Is it Back to School time already?

I can't believe that in one week we have open house/meet the teacher night and that in two weeks it will already be the first day of school! This summer has flown by!! I'm sad to see the summer end but happy to start another year of teaching the 1st grade.

I can't wait to use the Back to School Writing Fun Pack and get to know my new first graders!

Mrs. Cullum

Now that I'm married I'm working on updating all of my Ms. classroom signs to Mrs.

I used my Cricut to create my new teacher sign for my door. I'm excited to get it all tied together with ribbon and put up!

Here's a sneak peak of the bright colors of the scrapbook paper I used popping through the black card stock...

Chevron Classroom

My new bright chevron calendar numbers are ready to go! I'm also excited to update my table signs with my new bright chevron table signs!!

My Word Wall Inspiration

I have my chevron word wall letters printed, laminated, and cut out. I love the primary font I used- they will be perfect for the first grade. Check them out!

I love the idea of using ribbon on my word wall. I like having an interactive word wall where students can get up and grab a word if they need to. Using my blackboard is perfect because I just attach magents to each of my word so students can easily take them off and put them back up. I also love the background color and look that a blackboard offers as a bulletin board.

My Ribbon Word Wall:

These word walls are my inspiration for this year:

Simply the Middle:

 Tales of a First Grade Teacher:

Comprehension Reading Response...

Check out these bright chevron comprehension posters and matching comprehension worksheets. Each worksheet has a learning target at the top with the new learning target wording:

"I am learning to..."

Shop for the Comprehension Posters here!

Bright Chevron Themed Classroom

Check out my new Bright Chevron printables at my TPT store!! Here are just a few...

 

I hope you enjoyed taking a peak into my classroom!

Classroom Goods

My favorite places to shop for my classroom: Target Dollar Section, The Dollar Tree, Michaels, and the Walmart Dollar Section- you just can't beat the prices! Check out all of the awesome stuff I found!

I found a ton of goodies walking around my local Dollar Tree. The 5 piece shoe-lace tieing practice kit is adorable. I got a bucket for my "bucket of words" flashcard practice. I think my favorite find was these stackable containers in these pretty bright colors!

I found these awesome large clothespins for my student work display bulletin board! They were on a super clearance and after my teacher discount I snagged 4 packs of these (28 total) for just $6.80. After looking around for large clothespins this felt like a huge steal!! Plus, I can write each student's name on the pin in chalk.

The dollar section at the Target by my school was twice the size of the one by my house. I loved the brightly colored paper trays. They always have brightly colored goodies in their dollar section. My favorite of my purchases at Target was the chalkboard tins. I love that you can write right on them!

Crafting

With school starting in only one month I've been crafting away creating new resources for my classroom! I love these alphabet cards I found at TPT. I already have a word wall but these are the perfect size for a center activity or possible to assist during the word work center of ABC order!

Dear Class

During our morning meeting I love writing letters to the class then discussing what needs to be edited and fixed. The students love to take on the role as the "teacher!"

Thankful Turkeys

I love writing for Thanksgiving. The students brainstormed what they were the most thankful for and we turned them into these adorable thankful turkeys that I hung above each of their lockers!!

Here is my newest version of the turkey craft:

  

Watch Dog Dad

I run the Watch Dog Dads program at our school. It's a great way to get dads and grandpas involved in volunteering in the school. The students love working with the father volunteers one-on-one, in small groups, or in a whole group setting. The dads follow a volunteer schedule that is ready for them at the office when they check-in in the morning. With time to spare we had a guest read aloud from one of our Watch Dog Dad volunteers!!

Behavior Recess Reward

The students worked so hard to earn their 10 compliments!! With winter and indoor recess dragging on we had a "recess toy day" where the students were allowed to bring in a toy or game of their choosing for recess. They had so much fun playing with each other and checking out what each of their friends brought in! It was a treat that the special recess day happened to be the 100th day of school (Notice our cute 100 hats)!!

Verb Writing Activity

One of my favorite writing activities is when we start learning about verbs and action words!! The students are given the opportunity to choose their favorite verb and a parent volunteer calls them into the hall one at a time to snap a picture of each student acting out their verb. When I get all of the pictures uploaded and printed the students use their picture to write about that action. I'm always impressed with the outcome of writing activities and how creative first grade minds are!

Contraction Partners

My class was having a difficult time with contractions after we had done a few activities. I decided to split them up into partners and give each group a contraction. The rule was they had to come up with a complete sentence together that included the contraction. When my timer went off they would rotate the clipboards and write a sentence for another contraction. When the activity ended and they received their original clipboard back, with their partner they were to select one of the complete sentences that used the contraction appropriately, and read it out loud to the class. The students had a lot of fun and I was impressed with their creativity!

Nutrition Guest Speakers

We enjoyed a visit from two special ladies who spoke with us on nutrition, portions, healthy food options, and calories. The students each got to take home these awesome place mats and a container of Play-Doh (they were the most excited about this). I loved how they used the Play-Doh to practice making appropriate portion sizes!

ChooseMyPlate.gov has a great drop down of resources!

Pumpkin Estimation Activity

One of my favorite activities that we do in the first grade is the pumpkin carving estimation and sequencing activity. Each of the students has the opportunity to estimate how many seeds are inside of the pumpkin. We talk about "reasonable" estimations then I record each of their estimates including the teacher's estimates.

After these are recorded I carve open the pumpkin and remove the seeds. We then work on sequencing  the events of carving a pumpkin and illustrating our words.

We did this as a two-day math activity. It's important to have help with this activity so that an adult can take students 2-3 in the hall and let them sort and count out seeds into groups of 5. While the seeds are being counted and glued down onto a piece of chart paper we work on math. When the pumpkin was ready to be counted as a class we counted aloud all of the groups of 5 and extra seeds to get our total.

We hung it up in the hall for everyone to see when we were finished!

Total Seeds: 343 pumpkin seeds

The King of ING

Phonics themed fun is a great way to bring sounds to life! We enjoy having a week of phonics fun with The King of ING. Incorporate these crafts into your classroom...