Inspire and Guide

This is my 7th year of teaching.

When I first started teaching I wanted students to be eager to learn. I wanted to make learning fun.

During my second year of teaching I felt more comfortable with daily teaching. I no longer felt that "trying to keep my head above water" that most of us feel during our first year of teaching. This is the year that I joined PRoteacher forums and noticed a lot of threads about "power teaching." (Now called Whole brain Teaching.). I started implanting strategies and was amazed at how much better my management became.

During my third year of teaching I decided to use my intervention certification and use what I had learned to differentiate almost everything! I started guided math, differentiated spelling etc. This is the year that I also started using all 5 of the daily 5 rounds. My Reading buddy teacher introduced it to me during my first year of teaching.

During my 4th year of teaching, I started using the Bucket Fillers philosophy. I noticed a great improvement in student attitudes. I also started using the behavior clip chart system and loved the meaning behind it, "we all make mistakes-learn from them."

During my fifth year of teaching I started working more on challenging the higher level thinkers. This is still a work in progress! I also started creating more of my materials to make things "just right." This was also BY FAR my toughest year of teaching. By mid year I started looking for other non-teaching related jobs with benefits. Even though I left crying many days a week from school- I wouldn't change a thing about this year. I researched and learned/ created many different behavior strategies but I also learned that through the toughest shell of a kid is a very vulnerable and loving kid. One of my many challenges this year- during the end of the year class slideshow- crawled up on my lap- hugged me and sobbed about the next day being summer. Coming from a child who verbally abused me all year- it was one of the most touching moments that I will always cherish. It was an eye opener and reminder that this is the career where my heart is.

During my 6th year of teaching- (last year). I moved to a new district. I learned the value of being on the same page as my teammates. Being on the same page allows time to share resources and even help with copying!!!

This year even though the students haven't started- and only from 1 principal staff meeting- I have been inspired. Not inspired like the items listed above- but inspired to inspire my kids. I have a brand new principal this year and she is amazing! We share many of the same beliefs and philosophies. I have never been in such a inspiring meeting/ seminar/ conference before. Everything from using classroom management/ cooperative learning techniques to manage us (which is my idea for teaching a college class) to how she delivered all of the changes to the school were inspiring. So for my 7th year of teaching- I am going to inspire and guide my students.
Here is my first idea to achieve my goal:
-make a "I wonder wall"
This will be similar to my GOOGLE it poster. I am going to create a wall with individual subject posters like, "math", "reading", "science", "history", "writing", "other". Then I will keep post it notes nearby. Students will be allowed to write "I wonders.." And stick them on the wall. For example: "I wonder if a square or triangle would roll better?" Then on Fridays- I have set aside a cooperative learning block. I will choose one post-it note weekly and we will work in groups to figure it out. Some weeks I may need to borrow the mobile lab for students to complete a web quest or something.
This is my hope- and I HOPE that it will work!

My students start tomorrow and I am REALLY excited!!! I better go to bes and dream about June! :-)

Guided Math Charts and Work on Numbers

I have revamped my rotation charts and also my Work on Numbers materials.

You can download my charts plus some links to items that I use for FREE here.

I also finished up Work on Numbers task cards that I can use for one station instead of having to write it on the wall each day.  I love anything to make our very chaotic day a little more simple!

Here is a peak:

These cover skills from just writing digits, to number words, to tally marks, to making collections to measuring using objects.  They are simple tasks that you can just use dry erase boards or cheap notebooks to record your answer.  :)

Off to get ready! 

Today is my hubby and my 5th anniversary!  :)  It is hard to believe that we got married 5 years ago!  In some ways it seems like longer-lol but in other ways it just seems like yesterday.  :)  Regardless I am VERY lucky to have such a handsome, funny, good cook, handy, and hard working guy in my life!  :) 

Some days I feel like I hit the jack-pot.  :)

Happy weekend to you all!

My weekly projects

 

School starts NEXT week!  So this week has been crunch week.  Last week I said, "Oh- I'm all ready.  I have my lesson plans, and copies made for the first month.  Names on the necessities..." 

 

THEN... I started meeting with my team.  I swear they are THE BEST pinterest searching people in the world.  They always find the cutest projects.  They also have the cutest rooms and mine is just basic.  So- I went from "almost ready!" to "well- I better try to do that!" 

 

I of course attempted my easy and cheap versions.  :)

 

 

 (Okay this is my updated math resource page due to many requests!  Not pinterest but it was a project this week!)

 

 

 

This is my new reading area.  I bought the teacher store reading strategies and just JAZZED them up by adding zebra border.  I also have my reading group folders ready and some of the reading supplies.

 

 

This is my new writing resource wall.  The cute Writing sign is from Cara Carroll's Chalkboard organizational kit on TPT.  The cute punctuation posters are from firstgradefactory Sentence Structure unit.  The other items are from my MEGA first grade writing unit. 
I hope that my little ones can pull up a chair and use the resources if needed.

 

One of my teammates found this idea on pinterest.  It comes from a year of many firsts.  I LOVE this idea!  For work on writing one of their choices is to pick up and choose a class journal to add to.  The students can read their friends' responses but it also saves on paper and clutter!  :)  I chose to buy as many different composition notebooks as I could so that it would be easier for the kiddos to find a certain journal.

 

This gem  was inspired by my teammates.  Two of them made one of these 2 years ago.  I recently saw some start to surface on pinterest again as well.  Most people go find the hardware or jewelry sorters at Target or Walmart.  I went super easy and bought this from Office Max during Teacher Days and got it for 25% off.  I just used left over border and stuffed it in the little tubs and then filled them up with frequent used materials.  I am SUPER excited to use it this year.  I have been Very jealous of the organizers that my teammates had.  :)

I have gone back and forth during the years of how to organize my weekly materials.  Last year I used two different systems.  This is a system that my cooperating teacher used 8 years ago.   Two of my teammates still use it.  So I though, "Why not?  Let's try this!"  I apparently am not planning on doing much with the kids on Thursday next week.  lol.

 

 

This is my math board.  I don't have my updated resource page on it yet.  :(  Here I have a lovely teacher store bought 120 chart.  My first week I CAN statement and math rotation charts.  Here are some close ups:

 

 

I write the names of students in the group on a post-it-note above the rotation sign.

 

PREVIEW!  :)

 

These are laminated so that I can write what specific item that they need to do at that rotation.  I am working on (and almost finished) with a year worth of tasks to do for "Work on Numbers" rotation.  For Math Review they can play independent games or activities to practice previously introduced skills.  Math on my Own uses math journal pages or skill worksheets.  Math facts, students cut out a new fact group weekly and then practice the cards in various ways.  They also review cards from previous weeks.

 

 

 

These are really fun reward coupons.  A teammate found these on pinterest for FREE!  I grouped them by how much they are worth.  Most people organize it in a nice plastic case.  Since I didn't have one already- I just used Business Card sleeves and a binder to store mine.  I still need to find a way to display them in the room.  :)

 

WHEW!  So many projects but I am glad that I did them!  I love stealing other people's being inspired by other people's ideas.  :)

 

 

New Student Bags and Meet and Greet Items ***also Pin It to Win It

I always have to remind myself to make extra copies and buy extra of everything for all of those new students that move in.  I always make "new student" bags so I don't run around in the morning that I find out that I have a new student.

Here is a post that I wrote a LONG time ago about my new student bags.

Here are some of the items that I am including in my 2 gallon sized bags this year:
-All About My Child
-RAZ Kids Family letters
-Dismissal Form
-Rules and Procedures Document
-School Calendar
-Take home folder with a year worth of behavior charts (this way I can throw away the calendars that are past and have them set for the current month.)
-Homework folder
-Magnetic Business Card with my email/ phone number. school webpage etc. (Office Max has them in a cheap bundle right now!)
-Blank name tag
-Blank cubby tag
-3 blank clothespins
-Math home links book EDM
-Math journal book EDM
-3 journals (The cheap 15 cent kind- one for word work, one for "journaling" and the last for math.)



Come August 1st when I am able to go into school- I will be making whole trees worth of copies.  I always copy these things for the entire school year even before school starts:

-Reading logs
-lunch count forms copied with my name filled in
-celebrity of the week fan mail
-Behavior Charts

Here are things that I copy for the first few weeks:

-Word work sheets
-Number Sense and Place Value Stuff
-Morning Work for August (SIMPLE stuff)
-Beginning of the year writing (letters, grammar stuff etc.)


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I also updated lesson plans and put them together in this document.  You can click on the image to go to the TPT store. 

Alright- pin it (or blog it) to win it!  You have until Thursday to pin it or blog it to get it emailed to you for free!  :)  Just comment with your email below after you pin or blog about it.  :)

Math Notebooks- Numbers and Place Value

I have always been a file folder lover.  This past year has completely turned me into a notebook lover.  My wonderful teammates are all notebook organizers.  At first I loved file folders because I could quickly toss a worksheet in it and it didn't need to be very organized.  It may have taken me a minute to leaf through the file to find the paper that I needed- but I always knew that it was in the folder SOMEWHERE.

Now I was quite skeptical making notebooks but I first started by organizing all the materials that I needed for our reading series into unit binders.  This made it SUPER easy to get ready for a week.  Yes I had to spend 5 minutes instead of 1 to put away items but I DID NOT end up with 8 extra copies of anything.  I just kept 1!  I hope that I am not the only person out there that kept the extra worksheet each year.  You know when you have 22 students but make 24 because most likely little Suzie will tear it or lose it within 30 seconds... well I ALWAYS kept those 2 measly extra papers and just stuffed them back into my file.  Well- NO MORE OF THAT FOR ME!  :)

This is my Numbers and Place Value Binder.  I haven't made a cute cover for it yet so no peak at the cover.  :)

We still use EDM in my district.  There are definitely some great lessons in it- but it is NOT my favorite curriculum.  So this summer I have been really looking up the lessons that they claim are common core friendly and making that judgment myself!  :) 

 

These two pages are my first two weeks of school lesson plans.  I promise that I will type them out.  :)  I have the EDM lessons that were okay, the homelinks that I liked and math journal pages that I liked.  I also have scribbled supplements that I am using.  (Well most of them- my brainpopjr videos are already on the page reserved on my computer for these lesson plans.)

 

 

Behind the lesson plans I have my read aloud books and any other whole group materials/ independent work materials that I need.  Each separate activity is in a separate sleeve.  It is just like a more tidy file folder.  :)

 

 

 

Then I have materials tabbed by a red (below), yellow (on) or green (advanced level).  There is one sleeve per week plan.  In each one I have materials that would be suited to that particular weekly skill on the level needed.  These sheets could be used in small group or even as homework practice.  I use to have a tough time juggling what I used in class and what I sent home.  This way it is already separated for me.  :)

 

Here are some pictures of place value stuff.  You can tell it is printed in black and white but everything is all typed up!  :)

 

 

 

 

 

If you are interested here are some of the resources that went into these 2 units:

Numbers

*EDM lessons: 1.1, 1.2, 1.4, 1.5, 1.8, 2.1, 2.2, 3.2, 3.3, 3.5

 

*http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Unit-1-First-Grade-Math-CC-Building-Number-Sense-296330

 

*http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/81-Numbers-Unit1-120-400329

 

*http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Numbers-Unit-Learning-and-Practicing-Numbers-1-120-266498

 

*http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Numbers-for-Transitional-Kindergarten-293064   <---THESE ARE AWESOME!

 

*http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Numbers-1-to-10-matching-picture-numeral-and-word-527930

 

Place Value

*EDM lessons:5.1, 5.2, 5.3  (Can you see now why I made a unit?)

*http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Place-Value-Mystery-Pictures-111850

 

*http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Common-Core-Place-Value-Unit-773965   <--- She is AWESOME.  lol.

 

ASSESSMENT

Since we have SLOS to write this year.  I also give the first one of the assessments during the first two weeks:

 

*http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/CC-First-Grade-Cumulative-Math-Assessments-637735

 

Here are pre-assessments and post -assessments:

*http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Quarterly-First-Grade-Common-Core-Math-Pre-assessments-235953

 

*http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/QuarterlyTrimester-Common-Core-Math-Assessments-and-MORE-219637

 

 

Last but not least- a HUGE thank you to all of you that posted my new place value unit on pinterest or your blogs.  You ROCK!  Thank you!  :)  You should get your free item tonight!  :)

 

 



Common Core Place Value Unit SIMPLE GIVEAWAY!

It is FINALLY finished!  I have slowly been working on this unit for about 5 months now.  I spent about 14 hours yesterday and 3 hours today working on just about 5 pages!  Now I don't have to look at it for a week or so.  :)

PLACE VALUE IS THE NEW MONEY.  :)

 

I have taught first grade now for 7 years.  In all 7 years I have found money to be the most difficult for firsties to master.  That was until the common core and place value replaced it.  :)

 

 

I have always been terrible at using those yellow place value pockets with the straws to determine days in schools.  Sometimes we just run out of time and our meeting is always the first thing that I eliminate.  I thought about changing out the straws for individual wrapped Twizlers so that on the 100th day we could eat them and bring all kinds of math into it like divison and equal shares etc.  I still may do this someday.  We all know how much kiddos (okay and me) are motivated by food.  I obviously couldn't fit it in the chart so I'd have to use jars or coffee cans.  :)  If I decide to make it- I'll post pictures.  :)

 

I am going to teach this unit after the number ID and writing numbers unit.  So Probably about week 3 this 2 week unit will start.  Place value is definitely something EDM doesn't cover well and I couldn't find actual lessons or teaching materials.  But there are plenty of fun things that I use!

Here is a peak:

 There is a resource page with recommended materials and then 2 weeks of simple whole group lesson plans.  Finally there is a digits teaching poster with 5 digits sorting sheets.

 This has a teaching poster about the "imaginary" chart and that only 1 digit can go in each slot.  Then showing what numbers look like.  Finally a whole class activity where they make their own tens rods and then put all of their items together to see how many cubes they have. 

 This has practice pages to match the symbol with the number and then directions for a Place Value Food activity where you use Cheese-Its, pretzel sticks, and Cheerios.  Then there is an I have, Who has? game.

 Here are some cards that can be used for Concentration/ Memory or partner sorting cards.  There are also teaching posters showing what numbers represent.

 Here are practice What is it Worth pages.  Finally there are comparison teaching posters with practice pages.

 The first item is a visual chart.  It is a number chart 1-50 but you can see what the numbers look like in place value blocks.  Then there are table name cards.

 Finally this is a behavior reward system.  I have always used money but this is a system where the students use a baseball card sleeve in their take home folder and add stickers that they earned for their behavior.  This was completely inspired by Jessica Meachum.  She is AMAZING.  If you have never checked out her website before- do it!  :)

GIVEAWAY TIME! 

This time will be a little different... :)

If you blog about my new product or pin it on pinterest- I'll email it to you for free!  Just leave a comment with your email address and tell me which one (or both if you are in a SUPER giving mood) that you did. 

This giveaway ends this THURSDAY!  :)

I am hoping this gives some of you late night blog readers like myself a chance to get it for free as well.  :)

 

FREE 2013-2013 Editable Behavior calendar

I'm doing well so far!  Second time blogging this week!  :)  It is sad how truly proud of myself that I am!  :)

I have had many emails from some seriously eager teachers asking for the updated calendar.  I think that I need just a speck of their motivation right now!  :)

Click on the calendar icon to go directly to the download page.  :)

I worked on it for about 5 hours today.  I always forget how long something so simple takes to make.  Even though it is personalized to my school- the dates are correct and you can delete my school stuff and type in yours.  At the bottom it is the code for my behavior chart.  Don't forget to change that to meet your needs too!

So please go- download it- and edit it for your needs!  Why should we all waste 5 hours???  :)

Have a VERY happy Friday!  :)