Lions and Tigers and Flushing, Oh My!

Yes you read my title correctly!

Today I'm talking about the sometimes lack of flushing and chronic lack of hand washing in my 1st grade classroom bathroom.  I'm done with gentle reminders, so I whipped up some bathroom reminder signs and threw in some technology to get their attention.  Watch this:

So I'm linking up with Charity over at 

to share a Bathroom Signs freebie :-)

I guess my last resort is to wear a t-shirt like this:

Happy Labor Day and a reminder that all my Readers' Theater plays are on SALE until Wednesday!

Readers' Theater is on the Horizon!

It's raining, it's pouring, the old man is snoring...

I wonder where in the world that came from?!  But needless to say I'm ready to build an ark up here in Anchorage and the only one snoring is my husband.  It's 12:35a.m. and I just got home from working up at school.  I usually stay late on Friday nights, wear my jammies and get tons of stuff done.  This weekend I was there Friday and Saturday night...lots to do.

As I was planning out my first quarter I got excited that we will start doing Reading Groups in 2 weeks!  We have a Back-to-School unit to do first with our Houghton-Mifflin reading curriculum.  Then I get to start meeting with small groups of kids and really zero in on where they are at with their reading.  I have some VERY high readers and some pretty low readers.  In addition to using guided reading books, I started supplementing with Readers' Theater plays last year because #1 The kids have FUN with them, #2 It's fantastic fluency practice and #3 I LOVE to write scripts!

Come take a peek at these free scripts:

I'm getting so excited to do Readers' Theater again I'm throwing a

on all my Readers' Theater scripts from Sunday - Wednesday over at my 

TPT store!

You can also grab this free Readers' Theater poster that guides you and your students through the process of bringing a play to life!

Happy Labor Day everybody!

Phew!

My first day has come and gone and it was FaNtAsTiC!

I think it was probably my best first day in all my years of teaching.  I was sooooo nervous though, complete with butterflies and a tummy ache!  The only time I ever get nervous like that is the morning of a (running) race, so I don't know why I got so nervous this time. I didn't overplan, we got through everything, I poured on the praise and the kids were so well-behaved!

I started with my favorite first day book, First Day Jitters by Julie Danneberg.

I also ate lunch with my kiddos, which was very interesting, but it was good that I was there to help those kids who are new to our school and the whole lunch routine.

***

One of the things I love about teaching 1st grade and kids so young is that you can turn anything into a game and they eat it up.  One of our former, awesome, gym teachers played this when it was time to line up and leave her class and I've adopted it for whenever we leave our classroom -AND- during group bathroom breaks: the Secret Person Game.

Before dismissing kids to line up I choose 1 boy and 1 girl to especially keep an eye on BUT I don't tell them who it is and thus, they all line up hoping it's them.  As they line up I think aloud to encourage them all to line up and stay lined up nicely (Is my Secret Boy lining up quietly and staying quiet?  Is My Secret Girl making sure there is space in front and in back of her?).  If the Secret Boy lines up nicely and stays quiet I announce who it is and he adds a gem to our 'Gem Jar' and the same thing goes for the Secret Girl.  If one or both of them does not line up correctly then I tell kids we can't add a gem, but I don't announce who it was.  This game works SO well it seems silly :-)

***

Tomorrow we're going to write about our summer vacations after listening to 

So I can get an idea of my student's writing abilities.

Both of the books I've mentioned above are part of a Back-to-School Literature Activities PACK that you can find at my TPT store and it's on sale!

Today is the Day!

I'm sooooooo nervous!

The above quote will be my game plan then :-)

Not only is it the first day with my new 1st graders -BUT- it's also my daughter's first day of Kindergarten!  Can't believe this milestone is already here but I'm so excited for her to embark on this journey.

Have a great day everybody!

What a Weekend!

This weekend it was absolutely GoRgEoUs up here in Anchorage, Alaska!

It has been raining straight for the last three weeks....I was ready to build an ark!  But the sun came back in full force and we soaked it up.  My sister is visiting and we hiked Flattop Mountain (with everybody else in the city it seemed).

I've been back at work for the last week and a half, but I haven't had students yet.  We are so fortunate that K and 1 teachers get 5 extra days before students arrive and we schedule conferences with incoming families.  During these conferences we assess students (AIMSWeb reading & math and our own reading and math assessments) and connect with parents right off the bat.  It's really a fantastic thing and I'm thankful every year!  Wednesday morning we get the show on the road though :-)

Have you ever heard of this book?  It's an Alaskan tale that popped into my head today twice.  I'm always making connections between children's literature and my own life and I love to share that with my students!

1st Connection: At the end of our hike we saw some people berry picking on the hillside and down in the valley.  I assumed it was blueberries they were eagerly picking.  So we climbed up onto the hillside and began to pick as well.

 

But we discovered, by asking a woman who had a huge bucketful of these berries, that we had picked crowberries.  Never heard of them?   Us either.  They are used to make jam and are put into aqutak (Eskimo ice cream).

I'm going to let our little collection ripen and then make some crowberry muffins.

2nd Connection: Later in the evening we hiked on a huge sand dune that we had no idea was 5 minutes from our house.  I just bought a toddler hiking backpack off Craig's List yesterday so we got to try it out (actually my sister wanted to carry Max).

Blueberry Shoe is the story of a family that goes hiking and the toddler in the backpack loses one of his shoes.  A vole, a fox and a bear all come upon it and use it for awhile.  Dirt and blueberry seeds find their way into the shoe and the following spring it is found (with a blueberry sprout) by the family again.

I encourage you to get your hands on a copy because it's a cute story and could fit in nicely to a plant lifecycle lesson or unit.

A Winner, QR Codes & A Freebie

Happy Monday everyone!

The First Grade Bloom and The Library Fox would like to congratulate Rachael Wallace for winning our giveaway last week!  We thank everyone who participated and I want to thank the Library Fox for collaborating with me.

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I've seen a few QR code things on Pinterest lately and have them stuck in my brain.  So the only thing to do is to find out what they are and use them.  

So I created a quick little 'Teacher Scavenger Hunt' that kids and their parents can do during our Back-to-School Open House tomorrow night.  Each clue will be displayed somewhere in the room, in a frame.

Parents can then use their mobile devices and a QR code reading app to play along.

To create this fun activity I used:

- Microsoft word (especially screen shots)

-photos I pulled from my iPhoto

-Photobucket (because each photo is given it's own URL)

-the website www.qrstuff.com

I can't wait to try it out tomorrow night!

* * *

And finally I'm linking up with Charity over at 

to share a poster I created for my favorite way to teach my first graders to select a book from our Classroom Library.  Since my kiddos start in a week, I'll be pulled that poster out as I continue to set up my classroom this week.

Have a great week everyone!

A Fortune & A Back-to-School Sale

This is what was inside of my fortune cookie the other day:

I had to chuckle because it's literally true...thank goodness I teach first graders because I'm only 5'4!  But it's also figuratively true and a great reminder for the beginning of a new school year.  Kids look up to us as we are models of everything from good readers to good behavior.

* * *

You've probably seen and heard about the BIG Teachers Pay Teachers 'Back-to-School' sale so I'll just jump on the promotion bandwagon and say that I too am joining in!  So you get 10% off from me and then an additional % off when you get check out (be sure to type in the code BTS13).

* * *

And to wrap things up, my sweet boy turned 1 today!  One year ago today I was 9 months pregnant and went back to work when teachers reported.  I felt really good that day (no backache)....well that was my warning. The next morning I got up to go shower and get ready for work again when  MY WATER BROKE!  9 hours later the happiest baby with the most beautiful blue eyes came into this world and fills my heart with so much love and laughter!

I love you so much!