We Love Pete the Cat!

We have discovered PETE THE CAT and Loooooovvvveeeeeee him and his book "Rocking in my School Shoes". Last Friday, my Pete doll arrived in the mail and I introduced him to the Firsties.....they were so curious. "Who's that?", they wondered. Meet Pete:

I was patiently waiting for the arrival of Pete's book so I could share all about Pete! Well, yesterday was the big day....so excited to see a book in the mailbox! :) Here it is!

You can hear the whole song here:
Pete the Cat sings "Rocking in my School Shoes"

Make My Heart Melt!

One of the many reasons why I love First Grade:

Plant Needs

Mrs. Sheppherd started teaching Science this week! Yesterday, the firsties learned about what plants need to live. *in a sing songy voice* "Sunlight, Water, Air, Soil....Sunlight, Water, Air, Soil....Sunlight, Water, Air, Soil....That's what plants need!"

We did these projects:

Bald Eagles

We've been learning about U.S. Symbols in Social Studies. Our first U.S. Symbol was BALD EAGLES! The bald eagle was chosen June 20, 1782 as the emblem of the United States of America, because of its long life, great strength and majestic looks, and also because it was then believed to exist only on this continent.
On the backs of our gold coins, the silver dollar, the half dollar and the quarter, we see an eagle with outspread wings.
On the Great Seal of the United States and in many places which are exponents of our nation's authority we see the same emblem.
The eagle represents freedom. Living as he does on the tops of lofty mountains, amid the solitary grandeur of Nature, he has unlimited freedom.
We made these adorable bald eagles in class! Each child traced their foot for the body and 2 hands for the wings, then wiggly eyes and a beak! These are just soooooo cute!

Workstations Galore!

We have been busy as bees in our workstations this year. I just wanted to share some of the activities we have been doing! I've done literacy (reading) workstations in my classroom for 10 years. However, this is the first year that I have incorporated workstations with Math. We do "Math Bins" on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I have Math instruction on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Reading Workstations
We have 7 stations: Word Wall, Phonics, Computer/ Smartboard, Word Study, Games, Spelling & Writing, Buddy Reading. Students stay in each station for 20-25 minutes before rotating to another station.

Here are some literacy stations in action:

In Math, we also do 7 workstations. Each activity is centered around the SOLs we are focusing on during the nine-weeks. Here are some of our Math Bins in actions:

So far, the firsties LOVE them! I love to look around the room and seem them working together!

This is How We Do It!

Hi Y'all! I think it's about time I get on the ball and finish posting our classroom tour! I rearranged my room from last year and have been so happy with how everything is arranged.

Here is a view of our room from in front of my desk. :)

Here's a view of our room from behind my desk. :)

This is our behavior chart. I love love love this behavior system this year! In years past, I used the stop light system of green, yellow, orange, and red. Students would "lose colors" for misbehavior. I just wanted to try something new! I saw this idea on Pinterest and had to try it!! Every child has their name printed on a clothes pin and starts the day on GREEN (READY TO LEARN!). Children can move up the chart for being "caught being good" or can move down the chart for misbehavior. When a student moves to YELLOW they receive 2 Seuss Tickets; ORANGE = 3 Seuss Tickets; RED =b5 Seuss Tickets and can receive random Seuss tickets. When a student goes down to BLUE, they have to give me 2 Seuss tickets; PURPLE = give me 3 Seuss tickets; BLACK = ALL Seuss tickets!

REWARDS (on Friday)
Having at least 1 Seuss ticket will entitle a student to FRIDAY FUN (which is free center time or special activity on Friday afternoon)

5 Seuss Tickets = Select a piece of candy out of the penny candy basket

10 Seuss Tickets = Trip to the Treasure Box

15 Seuss Tickets = Stinky Feet (Student gets to go all day without shoes on in the classroom)

20 Seuss Tickets = Teddy Bear Friend (Student can bring one of the classroom stuffed animals home or bring an stuffed animal from home to sit on his/her desk for the day).

25 Seuss Tickets = Switcharoo! (Student can trade places with anyone in the classroom (including the teacher's desk) for the entire day!)

30 Seuss Tickets = Hat Trick! (Student can wear a favorite hat or make a hat to wear in class for the day!)

35 Seuss Tickets = Lunch Buddy (Student can sit with any student (including another classroom) in the lunchroom) or Read to the class.

40 Seuss Tickets = Ms. Elkins's Special Treat (It's a SECRET!)

Any student that stays on or ABOVE GREEN receives a sticker at the end of the day.

I've been really pleased so far!! :)

This is our class schedule! I found these wonderful schedule cards at The First Grade Parade and think they are SO CUTE!

This is our MATERIAL MANAGERS chart. I made these using Dr. Seuss Graphics, the DOCTOR SOOS BOLD font, and my trusty laminator that I LOVE SO MUCH!! In our classroom, each table is named a team. Since I have 5 tables and I am using the Dr. Seuss theme, each table is named a Dr. Seuss character. We have the Cat in the Hat Team; The Grinch Team; The Horton Team; The Sneech Team; and The Thing 1 & 2 Team. Students from each team rotate to be MATERIAL MANAGERS. Which means this student will retrieve journals from the team basket or collect papers for that table, etc. It's been a useful management tool for me. The itty bitties like having the responsibility! :)

This is our STUDENT OF THE DAY and CLASSROOM JOBS chart.
The Student of the Day leads the class in line and is also the leader of the calendar time. He or she also gets the opportunity to bring a SHOW & TELL item on his/her day!

Our classroom jobs are
SUB/ BEHAVIOR CHART - This student will take the place of any student who is absent and do their class job. Plus, puts all the clips back on green on the behavior chart.

DOOR - This student will open/ close the door as needed.

TRASH - This student will dump the trash cans into the big trash can in the hall.

TABLE WASHERS - These students wipe their tables with a baby wipe at the end of the day.

SWEEPER - This student makes sure there is no large pieces of trash on the floor and uses the hand sweeper to sweep the carpet.

This is our BUCKET FILLERS board. This is where any sweet warm fuzzies about our classmates go and we get to share them. This idea was created after reading the BUCKET FILLER books.

This is our pencil swap area. Students trade a dull pencil for a sharpened one! :)

Our Classroom News Board....for Birthdays, Special Days, etc.

Our Classroom Mailboxes. This little thing keeps me organized! I don't know what I would do without it! Students put their S.E.U.S.S. folders in their boxes each day. I put graded work in their boxes each day. :)

Our Class Team Boxes. Journals, Workbooks, Books...are kept in these.

Our Math Meeting Board area.

This is our Reading area. Our Reading Focus Board is on the wall with weekly stories, words, etc. Our Workstation chart is here. This is also where our classroom library is.

Our Workstation chart. I use this for Reading and Math Bins. The first two pics are for reading. The last two are for Math Bins.

Our Smart Board & Workstation bins.

Our Class Computer Center.

I hope you enjoyed our little tour of our classroom! :) Hope you come by and see it for real soon! <3

Wow Time is Flying!

Happy Monday!! It's so hard to believe that today was the 15th day of school!!! First off, let me apologize for being so lazy with this blog! I have so many thoughts to type on here each day but it seems just not enough time in my day! I could not be happier with such a wonderful group of FIRSTIES!!! We have so much fun everyday! I have promised myself that I am going to update more often!

Mrs. Shepherd - Our Student Teacher

Ms. Johnson ("Mamaw") - Our Foster Grandparent ....mmm Fruit Roll-Up!




What a treat last week did bring when we met Mrs. Shepherd (our student teacher) and Ms. Carolyn Johnson (our foster grandparent). I must say that I am not used to having so much ADULT conversation during my busy day! haha! We all seem to have become fast friends and I'm looking forward to see how we can help these first graders be the best they can be! :)

Classroom Tour

This is our classroom math meeting board. Each day, the STUDENT OF THE DAY completes Today's Date, Place Value Chart and Number of the Day (How many days have we been in school?), 1 more/ 1 less/ 10 more/ 10 less. They also update the weather chart; Write their birthday; and we also sing a few songs about the day of the week, months of the year, counting, even odd numbers, and money.

TO BE CONTINUED.....