Tune into Technology Linky Week 1: Integrating Technology Into Reading

Today I'm linking up with Kristin at iTeach1:1 for her Tuesday summer linky party, Tune Into Technology! If you want to link up and blog along, go visit Kristin's blog, grab the graphics, and let's go! Here are the weekly topics:

This week's topic is using reading in technology. There are two very important ways that I use reading technology in my first grade classroom. Last year my district adopted the Houghton Mifflin CCSS series, Wonders. While I'm not always a fan of a basal series, I am a fan of all the awesome technology I get to use on the iPads and SMARTboard in my classroom. To start, I get to make all of my plans, input my students, and choose all of the resources I like to pull up on my SMARTboard. This is so much nicer for my firsties than the typical, "Get out your book. Open to page 134. Stephanie, please read for us." BORING!!! There are several different voices that read aloud for students for when they are sick of my voice :), which (let's face it) does happen!!

Here are some things I have my firsties do:

1.) They love to practice their grammar with the online games and resources. Another class favorite is the grammar song, which we all clap and sing along to!

2.) My students can use the iPads to access the Wonders app to read their stories for the week, and have access to their guided reading books both in the classroom and at home! They love to play the games on the Wonders app that match the skills we are practicing for the week as well. I often use this during literacy centers time.

The second thing I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to use in my classroom for reading is Scholastic News. Each year every first grader gets a subscription to Scholastic News, a print magazine for students with plenty of informational text. Each month has 4 issues related to things happening that month. For example, there will be an issue about Spring, weather, and St. Patrick's Day in the March issues.

Although my students get the print issue, I do the entire lesson on my SMARTboard using the online resources on scholastic.com. It has plenty of little "extras" such as vocabulary words highlighted in purple that students can click and hear a definition and see a picture to match the word. My students love to come up to the board and choose the answers to the quizzes on the back of each issue, as well. There is a skills game and a opening (preview) video for each issue for students to enjoy as well. 

Can't wait to see all the new ideas that I can integrate into my classroom! Go link up! 

Talk soon,

Blogger Meetup and Currently July!

This week started with an awesome Monday Blogger Meetup at Brio inside the lovely Yorktown Mall property! I met so many nice ladies and a nice guy to follow and blogstalk. Thank you to Erin at The Short and Sassy Teacher for hooking me up with this cool event!! What I found most helpful was putting a face to the blog name and hearing how others use their blogs to spread ideas and make themselves a little cash using TpT. Now, I'm not very good at the whole marketing aspect of blogging, but I loved hearing what helped make them successful! 

After we shared some tips, ideas, a little about ourselves, we headed up to The Chalkboard for some teacher shopping. I was able to pick out some new borders and things for my new classroom (not a new grade, just a new room away from the stinky corner I so lovingly called "pee corner" because my room was directly across from the first grade boys' bathroom...you can imagine what that was like day in and day out...) My goal for July is to NOT ENTER AND SET UP THE CLASSROOM. I need a solid month off to reboot....but that doesn't mean I'm not at home crafting and planning...and planning...and planning!!! 

Now....

Linking up a day late with Farley at Oh Boy, 4th Grade for July's edition of Currently...

Listening: I believe it was Anchored in 3rd that said she was a sucker for trash tv in her free time. Amen, sistah! I'm enjoying the early days of RHONJ when the drama seemed more real and the ladies were VERY "jersey".

Loving: I've only been on summer break officially since June 19th so I'm loving getting some much needed sleep and relaxation.

Thinking: They come between 12 & 2. SO EXCITED!!!

Wanting: Being pregnant means I have to watch the caffeine intake. I really would love a Coke right now!

Needing: I'm currently reading about 12 books...okay maybe not 12 but a lot. I need more time and faster processing in my brain to absorb all the goodness!

4th Plans: ALWAYS the parade in the morning and this year we are having a shin-dig at my aunt's. Complete with a fireworks show at the park! I love the 4th of July but this is usually the mid-mark to summer and I feel like I've only just begun!

I'm on the search for a cool way to store shared supplies....new post coming soon!

Talk soon,

Getting Creative for Next School Year - Tables and Harry Potter!

I've officially been on "Summer Vacation" for 7 days now, and the bug has already bitten me! I've made my list and started getting ready for next school year. 

If you know me, you know I'm obsessed with all things Harry Potter. Last year I discovered the cutest of all Harry Potter clipart for my little firsties by Emily Wean, {here}, but I didn't discover this treasure until after the school year had already begun. So this summer I am transforming some of my old signs into new, updated Harry Potter signs. I'm working on my classroom jobs, mailbox names, book box signs, etc. 

Something super exciting for my little firsties next year is that I will have tables, yes TABLES, instead of desks for them! No more SLAM, SLAM, BAM, SHUFFLE, MOVE, TIP OVER of desks in my room! Hallelujah! I could just cry they are so beautiful....

So today I worked on my table signs to hang above the tables from my ceiling. You can download them { here } in my TpT store. They are completely editable, so if you have a HP classroom, they are perfect for you to label and do as you please! 

Now to research the best way to share supplies on these tables....hmm....

Talk soon,

June Currently and Summer Plans

I officially feel like a terrible teacher blogger, but I promise to make it up this summer!

The "spring" seems to have gotten away with me. I use quotation marks because "spring" in Chicago this year was snow, cold, snow, cold, rain, cold.....gray. It was simply awful. However, it seems those days are behind us as the humidity and 85+ degree weather is back! I'll never complain about summer heat again!!! (maybe.)

We are still in school in my district due to the 4 extreme temperature days that we had in January and February. It feels like the winter has played a part in making everyone in our building just a bit crabby and ready for a break. I've even caught myself singing, "This is the year that never ends....yes it goes on and on my friends..." I'll try to keep my chin up and survive the next 5 days! I CAN DO IT! I CAN DO IT! CAN I DO IT? I mean...I CAN DO IT!!!

Here's my June currently, linked up with Oh, Boy 4th Grade:

Listening: Self-explanatory

Loving: HALLELUJAH it's warm! No jacket for this teacher!

Thinking: I'm so exhausted I plan on doing not one thing the week after school lets out. I just need to sleep and relax and then get back in the swing of it!

Wanting: Frozen Cokes are my super summer vice.....must...drink....cold....slushie....

Needing: Summer vacation to get my life in order!

Summer bucket list: Crafts! I plan on crafting a lot for my home and for wedding gifts for two sweet friends. Maybe Short and Sassy will be by my side? Also, enjoying my garden is a must. The herbs are planted and it's ready to go! Lettuce, basil, rosemary, lavender...all the necessities. Lastly, and again, need my Short and Sassy Teacher for this one...make it to a blog meetup! Get ideas! Get motivated!!!

Talk soon,

St. Patrick's Day Book Reports and Spring Read-In!

St. Patrick's Day is quite possibly my favorite holiday to celebrate with the students!! The magic and trickery of the leprechaun, the history of Ireland, and all of the GREEEN! In the past I've made a special green pancake breakfast for my kids, given kids black plastic pots filled with Lucky Charms (from the leprechaun, of course!), and given gold foil chocolate coins. We are no longer allowed to have food in classrooms so I've gotten more creative....

Each year I now stamp green footprints on each student's desk with a baby foot stamper and green, washable ink. I sprinkle mini rainbow, gold coin, and leprechaun hat erasers around their desks with gold glitter as well. They love it!

During the month of March, each of my firsties complete one book report each week working toward a goal of 4 reports. At the end of the month, we have a special "First Grade Read In" to celebrate their hard work! Students wear jammies, slippers, and robes to school. They bring blankets and stuffed animals. We spend the entire morning reading all of our favorite books. Our principal comes to each classroom to read a story as well! I took this idea from Pinterest and re-imagined it for my own classroom:

In order to track their book report progress, each student has a black pot with a handprint rainbow. For each book report they return, they receive a "gold coin" for their pot. (Really it's just a yellow garage sale dot, but holy moly do they love it!) We hang the handprint pots in the hallway to brighten up the space and remind ourselves that despite this horrific winter, SPRING IS ON THE WAY!

This year, my teaching partner Amy and I both have student teachers. So, as the fabulous student teachers were teaching in the morning, Amy and I were able to paint the hands of all 180-some first graders for this project. (Yes, there are 7 first grade classrooms in my school!) Amy is a genius, so we started by pouring paint into ketchup bottles for easy storage and transportation of the paint. Check out the photos below for what we did!   

{HINT}: if you're going to do this, start with the yellow painted finger first to avoid color mixing!

Voila! A new tradition is born! Now, what will we do next year without student teachers?!? Eek!

Talk soon,

Read Across America Week & Dr. Seuss Themed Centers

This week was the famous "Read Across America Week" to celebrate the 110th birthday of the late, GREAT Dr. Seuss!! This fun week is one of my favorites at school, as it brings out the silliness in everyone! I'm very fortunate to work in a district with teachers who work with our FABULOUS librarian to plan Dr. Seuss themed activities for each day of the week. Here's how it went!

Monday: "Fox In Socks Day" - Wear silly socks to school. (I saw some great monkey socks, and some funny Christmas and Halloween socks as well!)

Tuesday: "One Fish, Two Fish Day" - Hop over the fish taped to the floor all over the school. (It's  hard to tell from this photo but they were everywhere! What a great "brain break" for students to get out energy while making their way through the halls.)

Wednesday: "Wacky Wednesday" - dress wacky. (My favorite outfit included taped up "nerd" glasses and a backwards hockey jersey...can you guess which movie??)

Thursday: "The Lorax Day" - wear green and "speak for the trees!" We watched the Lorax cartoon and talked about conservation. (It's amazing how much children connect with the environment and the ideas they have to protect it!)

Friday: "Cat in the Hat Day" - wear a silly hat to school. (There were viking horns, light up cowboy hats, feathers, and hats with tubes! Who knew there were so many goofy hats out there?!)

My little firsties had a ball this week dressing silly and participating in all of the activities. To make the week even more fun, my classroom did Dr. Seuss centers each morning. Here's what we did:

Theme Center: Create your own "Cat in the Hat" hat. Use a sentence strip to easily attach it and size it to their heads!

Spelling Center: Write each of your spelling words 3 times on the cat's hat.

Word Wall Center: "Green Eggs and Ham" memory match game. Next year I'll buy some spatulas for them to flip the eggs with. They LOVED the green eggs!

Writing Center: "The Cat in the Hat" write around the room. Find words around the room that match each letter in the title!

Each classroom made a Dr. Seuss book poster for the main hallway as well. At the end of the week, a team of judges voted on the best 3 posters and a wonderful teacher dressed up as the Cat in the Hat to deliver the prizes. My class did "Horton Hears a Who". Here are a few of my favorite posters:

(This was the first place winner!)

That's all for now! See you next week for my blog post on St. Patrick's Day activities! :) 

Happy weekend!

I'm baaaack...and January "Currently"!

Well, bloggers, it's been quite a few weeks! Do you even remember me??? I used to be pretty consistent with this blogging thing.....BUT.... I promised myself that during Winter Break this year I would relax on all things teaching...no grading, no planning, no blogging, etc. I needed (and deserved) a break! I did pretty good on most things (apart from planning ahead in math...) Alas, now that I've taken time to refresh and relax, it's time to get started fresh in a brand new year! Happy 2014!

I thought I would share what I think is my *most GENIUS* idea ever! This holiday season I made an Amazon wishlist with my school email address. I loaded it up with all of the great mentor texts and books that I've been wanting since last summer! Guess what? I got a TON of them as gifts for Christmas! WOO HOO! I love generous parents! Here's a peek at a few that I received!! I'm super giddy at all of these wonderful hardcovers!! 

Moving on! 

I am currently trying to stay warm on what my district is calling a "snow day". However, the snow stopped two days ago! Here's what I looked like shoveling the other day.....

I live near Chicago, which recently has become known as the arctic tundra Chiberia (see the hashtag on your preferred social media source for some GREAT photos of what we're dealing with!) Here's a photo of the peephole in my front door. This is the view from *inside* my house....yes, that's frost! IT IS FROZEN INSIDE OF MY HOUSE. Brrr!! We haven't had school because of these extreme temps.

Today I was chatting with my friend The Short and Sassy Teacher, and we both made snow ice cream. No joke, it's ice cream made out of snow. { Here's } the recipe! It was okay, not great. Maybe I did it wrong or something. I fancy myself to be somewhat of an ice cream snob, but my cat seemed to enjoy it!

We are experiencing -35 to -45 degree wind chill temps with the actual temperature at -6 for the high. The same goes for tomorrow so I'll be sleeping in again! NO SCHOOL FOR ME! :)

I must admit that I'm ready to get back to a routine. I have a student teacher starting and I'm looking forward to sharing my classroom with her! 

With that said here's my January currently with Oh Boy, 4th Grade!

Listening: I watch Frasier every single night before going to bed. I think Kelsey Grammar's voice soothes me into sweet dream land...

Loving: Having 2 extra days off from reality! Woo!

Thinking: I spent 2 weeks chilling out....now back to the craziness and stress! Eek!

Wanting: I hope my student teacher is as amazing as I think she'll be!!

Needing: With all my new hardcovers (that I will reserve from my little firsties' grubby fingers), I need an effective way to organize and store them. Anyone have any tips for me?

Memory/Tradition: Every year I watch Rock Star with Mark Wahlberg and Jennifer Aniston. I don't know how this started but I seriously love this movie. It's a great way to ring in the new year, especially because I'm not a big fan of New Year's Eve.

Talk soon,