End of the Year/Graduation

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I want to share some of the things I've done in the past at the end of the school year. Last year my daughter graduated high school, and we had a HUGE party for her. I wanted a really special way to display the dozens of cupcakes that we had and came up with the graduation cap you see below. The bottom of it is a wash tub that I spray painted blue, and the top is a piece of foam that I also spray painted. The tassle was made out of yarn. It was a huge hit!

 

 

At the end of the year I have each of my students make a handprint for me to hang in the classroom as border along the top of my wall.  I have handprints of students who will be graduating high school next year and I teach 1st grade.  Students love to come in once in a while and see their handprints.  Parents come in at open house from year to year to see their babies' handprints.  I started this the first year I began teaching at this school and I treasure it.

 

For more end of the year ideas please click on the graduation cap above.

Earth Day Fun!!

Oh my gosh!  Earth Day was FUN!!!!  I saw some ideas on Pinterest and did some tweaking.  My kids had a BLAST!!

Math Center Idea inspired by Pinterest

Click on the picture for more AWESOME ideas for math. 

I  saw someone use this idea on Pinterest for practicing writing sight words, and it made me think about math.  Why not use Playdoh and Legos for adding numbers??  I used a cookie sheet and stuck it in my math center.  I LOVE PINTEREST!!

Spring Cleaning

 

Last year I decided this look had to go.

 

 

So, I tried this look.  I had my daughter cut up poster board to fit.  While it looks cleaner, it also looks boring.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I added some construction paper, and I like it better.  The look is still clean and not too busy to distract my students, but this adds some much needed color.  I could label these if I wanted to, and I think they'd still look clean. 

We'll see what the kids say Monday morning.



Freebie

The first 3 people to leave a reply on my blog will get this new game for FREE!

 

Just leave your email address in the reply, and I'll send it your way!

Mother's Day

I know that I'm hitting my blog pretty hard the last couple of days, but oh my its busy in my classroom, and I really want to share with all of you.  Here's a cute project my students will be working on soon to prepare for Mother's Day.

 

The clay pot is from Dollar Tree.  I used torn pieces of construction paper and glued them to the outside for color.  Then I took lima beans and turned them into rocks.  Throw large lima beans, a splash of rubbing alcohol, red, green, and yellow food coloring into a bag and shake.  Out come "rocks."  The flower petals are fingerprints, and I'll probably have my kids put a picture of themselves in the middle. 

Poetry Month

I've got a new product in my TeachersPayTeachers store that I've got at an introductory price of only $1.00.  I will be updating this file with more and more poetry work by Robert Louis Stevenson, and the price will go up.  I wanted to let my blog followers know about it so that you could get it now for only $1.00 and get all updates for free.  My students love working with his poetry.  This product begins with his poem "The Rain."

Freebie!!

Grab this freebie for metamorphosis if you'd like. It's simple and to the point, but it helps me check for understanding with my students.

 

 

Metamorphosis

I love this time of year!!!  Testing is over and spring is here!  I love teaching about metamorphosis, insects, plants, and everything Spring! 

I just finished updating a PowerPoint presentation on metamorphosis and put it in my TpT store.  I hope you come check it out.  Click on the butterfly below to get a closer look.



I also included a game with this product. 

Here is a cute project on the stages of metamorphosis that my students are working on.  Who knew there were so many uses for pasta.  I used food coloring and rubbing alcohol to get the color.

If you click on the picture above you can see more 1st grade projects on my Pinterest Collaborative board "1st Grade Projects."
As always, I'd love to have you follow my blog!!  If you have trouble following, please click on "Already a member? Sign in."  This seems to fix the problem  :)



School Supply Thoughts

As we move closer to the end of the year we begin to dream of sleeping in, going to our favorite vacation spot, and getting to those chores we can't seem to get to during the school year.  However, before we leave for our summer break, most of us are asked to think about the beginning of the school year for just a moment or two.
It is tradition at my school that we give our school secretary a list of school supplies that we'd like to have on the "Back to School" list that will crop up about July in Wal-Mart. Before you develop a list I thought I'd share a few ideas that I've implemented now for a few years, and I've received great feedback from parents because of them.

     *Use classroom money given by your district or personal money to purchase a class set of things like scissors and crayon boxes to keep year after year.  I spent $20.00 years ago on a class set of scissors, and I still have the same set and they work great.  All my students have the same crayon box and it fits into their tub perfectly because I can choose the box.  The greatest part is nobody feels inferior because their box isn't as nice as their neighbor's box.

     *Collect $10.00-15.00 from each parent.  This will allow to purchase a couple of boxes of Kleenex rather than attempting to store 50 boxes.  I also purchase the pencils and eraers with this.  All the students have the same color of pencil and this keeps them from arguing about whose pencil is whose.

     *If you do collect money from your parents, keep all receipts and offer to show them to any parent at any time that they ask.  In all the years I've done this not one parent has asked to look at my receipts.

This may not work for everyone, but I've loved it.  I get what I need when I need it and don't have to store a large amount of supplies. 

Just wanted to share something that might come up for you before school is out, and can help you prepare for the upcoming year.

Celebration Time!

My students are finished with their testing!!  They worked so very hard and I'm truly appreciative to them for wanting to do well.
I had great parent support also.  My students reported they went to bed on time and ate a good breakfast.  I also had several parents send nice snacks for students to have.  They felt so very special during this time, and I know that extra special feeling helped them during the test.
I'm glad it's over! 

Taking the TEST

I got to spend today with my daughter and had a great birthday.  She's in her first year of college, and I'm in my first year of adjustment.  We went to see the movie "Olympus has Fallen" and I highly recommend it.
Now it's time to journey home and prepare for the dreaded week of testing.  I've put my kids through drills and practice, and I have faith that they are ready.  
I've noticed some of my students are praying before taking a test now so I'm excited.  I always pray over them as I walk around the room monitoring.  Of course they can't hear me, but that's ok because He can.  
As our state prepares to include student test scores as part of our evaluations I'm very happy with the knowledge that He's on my side and that my students invite Him into our classroom too.

To everyone who is preparing for their standardized testing...may God be with you and your students!!

Birthday Giveaway Winner!

Thank you to everyone who participated in my giveaway!  The winner this time is Olivia!

Birthday Sale

Update:  Because of changes that are beyond my control, in order to follow my blog you will just need to simply click on "Already a Member."  I apologize for the inconvenience.

Please enter to win a free product of your choice from my TpT store in celebration of my birthday. Become a follower of my blog and leave a comment on my blog for your best chance at winning.

I am also having a sale on my birthday (March 31st) and the day after my birthday (my mother's birthday) so stop by for 15% off!

My Birthday Giveaway!!!!

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St. Patrick's Day Freebie

Here's my newest FREEBIE!!  Click on the link below and download!!  I hope you and your students enjoy.

 

St. Patrick's Day Freebie: Pot of Gold Tally Mark Match Up

Pot of Gold Behavior

My kids have never worked so hard!!!  I showed them my bag of "gold coins" and they are doing whatever I ask them to get the "gold coins" into our "pot of gold."  So far I've got them doing more of their work by saying things like, "If everyone has this work done in 15 minutes, I'll add a gold coin to the pot." 

To make these wonderful "gold coins" all I did was use the ends of fozen lemonade and orange juice containers and spray paint them gold.  They make the perfect "gold."  If you don't use classroom money you could put any reward you wanted to on them.  My kids are filling our pot of gold and at the end of the month each student in my class will receive that much in classroom money.

But you could...

put a reward on them and hand them out to individual students when you catch them being good and they can redeem them later
or
make homework passes out of them and give them out.

Any othere ideas???

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss

I am so excited for this week because it is my favorite!!  I love Dr. Seuss books and I love watching my 1st graders discover his books for the first time.
Every year that I plan for this celebration I try to make it better than the year before.  I'm including a schedule of events for our "Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss" week this week.

Monday- We have a "kick off" in our school's auditorium.  All the classes involved with the week come together first thing in the morning.  I give them a quick outline of the events of the week and tell them about their Accelerated Reader test goals for the week.  I've created a chart to show them what their class did the year before to help get them motivated.  The challenge is to meet the 500 AR tests taken and passed (80% or better) during this week.  The students tally mark their passed tests on the chart.  On Friday, if the challenge is met, they get to pop 500 balloons.  One of the balloons will have the name "Dr. Seuss" in it and will be the winner.  That student gets a prize.

Tuesday- I let my students bring their clean and appropriate pajamas to school to change into for our Accelerated Reading morning.  They bring their blankets and pillow and relax around the classroom with their favorite book.  They spend the morning (about 2 hours) reading books and taking AR tests. 

That evening we open up our computer lab and library and allow parents and their child to come in and read together for a couple of hours.  The students get to take AR tests.  Awards for most 100% on tests are given.  Awards are always books, notebooks, and pencils.  In the picture you see some Dr. Seuss decorations (when I took the picture all the "books" hanging from the ceiling were facing the other way and I just noticed) to help make our auditorium seem more like Seussville. 

Wednesday-Students make their own personalized book mark in celebration of 
the week.  We also have a book giveaway.  Each student gets a free book!  I had each grade separated on the table to help the kids when they came to come get their book.  They were all so excited.

 

Thursday- Classes who wish to participate rotate students.  Each classroom has a different reading activity that has something to do with a book by Dr. Seuss.  The students who come into my classroom will make a Trufula tree.  I use green pipe cleaners and colorful pom poms as the top.  I get these items at Hobby Lobby.

Friday- This day is our HUGE day of celebration!  All the participating classrooms come into our auditorium and rotate through different stations.  Station include:  eating green eggs and ham, pin the egg on the plate, making a red or blue fish, voting for your favorite Dr. Seuss book, making a Seuss treat, and making a Seuss hat.  At the end of the day I serve the cupcakes I've made and we have our balloon pop.

This is one of the things that will be done at a station with the students on Friday.  I made one so I'd know if my idea made sense.  I haven't seen this anywhere else, but I'm sure I am NOT the first person to think of it.

 

This is the same fish.  One side is red and the other is blue.  That is just tissue paper in the middle.

 

Here are some pictures of the auditorium the night before the students participated in the day's events.

 

This is the station where they made the "Red fish, Blue fish."  I had all the materials and an example already laid out for the volunteers.

The students played "Pin the Eggs on the Plate" and had so much fun that this station was the loudest all morning.  It was great!

Here the students voted for their favorite Dr. Seuss book (they chose from 6) and created a class graph.

 

The students always do an estimate jar filled with Goldfish Crackers.  There were 200 of them in this water bottle and 1 student got it right on the mark. 

This is the station where they made "Seuss Sweets" and ate them up!  Can you believe I forgot to get a picture of them before they ate them up???  The students also play Seuss Tic Tac Toe at this station too.  I have them do this while they wait their turn. Again, I had all materials out and ready for the volunteers.

 

Here are some pictures of the cupcakes I made for the kids to celebrate the day.  They were a hit.


This is the "Green Egg" cupcake.  I dipped a vanilla wafer in white chocolate and added a green M&M on top.

 

 

These are my "Hat" cupcakes.  I had seen this on Pinterest in many different forms, but I put a twist to it. Instead of using an Oreo cookie I used a dipped vanilla wafer.  Instead of using a marshmallow for the white I just used a dab of white icing.  For the red I used gummy lifesavers.

 

 

 

And here are my "Trufula Tree" cupcakes.  The trunks are sugar coated licorice sticks and cotton candy for the tufts.  These were a big hit because the majority of our students are just in love with the book "The Lorax."

 

 

Here are the pictures of the thank you "hat" I gave to each volunteer.  I went to the Dollar Tree and bought the glasses, painted the bottoms, and filled the glass with white and red hard candy.

 

 

 

 

President's Day

President's Day was fun for my 1st graders.  We learned a lot about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. After they listen and read stories about them, watch videos and power points, and listen to me talk about my favorite President they choose 3 facts about each President they have learned.  Below is a picture of the first part of the project they create for displaying their new found learning.  I used cut pieces of black yarn for the beard.  They had a blast gluing that on and it actually wasn't very messy.  Some kids used a lot of yarn and some didn't. Everything you see was traced by the students except the eyes.  I bought googly eyes at Wal-Mart.  After the students write their 3 facts on 3 different cards, they will attach them to Lincoln's hat. A picture of the George Washington example is on my Pinterest page.  It wasn't my idea so I didn't want to put it on my blog.

5 things to do with Shaving Cream!!!

This is a cheap and easy way to have fun and practice a lot of different skills.

 

 

Practice Sight Words:  My kids LOVE working with their sight words when we use shaving cream.    We have a "shaving cream day" for every 10 sight words we learn through our phonics program.  I write the 10 words on the board, they write the words 3 or 4 times each and when they finish they can draw whatever they want.  This usually takes about 20 minutes before the shaving cream disappears.

Draw Fractions:  I had my kids using shaving cream to show fractions.  They would draw the shape and then use their finger to divide the shape into whatever fraction I asked of them.  You could describe a fraction and have them draw it.  For example say:  "Draw a fraction that shows 1 of 2 parts colored."  They would draw a shape and wipe away 1/2 of the shape so that it would look like they "colored" the other half.

Draw a Shape:  Describe a shape and as you describe the shape the students draw the shape.  For example say:  "Draw a shape that has 4 sides that are all the same length."  The students would draw a square.

 

Math Facts:  Either give the students the math fact and they write the answer or give the students a number and they can write what the equation could be.  Use both for differentiation.

 

Vocabulary Words:  Say the definition of a vocabulary word and the students write the word that you are describing.

 

This does clean up easily.  I give them about a 1/2 cup or so of shaving cream and it usually lasts about 20 minutes.  The more they play/work the faster it disappears.

 

Have Fun!!!

 

Dental Health Month

What do you all do for Dental Health month?

I am sharing a picture of something I started doing a couple of years ago.  I had these things lying around and sometimes I used them on a bulletin board and sometimes I didn't.  So, instead of not using this resource I made a trifold out of them and turned it into a center.  I put tooth care books and activities at the center.  My students love how colorful it is.  Sometimes I see them just staring at the pictures saying "Wow!"

I also have a power point available at:

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Taking-Care-of-our-Teeth-Power-Point


I'd love to hear your ideas!

Valentine's Day

I was so excited when, after spending so much time on them, my students knew that the Kit Kat bars made an X.  I call these my X's and O's cupcakes.

Let's share some ideas for Valentine's Day!

Time savers and helpful tips:

* I have my students make their boxes at home.  I do remind parents to please make sure their child can get the valentines out without destroying their box.  The reason I do this is to save instructional time and so their boxes will be their own.  So many times they copy from each other and I love to see what they come up with.

* I put white bulletin board paper on their tables before the party.  I do this so they can decorate the paper and have their own creation for our "table cloth."  I also do this so they are busy for about 20 minutes so I can finish anything I need to for the  party.  And I also do this because when they go home
 and the paper is a mess I just pull the paper off and throw it away.  I haved saved a lot of time doing this.

* I collect 2 or 3 dollars from each parent and I go purchase the supplies for the party.  I do this because no matter what else I've tried I end up with 80 cupcakes and 20 bags of chips.  My parents like this better.  I always keep receipts in case there is ever a question.

* I always have extra Valentine cards ready in case someone comes without their cards.

Math Fraction Freebie

Here is a little song that I made up on the way back from visiting my daughter at college.  My kids love it and they were super excited to hear that I had written it.

 

I use this song in my unit for teaching fractions.  You can get my unit by visiting:

                       http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Common-Core-Fractions

I do ask that if you use this song  in your classroom that you give credit to me on the page in which the poem is printed.  I also do not give permission for this song to be used outside individual classroom use unless I give you specific permission.  In other words please don't put this song with your unit and then sell or give it away. If you want to share with a fellow teacher please ask the to visit my blog to acquire it.  Thank you so very much for respecting my work.

 

 

If you're a fraction and you know it...

 

If you're a fraction and you know it then you're equal

If you're a fraction and you know it then you're equal

If you're a fraction and you know it then your parts are all the same.

If you're a fraction and you know it then you're equal.

 

 

If you're a fourth and you know it then you're equal

If you're a fourth and you know it then you're equal

If you're a fourth and you know it then we all four get one.

If you're a fourth and you know it then you're equal.

 

If you're a third and you know it then you're equal

If you're a third and you know it then you're equal

If you're a third and you know it then we all three get one.

If you're a third and you know it then you're equal.

 



 

 

 

 



100th Day of School

This is a little something that I put together for my students.  They loved it.  You can get a page to print and copy to help you out over in my store.

FREEBIE!!!!

www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/100th-Day-Freebie-Page

I made cupcakes for all the students in our Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grade classrooms with a few left over for staff.

I used Mike and Ike candy for the 1 and Fruit Loops for the 00.

I used paper plates and wrote "We are 100 days smarter" on the, punched holes, strung white yarn, and hung them in the hallway for the kids.  They loved it!!!



I went shopping today and wandered around trying to think of that great new idea to share with my kids this coming Friday for our 100th day of school.  So here it is and I'd love some feedback.

Each student will a quarter sheet of poster board, sheet of paper with "100 Days Smarter" printed on it. I'm going to print it in such a way that they can color in the letters (pictures coming soon), and 100 items to decorate the border with.  They will get a baggie of 20 colored marshmallows, 20 red hots, 20 spray painted lima beans, 20 dyed macaroni elbows, and 20 fruit loops.  They will smear glue around the border and then place their 100 items around to decorate it.  I'm doing this with about 50 students when the other two teachers participating with me in this fun day trade classes.  Please give me some feedback.

With my kids I'm giving them a headband to put 100 stickers on the band and then 100 pieces of thin strips of paper to attach to the band.  I'm hoping to get the strips of paper to stand straight up.

For the cupcakes I'm going to put a Mike and Ike piece of candy and two fruit loops on the top to make the number 100.

I'm hoping to figure out how to add  pictures to my blog so I can share all of this with you all.

Please let me know what you think and if you have any tips....share please!!

I would love to start my blog with great stories about how you plan to celebrate the 100th day of school!
We are a small school so there is only one section of each grade. Kindergarten, myself (1st), and 2nd grade each choose a different activity and then the kids rotate among the rooms to participate in each activity.  Last year I had 100 Hershey Kisses (each one with a number from 1 to 100 on the bottom) that I mixed up and handed out to the kids. They put them back in order on a large 100's chart.  The student with the 100 on the bottom of their Kiss gets a special prize.
Each teacher also does individual activities in the classroom.  In the morning i challenge my kids to take 100 Accelerated Reader tests.  They  love the challenge.
I also share a cake that with everyone that I've prepared.  This year I plan to make 100 special cupcakes to share.  I have come up with a cute design for the top.  Hopefully I'll be able to get a picture on here when I get them completed.
At the end of the day we have a balloon pop. Each student gets a balloon that has a number in it.  One special balloon has the number 100 in it.  After they pop the balloons the lucky winner gets a container filled with 100 pieces of candy.

Please share what you plan to do.

I love blogging and am so excited that you are reading my ideas!

My First Post!!!

I am SO excited!!  This is my first post on my new blog!!  I am so excited that I don't even know what to write.