small groups to learn facts fast, or in math centers. I use this product as practice for learning math facts fast with a sand timer. The student write down their answers on whiteboards or say them aloud. This would be a great tool to use for student who struggle seeing the pattern in addition and need extra support. If you laminate the cards students can write and wipe answers. 

Hope you have a lovely evening!

Even and Odd Songs

This post is inspired by the Teacher Wife's Even and Odd Street post. She wanted to know if there were any other ways bloggers teach even and odd numbers. Everyday during calendar we decide if our number of the day (how many days we've been in school) is even or odd. I have a couple of cheers to help my students remember even and odd.

2, 4, 6, 8, even numbers are really great! (when we say really great it's a lot like Tony the Tiger from Frosted Flakes...lots of enthusiasm!)

1, 3, 5, 7, 9 those are the odd numbers on the number line!

They are pretty simple but my students love them, they are easy to remember, and it doesn't take much time.

Hope you are having a fabulous Labor day and enjoying the last bits of summer!

*Big news: I'm almost to 200 followers!* I smell a giveaway...stay tuned!

Estimation Station and Confessions

Estimation Station:

I just got my wonderful Estimation Station in the mail this week from Can Do Kinders. The Estimation Station is now going to be to be used as a take home bag. Each Friday a student will take the bag home and place items to estimate in the jar. On Monday the students will bring the bag back and the class will make estimations throughout the week. Then on Friday we will graph our estimations and count to find out how many items are in the jar. I made two sheets that will go in the Estimation Station bag and will also include the estimation book Betcha!

Click HERE to get your free estimation sheets!  

Hope you all like this and can use it!

Now my confessions:

EEK! I am going to meet my new team next week! I'm super excited but a little nervous. I mean I'm sure they have a well oiled plan working for them and boom I come in shaking things up. I don't want to be the annoying teacher that ask for help all the time but I am new to the school and don't know how things work there just yet. I hope my team is friendly, welcoming, understanding, helpful, professional, creative, sharers, and fun! I know it seems like I'm asking for everything under the sun! I just want to be liked, appreciated, and valued on my new team. Sometimes it can be hard to establish yourself when you are new at school. It's a whole new group to win over-don't even get me started on admin and parents! I'm pumped about our team meeting and want to know your recommendations. Should I bring a welcome/back to school gift? Is that too much since I don't even know them? I know I'll bring my own things I've created and done in the past as well as the fabulous things I've found on blogs to the table to share! I know I'll bring my planner. I know I'll bring lots of enthusiasm -I love back to school season!  Do you recommend bringing anything else? I'm not sure how other school's run their team meetings. I just need a little encouragement since I feel like I've always been the newbie and never on the other side.

I WON!

I finally won a giveaway! I could not be any more excited this has totally made my day!!!! I won a estimation jar from Can Do Kinders! I can't wait to use this for math! I just know it will be an instant favorite with my kids!


I love all the ideas that were posted with this giveaway as well. I think I will use a variety of these methods with my estimation jar. So far I am thinking that each week my Student (Pirate) of the Week can fill up the estimation jar with 100 items of less. Throughout the week students can write their estimations and place them in a can next to the jar. Then on Friday we will graph the estimations and then count the items to see what was a close or correct estimation. I think this will be a really fun way to get families involved with math and to get students engaged and excited about learning!

Does anyone out their in blog land have a cute graph counting by 10's to 100? If not I think I'll be making one in a few days!