Look What I Spotted at the Dollar Spot!

I was on one of my frequent trips to Target and spotted new items being added to the Dollar Spot! They were just starting to add new things so I didn't see it all, but what I did see I loved!!!! Check out all of the Dr. Seuss things. (I wish they had these things in Feb./ March.) They had a great Lorax line of items. I also love the little bags. They would make great "book bags." They had a "Red Fish, Go Fish" numbers card game.

I loved, loved, loved these little buckets! I was upset I missed the 4th of July buckets when they hit clearance, but these are so much better!

They also had new dry erase boards, The boards are set up "portrait" instead of "landscape". Fabulous for First Grade! I so wish they sold these items on line.

What did you spot and love in your Target Dollar Spot?

Does "Bucket Fillers" work for you??

I am thinking ahead for the year and planning in my mind. I have feel like I have really good classroom management, but I know you can always get better! I'm thinking or doing "Bucket Fillers" this year. I want to know who has used it and their thoughts and advice about it.

Fabulous Giveaway and Blog!

As I was blog hopping today, (suppose to be working and I get easily sucked into all of these great blogs and post) I found this wonderful site of a K/1 teacher! She has just reached over 500 followers and is having a giveaway! Even if you don't enter the contest, the blogs/ products that have linked up with her are amazing!

I must do my work.... but I really don't want to...

The Homework Dilema and Manic Monday Freebie!

It is July, the month I let myself start thinking and preparing more about the next school year. I try to make myself take the last half of June off (usually without much success.) Today I am pondering the homework question....

I have tried many different ways of doing homework. I have done weekly packets, nightly homework and a calendar. I have done differentiated homework packets and challenge homework packets.

I am a Mom of two girls (going into 3rd and 6th) and will admit their homework assignments have been a reality check! In my perfect world a student will complete their homework, study for their test and read for 20-30 minutes every night. In my real world, we rush from school to gymnastics, dance or softball. Eat dinner in the car while rushing the other child to a different event. I would love to actually get a little exercise in for me (thought not likely.) We get home at dark, take showers then sit down to do homework. I make sure what has to be done is done before they go to sleep. I love, love, love packets because we can do more on a slightly less crazy night. I am so proud of how well my girls can now use their time wisely and will work on assignments before and after school in the classroom, in the car or the day before. Sadly I will have to admit reading is usally the thing that gets put off.

As a teacher, I want the homework to be meaningful for the students and not take me forever to put together or check. This past year, I used a "homework menu" where the students had several must-do's and then could pick from the other lists. Most assignments helped review for upcoming test and skills practice. There were several computer based practice methods and several that were not computer based. I think the students and parents like it. It was pretty easy for me to put together and I just checked it for completeness. The students could challenge themselves by completing all of the activities if they wanted too. I did "tweak" the menu every month or so. Homework is not part of their grade. However it is the kids who do not do their homework who score poorly on their weekly test.

Click on the image bellow to download the menu we used as a pdf. You can download the Word file here, but I don't know if the format will hold on your computer, but you can make the adjustments you may need.

I am interested to know, what do your do for homework in your class. Weekly or nightly? Do you grade it for correctness or completeness? Is it part of their grade. What are your plans for this year? I look forward to reading the comments and getting more ideas!

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Summer Planning and Daily Buzz Freebie

I am sad to say June is coming to an end. I have to laugh when I read about teachers having 3 months off every summer, please... I am down to 8 weeks off. Really it is 8 weeks we are working and not paid. Working without the normal resources and I can't even get into my classroom. It makes it very heard to work for free! I love what I do and that is the reason I do it!

This past year I used "The Daily Buzz" for my students to summarize and/or write about what we are working on in class. It worked great! It was so versatile, I could use it with so many things. In the house we did word families or fact families. We worked through our daily math problem in the thought boucle. "Today's Question" was used for the students to answer a multitude of daily questions. We would work on it all day. During morning work the students would complete the first section of the page. To open or close math we would work through our daily math problem together. The house was done at various times during the day. At the end of the day, students summarized what they learned. I used the back of the page for various things as well. It was awesome because I could copy "a ton" of them and was always ready to go. Click on the image and download it if you like!

I was meeting with my wonderful first grade team yesterday working on our curriculum map. It is very hard moving to the Common Core Standards, but still being tied to the old curriculum that does not align with the new standards. Being told to teach to the standards, but to give assessments from the series that don't align. Our county doesn't do county wide plans like I have found online for many counties. What are you doing at your schools with this???

Daily 5 Book Study Ch. 2 Ah-Ha!

I have joined "The Daily 5" book study over at the primary graffiti blog. This is a fabulous book by "the sisters" Gaile Boushey and Joan Moser. If you haven't read this book and incorporated it into your classroom it is a must (for all grade levels)! I have just completed my my 3rd year using my K/1 adapted version of the Daily 5. The results I have seen from this are amazing! This past year, half of my 1st grade class looped up with me from K and the other half did not. My kids who had done the Daily 5 in K were so far ahead in their reading levels and fluency compared to the kids who did not have the advantage of the Daily 5 in K. I feel the key is the amount of time spent each day reading at their level and challenging themselves is the key.

Prior to reading the Daily 5 the first time, I had been big on Debbie Diller's Literacy Work Stations. I found this to work pretty well, but the students weren't working in their centers frequently enough. I also felt like I was spending more time setting up and planning centers/stations than the students were in them. I students rotated through stations with same small group at every station. They tended to get tired of working with the same students and conflicts were frequent in some groups. I was doing 2 or 3 20 minute rotations a day and was working with students 2 times a week and thought I was doing pretty well.

After reading the Daily 5 I changed things up! Initially I did the Daily 5 three days a week. Now I was seeing every child in small group 3 times a week. I was in K at the time and had more of a "directed choice" system in place. After my first year with the Daily 5, I reworked it a little for year two.

During year two of the Daily 5, I was doing it 4 times a week. I also had a K class with a huge variation in levels. I couldn't really teach whole group, and changed to teaching most things small group. The Daily 5 was great for this! At the end of year two I re-evaluated how it was working for me again.

At the end of year two, I found many things I liked and somethings I thought were missing. At our school we are lucky enough to be rich with technology, I wanted to include this more during the day. I loved being able to meet and work with all students, not just the low students. I have 18 students and found I really liked how well groups of 3 worked together; so I divided 18 by 3 and found 6 was the magic number. I really felt Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics were being overlooked with such a huge reading push. I love the Math Daily 5 idea, but just don't have the time in my day. So I have combined the elements of Debbie Diller's system I liked, with the Daily 5 and added a S.T.E.M. to create my own "Super 6"!

I have had many teacher's in my school and county ask for more information on how I do this. I am currently putting it all together and hope to share it with everyone before next week.

As I am watching the Olympic Swimming Trials (I can't wait for the Olympics) and re-reading Chapter 2 I had an ah-ha moment! When explaining stamina this year, I am going to use the Olympics to help explain it. The Olympic athletes set a goal and practice everyday to achieve that goal. A swimmer trains by swimming different ways, weight lifting, and thinking about what he is doing. He already knows how to doggie paddle and blow bubbles, so he doesn't doggie paddle and blow bubbles much anymore. He does not play soccer or snow ski to become a better swimmer. So our goal is to become a better reader. We will train by reading more, writing and thinking. Continuing to re-read a book we have already mastered over and over or a too easy book will not help us get better. We must continue to challenge ourselves!

How Do Your Kids Use Technology?

This summer our county put together a fabulous Tech Expo. Instead of bringing in outside trainers, we used the experts in our county to teach about hardware and programs we have available to us in our county. There was a conference style schedule of five 45 minute classes. As a trainer, you only taught one or two classes so you could attend classes as well. A wide variety of classes were offered to pick from. I taught "TeKno1ogy in K/1, They can do it too!" I shared tips on K/1 students using technology without you pulling your hair out! We also discussed how students can use technology in class. One of the ways my students use tech to share what they have learned is using Keynote (or Powerpoint) to make a story map. I have students make these in groups of 3 during the Super 6 (my learning centers) Buddy Reading with the story of the week. This is the sheet with the students' instructions.

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