Word Work Menu {Freebie}

Today I would like to talk about Daily 5. More specifically my Word Work station. 

Daily 5 was my littles favorite part of the day. It was also mine too. I liked how little planning it took but yet it was so effective. My littles especially like Word Work.

My Word Work station started off a little shaky last year. First, I was used to the ability levels of second graders. It was definitely an experience adjusting to beginning of the year first graders. I had very little Word Work center activities that were developmentally appropriate.

By November everything was starting to fall into place. I had great hands on activities and my littles were really enjoying the Word Work.

December was even better. My littles were really aware of my expectations and they were completing the work with reasonable speed and accuracy.

Now, January and on things started to go backwards but I blame myself. The activities got boring for them and I didn't not do my part in changing them out often.

So, here's my solution. (Of course Pinterest inspired)....

I created my version of a first grade Word Work Menu. The menu consists of all the Word Work activities that will be available all year long. {Each month I will put out other activities coordinated to the current month.}

Each little will get a Word Work Menu to keep in their green work folder. They will color in each box as they complete each activity. This will keep my littles from doing the same activity every day.

The menu is pretty self explanatory. Check it out and tell me what you think.

The Silly Sentences is a sentence building activity that I created for my Word Work station. Click on the link to get your copy. The littles really enjoy creating silly sentences. The Read It, Write It, Stamp It! is an activity that I purchased on TpT last year but never really used.

 

I did create some recording sheets to go with my Word Work Menu. I'm not too sure if I really like them or not. They don't exactly meet my "cuteness" standards.

 

My Word Work Menu is a freebie in my TpT store. Make sure you get your own copy so that your Word Work station gets started on the right foot.

 

 

I love to hear your feedback.

 

Yours in Teaching,

Monday Made It....Core Drawers with a Limited Time Freebie.

I am super excited about today's Monday Made It. This project was inspired by Pinterest. I tweaked it to fit my needs and I am loving it.

 

I bought the larger drawers so the labels I made don't quite fit, but I'm ok with it. If you get the smaller version of the drawers the labels will fit perfectly.

 

The Pinterest version has ten drawers but I only need three. I only wanted to create Core Drawers for reading, writing, and math.

 

 

 

 

Click on the picture below to get your copy of the labels. They will be free until Wednesday! :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is what I plan on putting in my drawers...



 

 

 

Yours in Teaching,

Show us your stuff Linky Party for "Summer Piles"

My classroom stock pile grows and grows the more time I spend in blogland and on Pinterest. It's not as bad as last years, but it still bothers me to no end.

This is our kitchen table. Needless to say we don't eat dinner here EVER! I only {try} and put my chart paper and classroom charts here. I don't like them laying on the floor because they get all wrinkled. BUT, inside of those chart paper packs are some beautifully crafted anchor charts that I can't wait to laminate.

 

 

This is the wall opposite my NEW Ikea desk. This is the part that really bothers me. It's just out in the open for everyone to see. The stuff on the floor is not my teaching stock pile. That would be the hubsters garage sale pile. {I'm making telling him politely that he needs to decrease his NASCAR stock pile."

 

Here is my beautiful new Ikea desk that has still managed to stay somewhat clean and organized.

And last and definitely the WORST! It's the worst because it's not a "Summer Stock Pile" it's a "Forever Stock Pile".

 

Ready!?

 

Are You Sure!?

 

This is the first time I have ever exposed my teaching room! Which I might add, I never go in here because it is a disaster. You would think I'm a hoarder or something.

 

Here it is...

 

I'm not even sure what is in here other than a large pile of books. I should really go through that pile and take them to school.

 

 

This has actually been very therapeutic. Now that I have shown the world my stock pile maybe I should organize it.

 

 

Make sure to link up and add your summer stock pile.

 

Favorite Pins...Classroom Organization

 

For this post I am going to focus on my ten favorite classroom organization pins that I would like to incorporate into my classroom next school year.

 

I like the idea of only focusing on one topic at a time. My brain is flowing and I need some way to manage it. :) This coming week I am only going to work on creating organizing things.

 

So here they are. My top ten favorite classroom organization pins to focus on this week.

 

 

 

1. I have the perfect bookshelf to do this with. My plan is to place my word work centers that will be out all year in the file folders. I can't wait to see how this will work.

 

 

2. I like this idea and I think it looks super cute. I just don't know if it will work for me. I might just have to make it and test it out to see.

 

 

3. I love this frame notes idea. I was recently cleaning out my basement and I found the perfect frame that would work for this. I plan on writing important reminders on it each week.

 

 

4. This drop box will work wonders. Last year my littles would be so excited to hand me important notes right when they walked in the door. Even though I told them to keep them in their take-home folder they still felt the need to hand them to me. I'm going to try this and see if it works better.

 

 

 

 

5. I like the idea of having everything displayed. It just seems to make sense. I have a spot for this at the front of my room. We will see if it works out with the new layout I plan on doing.

 

6. I am constantly changing my reading groups. I waste so much paper righting the groups out, rewriting them, and then writing them again to make them look nice and neat. This will save me tons of time and paper. :)

 

7. Having everything at your finger tips makes everything run smoothly. I love the idea of having drawers with manipulatives just for me at my finger tips. It makes the idea of principal walk throws less scary knowing that I won't have to stop and search for something that I need to continue a lesson.

 

8. Last year my anecdotal notes consisted of a piece of notebook paper and I wrote names and notes all on one piece of paper. But when it came time for grade cards or conferences it was just a mess and hard to find notes about a particular student. This will be great and it will help keeps my notes organized.

 

 

 

 

9. I have had this idea pinned since last summer. I never tried it but I think it will be a life saver. I had so many littles not put names on papers last year. Like, there were so many that I ended up just throwing their work away because no one could claim there work. This will NOT happen again this year! I REFUSE! 

 

10. Remember how I said I had a not so well behaved class last year. I'm hoping it was just that group of students and not a first grade thing. But I am going to do everything in my power to not let things get out of control. I am going to pick a mystery walker each time we head out into the hallway. It's just one more way to keep my littles under control. Wish me luck!

Now, just for a little humor....

 

I can only hope! :)

 

Be sure to link up with Cara from the First Grade Parade's Favorite Pins Linky Party.

Yours in Teaching,

 

ThrowBack Thursday...My Grammar and Punctuation Rule Book

I decided to link up my best TpT Seller, My Grammar and Punctuation Rule Book.

This is one of the best things that I have implemented in my classroom. By using this book I know that I have covered all the grammar and punctuation rules that I need to.

Each week, starting the first week of school, I introduce one new grammar or punctuation rule. The rules start out with the simplest first and then get harder as the weeks go by. There are 25 different rules.

I am also currently working on extension activities to go with my rule book.

So far I have come up with these: Click on the pictures to get your copy!

 

 

 

 

Here is my original post!

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Sunday, July 8, 2012

Grammar and Punctuation Rule Book

I didn't get nearly as much done as I had hoped today. Thanks to Lifetime Movie Network, I ended up watching 2 movies today. Yikes!! But I can honestly say that today was the first time I laid around and watched t.v. this summer plus I didn't get out of bed until 10:30. Ooops!

Anywho, last night while the Mr. watched the race (Yes, I know embarrassing. He is a NASCAR fan and I am...NOT!!) I worked on my Grammar and Punctuation Rule Book. I am sooooo happy with the way it turned out!

I designated 15 minutes, one day a week, to focus on grammar and punctuation rules. Yea, I know what your thinking...only 15 minutes, one day a week, to teach grammar. Don't worry I'm not crazy. My littles will still be exposed to grammar and punctuation throughout the day at centers, reading groups, writing workshop. This is just an extra supplement.

That 15 minutes will be used souly for the rule books that I created. I plan on introducing or reviewing a rule, modeling how to write a sentence using the rule, and then my littles will write a sentence of their own and illustrate it.

I did something very similar when I was student teaching 3 years ago (omg, it seems like just yesterday) and I saw great results from it.

Here is what an example page looks like. There are 25 rules total. This is great practice for first graders and can be used as a review for second graders. In the packet, I also included cover pages so that a complete book can be made.

Your littles will be exposed to basic sentence structure, nouns, plural nouns, proper nouns, verbs, contractions, compound words, pronouns, capitalization, punctuation, and MORE!!!

Get it here at my TpT store!!!

I also finished the second 100 HFWs Word Wall Cards in the Bright Stripes.

Get your set here at my TpT store!!!



 

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Yours in Teaching,

Goin' on a Blog Hunt

I'm linking up with Corkboard Connections for Goin' on a Blog Hunt.

I love Bloglovin'. At first I wasn't too sure about it but each day I love it more and more. My favorite part about it, is at the end of the day when I get an email from all the blogs I follow. This is usually about the time when I am going to bed. So I end up staying up even longer to check out posts that I have missed.

If you'd like to link up to find new blogs click the icon below!

 

Yours in Teaching,



Monday Made It....Sticker Filer and A Flip Book

This was seriously the easiest and fastest Monday Made It I have ever done. It literally only took a trip to the Target Dollar Spot, the teacher store, 2 minutes on the computer, and BAM!

My first Monday Made It is my Stickers For The Year filer.

First, I bought the all new famous pocket filer for $1.00.

Then, I labeled all the tabs with the months of the year. I began with August, since that is the first month of the year in teacher world, and I ended with July.

Next, I placed all the new stickers I bought (I was completely out) in the appropriate month.

Finally, I made a label for the front of the sticker filer, and BAM it's done!

How easy and simple is that?!? I think I'm really going to love this one!


My next Monday Made It is a Nouns, Verbs, and Adjectives Flip Book. I also made some anchor charts to go with it. Check it out here.

 

 

 

Yours in Teaching,