First Weeks in First Grade

Hi friends! :) Hope your school year is off to an awesome start! And those of you who haven't started yet...enjoy your sleeping in for me please! :)

Please excuse my absence from C&C! I have a brand new team {we have 4 teachers in first grade and 3 are new to our school} so I have been busy getting to know them and setting up our classrooms, going over curriculum maps, etc!

Due to the Alabama Tourism Bill that was passed in May, we pushed back our start date to August 20, so last Monday was our first day! I LOVE MY CLASS! They are too presh! 19 total...11 boys and 8 girls! They are amazing!

Last week, we had lots of fun getting to know each other! We read lots of awesome books and did a few cute activities to go with them!

  

We read Wemberley Worried and completed the sentence starter {I worried that...}and made our very first class book!

We read First Grade Here I Come! and completed the sentence starter page from Abby's Fun with Firsties unit {this could be another class book!}

We def read First Grade Jitters and made Jitter Juice, also from Abby's unit! This has quickly become my FAVE back to school activity!

We also read the poem Marshmallow Toes and made our Marshmallow Toes so we could practice using quiet toes in the hallway! Why do my fourth and fifth grade teacher friends laugh hysterically at me when I say "I like how Brady is using his marshmallow toes!" ??!! :) Grab this activity for free below! :)

This week, we will be working on...

MATH - Patterns {We start enVision Common Core next week!}

Check out my Perfect Patterns mini unit below!

PHONICS - Short vowel /i/

DAILY FIVE - Launching Read to Self

Check out my Daily Five posters and fill in the blank anchor charts for the kiddos below!

WRITING - Launching the Writing Workshop

What do good writers do??? Add more pictures, add more words, or start a new piece! Say it again now! :)

SOCIAL STUDIES - Marvelous Me

Lots of good books and my kiddos are creating a Marvelous Me book {I so wish I could share the book with you, but it is made with PC Crafter clip art! BOO!}

Thanks for sticking around! Have an amazing week!!! :)

TpT Sale!!

Yay for the TpT Back to School sale! You can get 28% off everything in my store {and lots of my fave bloggers} on Sunday, August 12 and Monday, August 13. 

Thank you to Amy for this presh graphic! :)

These TpT sales only come along a few times a year, so my cart is full and ready to go!! Happy shopping!!!

Make a Word! Consonant Digraphs

Happy Hump Day, friends! Back to school is HERE! I presented at our district's new teacher training this morning and then went out to run errands...Hobby Lobby and the Parent Teacher store...OMG! The traffic!!! You can tell the first day of school is around the corner! :) 

I LOVE back to school shopping {minus the traffic!} I always have to get new notebooks, pens {Flair, of course!}, and pencils. Throw in a few calculators, cardstock, and scissors, too! Speaking of scissors...I have found my new favorite scissors and they are only $1.99 at Hobby Lobby! They are right by the checkout {impulse shopping...gets me every time!} and I grabbed some a few weeks ago...mainly because they had pink and lime green! :) They are awesome!!! Great for cutting lamination, cardstock, etc! I think I have purchased 8 pairs...I got every drawer covered! HA!

I also have to have new clothes! My mom tells me that since I am adult, I don't technically need new clothes...that is for the kids! Say what?!?! Absolutely not!!! Target is one of my faves for cute dresses, but sadly I have not been able to find many there this summer. Come on Target...you have catchy commercials...now I need cute dresses! :)

I have found some cute ones at Old Navy. I love their online shopping! They have way more selection online and you can return to the store...nice and easy! Here are a few that I ordered...the thick black and white stripe is my fave...nice and thick cotton and super cute! I am ordering it in black too! :)

 Introducing my newest TpT activity: Make a Word! Consonant Digraphs!

It includes digraphs /sh/, /ch/, /wh/, and /th/. 

Click on the picture below! I will email this activity to five people on Friday, August 10. Please leave a comment with your email address for a chance to win!

I combined the Make a Word! Consonant Digraphs with the Make a Word! Long and Short Vowels set to make a Make a Word! Bundle Set, which includes the Long Vowels, Short Vowels, and Consonant Digraphs. 

Click on the picture below to check it out! :)

 I will be back soon with pics of my Silhouette Cameo projects! Enjoy the rest of your week! :)

Roll and Read Fluency Phrases

Hey friends! Two weeks til we head back to school! My room is all set up {thanks to teaching a reading camp last week with our reading coach!} and now comes the fun!! Now that the furniture is in place, I am blog stalking and creating cuteness for my room! :) Pics to come!

One of the things on my Summer Bucket List was to organize my small group lessons and materials. I purged a lot of games I purchased in my earlier years of teaching because of all the awesomeness you guys create!!! I found I wasn't reaching for those anymore because y'all were creating better and cuter things! 

After moving to first grade from Kinder two years ago, I began to focus more on fluency with my firsties. One thing I like to use in my small groups is Fluency Phrases. Fluency phrases are 3 word phrases that combine sight words and cvc words. These phrases help students develop and practice fluency. We always warm up our fluency fingers {our pointer finger} by waving it around like we just don't care and shaking it in the ayer, a ayer, ayer!!! :) I use these to warm up at the beginning of our group, or to close our group if we have a few extra minutes! I love these because all you need is a die and the paper. Easy peasy! :)

Click {here} to check out my newest TpT unit, Roll and Read Fluency Phrases {Short Vowels}. I am working on the Long Vowel version! :)

I will email this activity to five peeps on Wednesday, August 1. Just comment below to enter! :)

Have a fun in the sun summer week! :)

The Daily Five Book Study ~ Chapter 5

Hi friends! Thanks so much for stopping by to join in the fun of The Daily Five book study, started by Mel {Seusstastic Classroom Inspirations} and Nicole {Teaching with Style}! 
Be sure to stop by their blogs to catch up with Chapters 1 and 2 and more!

I am HUGE fan of the Daily Five and have spread the love for D5 around my school and my district. I hope everyone loves D5 just as much as I do! It is THE single best thing I have implemented into my reading block in the past 7 years!!!


Let's dig into the next chapter...Chapter 5 is all about Read to Someone and Listen to Reading. 


READ TO SOMEONE
Read to Someone is just what you think it is...reading to someone. Some of us old school peeps might call it buddy reading. One and the same!!! Read to Someone is so important because it:
*models fluency
*reinforces comprehension


Chapter 5 talks about to launch Read to Someone in your classroom and how to model how the students sit together 
{EEKK: Elbow to Elbow, Knee to Knee} Someone out their in blog world came up with this presh poem: LOVE!

We actually Read to Someone twice a day! The first time is during Phonics...I work with half of the class on the carpet with an Explicit Phonics lesson and the other half does Read to Someone with decodeable books on their level and then we switch! So every day, every child Reads to Someone!

The second time my firsties Read to Someone is as a choice during The Daily Five. The kiddos are really good with it...they take it so seriously!!! In my room, only 2 friends can Read to Someone at a time. This really keeps the noise level down as other friends are Reading to Self or Working on Writing. This equates to about 6 friends Reading to Someone every day, so by the end of the week, everyone has gotten to Read to Someone as their choice at least once. 


My kiddos are free to read big books {a firstie favorite!}, poetry, class made books, or our read aloud books on display. The boys usually like to lay on the rug, while the girls like to sit together on my Queen of the Jungle director chair...so presh! 

LISTEN TO READING
Listen to Reading is another VERY popular choice during the Daily Five! Listen to Reading is an important component of D5 because as children listen to others read they are modeling fluency, as well as being to focus more on comprehension, instead of struggling to sound out words. 


The possibilities for Listen to Reading are endless!


I have 2 individual CD players {I got mine for $20.99 each from Best Buy}

I use CD's and books from Scholastic flyers. I started collecting these during my Student Teaching and have several titles. These are so easy to share across your grade level. 

You can also use iPods! We have 4 to share in our grade level, so we each have one to use. The kiddos think are SO BIG when they use the iPod. I plan to upload all of the Scholastic CD's onto iTunes.

The computers in our classroom are also part of Listen to Reading. My kids use Raz-Kids on the computer and I LOVE it. I set their reading levels and they read books on their level and take a comprehension quiz. Click {HERE} for a free 7 day trial of Raz-Kids. 

Be sure to check out my Daily Five posters and anchor charts. As I introduce each section of the Daily Five, I love to have each student fill in their own anchor chart! I think this helps reinforce the concept, as well as gives the parents something to look at so they can better understand the Daily Five!

  Click {here} to download from TpT for free!

Head over to check out Melissa's post about Chapter 5 on Dilly Dabbles for grades K-3 AND Mechelle's post about Chapter 5 on Barrow's Hodgepodge for 2nd grade!

Now it's time for a PARTY!!!! Join in a linky party to share your thoughts on Chapter 5! PLEASE be sure to link DIRECTLY to your post about Chapter 5! Thanks so much! :)  

Blog Birthday Bash Giveaway Winners :)

Thank you so much for all of your sweet comments!!! Congratulations to the winners below! Check your email :)

I will be back tomorrow with Chapter 5 in the Daily Five Book Study! :)

Guest blogger ~ Vera

Hi! First, I'd like to wish a very Happy Blog Birthday to Kelli!

I am beyond excited to be a guest blogger today!  I am super new to the world of blogging and I am learning as I go.  This is my very first guest blog post so please excuse any awkwardness!

A little about myself:

I started teaching six years ago at a little red school in Austin, Texas.  I have taught Kinder for 5 years and I taught first grade for one year.  About three years ago, my school became a dual language campus.  Students at my school learn both English and Spanish.  It's pretty amazing and has been a wonderful experience.

A little over a year ago, I met my boyfriend Mr. Roboto.  He is an engineer and loves anything that deals with robots!  In January, he found a new job that relocated him to Boston, Massachusetts.  And although my family and friends are here in Texas, I will be joining him at the end of July!

We found a beautiful place in Rhode Island and I found a job teaching Kinder in Bedford, MA.

So I started a blog a little over a month ago. I thought it would be a great way to keep in touch with family and friends.  Also blog would help me process my thoughts and practices as an educator.

Like many of you, I am ADDICTED to Pinterest.  It's helped me learn great ideas, find adorable crafts, make delicious treats, and become better organized.  You can follow me by clicking here.  One way I've become better organized is by revamping my behavior calendars.  Previously, parents would check and sign students behavior calendars to see what kind of day their child had at school.  But I felt like something was missing.  Although parents knew what a green, red or blue day meant, I felt the specific details of the day were a big unknown.  So, after hours of blog stalking and Pinteresting (it's totally a verb!) I accumulated tons of ideas and came up with this:

The codes at the bottom provide an opportunity for teachers to let parents know specifics about their child's behavior.  I know that there aren't any codes for positive behaviors.  I typically send something home for positive behaviors (card, reward, etc.) and didn't think a code was necessary.

In celebration of my very first guest blog post, I will send you your very own set of behavior calendars for the new school year.  All you have to do is click my button below, become one of my fabulous followers, and leave a comment with your email address under today's post and it's all yours.  The first 5 to comment will get a little extra surprise!

This has been a fantastic experience.  Thank you Kelli for an opportunity to share!  I had a lot of fun!

Wish me luck on my BLT adventure!

Wow! LOVE the freebie behavior calendars...such a time saver! Thank you for sharing with us, Vera! Good luck with your move! :)
I'll be back next week with Chapter 5 in the Daily Five book study and the next part in the Let's Get Organized series: Daily Five materials! 
Enjoy your weekend! :)