The Paper Bag Princess

We read The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch. Then we made costumes and responded to the story!


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Mouse Was Mad

The students picked Mouse Was Mad from the library. It's a cute story about anger and calming techniques. :)

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Freeze Read

Similar to "Freeze Dance," we played Freeze Read. I play music while the kids walk. When the music stops, they grab the closest partner and read their journals.


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Elf on a Shelf

I have decided to share the Elf on the Shelf tradition with my class. We will open the story/doll and name her on November 30! The website is www.elfontheshelf.com and Pinterest has some creative ideas to excite your class! :)


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More Anchor Charts

I know I have posted some of these anchor charts before. They are from last year. Rather than drawing all new charts for this year, I put Post Its over the facts. As the children brainstormed ways to be a good illustrator, I would pull off their ideas. Luckily, the Post Its are transparent. Any new ideas were written in.




Charts we haven't discussed yet... www.thefirstgradeparade.blogspot.com has great ideas! :)




Here are new Anchor Charts we will be creating this year:
Labels (idea from www.thefirstgradeparade.blogspot.com)
Sounding Out (segmentation/turtle talk)
More and Fewer
Zero
Rhyming








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Anchor Chart

We will use PostIts tomorrow to label this anchor chart, we made the other day. I used my friend's book, www.victorthevampire.com.


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Grade Level Gumball Goals

As a grade level, our goals are to recognize the capital and lowercase letters, produce 26 letter sounds, and identify CCSD's 50 sight words. If need be, we can add another gumball machine for the other 50 sight words, for a goal of 100 sight words. I made every kindergartner 3 gumballs with their names on them. We will staple the gumballs as they reach the goals. They don't move.I used "vintage" flashcards from decades ago I found sitting in my storage room. I have a lot of useless flashcards, that are either missing letter cards or only include capital letters, so I recycled them. I used a circle punch for the gumballs and labels for the names. :)
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Small Group Instruction

I keep track of who has read what with me, so I can always provide a "Familiar Reading Book Basket." When students come to my table during centers, I usually have a few other centers I have to get started and I don't want my kids waiting around for me. I put out the basket and they can browse books they have previously read with me (or a parent helper) for the 2 minutes I am helping listening center, computers, or getting new paint for art center. Whatever.

When I had some time, I took every leveled reader I had a group set (6 books) of and entered them into a chart. The top of the chart has the centers groups' names, so I can check off the story that we read and discuss. With AM and PM sessions, sometimes I'll have to pretend to be interested in the same story 4 times. Now I can just skip around within the students' ability levels and change things up.

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Halloween Author Reading

On Halloween, the AM class had a very special treat. Jarrod Meistle, author of Victor the Vampire, read his book and handed out stickers and pencils!

I talked about this book here!

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Victor the Vampire

My friend published his first children's book, _Victor_the_Vampire_, in his new series. We will be reading this book for Halloween and the author will also be coming in to read the story to my classes. The students of the week will also receive their very own copy this month, too!

Please check out www.victorthevampire.com. Of course, Victor the Vampire is on Facebook and Twitter, too!

High Expectations

Yesterday, I began teaching our class the songs for our First Grade Promotion. We are using six songs by The Beatles, which are tough. I would sing and teach the motions, expecting the kids to memorize the lyrics. As I left school, I started to panic, as we only had 22 days left of school. How were we EVER going to learn it all?! I started thinking we would never be ready and how it was going to be awful, since I have never used these songs before!

After my class, I went home and printed out 24 copies of the lyrics for each kid to keep on their table. As part of our reading time, we used our "magic reading fingers" (pointer fingers) to trach the print. They did SO much better! They can refer back to them and practice them if they finish early.

My kids are reading and I thought they would be overwhelmed by the three pages of size 12 font. We will only learn the words this week and next week I'll start teaching the motions. They were ready for lyrics and eased my anxiety. I should've had higher expectations to begin with...

Story Sticks

We read our story, Story Sticks. Then we made story sticks of our favorite story. We talked about characters, settings, and events.


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Authors' Mic

Here is one of my kindergartners reading about rainy and sunny weather from his journal. He's pointing with a water squirter (Dollar Tree) and speaking into one of our classroom mics. My kiddies LOVE this and are so proud!


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One, Two, Buckle My Shoe

In reading group (Mrs. Payne's Round Table), we read _One Two Buckle My Shoe_. Then, I had my kids think of a new rhyme. Here's what one group came up with...

"One, two, buckle my shoe. Three, four, my dog snores."

"One, two, buckle my shoe. Three, four, I will ignore. Five, six, I like tricks. Seven, eight, I don't hate."

"One, two, I do. Three, four, did you say more? Five, six, let's do more. Seven, eight, look at the gate. Nine, ten, why did you say men?" (Almost!)

So cute! Plus, one of our spelling words this week is "one".

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School-wide Read In

It was pajama day on Friday for Reading Week. We spent 30 minutes with the other classes reading in the hallways. The kids read independently for the first fifteen minutes, then I read _Click Clack Moo, Cows that Type_.



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The Votes are In!

Next week is Reading Week, so we voted for our top ten favorite books. Each student received two Post-Its and they stuck them above their favorite books.

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Environmental Print Bulletin Board

The kids glued on signs and logos they can read for homework last week!


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Listening Center

During the last full week of school, I recorded myself reading this book. Before I sent them to Listening Center that week, I told them there was a special surprise and to keep it a secret. They loved hearing my voice and the special message I left for them!

The Muncher!

At our most recent staff development day, "The Muncher" was introduced. I loved it! It is a trash can disguised as a monster. I use it in small group. As the kids correctly identify a flashcard, they give The Muncher a high five and then feed the flashcard to him.

Occasionally, I'll give The Muncher a nudge to make him jump at the children. Very exciting!

He has very sharp teeth, which gobble up letters, high-frequency words, and numbers!