Oh, those fairies!

Have you visited Ms. Jessica  for technology tips over at A Turn to Learn?  If you haven't then get yourself over there as soon as you read this!  She rocks!

Back in April she had this post about creating a talking avatar. I missed that one but saw this post about the talking Handwriting Fairy. Oh...my...gosh!  I showed this to my kids and they lost their minds for a minute!  Every time we write they want to see if the Handwriting Fairy has a new message for them.  Jessica has been creating new messages, but I realized that I wanted to create my own HF (Handwriting Fairy) so I could personalize the messages.
So here she is..

So on Friday I began training my kids on how to keep their desks neat and organized.  Then I told them that sometimes the Desk Fairy visits and leaves little treats for neat desks.  There were audible gasps all over the room.  They wanted to know if she knew the Handwriting Fairy and if she will talk to us.  Haha!  So you know what immediately went on my weekend to-do list.  I told them that she's the Handwriting Fairy's sister.
Here she is!  She's a little goth, haha!

This was so much fun!  Thank you to Jessica for the ideas!

You can create your own free account at www.voki.com.  They have created a Voki Classroom feature but it is 30 dollars per year.  I used the free items to create the Fairies above.  

A Birthday Hit!

I saw some really cute ideas for birthday celebrations this summer on Pinterest and blogs.  There were the pixie stick or curly straw balloons that I loved.  I just couldn't find straws that I liked so I wanted something else.  While shopping at Dollar Tree I saw these coloring books..

That is my friend, Rita, modeling it for you, haha!  They are HUGE!  DT had all different kinds...pirates, princesses, dinosaurs, fairies.  The first page is a whole page of stickers.  I chose this one for the boys because the stickers were boyish.  The one for the girls is similar but with girly stickers.  

I gave out my first one on Friday and wow, was it was a hit!  Serious oohhhs and aahhs and kids reminding me of when their birthday is.  I love it when a plan comes together!  

Check these out if you haven't figured out your birthdays yet.  The best part is that they are just a dollar!

Take care,

Yes, David...it's Open House!

Hello everyone!  I know some of you are lucky enough to have Open House BEFORE school starts but not us.  Our Open House took place 11 days into the school year.  I had to have something cute for the hallway.  I pinterested (that is a verb now, right?).  I looked in my files, searched blogs, pulled old Mailbox magazines out...nothing grabbed me.  

My firsties always love David Shannon books like crazy at 

the beginning of the year.  I saw a David pattern online, remembered a poster I had in a drawer and ding ding ding!  Idea!!   I have searched the world over and can't find where I got this pattern.  If it's yours or you know where I got it, PLEASE let me know.  I hate that I'm not going to be giving someone credit for this.  I've got to do better about writing down where I get things.
UPDATE:  Yay!  I found it!  The pattern is from Angie Neal's TPT store.  Here's the link:
David Learns the Rules

The pattern said to have blue stripes for the shirt, but I just passed out their markers and let them have at it.  They were so excited to use those markers!  I let them put as much or as little hair as they wanted.  I'm pretty sure I have a few vampire and zombie Davids here.  Love them!  

I cut a piece of copy paper in half and let them design a book for David to be reading.  Some of them copied  books from our classroom library and some designed their own.  They turned out so stinking cute!

A few closer..

Take care,

Whose turn is it?

Wow!  It's been so long since I logged on to Blogger I had to look up my password!  I hope all of you had a wonderful start to your  new year.  I have 20 new sweeties--10 girls and 10 boys.  We have had a good start so far.  I have a few challenges but progress is being made so I can't complain.  

Look what I got on the first day of school from one of my parents!  I have never gotten a beginning of the year gift and this one was A-mazing!  

It even has my initials on it!  She had to do a little research for my middle name. It is orange and white because I live near Knoxville, Tennessee..otherwise known as the home of the Tennessee Volunteers.  It was full of gourmet goodies!  I say was because they are g-o-n-e.  Haha!

It has been more of a challenge of time to incorporate Daily 5 and math stations this year than I had anticipated.  I am still working on getting my math stations going to my satisfaction.  We are enjoying Daily 5, but I'm not happy with my instruction so far.  I have some D5 blog stalking planned for later tonight.  You should see my to-do list for this holiday weekend!  

Whose Turn is It?  

Now to the main topic of my post..taking turns on the Promethean Board.  I love using my PB.  I love to let the kids use it often.  But I have found that if I give EVERY child a turn at the board each day it takes f...o....r...e...v...e...r.  They get the wiggles, start talking, tick off the teacher.  So I started having Girl Day and Boy Day.  I made these cute little signs from Scrappin Doodles clip art to hang next to my board.  

I have found that it's easier for me to keep up with turn taking by making everything based on this system.  So on Girl Day, the girls get to use the PB, share their journals, and read anywhere during D5.  The boys get their turn the next day.  The kids make sure I change it each day.  :-)  It works for me!  

Take care!

Read to Self is in the BAG!

Happy Friday!  

I've been studying and trying to get my brain wrapped around Daily 5.  Back in the day (haha), I used the Four Block Literacy Model.  In this model they had a component called Self Selected reading.  The student would chose just right books for them and during that block read to themselves.  Sounds sorta familiar, doesn't it?  

I used those hard plastic magazine files for them to keep their books.  I really didn't care for them.  It never failed that we would all be deeply into reading and all of a sudden...BOOM!  Someone dropped their file on the floor (and chipped/broke it).  Also the non-fiction books that the boys like are usually larger sized.  The magazine files do not always store those sized books very well.  So they would shove them into the files (no matter how many times I modeled otherwise).  I would end up with a full Book Hospital. 

So I knew that I had to do something else besides the magazine files for them to keep their books for Read to Self.  I was going to buy the book buddy bags from Really Good Stuff and then found these at the Dollar Tree!

They will hold 5-6 books easily and seem sturdy enough to last all year.  I got orange (UT orange) and hot pinky/purply for the girls.  I wanted one color for boys and girls so there won't be arguing over colors.

They had other colors also.

They are plenty big enough for the larger books as well.  This pic shows a full-sized hardback book.  There is still more room!  Hopefully my non-fiction books will stay out of the Book Hospital this year.

I'm going to store them in a large rubbermaid tote or laundry basket.  I'm lucky enough to have a separate office in my classroom (which I am going to share in classroom pics next week).  I have plenty of room under my desk in my office to keep the tote/basket when not in use.  I think I'm going to like these!

Now for one non-teachery item...

I went out with the girls a few nights ago.  We went to dinner and to see Magic Mike.  I've got one thing so say.  Y'all can have Matthew M. and Channing Tatum...  This is who I want!

Have a good day!  :-)