It's the second week of school and my kiddos are having a hard time learning names so I made up this phonics game.  I printed out some CVC word pictures and taped one on each student's head.  Then I made a paper with each kids name and a space.  You can download it here.  The students walked around and wrote the CVC word by the student's name on the list.  It took 30 minutes+.  The kids had so much fun!  If they didn't know the student's name they asked them and had them point to it on the list.

Neighborhood Project, Fun New Book

Hey everyone! Have you started school yet? We had our 10th school day today and it is amazing how far we have already come with rules and procedures. We have been learning about neighborhoods. I saw a cute idea on Pinterest and decided we would do it as well. The kids really enjoyed it and they turned out so cute. We put them in the hall for others to enjoy . . .

I also wanted to share a book with you that I recently found. It is for me, not for school. The first time I saw it we were in a shop at Pier 39 in San Francisco this summer. It was one of those, "Should I buy it or not?" moments. The type when you are purchasing something else, you are toward the end of vacation and think you shouldn't spend any more money . . .well, I didn't buy it . . .wished I did. . .went home and ordered it from Amazon anyway! Have you ever done that? Here is the book:

Click here to see it on Amazon

There is also a darling calendar (which I DID buy on vacation)

Have a good evening . . .

Franklin's Neighborhood and {Adam-12}

Hi everyone. It is Sunday evening. Thankfully I already have my clothes ironed for tomorrow! That is always a bonus in the morning.

 I also worked on doing some organizing in my craft room, while watching Netflix. I love watching shows that I remember watching in my youth. Currently, I am going through an "Adam-12" kick. Does anyone else remember this show? I had to laugh because as a child I remember trying to figure out what they were saying on the police radio when Reed and Malloy got a call. I always thought it sounded like "Seated Man" and I never could really understood that. Now when I watch I know it is saying "See the Man". . .LOL 

In first grade tomorrow we are reading a book called "Franklin's Neighborhood". I have a lot of Franklin books but had not heard of this one . . .we realized it is one of the older Franklin books and in fact it is only available used or through second party sellers. Anyway, it follows Franklin as he works on a project in which he tries to decide the best thing about his neighborhood. . .

Click here to see it on Amazon

After we read the story, I am going to have my class do this:

Click here to download and print

Have a great Sunday evening and fun Monday!

Beginning Sentence Scramble, Zebra Print Canvas Bins

Hey everyone! Gosh, it is Friday! Sorry, I haven't posted very regularly the last couple of weeks. You know how it is when school starts . . .busy, busy, busy! We did a fun activity yesterday to introduce the kids to working in a small group. We began learning about the concept that a capital letter always begins a sentence, and there is always punctuation at the end. After practicing this, I gave each group a very simple, 3 word sentence that I had pre-programmed and cut up. Then they had to solve the mystery of what the first word was, the middle word and the last word by looking for the clues of capital letter and punctuation. They then glued them on strips of construction paper and we read all of the sentences as a class. Here is a picture of the finished project.

Also, if you are decorating your room in black/white or zebra print, Big Lots has some super cute canvas bins in a black/white zebra print. . .

Have a great day!

Happy Monday! I mentioned in an earlier post that I found a really awesome big wooden sign at Tai Pan Trading that says "Work Hard and Be Nice." I hung it on my classroom door. I think I is just perfect for first graders! I decided to make a little one that I could put it an 8 X 10 frame. The cute clip art border is from The 3 AM Teacher. . .Have you started school yet? We just finished our third day of school. My legs and feet are tired! (Plus the weather here has been HoT. I am so glad that they say it is to be cooler starting Wednesday. :)

Click to enlarge and save as JPEG to print

After framing, I added a cute 3D scrapbook embellishment on the outside of the glass in the area of the word  "Be". 

Smart Board Pointer

I am excited to say that I had the opportunity to try out a really cute and useful product from www.smartmovespointers.com/

They are super cute and designed to help those children who no matter what can't seem to get the image to move on the smart board. I have had a few of those little kids and it is so frustrating for them. This pointer is designed to solve that problem. We tried it out in class the last couple of days and it really does move the image on the smart board. In addition to that, they are super cute and colorful. I wish I could tell you the length of the stick but mine are at school and I forgot to measure, but I am sure they can answer that question if you email them. Im going to guess about 15 inches?   This is what they look like when they arrive in their little packages . . .Thanks Joanne for being so great to work with!

Free "Welcome" Banner Printable

Tomorrow is our BiG dAy! The first day of school. :) When do you start back? It has been a whirlwind the last week or so, and I am not ashamed to say I'm tired and going to bed! Yes, at 7:13 in the evening. Pretty ridiculous, I know . . .anyway in honor of our special day tomorrow here is a little freebie . . .each letter prints out on an 8.5 X 11 piece of paper.

Click here to download and print.

Have a great evening!

Student Birthdays Idea!

Hi everyone! Gosh, I'm still out of the loop! I haven't had time for anything but I want to say I appreciate all of the nice comments and the awesome things you are putting on your blogs. I am seeing the wonderful stuff but haven't had time to visit and comment lately. I know things will settle down soon though! 

 I can't believe we start school (with students) this coming Thursday. Wow! Time flies by. I also have my first student birthday on the first day of school. I've been busy making sure I am ready. As part of what I do for school birthdays is that I allow other students to ask questions of the birthday boy or girl. I find in first grade it helps to have a bank of questions to draw from. I have done this for a couple of years and it is great and eliminates the "I forgots" after someone is picked to ask a question. I am including my printable in case it is helpful to someone else.

 I used flower punches to make a flower shape and also punched a slightly larger flower to use as a mat for each flower. I then hot glued them together and used hot glue to attach to colored drinking straws that I found at Big Lots. I poured pop corn kernels into the little wooden box I am using, in order to hold the straws upright. Probably a picture would make more sense . . .

and here are the questions I used . . .

Click here to download and print

Have a great evening. :)

Classroom Pics Galore

Hey everyone! We are back from our awesome 10 day vacation to San Francisco! Super fun, but isn't home    always the best place to be?! I really should have made a list of the things that I still needed to do upon returning because now . . .I have no idea what I had planned before we left. Have you ever experienced this? Complete mental fog. :) I basically had most of my room ready ahead of time, but it is all of those 100 little things that we all have on those ongoing lists. Do you know what I mean? I think teachers always have one of those mental lists going. 

Anyway, while my brain is trying to catch up with the real world, I spent today working on some arranging in my classroom. I am including some pics in the post. Sorry they aren't the best . . .

I also have a picture of my finished binder and plan book

I have listed a new color scheme of my Teacher Notebook Dividers and Calendar in my TpT Store.

Here is a peek . . .

Here is the link

Have a wonderful evening! Have you been watching the Olympics?