Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Sticky Notes for Readers Workshop

I hope you enjoyed the free Apple of My Eye sticky notes in my post here!  I also wanted to thank you for the thoughts and prayers for my father-in-law.  He is going to take the trip to Florida's Mayo clinic for his road to recovery on October 10th.

I have a wonderful pack of printable sticky note templates at my TPT store here.  The pack is for reading comprehension activities used during independent reading in a readers workshop model.  If your kids independently read during the school day, this pack is for you!  Graphics are courtesy of Scrappin Doodles.  This pack is  on SALE for $5.00 (regular $7.00) until Friday!


Click on the pictures for a closer look of the preview.  : )

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Printable Sticky Notes {Freebie}

Sticky notes + Me = LOVE! 

I am so excited to give you this freebie!  Your kiddos will love a surprise sticky note on their desk from their teacher!  Click on the image below for the template.  Directions on how to print are below.  Graphics are courtesy of Scrappin Doodles.


Steps to a perfect print:

1.        Print the page(s) you would like to make into sticky notes.  I do this in greyscale so I don’t waste my colored ink.

2.       Place sticky notes on top of the boxes for the sheet you would like to print making sure the sticky strips are all at the top of each box.  It is very important all sticky notes are facing the same direction.


3.       Place the paper in your printer.  Depending on which direction your printer feeds, you will want the sticky notes to go through the printer top first.


4.       Print the page (be sure to select the page you chose the template from) in greyscale (again, saves ink and colored images turn out just fine).


5.       Cross your fingers and hope for no paper jams!   J 



  
I just uploaded a sticky note template pack to TPT here.  It has templates for your students to use while independently reading during Readers Workshop!  Text to text connections, I wonder, My favorite part, etc.  (One of the templates can be seen in the printing directions above.)  I am in the middle of working on a holiday pack of sticky note templates.  Stay tuned...

As I was writing this post, I got a call with some terrible news.  My father-in-law just got test results back and he has bladder cancer.  : (  And...this news comes on my birthday.  : (  If you pray, please say an extra prayer for my husband and our family.

Friday, September 16, 2011

Reading Memories {Freebie}

In my classroom, Readers Workshop is off and running!  We are working to build our stamina to 15 minutes before the kids can go book shopping to fill our independent reading bags.  This week we talked about our favorite reading memories.  Feel free to download the reading memories page by clicking on the picture below.  The pdf document has one for girls and one for boys. They would be perfect for a hallway display or to make into a class book!


{Clip art is from Scrappin Doodles}

At the end of the day today, I was changing out my book display case from "beginning of the school year" themed books to Fall themed books and I overheard a little voice say "she's putting out new books and I see some great ones.  I think I am about to have a new favorite reading memory!"  MELT.MY.HEART!



PS  If you have not checked out this new first grade blog, New Adventures in First Grade, head on over!

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Week One...Done...and a Whole Bunch of Fun!

Whew!  How do we always forget how exhausting that first few days back can be?  I have an awesome group of 21 kiddos who all came to me from kindergarten already READING!  They are all at a 3 (C) or higher already!!!  Our all day every day kindergarten program is a blessing!  This year should be amazing!

Hang on tight because there is a whole bunch of first-week-of-school randomness in this post. If you make it to the end...there is a freebie for you! : )
I purchased Abby's (from the Inspired Apple) Fun with Firsties unit and it was worth every penny to get the year started!  We made Jitter Juice, surveyed our friends, made darling backpacks and school house books.  I would highly recommend purchasing it and tucking it away for next year!  She also has a unit for second graders as well.  A few things from the unit are in pictures below. 

 


School House books...my awesome retired-teacher-mom cut all of these out and assembled them for me before school started!


Our adorable backpacks!  My awesome retired-teacher-mom also assembled these for me!  Doesn't the scrapbook paper make them extra adorable?  : )


Not only did we have fun with Abby's unit, we decorated our Reading Notebooks. And yes, my awesome retired-teacher-mom made these for the class as well!


Go to my post HERE to learn how to make your own Reading Notebooks!


We also decorated our canvas pencil pouches with Crayola Fabric Markers.  The kids will keep their pencil and a box of crayons in this pouch.  I have had great luck with these for the past 3 years.  You can purchase them from Discount School Supply for $8.99 for a pack of 12.


Since I have tables, the kids keep their pencil pouches and work folder in a tub at each table.
Scissors and glue sticks are kept in these numbered drawers.  Each table has a drawer that can be removed and brought right over to the table when they need scissors or glue sticks.  I have used this system for over 6 years and it works perfectly!

These are our name tags.  I found the name badge holders at the Dollar Tree last winter!!!  Score!


We read the Enormous Turnip to begin a discussion about cooperation.






Next, we colored people to make a hallway display to illustrate the concept of cooperation. 

All 64 first graders are included in this Enormous display!
If you would like a copy of the person template, you can download it from my TPT store for FREE! If you download it, I would love for you to leave your thanks in the form of feedback in my TPT store. Enjoy!



Oh...and one more thing!!!  My own two kiddos started preschool this week.  My amazing mom (yep...the one who helps with all things school) made these adorable chocolate covered mini-oreo apples for my kids' teachers!  We forgot to take a picture of them in the cute bowls we displayed them in along with their apple-licious cards.  : (