Currently

I am finally getting around to posting my Currently for this month.  If you haven't done it yet, head over to Farley's blog and join the fun!
Here is what is going on in my crazy head this week:

Listening: I know I should be ashamed, but I'm not.  I like trashy TV every now and then.

Loving: After it rained all last week, it's finally sunny out.  High 50's outside, so it feels great with the windows open.  I even rode my bicycle to the school to work in my classroom today.

Thinking:  I made my Currently this morning.  I did go back to the school.  That's right... several hours later and I feel ready for the week!

Wanting: He works 12 hour shifts, which means I'm home alone most of the day. Boo... plus he's going to spin class after work, so it will be even longer. 

Needing: I decided to go for a bike instead.  Hopefully, I can get a run in tomorrow.  I have a 5k every weekend this month, which is crazy!  At the one this past weekend, I had my personal best time of 28:12.  By the end of the month, it will either be faster because I'm getting better or way slower because I'm exhausted! haha

I was wearing my "Go Team Jo" shirt in honor of my cousin's daughter who was diagnosed with cancer at only 7 weeks old.  She is now a cancer survivor!  

Book:  I love Junie B. Jones "Boo... and I Mean It!"  I read it to my class every year and I have seriously considered coming to school dressed as Squirty the Clown... LOL

Now I'm off to check out what others have posted for Currently. 

 If you do join, don't forget the Rule of 3!  

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I'm thinking of having a giveaway soon.  I'm trying to decide what I want to do... any suggestions?

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ROCKSTAR of the Day & Currently

I have been MIA lately... sorry, it's been a long time since I've posted.  Life has been super, duper insane since school started and I just haven't had one extra ounce of energy or motivation to blog lately.  However, I think I'm back!  :)
We had a great weekend back in my husband's hometown this weekend I feel so relaxed and re-energized.  Bring on the week!  (Except that I haven't actually done my plans for this week yet... small detail, really).

The first thing I want to tell you about is my most favorite back to school activity.  I totally screwed up and forgot to take a picture of it for y'all... so sorry!  I will try to be very descriptive for you though.
Here is a picture that I take of the Rockstar Student.  (This goes on the poster in the hall, as well as their take-home book.)

Right behind my little guy, you can see the cool chair covers that I got at the Target Dollar spot.  They say Star Student and have a little sleeve where the RS's name can be slid in on a sentence strip.  I think we'll use these all year. 

On the right side of the picture, you can see the orange pocket chart, right? I use this for two things during RockStar of the Day.  

1. It holds the names of all the potential RockStars.  I write each student's name on a sentence strip and then cut it up.  I paperclip all of the letters in each child's name and put it backwards in the chart so that the kiddos won't know who I am picking.  Then, each day I pick a name.  

I'm a little evil... I like to play with their little minds a little.. hehe

I will point to one and then say "This one is perfect today!" Then I act like a total nerd and pretend another catches my eye start to pick it up.  (They think this is hilarious and they are usually telling me which one to pick.)  When I finally do choose a name, I have everyone stand up.  

Then, I start by saying "This person has a *whatever random letter you choose* in his/her name.  Everyone with that letter in their name stays standing.. I keep giving clues until only one child is left standing and he/she becomes star of the day!

2.  Did you think I forgot to tell you the second use for the pocket chart?  I know, I was rambling a little.  The RockStar of the Day uses the pocket chart to put the letters in his/her name in the correct order.  

The next part is probably my students' favorite part.  We do a cheer for the RS's name.  The RS leads it and we yell back.  It's easy... 

RS: "Give me a J!"

Us: "J!"

RS: "Give me an "O"!

Us: "O!"

RS: "Give me a "H!"

Us: "H"

RS: "Give me a "N!"

Us: "N!"

RS: "What's that spell?"

Us: "John!"

RS: "Louder!"

Us: "JOHN!"

RS: "Louder!"

Us: "JOHN!!!!"

RS: "Whisper"

Us: "John"

They. Love. This.  I'm sure our superintendent right next door to us does not... haha

Then it is time for the interview portion.  I have several pre-made questions written out on some cute stars.  The RS chooses a friend to come up and ask him/her a question.  The friend comes up and pulls out a question and asks it.  Then, I use the response to model correct sentence writing techniques as we make a poster for the RS.  We do a total of three questions for each kid.  The posters turn out looking something like this:

The next thing we do is write the student's name together.  I model each letter and then students write the letter.  This is a great way to model proper handwriting techniques.  I used this page with my 1st graders this year:

I made my 2nd graders use this one (several of my 1st graders did choose to use this one instead and I loved that they challenged themselves.):

After we have written the student's name together I draw a masterpiece ;) of the student.  I try to incorporate things from their interview.  For example, if their favorite food is watermelon and their favorite animal is a cat, I draw a picture of the RS eating watermelon in the park with his cat.  (If in doubt of what to draw, add a rainbow... kids are amazed by them! ha)  These pictures are sometimes goofy because I have no artist ability, but my kiddos are always amazed by my drawing skills.  I love little kids.  :)

When I'm finished with my drawing I take it down so they can't copy it and they get started on their own drawing.  My 2nd graders have to write a sentence about the RS before they start with the drawing.  I take all of the pages and compile them into a book for the RS to take home.  On this page, I copy what is one the poster and use it for the first page of their book.  

These are covers that can be used for the front cover.  I copied them onto yellow construction paper this year and glued a photo of the RS onto it where the star is.  

If you would like to download a copy of any of this to use, just click here.  It's FREE!

I do one RockStar of the Day until everyone has a chance to be the RockStar.  This is one of my favorite activities all year- each kids feels so super-special on his/her day.  I LOVE it!  Plus, it makes a really cute display for Open House.  Ours is tomorrow and we had our last RS on Friday, so everyone will have a poster in the hallway- that doesn't always happen.  Yay!

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Bless you, if you're still with me.  Here is a my September Currently.  A little lot late, but better late than never, right?

• Listening to the Bears... and since they won I only heard a little bit of yelling from the hubs today... hehe
• Loving- Our weather has been PERFECT this weekend.  Mid 70's and sunny... my favorite!  The hubs did a 25 bike race yesterday and then we did a 6 mile family ride and the weather made it even better!
• Thinking- I actually got everything accomplished that I wanted to last week- and it was a 4-day week... go me! It does take a lot more planning and time spent outside of school, though.
• Wanting- I have a new, 4-door, black Jeep Wrangler and I REALLY want black rims for it.  My birthday is in October, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
• Needing- My toes look sad, very sad.
• Loving- Roscato Rosso Dulce... wine, need I say more? lol
• TOMS- I could wear these everyday- I own 5 pairs of them now, I might have a problem
• I'm thinking of only buying dresses/long tunic shirts from now on so that I can wear leggings to school everyday
• I always love my hubs, but I'm treasuring our time more now that I'm back to school and don't get to see him as much... :)

One last question for you guys.  Do you have a student of the day all year?  I've always done Student of the Day, but I'm really thinking about changing it to Student of the Week this year.  I'm trying to have students check in homework, do attendance and other things like that.  (We are following the Danielson evaluation model and I want to encourage student-initiated accountability.)

Which do you do?  Assign student jobs?  Student of the day?  Student of the Week?  or nothing?

Thanks! 

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Currently & Parent Volunteers

I feel like I'm a little late the Currently party this month, but better late than never, right?  I love doing these fun little Currently and then stalking all the other blogs to see what my peeps are up to right now. So, here is what I'm Currently thinking and doing.  Can't wait to check out everyone else's!

B2S Must Haves- 

#1- My Silhouette machine has been so cool this summer.  I have made student behavior guitars, Calendar words, and some labels.  I love, love, love it!

#2- The laminating machine.  I use the one at our school- we pretty much have free use of it and I take advantage.  I know that some of you have your own laminators and that is sooooo tempting.  I would love to have it at home, but while I can use my school's as much as I need, I'm going to stick with the free option!

#3- This will be my first year doing Daily 5 in my classroom, so I have a feeling my Daily 5 book will be stuck to me like glue!  I have read it once and I'm working on a second time.  I'm excited & nervous about implementing it for the first time.

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Do you have parent volunteers in your classroom?  I have never really tried to recruit parent volunteers before, but I am going to have a large class this year (27) and I want to explore my options.  I know that my superintendent would be okay with parent volunteers in the room as long as they aren't doing any assessments or grading.  I would like to invite parents to volunteer, but I'm not sure where to start.  

How are you able to recruit volunteers?  Do you ask specific people or just send home a request with all students?  What exactly do you have your parent volunteers do in your classroom?

I would love to hear from others how you handle this in your classroom.  Thanks!  :)

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Currently and Almost to 100!

I can't believe it's time for Currently again- especially since I missed it in June.  This summer is flying by so fast!!!  I'm linking up with Farley at Oh Boy 4th Grade.  She makes the adorable and fun Currently Linky every month.  So, here is mine for this month:

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Now, I'm almost to 100 followers- only 6 away!  I'm thinking that I should have a fun giveaway when I hit 100.  What do you think??  Send over your friends and have them follow so that I can give something away!  I'm so excited!!!!  

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Vistaprint and Currently

I got an email from Vistaprint this week with lots of freebies being offered.  I have used Vistaprint quite a big in the past.  I love all the freebies that they offer and I use some of their offerings in a little different way.  Here are the things I ordered this time around.  In the past, I have also personalized business cards and used them as punch cards for students.  When they get 20 punches (they can earn two a day).  I also have a heart hole punch I use when students go above and beyond.  Students get the heart punch in addition to the others they earned.

Here is a banner I got for my desk.  I ordered a similar one a couple of years ago.  It is big enough for kids to see my name and they use it all time.  Plus, it's cute!

  I made IPICK magnets for students.  I plan on sending these after our lesson on choosing books.  Hopefully, this will be helpful for parents. 

I'm also going to send this home.  I think it will be a handy guide for parents to help support their child. (Don't mind the typos- I did fix it, but I guess I took the screen shot before.  

My students have decodable readers that they take home twice a week.  Parents have to sign the front cover after their child reads and then return it to school.  In the past,  have pick up "Please sign & Return" stickers from the Dollar Tree,  but I like to change it up a bit.  I have one other stamp, but I like that these don't have to have a stamp pad- way less mess!  The red stamp is the only item I paid extra for- I thought red would show up better than the free black stamp.  The other picture are return address labels that I'm going to use.  I ordered some last year that were similar, but not as cute as these.  

At the beginning of each year, I do a Star of the Day activity.  I chose a student's name and they are the Start of the Day.  We do a ton of activities for Star of the Day.  I am planning on posting more about Star of the Day later on.   I'm going to use this as a photo prop.

I'm going to use this as an incentive for students to tie shoes.  I have SO MANY that don't know how, and I don't have a bunch of extra time to teach them.  They also get to sign a poster that I have in my classroom.  

A cute notepad for me- I'm obsessed.  

And some cute cards for me.  A teacher's got to have some cute stuff, too.... right?

So, I had to play around $20 for shipping, but I still think I came out ahead.  I think personalized things are so special.  If you have never ordered from Vistaprint before, send me your name and email and I can forward you a $5 coupon.  

or you can use this link. 

http://vistaprint.tellapal.com/a/clk/r7W3n

Cool, huh??? 

If you have ordered from Vistaprint, share what your favorites are!

Now it's time for Currently- I'm finally getting around to it! 

I'm hoping to get into my classroom this week and start working on some small stuff.  

How much do you work in your classroom over the summer?

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Space and Currently

Two weeks ago, we had a story in our Reading Street series that I hate very much dislike.  It's not that there is anything wrong with it, but I think it's boring and a little out there.  So,  the other first grade teacher in my building and I decided to come up with our own plan for the week.  We decided since The Lady in the Moon was about the moon, we would come up with something about the moon.  Well, our idea grew into teaching a mini-unit on space.  We still taught the skills from the book, but supplemented tons of other space ideas.  We did two days of center activities.  I planned 4 centers and so did she, then I taught my students at centers the first day, and hers the second day.  Clear as mud, right?  
The kiddos LOVED this unit and I am so glad we decided to change things up.  One of the centers we did was what I named Race Through Space.  It is a version of a dice game that we have done with students before, but with a space theme.  I have a couple of sets of big foam dice and students thought I was extra cool for letting them use them.  (It's the little things, right?)  You can see how they filled in the sheet in this picture.  

Would you like a copy?  Great- here you go.  Just click here to download a free copy.

We played another center that I named Words from Earth or Mars?  We talk about nonsense words when we do our Michael Heggerty Phonemic Awareness and AIMSWeb testing, so I want students to be able to tell the different between real and made-up words.  I wrote out a bunch of our sight words and nonsense words on sentence strips and had students sort them in a pocket chart.  I made students choose a job- we had a Secretary from Mars (to record Mars words), a Secretary from Earth (to record Earth words), and two Word Hunters (they had to take turns pulling words from the bucket).  All the students had to reach an agreement before the word was added to pocket chart and the correct secretary had to add the word to his/her list before the next word was pulled.  I was amazed at how smoothly this center ran- the students did an awesome job sorting words and getting along.  I would offer you the recording sheet, but I can't seem to find where I saved it.  If you want it, just leave a comment or send me a message and I will get it to you when I find it.  

Everyone's favorite center during this rotation, was the Alien Make-Over.  We printed each students' picture out and then he/she cut out the face.  They glued it down and then went to town creating an alien version of themselves.  The students loved using glitter glue, goggly eyes, and stickers. (Who wouldn't???)  They turned out so stinking cute!  We also had each student fill out a star with an "I wish..." phrase on it.  We also let the students decorate the mural and then put it in the hallway.  

Does anyone else have any cool space ideas for next year? 

 I'm definitely taking the boring suggested story out of my rotation again next year.  

I'm also Linking Up with Farley from Oh' Boy 4th Grade for this month's Currently.  

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Not-So-Winter Weather and Currently

Can you believe that it is technically still winter???  We are having some majorly unseasonably warm weather- our area actually broke a record today.  Every day when we're doing calendar I giggle a little when we read the season.  Of course, now the kiddos think it's hilarious that we are sweating while we're reading "The season is winter..."
Yesterday, I wanted to be outside SOOOO badly because we had such gorgeous weather.  I decided to check and see if our iPad and iPods would get a signal on the playground and guess what?  They sure did!  So, we grabbed some books and headed out to read and take AR tests outside.  I told my students if they read quietly for 15 minutes I would let them play while they were waiting their turn to take their tests.  I don't think I've ever had a reading time where they worked so hard! =)

 

We made dinosaur hats today- doesn't this one kind of freak you out?  haha!

I love having an administrator that supports these spontaneous little moments we sometimes have.  Have you had a chance to head outside for any lessons this year?


Even though I'm a little late, I also linked up with Farley's March Currently.  =)

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