We rocked out the first 2 days!

We made it through the first two days of school.  We now know each other and I feel like the kids are starting to understand my style a little better.  On our first day, one of the fun things we did was read "Pete the Cat Rockin' In My School Shoes".  The kids L.O.V.E.D. it!!!  We also listened to the free download from the Harper Collins website.  We had a talk about what they each "rocked" in to school that day.  I wore a silver sequined tank to top and told them about how I felt like a rockstar in it.  (I really wanted to drive home our classroom theme, haha)  Then, they each completed a sentence and illustration about what they were wearing that day that made them feel extra special.  Here is a picture of a few of them.

Aren't they adorable?  I let both of my groups (I teach a 1st/2nd combo class this year) do the same thing, since it was the first day.  They had so much fun sharing their special items and their awesome illustrations with the rest of the class.  I didn't even really know who/what Pete the Cat was until about a week ago... and now I'm obsessed!  I love that little kitty cat!

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Here are some pictures of things I've done to get my room ready for my little rockstars.  They all loved it and so do I!  

Here is a picture of our behavior board.  

The punch cards on the bottom are where students can earn punches for good behavior.  They can earn them from me, or any other adults in the building.  If I have one my kiddos that is making a not so great choice, I always try to find someone making a great choice and then ooohhh and ahhhh over their good behavior and give them a punch.  It usually stops the bad choices in record time.  

The necklaces at the top are an extra good behavior incentive.  For each week that they don't lose any PAWS (our school-wide system), they will earn a bead to add to their necklaces.  I plan to let them wear them around school every now and then.  :)

Here are my Daily 5 baskets that I'm using for my students this year.  I got the baskets at Dollar Tree for, you guessed it, a dollar.  I love the way the colors pop against my freshly painted bookcases.  I made the labels and just used silver curly ribbon to attach the tags.  I love how they turned out!

Have you started back yet?  How was your first day?

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Almost Spring Break!

I can't believe Spring Break is only a week away!  This year has flown by so fast!
I found this awesome resource on Pinterest this week and I see it taking up most of my spring break.  =)
Classroom Booksource is a way to organize all of your books and let students check them out.  You can scan books in using your smartphone, iPod, or iPad (they also have apps for both Apple and Android products).  I so excited about this because I'm hoping it allows me to keep track of what books students are reading and even allow them to take AR books home on occasion.  Did I mention- it's totally FREE??? That's the best part if you ask me.  Here is a video if you want to learn more.

Right now, I have my books sorted by AR levels and colored coded with sticker so that my kids can easily select and put away books correctly.  Just last week one of my sweeties from last year brought an AR book back to me that he had accidentally taken home last year.  (He found it while cleaning his room- ha!)  I had no idea it was gone.  I think this awesome website and app will help me keep track of books and even save me some money.  I hope some other people are as excited as I am about this!  (I know I can count on some of my teacher friends to be nerdy with me- right?!?!)

Also through Pinterest (have I mentioned how obsessed I am?), I found this lovely blog: Sweet Blessings.
She had found through Pinterest (are you rolling your eyes yet to the number of times I've mentioned Pinterest?  If not, Pinterest. hehe) a cute saying and made this great little sign to go along with it.  She has a link on her blog to download it for FREE!

Link to Download

I love, but it didn't quiet match the rest of my classroom posters, so I decided to make a very similar version, but with my classroom color scheme.  Feel free to download it, but please make sure you visit Sweet Blessings!

Link to download

I hope everyone is having a great weekend- it's almost Monday!  

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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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Book Look Freebie

My class does learning centers at least once a week.  This is an easy time for me to get small groups reading while other students are engaged (and quiet).  One center I often have is a listening center.  In my classroom I have 3 iPod touches and 1 iPad, so my students use them for listening center.  I use TumbleBooks, available free through our local library.  You can also find lots of books on YouTube, but I only use those on the SmartBoard so that kids don't click on any not-so-great links.  
In the past, I have instructed my students on one must-watch book and then they could pick others if there was time left.  This was working okay, but I wanted to make sure that my students were getting something out of this center.  So, this weekend I sat down and make a couple of reflection pages.  I think I will let students chose which sheet they want to fill out.  This will teach them to reflect on stories they read, not just rush through them.   If you are interested, you can find them on my Teachers Pay Teachers account, for only $1.  Great, huh?  
Since I'm so new to this and I'm trying to get some followers, I am giving away one of these packets to anyone who leaves a comment!  If you would love to have one, just leave me a comment and tell your favorite book to read to students.  
 Thanks and enjoy!Pin It