Back to School Read Aloud Picture Books and Activities

Hi friends! 

We're here again for another month's edition of Weekend Warriors.  

This month's theme is Favorite Books.  I think I could write a blog post every day of the school year about my favorite books.  There are just SO many great books out there!  I find new ones everyday it seems.  So here are just a few that I love and a couple freebies to go along with them around making connections to texts.  

These books are actually PERFECT for the beginning of the year and back to school time, but they  can really be used at any time because some classes (all classes, really) need some refreshers now and again about the importance of kindness.  

Before I get into the books, here is a mini anchor chart I put together to use when talking about the different ways to connect to a text. 

The first book I love to use is Chysanthemum by Kevin Henkes.  I LOVE using this book, at the beginning of the year especially.

This is the ideal book to discuss Text to Self Connections.  All students can connect with this cute little story about a mouse name Chrysanthemum.  She LOVES her name, until some of the other kids start making fun of her.  Not cool!  

This first idea I got from First Grade Wow to go along with this book.  She cuts out a large paper heart and passes it out to the students while she reads the book out loud.  She says everytime someone makes fun of Chrysanthemum to crumple up the heart a little more.  At the end she looks at the heart and talks about how Chrysanthemum felt when the other kids were making fun of her name.  Then they try to smooth out the heart, but it doesn't really smooth out completely.  She uses this poem to go on the heart and has the kids write their names on band-aids to put on the heart.  This is hung up all year long as a reminder that words can hurt and kind words are best!

Such a cute idea and a great classroom moment!  

After this activity I do some more activities with the students' names.   You can read this post from last year where I discuss this a little more.  I love to spend time where kids get to know each other, but it's also fun to just do some fun activities about something they know a lot about - their names!

Click on this picture to check out this pack in my store:

And here is a little poem I found that I also be using this year when we do these activities.  Just a cute reminder of how we should be proud of who we are!

The next book I like to use is A Bad Case of the Stripes by David Shannon.  

This book is about Camilla Cream who loves lima beans.  But her friends don't like them, so Camilla decides to stop eating them.  It is a great book about how you should be yourself no matter what other people think!  I love to tie this story in with the next book: Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon  by Patty Lovell.  

These two books are PERFECT for a little Text to Text connection.  

Molly Lou Melon is a GREAT character!  She does not care what the other kids think of her because she is proud of who she is!  What an awesome message!  I especially love Molly's grandma in this book because a lot of the confidence that Molly has is because the things her grandma says to her - like this quote: 

I think it's important for students to reflect on why they are special.  I spend lots of time sharing these altogether and celebrating what makes us all special people.

 At the end of all of these books, I try to bring it all back to a very important topic - bullying.  In each of these books there are kids who are being bullies.  Text to World connections come in here.  We discuss what a bully is and how they make us feel.  We also talk about how we can get rid of bullies and one way to help is to stand up to bullies.  Here is a quick little activity we do where we talk about about what we can do if we see bullying or if it happens to us.

I make an anchor chart for ideas of what we can do and then the students complete this sheet.  Since I'm not in school yet I don't have a picture of the anchor chart but some ideas we come up with are: tell an adult, tell them to stop, walk away, avoid the bully, be nice to the bully (make friends with the bully).  I think it's important to give students ways to deal with these problems because we all know they will encounter this at some point in their lives - probably many times.  

So wraps it up for me today.  If you are interested in any of the activities I shared in this post you can get them for FREE by clicking below.  I hope you like them and can use them!

Now don't leave yet!  Now you can enter to win a Teachers Pay Teachers $10 Gift Card and then move on to the other amazing blogs below to read more and enter more giveaways.  

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Lovey Dovey Valentine's Day

Hello, hello!  We're back with some fun ideas for this month.  We decided to share some LOVE for Valentine's Day this month for I {heart} January!

Here are a few things I've done for Valentine's Day over the years.  First up, of course we must focus on the academics as we lead up to Valentine's Day.  It can't ALL be candy and games, right?

We do a little How-To writing on How to Make a Valentine and put it together in this fun flip book.

We also do some reading, of course.  Here are some of the cute books that I love to read aloud around Valentine's Day.  

We do a variety of activities with these books, but sometimes we just read for fun.  Imagine that in the common core days.  That's right - I'm a rebel.  Haha!!!  

This is a little writing and craft that goes with The Day it Rained Hearts.  I love tapping into the kids imagination and asking what they would do if things from books happened to them.  It's that great way of modeling for our kids that reading is all about getting lost in a book and becoming part of the story. So we put them into the story as often as we can.  For this quick writing I have the kids think of "the most amazing thing" that could happen after it rains hearts.  They always come up with some fun ideas!

Around Valentine's Day, it's fun for kids to talk and share about all the different things they LOVE.  I mean, really, any time of year 1st graders want to talk about themselves.  Am I right?  So here is a cute heart shaped book that we make and they love sharing with their friends.  The pages have People I love, Things I love, People who love me, and How I show my love.

The next thing we love to do is make valentines and cards for the people we LOVE.  Here is a cute card we have made for parents and other loved ones.  

On Valentine's Day we love to play games at our classroom party.  I compiled a quick little list of some of the simple games we've played.  Maybe you will be able to use a couple of these at your next party. 

Here is a little Valentine Bingo freebie if you'd like to use it.  The kids create their own bingo boards.  Click the picture to grab it.  

Side note: Years ago when I started creating these bingo boards I would have my students generate the words we would use.  One of my favorite little boys wanted to use the words: Lovey Dovey.  The whole class erupted in giggles!  I will never forget it!!  So in honor of him I titled this post Lovey Dovey and of course included it in the bingo board.  :)

I can't forget to mention that throughout the week/weeks before Valentine's Day we also do a variety of themed literacy and math centers and activities.  

All of what I mentioned above and much more is included in my NEWLY UPDATED Valentine's Day pack.  If you already have it, you will want to re-download it - I added over 50 pages!!!  If you don't already have, it's on sale for the weekend so go grab it.  

Here's some more of what's included in the pack.

Thanks for stopping by for this edition of Weekend Warriors.  My friends below have more amazing ideas to share with you so check them out!

Have a great weekend!!! :)

Organize My Life...Please!

Hello there!  Coming at you this time with my fellow SUPER teacher/bloggers over at Primary Powers for a fun Organization Blog Hop.  

If you read the title of my post then you might be thinking I am not the most organized person.  

Well, you are absolutely correct!  

I don't know about you, but I am constantly looking for ways to be more organized.  I even have 2 Pinterest boards - one for the classroom and one for home - where I pin all those fabulous ideas that I plan on doing probably will never do, but they look so pretty!!   So I am just as excited as you might be to be hopping along here because I cannot wait to pick up some more tips on how to be better organized.  

My organizational post is about how I organize my student data in my classroom.  

In the days of Common Core, RTI, APPR, and whatever else is out there that I'm forgetting, a teacher can go a little bonkers trying to keep track of everything and have the evidence needed to support student performance.  It can be exhausting and stressful just gathering all the data you need, but it can also be challenging finding a way to organize that data once it's collected.  Last year I decided to keep an all-inclusive Student Data Binder.

To get started, I went to Office Max and got a large binder - mine is only 2 inches and I think I need to upgrade to a 3 inch binder.  I also got these numbered dividers.  In my classroom, I assign numbers to students from the first day of school and we use those numbers for a lot like our lunch choices and behavior chart.  The dividers come with this Table of Contents page, so I laminated that page and each year I will just tape in a copy of my student's names and numbers into it.  This way I can reuse it for as long as it will last.  

I have tried to include as much into this binder as I can so I have one place to go when I need information on a student.  One thing I keep in the binder is any and all parent communication (that is not in an email).    

I bought this 3-hole punched, plastic zipper pouch at Dollar Tree this summer and they are awesome.  They are very sturdy.  This one is in the front of my binder and I put any notes that parents send in throughout the year.  I keep them all!  The only ones I don't keep in this pouch would be excuses that go to the office.  I'm always surprised when I need to go back and look at a note, whether it's to grab a phone number or email that I can't find anywhere else or if I just need documentation of correspondence with parents- I am always happy that I keep them.  Under each student's tab I also put in the parent letters I have parents write to me in the beginning of the year about their expectations, goals, and concerns.  I also keep our parent conference notes and other notes I take when making phone calls.  This is so helpful during report cards to remind myself of what our goals are for each child and what I've already discussed with parents.  

I also keep each student's assessment data in my binder.  This includes running records and other testing documentation like AIMSWEB or informal assessments.  I also tend to write anecdotal notes on post-its during guided reading or math and then I can just stick them in the student's section so I don't lose them. 

I don't keep copies of the actual assessments in my binder because they take up way too much space.  I keep these in a crate with numbered file folders.  So in my binder I do keep any grading sheets that have the scores for these assessments on them, but the tests themselves get filed away.  (I don't have a picture of my grading sheets, but they are very basic).

The last thing I keep in my binder is behavior data.

 I use a card system in my room for behavior.  Each day I very quickly take some markers and document what color card each student was on.  I will often write a quick note as to why they were on a different color or again use a post-it and stick it in there.  I keep these so I can look back at trends, for report cards, and so I can share this with parents if I need to.  I allow students to earn a sticker when they are on green and then earn a reward when they get to 5 stickers.  It might seem like it would take a lot of time, but actually it is only about 2 minutes at the end of the day and it is SO important to reinforce the child's behavior for the day - especially the positive!

 So that's about it for my Student Data Binder.  It has really helped me stay a little more organized this year.  I can grab it when I have conferences or if I need to bring a student up for intervention support.  This week as I am finishing up my report cards for the quarter, I am so, so happy to be able to grab this binder and just get to it.

If you would like to start your own binder you can find the binder cover in this download below.  There are also binder covers for Lesson Plan, APPR, Common Core Assessments, and more!  Just click on the picture.

Thanks so much for visiting.  I'd love to hear any other great ideas you might have on how you organize your student data or really how you organize anything.  I'm always looking for more ideas!!!  

So it's time to hop on to the next tip from Valerie over at All Students Can Shine.  (I just love her, so I know she'll have something great to share).

Fa-La-La-La-La FREEBIES

Hey, hey!!! 

Did you stop by because you saw the word FREEBIES in my title???  

I don't blame you - freebies are FUN!!!  

So I'm not going to take too much of your time today - I'm just going to get right to it!  Then of course you should check out the other freebies in the link-up by clicking the picture above to go to Primary Powers.  

My freebie for you today is part of my Animals in Winter unit.  I'm sure you are in the middle of a Holidaze right now in your classroom, so I wanted to give you something that you could use after the holidays when the dust has settled and the Christmas cookies have all been eaten.  

This freebie has some fun, easy printables for you to use when teaching about Animals in Winter.  To grab your freebie, click on the picture below.

If you want to check out the whole unit (which is one of my favorites!!!), click HERE.  I just sent out for my copies of this unit so I can be prepped and ready for the new year.  

Happy downloading and of course, Happy Holidays!!!

Father's Day, End of the Year, and a Freebie

Hi again ----- hello ---- anybody still there??  

I know I've been somewhat absent the last couple weeks, but I have a little present for those of you who continue to come back for more.  I just wanted you to know that I appreciate your visits so much!  Keep reading to get your freebie :)

I'm really just here for a super quick update of what I have been doing and will be doing as our school year winds down.  Yes, I do realize that there are some schools who might be on summer vacation already.  If that's you, just know that I'm super jealous - we still have 19 days left!  Ugh!!!  

As we all know the end of the year is jam-packed.  With all the testing, paperwork, and last minute cramming to get everything in --- it can be soooo exhausting!  So if you're anything like me you start finding ways to make life a little easier for yourself.  In my last couple weeks of school I will be digging up some things from last year, using some of the new things I made, and also getting some Ah-mazing little items that I picked up from some of my favorite bloggers ready too.  

Here's a quick rundown of how I will be surviving my end of the year craziness:

Father's Day

I just finished a little pack I will be using for Father's Day this year.

It includes a gift book, tool box craftivity, and a couple printables.  My husband really liked this one so I might be making it with my little girls for him for Father's Day too!  At least I already know he likes it :)

 I also bundled it together with my Flowers for Mom Mother's Day pack for a great discount.

End of the Year

For the end of the year I will using my Farewell Firsties pack from last year.  

This pack saved my butt last year when I was grasping for fun activities to keep us happy as the temperatures were rising and our motivation was falling.  If you want to see more of this pack, you can CLICK HERE to go to a blog post from last year.   I also have a Kinder and 2nd Grade version of this pack in my store now too.  

I've also enlisted the help of some of my blogging buddies and scored these perfect packs:

  

And finally, to keep some order in the classroom I try to keep as much routine as I can.  This means that we keep truckin' along with literacy centers and math centers.  I made some buggy math centers to go over some skills that really needed to be reviewed before the year was out:

But I still needed some literacy centers and I found the BEST pack to keep us going.  Sarah is a lifesaver!!!!  Even though these are for May, they can continue right into June too.  

AND FINALLY....

One last center JUST FOR YOU!!!  

Here is a lemonade themed math center FREEBIE.  

Again, another skill that my kiddos needed to practice and maybe yours do too :)

Click the picture below to grab it.

Happy end of the year my friends!  

I hope I was able to provide one little bit of sanity for you with an item I suggested or with this freebie.  

Thanks for stopping by :)