Vowel Songs

I'm VERY EXCITED!

I finally bought this

I've had a very, very small one. A parent gave it to me years ago. I do soooo much laminating! So I decided I'd buy a bigger one. I think I got a pretty good deal on it. Wal-Mart has them for $27.95. Then I found this on Amazon. It's the pouches.

It's not the brand name but they got really good reviews and are much cheaper. Has any one used this brand? Does anyone prefer 3Mil to 5 Mil (thickness)? I've got to start printing all the great ideas I've been collecting from Pinterest so I can try it out!

I've been working on vowels for the beginning of the school year and I ran across this cute little Old MacDonald Song. I had some songs for the short vowels but this one I was able to add the long vowels as well. You sing the vowel sound, long or short, where the AA or OO are. I fancied it up with some cute graphics from KPM Doodles and Scrappin Doodles. You can click my sidebar for a link to their websites. I'd love to give credit to the original person who came up with the idea so if anyone knows who started this cute little song let me know. You can grab a copy if you'd like. Just click on the picture. There is a page for each vowel- long and short together.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great rest of the week.

Something Good!

Our state has a program called Prevention Dimensions which teaches kids safe and drug-free communties. It's a free resource for teachers in our state and has some terrific lessons.

One of my favorites is the music CDs. A musician named Steve James wrote some awesome songs for the program. My firsties absolutely LOVE singing them. They are songs that encourage self-esteem, service, good citizenship, and healthy choices.  Mr. James came to our school a year ago and put on an assembly that was SUPER! He is soooo talented. I thought you could only get them through the Prevention Dimensions program but I was wrong. Steve James has a website called-

  'Something Good Inc'.

If you go to the site you can listen to samples of the songs and even buy them.

My kiddos favorites are:

I'll Be Nice

Something Good

Chill

Thinking Positive

I Like Being Me

The Friendship Song

I print the words to each song and my kids have them in their poem/songbooks to follow along every time we sing them or when they read songbooks on their own. I've had several parents ask me where they can get a copy of the music so the kids can sing them at home. Now I can tell them where to find it. You might want to check it out too.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer or soon to be wonderful summer. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Favorite Chapter Books

One of my most favorite times of the day and my firsties favorite times of the day, has to be chapter book read aloud time. At 2:00 my kiddos stop whatever they are doing and start to clean-up. Our Early Birds, (I have staggered start times, so half my class comes from 8:00-2:15, while the other half comes from 9:15-3:30) pack up while the Later Gators have a bathroom break. This takes all of about 2-3 minutes. Then everyone meets on the kiva (my benches) where we become engrossed in our latest chapter book. We read until the bell rings signaling that it's time for the Early Birds to go home. Almost daily there are moans and groans because no one wants to leave especially when we are at the most exciting part of the book! Why do we LOVE this so much? I think it's because we learn to love reading! We laugh, we cry, we get nervous, excited, and sometimes even scared. We learn that books and reading can REALLY be enjoyable. We gain a LOVE for reading.

Here are some of our favorites:
I like to introduce many of the book series by reading at least the first book in the series. Hopefully, by the end of the year many of my kiddos will be able to read these on their own.

Of course, there are some books that I just HAVE to read EVERY year even though I've read them a bazillion times. I don't want any of my kids to miss out on these great books:

I know there are tons of great books out there. What are some of your kiddos favorites? I'd love to hear from you. Just leave me a comment. I'd love to add to my collection.
Thanks for stopping by. I hope you've found something you can use in your classroom.
Have a great day!

The CAFE

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer or is about to start enjoying their summer. I know some of you are still in school. I'm out but in district classes until tomorrow.
I am so excited about the book I am reading. It's The CAFE Book by Gail Boushey and Joan Moser (The Sisters.)

If you've heard of Daily 5 then you've probably heard about the CAFE. I started Daily 5 in my class this year and LOVED it. So my dear friend Fredia over at Frogs in First suggested I read this book. THANK YOU FREDIA! I'm almost done with it and I LOVE it. It's a short book and a very quick, easy read. I found out Lory over on Lory's Page is having a Summer Book Club that anyone can join up and read the Daily 5 book and Cafe book then read and talk about it with other teachers. You might want to check this out!
So you're saying "what IS CAFE"? because that's what was going through my mind when I first heard of it. Here is a short explanation. CAFE is an acronym for Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency, and Expand vocabulary. You may have seen something like it floating around called FACE. They just changed the letters around. Here's a quote from the book's blurb: "CAFE includes goal-setting with students, posting of goals on a whole-class board, developing small-group instruction based on clusters of students with similar goals, and focusing whole-class instruction on emerging student needs. It provides a structure for conferring with students, a language for talking about reading development, and a system for tracking growth and fostering student independence." The CAFE system is based on research of the habits of proficient readers and is aligned with the new common core. One thing I LOVE is there are 37 strategies with lessons to teach each one. I also love the CAFE board you put up in your classroom. It's a huge visual reminder to kids about what smart readers are doing. I love the system they set up to conference with students and it only takes 5 minutes. It also has a great, easy tracking system.
I've got lots of questions and wonder what CAFE looks like in first grade. (because everything looks different in 1st) If anyone out there is doing CAFE in first grade I'd LOVE to hear from you!!
Well I'm off to my district class.
I hope everyone has a terrific day!

End of the Year Fun!

Here are some pictures from our end-of-the-year fun. We did a 'Student Appreciation Day' where, we the teachers, honor the kids with a day of fun activities.

 Here we had some science experiment fun with Diet Coke and Mentos thanks to Mrs. Hodges!

 Lots of bubbles!

 Baby chicks came to visit!

 Sidewalk chalk was a big hit!

 We have brick pavers around the flagpole in front of the school and the firsties loved to color them in.

 It was very colorful for all the families attending Kindergarten graduation!

 Playing games with our friends!

 A fun P.E. game on the lawn!

Two cuties doing our 1st grade dance to 'Rock-a-Hula-Luau'. A great song from Grease 2.

Well, tomorrow is our last day. I can't start thinking about how much I'm going to miss them. They are so cute and make me laugh. Have I said lately how much I love this job?

Hope everyone is having a great summer or soon to be summer. 

I know I'm excited to get it started!

Great Teacher Book!

Mrs. Spitzer's Garden by Edith Pattou

This is one of my favorite books- for me not the kids. I've read it to my firsties before but most of them don't get it. So then I have to explain. I like to read it to myself at the beginning and end of the year. It reminds me of the important job I have to do. I love the part that says:

"She knows that different plants (her plants are her students) need different things. And that each plant has its own shape. 

Some of the plants grow quickly, pushing upward, eager, impatient.

Some grow more slowly, unfolding themselves bit by bit.

Some plants sprout thin and tall.

Some are bushy and wide-spreading.

Some are bold, showy. They are brightly colored, saying "Look at Me!"

Some are silvery and quiet, the color of the earth.

A few are like wildflowers and will grow anywhere you put them.

And some need gentle care, a special watching-over."

 "And then the year is over, and her job is done.

But the plants will keep growing, uncurling their stems, stretching their leaves outward, and showing their faces to the sun."

I can't dwell on this for very long or I'll get a little teary. But I LOVE being a teacher and watching my little ones grow and change. Grateful of the chance to help my little plants 'stretch and show their faces to the sun!'

This book makes a terrific gift for any teacher on your list- even yourself. It's a must read!

Thanks to all the wonderful teachers out there that make a difference in children's lives. Bless you!

Have a great day!

Relay Games Freebie

Okay, so on the the last day of school, I have my little firsties for only an hour and a half. What do you do for just an hour and a half on the last day of school. It's been my dilemma for years. I read a great post by Reagan over on Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits. She does a cute 'Minute to Win' activity with her kiddos. Please check out her cute ideas with pictures HERE!
I have a ton of kiddos so I decided to do the same type of thing only we'll do it in relay teams. I went on-line and found some great ideas. This internet thing is so wonderful! I put together a little packet of about 14 relay games. I'm picking about 6 of them to play on that last day. I'm putting everything into Ziplock Bags with the game card so I'm all ready to go. All the games are pretty easy to assemble. You shouldn't have to spend too much or go looking all over to find the materials, mostly just things around the house plus a balloon or two. I think I'm actually getting excited for the last hour and a half! Click on the picture for a PDF.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you found something you can use in your classroom!