Establishing Routines and FREEBIES!

Its been a minute since I've worked with kindergarteners!  I forgot just how much work kindergarten teachers do to engrain rituals and routines into students minds and behaviors.  The reminder that they build so much of the foundation that we all work off of has made me appreciate kindergarten teachers even more!  Throw a kindergarten teacher a hug TODAY!

Two of my little people practicing "Buddy Reading".

Establishing rituals and routines can be tedious but it is an essential part of good classroom management.  It needs to happen in EVERY. SINGLE. THING. that you do with your students so that they understand expectations and consequences.  Lining up, coming to the rug, getting water, using scissors, sliding down the slide, partner work, independent work, blowing noses, and so on and on and on and on, over and over and over again!  Oh, it's painful, but the payoff for a few weeks of tedium is a year of peace!

I'm a big fan of the collaborative expectation setting approach.  For example, today we are going to use scissors but I think we should make a list of rules to follow while we use them so that we can all be safe.  Turn and talk to your partner to create 1 rule you think we should follow to be safe when we use scissors in our classroom.  Partners share their rules and I chart them.  When the chart is complete I ask what the consequence should be for someone who chooses not to follow the rule.  Usually a warning and clip move is the decided upon consequence.  The result is a memorable discussion and chart to display and refer to through the year.  

After our discussion and expectation setting I give them an activity to practice their new ritual/routine.  For the next few weeks, every time we use our scissors, we review the chart before we begin the activity.  After that it's typically smooth sailing because the expected behavior has been engrained in their minds and they understand the consequences.

To make establishing these rituals and routines a little easier I'm sharing my anchor charts and activities for cutting and gluing with you for free!

 Click here to get Scissor Practice for FREE!

Click here to get Glue Practice for FREE!

What Does the Fox Say...on Valentines Day?!

I know what you're thinking, this is a smidge late.  You're right :).  The past year was a little challenging professionally and ended up bringing lots of changes with it but I wanted to take some time this summer to share a few of our special moments!

Did your students freak out over the song What Does the Fox Say?  Mine did, they sang it EVERYDAY.  On the bus going to field trips, during literacy centers, during independent work in math, while they were writing, swinging, walking, picking their nose...you get the point.  Around the holidays I finally gave in and pulled up the "Just Dance" video and let them get all kinds of weird.

I have to admit, watching kids sing and dance along makes the song EXPONENTIALLY less annoying.  One chilly, well chilly for Florida, January afternoon a 5th grade class saw us dancing (I participated too, don't judge) and challenged us to a dance off.

5th graders versus 1st graders on a Valentines Day dance off to What Does the Fox Say.  

After one full month of trash talking 1st grade brought the HEAT!  I cut red feather boa's to make fox tails for them and used Halloween makeup to draw a fox nose and whiskers on their sweet little faces.  Several of them wore their fox shirts and one little guy even wore his tuxedo!  #fareal

After an intense "dance off" an impartial panel of judges declared 1st grade winners!  

We had a blast and ended up adopting this class as our FCAT buddies.  To help ease the pain of their embarrassing loss to the littles we brought them these valentines.  Snag them HERE to use next year if you'd like!

Last Day of 2013-2014

This year has brought so many changes to our district, school, and my career.  Professionally, this year was a real challenge but it was also incredibly rewarding.  I was nominated for Teacher of the Year and for the Fishman Prize for Superlative Classroom Practice.  I got to work with my best friends and one of the most unique, special groups of students I've ever known.

I could go on for days telling you about each of these wonderful little people.  I could tell you about how they sing ALL DAY, EVERYDAY.  Or about how they dance around the classroom because "dancing is better than walking."  I could tell you about how they were always each other's BIGGEST cheerleader, regularly sharing high-fives and kind words even when they didn't win themselves.  They are enthusiastic, funny, kind, loving, silly, full of laughter, witty, smart, hardworking, thoughtful, and SO many other things.  

They taught me to find a way to enjoy every moment I have with a class.  At the beginning of the year I didn't realize that this would be my last class at the school I have been at for 8 years.  I didn't make the most out of everyday, I settled into our routine and grinded it out until I realized that our time together had an expiration date.  At the end of the year I'd leave the school and the district.  I wouldn't get to see them grow into 5th graders.  

In teaching and in life, there is always an expiration date.  Make the most out of every moment you have with your people and find the wonder in all the small things.  Like when a dragon fly lands on your students shirt and then lets you pass it around for some spontaneous show and tell!

Math Supplements

Hey there!  It's been a minute...err well, actually it's been about 3 months.  Yikes, sorry about that!  I've been drowning (literally and figuratively) in work.  Tough start this year.  Let's get down to business though!

This year I'm focusing VERY heavily on my math instruction.  It's amazing how much there still is to learn about the developmental level of students on a grade level you've been working on for 5+ years.  Every year I find a new way to challenge myself.  I can see how people can enjoy teaching the same grade level for their whole career.

The curriculum guide in our district for math this year is solid and cleverly laid out (for once :).  The only real problem with it is a lack of assessment pieces.  Because we jump around our curriculum materials (we use Math Investigations AND enVision Math) so much it isn't feasible to utilize the assessments in those resources.

We have been given more time to focus on math and implement math centers but again, our curriculum resources do not offer a variety of engaging activities to use during this time.

Our district has also moved into serious implementation of interactive journals, which I thought I'd hate.  As I have begun to understand their purpose and see my students engagement I'm really enjoying our work in creating them.

Click here to check out the Commutative Property Supplemental Pack!

I'm sure you can see the problems piling up.  I noticed these deficits a few weeks into the school year and started creating materials to fill the void for my grade level.  It's always hard to implement something new so I started out with the interactive journal pages.  I created one for the teacher-side (right) that served as a guided instructional piece.  Then the student-side (left) serves as a way for students to practice the skill either individual or with the assistance of their table mates.

I added a few games and activities that can be used in math centers to practice the concept/skill and I topped it off with an assessment and occasionally a craft.

Get this Flip Flop Fact free in the Preview!

 These packs have turned out to be exceptionally helpful so I thought they could benefit others!  I've got 4 supplemental units complete and packaged and plan on creating them for each Common Core standard/skill/concept we work on in first grade.

Click here to check out the Fact Families Supplemental Pack!

Download Domino Fact Family for free under the Preview!

Click here to check out the Missing Addend Supplemental Pack!

Download Missing Number Match up for Free in the Preview!

Click here to check out the Doubles and Near Doubles Supplemental Pack!

Download Near Doubles Game for free in the Preview!

Let me know what you think and definitely share anything you'd like to see added!

Number Lines

We've been getting to know all the cool tools we will use in math this year!  Last week we really focused on number lines and began exploring the strategy of "counting back."

I love using the songs from Have Fun Teaching to help engrain skills in my students minds.

We've been shaking our tail-feathers to this Counting Down From Twenty video for DAYS!  They're still asking for more, I love it!

We kicked off our lessons using these Write & Wipe Number Lines from Lakeshore.  They were part of my most recent Donors Choose project so I was excited to break them in!

If you use Math Investigations you may be familiar with the game Start With/Get To.  These number lines helped students count forward and backwards and create equations during the game.


Later in the week we started working with adding 0, 1, & 2.  To keep it consistent I had students use the number line to practice this.

Last Fall I created Hop Along the Number Line and thought it would tie in well.  Click on the caption to download this game for free!

Grab this game for free here!

To wrap up our number line practice I decided to take it outside!

Students worked in groups with number cards (1-9) and dice.  We played 2 versions:

1) Students drew 1 card and stood on that number.  They drew a second card and hopped to that number.  Finally, they had to state an equation to represent their movement.


2)  Students drew 1 card and stood on that number.  They rolled the die and hopped to that number.  Finally, they had to state an equation to represent their movement.

Students are now using the anchor chart we created last week as they continue to practice using number lines this week with subtraction story problems.

We are getting familiar with the rituals and routines for math center time this week so I added a few number line games to one of the center buckets!  I'm looking forward to differentiating this time more as students become independent and I finish collecting data for tiering!

How are you using number lines with your students?!?

Testing Blues

We've been waist deep in baseline testing for 3 weeks now.  While I'm looking forward to some good data, I can't wait to switch from tester to teacher and get down to some serious business!

My question for you is, how do you shake off the testing blues?  

My kid-lets look like someone punted their puppy off a bridge, Anchorman-style, by the time we wrap up testing each morning.

The best solution I've found for this is a little dance party sponsored by Just Dance Kids on YouTube.

Here are a few of our favorites!

Last, but not least, the Sid Shuffle!

How do you kick the testing blue?!?!

First Day Pictures!

This has been one of the craziest starts to a school year I've ever had.  That's one of the things I like most about this job though.  Anything but routine.

I like my job like I like my kids, the weirder the better :)

I totally spaced on the "First Day of First Grade" pictures so we took "Second Day of First Grade" pictures.  Luckily, they're adorable everyday so it worked out!

Here's a little peek at my sweet, silly students (only the ones whose parents gave me permission to post, of course).

I mean, seriously, are all first graders this adorable or is it just mine?