Read Aloud Time!

I love Read Aloud Time. Probably more than the kids 😊. I think it's a wonderful way to share books with them that are above their reading level. It stimulates their imagination (no tv to do the thinking for them) and it gets them interested in what books are out there they may want to explore. Our first read aloud was Chocolate Fever By Roger Kimmel Smith. It is so funny and the kids love it. We actually already finished. They sit and draw a picture about what I am reading in their Journal. Eventually they will add sentences.

Bugging Around!

Science is always a favorite of the kids. Especially the bug section! We haven't started our butterfly garden, but we got outside to see what we could find crawling or flying around.

They love recording their pictures in the nature journal we make.

Teacher Happiness!

Packing lunch for everyone in my house gets very time consuming! My kids do pack their own, at times, but sometimes not. So, we found this cool idea online. You can pack all your salads ahead, then grab a jar and go! I also put ranch and vegetables in for the kids. Fast, cute and yummy!

Speaking of lunches! Look at what our awesome Lunch Lady does for the lunch buyers at our school. LOVE it!!

Our room smells great! And it's a healthy, thanks to My diffuser, thieves and lemon :)

Lastly...look what a parent gave me. Packed full off goodies, from gum to wipes, gift card to deodorant (I hope that's not a hint lol).

First Day!

This year I actually got First Day pics of the kids! Let's see if I remember to do last day pics :). Here are a couple of the kids to show what I did.

I also attempted to bring in a first day (unhealthy) snack to go with our Mickey theme. Well...they didn't turn out exactly like I had hoped, but even after hearing "please please let my Mickey stay together", they all gobbled them up.

New Year...New Theme!

Another year to create the perfect first grade classroom! This year I have been blessed with a HUGE room! To others it may not look huge, but to me, I am in a palace. My theme this year came about after I received a gift from a student last year when she returned from Disney. I love how it turned out...hope you do too!

These pics show the broad view. See how roomy!! Here are detail pictures. First, my favorite part. I finally have a Word Wall!! And I somewhat organized my library. This was a goal of mine for years :)

Here is my blackboard decoration. Just to jazz that area up a bit. I saw this on Pinterest. Someone had decorated their door to surprise their kiddos about their Disney trip.

This year I am displaying the work that my students themselves are proud of. They can choose what they want to display and how long they want to display it. They can also choose to show any artwork they are proud of!

I made my Birthday chart after talking with my friend Rachel. She started teaching this year!! I tweaked her idea to fit my theme and I was very happy with the results.

Finally, here is my coat/backpack area and little reading nook. I have several pillows that I desperately need to recover, but still are comfy!

Oh! Notice my calendar?? I now have a chalk board up that I can do my calendar time!

Up Up Up and Away

Today was an exciting day for my first graders! A. Few weeks ago we received our caterpillars

They grew larger and larger as we eagerly waited for them to inch their way up the cup to form their chrysalis and finally all five made it!

One day during our Read Aloud time, one of the butterflies pushed out of the chrysalis...right before our eyes! It was amazing. Unfortunately I was too excited and forgot to grab my Ipad and take a picture, but I'm sure the kids will remember the birth of butterfly number one. They chose the name, Baby Cake Pop. Baby McKenna, Joe, Burrito and Baby James were to follow. Baby James had a broken wing, but we loved him just as much (Just as GOD loves all his children no matter how "imperfect"...great lesson to insert there!)

After watching them fly around and drink their sugar water, it was time to set them free...and TODAY was that day! We made butterfly crowns and butterfly wings to celebrate.

Then off we marched to the back playground to set them free. It was exciting to see them take flight out of their habitat. We even got to follow a few around.

I would definitely recommend purchasing the Live Butterfly Garden. It is an exciting way to watch nature happen at your fingertips...literally :)

Hall Bulletin Board

This post isn't specific to my actual classroom but I thought I would post about it anyway. Every year each of the teachers are assigned to do the main hallway bulletin board. Somewhere I have pictures of the previous boards I did, just can't locate them, so I will share this years...September. Of course I got the idea off of Pinterest (book and butterflies from Kale) and just tweaked and added. Here is the whole board:

I had Staples print out a picture of an open book and then I cut it out. I sketched butterflies onto scrapbook paper and used edged scissors to cut them out. There are two taped together with the top one folded up a bit to give it dimension.

I wrote the names of all my students under a butterfly.

Lastly I just came up with a saying (that has probably been said by a million people), traced letter cutouts onto scrapbook paper and cut them out.

I got this idea from hand-made.au or something like that from a Google search.