❀Fun Writing Paper!

My Writer's Workshop is well underway, and I have created some fun writing paper to inspire my writers! No better way to create writers than make it exciting and fun. They love this stuff!

❀First Grade SUPERSTARS

Each year in my classroom, every child gets one week to be the SUPERSTAR of the week! They spend the week before their "big week" getting ready. I send home a poster for them to fill out, purchased from Scholastic. It is the "All About Me Tee." When they begin their week, they bring the poster in on Monday, and each day they share something different about themselves. The students listen to the topic of the day and ask questions. Then on Thursday we write and draw what we learned about the Superstar! I put these into a book on Thursday, and the Superstar takes their book home on Friday. Below I have a link to the letter I send home at the beginning of the year to the parents. It explains what the child can share each day. I attach a list of what child has each week on the back, and the very first week is always me. Also there is a link to the cover page for the child's book and the pages on which the children write all about the superstar! I leave a spot blank on the cover page, and usually the child draws their own self portrait. They always turn out so cute!

❀Get to Know Your Firsties!

This activity worked really well for a first day "get to know each other" game. Our back to school unit this year is "Under the Sea," so there is a fishy theme for this game! The kids sit in a circle and pass around a bucket full of topic cards. They have things on them like "favorite game" or "favorite color." I put the topics in a beach sand pail, and the kids pass the bucket around while chanting a rhyme. Then, wherever the bucket stops, that child pulls out a topic! Each child says their name and answers the topic. Click on the picture below to download this for yourself!

❀ Blog Mixer!

Denise at YearnToLearn, is hosting a Blog Mixer! Here are the rules, and my finds!

1. A blogger who is a "New Kid on the Blog"
GroovyOnes

2. Post a blogger in your same grade level
FunkyInFirst

3. Post a blogger in a different grade level
http://dallenfirstgrade.blogspot.com

4. It's all about the button. Find a cute blog button and post it.

❀Reading Log

My colleague found a wonderful reading log to use for the first quarter with our first graders! I adapted it to make it my own, but if you would like to use it as well the link is below! On the log, there is a spot for parents to fill out whether they read to their child, with their child, or that their child read independently. It also specifies that the book has to be read 3 times before the parent initials the log for that book! I think this is a wonderful way to promote reading at home. I have a student sticker chart for when the a reading log is returned. When a student gets five stickers, they can pick a book from my "extra book box" (I have collected several over the years that I don't really put out). We also reward the students with golden tickets, so they get some golden tickets each time they turn in a log as well. Happy reading!

❀Back To School Student Information Card

Hey Everyone!

SO I work at a year round school in the Chicago Suburbs. It is a school of choice, but it is still a public school, and our first day of school is on Wednesday! I am back in full swing now getting everything ready for my classroom, so I am ready to share some helpful things with you! I am creating some back to school units, and I will share these soon. I want my new crop of cuties to test some things out before I post them. For now though, the link below is a "Student Information Card" that we pass out each year. It is really helpful to make sure you have all the information you need about each student at your finger tips! I usually put these in a tabbed binder, and then I also use this as my call log.