Boy was it a cold start back after winter break. I can take a few days of this weather, but I'm just about over it. Of course the cold did not slow us down in class. We made the most out of the 3 days and 5 hours that we had this week. (Monday was an admin. day and Thursday was a delayed start.) My goals for this week were to introduce our January math and literacy centers (all 21 of them), to do a little Daily 5 retraining, to launch Rocket Math (addition fact drills), to teach all about Y as a vowel, and to work in some fun New Year's activities. Quite a list for a short week. I'm happy to report that we fit everything in. :) My students are all about getting new centers. I change them out each month. I intro all of them over a day (or two) during a few mini lessons. After I explain and model all the centers, they are up and running. I love the year long review these centers provide. They also free me up to meet with students to do a little reteaching. In math this month we are working out of my Baby It's Cold Outside {10 Math Centers for January}. This packet includes work with addition, subtraction, number comparisons, number order, nonstandard measurement, time to the half hour, missing addends, and more. You can get a closer look by clicking on the picture. Below is a FREE center from this packet, Snowman Comparisons. With this center students will practice comparing numbers with the greater than and less than signs. Click on the picture for your own FREE copy. As for our literacy centers, we'll be working with the companion packet, Baby It's Cold Outside {10 Literacy Centers for January}. This packet includes work with rhyming words, long and short a discrimination, sentence sorting, contractions, synonyms, antonyms, compound words, sight words, and more. You can check it out by clicking on the picture. You can have a FREE center from this packet by clicking on the picture below. Hot Chocolate Blends provides your students practice with initial blends. After matching all the initial blend picture cards with the word cards, students will write their answers on the recording sheet. Besides our work with literacy centers and math centers, we also spent a bit of time practicing Y as a vowel. We started off by going over our anchor chart and brainstorming words that end with y. If you would like this anchor chart to use with your students, click on the picture. We talked about how most one syllable words that end with y have the long I sound. While most two (or more) syllable words that end with y have a long E sound. Students applied their vast knowledge of Y as a Vowel by doing various sorts, reading, and writing activities. We primarily worked out of my Words at Work {Seven Word Work Activities for Y as a Vowel}. You can learn more about this packet by clicking on the picture. If you would like a free copy of one of the activities from this packet, click on the picture below. It's a word sort with Y as long E and Y as long I. With all of this learning going on, we had to fit in some time for a little creativity. Plus, my walls were bare after all of our Christmas craftivities went home. We really needed some student artwork to liven the classroom. So . . . after reading some favorite New Year's themed books, we discussed resolutions. Students thought about personal resolutions and wrote them down. Then we made our New Year's Resolution Kids. Using the party blowout was certainly not an original idea, but I love it. The kids love using them too. I'm a little worried that the blowouts will be ripped on the Resolution Kids as soon as I send them home. For first graders, blowouts can be just too fun to resist. Maybe I need to get another set of blowouts to give my students when they take their projects home. We had a great week. Everyone seemed to be rested and ready to get back to our routine. Next week we'll be celebrating our 100th Day of School. I cannot believe we are already at the 100th Day point in the year. Time flies when you're having fun. Time also flies when you are super busy. Thanks for stopping by.
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We’re well into season 3 and The Good Place seems to have finally lost its way. What started out as one of the funniest new comedies, The Good Place has officially plateaued. The gang has been to hell and back (literally), but is there anywhere left to go? Season 3 started out with Eleanor, Chidi, and the rest […]
As a complement to The Happiness Manifesto, here is The Unhappiness Manifesto - 10 Surefire Ways To Be Unhappy. :)
Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919), Bal du Moulin de la Galette, 1876, oil on canvas, 131 x 175 cm, Musée d'Orsay. Dance at the Moulin de la Galette. The Moulin de la Galette was a windmill on Montmartre hill. Inside one could sit and eat crusty cakes. Outside there was an open-air eating and dancing area, where Parisians came and danced on Sunday afternoons, while others were savouring the famous “galettes” with a glass wine or fruit juice. The location was often frequented by students and artists living in Paris. The painting is a snapshot of real Parisian life, full of people enjoying themselves.
Well, we have been back for over a week. I'm starting to get back into the swing of things. I've been so busy that I haven't posted pictures of my classroom. So, here they are :) You'll see lots of "Pinteresty" things such as the poofs, cans for sharp (#) and flat pencils, the bubblegum machine full of pencil top erasers which I have to add my students think is SUPER cool. :D These are the cabinets on the east side of my room. You'll notice a sink which is great for cleaning recorders. There's also a closet on the far end that you can't see in the picture. On the middle of the shelf is my stick storage. My awesome stick storage. I use one of those long wood candle holders that you can pick up at a craft store. It's perfect for mallets and sticks. :) Here are my Recorder Dudes. Norm Sands came up with them. You can get a template and many great ideas in the Recorder Classroom curriculum. I have one for every note, but I'm only displaying these three for a few weeks. While my 4th graders review from last year and my third graders begin their recorder studies. My SMARTboard area. Here are my computer key chairs. I found them on clearance at Hobby Lobby for $20 each. Thank you PTO! Did I mention we have the BEST PTO ever? They have been so much help as I establish the music program. This is only the third year that our school has been open. You may notice that my carpet is in squares. They come up! Great for stains and such. Though in all honesty I haven't had to replace any. Yet. :) Here is my area other side of the SMARTboard. The shelf behind the drums has become my workstation. I keep my Ipad, Ipod, Bose, cd player, extra pencils, sharpies, goodies and story books for those times when I have an extra few minutes. Basically, anything that I may need at a moments notice. Next to that I have my rhythm instrument area. We are a new school, so I'm still working up to Remo Tubanos and Orff instruments. We do have 19 glockenspiels that I recieved through Donors Choose. If you haven't been to that website check it out. Also, Adopt A Classroom. :) Here is my library. My dad make these bifold shutter doors for my sister's law office and when she moved she didn't know what to do with them. I of course grabbed them I needed something to break up that ugly yellow and blue stripe that goes around my ENTIRE classroom. YUCK! Initially, I wasn't sure what to do with them. Then I came up with the idea to us them as a book display. Since this picture was taken I attached the braces. There are eight which makes it very safe for my students. I hope that you have enjoyed a look into my classroom. I also have built in 3 step risers. I'll try to get a picture of those as well as my desk area which is next to my library.
The Fairy Glen at Betws-y-Coed is a magical place - a narrow canyon through which the River Conwy runs. - More images available at www.stevegillphotos.co.uk
What's "in" in music can vary from day to day, but one of the genres that is still going strong after several decades is swing. If you're looking for a place to do your own swinging in the Chicago area, here are some of the best swing dance venues around.
Sharing a few key sights in Vienna before getting a glimpse of the Austrian countryside with a visit to the Admont Abbey Library. Where to Stay Starting in Vienna (or Wien in German), the capital of Austria, I situated myself in the 3rd district. Vienna is broken into 23 districts, with the 1st being the
