Writing

Animal Reports plus QR Codes

March 16, 2016 by Jodi 6 Comments

Our school district holds a Literacy Fair every year in March. Each of the elementary schools has a booth at the fair, which is hosted in a local shopping center. Each student has writing on display during the Literacy Fair, whether in a class book or individual books.

This year, I decided to have my students write animal reports.

Each student chose an animal to write about. They wrote a description of the animal on the first page.

Then, they wrote about the habitat of the animal.

On the last page, they wrote about the type of food that their animal eats.

When they were finished, I recorded each of the students reading their reports using the app Audioboom. Then, I created a QR code to attach to their front cover.

If you need directions on how to use Audioboom and QR codes, click HERE.

If you’d like to check out my Animal Reports, you can click on the picture below.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Animal-Reports-2446758

Writing Prompts with Editable Word Banks

December 31, 2015 by Jodi 2 Comments

So many times when my students begin their writing, they want help spelling certain words. I always remind them to not worry about spelling difficult words when they are writing. I don’t want them to shy away from using words that they are unsure about. My main focus during writing is the writing process, not spelling. {I want them to spell taught words correctly.}

I like to write some “common” words on the board that I know my students may need if we are writing to a particular topic. For this reason, I began creating writing prompts with Word Banks.

As I started working on these, I began to realize that I may want to edit these word banks for different students in my classroom. I also may want to change the list of words each school year depending on current situations.

So, the word banks on each of the writing prompts are completely editable to fit your needs.

Each of the 48 prompts also include an editing checklist for my students to check their work.

You can check out the entire packet by clicking on the picture below.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Writing-Prompts-with-Editable-Word-Banks-2277400

‘Twas the Week Before Christmas Break

December 17, 2015 by Jodi 1 Comment

Winter Break is just around the corner, and we have been busy, busy, busy! Even though this time of year is absolutely crazy, it’s a fun kind of crazy. I always feel like I want to squeeze in so many fun things, but there just isn’t enough time.

We just finished up our unit on measurement in math. In all honesty, it is one of my least favorite things to teach in math. However, these measurement trees were the PERFECT way to practice measuring in inches.

I pinned these a couple years ago from Mrs. Lee’s Kindergarten, and have loved doing them every since. Jen, from Teacher by the Beach, gave me the idea to use scrapbook paper instead of regular construction paper. Genius!

I had a bunch of random scrapbook paper in my room that I cut into 8 inch x 1 inch strips. The students measured and cut the strips from 1 inch to 7 inches. Then, they glued them in order to make their tree.

I gave them each a sticky foam star that I bought from Meijer. When they were finished, the students painted snow with q-tips and white paint.

Even our elf loved their pictures.

We have also been working on a readers theater that we will be performing for other classes tomorrow and Friday.

I wanted to come up with something a little different, so I wrote a readers theater called ‘Twas the Day Before Christmas Break.

My class is so excited to perform it tomorrow.

Plus, I have to say, they are doing an AMAZING job!

If you want to check out this readers theater script, click on the picture below.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Twas-the-Day-Before-Christmas-Break-Readers-Theater-2259518

How is it almost December?

November 24, 2015 by Jodi Leave a Comment

Seriously! How is it almost December? This school year is just flying by. My little man turned one this past weekend, and I swear it was just yesterday that he was born.

We had a monster themed birthday party.

Even though his smash cake was adorable, he was NOT a fan.

It was such a fun day celebrating our little guy.

So, now we are out of school for the week for Thanksgiving Break. When we go back, it will basically be December.

I’m excited to continue using my Guided Reading packet.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Guided-Reading-December-2212340

I love the ease of these packets. I can focus on vocabulary, comprehension, and fluency all while differentiating my reading groups.

It makes planning so easy. Each month includes 4 nonfiction and 4 fiction stories and includes 3 levels of each passage.

Another product that I just finished for December is my Print & Teach Winter Holidays packet.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Winter-Holidays-2220200

This mini unit includes passages about Christmas, Las Posadas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, St. Lucia Day, Chinese New Year, & New Year’s Day.

I hope you have a FANTASTIC Thanksgiving!!!

Our First Week of School

August 15, 2015 by Jodi 14 Comments

We just finished our first week of school. To say I’m exhausted would be an understatement, but it was, seriously, a GREAT week! I have the sweetest group of 1st graders!

I wanted to share some of the things that we worked on this week, but I will warn you that this post may be a little random. I think my brain is a little fried right now 😉

Here are my girls and I before heading off to school on Tuesday morning.

I LOVE that I teach in the same school that my own children attend. It’s been really easy having just my oldest with me after school, but having two every afternoon definitely has its challenges. I’m hoping that they were just really tired this week, and they won’t get on each other’s nerves so quickly next week.

My middle started Kindergarten this year 🙁 Time just flies by, and I cannot believe she is old enough for school already! I use this frame with my 1st graders, but I made a “cover-up” with Kindergarten on it back when my oldest started kindergarten.

I use this to take pictures of each of my students on the first day of school. I print these off at Walmart, and then send them in the mail to the parents with a personalized letter.

#1 Teaching Tip: Always make the first contact a positive one!

One the first day, I share a bag with 5 items that tell about me. Then, I send home a bag with each student for them to share the next day.

This is always a popular activity, and the students love sharing about themselves.

I loved this idea from Sunny Days in Second Grade to give each child a tub of Play Doh. The students have to make something with the Play Doh to tell about themselves. Such a simple, but fun idea!

She likes lollipops, and her favorite movie character is Olaf.

The one above loves cinnamon rolls.

Another really fun, and easy icebreaker activity is Name Snowball Fight. I had each of the students write their own names on a strip of paper.

Then, they crumbled their paper into a snowball.

We stood in a circle, and threw our snowballs onto the ground in the middle. Then, students each grabbed a snowball, opened up the paper, and tried to read the name. I went around the circle and had the students read the name, and then point to that child.

They LOVED this!!!

We also worked on a craft for our bulletin board in the hallway. Our school mascot is a lion, so I printed off my students pictures, and cut out their faces. I glued the faces onto yellow or orange construction paper circles. I gave each student strips of yellow and orange paper, and had them wrap the strips around a pencil to curl them.

Then, the students glued the strips onto their circles all the way around their faces to make themselves look like lions.

I drew lion noses and whiskers on their pictures with a black marker. They turned out really cute!

We also completed our Back to School Flip Books and our First Day of School booklets.

Of course, we also made time for some GoNoodle Brain Breaks!

Like I said…RANDOM POST! Let’s add to the randomness and throw in a Nut Allergy sign. It seems like I have a student with a tree nut or peanut allergy almost every year, so I always like to post something to let others know that we are a nut free room. You can download this sign (along with other choices) by clicking on the picture below.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Peanut-Tree-Nut-Allergy-Signs-Freebie-2033530

Thanks for sticking with me through that crazy post 😉

Tips for New Teachers…and Maybe Even Veteran Teachers

August 7, 2015 by Jodi 5 Comments

I will begin my 14th year of teaching on Monday. I can’t even believe that I have been teaching for that long…especially since I’m only 29. Ha! Don’t do that math or you will figure out that maybe I’m not being so truthful about my age 😉
No matter how long I have taught, I still get butterflies in my stomach before the first day. I don’t sleep for weeks prior to school starting, and when I do, the “back to school nightmares” appear. Do you have those? (The common themes include: I walk in my room the first day, and realize that I didn’t set up my room at all. My class won’t stop talking, and nothing I am doing will get them to listen to me. I am switched grade levels, and I don’t know until the first day. All of my students walk in, and I have absolutely nothing for them to do on the first day.)
The other night, during one of my restless nights, I was thinking about tips for new teachers.

But, in all honesty, I really think these are tips for ALL teachers!

When I started teaching, there weren’t any teaching blogs and there was no Pinterest. Even though I LOVE these resources, I have to say, it can be very overwhelming. You see all of these ideas, and you think you need to try them all. You think that you need to implement all of these new teaching ideas, make the best bulletin boards, color coordinate every item in your classroom, and so on. It is impossible to do it all! In the words of Cara Carroll, blogs are the “highlight reels.”

This quote by David Allen is one of my favorite reminders.

Do not try to do it all! You will just stress yourself out. Definitely try new things, but it is impossible to do everything! Even after teaching 1st grade for many years, there are things I change, add, or delete every single year.

This one is super important! If you are surrounding yourself with people that are complaining about their job every single day, it gets depressing. We all understand that not every day is going to be great.

Many days may be far from it. But, if you are surrounded by positive people, it sure helps to brighten your day. Negativity sucks the life out of you. If you don’t follow Miss May of Onefab_Teacher on Instagram, you should. Her positivity is contagious!

Your colleagues have SO much to offer! If something is not working for you, ask others for ideas! Maybe you aren’t feeling comfortable teaching a particular type of writing, or you are looking for new ways to manage a difficult child. Every single person in your building is a resource!

This is one that I have to constantly remind myself to do. Once school starts, I get sucked in. I can quickly find myself spending every waking minute (and the ones that I should be sleeping) working and thinking about school. This is not healthy. The evenings always seem to fly by with running the kids back and forth for extracurricular activities, homework, fixing dinner, putting the kids to bed, and so on. I try to make it a priority to exercise. This is my “me” time. Find time to do something that you enjoy. I love teaching, and I love creating teaching materials, but I know that I also need time to think about other things.

Try to remember the reasons why you became a teacher. Teaching is HARD!! The pay is low. The responsibility is high. So many people are leaving the teaching field, or not going into it at all. It’s a challenging time to be in education.

Teaching is not all unicorns and rainbows. On those hard days, remember why you became a teacher. If it was to get your summers off, and work from 8-3, you will realize that this is not the profession for you. Because we all know….that is the biggest misconception about teachers. Good teachers work hard, and long hours. We don’t just leave our jobs at the end of the day. Our work, whether physically or mentally, always comes home with us.

However, if it’s your passion, it’s worth it!

I truly hope that you have a wonderful school year! Love your students, and love your role as an educator.

Here’s to the best school year yet!

Animal Reports plus QR Codes

Writing Prompts with Editable Word Banks

‘Twas the Week Before Christmas Break

How is it almost December?

Our First Week of School

Tips for New Teachers…and Maybe Even Veteran Teachers

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