We have spent the last few days "GETTING THE SKELETONS OUT OF THE CLOSET" AKA-learning about the skeletal system.  I usually do this lesson along with my health unit in February but when I received  this>>>>








 I thought what better time to do this little project I usually do in February........

 Students actually made the replicas of themselves during one of the first few weeks of school and I tucked them away knowing they would use them with their skeleton projects.

 

We started our mini unit by reading and discussing our Science Spin on Bones.  When we were finished we read .........

 and followed up with some labeling practice . 

Get Your Copy Here

 

We also read

and don't forget to watch the Skeleton Dance video on You Tube

 

and finished our unit with a guided drawing lesson on the bones in our bodies.  What do you think?

  Fun  Pre-Halloween Activity or What???????

 

~Alison

How CUTE are these Apples?



I have been making these apples for years but ran into a slight problem when I went to buy the fabric to make them.



 

I guess I got in the habit of making them every year and didn't even realize the world around me was a changin!  The prints aren't available anymore, discontinued, out of style, gone like the Backstreet Boys!!  YIKES!  News flash Alison, YOUR APPLES NEED A FACELIFT!  So, after about an hour at the local JoAnn Fabrics store(who by the way gives teachers a discount) this is what I came up with...........

Sorry about the bad picture, I was in a hurry.

 
 
Last week we also spent time with all of the fabulous activities Rachelle shared during her post on apples. 
 
As a follow up to our unit on apples each child made their own "Johnny Appleseed" book. Writing with my first graders has to be with out a doubt my favorite time of the day.  I really don't think there is a more amazing process than watching a first graders writing develop.  As always here are a few samples of the different levels of writing I see each day...........

 

 

 

 

 

~Alison

Elephant and Piggie SAY WHAT?

Can I just tell you how much my kids this year LOVE writing in speech bubbles????? One of the big books we read during the first week of school used speech bubbles and ever since my kiddos have been adding speech bubbles to ANYTHING and EVERYTHING they write.  So.....I decided to take their interest in speech bubbles and run with it!!!!! We spent last week reading Elephant and Piggie books and learning why Elephant and Piggie are such great friends.  On Friday my kiddos were beside themselves when they learned they were going to make their very own Elephant and Piggie!!!!!   Let me just say you could hear a pin drop while my kiddos were perfecting these adorable little characters! If you would like the template, directions, and speech bubble for Elephant and Piggie you can get them here. 

                                                       

The follow up to our art projects of course was the creation of  speech bubbles on why Elephant and Piggie are such good friends.

Top Left:  You are a good friend because you share with me. 

Top Right:  You are a good friend because you pick apples with me.

Bottom Left:  Piggie you are a good friend because you share your toys.

Bottom Right:  You are my friend because you help me. 

 

Everyone did a great job on writing what made Elephant and Piggie good friends.  These examples are of the various levels of writing students are using in my classroom.   

 

One of our next lessons in writing will be on the difference between Wif and With.  :)

 

Here are just a few of the Elephant and Piggie Books we read last week.  I also used this link to the "Elephant and Piggie" activity guide for teachers. 

 

Did you know that Mo Willems hides a Pigeon in every Elephant and Piggie book?  You can usually find Pigeon in the back cover of each book!  Once your kiddos know this you will  NOT be able to move to the next activity after reading an Elephant and Piggie book until you find the Pigeon, not even if  you have read the book 5 times. 

~Alison

Classroom Tour and some FREEBIES!

WOW, getting back to school has been absolutely CR...A....ZY! I think I have finally caught my breath and I'm ready to share my classroom with you.  Come on in.......

FREEBIES FIRST....AFTER SCHOOL ARRANGEMENTS AS SEEN BY THE DOOR. 

As you can see I use the
Rockin Behavior chart from Babbling Abby of the "Inspired Apple".   
I don't do a theme other than cordinating colors in my room, no apples, jungle animals, no super heros, etc. Boring I know, but I get tired of looking at things really quickly!  I would have the ENTIRE jungle wiped out by November!  (Poor monkeys ) 
To the  left  of my door is where I store all of my posters
for my poetry station and shared reading.  The poetry station is to the right , students use a
magnet on the back of the bookcase to hold the poetry posters. 

SIDEBAR and a CUTE STORY........This is a  picture of my daughters "behavior chart "she made for her class.   I was tooling around the house doing laundry the other day when I walked in to find her teaching class with her freshly made behavior chart taped to her wall.  Guess who was at the top of the chart?  Yes of course.....her...... but isn't she the teacher????

Last year I purchased Cara's and absolutely LOVE it!  I wanted my Calendar to mirror the Calendar Companion so it was easy for my kiddos to follow along.  SO.....I made this bright squiggle calendar to fill that order.  You can pick up your squiggle calendar here.

 

I love my guided reading area!!!! I have had this area just about everywhere in my room, but last December it found a permanant home snuggled in this corner.    Since I changed up the colors in my room this year I "had" to make new Reading Strategies posters. You can get your copy of them free here. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you like the  chevron labels you can pick up your "Editable" copy here.  Did I say Editable? Matching station signs can be picked up here but are not editable.

The back of my room has a lot going on with three stations and a cart that I use to organize dry erase boards, reading journals, writing folders, and student clipboards that are used for unfinished work. I was in the process of making a writing "I Can" board when I found this one from "A Cupcake for the Teacher"  you can check it out here.  I also have use her math "I Can" board. 

That's it........the end of the tour......my corner...and that's all I have to say about that!!!  Forest Gump was on the other day, I couldn't resist. In a perfect world I would have a laptop at my guided reading table and I would use this for a station. What would you do with your classroom in a perfect world? Thank you for stopping by to check out my classroom!!!

 

~Alison~

Back to School Update, Watermelon, and a Birthday Sale!

Hey everyone, it’s Caroline!  Can I just tell you how CRAZY it’s been since school started?!  Moving rooms definitely threw me off.  I might be catching up now…  :::collapses on the ground:::

Honestly though, I’ve really enjoyed getting back in the swing of things.  I don’t remember back to school going by so quickly!  So far, my new kids are great!  They are picking up routines pretty quickly and I just LOVE my new behavior management chart.  I found inspiration on Pinterest  and found a super cute polka dot version from Teaming Up to Teach.  Here’s a picture of my clip chart (please ignore the Purell dispenser right next the door!)

My kids LOVE being able to clip up.  I added my note about the system and my clip chart sheet as freebies on Google Docs.  Hope it helps!  I’ve loved being able to keep in contact with the parents on a daily basis.  It’s made a big difference in my parent communication already (and hopefully curbed some not so great behavior). 

And my long promised Watermelon Unit is also on TPT!   Hooray!!!!

I’m so excited to share it with you!  So excited in fact that I put it on SALE!  That’s right, since my birthday is tomorrow; I’m having a birthday sale on my watermelon unit!  This is a weeklong unit (or more depending on how long you work on it) you can use with kindergarten or first grade.  It primarily contains literacy activities with a little art and graphing thrown in.  We are going watermelon crazy in my room this week and I will be sure to post some pictures of our work!  Big thanks to Nikki Casassa from MelonHeadz Doodles and Illustrations for the ADORABLE clip art I used in this unit.  She is SUPER to work with!