Vertical Number Sentences

Hi all!  This is a short and SWEET one!  We were working on writing vertical addition number sentences this week.  I wanted to share what I used last year that really worked with getting them to write it correctly!  (plus, it was fun!)

SWEET part--candy corn!  {Now, of course, at my school no food is allowed, but everyone knows about candy corn this time of year!}  I drew these candy corn templates, colored in orange and yellow.  Then I laminated and cut out.  Then---we used wipe off markers to practice writing our sentences!

{After I showed them horizontal number sentences and they wrote the vertical, we moved to using dominoes and practiced writing the number sentences}


After practicing, they made their own.  I gave them all another domino.  They had to figure out their number sentence that can be made from the domino and had to write the vertical number sentence on their candy corn.  They colored and cut out.  I displayed it on this eye-popping bulletin board that got lots of compliments!

Click {HERE} to grab yourself the template!





Have a sweet week/weekend!

FALLing behind--catching up with an Owl Glyph

I can't believe that Fall is here already!  I honestly feel like it was just yesterday when I was looking forward to summer vacation (or maybe it was yesterday?!) ;)

First, I just wanted to let you know that I have everything October related up and posted at my TPT store.  Check out the pics below to see what I have!  (click to read more about them on TPT)

I also have them bundled here

I wanted to share with you a glyph that I made and had my firsties make 2 weeks ago.  They turned out OWLdorable! :)  I searched online to see if I could find one already made, but I didn't have much luck finding just what I wanted. 

Click on the picture to grab yourself a copy of the questions. 

CLICK ON THIS LINK FOR THE BODY TEMPLATES...  (I'm having difficulty with my new computer on combining PDF's.....)

This past week and this coming week we've been working with all of the "If You Give a...." books by Laura Numeroff.  (another reason I've been MIA)  I've been creating activities to go with each book as we read them.  I'm planning on putting it up on TPT as well, as I have bought MANY graphics for it that I cannot give away free, plus so far it's over 125 pages!  {I forgot how much time it takes to design units to teach, rather than following a teacher's manual.  Since we group, and our reading series is older, I haven't been able to use much of it this past week.  Next year will be great though with time to breathe since it will all be done!} 

I thought for sure that I would be back to blogging sooner than I have.  I seriously think September is a month that I purposely forget about each year.  The good news is that I'm actually DONE planning this weekend BEFORE Sunday night!  It was nice to have a day off of thinking and stressing.  Here's hoping that this week I'll have enough planning time to get it done before Friday.  (We had our Back To School Night last week---so I was busy preparing for that.  Now it's home free till November conferences!) 

Hopefully I'll be back more often!  I need to share with you what I found at Target this weekend, but I need to get my camera and make my lil' math idea first so I can share it with you ;)  Have a great week!

Hello out there?!?!

Wow!  I totally have lost track of time.  Guess the beginning of the year does that to you.  We've been busy, busy, busy...  testing, testing, testing, no less, but it's OVER!  Now the fun begins for us as we start to switch our kiddos.

I have 22 lovely littles in my class this year that are just FULL of energy and personality!  Ha!  :)  Really, they are great, but by Friday, I'm spent!  whew!  I'm ready for the routines to kick in and have some "quiet" time in the room.  ;)

Here's some pics from our last 8 days of school!

Cut and paste activity for what a Good Learner looks like.  {It's part of my Back to School Bonanza packet on TPT}

Find someone who....  They LOVED this!  {also part of my Back to School Packet}

Finished page!  HOW adorable!  We completed 4 pages and I am putting it together as a book for them to have.

This week we did a fun activity getting to use Venn Diagrams.  We read Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes and talked about our  names.  We usually graph the letters in our names and talk about why we like our names.  Then we compared our names to each other and completed a Venn Diagram!

First, cut out the names.  I had them typed up in boxes so that all they needed to do was cut it out.

Then they spelled their names on their desks.

Then they found the letters they had in common and placed them in the middle of the diagram.  I had them pile the same letters on top of each other to keep them from having a million a's or i's in the middle.  It also helped them find those common letters.

 (I did allow them to have double or triple letters on the outside of the circle if they would like.)  

Click on the picture below to grab yourself a copy of this activity to use in your room!  You'll need powerpoint to change the letters in the boxes.  I used Hello Literacy's Hello Font, Hello Ali  (free and adorable!!!)  I enlarged the Venn Diagram part to 11X17 (I think that's the size on the copier)

Have a great weekend friends!  I'll be back soon with an adorOWLble Owl Glyph that we did today!  I need to get them up on a bulletin board and take a picture to share!

Progress!

I have been able to spend the past 2 1/2 days in my classroom, finally---after having SO many different ideas go through my head this summer, and seeing all the wonderful rooms out there.  It's been nothing less than stressful.  My own kiddo started FIRST grade Monday!  Ohmiword...  does it ever get easier sending off your little ones?!?!?!  He was so excited because he gets to ride the bus this year to and from school.  We are lucky to have someone in the neighborhood that watches kids.  My 2 year old decided to be ALMOST potty trained last Friday.  I was secretly hoping to have him do it this summer, but he had other ideas.  (my 6 year old was potty trained at 24 months-miraculously!  Cause I did nothing with him to speed it along!)  Well, he was dry all weekend and even woke up dry Monday morning and I could see that light at the end of the diaper tunnel....  Till I picked him up from his first day of "school."  He refused to go for them....  :*(  He isn't a good transition kiddo.  It took him WEEKS to get used to daycare last year.  He just loves his momma! ;)

Add the home stress to the fact that tomorrow is my first inservice day back and Thursday is also another inservice-but there's actually a session in MY CLASSROOM!  (not to mention I am somewhat responsible for the session with another first grade teacher...)

ah.  sorry for all that.  It's nice to get it out there---and I'm sure there has to be SOMEONE somewhere that can relate or know what it's like.  All of you can relate to that back to school stress.  :)

Here's some pictures of what is going on in my room.  It's not completely done, but it's "sit-able" for an inservice!  {sorry the pics were taken with my phone... so they aren't that great}

  This is my new "clip chart" that I'm trying out this year.  I still have to work out the logistics of it, due to our switching classes---but I think I have a good start. UPDATED:  Click on the photo below to find this clip chart on Teachers Pay Teachers.  I added a white background option and certificates for those who exceed expectations within the file!!!

I am planning on having the kids put their clip up at the beginning of class.  There are pink containers on the table there for each class (homeroom, math, reading).  I plan on making it the kids' responsibilities to come to me if they had to move their clip (either up for a bead or down for a "talk" or note home, etc.)  When they leave my room, they will remove their clip and place it back in the bin.  {that's the idea right now anyway}

Close up.  Students will get a pink, blue or purple bead if they move up.  We will be using BragTags, so it will go right on that chain.  {More about BragTags down below!}

As you can see, I've embraced the owl obsession that started with my room last year!  =)
My word wall-I completely redid, which was such a big time consuming project!  My word wall is up in the back of my classroom.  I leave all words up all year due to having such a range of students.  I color coded this word wall to match the Dolch list.  I don't have an up close pic, but the preprimer words are outlined in red, next level is orange, next is yellow... etc.  It really made it colorful and I can envision using the word wall by having them find certain colored words in addition to other things I would have them do!

(I somehow lost my X owl...  and the color printer is down at school and I'm out of ink at home!  I'll just tell the kids he flew the roost!  hee hee)

Here's my job chart.  It is behind my desk.  (sorry for the horrible lighting on these...)  The nests are the jobs, and the owls are going to have their names.  I'm not sure which owls I'm going to use yet.  I created one last year (and forgot) and just made new different ones this week...  ;)

 (I *think* I'm leaning towards the owls above)

I like these colorful owls, but I am already using them in their cubbies and also in the bulletin board below...

 My BragTag display!!!  (I'm just missing the BragTags to hang.  School doesn't start for us for another week.)

This display is half of a bulletin board in the front of my room.  Below each owl is a push pin where their chains will hang.  It's all within reach of the kiddos-which is important! :)

Speaking of BragTags!  I just started a fabulous giveaway for them!  THREE lucky readers will get 35 tags and 35 neck chains.  Click on the pic below to go to the post to enter!

 I wanted to also share a random worksheet/flip book that I keep handy.  It is a great thing/tool to have for substitutes to do with students.  I do at least one with my kiddos early on in the year and then it's always a go-to tool for those last minute sub plans or even for when I have to write sub plans.  Just choose a book for the sub to read and then have the kids work on that!  (or I even have my kiddos pick their own book to read and complete it, if it is towards the end of the year-or work with a partner to complete!)  Click on the picture below to grab yourself a copy.  It's important that when you print it out, to leave it the way it comes out so that you just put it right into the copier to make sure that it copies correctly so when you fold it, it makes the booklet right! :)  (you also need to double side copy)

Don't forget the BragTag giveaway!  It ends at midnight September 1st!!!!!!!!!

BragTag Giveaway!

I am SO excited to be using the BragTags that I have been reading about out there in blog land.  I have been working long hours the past 2 days in my classroom and have finally created a space where my kids will be displaying their BragTags, when not wearing them.  They will not be taking them home mostly in fear that it won't return to school.  I am super bummed that I did not snap a picture of the bulletin board where the tags will hang.  I have been in overload trying to get my room ready for an in-service on Thursday in MY ROOM!  Sunday and Monday were my first two days in there sans little people (that make a MUCH bigger mess than they should...).  I will have pictures. UPDATE!  Click HERE to see pics of the bulletin board and more of my room!!!

My first grade team and I decided to get the Motivation Pack.  Starting in first grade, we group kids for reading and math groups and switch them around to different classes.  Because of that, I will be seeing a LOT more students than the 22 I have on my list for my Homeroom!  Thankfully, they have sets that accommodate a larger class size.  What that means to us, is that I'll be able to use them with all the students I see!  The best part is that many of them are personalized with our names, so the kiddos could get the same tag from 3 different teachers, but it is okay--cause they are a little different! 

A little side to the BragTags-I'm also attempting the "clip chart" behavior system (pictures will come later with my BragTag display pic! Click HERE to see pics of it!!!) with my firsties this year.  When/if they get above green, I will have the coordinating "pony" bead that they can add to their necklace!  I can already envision the necklaces at the end of the year, looking all colorful and filled! 

Kim, over at imagestuff.com (the makers of BragTags) is super sweet and is very fast when asking questions and/or ordering!  That customer service makes the whole concept of the BragTags even more exciting!  I just love ordering from companies that I love!  :)

Check out some of these great pics for Red Ribbon Week!  I am IN LOVE with the monkey!  Isn't it the cutest?!

This is the one that "sold" me on BragTags last year.  I gave them to my kids at the end of the year as a little gift (cause we weren't using them all year).  I wrote with a sharpie on the back <3 Mrs. Roost 2012. 

Have you seen enough??????  Guess what!  THREE lucky readers will win 35 BragTags and 35 chains!  The contest is simple.  You need to follow imagestuff.com's blog and my blog!  Simple as that!  Contest ends at midnight September 1st!  I'll announce the winners Sunday, September 2!


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