Gumball Madness

As we approach our second semester, we have a group of kids that really understand adding and subtracting but we want to increase their fluency with it. I wanted a fun way to engage them and have them practice. So, I created a gumball madness addition file. This file includes the gumballs that you can copy onto colored paper to use for when they pass each test, a gumball machine to be labeled for each child, and the 1 minute time tests for each number 1-9. I plan to start using this in my classroom tomorrow and wanted to post the link to my TPT store in case any of you were needing the same type of thing. Have a wonderful week!

Click here to view my product! :)



Ten-frame Fun

Hello all! Sorry I have been M.I.A. lately...no excuses other than the same hectic day-to-day stuff you all have to deal with. This time of year always finds me just trying to stay afloat. Teaching the kids routines and procedures and trying to help them move from the stage of Kinders to true Firsties.

In my school district we use EnVision Math for grades K-5. We will take our test on Topic 2 Understanding Subtraction this Tuesday and then we will move on to Topic 3 which deals with Five and Ten Frames. They already learned about Five-frames last year in Kindergarten so we will kick it off with Representing Numbers to 10 on a Ten-frame. This will cover CCSS 1.OA.5 which is to relate counting to addition and subtraction.

I'm pretty sure most of my kiddos will understand the concept, but I like them to practice during our math stations time anyway. So, I created a new math center to add to our math tubs. The idea is for partners to play together. One partner will draw a number card and represent that number on the ten-frame mat with counters. They will then ask their partner, "How many more do we need to make a 10?" The other partner will figure out the answer and record it on the answer sheet. Then they will switch roles and go again. I'm planning to try it out in my classroom later this week and I will let you know how it goes! If you want to check it out, it is available on my TPT site. Just click the link below!

Poppin' Up Punkins'



Have a great week!!

First day of First Grade

Well, I am officially back to school and my little firsties arrived today. As of today, I had 21 on my roster and all 21 of them showed up. I am supposed to get 2 more tomorrow. I guess 23 isn't too bad, but I had 22 as my highest number last year. I would definitely rather them all get in here now while we are learning the classroom procedures and rules. :)

Today my partner and I used our pinterest inspired photo frame that the kids held while we took their pictures. We also introduced our WBT rules 1 and 2 and Class-Yes! So far, so good. I have never tried Whole Brain Teaching before so I am hoping it will work well with my class this year.

Tomorrow we will be making "Jitter Juice" from Babbling Abby's Fun With Firsties! Pack. My kids from last year absolutely LOVED this activity and were even talking about Jitter Juice at the end of the year!  :)

Hope everyone that is back to school is having a great start to their year! I am exhausted and ready to relax!

Must Haves Monday

I love teacher week! It is always so much fun!  Today is the first day, Monday Must Haves. I'm linking up with Blog Hoppin.



Some of the things that I cannot live without are:



My new little laminator! We don't have a laminator at our school and it is nice to have one that can at laminate at least small things.

These are awesome for anchor charts and so much fun to smell! :)

I just bought myself one of these last year, but I have no idea how I ever lived without it! This little baby is amazing!

My ENO board and my AverVision document camera....these make my teaching come to life and so much more engaging for my class!

Well, hop on over to Blog Hoppin' and link up so we can all see what your Monday Must Haves are!



Linking up!

I am linking up with Kelly at Beg Borrow Steal to go on a tour of our classrooms this year.



 I posted my new Smilebox slide show yesterday. Please click here to see a 360 view of my whole room! Just scroll down to the bottom of the post and there it is! :)

Here is a little sneaky peak of the view of my room from my doorway...



 Step inside and take a look at more if you haven't already! And then please stop by Kelly's blog and link up so we can see all your hard work too!

Final Monday Made it and My Finished Classroom!

I'm not officially back to school until next Thursday, the 23rd....but Monday and Tuesday next week are taken up with workshops on PLC's. So, I am linking up with Tara at Fourth Grade Frolics for probably the last time this summer. I'm pretty sure that once my firsties arrive, I will be WAY too tired to create anything. :)



So, my final 2 creations were found on Pinterest and a blog that I follow...big surprise huh?

First up, I fell in love with a Hall Pass sign that I saw at Step Into 2nd Grade with Mrs. Lemons and knew I HAD to have one!

Here is mine...



Bought the board at Hobby Lobby and painted it with polka dots to match my room...



Wrote Hall Pass with a paint pen and then added the ribbon and the colorful clips with my last name. Now students will take a clip and pin it on them before they go into the hall and everyone will know who they belong to. :)



Next, I created a center for my word work station that I found at Life in First Grade. Bought the cupcakes for 88 cents and also the bags to keep them in.

The kids will match the tops and bottom that have rhyming words. On the back I wrote 1 or 2 so I would know which bag it belongs to and there is a 1 or 2 on the cherry of the bag. :)

After about 5 days of hard work from my mom, my daughter, and myself...we are finally done!!! Here is a slideshow to show you all the finished product. Please leave comments and let me know what you think! :)



Personalize a digital slideshow



Classroom Day 4 and a Surprise for Me!

On Friday, I went in to the classroom for just a few hours to try to work on some boards in my room that I wanted to have ready. Here are a few of them:



This one is simple. It is the white board behind my guided reading table. I hung two clips with velcro dots because it isn't a magnetic whiteboard. This way I can attach chart paper if I want to for my groups. I also hung a small pocket chart from the Target Dollar Spot for sight words, vocab words, etc. I hung 2 command hooks below the board and they are holding 2 of the reading bags I created. If you want to know more about them you can visit here.



This is my calendar area. The blue pocket chart is used for word sorts, vocab picture and word cards from our HMH vocabulary program, or whatever I need it for. The red pocket chart is our place value chart. I just still need to add 3 ten-frames for the date.

Below that board and my ENO board I hung my genre posters.

This will be for my word wall. It took forever for me to get the boxes as even as I wanted them. I got those word wall cards with my Bright and Cheerful Pack from Clutter-Free Classrooms. I really like the patterns with them, but I don't like that from far away they just look white. :(

Here is a close up of one of the cards.

This board is right behind my mom's table. I hung 2 clips for her chart paper too and also a pocket chart. You can also see my travel ribbons hanging there. Her area is right by the doorway so I wanted them to hang close to where we would be dismissing.

This board is right next to my mom's area also. You can see her teacher tool box there. :)  This is our math wall with a few cute anchor charts that I found last year that give some strategies for solving math problems. To the left of the picture you see my pocket holder that will hold our Tiger Paws (PBIS).

This is where the students will let me know they are ready for an AR test by putting their number card into the pocket chart in a line.



My mom also worked on organizing our cleaning cabinet too. This cabinet holds cleaning supplies, light bulbs, paper towels, baggies, paper plates and silverware, and a few art supplies.



So, after we did all that we left for the day....and on to my surprise! My husband had told me not to make any plans for the night. He whisked me away around 7 p.m. to head out for our surprise evening after he came home from work and completely cleaned the inside and outside of our truck to make it look amazing! He wouldn't tell me where we were going until we arrived. Now, it is important to know that I have been begging to go to a drive-in movie FOREVER and we finally went! I was so excited! But the fun didn't stop there....when we got there he reached in the seat behind me and pulled out these:

AWWW!! He is so romantic! He also gave me a sweet card and this was for absolutely no reason!

So, you can imagine I was a happy girl already. Well, as I was working the other day on preparing some center activities for Word Work, my little trusty buddy broke...

My little sweetie daughter passed this information on to my dear husband and suprise!! He had this new baby in the truck that night too!!

I am such a lucky girl!! If you're reading this...Thanks Sweetie!!

Well, I am not planning to go to my room tomorrow. My student teacher from this spring got a job and I am planning to help her for a bit in her room and then I have an RTI summit to go to in the afternoon. Good luck to any of you who have your first day of school tomorrow!