Peek at my week!

I don't know what I'd do without some amazing bloggers and their wonderful products! Moving to a new grade, it has been such a blessing to be able to find such quality products that hit exactly what I am wanting to teach. 

Once I get into the groove of first grade, I hope to create some products, but for now -- these amazing ladies are helping me more than they know. Thanks so much to Amy Lemons, Hope King, Jodi Southard, Abby Mullins, Cara Carroll, Sheila Jane Teaching Freebies, Kristen Smith, and Sarah Kirby. YOU ladies are helping me be on the right track for the first full week of first grade. 

Click here for a peek at my week: Peek at my week

Have a great week :)

....we're back!!!

Oh my word -- it has been forever. Emily and I are starting to loop this year so we are getting excited and ready for a whole new world of teaching...or different grades. Emily will loop up to second and I will be in first grade. I am BEYOND excited. I have never taught first and am excited for the lovable little munchkins! I have been doing a lot of first grade blog reading this summer and can't tell you how appreciative I am for you all! You are lifesavers. I am filling up my TPT cart with lots of stuff right now to help make the year go smoothly.

One of our goals this year is to post more .... seeing as it has been almost a year, I am hoping we are off to a better start already.  :)

I started to organize my classroom and get it shape for the year. I will post a picture of an easy and inexpensive way to brighten up your room (I will post once it is completely done -- hopefully tomorrow!). I am using fun ribbon on my wall as stripes! I attach a cute little bow to it and it has added a lot of "fun!"Can't wait to finish it up.

I also bought a condo this summer and have been renovating. I will try to upload some before and after pictures so you can see the progress.

Until next time .... which will be a lot, lot sooner. Promise! 

Classroom Digs!

Holy Moly! It has been quite a few months since we have been on here! Sorry, dear blog friends, we have missed you! I will start with a couple updates, pictures of my classroom and a freebie!

Well, Emily and I (Lauren) have exciting news -- we are looping partners!! Emily will be in first grade this year and loop up to second next year and I will be in second this year and head down to first next year and loop with my kiddos to second. We are very excited and trying to stay very organized! I am so lucky to be able to work so closely with such a great teacher and share ideas. Secondly, my best friend is getting married this weekend. It will be a big, fat Greek wedding! AND I just put a bid in on a house. Fingers crossed that the inspection goes well tomorrow and then I will sign on the dotted line -- phew a lot has happened in a short amount of time!

Now, here are some pictures of my work in progress classroom (who am I kidding -- it is always a work in progress, ha!). We go back Monday and students start on Wednesday. Let me say -- thank goodness for pinterest, Schoolgirl Style and 2nd Grade Shenanigans as some of my designs were tweaked or came from there! (: I will have to take a better picture of my new bookshelf that my dad made me this summer -- in loveeee!

Reading Area Rock Stars with my new bookshelf! (Thanks, Dad!)

Another view of my reading area

I can focus board and bulletin board for student work (clothes line inspired)

Doorway area (ps. got the cute stick on polka dots from Targets clearance area!)

Word wall and guided area

 

We are no longer able to hang things from the ceiling, so my table numbers are on my chair - easy fix!

 

My window -- had to get my poof balls in some place!

 

Have a great week,

Lauren (:

 



News Channel 5 meteorologist and Lauren's class!

Hi Everyone! It's a snowy Tuesday here in Ohio...and speaking of weather - meteorologist Jason Nicholas from News Channel 5 came to my classroom today to talk about weather! My students performed a weather rap that they made up on their own! So adorable and I just had to quickly share! Here's the link:
Weather Video!

Techie Thursday

Happy Valentine's Day!  I hope everyone survived the chaos of class parties and loved every minute of the big smiles all over your students faces!

Lauren and I love incorporating technology into our classrooms, so we decided we are going to try and do Techie Thursdays.  We want to share with you resources we have found and are excited for you all to give us new techie things to try as well! 

Any teacher who teaches the little ones knows how hard it can be for your students to find specific websites during computer time.  I was sometimes always getting interrupted during my guided reading groups by students who could not find what they were looking for at the computers.  Then I learned about a fantastic website called symbaloo! This is a FREE website where you can create a web mix that uses picture icons to show bookmarks of different websites.  This was the perfect solution to my problem! You can create your own page or use one that is already made.  Once you have made your web mix or found one that works for you, you can set it as the homepage on your student computers.  It is super easy to set up and navigate.  

And because I just couldn't help myself I have one more techie resource for ya.  Have you guys ever heard of Class Dojo??  Who ever thought of this is pure genius!  It is a FREE behavior management system that teachers can use in their classroom to track positive and negative behaviors.  Each child gets their own avatar with a fun little monster they can choose.  When students are showing positive behavior you can go in and give them a point and with negative behavior you take a point away.  I have found this tool most effective when I am teaching small groups and my other students are working independently.  I will keep our class page up on the projector and am able to give or take away points from the class dojo app on my phone.  When a child is on task I will click their avatar and give them a point based on their positive behavior.  A chime goes off and the students avatar and positive behavior pop up on the screen.  If a student is showing a negative behavior then another noise occurs and it shows up on the screen.  I love that it is instant feedback to the kids.  I swear they all immediately stop what they are doing to look and see if they got a point given to them or taken away.  The ones who got a point taken away, quickly get back on task so they can earn their points back.  I love that I do not have to interrupt my small group or call over any of my students to talk with them about their misbehavior.  Another awesome feature of Class Dojo is that parents can sign up and get notifications of their child's behavior.  Some of them have even started using the tool at home!

The best part about these resources is that they are free and everyone loves a freebie.  Check them out and see if they would work for your classroom! 

TGTIF! (thank goodness tomorrow is Friday ☺)

Tell me something GOOD and inference freebie!

It is a windy mess up here in Cleveland! I thought my car might blow over before I could make it home..but I wanted to link up with Rowdy in First Grade for her Tell Me Something Good Linky. I always love some uplifting happiness, especially on Monday's! Don't ya'll?

Something good at home: I just booked a mini-getaway to FLORIDA with my 3 best friends in March. It will be a short weekend getaway, but ahhh sand, sun, warmth....those three words are making me melt right now! I can't even wait!

Something good at school: My kiddos are understanding how to make an inference. To help them even more with this, I created this quick Detective Inference Pocket Book. We are reading mystery books in guided  reading this week, and students are putting on their detective hats and writing down clues. They will infer, based on their clues, and solve the mystery! I am going to staple it and make it look like a little pocket book that they can carry around and whip out their pencil whenever they sniff out a clue. You can find this lil freebie HERE!

We have a WINNER!!, hallway management and class pet!

It is Monday, ya'll. I hope your week has started off just peachy! First, I want to announce the winner of the 20+ giveaway! Katie from Smiles from 2nd Grade! Congrats and thanks to everyone who entered!

Next, I wanted to share a little something I do with my kiddos to help when we are walking through the halls. We have been getting some pretty great compliments from others lately about how quiet we are and that is because I trick them into thinking while we are walking rather than talking! Before we leave the classroom, we talk about what challenge we are going to do as we walk to our special. A few favorites are: beat the teacher, abc and coming up with words.

• Beat the teacher: We decide on a number we should count by (2,5,10, etc.) and students have to count by that number the entire way through the hall. If they are talking, I tell them I know they can't be counting. When we arrive at our destination, they tell me their number they stopped at and try to beat my number that I was able to count to while we were walking (I tell them after that have all told me their numbers!). Many of them are able to beat me which they get a kick out of.
• ABC: I have students try to say the ABC's backwards; this is a tricky one for me, too!
• Coming up with words: We will say a word like "snowflake," and students will try to come up with as many mini words plucking letters from the word.

I can't tell you how much this has helped with walking through the halls AND they are learning! Win-win!

Lastly, we got a class pet! She does not have a name, yet, but my students turned in job applications to be our class Vet Tech for the week and will take care of the fish. Oh my word, their job applications were adorable! My favorite is "I have much knowledge of taking care of fish." They took it so seriously and I could not be more proud!

Have a great week, friends!
Lauren