Wordless Wednesday

I’m linking up with the creative and sweet Miss DeCarbo from Sugar and Spice for my first ever Wordless Wednesday linky.

 

Check out my items that are now on sale at the TpT BOOST sale going on NOW.   In keeping with the Wordless Wednesday tradition by Miss DeCarbo...no more words will be typed... J

 

Happy Teaching! ~ Diary of a First Grade Teacher 

Accelerated Reader is Bubblicious and a FREEBIE

Does your school participate in Accelerated Reader?  Last year, was the first year that the AR program was extended to first grade...my kiddos absolutely LOVED participating and devoured our classroom library.  I {fingers crossed} really hope that my new group loves to read as much as my group last year.  Now that I have one year under my belt and understand the benefits to AR and how to use it effectively in my classroom, I decided that this year I wanted to have a classroom tracking system…just a quick way for me to see where my kiddos are without having to login and check their points.  Also, to make sure that I don’t have any “pretend quiz takers.”  L  I absolutely love the Bubble Gum clipart that I purchased from Graphics from the Pond and thought it would be great to incorporate into an AR classroom display. Each grade level has a specific goal {points} to reach to be displayed in the “AR Hall of Fame.”  Our first grade students’ goal is 50 points.  I created point posters {1, 3, 5, 7, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, and 50} in two designs for the students to sign each time they reach a specific point goal.  The cool thing is the bubble gum machine fills up as the students reach a higher point goal.

 

 

Also, I created a banner sign that can either spell "AR is Bubblicious" or "Reading is Bubblicious" with these sweet bubble gum machines {4 per page}...you pick!

Click here or on any of the pictures to check out my AR is Bubblicious packet. 

 

Lastly, you can grab this mini pennant banner for free to decorate your "First Day of School" frame...this is the frame my kiddos will be vogue-ing with!  I included Kinder-Sixth grade in this free download.  Thanks to my own firstie for modeling momma's project.

 

Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

Old School Problems & A FREEBIE

Is there something in your classroom that drives you crazy, something that you just can't stand?  I do puffy heart love my home in room 103 and truly enjoy getting my classroom ready, however one thing I can't stomach is looking at the chalkboards in my classroom which are circa the 70s...you heard me folks...I said "CHALKBOARDS"...yep, they still exist.  Don't be too jealous now, but my chalkboards are fashioning a baby poo green color.  I struggle every year with how do I cover them and what do I cover them with to last the whole year with the tempting hands of six and seven year olds?  I'm almost certain I'm not permitted to paint them.  I wish I could wave a magic wand and make white boards take their place...so I resorted to covering them with black butcher paper until I can find a permit fix that administration will go for.  Any suggestions??

 

Before

After {and still needing border}

 



 

Still covering... 

I'm super happy with the sweet love that I've been getting at my TpT store, so I created a little freebie as a thank you!  These tags will be added to a pack of sugarfree gum and placed on the desks for "Meet Your Teacher Night."  Click pictures to grab your freebie!

 

 

Happy Teaching! ~Diary of a First Grade Teacher

 

 

 

GO Math

Its T-minus 19 days till the first official day with kiddos...and I feel like I need another 19 days to tackle my to-dos!  Boy, oh boy do I keep creating more work for myself...it would help if I didn't check out Pinterest and Instagram daily, but there are just too, too many cool tricks to add to my room this year.   My To-Do list is slightly out of control. 

 

My district is implementing the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt GO Math! series and I'm not sure how I feel about it just yet.  My colleagues and I had a box opening party a few weeks back and to our surprise we were given two HUGE bins of manipulatives.  I'm telling you I could supply a whole district with the amount of math manipulatives that I have in my classroom...I keep the old, the new, you name it and I have it.  I'm not complaining, I'm not, I just prefer hard, durable manipulatives and not the soft, foamy kind that are not going to last past two days in the hands of six year olds.  You know what I'm talking about?   On a plus note, I will say that I love the teacher manuals...there is one skinny manual for each chapter...that's a score to the teacher bag. :)  Upon digging deeper into the boxes of goodies, I found that there was not much for classroom displays.  OK there isn't anything...  No vocabulary cards, no focus posters, no posters of any sort to display what in the dickens I'm going to be teaching for each lesson.  So my "Math Wall" is a bit empty right now which is weird for me. 

Walk into my classroom on any given day and you'll have a hard time finding an open spot on the wall.  I was on a search for items that were aligned to both the series and Common Core, but I wanted to ensure that I was able to display exactly what my little nuggets would see, hear, and be doing during our math lessons.  SO, I decided to tackle making my own items.  Typically I purchase items from TeachersPayTeachers...no shame, don't have the time to recreate the wheel, BUT this time, I wanted to create what I felt was necessary for my room.  Let me tell you all, it is time consuming creating items for a classroom, BUT SO, SO gratifying.  I may have the beginning signs of carpal tunnel in my right wrist. 

 

 

Click picture to go to my store.

 

Each chapter is designated with a color, a header for the Essential Question, the Essential Question poster, mini vocabulary term cards, and larger vocabulary cards that include the definition and picture example. 

 

 

I have completed chapters 1-3 and will be starting chapters 4-6 in the next day.  I'm celebrating this little product I created.  I'm off to give my wrist a much needed break.

 

August Currently

I am linking up with the creative Farley at Oh' Boy Fourth Grade for my first ever Currently link up. 

 

Listening: I am enjoying the semi-peace of working on the computer while I hear my husband snoring in the other room...I may trick him into wearing a mouth guard.

Loving: I am loving my little ole Teachers Pay Teachers store...it has been quite an adventure the last two weeks.  I am also loving that this blog is going to get a makeover.

Thinking: I am going to feel overwhelmed with the new "Go Math" series that my district is implementing this year, along with other new assessment tools being implemented, and teaching from a new reading series {Journeys} for only the second year.  I really hope the "Go Math" training is going to be VERY helpful.

Wanting: I am fortunate to be able to access my building and room any day of the week, however with that comes two nuggets in tow...my kids like to play with their neighborhood friends from the time they get up until its time for bed...we are blessed to live by family and awesome neighbors.  If it is nice out, they're not going to want to go to mom's room. 

Needing: I really need to buy groceries...enough said.

First Day: I have two in-service days and a "Meet Your Teacher" night scheduled.  My kids start back the same day I do and I am pretty excited that this will be the first time I get to put my kids on the bus every day since my kids' school went to a tier one bus system.