My cool Book and Chart Shelf!!!!

After visiting the Daily 5 site, which is awesome, I was inspired to make a Big Book and Chart shelf.  I love it!  I made one, but it isn't as cool as the one my friend made me.  For all of us NOT handy people, I needed someone to make mine, but even better.  He can make anything for us teachers and at a great price!  Here is a picture of the coolest teacher tool ever!  I called him, told him what I was looking for and he made this from a sloppy picture and a whining teacher.  

I cannot live without this shelf!  It is great for the Big Book Center, holding charts and poems, and housing everything else!  I don't go a day without loving this thing!  If you want one, visit Pipes Woodworking and send Wes an email.  He will give you a quote, let you pick out your stain, and send it to you very quickly.  He can pretty much make anything our teaching hearts desire!  I have a whole list of stuff for him to build for me.  I love it, and I know it is made well, will last forever, and is a great price!

Is it too early to think about holiday gifts?

I know, it isn't December yet, but my class has a ton of things going on in the next two weeks.  Our last day is December 8th, so I have to get busy quickly!  This week we are doing a project based learning unit on "The 5 Senses" (I will post that stuff soon).  Today, I decided to make a quick gift for all of our school family people.  I had the kids decorate the margins of paper and we made stationary for our Principal, Secretary, and Title 1 people.

They turned out really cute!

I scanned the plain paper into my computer and added the file to Word.  I shrunk each file so that 4 fit on a page and printed them on colored paper.  I added a cute bow and a gift tag.  What a cute and easy gift to give all of the people who help our classroom.  Now for ideas for our parents.  Any suggestions?

My New Classroom Mailbox!

To go with my jungle theme in my classroom, I wanted a new classroom mailbox for the kids to send stationary and letters to each other.  I looked everywhere and didn't want to spend a lot of money.  I found a metal mailbox at Lowes for $5.99 and spray painted it tan for another $1.99.  Next I went to Michaels and bought acrylic paint for $.59 a piece.  Finally, I spray painted the entire mailbox with clear spray paint, another $1.99.  I love the way it turned out!

I JUST FINISHED THIS TONIGHT!!!

MY KIDS ARE GOING TO LOVE OUR CHEETAH PRINT MAILBOX!

This is going to go perfect with my Poco and Pop Monthly stationary.  I love her stuff!  If you haven't checked out her stuff, you need to do it now!  My kids love to write letters, and can't wait to see the new postage stamp and monthly stationary.

This is the December stamp that I put up for Calendar Time.

This is an example of the Postcard for December

Here is an example of the fold-over note for October

My kids can't get enough of writing letters to each other!  They love Friday's when I deliver mail.  My new mailbox sure beats my old cereal box covered in Contact Paper.

First of the Season: Addition Tree's

Hot Chocolate Fact Families

Here is a winter math game with addition, subtraction, and word problems.  It is snowing like crazy here in West Virginia and I was in the mood to create something with hot chocolate and marshmallows.  :)  Hmmm.... I think I will go make me a cup right now.

Click on the picture below to download.

Cookie Math Game

Here is a copy of my Cookie Math Game.  Again, I printed out the sheets, cut them out, glued them on poster board and laminated.  The kids in my class LOVE these games.  They ask for them all the time.  I love how it teaches them to work cooperatively, learn rules, and develop social skills that teaches winning and loosing graciously.

Here is the board that I made for my own kids.  They thought the games were so cool that my own Kindergartner and 2nd Grader wanted a set of games for home.  Much better than TV or Video Games!

Cookie Math Game Pieces

Reindeer Math Game

I love math games! 

 I was inspired once again by Mrs. Carroll and her giant math games she created.  I just had to make some!  Here is one of the Christmas games that I made.  I will be posting a few more as I get them from my classroom tomorrow.  The kids loved them and they are super cute and super easy to make.  I will post the Gingerbread Man later today.

 Here is the game the kids play.  I printed out the game, cut them, glued them on poster board, and then laminated.

Here are the directions.  I glued them to the back.

You can download them Here:

Reindeer Board Game

Decorations for Board

Here are other games that I made

I got creative last night, maybe due to the fact that my husband took both of my children to a WVU basketball game and I had the house to myself!  So what do most teachers do with peace and quiet?  They work on school stuff.  So sad.  I made a fact family addition game for my students.  I can't wait to see how they like it tomorrow!

You can download the game hereMerry Fact Family Game

You can download the student evaluation sheet here Student Sheet

I feel my creative juices flowing, so hopefully I will get some more stuff up here soon.  

Classroom Design and a Tree

This year I went from a Title 1 Reading Specialist back into the classroom.  I came into my classroom in October, so the kids had been with another teacher starting in July.  To top it off, we are moving to a brand NEW school in March!  I can't wait!

I love to have a classroom where I LOVE to spend time.  I figure I spend most of my time in the classroom, so why not make it a place that I love to be in.  I couldn't move into my classroom until the weekend before my student came back from our Fall break, so I had 2 days to make my classroom inviting and a place that I love, and get rid of the 12 filing cabinets, 7 tables, and 2 teacher desks.  Of course, I decided to do some crazy stuff.  I wanted a tree in my classroom and a jungle theme.  Here is the finished classroom!

My students love to read on bean bag chairs and partner read during the Daily 5.  The favorite thing in the room is our tree!

Here is my Cafe Board and small skill instruction area.  Our school is older, but is in fabulous shape.  I can't wait to decorate my new room in a brand NEW school.  I already have my thinking and creative caps on!

The computer center is used for listening to reading, math skills, and typing books.  I use hooks on the wall to store headphones so they never get tangled.  I also have hooks on the side of each computer to hold login cards for each student.

I love my SmartBoard, but I love our Self Portraits even more!  My students created their own portraits and we hung them in the front of the room.  They did a great job and they remind them that we are a School Family!

A Little Behavior Management and More

My school is a Franklin Covey Leadership school.  What that means, is that we try to teach our students the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People at a young age.  It is a wonderful opportunity for our students to become leaders at an early age.  Our philosophy is that everyone has a skill or habit that they excel at in life.  We discover and help the students discover what it is they possess leadership.

One thing we do is that we teach everyone that they have an Emotional Bank Account.  Students can make deposits into their emotional bank account and others bank accounts.  You can also make withdrawls from your account by doing things that are unkind and don't represent leadership skills.  Our class has a "Class" bank account also.  I have it on our door, and when we receive complements of any kind, or I see students demonstrating leadership without being told, I add money to our bank account.  If I hear that someone was doing something unkind or not demonstrating leadership without me being present, I can make a withdrawl.  Our goal is to have a full bank account or reserve for our lives to be balanced and full.  The kids love it, and so far this year I have not had to make any withdrawls.  These first graders take it seriously!

 
Another great idea that I do for attendance and our question of the day is use Shrinky Dinks.  I found Shrinky Dink Paper and made a shape of a head template.  I let the kids make their own portrait.  I took them home and shrunk them and added a magnet to the back.  They turned out so CUTE!

When students enter the classroom, they immediately go over and read our question of the day.  This question is just a question for students to make a choice, such as, Would your rather eat pumpkin pie or apple pie?  Then I have a column for each answer.  Students will move their magnet to the column that they choose.  It is a great way to take attendance, add math, and have fun first thing in the morning.  I am planning to add my questions soon!

Pilgrim Addition and Subtraction

As a year round school, we have to go to school on Monday and Tuesday.  I wanted to make some fun games for my students to play.  I came up with this Pilgrim Addition and Subtraction game.  Students match the Pilgrim girl problem to the Pilgrim boy problem and use the tracking sheet to complete problems.

Download HereStudent Sheet

and 

Download HereAddition Cards Here

Sight Word Tic Tac Toe

I had to come up with a Harvest Activity for our School's Family Fun Title 1 Night.  I decided to come up with a sight word Tic Tac Toe Game.  I printed out the tic tac toe sheet and laminated them.  I used crayons to write sight words or letters and the students had to read the word in order to put an X or an O.  For letters, the students had to say the letter name or the letter sound.  This was a fun way to teach spelling words, sight words, and letters.  Feel free to use it any way you see fit!

Download Here

I created a contraction game that goes along with Scott Foresman Reading Street Unit 2.4. I thought people could use it when trying to teach contractions.

Download Here: Thanksgiving Contractions