Getting Ready for January: Numbers for the Pocket Chart up to 120

What a week! I KNOW y'all know what I'm talking about. My class is the sweetest! On Monday and Tuesday, they were completely delightful. Wednesday was challenging. Now I'm just hoping that we all survive until Friday!

Today we completely finished off the calendar projects. Yahoo! And math was awesome (more on that later--with pictures!) And we read The Gingerbread Cowboy and did some activities (more on that later!)

But just to keep myself from going completely nuts, I'm prepping materials for January.



I made these numbers for the pocket chart, plus an extra 20, since 120 is the "magic number" for first grade Common Core math.

Snag a set for yourself HERE, laminate this week, and cut out at your leisure (in front of the TV!) during the break. You'll be all set!

Two. More. Days.

Kindergarten and First Grade Calendar for 2014 ...Darling Handprint Art and Poems for Each Month

I love this little calendar. It's magical.

There's a beautiful full-color cover with a place for the students to write their names.



For each month of the year, students make a handprint picture of some kind. The picture shows the snowflakes for January and the hearts for February.



Plus, there are cute, thematic graphics, a thematic poem, and an accurate 2014 calendar.





OMIWORD. It's precious. My babes were completely enchanted when they discovered the pictures they could make with their hands.

Click on any of the above pictures to get your copy. My students made these for presents for their parents for the holidays. But you could also make one month at a time, or create the whole calendar as a "Happy New Year!" present.

Four more days, Teacher Friends!

 

Thanksgiving Unit On The Way ... And A Beanie Baby Reading Strategies Giveaway!

First of all. Happy THREE day weekend. Three days! Okay, so it did fly by... but I got a ton done! I spent some much needed, relaxing time with my husband and kids. So. Good. But besides that, I got tons of errands taken care of! My car was so filthy, I was embarrassed to drive it. Black cars just look awful when they're dirty. So I checked that off my list. I gathered some items at Target and JoAnn's and Michael's. I went to the grocery store, picked up clothes at the cleaners,  and bought my ridiculous-but-I-love-it-so-I-don't-care-how-much-it-costs shampoo. I washed, dried and folded tons of laundry. I had two lovely coffee dates with my husband, one fabulous coffee date with my friend Teacher Nina, and went to my wildly fun book club meeting. And if all that wasn't enough, we also squeezed in a Saturday night dinner with my fake sister and her husband. Haha! It's amazing how rejuvenating a few hours of laughing can be!

Did I mention I also finished some sewing projects? And watched hours of Mad Men? I'm tellin' ya, it felt like more than three days and I'm so grateful for the time off of work!

Well, speaking of work... I did a little of that, too. My Thanksgiving Unit is nearly complete, and y'all will be the first to know. I'll be giving away a copy of it this week, so check back.

But since I know you love giveaways...

My two Beanie Baby units are both best sellers on Teachers Pay Teachers, and if you don't have a copy yet, you should have one! Here's you chance to win one!

One unit focuses on Decoding Strategies...



And the other focuses on Comprehension Strategies.



Both include posters, bookmarks, and strategy cards.

And one of these little beauties could be yours before the end of the week!

I'll be randomly choosing two winners from my group of followers and two winners from comments posted this week. So I'll be giving away four sets total. If your name is chosen, you'll get to choose which unit you want. If you're a follower and you leave a comment, you could win twice and get them both!

Leave your comment and become a follower before this Thursday, November 14 at 6:00 pm Pacific Time to get your chance! Be sure to leave your email address in your comment so I can let you know if you win!

Have a great week and check back soon! Because I'm in one of those moods: I'll be giving away a copy of my Thanksgiving Unit just as soon as it's finished, too!

 

Tons of Ten Frames

Okay, I admit it. I can be ridiculous.

Here is a perfect example.

I created a gigantic set of ten frames...one for every month in the school year, plus some extra thematic ones, plus one with a cute Pete-ish cat, plus one for Earth Day, plus one Cat-in-a-Hat-ish, plus one with a beach theme, plus more. Seriously?! Yep, I'm afraid so.

I made two versions of each theme, too. The first version has two ten frames on a page. Each page is meant to be cut in half (I included a dotted line for cutting.) The second version has two ten frames on a page. This one is to use for numbers to twenty! It should not be cut in half, but used as is!



I will be doing lots and lots of lessons with ten frames this year. They are perfect for teaching Common Core math standards for kindergarten and first grade. Hungry for more?



OMG. That Brown Bear-themed one is definitely one of my favorites! You can bet we will start the lesson with some quick color review, a little oral language, and some reading!



I like classroom materials that can do double duty. Pattern isn't included in the Common Core State Standards, but I've heard several experts say that it's assumed. Children will still need practice with pattern at every grade level. So, on the rainy day ten frames, I included boots lined up in a pattern. Take advantage of a quick opportunity to discover the pattern and count by twos with your students!



I made sure to several generic ten frames in this pack, like this colorful one. This would be good for any day of the year!

What about manipulatives, you ask? Well, how about buttons for the Pete frames? Tiny pumpkin erasers for the Halloween frames? There's a beach ten frame that is just begging to be used with shells! But really, any small object will work just fine. Try Unifix cubes, pompoms, pattern blocks, glass beads, tiny base ten blocks, paper clips, foam pieces (like the kind they sell in giant tubs at Michael's), erasers, tiny die cut papers or even construction paper squares. So many possibilities!

Google 20 Percent Time

More Google thoughts... I just might be obsessed.

There are lots of benefits of working at Google, I hear. Need a hair cut? Get one free on-site! Want to work out?  Free on-site gym!  Need to do laundry, get clothes dry-cleaned, eat, swim or see a doctor? All those things can happen on-site at Google.

Yes. I'm jealous. Incredibly jealous!

One little Google perk that I find more fascinating than luxurious, however... the Google 20 Percent Time.

Google employees are allowed to spend up to 20 percent of their time working on projects that are not a part of their job descriptions. That's one whole day per week! They can use the time to develop new ideas, fix things that aren't quite working right, explore, and engage with others to work on projects. Gmail is one Google product that came out of this 20 Percent Time.

Yep. Still jealous. But I love the idea! And I've been thinking about it for a month... How can I do something similar in my classroom with my students? Unlike the Google 20 Percent, projects in my class wouldn't have to provide a benefit to me. (Haha! That's a funny thought though! Children could explore recipes using chocolate?) But the students could certainly benefit! And perhaps some of their ideas and projects could help other students or the greater school community? (I'm also exploring Choose 2 Matter this week!) It's all about empowering children to take charge of their learning and their actions. They can do research or experiment or explore. So exciting!

Other teachers have done similar things, and I've heard some impressive ideas, topics for study, and results: fundraisers for seriously ill children, school landscaping, building websites, ways to make money, cancer, pollution, food, music...

I've spent lots of time thinking about what this would look like in a first grade classroom. The projects and classrooms I've heard about involve older students, but I think Genius Hour would be amazing for first graders! Six-year-olds are so curious and energetic! But I truly can't dedicate 20 percent of our instructional minutes to this idea. So we are going to have Genius Hour for an hour at a time. I'm thinking I can work it in twice per week, but I haven't got that part figured out for sure. I'm hoping that I can find ways to integrate it with reading or writing, so that we can do it more often.

I'm going to start our Genius Hour with some exploration activities. I want to combine creativity and collaboration, and increase students' knowledge of the ways that people explore and learn. I'm going to provide toys for scientific exploration: magnet toys, a spirograph, wind-up toys, plants, magnifying glasses, prisms, mirrors, bubbles, a lap harp, etc. I'm also going to provide play dough, art supplies, and building materials like toothpicks and popsicle sticks and paper and random containers.



And I'm going to provide these Creativity and Critical Thinking cards for my students... to really get them thinking!



During this time, students will have access to digital cameras to document their creations, and they can computers to gather information.

Next, I will use books, short YouTube videos and discussions to get students thinking about their own questions, the needs of others, and ways to make a difference. Some students might forge ahead with a question or project idea, while other students take a little more time exploring. I totally expect that, and it will actually work well: I'll have more time to help individual students get started on their projects.

 

 

MacBook Air, School Supplies and New Ladybug Labels

So it was an expensive day at the Apple Store. To quote Liz Lemon, "Blerg."

I spent HOURS trying to decide what kind of computer to buy. My trusty, white MacBook was definitely on its last leg after my *amazing* day at Google. Truthfully, I've had problems with my laptop for months. I knew it was coming.

I ended up getting a MacBook Air. I got the Apple discount for educators, and because they're doing a Back-to-School promotion, I got a $100 gift card good at the App Store or iTunes. Of course, I parted with a pile of cash at the same time...

So far, so good. It took all night to transfer everything from my old Mac (via Time Machine), but the MacBook Air is up and running now! Yahoo! So fast! So shiny!

More school supply sales are being advertised now. Crayons are on sale for 50 cents a box at a few different stores. I just can't remember if that's a good deal or not! What do you think? I'm still waiting for bargain composition books and spiral notebooks...

And the New Ladybug Labels... I updated a set I made several months ago. I added many classroom objects, numbers, colors and a student page. There are nameplates, too! Click below to get your own set!