Halloween Literacy Center and a Freebie

I love doing literacy centers, or stations, in my classroom. I count this as my WORD WORK for Daily 5. I will take some pictures and post when I talk about our WORD WORK, but I wanted to find the just right stations for what we are doing in my classroom. I decided to make these centers, and I can't wait to share them with my students! I am also sharing one of the centers that I think is adorable. Click on the picture below and it will take you to my TpT store so you can download it. Click on the other picture and it will take you to the full Halloween Centers!!!! Thanks for looking. Do me a favor- let me know what you think by leaving me a comment.

Click here for the full Haunted Halloween Stations:

Daily 5: Getting Started with Read to Self

I didn't start teaching Daily 5 until the third week of school. We had a rough beginning of the year so I wanted to make sure I had all of my pretesting and routines down before I threw in another one. We started Daily 5 with choosing a good book. I brought in every shoe imaginable and we talked about where and why we would use them. The kids thought this was fantastic! It also gave them time to get to know me a little bit from my different shoes. (Who knew our shoes told who we are?!) We then talked about the I PICK. We came up with actions for each part of it so they would remember. We tried reading different books that were not on our level and talked about that.

That was Day 1.

Day 2 we talked about what Read to Self would look like. They came up with a good T-Table and we wrote it all down. Then we talked about me, what I would be doing. I explained that I get to work with each one of them back at our "Jelly Bean" table, which is our small group table. They were all thrilled about this.

The first day we made it three minutes. We talked about, and made it three minutes again. It's funny because I was sweating bullets trying to get them there. I created graphs so we could keep track of how long we were there. They loved to see them. Every day seemed to get better and by just a little over a week we made it to 15 minutes~ holy cow! I didn't expect their stamina to build so quickly, but it did, and now I am able to meet with a group for that time!

One thing I did as we were building stamina here, is I would go around and tap them on the shoulder. They would then start reading aloud so I could hear them read. I felt that this served two purposes- first, I wanted to hear that they chose a book that they could read, and second, I wanted them to get used to "distractions" so they could learn to ignore when we were at the table.

Notice my Daily 5 board in the back- it has my poster as well as the stamina poster (as well a full shot of my book boxes!)

I have made Daily 5 posters with an I PICK poster, as well as stamina graphs in my TpT store. I have pirates, Ocean Friends, and Monsters. (I haven't gotten around to making graphs yet on the last two) Feel free to check them out. Click on the pic to take you there!

Next post I will talk about what is in their book box, book shopping, and introducing Work on Writing!

Daily 5: Getting Started with Book Boxes

I have tried Daily 5 in the past, and have started out pretty good, but this year I decided that for my classroom to work effectively and me to be a happy teacher, I needed to figure out how to do it ALL! If you don't know about it, you can find the book here. It truly is an amazing way to set up your classroom.

The first task was figuring out book boxes. I searched on pinterest, on on a million blogs, and finally found these cute ice cube boxes at Walmart. They were $2 a piece. I scoured all of the Walmarts around my house and finally found enough for my classroom. Next I made these cute circles to label each one. Finally, I got some wood from Home Depot, cut it, painted it, got some cinderblocks, and tada... a book shelf for my book boxes. I LOVE THIS!!!!  I would love to know what you have done, too!

Johnny Appleseed Day and a Freebie

It sounds a bit funny, but one of my favorite celebrations is Johnny Appleseed day. It seems like such a fun way to celebrate fall, and a great excuse to eat apples!!! We do lots of fun things in our classroom with Johnny Appleseed. We teach about seeds, plants, tall tales, and of course, Johnny Appleseed himself. I decided to put my together what I had made into a unit. I've never made a unit before, but I am excited for how this turned out. We do lots of writing in this unit, and there is writing in each form from the common core- information, narrative, opinion-- this unit includes the graphic organizers also. My kids love coming to school for Johnny Appleseed day because all week we talk about what our day will look like. Sometimes I have parents come in and we do some of the activities in centers, and other times we do them all week long and just do one or two activities. They always come in cut off pants, with a couple of apples and a pot to wear on their head! When we do it this year, I will make sure to post some pics! Click on the link below to take you to my store.

I want you to be able to have some Johnny Appleseed paper I created that is in my packet. If you click the link below you can download it for free. It's in a JPG form.  Make sure to leave a comment so I know you did. I would love it if you followed my blog, too!

Pirate Name Tags

I have made the cutest name tags!!! I have pirate name tags that are little, for your first days of school or for field trips, or I have big ones for desks that you can laminate for the year. Either way you can't go wrong with how cute these are! Check out my store:

Back to School Teacher Sale and my FIRST Giveaway

It's that time of year again and we are all cramming to get back to school! Everything in my TpT store is 20% off through Monday, August 19th.

I also want to do my very first giveaway.... Comment below and tell me your favorite thing you do for the first day of school and your product you want to win from my store.  I will choose a winner by Wednesday, August 28, 2103. In order to win, follow this rafflecopter entry form.  I'm so excited!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Writing... Trying to Follow the Common Core

I don't know about many of the teachers out there, but I am very overwhelmed with the common core and want to make sure we are teaching everything we need for these kids! I have come up with a writing book for my students that I am putting my TpT store. It's bundled, or you can buy them separately. I have put together prompts to fit opinion writing, informational writing, and narrative writing. I have also included information about each type of writing and steps for a great paragraph for each type of writing. I love this!!! If you click on any of the pics below they will take you to the store. I bundled it and discounted this so it makes it worth it for writing for the whole year!!! Leave me comments and let me know what you think!

A Tour of Our Pirate Classroom

I am excited for our classroom to be put together again! It takes so much time getting it put back together from the summer, but it feel so good to have a clean classroom and fresh bulletins. Here are some pics of what is going on so far in our pirates classroom:

Our Reading Wall:

Our Back to School Board:
I enlarged and colored these cute graphics from www.scrappindoodles.com

Our Birthday Board: I take a picture of each student wearing a pirate hat and put that picture under their month header. I put them in groups for each month and they hold the number of their birthday. It makes it so easy to find birthdays! 

This is behind my desk. I found this online somewhere and love it!

I cut these out with my fabulous SILHOUETTE. These are for birthdays:

This is the beginnings of our expectations board. It's in the works... we add to it throughout the year, too.

My reading corner. I use my easel a lot. We do a lot of teaching over here. Our pirate parrot watches over us, too.

And we need cannons of course! These are filled with rewards that they can earn. They get to choose one and pop it when they earn it.

Our job wall... this is from last year. In my store you will noticed I have a new job chart where you take a pic of each child and I have created bodies and hats to add to each person and you move them along the board. It will make it nice to see who is on each job.

This is our math wall. They make jewels and when they pass off their addition facts they add a sticker to their jewel.

My focus wall is for literacy... pretty basic:

My alphabet- this is from another teacher's TPT store. I can't remember where, but I love it!

That's it! We don't have our calendar wall up yet, and of course, there are always last minute changes. If you are like me, I enjoy seeing the set up of desks also, so I will take more pictures. Happy School Year!!! Leave me comments- I treasure what other teachers say and love when you ask me questions, too!

Writing Books

I am thrilled that I have had time this summer to revise something that I use every single day- writing books! I have started with my opinion writings because I find them the most amusing! I am excited that I can use these in my classroom and I can't wait to see what my students come up with! Click on the picture below and it will take you to my product in the store and return soon for the other writings that will be available.

Common Core Objective Labels for First Grade

I decided second grade shouldn't have all of the fun! I have also made the common core labels for first grade. Make sure to check them out in my TPT store!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/First-Grade-Common-Core-Objective-12-Page-Labels-Part-2-799270

This is the link to one of the literacy ones. There is also another part to the literacy as well as the math! Enjoy!

***UPDATE: I have adjusted these posters to read in simplied language for the students starting with I CAN statements. I have also added first grade objectives to my store.

Posting the objective has been shown in more effective teaching. I have to admit that this is something I struggle with. Summer is a great time for me to reflect on what works and what I need to do better. This is something I need to do better next year. I came up with these Pirate Objective Labels for each Standard and Strand in the Common Core. I put them in my TPT store. The problem is, they are a huge file, so I have them in three different products!! Come check them out. I'm excited to use them next year.
Here's the math:

The Language Arts is broken up into two parts. Holy cow- we have a lot to cover in Language Arts!

Here's the second part:

Enjoy!!

Reflective Journal for Teachers

One of the things I don't have time for enough is reflecting on my teaching. I feel like I get so busy getting so many things done that I forget this. I also feel like I have a great idea and don't have a place to put it. I find that things in my lesson planner get lost. My solution: a Reflective Journal for teaching with each of the Common Core Standards!! It has room for me to write ideas under each Standard and Strand, and it also has a check off at the end of each standard so I know when I teach it!! I am thrilled to use this in the classroom. I have put it on my TPT webpage also.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Second-Grade-Reflective-Journal-729974

It's a Pirate's Life In Second Grade

We moved our classroom this year and decided to change it up a bit to pirates. They have been so much fun, and I have loved finding and creating fun bulletin boards!

Birhtday Board- a bit blurry, but each month I take a picture of who's birthday is that month and have them hold up that number from the calendar. This set is for sale in my TPT store. Click on the picture and it will take you there.

This is the outside board for the students to see who's class they are in. The images are Scrappin' Doodle that I enlarged and colored. Cute, right?!

This is my reading board, where the students each make a ship and put stickers on it for every day they read. At the end of the month we do a reading party for those that earned enough stickers. I can't remember what pirate set this is.

This AHOY sign was a freebie I found online and I am sad I can't remember where from. I used it for my boy's pirate birthday party.

This is what the students get for this birthday. I cut out these cute pirate shapes on the silhouette. LOVE these!!!

Spelling Groups and Activities

In my classroom we used "Words Their Way" which is a program that helps level students and teaches them patterns instead of memorizing spelling words. I love it!!! I have used it several years and each year, work a little harder to perfect what we are doing. I feel like this year was a good year for us. My students understood it, and I felt that they learned how to really listen to sounds and learn their patterns.

I have my activities we use as well as a our booklet on my TPT site. Feel free to check it out. It's so useful and I sure love using them!

Word Wall File Folders

My kids love writing, but they always are up at my desk all of the time asking me to spell words, so I made these file folders for them to go to for specific words. They then write the words in their dictionaries that I showed previously. They are so much fun, and really are useful for the students to learn the words. Because we don't have a ton of wall space, these work perfectly for us!