Weekend App Attack: Geoboards!

If you are like me, I hate clutter in my classroom.  In fact, I spent wayyy too long after school yesterday cleaning/sorting/organizing.  I still have a long way to go but the clutter I've collected from this school year is slowly fading away. 

It is beautiful today, so my post is going to be short and sweet.  I want to share a new iPad app that you can use in the classroom for math!

My school is common-core crazy right now, and one of the items on our math maps for next year is the use of geoboards.  My kids LOVE geoboards but I hate storing them.  They are big, bulky, awkward, and not easy to stack and store.  My solution of course? "There has to be an app for that!"  And...there is!

This is a free app called Geoboard.  You can download it from the iTunes store by clicking {HERE}.

The kids can do everything they can on a real Geoboard - only virtually.  What an awesome way to connect math and technology.  Here are some screen shots of what the app looks like:

 

I can't wait to use this app in the classroom next year.  A few of my firsties tried it out during our math rounds this week and loved it!  They had so much.  I'm thinking a few task cards of shapes they need to make, plus this app would make a great learning station! 

I hope you enjoyed this weekend's App Attack and find this free math app useful for your classroom.  

Thank you for stopping by! :) 

Happy Learning,

"Did you get my email?" & Neon Doodling!

It did not take long for my firsties to become experts at using our new Google Nexus 7 tablets.  They are loving them - and so am I, because this week I do not have to stamp or check any of my students' Word Work.  I'm simply checking my email.  

We started our week by learning how to type our trick words (sight words) into this Simple Notepad app.  It's a basic tablet notepad and very easy to use.  Here is the one we used:

Remember, our Google Nexus 7 tablets run on the Android system, so this app will not work for iPads.  However, there are TONS of good notepads available for iPads.  The one the iPad comes pre-loaded with works great! 

My students practiced typing skills by making a big list of all of the current trick words we are practicing.  I taught them to enter their name as the Subject Line, hit "Send" and Viola!  I simply scrolled through my email and checked to make sure everyone had been on task and working.  The best part is, the kids had SO much fun with it and felt very "grown up."  

I've been working hard on organizing my word work materials. This year, as I would go to open up the cabinet, my kids could be heard yelling "Watch out!"  Things would fall out, bop me on the head, come alive...it was a mess.   I'm adding new materials so my word work bins will always stay "fresh."  (Remember, I just put one material in the bins at a time. You can read more about the way I manage my word work for Daily 5 by clicking HERE.)  I can't wait to show you my "work in progress" later this week when my cabinet is finally organized. :)

I was strolling through Target tonight and saw this little gadget.  It was relatively cheap - $4.99 - and I thought it looked like a fun new twist for word work practice! :)  It writes like a gel pad in neon colors (there are other colors available).  The best part is, the pen is attached so it will never get lost!  I know my kids will have SO much fun next year when they see these little guys in their word work bins one week.  The product is from Fisher Price and is called the Doodle Pro Neon.  It says for ages 3+ but even I had fun using it! 

I hope you're having a great week!  :)  Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Learning,

A "Thank You" to my Mother & Giveaway Winners

 Today, I'm celebrating my mom.  My best friend.  My supporter, cheerleader, and teacher.  The successes and values I have today come from her.

(My beautiful mama!)

 My mom was a single mother for the majority of my life and I thank God every day for her and all of the sacrifices she's made for me.  She was both mother and father through those very hard middle school and high school years.  She worked full time, yet was there for every school play, parent-teacher conference, dance recital, and school event.  She worked eight to ten hour days and then came home to shuffle me to and from the dance studio, and stayed up with me to practice my spelling words and help me through homework projects.  As I got older, I realized the many sacrifices she made to make my childhood a happy one.  She helped put me through college and made my dream of becoming a teacher a reality.  At my wedding, I listened as our pastor told our guests how I had told him one day that my mom "was my rock."  It is so very true. 

I'm constantly amazed at her strength, her confidence, her work ethic, and her kindness to others.  She reminds me to pour all you have into what you do, yet not to work so hard that you miss out on life and the many joys it contains. God has truly blessed me with a wonderful mother and a life-long role model.

Happy Mother's Day to all of you wonderful mothers out there who work so hard, day in and day out.  You have THE hardest job in the world and I appreciate everything you do for your children!  In the midst of stresses, busy schedules, and deadlines, take today to stop and reflect, be with, and pray for the wonderful women in our lives.  :) Happy Mother's Day!

I'm also going to announce the winners of our Teacher Appreciation Extravaganza Giveaway! We had over 11,000 entries! Wow!!!  The winners of this giveaway are truly going to be three happy teachers!  

The winners are....

Congratulations! Linda will be receiving $230 worth of gift cards from some AMAZING places!  Emma will receive a custom-made room theme of her choice and great back-to-school products, and Kayrn will receive one item for each of the 15 blogs within the blog hop. Yayy!!

We are hosting a family dinner tonight to celebrate our moms, so I am off to do some cooking! 

Happy Mother's Day,

A Little Bit Of Sunshine & Rose-Bush-Food-Stuff

I love Teacher Appreciation Week.  I also love our PTO.  They are so sweet!  Every day this week, they've done something adorable for us such as bringing in lunches, breakfasts, door prizes, and little gifts. Today was a yogurt bar - yum!  

One of my little sweeties gave me this cute box this morning for Teacher Appreciation Week.  

Inside was a box of little goodies - all yellow!! It definitely made me smile and brightened up my day! My student's babysitter made it for me and is just so sweet and creative! (Babysitter who reads my blog - THANK YOU!!) :)

This post is going to be random because I am SO tired!! I'm not sure what it is that is making me so tired.   It might be the billion pounds of paperwork I need to complete before the end of the year, the overwhelming standards based report card meeting I had on Tuesday, the DRA's I need to get finished, the AIMS benchmarks that still need graded, the piles of books I need to label and sort, and the two presentations I need to start and finish before we leave for vacation in three weeks.  Like I said....I'm not really sure why I'm so tired.  ;)

This past weekend was beautiful and my husband and I spent most of the weekend outside.  A little trip to Home Depot turned into a full day's work of mulching, weeding, and gardening.  Let me just say I do not have a green thumb.  I looked like a kindergartner on the first day of school while I was walking through the aisles of flowers. 

 I purchased and planted my very first rose bush.  My husband bet me $20 it wouldn't be alive by the end of the summer.  I just knew I was going to prove him wrong, but then that night, my good bloggy friend Samantha gave me the advice: "Feed the rose bush and it'll do really well!"  Feed the rose bush? I figured it just ate sunshine and water like every other plant.  I asked her if it ate Doritos.  I was hoping.  She said it doesn't.  I'll be headed to Home Depot again this weekend to buy some rose-bush-food-stuff.  

What was your favorite part of Teacher Appreciation Week? Do you know the name of the rose-bush-food-stuff I should buy this weekend?  

:) Happy Learning,

If I had a super power....

On Friday, my first graders had a sub. I pulled out a couple of pages from my sub plan pack for them to work on.  For one of the sub activities, my firsties had to write about a super power that they would give their teacher.  I just had to share what this little girl wrote!! I was cracking up when I read it on Monday morning:

(I wish Mrs. Wagers could make 5 of her so she can pass out papers quicker.)

Haha!  Apparently, I need to pick up the pace in Room 108.  :)

You can find this fun sub plan pack in my TpT store by clicking on the picture below!  Remember, everything in my store is 20% off until midnight tomorrow! :) Use the code: TAD13 for an additional 10% off your purchase.  

Visit my TPT Store and save 20% off of EVERYTHING!

Click HERE!

 I'm off to practice passing out papers in a more timely fashion... ;)

Hugs and Happy Learning,

It's here!! MORE Sight Word Passages {Version 2.0} & TA Sale!

It's finally here!!!  My second edition of sight word fluency passages for reading intervention is finally posted and ready for you!  If you loved my first pack, you won't have to worry about "running out" of intervention lessons or passages any longer! :)

This one is called: MORE Sight Word Fluency Passages for Reading Intervention {Version 2.0}!   You can click the link above or the picture below to jump to my TpT store.  Download the preview version on TpT and score THREE free passages and lessons to use with your kiddos! (There is a first grade, second grade, and third grade passage available in the free preview version.)  I'd love for you to try it out with your kiddos!  So many teachers (including myself) are having great success with these passages.  

This intervention pack has *75* original fluency passages that each target 4 sight words. (That's 15 weeks of intervention and fluency practice when used once daily!) My original pack contained passages with the Dolch Words.  If you have students who can identify sight words on a flash card but then struggle to identify those same sight words within text, this pack is for you! 

The pack contains a focus on the first 300 Fry Words. Many of you are using the pack in tons of creative ways: of course, as intervention in your Tier II and Tier III RTI groups, as warm-ups and daily fluency practice for guided reading, as a tutoring or parent volunteer program to help struggling readers, and so much more!  So many teachers have emailed me and shared the fluency success their children are experiencing with these sight word passages.  Now, when you combine this pack with my original, you'll have enough passages to last you the whole year!!  It's also great on it's own! 

Each passage contains four target words.  Students highlight or color the four target words within the passage.  Then, they reread the passage three times for fluency, coloring a happy face after each rereading.  Research has shown us that rereading is a key factor in fluency growth.  Students then illustrate the passage to demonstrate comprehension.  My students LOVE these - especially my struggling readers, because they feel very successful throughout the whole process and lesson. Each passage/lesson also comes with coordinating flash cards and the passage can be used with your choice of two different fonts: a kid friendly font and the traditional Times New Roman font. Using both fonts interchangeably will help your students identify letters from both types of font quickly - further adding to fluency and sight word identification.

The two packs are also now available as a BUNDLE Pack!  Purchased together, these two products provide over 125 fluency passages - OR - over 25 weeks of intervention when used once daily! Click the picture below to jump to my TpT store. 

My original version can be found by clicking HERE.  You can also read more about these passages on my blog by clicking here.  

My ENTIRE Store, including these sight word products, will all be on SALE tomorrow, May 7th and Wednesday, May 8th!  EVERYTHING will be 20% off!  Use the CODE: TAD13 to get an additional 10% off from TpT! 

 Stock up for next year and grab some great end of the year products!  Below are some of my favs! :) Click any picture below to jump to my TpT Shop and add it to your wishlist.  Don't forget the code: TAD13

Sight Word Fluency Passages for Reading Intervention

  

Forces & Motion: A Science Unit for Kids!

States of Matter for Kids! A Unit on Solids, Liquids, and Gases!

Weather Unit for Kids!

Poetry Party!

 End of Year Writing Pack

Let's Pack a Picnic! Theme Unit

 My Teacher Is Missing! Sub Plan Pack

A Year of Story Problems:

 Happy Learning (and shopping!), 

Christina :) 

Teacher Appreciation Giveaway & Blog Hop!

I have teamed up with some of my special bloggy friends to bring a HUGE giveaway to you for Teacher Appreciation Week.  And, to make a giveaway even better, we've turned it into a blog hop so that you can grab 15 end-of-the-year freebies along the way!!  I'm Blog Stop #1 and I can't wait to share this with you!  

The first place prize is AMAZING!  It is filled with gift cards to pamper a teacher! :)  (Kohls, Starbucks, Barnes & Noble, Bath & Body Works...honestly, the list keeps going, too!)  Think of all the wonderful shopping you can do this summer....I'm already jealous of the winner! :)

 Second place is a custom made room theme of your choice.  It also includes a bunch of beginning-of-the-year activities from lots of great TpT stores!

 Third place is your choice of one item from each of the 15 TpT shops in the blog hop. 

My end of the year freebie is a cute scrapbook that you can use with your students during that last week of school.  It comes with a cover page for kindergarten through fifth grade. Simply print off the cover page for your grade, along with the memory pages. :)

You can grab this freebie in my TpT Shop by clicking on the picture below, or clicking {HERE}.

And, don't forget about the HUGE Teachers Pay Teachers Sale that starts tomorrow (May 7th and May 8th!).  EVERYTHING in my TpT store will be 20% off! Use the TpT Code: TAD13 for an additional 10% off! :)  

Visit Blog Stop #2 by clicking the picture below! 

Enter the Teacher Appreciation Extravaganza Giveaway by using the Rafflecopter at the bottom of my post! Don't forget to visit all 15 stops along the hop in order to enter as many times as you can! :)  

Happy Blog Hopping,

a Rafflecopter giveaway

20 Days of Good Behavior

The month of May reminds me of the Allstate mayhem commercials.  It always seems like we have a couple little sweeties who, out of nowhere, suddenly forget our classroom rules.  The sun starts to shine and it inevitably soaks up their ability to recall the high expectations I've worked so hard to instill.  I always have to break out a new behavior plan in May to keep things fresh and exciting.  It helps to keep our learning atmosphere going and reminds my little sweeties of how to make good choices.  It's always something super lame amazing that makes my kids "ooohhh" and "ahhhh" with delight.  

Last year, I used Kristen's Angry Bird plan.  It was awesome!  I highly recommend!  I went to use it again on Monday until I realized I couldn't remember where I had put the laminated Angry Birds  I created last year.  I do know I put them in a place where I would not forget them.  I also know that every time I tell myself that, I usually can never remember where that special place is.  

This year, I used my co-worker, Rachel from ABSeymour's,  end of the year behavior count-down idea.  You can read all about it and find a link to her activity by clicking {HERE}. It's such a cute idea.  Actually, it's genius.  She has different activities on the back of cut-out stars.  Every day, any child who is on green or higher on the clip chart gets to do the fun activity or special treat that is behind the star at the end of the day. Any children who are on yellow or below have to sit out.   This sounds a little harsh, until I remind myself that by May, my kids know my expectations by heart and they are all very capable of meeting them.

I used Rachel's idea and simply created 20 QR codes. One QR code for every day of school we have left.  I had them up on the board when the kids walked in on Monday morning. 

It WORKS! The kids get SO excited for the last 10 minutes of the day!  They have been working so hard and making great choices in order to get to do the "QR Activity" as they've been calling it.  At the end of the day, we scan the QR code with my iPad so that it shows up on our Apple TV.  It brings up a little activity they can do such as an extra 10 minutes of recess, doodling on their whiteboards for a few minutes, switching seats with a friend, or anything that is simple for me and fun for them! On Monday, our QR code said "Sidewalk Chalk."  They had so much fun with that one!

If you're looking for a way to keep your kids on-track with behavior until that very last day of school, this is an idea to think about! :)  Rachel's whole packet with the complete count-down activity can be found in her TPT shop HERE.    

If you want to make your own QR codes, I used this website to create mine:  http://qrcode.kaywa.com/

Here's a screen shot of the website. I typed directions into the text portion of the picture for you. 

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope this little idea can help you keep your kids on the right behavior track during these last few weeks of school! :)

Happy Learning,

At Last...Pencil Peace. :)

You all know my pet peeve with pencils.  If you work with me (red hallway peeps who read my blog), you'll remember the day I walked around with a HUGE bag of broken pencils, trying to uncover the mystery of how 25 kids could possibly go through almost 200 pencils in a matter of weeks. I was annoyed, mad, confused, frustrated not a happy teacher. 

However, my pet peeve is gone!  "Pencil Peace" has returned to first grade.  I've mentioned the Classroom Friendly Supplies' amazing pencil sharpener briefly before, but I'm here to do a complete review of this awesome sharpener.  They were kind enough to send me a sharpener to test out with my kiddos and review.  I will also share how and why I have not heard the words "I can't find my pencil." or "My pencil broke." in the past six weeks.  SIX WEEKS! 

I've tried the old "blunt" and "sharp" bucket.  That worked out well for....8 hours.  My kids would simply trade their pencils in to get a new one, even if it wasn't completely blunt.  So, of course, we made an anchor chart, had a class meeting, wrote a song about it, practiced it, choreographed a dance about it,  talked about it, but that didn't work.  They also thought it was okay to lose their pencils because there was a whole bucket of new ones that just magically replenished itself.  

Not anymore! One night (I'll admit, this part was not fun), I sharpened 6 pencils for each child and placed them in a baggie. 

Now, I take 6-8 minutes every Friday while the kids are book shopping for Daily 5 to sharpen any pencils in their bags that broke over the week.  I simply call up their table and quickly sharpen them while they book shop. After a couple weeks, I trained student helpers to do this for me.  Now, I never waste time on pencils - before or after school! Ta-da!  I never hear about missing pencils because they know they have PLENTY to last them for the entire week. Some of them have now made it into a game - can I go one whole week on one pencil from my baggie? Yes, please!  I've had only two students over the past 6 weeks who have asked me for a pencil.  If anything, my sanity has returned. 

It takes me no time at all to sharpen pencils because of the Friendly Classroom Supplies' pencil sharpener.   It's very easy to use, quiet, small, and cute! It also comes with a great add-on clamp that I like to use when I have my student helpers use the pencil sharpener. It cleans really easily, which we all know is very important.  You simply slide out the collection bin and dump it into a trashcan.  I have literally shoved my electric pencil sharpener in the closet and it is no longer a part of our room.  It was SO loud and distracting.  This one can easily be used while others are working without causing a distraction to the class. The best part, it is FAST.  It sharpens quickly and easily, every time. 

  

The best part is how sharp it makes our pencils.  My kids literally "oohhh" and "ahhhh" when they are handed their pencil baggie for the week. I tested it out on colored pencils last night.  I don't know about you, but many of the sharpeners I've used in the past seem to tear apart my colored pencils.  This one was awesome!!  It sharpened smoothly and the colored pencil was no trouble at all for this sharpener. 

BEFORE

 

AFTER

You can snag your pencil sharpener for only $24.99 with Free Shipping by clicking {HERE}. By visiting their website, you can also enter to win a free pencil sharpener on their giveaway page! 

Thanks for stopping by to visit!

What do YOU do to bring pencil peace to your classroom? I'd love to hear your creative ideas and routines! :) Feel free to leave a comment below. :)

Happy Learning,

Our Week in Pictures!

We were busy learners in Room 108 this week!  Here are a few of the things we did:

It was Earth Week central in first grade!  We used the fabulous Amy Lemon's Earth Day Craftivity Unit to create Dirt Pudding.  We took notes on our steps as we created the dirt pudding.  The following day, we turned these notes into explanatory writing pieces.  Yum!

We also learned all about earthworms this week.  We reviewed the behaviors a reader uses when reading a nonfiction book.  We created this anchor chart as we read an informative fiction book (Diary of a Worm) and a true nonfiction book.

(I realize worms do not have eyes. We talked about how they "see" with light and sense organs. I explained it as their organs act like their "eyes". Before I had realized it, I had written eyes down on the chart while I was talking. Oops!)

After our research was completed, my students wrote these beautiful informational writing pieces about earthworms.  They turned out great!

Yesterday we did some more research about Earth Day from my own Earth Day Writing Pack.  The students once again got into small groups of four and traveled through 6 different stations.  At each station, they took turns scanning the QR code with our Nexus Tablets and reading about different topics such as recycling, conserving energy, ways to reduce and reuse material, and much more!  We had a lot of fun!

We also wrapped up our motion science learning from my Forces & Motion Science Unit for Kids.  We did a few more experiments this week.  When I gave the motion assessment on Friday, I was really happy with the results.  My kids learned a lot about friction, forces, and energy over these past two weeks.  

In math, we reviewed the concepts of place value with both 2 and 3 digit numbers.  We are finished with all of the packets in our math books, so I'm having to be more creative with my math lessons as we review and expand on concepts during this last month of school.  This week, we played a place value game to kick off our math block each day.

For this game, every student was given a sticker that was placed on his/her back.  The sticker had various ways to name numbers.  Students traveled around the room and recorded each friend's two or three digit number on a recording sheet.  Fun and active learning! :)

 Whew! I'm glad it's the weekend.  This past week was a bit exhausting.  Next week, we have a field trip on Wednesday.  Yay! The best part of a field trip is, of course, getting to wear jeans in the middle of the week.  (and the life experience and real world learning that takes place for the kids, of course.) The worst part for me is riding the bus.  I get such horrible motion sickness in cars, buses, trains, spaceships - you name it.   I'll be making a trip to to the store in a bit to pick up some Dramamine to be prepared.  We're going to a museum.  This week in guided reading, we read a lot of nonfiction books.  During each book, one kid would ultimately say "We're probably going to see one of these at the museum next week."  I'm counting on a few kids being disappointed on Wednesday.  We're NOT going to be see a real live dinosaur, an astronaut, or an entire group of elephants at this particular museum. 

Thanks for stopping by my blog to find out what we did this week! 
I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.  

Happy Learning,