HELP.... I need somebody

Sing along with me

Help, I need somebody,
Help, not just anybody,
Help, you know I need someone, HELP.

I met with my Action Research class tonight for my masters. I am overwhelmed to say the least! I am looking for an idea of something to research. Please let me know of something you use in your class that you absolutely love. Some ideas I have are CAFE for guided reading, Words Their Way and Interactive Math Notebooks.

PLEASE give me some ideas. Thanks!

I Can't Take Credit

So I survived the first 3 days of school. Every year I forget how young the students are at the beginning of the year! Here are some pictures of my classroom. I cannot take credit for most of the things. I looked a blogs and pinterest all summer and that's where my ideas came from. I moved into my BRAND NEW classroom over Spring Break. The fun part was this summer when I got to spend time getting my room ready. Thanks to all you out there who inspired the great ideas in my classroom! I appreciate everyones wonderful ideas!

My birthday chart


Classroom Library


Guided Reading Table


View from the door


Word Wall and Reading Strategies

Under "Kid"struction

Our school is in the process of adding on/renovating the old part of the building. By next summer our school will be BRAND NEW. They gutted the old part of the building and it's looking fantastic. I think the best part of the new building is being able to staple in the walls. I am so used to hot glueing everything.

Since all the construction is going on, our theme this year is Under "Kid'struction. I've been brainstorming ideas and here are a few things I've found.

Cone hats for the first day.


Caution/Kid Zone tape


Candy wrappers


What's your theme this year and what do you plan on doing?

Daily 5

Ok I need your help. What is Daily 5? I keep seeing it on EVERYONES blogs and I am clueless. My school doesn't do Daily 5 and I want to know more about it! Thanks

Punch Cards

I have decided I am going to use punch cards as behavior incentives this year. I have used class dollars in the past and I wanted to try something different. Students will receive punches to reinforce desired behaviors. After their punch card is full they will have the option of treasure box, taking off shoes etc. Here are the punch card I made for my class. The link has two different sizes.




Punch Cards

New Alphabet

Thanks to Mrs. Lemons I have a new, super cute alphabet for my class. Mrs. Lemons posted these on her blog. I printed them out on card stock and laminated the cards. I am so excited to put them up when I get back to school.

10 Things About Me

Go Fourth! with Mrs. Ownes is having a Linky Party. Yes, I am getting bored this summer and have started working on things for my class. So for something to do, I'm going to join in.



1. I am in love with the Lord and live to serve him!

2. I am obsessed with my nephew. He will be 2 in October and he lives about 4 hours away :(


3. I am teaching in the same town I grew up in.

4. This summer I have become addicted to Pinterest. I love following teaching boards, as well as clothing and ideas for the house.

5. I could live off of Mexican food, especially chips and salsa.

6. I grew up watching the Dallas Cowboys with my dad and I watch every game. I also love the Texas Rangers.


7. Fireworks are on my list of top 10 favorite things.

8. I feed the homeless in downtown Dallas every Wednesday night and have meet some wonderful friends.

9. I bought a house on my own after my 1st year of teaching.


10. I love cats. I have 2 cats named Sadie and Hattie

Prayers

I am asking for prayers for the families of two teachers in my school district. A husband (5th grade teacher), wife (Assistant principal) and their one old son were killed in a car accident this weekend. Their 4 year old son is still in the hospital.The wife worked at my school my first two years of teaching. She was such a sweet lady. It's hard to believe this has happened. Please pray for strength and healing for their son. May God be glorified and lifted up even in this difficult time. I love how one of my coworkers said it, "Father in heaven, You know exactly what we need at the moment we need it. So I ask that You would send Your peace, love and healing to those who need it now. Amen"

Hold Me Now by Hillsong

On that day when I see
All that You have for me
When I see You face to face
There surrounded by Your grace

All my fear is swept away
In the light of your embrace
When Your love is all I need
And forever I am free

Where the streets are made of gold
In Your presence healed and whole
Let the songs of heaven rise to you alone

No weeping, no hurt or pain
No suffering You hold me now
You hold me now
No darkness no sick or lame
No hiding You hold me now,
You hold me now

In this life I will stand
Through my joy and my pain
Knowing there's a greater day
There's a hope that never fails

When Your name is lifted high
And forever praises rise
For the glory of Your Name
I'm believing for the day

When the wars and violence cease
All creation lives in peace
Let the songs of heaven rise to you alone

For eternity
All my heart will give
All the glory to Your name

Construction Theme

Our theme next year is Under "Kid"struction. We had an addition added to our school and the rest of the old building is being renovated. Here are a few things I have made for my class next year. If you have any ideas for me please let me know.

Name Plate




Sign

Summer

This morning I went to a training for the DRA2 kit. We have used Rigby in the past and that's all I've ever know. I think I will know my student better because of DRA. I think the information you receive from DRA is so valuable.

What leveling system do you use? How do you like it?

BTW I will be crusin' to the Bahamas Saturday. I am super excited and I need to relax after this school year. Hope you are having a restful summer!

o-FISH-ally 2nd Graders

Here we are at the last day of school. I am excited for Summer but I am going to miss my sweet students. I saw this cute idea on the internet and I decided to use goldfish instead of Swedish fish. They turned out really cute!

Science at Sunrise

This year our 1st grade team started using interactive science notebooks. I have to say this was the best idea we had all year. We would take turns planning science for the team which means I only had to plan science every 5 weeks. We decided to have a morning where parents could come and see our science notebooks. We also had donuts which made the morning more exciting. We had just finished our bug unit so we go the idea to dress up in bugs from A Burst of First. The kids loved showing their parents their science notebooks, mealworms and plants we were growing at the time. Since I am at a Title 1 school, we try to get the parents involved often. Here are a few pictures of Science at Sunrise.

Homophones

I found a wonderful idea on Oceans of First Grade Fun. She created a lesson called A Hive of Homophones. The kids loved creating their own bee with homophones. I created an assessment to go with the lesson. Try it out in your class. It's not very cute because I don't have the rights to really cute graphics but it gets the job done.



Homophones Fill in the Blank

Play Day

This past Friday we had field day and thankfully the rain held off. The first grade team got together and we added extra events so there wasn't a dull moment in the day. Earlier in the week we tie dyed shirts. Each student brought their own white shirt and each class had a different color. Here are a few pictures from field day.


Ms. Hill's Class

My New Button

Thanks to Ms. M I have a button for my blog. She gave away free buttons.... How AWESOME is that? Go by and check out her blog. Thanks again!

Meal Worms

Welcome the newest members to Ms. Hill's class. They will start as meal worms, but what will they become?


Yes I am a bit creeped out by them. We did this last year and I survived so hopefully I will do the same this year. The students love watching them change. Look back for updates on our meal worms!

Life Cycles

We have been talking about the Life Cycles of Butterflies. Today we did an activity we found on the internet using pasta for the parts of the life cycle. Here are two pictures from two different class.




We also created this web to go along with butterflies. It's like a KWL chart but my students seems to like this much better. The red is what we know about butterflies. Then I showed them only the pictures of the book we were reading (picture walk). After showing just the pictures I asked them what questions they had about butterflies and we wrote that in green. Then after reading we wrote anything that was new information or any questions we could answer after reading.

Word Wall

So basically if there is anything cute in my room my mom had a part in it or she probably did it herself. She is amazing at scrap-booking and stamping. I moved into a brand new classroom over Spring Break (yes, I spent my Spring Break up at school). I decided it was time for new letters and pictures on my word wall. My mom and I used the Cricut machine to cut the letters and pictures. I absolutely love my new word wall. Here are some pictures of how it turned out.


Pp pig


A few pictures up close


The Final Product