Getting to Know You Tic Tac Toe Linky

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I am going across the bottom row.

My Favorite Grade to Teach and Why

My favorite grade to teach is first grade.  There is no greater satisfaction than seeing the "light bulb" turn on and a first grader's face light up when they have learned something new.  I love watching the growth first graders make from the beginning of the year until the end.

Favorite Clothes and Shoes Stores

KOHLS!!!!  I have to say for clothes this is my all time favorite store.  I am a deal seeker and Kohls has plenty of deals.  As for shoes, that is more complicated.  I have no favorite store.  I look for comfort over fashion.

Hobbies

• I like making cards and other paper crafts
• biking
• shopping 
• blogging
• learning new technology to use in my classroom (although I have nothing that begins with i) 

Henny Penny

A few weeks ago we compared different versions of the folktale, Henny Penny. After comparing/contrasting the stories and discussing the setting, characters and sequence of events, my students created their own Henny Penny type story.  I used photostory 2 to create digital books of their stories.  They wrote them and I typed them.  They illustrated them and I scanned them into the computer.  I upload the pictures into PhotoStory and help them record their voices.  They used the create music feature to create the background music.  Here are the stories: 
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkBy24txQpZ8JshQDiuQKW2Z8EMhdQe6q

This activity could be used with any folktale/fairytale.

Read Closely Lesson

Last week I used the big book, From Head to Toe, by Eric Carle.  I read the book to the students, we read it together and discussed different aspects of the book each day.  We discussed the pattern of the writing in the book, made a chart of the animals and the body part each moved, and discovered why the author named the book, From Head to Toe.  As a culmination to the book, we used the pattern to create our own version of the book.  The students each selected a pre-cut animal shape.  The used water colors to paint their animal.  They decided what body part the animal would move and how they would move that part.  Then they took all of this and created their own page for our class book.  I took pictures of each student acting like their animal and added that to each page.
 I took pictures of their pages, recorded the class reading the book, and add music to create a video of our book.  The students were so excited to see the end result.  The print book is now in our class library where I am sure it will be read many times this year.

If you would like to see the video, you can click here.

Zero the Hero

Zero the Hero

 Friday was the tenth day of school and boy was it an exciting day.  We received a call from the office that a special package had been delivered for our class.  Our office buddy retrieved the package and the excitement began.   It was Zero the Hero and he came to help celebrate the 10th day of school.  Zero came with a note, a special 0 treat and a cape that one lucky student got to wear for the remainder of the day.  We sang the Zero the Hero song by Dr. Jean and enjoyed the sweet treat.  At the end of the day, Zero left but promised to come back on another zero day.

Our cool Zero the Hero cape

Class Pictures

Thank you to all who share ideas through Blogs and Pinterest.  I have gotten so many great ideas this summer and have created some new bulletin boards in my classroom based on the ideas that have been shared.  Here are a few of my favorites.  Please note:  None of these are my original ideas.  I have borrowed them from my Blogging friends.  On the BOGGLE bulletin board, I used the picture hanging 3M Command Strips to hang the bar.  I love that stuff!

First Week

Does anyone else think the first week of school seems very long?  I think it is because we talk, and talk, and talk at the kids.  A friend of mine overheard her 5 year old granddaughter say, "Grandpa why don't all flowers look like roses?"  Grandpa replied, " I don't know, ask your teacher."
Granddaughter "No, my teacher doesn't know"-
Grandpa "How do you know that?".
Granddaughter
- Because all she knows are rules!"
...of course first week of kindergarten just ended!LOLOL

I think that is probably how some of my students might feel about our class.   We listened to a story about a monster who didn't follow the rules.  We came up with a list of rules and grouped them into 5 nice rules for our class.  Everyday we have reviewed the rules.  Thankfully, all the rule talk is paying off and my little firsties are doing well with following the rules.  2 more weeks of training and we should be good to go..... until the full moon that is.

I ended my first week of school by sending my youngest child and only daughter off to college.  She is going to a small college in St. Augustine.  The campus is beautiful and her room is in a historic hotel.  Her dining hall is home to the largest collection of Tiffany stained glass in the country.  After spending the late afternoon with her, I am at peace knowing she has a fabulous roommate, is in a great school where she is not a number, and that she is happy.

Must Have

As I am putting the finishing touches on my classroom and the first week lesson plans I have to say that 3M is just the best company in the world.... Or at least in my classroom.  My classroom has 3 concrete block walls and a plaster wall.  Nothing ever stays on the block walls.  The air conditioning is turned off at night and on the weekends and prevents items from staying on the wall.  Well, not anymore!  This miracle product stays on the walls until I decide to remove it.  Best of all there is no damage to the walls.  I have the hooks, the poster hangers and the picture hangers.  It is so much better than the sticky tack or the masking tape(would never put that on a wall... it might remove paint)  that I used before.