SIGHT WORD GAMES PACK!

I am on a roll!  I started this games pack last weekend and I knew I wanted to get it out for you all before fall was OVER!!  Check out the pack HERE!

Here are some sneak peeks before you decide to buy!

Let me know what you think of the new pack!!

WOW!!!!

How Amazing Is this????

I found an AMAZING blog designer (totally by chance- thanks GOOGLE!) in Megan from Bird in the Hand Designs.  Check her out!!!  She was quick (not expensive) and super nice!  She created and installed this great new look for my blog!  We are moving on up!!!  Leave a comment and let me know what you think about my new look!  And check back tomorrow and I will share a sneak peak at my new Fall Sight Words Game pack!

5 For Friday with a BIG BIG BIG Thank You!

Happy Friday (a day late!)

TGIF!!!!  Today was cloudy and rainy here!  We only made it out for recess this morning, so our afternoon was FILLED with wiggly bodies!  But we made it through!  AND do you know what helped???  Some honest person bought my spelling bundle and then bought 8 additional licenses!  WOW!!!  THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!  You have motivated me even more and am planning to start some fall and Halloween center packs tomorrow!!

Now...5 For Friday!

1.  Making Our Characters Come To Life

Today we started working on BEND 2 in the Lucy Calkins narrative writing unit.  Bend 1 focused on the how to's when you are writing a basic story.  Bend 2 seems to focus more on the craft of writing.  Kids are going to try to bring their characters to life.  Today we kicked this off by "Unfreezing" our characters.  We talked about making the characters move and talk (speech bubbles or quotation marks).  I modeled this with a basic BORING story and BASIC pictures.  The story was about our most recent fire drill.  My first page said "I heard the farm alarm."  The kids (through elbow partner discussions and some prompting from me) helped me change this to "Clang, Clang, Clang went the first alarm.  I jumped up and said "Line Up!".  The kids did great with this whole group, but I am not sure any of my writers are ready for this step in their own writing quite yet, since most of my conferences are still about watermelon/see stories and adding more details (who? what? when? where? how?), but I was impressed with how well they did fixing up my story!  Here's the start to my "Bringing Stories To Life Chart".  I will post again once I finish AND be on the lookout for my mini-chart that you can add to you students' writing folders!

2.  Reader's Celebration!  Our favorite kinds of books!

For the last 4 weeks of school we have been learning about books!  We learned how to be a book lover and not a book bully.  We learned 3 ways to read a book and how to be respectful readers.  We learned how to make "just right" book choices and we learned about sentences (how they begin, how they end, spaces between words, etc.).  We are ready to be independently looking at books!  SO what does that mean??  CELEBRATION TIME!!  Again from the  Blasting off with Reader's workshop pack, I made these SUPER cute readers!  The kids started yesterday by writing and drawing about their favorite kind of books.  

Then today we assembled our person (slightly stressful) and were ready to share!  The kids shared their person and writing with their table mates.  It went SOSOSOSo well!!!  The kids were really invested and excited about their projects.  So much so that I forgot to take pictures of their people! EEK!!  

Here is a peek at mine.  The badge says "Mrs. Bannon loves reading this much" and the hearts are glued at one end and are paper clipped at the other so the shirt can still be opened!  I LOVED this craft and will def be doing it again next year!!

3.  Apple Sentence Scramble

Last week we spent time talking about what makes up a sentence and how a sentence begins and ends.  I though during out RTI time (power block) I would have some of my medium/medium high readers work on fixing mixed up sentences.  They did great!  The hardest was "Can I have an apple?".  Almost everyone had "I can have an apple?"  They need some more practice with question marks ;)

4.  Rainbow Ride

I found this game on one of my favorite teacher blogs, Freeblicious.  Its a groups of K-2 teachers who post regularly to share items that are free!  Each month they do freebies on the first and this was one of them.  I got this last spring, but just knew it would be perfect for my firsties to use at the beginning of the year!  It's based on Chutes and Ladders, so most of the kids already knew the rules!  

Here's a picture of the kiddos playing!

5.  Currently....October

Did this Thursday night and linked up with Oh Boy in 4th Grade!

Apples and Owls - A Mommy Post ( with a teacher surprise at the end!)

Happy Thursday!

This post was supposed to go live last night, but I gave up on such endeavors when at 9:30 I was still working!  This fall has been SO SO busy!  But it's been a GOOD busy for sure!  The Little Lady and I got to see my BEST friend from high school and her daughter today!  It was so nice to catch up with her.  She's one person, who no matter how long it's been since we've seen each other, we can reconnect in no time!  If only she lived closer!

APPLES, APPLES, APPLES!!

Last Sunday, the HUBS and I took the Little Lady apple picking!  We got there at 10am (opening) and there was already a backup down the street to get it!  But it was worth it!  Check out our pictures!

Already for some apples. Not excited about the photo op!

After a LONG line she has her bag and map... And is waiting in another line!

HAYRIDE!

Sassy lady!  But is loving her apple!!

Yum!  I'm excited to find some sunny apple recipes to make for this weekend. Happy Fall!!

OWLS!

So you know me by now I LOVE am obsessed with owls!  I don't know what it is but I am loving anything owl related!  So, when i saw this craft online HERE.  I knew I had to try it.  So off to AC Moore the Little Lady and I traveled!  12 mason jars and some questionable fall ribbon later, we were off.  The printing was the easiest part.  The sizes weren't perfect for my mason jars, which was annoying, but manageable.  I liked the 2-tone shading that was around the edges, but that had to be CUT off!

Here's what you need:

Below you will see the top of the mason jar.  I printed the owl on old label paper and stuck it to the lid of the mason jar and screwed the top over it.  

Here is a side view!  Like I said the sizing was off (can you tell it bugged me??)  The recipe was also printed on a label and then the jar was filled with spice cake mix and chocolate chips.  The recipient would only have to buy a can of pumpkin and PRESTO - pumpkin cookies!  Hopefully they come out great, as I made them for some friends, the Little Lady's teacher, and people at work!  

Here's a better view of the SUPER cute owls!!

Remember, I told you about the questionable ribbon.  Here it is.  It didn't seem so bad in the store, but at home- A NO GO!  You may be able to pretty your's up if you do a better job color matching ;).

TEACHER TIDBIT!

I got a few requests for a spelling BUNDLE, so that's what I was up to last night!  It's uploaded now.  Check it out HERE!  If you buy the packs separately you would pay $13, but the bundle is only $10!  HERE is the link to my original post about my spelling packs if you missed it!

I'll be back tomorrow with a 5 For Friday post!  Now I am off to catch some Grey's Anatomy before bad!

See you tomorrow!

A Teacher Mom:)

Spelling Lists and Spelling Homework for the WHOLE Year AND BIG Bloggy News!

Hi Friends, 

This weekend has been great.  We took the little lady apple picking at one of our favorite spots today.  We got  there as they opened and hoped to beat the crowds, but there was already a backup to get and they weren't even open yet.  However, all the waiting was forgotten once the Hubs and the Little Lady got their hands on some of their FAVORITE apple cider donuts!  YUM - Makes me miss the gluten (but not the sickness!)

Spelling Lists and Homework - For the Whole Year!!

In other news, I FINALLY (mostly) finished my spelling units and uploaded them to Teachers Pay Teachers!  When our phonics program, Fundations, was revised over the summer, my team and I decided to revise our spelling lists and homework to better match the pacing and the skill acquisition of the students. This summer, I spent LOTS of time planning and organizing the new spelling lists and we are ready to start using them next week.  I have made them available to you HERE.  I linked you to my store (which has 6 products now!!), so you can see all of the spelling packs.  If you are interested in purchasing all of the sets (4) as a bundle let me know and I will bundle them at a reduced price!  Check out below for a sample of the first week's list and matching work!  

In Other Bloggy News...

I have decided to hire a blog designer (it's way cheaper than I expected) and get a different design on my blog!  It's under construction for now, but should be installed in the near future. Are you ready?  I am excited for a less generic look!  Any ideas for what I should choose?  

Have a great week friends!  Happy almost October!

A Teacher Mom :)

It's been a L-O-N-G week! But now its 5 For Friday!

TGIF!!  That is almost all I can say.  This week has been SUPER busy at school and at home and I am so THANKFUL that the Hubs is picking the little lady and I up some Gluten-Free Chinese goodness as I start this post!  

1.  Narrative Writing - Watermelon/Tiny Seed Stories and Storytelling With Partners  (A NEW PRODUCT!)

This week I taught a lesson on Zooming In on a narrative story to help focus my student's writing.  So many students end up writing a list of their day (I drove to the apple orchard.  I picked apples.  I went home) rather than zooming in on picking one juicy apple or climbing a big tree to get an apple.  I have taught the lesson for many years, but this year (with the inspiration by Lucy Calkins and crew) I made my own watermelon (see below) labeled with my watermelon story (our family trip to Storyland) and many tiny seed stories that will be the stories I write during my mini-lessons for the next few weeks.  While conferring with students, I found SO many kids were writing watermelon stories, but most of them understood what I was getting at and through the conference, they were open to zooming in on just one part.  LOVE when lessons show success so readily!

Today, I started working with my firsties on storytelling with a partner during writing time.  I shared this whole class chart and modeled this with my messenger for the week.  He was a great helper and even came up with a great question to help me add more details to my story.  

Then, using our elbow partners from last week, partners went through the steps with each other while I was listening in.  For the first time having to listen and ask questions, I thought the kids did great!  I had to sit with one pair, but ONLY one!  And best of all everyone was off to work as soon as I sent them to write!  I have made a mini-version of my storytelling with partners chart to place in kiddos writing folders.  It is in my TPT store HERE!  It's only $1 (since I'm just starting out, I need to price it at $1, so I make a 30 cent profit for each one-sorry!).  Please check it out, and maybe follow me on TPT, so you can see all of my products!  

2.  3 Ways To Read A Book and "Just Right" Book Choices

This week the library was opened in our classroom.  We spent two days learning how to choose a book (looking at the cover, the words, the picture, thinking about if you like what the book is about and if you can read the words).  Finally, each kiddo had 4 books they liked to last them for the week.  Then we needed to talk about how they can read a book.  Again, I used Kim Adist's Blasting Off with Reader's Workshop pack and LOVED it!  I took 3 days to roll out the 3 ways to read and they kids got it!  First, kids could retell a story they knew.  I planned to use The Three Little Pigs, but couldn't find the original version, so I ended up using There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly and A Very Hungry Caterpillar.  Kids knew one or both of the books, so it worked well to practice retelling the books with their elbow partners.  The next day we practiced how to use the pictures of a book to tell the story even if they have never seen the book before.  I used Cookie's Week to illustrate this strategy and the kids had so much fun telling their elbow partners what Cookie was up to!  Finally, today we learned the third way to read a book...READ THE WORDS!  This was one they all already knew and they were off to read on their own for 15 minutes!  Literacy stations and Guided Reading groups start on Monday.  Fingers crossed that we are ready for that independence!!

3.  3 Types of Clouds

To start off our year in science we teach kids the basics about weather.  Types of weather, what a meteorologist does, thermometers/temperature zones, and clouds.  Clouds are my favorite part!  We learn about cirrus, cumulus, and stratus clouds.  We then head outside to do the observation.  Which type day does my cloud observation ALWAYS fall on???  Usually its a rainy day, so we can't get outside.  This year...a day without a SINGLE cloud to view.  We improvised and decided to draw all 3 types of clouds to share what we may have seen outside :)  Then we spent two lessons making these beauties.  I found the idea for these flap books on Pinterest, but my team modified them last year to this.  The kids LOVED them and were excited to take them home!  (of course a few friends went a little crazy with the watercolors and had a still wet paper to carry home - Oops!)

4.  NOUNS - Freebie (not mine, but a great one!)

I love Kelly Dolling from The Teacher Idea Factory.  I use her Good Morning Work everyday!  Last weekend she posted this NOUN FREEBIE.  I knew I needed to introduce the concept of nouns soon, and this was the perfect way.  I did a short mini-lesson with the kids and we made this chart as we talked about how nouns can be people, places, or things. 

Then had the kids work in groups of 2 or 3 to sort the words and then used the recording sheet to record their answers.    The kiddos did a great job and thought the cards were pretty cool!  Next year, when I do this station again I will make headings for the sorts (People, Places, Things).  I think that will be more clear for the kiddos who are new to this kind of activity.

5.  Apple Rhyming Pairs

I found this apple literacy and math pack from Made For 1st Grade last year, but I never made this center until this week.  We have reviewed all of the letter sounds and will start tapping out CVC words on Monday (they did this in Kindergarten too!), so I wanted to see what they remembered.  Kids worked in groups of 2 or 3 to tap and read the words and decide if they rhymed or not.  Here's a picture of the rhyming words.  I wanted to get the whole sort, but they kids were so great at this, by the time I got everyone settled and recording they were already putting away the non-rhymers.  

I hope you all had a great week and that you are planning on a fabulous weekend!  The little lady has a playdate with a set of triplets who were born the day before she was tomorrow after ballet and we are hoping to head out to pick some apples on Sunday (since the PATS aren't on until 8!)

Please check out my new product and leave some comment love!

A Teacher Mom :)

Five for Friday... On Sunday :)

I hope everyone is enjoying this great weekend!!  The weather is beautiful up north where we are. The Hubs, little lady, and I headed to cape cod for the weekend!  Which was AMAZING except for not having wi-fi!  Hence I wrote this blog on my phone and will link up and post once we return on Sunday!  

In any event read on to see what was happening in 1B this week!!

1.  Elbow partners

I have always used the turn and talk strategy in my teaching, but I don't think I ever did a great job and teaching exactly what I was expecting while kids were turning and talking. We spent most of our focus lesson time learning how to work with our elbow partners. I assigned everyone an elbow partner ( the person who sits next to them on the carpet. I then talk about lean and tell which I tell kids is for questions with short answers such as how old are you? Or what is your favorite color?  Then I taught kids how to turn and talk which means kids need to turn their bodies to face each other to facilitate conversation. This is for longer talking times such as why is this your favorite book or what can we do to make my story better. I used this chart from this KIm Adsit unit to help us practice. 

After two days of practice, I review with students important parts of a book ( title page, cover, back cover) and the author and illustrators jobs. We continued to practice lean and tell and turn and talk as we were reviewing these concepts about print!  This is the poster I made again from this Kim Adsit pack!

2. Writer's Workshop

So I mentioned last week that my district has decided to use the revised Lucy Calkins writing program this year. And while I am really liking the lessons and the work my kids are doing, it is A LOT of work!!  All new charts, mentor texts, lesson plans, etc!!  In the hopes of making even one teacher's life a little easier, I have made a FREEBIE for you all. It connects to the first chart that Lucy creates during lessons 1-3. I made a whole class chart which is hanging in the room. 

And I have this FREEBIE to share with you!  Here's a preview pic!  If you download it PRETTY PLEASE rate me and give FEEDBACK!  

Revising has been tough for my kiddos. Many of them think their stories are all done with nothing to add. However, though my writing conferences, I am beginning to convince some of my hesitant revisers to take a second look and add more to their writing!

3.  Tally Marks

Every year is a little different when teacher ( but you know that).  A lesson that took 3 days last year may only take 1 this year or the opposite could be true. That's how tally marks were this year!  Many kids knew about them and those that didn't, got it FAST!  I only had 2 kids have trouble and they understood the concept, they just made 5 tallies and 1 across (6) each time. I work with them one-on-one and it seemed to have worked!!

We made this chart together during the whole class lesson.  

I used this FREEBIE (not mine, but a goodie) to have this kids practice. It was clear and sat of all fun for the kids. ( who doesn't love a monster game??!!??). It was a great assessment tool for me too!  

4.  Core values- R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Our school has 5 core values we hope kids follow. My team created some fun beginning of the year lessons that help kids explore these core values. This week we talked about respect. We read Respect by Lucia Raymond.  This book gives clear examples of what respect looks like and sounds like. As a class we made a ( not pretty) chart of what respect sounds like. 

I am SO Embarrassed that this chart looks this bad. I almost want to make it again before we complete the looks like column on Monday!!  

After completing the chart, each child chose one respect statement or "sparkle statement" to write on a shooting star and decorate for our doors. Here's what some looked like...

I'm looking forward to seeing more of what respect sounds like in our classroom this year!

5.  Compliment Jar

Every year I use one incentive program or other. I tried bees in a hive last year. Where kids earned bees for good behavior, but the kids didn't but into it. Then I tried a bingo incentive but the results were mixed. This year I found this craft from on of my favorite sellers, cupcake for the teacher. This star jar is located on my white board and will be filled with star before we know it!  

In the hopes of parent support and encouragement I also had each kiddo make their own star jar to explain to someone at home what we are doing. Here's what one looks like!  

Have a great week friends!  I hope to be back soon with some fun fall crafts the little last and I are making, we have just been so busy lately!!  I will def be back with another 5 for Friday next week. And hopefully it will actually be done on Friday;). 

A Teacher Mom ;)