Thanksgiving Snapshots!

How was your day back from Thanksgiving Vacation?  Mine was GREAT!  My little firsties were so cute and eager to share about their vacations!    I thought they would be a little tired today, but they were ready to go and we had a very busy day! 

First, we enjoyed sharing our adventures for the first half hour!  I love mingling to music and sharing our news with each other! Then we got down to businesss writing about our break!  It was the quietest work on writing block we've had in a long while!  YAY!

First, we completed our graphic organizer.

Then, we wrote about our vacations!  I love the complete sentences and "first grade spelling"!

Then, we  started a new game with our "Fill-it-in" chart!  We complete this everyday during our morning meeting/calendar time, but today we added a fun twist!  The students work in pairs taking turns.  One rolls the die and writes that number in the center square.  Then the partner completes the chart. I love this activity for Math Tubs!  Some of the kiddos still need to use the hundreds chart for help so I make sure those are available!

And for Word Work today, the kiddos completed a "Fix-it" sentence about bats...that's right, bats!  It's November 30 and we are still highly engaged with our PBL bat unit!  I was a little worried they would have lost interest, but not a bit!  We still have lots to go, but we're going in depth and I love it!

Have you stopped by the Cyber Sale on Teachers Pay Teachers?  I know my cart is filling up fast!  I already purchased a bunch yesterday and am going back for more tonight!  LOL!

I have lots of "Fix-its" available in my TpT Store!

 Everything is 20% off during  the Cyber Sale!  Don't forget to enter the Promo code "SMILE" for an extra 10% off!

Post Vacation Managment!

Wow!  It's been a while!  It's also been quite a year, so far! Yes, it's been one of those years in the classroom.  Don't get me wrong!  I love my students!  Each one, individually, is sweet and wonderful, but when all 22 get together I feel like a first year teacher, all over again.

Well, the week before break, my little darlings and I sat down for a class meeting.  We talked about what WE need to have a great environment to learn and have fun.  Our days were going better and I'm really looking forward to seeing them on Monday!  I'm going to surprise them with some new "prizes" in our "Reward Catalog"!  I love changing these up for the holidays...don't tell the students, but it's only the name and picture that change!  Last year's group loved the "fresh for the holidays" prizes!

If you find that your students need a little something "fresh" to help with the "Pre-Winter Break" excitement, you can grab my freebie here!

Hop over to Classroom Tested Resources for another Freebie!

Do You Need a Brain Break?

Brain Breaks!  We know our kiddos need them, but do you need one?  The answer is yes!  Thank goodness for this 3 day weekend!  I needed a break from school, not to get away from school, but to reflect on how it's going so far!  I completed Day 13 on Friday and haven't had a moment to breathe.

Good teaching takes reflection and, too often, we are so busy with planning "what's next," that we don't take the time to relect!   For example, I've been caught up with some behaviors this year.  While dealing with one or two students, I've allowed other students to "not quite read to self" but read with others.  It sounds small, but it will be the death of my Daily 5 classroom later!  Tuesday will be a much slower day for my students as we review and reinforce procedures.

Back to Brain Breaks!  You know your students need them!  They need them more often that we probably realize, too.  I've implemented a new procedure this year and my students are loving it!  Do you ever have those students that are "too cool" to participate in a brain break?  Yes, you know the ones!  Since using GoNoodle in my classroom, most of my students participate already simply because it's so engaging, but I still have my stinkers!  So I've implemented the GoNoodle Champ system.  I keep my eye out for a student that is doing a great job participating during our brain break and they become the GoNoodle Champ!  This means that they get to CHOOSE the next GoNoodle activity!  OMG!  They love this!

And let me tell you, we GoNoodle several times a day in our class, so we have lots of chances to be a GoNoodle Champ!

I have a GoNoodle lanyard that I picked up at the I Teach 1st Conference, but any lanyard will work.  I attach a badge holder to it and slide in one of these cards!  You can download this free.  Just click the picture!  Students wear the lanyard until they pass it to the next champ.  It's simple, engaging and keeps us all happy!

If you haven't signed up for GoNoodle, what are you waiting for?  It's FREE!

Sign up for GoNoodle!  Your students will thank you and you will love it!