Clip Chart Management System

This will change your life!  If you have not seen the Clip Chart Management System, then you need to check it out.  It is completely positive and the kids absolutely love it!  It has transformed my classroom into a better environment for teacher & students alike.

You can change the words to whatever you like.  It's a free download, all you have to do is make your own clipchart and get some clothespins.  Check it out!

Cute Tote Bag

I have been working on my writing folders for a couple of weeks now.  Well, I made me a tote bag with some of the extra fabric.  It's big enough to carry my grade book, some teacher's editions, and whatever else I need to carry from school to home.

Display Windows

Again, nothing on my blog is original, I "stole" it from another blog.  Blog Hopper is where I found this idea.  This is my display window made from Ziploc bags and colored duct tape.  We always write sentences with our high frequency words on Monday, so we will display them (I will type them so they are readable) and read them all week.  I forgot whose blog I got the idea from but thank you! I love it!  All you need is 9 Ziploc bags and a roll of duct tape.  I also added two handles for carrying and hanging.  I used the ones with labels on the back, I thought about putting their numbers on the back because 2 will have to share and that way they would know where their paper is every time.

Cost approximately $4.00

Also, all my art projects are kitty tested and approved!  This is my Russian Blue cat Zoey.  She has to check out everything I make and give her approval so you will see her all over my pictures.  I can't seem to shoo her away hardly long enough to get the picture without her in it.

Word Family Paint Chips - Word Work

I have been seeing these word family paint chips on the home school blogs and loved the idea.  The Snail Trail Blog is where I originally found the idea. As teacher's are, we love to "steal" ideas when we see a great one.  I took it one step further to ensure my students actually were reading the word.  They have to draw a picture to go with the words.  This means they should only be working on one strip per day at the Word Work center.

I housed them in a shoe box that looks like a drawer (yay for reusing something for free!).  I placed an example of what I wanted them to do on top, labeled the drawer, and placed the word families and worksheets inside.

I only have the short vowel families of a, i, o, and some e in there right now.  Changing this center will be fairly simple.  All that will be needed is replenishing the worksheets and adding more sets of word families as the students learn them.   For organization, I placed numbers on the back of the paint chips and on the bag to keep the sets together.  I also wrote the word family on the letter strip so the students will know what letters go with which family.  Nonsense words are ok with me, but for this activity I really wanted them making real words.  I can't wait to try this out!

Word Family Paint Chip worksheet free download!
Word Family Paint Chip Example for the top of the box free download!

Total cost of this center - almost nothing, everything was free or things I already had at home. Yay!

ENJOY!

Making Play-Doh at home

I really wanted to have Play-Doh in my room, but I wanted it to be all natural, non-toxic, and kid friendly.  So, after scouring blogs I found a recipe for homemade Play-Doh.

Here's the recipe:
2 cups flour
2 cups warm water
1 tbs cream of tarter (do not omit!)
2 tbs vegetable oil
1 cup salt

Combine all the ingredients and cook over low heat until the doh begins to pull away from the pan.  Dump the mixture out on silicone mats or aluminum foil to cool, then divide and add food coloring and knead away.  I did two batches which made the equivalent of 15 cans.  All for less than $10.00.  All I need to make more is some salt, it's the only thing I ran out of.

Pictures coming later.

Funky Writing Folders

I am embarking on the Daily Five this year for the very first time.  I wish I had found it ages ago, I love it so far.  I have never seen my students read like they do now, and they look forward to read to self every day.  In thinking about launching the Writer's Workshop, needless to say I'm intimidated by the thought of my students writing to self for an extended period of time.  So I found a pattern on the web, it was originally for a coupon organizer, but I thought it would be a great writing folder for the kids.  I took the pattern and adjusted it to hold a folder on one side, 3 pockets on the other for colored pencils, markers, and a "special" writing pencil we only use for writing. (The measurements are 19"X22", all three pieces are the same size, just the pocket is folded in half.) I have only made 8, and will have to make 7 more before Monday because the kids are expecting them on Monday.  I hope it excites them enough to want to become good writers. 

I'm not much of a teacher of sewing as my mother was my teacher when I was 13.  I will find the original pattern and post it later in case anyone wants to make their own folders.  They are kind of flimsy, but I'm hoping the folder inside will help keep it sturdier.  Enjoy!

Math Equations.

My class has been writing number sentences since school started while making  different ways to make numbers up to 10.  Today, I introduced the word equation *gasp* to my 6 year olds.  I had never done this in my five years teaching first grade, but the kids took to it like pigs in mud.  They got so excited about the word equation, by the end of the lesson I heard them using the word themselves.  For example, "Look at my equations that I made!" or "I made up more equations than you."  I'm including a picture of the beginning "equations" that we did on the carpet in whole group before we went to the table for independent practice.