Rafflecopter Winner and a Giveaway!

Thank you to all of those that decided to follow me on BlogLovin! I am excited for this great transition!

Denise T. was the lucky winner of the Rafflecopter Giveaway! Congratulations! Denise, I've sent you an e-mail instructing you about how to get your prize.

Unfortunately, I didn't get a ton done this weekend, because we were traveling. I have been working on a little something that I'd like to get your opinion on, though. I love, love, love using CAFE in my classroom, but loved the modifications that Kristen at Ladybug's Teacher Files created even more!

Well, after using this wonderful anchor chart/board in my classroom this past year, I wanted to create something similar to go with my Writer's Workshop. Kristen also created an awesome VOICES header, but I struggled to created great strategies to use. So, for the past couple of weeks, I have been reading about the six traits of writing and studying the Common Core standards, so that I could create some great writing strategies that would work for my students. You can check out my writing strategies on Teacher's Pay Teachers here.  These strategies were created to match the VOICES headers I got from Kristen, so I did not include headers of my own.

I would love to give a these strategies away to a couple of people who would be willing to provide some feedback. Just leave a comment below with your e-mail address, and I'll send you a free copy!

Until next time,
-J

BlogLovin



You have probably heard by now that Google Reader is going away on July 1st. Well, Google Reader may be going away, but I sure hope YOU don't go away! I hope that you will consider following my blog through bloglovin!

I know that change is hard...so several of my blog friends thought we might sweeten it up for you a little bit! Several bloggers are doing a giveaway for all of our fabulous followers that take the leap and switch over to bloglovin'. And I thought I would join them! You may have already switched over. In that case, this will be an easy entry!

If you have not yet switched or are not following my blog through bloglovin', then there are a few easy steps to follow. You can go to my sidebar (that's the column on the left over there that shows my followers) and you can click the Plus Sign button above my "Connect" banner. Or, you can go into the Rafflecopter below and click the link in the first entry, and that will take you to my blog on bloglovin'.

You will need to set up an account with bloglovin' so that you can follow me. Please be sure to leave your bloglovin' username in the Rafflecopter entry.

If you want to go ahead and move all of the blogs you follow from Google over, you can go to this link and it will take you through the super easy steps. BUT, please go to my bloglovin' link and make sure that you are following me through bloglovin'. To be sure, make sure that the blue button at the top of my bloglovin' page has been clicked (it should be gray with the word following- if it's blue, please click it to follow!).

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Another FREEBIE and Bloglovin!!

I created another FREEBIE for you blog followers out there. This is something I have used for the past two years in my own classroom, and have love, love, loved it!

My first year teaching, I used the traditional treasure box when my students got ten stickers for good behavior. I hated having to find junk toys to use in my treasure box, but being a first year teacher, I wanted to do something that was easy. During the summer before my second year of teaching, I discovered Behavior Coupons and thought that these would be a great incentive and reward for my students, and would not cost me anything! Double love!

My students are always eager to reach Super Student on our behavior chart and earn hole punches on their behavior card, so that they can get a coupon. I normally only give coupons for behavior cards on Friday, that way I only have to really think about them once a week. Then the following week, students can turn in coupons whenever they choose, so that they can have a special day. These have definitely been very popular!

You can grab your FREE behavior coupons on my TPT page or through the link above. My only request is that you follow my blog and blog about it yourself, so that I can get more traffic.

P.S.--I'm not sure why the pictures of the coupons look so strange, but the PDF file available at my TPT page does NOT look like that.

 

 

Jillian

BlogLovin Claim... please ignore

<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/5724039/?claim=e9fwszxekv9">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

Daily Five Bulletin Board FREEBIE

Hello fellow bloggers, it has been a while!

Let me just say that blogging during the school year was a lot more challenging than I anticipated... I may be an only summer blogger!

During this past school year I received several questions about how I implemented Daily Five within my classroom, and whether or not I was giving my students work that aligned with the Common Core standards. In an effort to align the Daily Five activities with the Common Core standards, I made a specific list of what students could do during each Daily Five center. This list actually wasn't anything different than what my students were already doing, but I think it helped others to see it in writing and to realize that what my students were doing was in fact aligned with the Common Core standards.

So, here is what I have put together to use in my classroom for next year. Hopefully it will clarify anything that is misunderstood about how Daily Five aligns with Common Core.

Daily Five Bulletin Board

Let me know what you think!

I am also working on figuring out this whole bloglovin stuff, and will hopefully have that set up by tomorrow for anyone that is interested. I've also got some more goodies on the way :)

-J

Word Study FREEBIE

Freebie day number two! 

Over the past year, I have worked very hard to develop lesson plans that are explicit, because in all of my absent and scatter mindedness I have no hope of staying on topic with my kiddos! 

I was so lucky last year when Mrs. A started working at my school, because she and I plan very similarly!! It was wonderful to have someone to help plan throughout the year.

I am giving away one of the Word Study lessons that we created last year, in hopes that it can help some of you other bloggers! There are undoubtedly some typos in this, so please forgive me. This Word Study unit contains daily lesson plans for two weeks.Within the lesson plan is a fluency passage, onset and rime game, three different levels of student word lists, a student journal, and much more!

I would love to know what you think! P.S.--This will only be a FREEBIE until I post again tomorrow! So get it fast and spread the word!

How do you record your lesson plans?

Jillian

Three Ways to Read... a Daily Five FREEBIE

Hey bloggers! How has it been going?

I have been implementing the Daily Five with my class these past two weeks, and wanted to share a little something I made with my kids. On the first day of Read to Self, we talked about the different ways to read a book. One of my super trendy, super sweet little girls suggested that I make a poster that matched the rest of our room, instead of hanging the anchor chart paper!

After laughing at her gumption, I decided it wouldn't be a bad idea! It didn't take too long, and I love that we got to make it as a class.

Any who, if you would like this cute reminder of the three ways to read a book, it yours... FREE!! If you like it, I would love for you to leave a comment and tell a friend about my blog!

Also, check back tomorrow! I am going to post a FREEBIE everyday this week in celebration of the HOGS first home game this weekend! WPS!

Jillian

Surviving the First Week of School

I always forget just how difficult the first week of school is. It seems that no matter how prepared I am, it is still difficult!

This year, I had a unique situation with my class, in that 10 of my students are new to the school. Because of that, I wanted to make sure that I did plenty of "Get to know you" activities, so that my students could both get to know each other, as well as our classroom and school. I wanted to include some of the things I did this week, in case any of you guys wanted to do similar activities with your kids!

• "All About Me" poster--My students and made these the first day of school. I had my students draw a picture of themselves in the middle, but you could also take a picture of your students and paste it in the center. My students really enjoyed getting to share about themselves with their table buddies, and it was a great way for me to get to know my new kiddos. 

• "Beach Ball Madness"--I got a beach ball ($0.75 at Wal-mart!!) and wrote "get to know you questions all around it. We tossed the ball around the room and answered the question that faced us when we caught the ball. I think we had more fun tossing the ball around than we did answering the questions, but it was a great activity for building community. I asked the students to call the name of the student they would be tossing the ball to. 
• "Microphone Mania"--I put my students in pairs and had them make microphones out of black construction paper and aluminum foil. I then had the students interview each other and record their answers. I tried to partner the students up so that they were with students that were not in their class last year--it worked out really well!
• "Classroom Scavenger Hunt"--I created a scavenger hunt of things I wanted my students to find in our classroom and they had to go and find them. I added things to the scavenger hunt like 1.) If Miss Martin asks you to to keep your voice on Level 2, what does that mean? 2.) Find two books from the Historical Fiction basket and you might want to read. 3.) List one example of an expectation from the "Be Respectful" rule, etc. This activity helped me guarantee that my students know where all of our classroom expectations and rules are, as well as other helpful things in our room. 
• "Time Capsule"--I am super excited about this idea! My students and I created a time capsule yesterday, in which they answered questions about themselves, such as their favorite food, color, etc. I put their answers in a box and we put in at the top of our closet. We are going to leave it up there for the entire year and look at it at the end of the year. It will be fun to see how they have changed!

What kind of things do you do with your kids at the beginning of the year?

Jillian

Open House and a New Blog!!

Mr. Whimsical and I returned from our trip to Kansas City yesterday right before my Open House, so needless to say, it has been a busy 24 hours!

At the aquarium

Boulevard Brewery :)

Sporting Kansas City soccer game

Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

Mr. Whimsical was such a trooper and was so helpful! Even though he drove the entire way back from Kansas City, he was still willing to come to my classroom and help me with finishing touches. He's such a great guy :)

Overall, I would say Open House was a HUGE success! I am so excited about all of my kiddos and parents! Out of 23 students, 10 of my students are new to our school--talk about crazy!

I added a couple of things to my Open House routine for my students, to make them feel welcome and keep them entertained while the parents and I talked.

1. My third graders from the 2011-2012 school year made crayons for the new students. I found a super cute cake mold from Target similar to the one below. We used my students leftover crayons for the year, and ended up having a lot of fun making these cute little presents! 
2. I also created a Classroom Scavenger Hunt to help my students become more familiar with our room and with the students in our room. I'm adding the scavenger hunt I used in my room as a Freebie. If nothing else, you will be able to use it as a reference for your own scavenger hunt! My kids really enjoyed doing this last night, and my students really got to know each other. SO exciting!

If you get a chance, I would love for you to check out my very best teacher friend's blog Sensational Seconds. I am very excited that she decided to start her own blog, and know that you will love it!! It's so hard starting a new blog (as I am still doing), so please stop by and show her some love!!

Hopefully I will find time to blog again soon, so I can share some fun lesson freebies. 

What do you have planned for open house? What fun activities do you do at the beginning of the year with your students?

Jillian

Class Schedule Quickie

Hopping on for a quick minute to post my class schedule!

I am so, so, SO excited with how our schedule turned out this year, though I have spoken to some other grade level teachers at my school and they are not as excited about their schedule...

	MONDAY	TUESDAY	WEDNESDAY	THURSDAY	FRIDAY
8:00	ARRIVAL	ARRIVAL	ARRIVAL	ARRIVAL	ARRIVAL
8:00-8:10	FAMILIAR READING	FAMILIAR READING	FAMILIAR READING	FAMILIAR READING	FAMILIAR READING
8:10-8:30	DAILY FIVE MINI-LESSON ONE	DAILY FIVE MINI-LESSON ONE	DAILY FIVE MINI-LESSON ONE	DAILY FIVE MINI-LESSON ONE	DAILY FIVE MINI-LESSON ONE
8:30-8:55	DAILY FIVE ROTATION ONE	DAILY FIVE ROTATION ONE	DAILY FIVE ROTATION ONE	DAILY FIVE ROTATION ONE	DAILY FIVE ROTATION ONE
8:55-9:05	DAILY FIVE MINI-LESSON TWO	DAILY FIVE MINI-LESSON TWO	DAILY FIVE MINI-LESSON TWO	DAILY FIVE MINI-LESSON TWO	DAILY FIVE MINI-LESSON TWO
9:05-9:30	DAILY FIVE ROTATION TWO	DAILY FIVE ROTATION TWO	DAILY FIVE ROTATION TWO	DAILY FIVE ROTATION TWO	DAILY FIVE ROTATION TWO
9:30	COMPUTER LAB	LIBRARY	P.E.	ART	MUSIC
10:10-10:25	DAILY FIVE MINI-LESSON THREE	DAILY FIVE MINI-LESSON THREE	DAILY FIVE MINI-LESSON THREE	DAILY FIVE MINI-LESSON THREE	DAILY FIVE MINI-LESSON THREE
10:25-10:50	DAILY FIVE ROTATION THREE	DAILY FIVE ROTATION THREE	DAILY FIVE ROTATION THREE	DAILY FIVE ROTATION THREE	DAILY FIVE ROTATION THREE
10:50-11:05	DAILY FIVE MINI-LESSON FOUR	DAILY FIVE MINI-LESSON FOUR	DAILY FIVE MINI-LESSON FOUR	DAILY FIVE MINI-LESSON FOUR	DAILY FIVE MINI-LESSON FOUR
11:05-11:30	DAILY FIVE ROTATION FOUR	DAILY FIVE ROTATION FOUR	DAILY FIVE ROTATION FOUR	DAILY FIVE ROTATION FOUR	DAILY FIVE ROTATION FOUR
11:30-12:00	LUNCH	LUNCH	LUNCH	LUNCH	LUNCH
12:00-1:00	SCIENCE	SCIENCE	SCIENCE	P.E. 12:10-12:50	SCIENCE
1:00-1:30	RECESS	RECESS	RECESS	RECESS	RECESS
1:30-1:40	NUMBER TALK	NUMBER TALK	NUMBER TALK	NUMBER TALK	NUMBER TALK
1:40-2:00	MATH MINI-LESSON AND CGI PROBLEM	MATH MINI-LESSON AND CGI PROBLEM	MATH MINI-LESSON AND CGI PROBLEM	MATH MINI-LESSON AND CGI PROBLEM	MATH MINI-LESSON AND CGI PROBLEM
2:00-3:00	MATH CENTERS	MATH CENTERS	MATH CENTERS	MATH CENTERS	MATH CENTERS
3:00-3:20	GRAMMAR	GRAMMAR	GRAMMAR	GRAMMAR	GRAMMAR
3:20	Pack-up	Pack-up	Pack-up	Pack-up	Pack-up

Sorry it's so HUGE!!! I don't know how to make it smaller! 

I am thinking for my D5 rotations will go like this: 

1. Mini-Lesson One--Reading
2. Mini-Lesson Two--Fluency
3. Mini-Lesson Three--Word Study
4. Mini-Lesson Four--Writing

I may change it up and do writing first, then word study, then reading, then fluency... that way I can ask students to work on a specific concept for writing that day and call students to conference throughout the D5 rotations. 

What do you think? What do you class schedules look like??

Jillian