Monday Made It Linky Party (with freebies!)

Happy Monday to you, friends!! I'm back from my weekend hibernation and ready to be a busy beaver again. I'm looking forward to meeting with my two team members this week and am eager to learn from them.

 

My favorite part about Mondays is, of course, Tara's Monday Made It Linky Party! Be sure to join in and/or check out all the awesome projects.

I have four projects (with freebies) to share with you:

1. Porter Patriot of the Week

What student doesn't love to be honored with special activities for a week?! I hope that implementing Porter Patriot of the Week (Porter is my school's name and our mascot is the patriot) will create a sense of community as we celebrate each student. The display in the classroom that I created is where the Porter Patriot of the Week will showcase photos of his/herself. I want to implement Beth Newingham's star student activities:

First, she gives the parents a star of the week schedule for the entire year.

On Mondays the student brings in three special items and photos to share with the class.

On Tuesdays the student reads his or her favorite book to the class.

On Wednesdays the parent writes a letter to the class about a special story involving their child.

On Thursdays a special guest (parent, relative, etc.) joins the student for lunch.

On Fridays the student is recognized by their classmates...I want to do something like [this pin] where the students write compliments to the Porter Patriot.

You can download a Star Student of the Week sign for free in my TpT store.

Be sure to check out Beth's class website to read more details about implementing star student of the week. She has other great resources on her class site too.








2. Boggle

Boggle has been everywhere (it seems)! There have been so many different teacher-created boards like [this one] and [this one] and [this one]...I needed one that was small because wall real estate is limited in my classroom so I utilized the side of my filing cabinet. I don't have a picture of how I keep my magnetic letters organized but it's exactly like [this pin].









3. Parent Volunteer Tote

For my parent volunteers that visit the classroom, I want to have materials handy just for them (Thanks for the suggestion, Nikki!). I was given this tote as a gift (Thanks, Hillary!) and it works perfectly for holding school supplies. The blue paper tray it's sitting in will hold any materials, directions, etc. for the parent volunteer. You can download a blank tote tag for free in my TpT store.










4. Book Ring Calendar

I wrote about my calendar last Monday but have since updated its display. I think it looks more cohesive now. You can download my calendar file for free in my TpT store.











I posted about other projects (freebies included) during the weekend too. Click the pictures to learn more. :)

Have an excellent week!! :)

Word Study Poems

I love creating word study poems and using them with the students! I start by introducing the sound we are focusing on and challenge the students to find the different letter combinations in the poem that represent that particular sound. We echo read the poem once or twice. Sometimes we choral read it too. Then the students take turns and wikki stick where they hear that particular sound. After each word, I chunk the word and the students echo the sounds. Sometimes I have them turn to a neighbor and share the words with that particular sound too.

The sillier the poem seems to be the more they like it! They are great at echo reading... they say the poem EXACTLY like I say it, which is hilarious at the more expressive parts. For instance, today we did the long i poem (I haven't thought of a title for it yet) and they LOVED shouting, "Take a hike, Kyle!" They kept asking to read that line again and again!

Here are my most recent poems:

You are welcome to use these poems but please, cite me. :) Check out my other poems too!

I'll be posting my guided math assessment records (for free!) soon so stay tuned!!

An Assortment of Happenings!

Hope you are enjoying the weekend! I took a much needed nap this afternoon...isn't it nice to catch up on sleep?! Here is a picture walk with explanations of what's been happening in the classroom lately:

For Dr. Suess's birthday, the students made Thing 1 and 2 glyphs. I got the template from Kimberly Edgerton's TpT's shop. To introduce this activity, I created a Prezi on hieroglyphs. I asked the students if they had ever heard or seen the word 'hieroglyphs'. Then I showed them a picture of hieroglyphs, which turned a light bulb on in some of their brains...one student said, "Hey, I've seen those in Scooby-Doo!" I explained to the students a brief history of hieroglyphs (how 5,000 years ago people used pictures to communicate and tell stories, etc.). Then I explained how pictures are used to communicate information in our world today, typically in the form of graphs. I accompanied this explanation with an infographic. Then they created and shared their glyphs! If you click on the Prezi link above, you can see the pictures and glyph key I used. 

The students planted sunflower seeds! Some of their seeds have already begun sprouting! We did this activity while learning about George Washington Carver since he studied agriculture. I poked holes in the bottom of the cups and set them on plastic paper plates for them to drain excess water. The students love checking on their plants!

Compound cards! Before the students created their cards, we did the the Compound Boogie by Dr. Jean. They loved it and were singin' and dancin' right along! I love to get them up and moving!

I Spy time! I got this idea from Teacher Tipster. I placed ten mini Judy clocks around the classroom, and the students had to find all ten clocks and record the time in their math journal. 

We'd been having a issue with mixing up the tag pens with the wrong set of books (the tag pens only hold a certain amount of memory). I did have each pen in a bag with a set of books but that just wasn't working out even though I had modeled and modeled how to take care of them. So Dollar Tree to the rescue! I got these baskets from the Dollar Tree and they have solved our problem...the tag pens now stay with the right books!

Poem for the week that I created and the students wikki stikked: short oo. They always notice when there is a new poem up and are eager to read it!

I implemented Writer's Workshop this week! The students are writing stories about our Noun Town we created the other week. I have emphasized to the students that we become better writers by writing. Everyday I asked them, How do we become better writers?" and they respond, "Just keep writing!!" (the way they say it reminds me of Finding Nemo, "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming.") On the first day, we brainstormed what they could write about. Then over the following three days they planned their stories with a story map and a beginning, middle, and ending map that I got from The Teacher Wife. I created my own planning maps and story too to serve as a model for them. Once they had their plans and checked them over with me, they began writing their stories. They're really getting into their stories! I just love reading about their ideas!

The Mystery Box (labels from Babbling Abby) is one of my favorite activities. I got the box at Hobby Lobby for $1. The students get so excited when I bring it out! I've been using the Mystery Box to introduce our themed story for the week. I give the students clues as to what might be in the box, and they have to use their inferencing skills to make an educated guess. Examples of what I have put in the Mystery Box are a toy red-eyed tree frog (for the story The Red-Eyed Tree Frog), friendship necklaces (for the story That Toad is Mine!), and a bear puppet (for the story Lost). 

If anyone has any suggestions on Writer's Workshop or would like to share how they implement Writer's Workshop, I would love to hear about it! 

Word Study Poems

In the classroom I am student teaching in, the students are divided into different word study groups based on an assessment (my teacher reassesses them a few times a year). However, each week a specific sound feature(s) is taught to the whole group. To introduce the feature(s) for the week, I use poems with words that include the week's feature(s). We echo read, choral read, and then use wikki sticks to circle the feature(s). I love this activity because it integrates fluency with word study. I bought a large notepad to write the poems on. Here are the three poems I've used so far:

This poem (ai and ay) is from Scholastic's Word Family Sing Along but I found this poem with other word study poems from Scholastic's book from Mrs. Wills.

I created this poem (ea and ee) and it's super silly! 

I also created this poem (ow and oa). Since we recently learned about making an inference, I snuck in an inference-related question at the end of the poem: Why do you think their boat can no longer float?

You are welcome to copy my poems as long as you credit me. :) Enjoy!

Daily 5

I love the whole concept of Daily 5...students engaging in authentic reading and writing activities while the teacher is working with guided reading groups. I have implemented the Daily 5 the last two weeks and love the work the students are doing (they've been leaving me some great stories in my mailbox)! I read the book by the two sisters and highly recommend it! I love their perspective on literacy! I've added some unique components to the Daily 5 with interactive boards and technology (that's one thing I love about the Daily 5...you can make it your own!) so here is a picture walk of my Daily 5:

1. Work on Writing:

I accidentally chopped it out of this picture but I have container with fancy pens they may use.

The pencil (from The Teacher Wife) has suggestions on what writers could write. The yellow envelope has story starters written on sticks. The pictures (from What the Teacher Wants) are there to give them possible topics they could write about.

I wrote high frequency words they are required to learn in first grade on post-its. I decided to include weekly describing words too to encourage them to make their writing more interesting.

I encourage the students to use their "writer's eye" (Mrs. Phippen has a super cute bulletin on using your "writer's eye") to look for basic writing mechanics such as capital letters, punctuation, etc. Teacher's Pick is an activity I post each week. I don't require them to do the activity, it's just an option. I've used different squiggle stories the last two weeks, and they love them!

They may do their writing in their writing journal or they may use the Alphasmart pictured above. The Alphasmart is a portable keyboard that can then connect to the computer via USB for you to upload documents. I love the Alphasmart because it gives the students practice with keyboarding outside of the computer lab.

Writing in action!

2. Read to Self 

3. Read to Someone

I want to add more to the Read to Self side but haven't decided what else to put. The bottom of each side (where the blue post-its are) is a section where the students can recommend books they've read by writing the title and author on a post-it

This EEKK poem can be found everywhere! I designed this one to coordinate with the rest of the board.

Reading in action!

 4. Word Work

Sorting!

Sorting!

I have gotten my sorts from Mrs. Pollard, Kerri B., and Mrs. Bainbridge. Word sorting isn't the most fun thing to do but the fun pictures and creative formats of the word sorts attracts the students! I also have a composition notebook with all the word sorts written correctly with features highlighted for the students to check their sort. At this choice, I also have grammar activities like Mad Libs and Noun Land (from The Teacher Wife).

5. Listen to Reading

The students may listen to reading on the computer with a list of websites I created using Jog the Web. The ITRT at my school showed us Jog the Web...anyone can create a list of websites you want the viewer to visit. It's free and easy to use!

The students may also use the LeapFrog Tag pens to listen to reading. They LOVE these! I own one pen myself, I borrowed two from the Reading Specialist, and two from my university supervisor. I love the Tag pens because of the one-to-one correspondence and certain books focus on specific vowel sounds. 

This past week was Spirit week... three of the students asked me to be twins with them so we were quadruplets! As you can see we wore grey bottoms and a blue top.  I love them. :)