Loving Genre

I don't know if it is the way I say it with my French accent (which I perfected on our trip to Paris a few years ago), or just because it is such a cool word that we use every single day- But I LOVE teaching about Genre!  I made these simple cards for us to use during my small group reading station.  I simply took the cover of every story in our reading books and put them on pretty purple checked scrapbook paper.  I also found these cool Genre posters somewhere on-line.   (Probably Pinterest- I am so sorry I cannot give you credit because I cannot remember!) Of course, they were in all different colors, but I used my cool Word tools and made them completely purple!  Technology is so amazing!  Anyway, we use this all of the time to review the different genres we have learned about this year.  It is also really neat to see how much more we have learned about Realistic Fiction than anything else.  We use it for graphing, remembering, word wall activities- you name it.  Plus, it is totally hands-on and the kids can maneuver it themselves.

Pop Rocks Similes

While browsing some awesome blogs a few days ago, I came upon this amazing activity from Sarah Cooley's Blog called Pop Rockin' Describing Words (originally found here on TPT by another amazing, creative teacher).
   Since I happened to have some of these delightful treats at my house, I decided to just try a much shorter version of the activities with my students.  So, I told them I brought them a special treat and that we were going to predict what we thought it might be.  They guessed it was "purple"- but I have no idea why they would automatically think that!  They guessed it might be some kind of food.  So, I took my special bag, and we headed outside for our messy treat.
    When I pulled out the Grape Pop Rocks- my children went crazy!  I never knew Pop Rocks would be such a treat.  I gave them a quick lesson on Similes, and we decided to brainstorm what it felt like inside our mouths when we ate this special yummy treat.  Amazingly enough, some of the children had never had Real Genuine Pop Rocks before- so they were amazed at how poppy they were.
    Back in the room, we brainstormed in our groups.  They had to finish this sentence, "Pop Rocks explode in my mouth like..."  I got some amazing answers which are pictured below.  Then, I pulled off a big sheet of purple paper and each child drew a picture of themselves eating Pop Rocks while "brainstorming" their thoughts.  I made it a much shorter activity due to time restraints, BUT it was still oodles of fun!  We also discussed the Science part of it outside, and they all quickly figured out the basics behind that terrific treat!  Thanks Abby and Sarah for an awesome idea that my students truly enjoyed!

AR- Watch Our Points Grow!

 I made this to show how our AR points are growing just like flowers!  

 I love using velcro on many projects, and the velcro allows me to move the flowers up easily and quickly.  The students have a number on their flower which represents their AR goal for the year according to their reading levels.

The 2 point clubs also give my students a visual to help them learn how to count by 2's.  This has really helped them master this skill quickly.

Magnet Mondays

Every Monday, we love doing our word work with magnets!  I try to find ways to use magnets each Monday to learn and review all of our skills.  I have different sheets that I use, and here are a few examples of the Magnet Mondays Recording Sheets that we use during our station time.  (There are a couple of recording sheets I used to go with the Yuck Soup Activity, too!)

A Fun Way to Begin & End Each Day

 Every morning, my students greet me with one of these ways to say "Hello!"  It automatically puts them in a good mood and a huge smile lights up their beautiful faces.  I have this right outside my door.

Then, on the opposite side- we have these fun ways to say Goodbye.  At the end of the day, the Line-Up Leader gets to choose which way we will say good bye to each other.  Once again, my students always leave with a smile on their faces!  (Plus these even rhyme!)

Yuck Soup

This was such a wonderful idea that I borrowed from another blog that I just love... First Grader...At Last. She has the best ideas ever!  So, we used this for a fun activity to think of words with /ck/ in them.  My children had so much fun, and it has stayed up in the room for awhile because they love using it for Write-the-Room activities and just to read it for fun.  It is funny how many times we will be learning something in the room and a word with the /ck/ sound in it will come up in our conversation...the children always glance at the wall to see if we included it in our soup!  It is probably one of my favorite anchor charts!

Chalkboards Out...Clean Walls In

 I got permission to remove my old, dusty, nasty chalkboards from my room about a week ago.  So, my husband and I spent about 12 hours remodeling my room.  The above picture shows what my newly painted wall looks like!

 As you can imagine, my room seems so LARGE!  My children were thrilled when they came in, and they commented that everything looked so "Clean!"

 These I Can statements used to be on the old chalkboard.  Now, they stand out with the creamy wall behind them.

 I love my new work station for organizing my students' work throughout the day.  I have a space to lay papers and grade papers.  I didn't have this room when the chalkboards stuck out from the wall with the white showerboards on top.  It looked terrible before!

 This is my new calendar space.  I am thinking of making a homemade calendar for next year, but I do think this one looks clean and happy.  BUT, look below....

 This is what we found behind the chalkboard (which is laying on the ground).  How lovely is this pukey yellow paint!  It was also covered in cobwebs and dust.  Yuck!

 The above picture showed my SmartBoard over the chalkboard which we painted purple with the showerboard over the chalkboard.  It just made everything look disorganized and cluttered.

I don't have any before pictures of the back of the room, but this is how it looks after we took down the chalkboards and put up a nice white board for my Word Wall.
  It also opened up more space for my computer station, too.

NOW, I can finally teach....and it is really hard to leave my classroom.  I just LOVE it!