Sunday, September 29, 2013

Five for Friday September 27th


Yes I'm posting this 2 days late but the important thing is I'm back!! What can I say but back to school makes me exhausted and it takes everything I can to stay up past 9. Since we get home around 6:30-7 I don't have much time to blog before my early bedtime. But this week went better and I'm ready to start blogging again, so Five for Friday here we go! 


We celebrated Johnny Appleseed this week.  Just like every other 1st grade class in the US I'm sure. It's one of my faves because we can integrate so much!  After doing Rachel's apple vocabulary page we sliced apples and set up the dehydrator so we would be ready for Friday's taste test. 


I finally finished all my BOY assessments and am ready to pull guided reading groups!! Could not be more excited!  The kids are doing really well with D5. We have mastered 20 min of R2S, WoW and R2S1. I'll launch WW Monday and L2SR.

My kiddos were super pumped to use the iPads this week!  We used the geoboard app instead of real Geoboards and it went perfectly. No geobands flying across the room, no one got hurt. LOVE IT!

The highlight of my week was getting my new iPhone.  I have had the 4 for about 3 years and am so in love with my new 5s!  Takes great pictures and I do love Siri!
Finally I can I just say how excited I am that my Skins won today???

Be sure to link up with Kacey!


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Monday, September 2, 2013

Five for Friday for August 30th

I'm linking up with Kacey for Five for Friday August 30th on September 2nd :(

1.  I made it!! I survived my first week with 22 new Firsties!!  
Can I just say (I guess I can since it's my blog) I always forget how young first graders are when they come to me?!  So wiggly, so sweet, so clingy, so antsy. At the same time they are amazed by everything and I love that!  The next two weeks will definitely continue to be all about routines, rule and procedures.

2.  Like many of you I'm a teacher and a mom so my first day was also my sweet AJ's first day of third

And my Ko-Bro's first day of KINDERGARTEN!  
Seeing him in his dress blues just takes my breath away how did this happen so fast how did my sweet cuddly little monkey get to kindergarten?!  I'm dealing ok because I have one more who still crawls into my bed every night and isn't in school but in a blink she'll be in preK and I'm sure my tears will be flowing!  
AJ is loving 3rd grade, she's in my besties class and keeps coming home telling me about the BFG and some book name Dragons Breath that are SO COOL because they are 3rd grade books, "not like yours mom", guess I'm no longer cool?  Kohen is also in love with K and has 2 amazing teachers so I'm looking forward to a successful year in "mommyville".

3.  I'm totes in love with my classroom!  It turned out pretty much the way I wanted and I just have a few more touches and adjustments to make. I feel like one the kids come in there are always traffic flow issues I didn't anticipate. 
I planning on ordering art caddies from Really Good Stuff for my tables and getting a new rug for the back from Penneys, it looks just like grass and is super soft!  It will also fit all my kids. I'm still debating moving my calendar to the back wall so I can do morning meeting & reading workshop lessons there. 

4.  I survived last week with tons of help from my TPT/blogging idols!  I swear when I grow up I will be a mix of Michelle, Reagan, Abby, Amy and Cara!  Most of our first week actives came from Abby's Fun with Firsties Unit, Michelle's Behavior Packet, Amy's Let's Get Started unit, Reagan's Back to School Basics or Cara's blog and Instagram pics!  


Jitter Juice--- I'll suggest you don't use Sierra Mist or Light Hawaiian Punch, the kids loved it but (YUCK)
 My firsties are all confident that they to are Mathmeticians thanks to Amy!  Don't you just love my boys face?!  This craftivity goes perfectly with Saxons first lesson. 
We completed this activity from Reagan's unit after reading chrysanthemum. 
And this one after reading First Grade Stinks! 

5.  We've launched Daily 5 and are reading up to 5 minutes 45 seconds.
Time to break out the gum balls! 
I give my students 1 gum ball to chew once they reach 6 minutes of stamina.  They love it and it keeps them focused on demonstrating their best reading behavior.  Gum balls lose flavor very quickly so I give them a tissue as well. I'm debating switching to chewing gum because it lasts longer but isn't as pretty in a mason jar and doesn't sound as exciting.   Do you guys use anything?  

I'll be back to post my September Currently tomorrow 
















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