First Day of Centers=Success!

Today we did our first round of centers and we were amazing.  First of all the kids could not wait to get in to centers.  They have been asking for days.  So when they heard we were starting today all eyes were on me!  Yeah, I love that!  After a long session of directions (which they sat through attentively) off they went to work independently.  I visited each one to be sure the directions were being followed.  I hardly had anyone with questions. A-MA-ZING! Here are the centers your kiddos were learning in today.

Spelling Center-

playing "teacher/ student" One person (teacher)reads the word and the other (student) writes it on the Magna Doodle thingy. Then they switch roles.

Poetry Center-

reading, sequencing and making connections to put in their poetry folders

Working With Words-

beginning sound match up

Math Center-

 counting sets higher than 10

Listening-

Listen to stories on tape and respond by writing and illustrating the part they liked best.

ART-

 Watercolor painting, then writing a sentence to tell about the picture.

Word Wall-

 Play "Roll a Word" or write and stamp the words from the word wall.

Buddy Reading-

Read an on level book to self and then read it to their buddy, followed by a response in the reading journal..."This book was about..." We are working on retelling skills here.

Playing Rhyme Concentration plus one happy boy!

Here we are playing the Rhyme Concentration game with a partner.  Sometimes I take for granted that first graders can rhyme.  It is such an important pre reading skill.  We are starting word families next week where rhyming is essential.  Practice, practice, practice!

And here is one happy boy earning his first foot charm for walking 5 miles in the "Miles Club".

Way to go Joey!

Week Two Workers

Week two was a success.  Here are a few shots of what we accomplished.

 After reading Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes we made name webs all about ourselves.

We learned how to do jobs at the spelling center.  Each table did a different job and we rotated around to see what our friends were doing.  By the end of the activity time we saw four different spelling jobs in action.

Paint a Word- write the word, then paint the word

Write It 3 Ways- from Spelling Word Fun  packet by Christie at First Grade Fever.  Write the words in pencil then crayon and finally marker

Rainbow Spelling-write the words three times in different colors one on top of the other

Disco Words-also from the Spelling Word Fun packet has the kiddos writing the word with each letter in a different color.

5 New Followers!

Yeah for the Cialini parents!  I was so excited to see my 5 new followers! Thank you!  I am attempting to post some really good sites up for your kiddos to practice the sight words.  Look under the Sight Word tab to click on the links and play.  I hope the kids enjoy these.  I'm going to use them with my little one at home too.  I'll put the links up here at school for work when your kiddo goes to the computer center.

Thank you all for coming out last night.  I was very impressed to see such a great turn out.  I think this year is going to be so AWESOME!  Every special teacher has told me what a "nice" group I have this year.  BIG THINGS TO COME!!!!!

Math Patterns

It's day 5 of school and we are already showing amazing work!  Today for math we reviewed how to extend a pattern.  We started with snap, clap, slap and stomp cards from my old Math Their Way supplies from my kindergarten days (who says hoarding is not a good character trait?).  After we made patterns moving our bodies, we moved on to linking cubes (Unifix cubes).  I gave out the pattern set on an index card and the kids had to make it and extend it as long as their arm.

Everyone did an amazing job.  After this, I gave out pattern (attribute) blocks and the kids created a pattern of their own.  (sorry photo did not turn out of this)

To finish the lesson, they drew a pattern in their math journals with only two sets and a friend had to extend it.  They loved checking each other's work.  Smiley faces all around! :)

First Week Was Fantastic

We started the week off doing so many fun projects.  Here we are water coloring our "Soaring Into a New Year" balloons.

I have the desks arranged in table groupings.  They were so excited to have an actual desk to put their "stuff" in....It was so cute!  This class has some real talent in the art department.  Not only was the painting impressive, but their detailed illustrations on other activities were quite impressive.

 Just proves our Kindergarten team is awesome at what they do to get these kiddos ready for first grade!

I adopted the idea of the Peacemaker's Promise from First Grade Parade

We read the No David books, which the kids love (read the book to figure out why), and then we talked and charted the ways that David and others can be Peacebreakers.  Of course, that was followed by a discussion about how we could be Peacemakers instead.  So now whenever there is a behavior that needs work I simply say..."Please don't be a peacebreaker."  So far so good.  NO one is on yellow (10 minutes away from recess) and I hope to keep it that way!

We also had lots of fun with Back to School activities from Abby over at Inspired Apple and her Fun With Firsties pack.  If you don't have it, buy it from Teachers Pay Teachers and start now or save it for next year.  Second grade teachers could benefit from this too.

More pictures to come. 

 I have to get in the groove of saving my pictures to my zip drive so I can blog from home or school.  Remember, I'm new at this.  I'm sure there is an easier way I just haven't learned yet.  Anyone know one?

STAY TUNED!

More Photos to Share

The first two days of official work began with meetings and a LITTLE time to set up the room.  If the public new how much time teachers spend setting up before the contracted time I think they'd be amazed......"anyhoo"....It was a productive two days.

My team in first grade is excited to begin and liked all the ideas I have gathered from all the blogs I have stalked all summer.  It feels like a fresh new start with some great new activities.   

Big shout out goes to our awesome PTO hospitality committee for another delicious luncheon.  The salads were amazing and the Greek goodies are always my favorite...YUM!

So desks are labeled, activities are prepped and books are ready to read for the first four days.  I can't wait to meet all my newbies on Tuesday!

My literacy center rotation chart is waiting for the beautiful faces of my newbies to be added.  There will be lots of picture taking on the first day in various poses for various projects as you will see.  To the left is the rubric I made (well, really my 13 year old colored it) for what I expect when I say "Illustrate using details, please!"  Now the kids have a visual as to what is expected.

The art clothesline is ready for its first project to be added.  As you can see from a past year's photo I take a picture of the kids in one of those various positions I was talking about before so they look like they are enjoying a hot air balloon flight.  Soaring into a new year together!

Wild about computer center BB is a work in progress.  I'll add sites the kiddies can go to and work on learning games and various power points I have designed for skill practice.  Each site's name is mounted on animal print paper.  I'm digging the animal prints this year for some reason.  But I'm not ready for a total room transformation .....yet!

The poetry center is ready with one of our first poems of the year.  We will do a few together as a whole class to learn the procedure of the center, of course.  The second photo is showing the folders in which a copy of the poem is kept with another sheet that the kids write a connection they have to the poem with an illustration.  The have to read the poem with their partner first, then scramble the sentence strips (we call this scrambled eggs) and sequence the poem, then reread it before they move to the connection task.  I have lots of fun pointers they can choose from to do the reading too.  I have the directions posted in the center with photos of past classes doing each task for a visual reminder. 

And finally, a new photo of my writing center so you don't have to turn your head to see it :)

Giveaway Time

If you are a blogger and you are reading this try going over to see Kristin at A Teeny Tiny Teacher and try for a $25 Target gift card.  I have been trying to win a giveaway since I started this bloggy business and have failed so far, but I never give up.  She has a cute blog and she is really funny.