Summer Teacher Haul (Part 1)

Happy Summer!

Alarm clock, OFF!  Don't have a clue as to what day it is...can go grocery shopping to Target in the middle of the day...this all must mean one thing: THIS IS A TEACHER ON SUMMER BREAK!!!!

Although I can say, waking up whenever I want and having the freedom is nice, that doesn't mean that school is not on the brain!  That's one of the MANY misconceptions people have about teachers.  While teachers may not be working IN the classroom, there is a lot taking place outside: some are going back to school for another degree, working at a second job, taking professional development, creating/developing curriculum, etc.

This teacher <RIGHT HERE>, while she enjoys summer, does think about the following year.  I do use this time to figure out what will need to change, what I want to do differently, and to find things that will keep me and my students motivated.  It is known that teachers spent quite a bit of their own money for their classroom.  I believe this to be true and here's why: for as much time as we spend in the classroom, it should be a place that WE WANT to be in, that we would like others to feel comfortable in, and to have our students feel happy about being there.  One way to achieve this, is to have items that are pleasant to look at, create functionality, or are engaging to use.

As we all know thanks to social media, there are many places out in our communities that take pride in advertising deals for back to school and thanks to TpT, teachers are able to acquire anything they need.

In just the past few weeks, I've gone to Target a couple  LOT of times. along with Dollar Tree, and Home Goods.  I'm sure there will be many more trips/summer hauls over the next month, so stay tuned!!!

I was so happy to find this paper cutter at Target!  It will come in so handy in the room.  There have been countless times that I have needed to cut note cards, construction papers, etc. and can't run down to the copy room to use the staff one.  

I have looked for these microfiber circles for so long.  Dollar Tree has a few packs left and I took them ALL!  My first graders will use these as erasers for their dry erase markers!  I found more clear dry erase pockets for worksheets or to hang posters or words on my focus walls.  The The stars came from Target and I have no idea what I'll use them for, but couldn't pass them up!  The small containers are great for extra crayons or playing cards.  I got a new smart board in my room during spring break and my old marker container doesn't work with the new board, so I found this pink one!  It has several compartments for markers and 2 strong magnets on the back!!!

I found these two stools from Home Goods and can't wait to add them to one of the small tables in my classroom.  Now if I can find a few more, I'll be set!

Come back for more hauls!  

Secret Partners

2 posts in one week!  This is a quick one...all about partner selection!  Some teachers have the students choose partners to work with in cooperative settings.  Some teachers have sticks with names or numbers and pull out two random sticks to match up students.  I'm sure there are many other ways that the boys and girls get matched up to be partners.  I've seen much cuter cards or tags made up for secret partners, but I wanted to show everyone that it doesn't have to always be cute or something to purchase...You can make these really quick and the kids will love it!  Plus, it's a great way to review math facts.  I would probably take a guess that since we are all creative teachers, we could find other things to put on the cards to match up students.  I chose math facts/vocabulary and it worked well.

Each student gets a card with either two addends, or a sum, a solid figure, the name of the figure, etc.  They look at their card and when they have figured out what their match would be (8+6 would match up with 14) then they stand up, hold their card in front of their body, and search for their partner, without making a sound!  For first graders, this was hard.  I can't say it was SILENT, but they were so good about finding their partner and did it quickly!

I started this now towards the end of the year, but that's ok!  As we all know, the end of the year means students (and teachers) are less likely to stay motivated and put forth effort in their work.  It's okay to do something new in order to keep everyone motivated!  Try it and let me know how it goes!  Congrats to those terrific teachers who are ending their school year this week!  We have about 7.5 days left!  

Mother's Day Tea

I meant to get this up earlier in the week but as usual...no time.  Why is that always the reason?!?!?

I hope all of the Moms out there had a wonderful Mother's Day!!!

Every year I try to find something cute, easy, but something that the moms of my kiddos will love!  I have been following Michelle from Fabulous in First for a long time and saw that she did a Mommy and Me Tea with her first graders.  My immediate thought...PERFECT!  I do love having parents come into the classroom any chance I can get.  I luck out with parent volunteers, but know that the working parents would like to come in whenever possible too!  As I looked through Michelle's products for this Mom event on TpT, I figured, why not!  How precious would that be?  

Here are some pics from our Mother's Day Tea!  The firsties made the book, sang two of the songs and read one poe, and made the flowers!  The songs were short but sweet and most importantly, SO ADORBS!!!!!! I hope all of the Moms/Grandmas who came loved every minute of it!  I loved it all!

Earth Day and Dollar Store Finds!

This past week we finished up our Earth Day project!  It looks time consuming, but it really is a fun and quick project to do with your kids!  I cut out circles for each student to use for their painting.  As I'm typing this new post up, I am thinking that I should have taken pictures of the step-by-step process of how each first grader made his/her marble Earths. I set out four cookie trays (to work with four students at a time) and sprayed a small amount of shaving cream onto each tray.  Then, I added some blue and green paint to each tray.  The kids used a paintbrush to swirl the colors together in the shaving cream.  We put a white circle cut-out on top of the colors and patted around to push the paint and shaving cream onto the paper.  After the painting was dried, I shook off the dried shaving cream and beautiful marbleized painting were uncovered!  I absolutely love how each one turned out and with such unique patterns!

Now, onto a teacher's dream!  If you're anything like me, you are about organization or know that organization is important when having many games, papers, and STUFF for your kiddos!  I have become obsessed more than ever with going to the dollar store!  Granted, you get what you pay for, but I have found some great things to add and hope that I can keep better track of everything in my classroom!  This weekend I was pleasantly surprised to see the re-stock of containers, buckets, and more!  I FINALLY found the small containers I've been looking for!  I have wanted these small containers for so long to add dice!  My firsties are like any other group of energetic lovies who enjoy tossing the dice up in the air and at times across the room when playing different games.  Hopefully, these containers will help keep the dice in one place!  In addition to this little cups, I also bought more boxes for card games and other buckets for indoor recess games and puzzles!  If you're a new teacher, student teacher, or a teacher needing a re-do, go check out your local Dollar Tree and pick up some of the colorful containers!  

SCOOT!

Here's a game that can be played in so many ways!  If you go on Pinterest or any teacher's blog out there, chances are you'll find SCOOT games!  It is such a common but awesome game that so many are playing and using it in A LOT of ways!

For this last time of playing, I set it up to review telling time to the hour and half hour.  My kiddos struggled with telling time to the half hour, so I thought moving around (I mean, when is movement a bad thing in first grade world....right?!)  would be good to help master this skill.  Anyways, I set up different analog clocks in the hallway.  Every other time I've played this, I've set it up in the classrooms on the desks.  For something different, we used our lockers.

Each locker had a different time: hour or half hour.  When every student got a sheet (sort of a grid style) they picked a clock to sit by.  Each clock had a corresponding letter with it.  The sheet each student had, listed the letters from the cards.   When I said, "GO" they had to write down the digital time that the clock showed. So, if a kiddo was sitting by card "A" then he/she wrote down the time in BOX A...then when I said "SCOOT" he/she would move to card "B."  If a firstie started at card "J" then after I said "SCOOT" they would move to card "K."

Like I mentioned earlier, I have played this in the classroom.  Rather than a card on each locker, each desk had a card.  The kiddos would move around to each desk answering the problem.  Listed below are different skills you can practice by playing SCOOT:

• Addition Facts
• Subtraction Facts
• Write the Missing Number ( ex: 12, 13, ____, 15, 16)
• 10 More/10 Less 
• Place Value
• Skip counting (ex: 2, 4, 6, ___)
• Write the Fraction
• Greater Than/Less Than/Equal To
• Patterns (ex: A, B, A, B, ___)
• Unscramble the Sight Word
• Rhyming Words (ex: What word rhymes with fan?  hop or can)

 I hope this game can come in handy in your classroom!  It truly is such an engaging and fun way to practice math or literacy skills!  Each time we play, my kiddos LOVE it and are so excited!  If you have any questions about the game or need ideas, please leave a comment below! 

Let's Play Catch Up!

It's been WAY TOO LONG since my last post!  Things have gotten so busy and I've been wanting to sit down and make a post, but well, I've been busy!  Looking back from my last post, there has been a lot going on in First Grade World!   Let's take a look back!  We got through February with Dental Health Month, Groundhogs Day, Valentine's Day, and Presidents Day!  Oh and did I mention Parent/Teacher conferences?

Here in the Midwest, we have been fortunate enough to have a pretty low key winter!  At first, I thought Mr. Groundhog was wrong!  Well, here comes this week and winter is still here!  A lot of snow and colder temps have reappeared!  So, March has come in like a lion and I'm ready for it to go out like a lamb!  I'm ready for spring!

March has started off just has lively as February turned out to be!  Below you'll see a few pictures that sums up our first part of March!  Let's start with: Dr. Seuss!  How could anyone in the primary grades NOT spend time celebrating one of the most beloved children's authors?!  Well, at my school, and with my team, we did not fail!  We got our books, our craftivities, and our students, and we celebrated Dr. Seuss all during the week of his birthday!

Uhhhh, can you say Target's dollar spot got me again????  #addictedtoTarget

How cute are these hand prints turned into Thing 1, Thing 2, Thing 3, etc....19 Things altogether!

My class has been learning about the sky and weather in science.  One of my most favorite ways to teach the different types of clouds was to use shaving cream.  I wanted to change things up just a bit this year and found this engaging science experiment still using shaving cream.  I want to give credit where credit is due, but can't find who to say THANK YOU to, so many thanks to the teacher who created this experiment...I wish I could take credit for it!  Each first grader got a cup filled with a little water and shaving cream on top.  They dropped colored water on the shaving cream CLOUD and waited to see what would happen when the cloud became too full with water.  Would it rain? YES IT DID!

Indoor recess has always been a little chaotic!  I do give the kiddos many options of games, coloring books, cards, Lego's, etc.  I used one of my extra Jenga games to turn into a math game.  I have seen this wonderful idea floating around Instagram, so it was my turn to transform Jenga into Math Fact Jenga.  Now when my kiddos want to play Jenga, they will also be working on mastering their addition and subtraction facts!

Last but not least....my firsties are really AMPED up for Friday aka St. Patrick's Day!  I take one for the team and keep trying to have memorable activities that my kiddos will hopefully remember for a long time to come!  For many years now, my kids can make a leprechaun trap at home to bring to school, in hopes of catching a leprechaun!!   Each year, I know their excitement and anticipation cannot be controlled and while it can be challenging to stick with everyday routines, I know it is only temporary and this is something they truly enjoy! So why take it away?  Today, the leprechaun visited for the first time, but thankfully, didn't cause too much trouble!  Here are a few of the creative and well designed traps some of the kiddos brought to school.  Wish us luck in catching this wee little man!

I hope everyone's March has gotten off to a good start! What's up next....SPRING BREAK!!!  Please continue to share this blog with your friends!  If there is anything you need or have questions about, please leave me a comment and let me know!  Many thanks again for the support!   xoxo!!

Read the Room

The day after the Superbowl was a little slow going!  That game lasted later than most little first graders should have been up, but I understand that it was an event and knew that many of them were out with their families watching the game.  As Monday went on, we were on the struggle bus to get going and focus.  At the last minute I changed my plans and rather than doing a pocket chart sort, I created a "Read the Room" to introduce "or" and "ore" words.  Many of us have probably done Read the Room or Write the Room activities.  My firsties have been accustomed to doing these for word practice, math facts, or problem solving.  Plus, seeing them use their clipboards and being so involved is cute to watch too!

So with that said, I knew they enjoyed this, so I had to do something that would get them up and moving, but of course, also making sure they were learning at the same time!  Adding a little movement helped!  They were engaged and did well at reading the words found around the room!