Fourteen in '14

As 2014 comes to an end, I thought I would celebrate by joining Hadar, Tracie, and Kristin with this 14 in '14 linky party...

**Feel free to click on a picture if you are curious where I got the picture for my favorite quote, clothing, restaurant, etc...

I am LOVING this top right now! It is so soft, comfortable, and cute! I have this is white and my sister has it in gray and we both wear it all the time! 

Okay, I know this is not from 2014 but I mean it is so good! As I am writing this I am watching the episode when Chandler & Monica get in engaged - such a good one! Gotta love all the reruns on TV :)

Living in a city that has so many good local restaurants made this one was a tricky one.  Maudie's was a favorite and I have so many memories there from this year!

Blogging! Okay, I know I haven't blogged TOO much BUT for the blogging that I have done, I have absolutely LOVED! I hope to keep it up in 2015!

I would have to go with this clip art that I won from a give away that the wonderful Krista Wallden hosted on her Facebook page! I have never won anything that I can remember and so this was a super exciting gift! 

This was pinned on my remember board.

I would have to say my Life of a Pilgrim Child lesson post.  I absolutely loved how they turned out and I was so impressed with how well each student did on creating their pilgrims and their writings turned out! I wish I had a picture of all of their pilgrims and writings to share, but this one will have to do!

Being named Teacher of Promise for my campus for the 2014 year! In my district, the teachers named at Teacher of Promise for each campus attend an awards ceremony hosted by the district. 

Click on the picture and it will go to the original author (I believe) of the photo.  

I choose it as my favorite because this is where my sister & I ate during our first night together in Paris. 

Oh, there are so many great ones from this year! I don't know if I could choose just one...visiting my sister in Paris, ringing in 2014 and skiing in Lake Tahoe with my Dad, traveling to Dallas with my mom to attend my cousin's graduation, spending time with my cousins and their 2014 babies, road tripping to Lubbock with my best friend, & watching my students grow as learners, and so many more!! 

Spending more time remembering what my favorite pin of 2014 reminds me of.

Now: Living in the present.

Life Of A Pilgrim Child

Today we learned all about the Life of a Pilgrim Child.  The lessons we did happened to be an extension of the last post, BUT I have done it as a stand-alone activity before - either way you do it, the students so enjoy it!!

We started off today by reading some of our favorite Pilgrim books.  

  

**If I had a copy, I would have also read the book "Samuel Eaton's Day: A Day in the Life of a Pilgrim Boy" By Kate Waters.

As we read we added to our pilgrim boy and girl venn diagram.  

We then went back into our character roles that we did as part of our Mayflower lesson which you can find here. To refresh your memory: we had just finished watching the first 10 minutes of Charlie Brown Mayflower Voyage and they are now at the part where they are about to get off the ship and explore the New World.    I told the students that before they can get off the Mayflower and explore the New World (with Charlie Brown), they had to write an expert piece about children living in Pilgrim times. 


The students then went to their seats and wrote about what pilgrim children did, did not do, had, did not have, etc.  They started off their writing pieces with "As a pilgrim boy/girl, I ______" OR "I am a pilgrim boy/girl. I _____." Let me tell you - every single student was SO ENGAGED and had so much to share!! Not a single person wrote less than a full page! 

After they had all finished, it was time for them to create themselves as a pilgrim boy/girl and then connect that to their writing. You can get a copy of the tracers and writing paper I used for this here.

Once they had all "proved" that they knew what it was like to be a pilgrim boy/girl, they were able to join Charlie Brown in stepping off the Mayflower and exploring the New World (a note: when watching Charlie Brown: Mayflower Voyage, I would frequently pause it and talk with the students about what was happening).

Have a GREAT night!

Life On The Mayflower

We have been busy learning all about the Mayflower Voyage lately in our unit about the Past and the Present! The students are all SO ENGAGED AND EXCITED!

We started off this unit by starting with the Mayflower and Pilgrims.  We began by picking up and [[skim]] reading one of our favorite book series! Note: I find it best to skim much of this book depending on the age of the students.

As we read a section of the book, we would jot down facts onto our "Life on The Mayflower" anchor chart

After we had researched about the Mayflower, what life was like on the Mayflower, and why the pilgrims went on the Mayflower I told the students that it was time for them to pack their chests because they were about to go on the Mayflower {inspired by Cara Carroll's Mayflower suitcases}! They were SO EXCITED!! We reviewed what things the Pilgrims were allowed to take with them on the Mayflower and then they were each handed their own chest to pack with things that they would have had in the Pilgrim era. I uploaded tracers for these Mayflower chests here.

Once they all had packed their chests, they were told to meet at the carpet.  (we happened to do this entire lesson in one day, however it can easily be split up by doing this next part at a later time) We talked about how we were going to pretend that the carpet was the Mayflower.  As we sat aboard the Mayflower, we watched the first ten minutes of "Charlie Brown Mayflower Voyage" - while I do not often watch videos to teach, there were so many benefits of using this one!! Before we watched, we talked about how there were no TVs/videos/Charlie Brown at the time of the pilgrims and that this was a tool that we have today that enables us to learn about long ago.
1)  it is pretty historically correct
2) Charlie Brown is pretending he was on the Mayflower Voyage - just as the students were
3) The sounds within the media often changed based on the emotions happening - so a couple times when that happened while watching, we stopped & talked about what the point of the sounds were doing - which covers teaching ELA TEK #16B!

Coming next: Life of a Pilgrim

If I Could Write A Letter To Me...{during my first year}

As I begin my 2nd year of teaching, I can't help but think about all of the new teachers out there who are about to embark on their 1st year of teaching. I am SO EXCITED for all of you new teachers out there who are about to experience all of the excitements and joys that comes with teaching!!

Last year, I spent SO.MUCH.TIME. figuring out how I would set up & decorate my room, discovering the truly best places to purchase teaching materials and classroom supplies, and of course creating lesson plans. I thought I would share the 5 things that I wish I would have known during my year first year of teaching and had a hard time finding online...

1. These buckets from the Dollar Tree:

They literally are perfect for almost EVERYTHING. The Dollar Tree has buckets of all different shapes, sizes, and bright colors - most importantly for $1. :)

2. This helpful bulletin board trick:

I actually just learned this trick from my wonderful Mom yesterday...it works PERFECTLY and is so FAST (like literally less than 30 seconds for the whole side)!

3. You can di-cut multiple sheets of paper at once

I am probably one of the only people who was not aware of this...butttt let me tell you...VALUABLE INFORMATION!!!

4. Cheap Books from:

Goodwill - Go here for classroom library books.  They don't usually have super amazing read-alouds but series like Arthur, Elephant & Piggie, Fancy Nancy - you bet! And for less than $1 each!

Half-Price - I buy from here if I need a copy of a good read aloud book but don't want to spend full price.  They also have classroom donation programs for any and all schools which works perfectly for my classroom library. 

DonorsChoose - Come up with a list of read aloud books and series that you think your students would like to read and create a donorschoose website! 

Libraries - Some libraries will sell their old, outdated copies of their books.  Depending on your city, there may even be a store that is open just a few times a week & sells those old, outdated, wonderful books for sometimes even cheaper than Goodwill {selection is usually very limited}

Garage Sales - I don't usually actively seek these out, but if I happen to see one, I stop and check out their books. 

Friends & Family - Just graduating college? I don't know about you but several of my college friends {well, their parents} still had their children's books from when they were young back home! Post on Facebook or just ask them if they have any they would be willing to donate to your classroom/get rid of!

 5. Teachers Pay Teachers

This website is wonderful!  Especially when you are in a bind (like when it's 5:00 on Sunday and you totally missed that Cinco de Mayo is tomorrow) the resources on this website are PERFECT & so WELL WORTH IT! One of my team members and I started out only purchasing the freebie materials, but once I purchased a priced product, I immediately knew it is well worth it - by no surprise...the quality that teachers put into their work is amazing and I personally find it to be more of a match of what I am looking for than a lot of the work I find in workbooks and such!

   

Phonics Favorites

Well, hello again!!

This summer break has been absolutely fantastic - I must say teaching is one of the best jobs ever!! I am someone who often becomes consumed by my hobbies - I mean, why stop when it's just so much fun?!  Well, teaching is definitely one of my hobbies, in addition to traveling, spending time with friends and family, etc.  Summer is another constant reminder about how fantastic this profession is! Summertime allows me time to balance & really enjoy all of the things I love.  I hope that all of you have been able to enjoy your time this summer too!!

I cannot believe that it is already AUGUST and soon we will be meeting our new group of fantastic students!!

I cannot wait!!

We recently got an e-mail saying that we could go back into our classrooms and I cannot wait to get in there later this week! But until I do and am able to share pictures, I thought I would share my one of my favorite phonics activities... my phonics interactive notebook!! 

When I teach phonics, I start out the lesson with a story (my students & I LOVE secret stories), followed by an craftivity (for example, when teaching the short a sound my students create an apple tree and then write short a words on the apples).  Each morning for the rest of the week, my students complete activities in their phonics interactive notebook that correspond to the phonics rule that we are focusing on for the week.

Lucky for you, my Phonics Interactive Notebook is on sale today in my brand-spankin'-new little store here! 

Have a great evening!

Classic Joke Tuesday

Q: Why do seagulls fly over the sea?

A: Because if they flew over the bay, they would be called bagels!

{Who doesn't love a good cheesy joke?}

I am constantly looking for & incorporating new engaging activities in my classroom. I think the Ellen Degeneres show is hysterical & while I do not have time to watch her every day, I do follow her on Twitter - where she does weekly Classic Joke Wednesday. This is something I look forward to and one day I thought, if I look forward to it then I am curious how having my own Classic Joke Day would work in my classroom for behavior management.  Let me tell you...it works FABULOUSLY! 

Each Tuesday morning I write a joke (with many grammatical mistakes such as capital letters in the wrong places, misspelled word wall words, incorrect punctuation, etc) on the board.  During morning meeting, we work as a class to correct the joke.  Once the joke is written on the board correctly, the joke is left on the board for the rest of the day (rewritten in a small corner so it doesn't take up too much space).  Even though the students REALLY want to know the answer, I tell them I cannot tell them the answer/if their guess is correct until after we have packed up for the day.  This has worked WONDERFULLY all year & {fingers crossed} it will continue to.

What I love best about this is that it takes up NO extra time at all as I do a morning message most every day!  A writing and reading lesson that serves as a behavior management tool, YES PLEASE! 

Also, while I get many of my jokes from the Ellen website {I do have to sometimes search through until I get an age-appropriate one} I am ALWAYS looking for a good joke - if you know of one, I'd love to hear it! 

Welcome to Made For First Grade!

Welcome!  As I begin to wrap up a year of many firsts {specifically my first year of teaching a wonderful class of 21 first graders}, I thought what better way to celebrate than with another first - my first blog!  I am constantly learning so much and have been thinking about ways to share and document the amazing things that are going on in my classroom.  I hope that the lessons and activities that I share inspire you as much as they do me!  Here's to great adventures in First Grade!