Monday, June 17, 2013

Schedule Spotlight Series #2 - Calendar


Hey y’all! It is has been a rainy day here in the South…perfect for a blog post! :)
This is the second post in the 10 week Schedule Spotlight series!
For those of you just joining in the fun, we are going through our day, minute by minute and hour by hour! Almost as a good as observing…but saving money on gas and sub pay! :)




7:45 - 8:15 ~ Morning Work {Post #1 - June 10}
8:15 - 8:30 ~ Calendar {Post #2 - June 17}

At 8:15, I walk around and check everyone’s math journals. I try to do this 2 times a week…just enough so that they know I am going to check and they don’t just scribble all over! I glance over the last day when I check the current day, so everything gets checked! Sometimes it’s a sticker, sometimes it’s a smiley face…and sometimes it is good ole verbal praise! :)

I call my friends down to the carpet by table. When they come down to the carpet, they sit in our sharing circle. Once everyone is settled, I start every single day with “Good morning, Bollman’s Bunch!” and they respond, “Good morning, Mrs. Bollman!” I then say, “Today is Monday, June 17, 2013. Our special today is Art and our Jungle Guide is Brady.” I went to a workshop a while back that said verbal cues are an important part of a structured schedule. So they have several cues that we are about to start calendar time: we are sitting in a sharing circle, and I just said my Good morning spiel! Spiel – reminds me of my waiting table days in college! 

With the addition of the Promethean Board in my classroom in 2008, I have scaled back on my 'wall' calendar and spend more time on our interactive calendar! 



Here is a pic of our wall calendar. I have since spiffed it up with zebra number cards and day of the week cards from Kacey at Doodle Bugs Teaching! We flip over the number for the day, do the Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow cards, add a straw and count them, write how many days we've been in school and write the date. The Jungle Guide is the calendar helper. This takes about 5 minutes...even less as the days go on! I have thought several times about taking it down, but I like for the calendar to be there throughout the day for them to reference! 


Next, we move on to the Promethean board calendar! The Jungle Guide leads the board calendar, as well. They call on other students to drag and click...it takes about a month of training and then they can do the board calendar SOLO! It is so fab -- it gives me a couple minutes to think through our math mini lesson and pull any manipulatives I may need!

This is the page sequence of our calendar flipchart:

*Math Movement Songs 
{my fave thanks to Cara Carroll is Have Fun Teaching's videos on School Tube} - My kiddos {and ok, ok, mine too!} is Counting by 5's! 

*One More, One Less, Ten More, Ten Less 
{with the number of days we have been in school}

*Mystery Number 
{drag a shape to cover numbers on the hundred chart}

*Greater Than, Less Than 
{with the random number generator and alligator mouths}

*Time Poem

*Coin Poem

I wish I could post the calendar flipchart I created, but it tons of songs, clipart, and images I have borrowed from other flipcharts - it would be a copyright and credit nightmare! :( 
So...I searched for some on TpT for you! :)

Ms. Arnold {my Bham neighbor} has ones she adds each month {Check out May}

Michelle Hanson has one that is pretty comprehensive and chock full of fun {Flipchart}

Dizzy for Kindergarten has one for every month 
{Check out February}

My plan to implement a Calendar Notebook this year to give some accountability during calendar! Because calendar is repetitive, some of my busy kiddos start to wander a bit...this will hold them accountable! Check out Cara's Calendar Companion!

We finish up with Calendar by 8:30 and then its time to begin our Math mini lesson! 

Link up below to tell us all about Calendar time in your classroom!

Join us next Monday, June 24 to learn more about our Math block!

Have a fun in the sun week! :) 

Monday, June 10, 2013

Schedule Spotlight Series #1 - Morning Work

Hey y'all! Welcome to the first post in the ten week Schedule Spotlight Series, all about Morning Work!


Let's start with first thing in the wee morning hours with groggy teachers... and bright eyed kiddos! I am NOT, repeat NOT, a morning person!!!  I have barely wiped the sleep out of my eyes and consumed a half cup of coffee! You feel me???

At our school, the kiddos can be dropped off starting at 7:30 and they sit in the hallway outside of their classrooms for a school wide reading time. We rotate morning hallway duty...we each take one day a week.  I really like that the kids all come into the classroom at the same time!

When the bells rings at 7:45, my kiddos come in and unpack. 
Every.single.day {only exceptions are field trip days} they:
 1. Unpack their binders and lunches 
2. Head straight to their seat and get started on their Math Journal
3. After the math journal is completed, they work on 
Mountain Math 

I have done several different things over the years for morning work. THE most important thing to me is that they can do it independently. By themselves. No assistance. I think consistency is key in the morning! Just like breakfast is the most important meal, morning work consistency lays the ground work for a calm and structured day!

While they work on their morning work, I check the binders for paperwork, notes from the parents, lunch money, take attendance and lunch count. I like to get all of this taken care of first thing in the morning...before everything else takes over! I can get this done quickly and efficiently if the children are engaged in a meaningful activity that requires little direction from me - enter the math journal!

My very first year of teaching, I did different worksheets from the Mailbox magazine! Blast from the past, right there! Our sweet media specialist used to email me to tell me when the newest Mailbox magazine came in the mail! This was clearly before the TpT craze! I despised the random worksheet for three reasons: I would have to give directions every.single.day.,  I was making a million copies every week, AND I had to pass them out every morning! That added up to a lot of work for me...and non engaging busy work for them! Lose, lose, lose! 

After a year of random worksheets, the next year I switched to literacy journals. In Kinder, they started out copying a sentence from the board. {Example: A is for apple}. They copied the sentence and drew a picture. After we got to Z, we switched to: A is for _____ and they filled in the blank and drew a picture. After we got to Z with this format, we switched to word of the day. They would use the word of the day in a sentence {Example: The word of the day is the. The bird is blue.} They did all of this work in journals from Starfall. After shopping around, these are a great deal! We now put them on our school supply list...each child gets 4 for the school year.



When I looped up to first grade a few years ago, I knew I needed to revamp the literacy journals. I loved the idea, but I already done it with my Kinders the previous year! Our school had a school wide goal of increasing math journal use, so I decided to go with that and I LOVE IT!

Every Monday, there is a new page at their seats with the 4 math journal prompts for the week. We do math journals Monday - Thursday, and something fun {think poetry, crossword puzzles, word searches} on Fun Fridays!

After completing their math journal {with words, pictures, and a number sentence}, they complete a few problems from our Mountain Math board. Mountain Math is a spiraling math activity. Read more about it {here}. We complete 24 problems over the course of 1 week. We do not start Mountain Math until January. Until then, it takes the kiddos about 20 minutes to complete their math journals. 

If any kiddos finish with both their math journal and Mountain Math, they can read from their Bag of Book for a few minutes. 
The kiddos begin their morning work at about 7:45 and we will meet on the carpet for calendar at 8:15. 

What do you do for morning work??? 
Link up to tell me all about it!


Coming next week on June 17 - Calendar

Have a fabulous week! :)

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Schedule Spotlight Series Details

Hey y'all! Hope everyone's summer is off to a great start! And for those of you still in school, bless you! The end is near! 

I am so excited to kick off this new series!


Join me this summer as I dive {sorry, couldn't help myself} into our school day! We will go minute by minute, hour by hour, and discuss every little aspect of the day in my classroom...and yours...if you join me in the linky! It is almost like we can BE in each other's rooms...but without the hassle of sub plans and road trips! I can't wait to hear about how everyone's day flows and to hear your tips and tricks along the way! 

I will post each linky on Monday for the week! 






Please link up below to spread the word and let your readers know all about it! :)
Oh - and I am going to link up first to test the link! Hahaha!

 Loading InLinkz ...

Friday, May 10, 2013

Five for Friday

Hey y'all! TGIF!!!
I am linking up with Kacey for Five for Friday!


1. COUNTDOWN TO SUMMER
IS ON! We only have 9 days left with the kiddos! I always get a little emo this time of year. While I do look forward to more leisurely mornings and trips to the beach, I know I will miss my kiddos so much! We spend so much time with them and then we only see them in the hallways next year! :(


2. SPAM!
What is the deal with all the spam comments on Blogger lately????? Anyone else having this issue?? I am getting like 5 spam comments every day - it creeps me out! I hate to have to put the verification code for comments - any other solutions?


3. SHIRT SALE!
My little heat press shirts are on sale tonight! They are $18.00, but tonight are $2.00 off! Head over to my Facebook page to check it out! I will keep the sale going through Saturday for Castles and Crayons readers - just mention it in your order! :)





4. iPHONE CASE



I am loving my new iPhone case! I had a precious monogram case that latest for about a year - but it was hard plastic and had cracked after one too many tumbles! I found this on Etsy and ordered on a Monday and it arrived the following Monday! LOVE! They are in Mobile, Alabama {my sweet home Alabama} and I highly recommend them...very affordable and fast service and shipping! :)


5. SUMMER LINKY PARTY


I am so excited to start my new Summer Linky Series {Schedule Spotlight} in just a few short weeks! I am going to break apart our school day into 11 chunks and blog about it for 11 weeks in the summer! First week will be May 27 - stay tuned for more info!

Have an awesome weekend! Happy Mother's Day to all of you amazing mommies! :)

Monday, May 6, 2013

Keep Calm and SHOP On! :)

Happy Monday, friends!
Mondays are not my favorite, especially when its raining! But one thing that makes Mondays a little less bluesy is the Bachelorette! Can't wait for it to start up again in just a few weeks!!!

I am excited for the TpT sale this week! I have my cart loaded up and ready to get my shop on! Loving Teri's new reading center pack and can't wait to pick up Sarah's Summarizing with the Stars pack!  Click on the presh pic below to head to my store. 

Thank you, Hope King, for this precious graphic! 

Some things in my shop that add up to big savings with 28% off --


The Old Lady Bundle Pack - all 10 units for year round fun! 28% off $24.00 is $19.20!



The Roll and Read Ultimate Bundle Pack - 5 sets of Roll and Read fun - 28% off $12.00 is $9.60.

Get your shop on! :)

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Tech Tuesday - FREE Apps

Happy Tuesday, y'all!
Our tech specialist shared these free apps with us today {April 23, 2013} and I thought you would like to grab them too! :)

First up is StoryToys {one word!} apps. These apps are normally $4.99, but are free right now, so download them TODAY! 





Next up, McGraw-Hill apps! 
Cute read aloud stories, phonics, word work, and more!




Hope your week is off to a great start! We have Open House tonight, so I am off to wipe all the tables one more time!
Have an awesome rest of the week! :)

Monday, April 15, 2013

This and That

Hey y'all! Hope everyone is doing great!

I apologize for my absense in blog land! I am been working on getting my Lollipops and Lemondrops business up and running! :) I am working on an Etsy shop and hope to have everything ready this summer!! :)



Everyone is knee deep in testing preparations in our neck of the woods! I am SO HAPPY that first grade does not particpate in stadardized testing in Alabama. When I taught first grade in Georgia, we did the CRCT....I believe they have changed that in the 5 years since I moved. Georgia peeps, is that right??? 
Do any of you participate in standardized testing in 1st? Or heaven forbid, K????? It makes me shudder! It also makes me shudder to think of my lack of specials during testing, but I would prefer that over testing HANDS DOWN! Are you with me?

Look at this cute testing bulletin board from a 4th grade teacher at my school. So cute for you upper grade friends!
I love the whole mustache craze! Makes me laugh!!! :)




We are also gearing up for a new reading series next year. We are adopting the Wonders series from McGraw Hill. Does anyone have that now?? or is getting it next year?? Would love to hear some feedback from peeps that use it!



Coming soon:
This summer, I have two big goals!

A...1 A {BEACH FRONT AVENUE} - Vanilla Ice, anyone?.. is to create/update my Word Work units so that I have a unit for each and every phonics skill. I have some cute themes and graphics up my sleeve! ;) I love teaching phonics with a theme - makes it a little bit more fun!

B - The other is to host a blog series, complete with linky parties!! I will tell you more about it very soon! :)

Countdown to summer is ON - only 6 weeks left for us! 
Have a super week! :)
 
Pin It button on image hover