Comprehension Toolkit

Good evening friends!  Here in southern Michigan it has been raining EVERYDAY!  It has put the brakes on our daily splash in the pool!

 

This afternoon I met with some friends at school to discuss our launching of the Comprehension Toolkit in the fall.

 

Here are some snapshots of the contents:

 

Each comprehension strategy has a book with the lessons. 

 

The toolkit uses National Geographic-Young Explorers and Time for Kids to teach the strategies.

 

We will begin the year with introducing these strategies using the awesome lessons by Tanny McGregor.  I am really looking forward to sharing these lessons with my first graders!

I love how concrete Tanny makes teaching such abstract concepts!  For an example, check out how Abby used one of Tanny's lessons!



 

While at school I, of course stopped by my classroom in hopes of dropping off some goodies and bringing home some more things to work on.  However, this is what I found on my door.

 

I knew that this may be the case.  The wait will be worth it as our rooms always look great in the fall!  Our custodian is awesome and I really appreciate all that she does for us!



Made It Monday!

It was ANOTHER rainy day here.  So, we went to Michael's to check out their sales.  We did well!   I will save that for another post!  We then came home and got busy with some activities that I had pinned awhile back.  So, I am linking up with

 4th Grade Frolics for Monday Made It!

 

Our first project was Borax Bouncy Balls from Mommy's Memorandum!

 

Ours did not come out as nice as hers, but we still had fun!

 

Finally, we completed a simple, but cool Dot Art painting project with paint, Q tips, and black paper.  I pinned the idea from Tonya's Treats for Teachers. They were please with their results!

 

 

 

So, there you have it!  Be sure to link up with Tara and share what you made!

 

 

 

 

 



Back from Vacation and A Winner!

Well, I have been MIA as we enjoyed another camping trip with friends for the 4th of July!

 

 

My Target gift card winner is: 

 

Janine!

 

Congrats, Janine!  Your gift card is on its way!

 

I have more to share and will post again soon!  I hope that everyone had a great 4th of July!

Sunday Smorgasbord Linky and a Giveaway!

Hi everyone!  I am linking up with Michelle for a Sunday Smorgasbord Linky Party! 

 

My family and I have been doing a lot of swimming, going to the library, camping, and soaking up the summer!  I LOVE having the summers with my kiddos! 

Shortly after school let out, we went to Lake Superior.  It was wonderful to relax and enjoy the quiet!

 

 

 

Then, we spent a weekend at a tractor show with family. 

This next week, we will spend the 4th of July along Lake Michigan with friends.  Like, I said, we are enjoying our summer!!!

 

Please don't forget that Google Reader is gone at midnight tonight!  Please follow me on Bloglovin and CLICK for my giveaway here!!! for a $10 gift card to Target!

 

 

 

 



Throwback Thrusday and Giveaway Reminder!

 

 

Don't forget to enter my giveaway for a $10 gift card to Target! 

All you have to do is follow me on Bloglovin and click here to enter!

 

 I am also linking up with The First Grade Parade and her Throwback Thursday!

 

 

 

 

Though I now teach First Grade, I still love Mrs. Wishy Washy!  this post below is from my last year in Kindergarten and when we studied the letter W with Mrs. Wishy Washy!

 

 

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Wow, I have a lot to share today!  
I LOVE the book Mrs. Wishy Washy!  It is one of my favorite books to use during the school year!  Here are a few of our activities that we completed this week!

They each made their own Mrs. Wishy Washy from paper plates.

You can find the instructions at Making Learning Fun!

The kids really got into this story and all that we did to go with it.  They were so excited when I brought this out to add to our puzzle collection!

I added this story map to our Mrs. Wishy Washy art projects to make this bulletin board.  The tub idea came from here.

We also completed a graph of our favorite character from the story.  I got this idea from Overall Success.

Each year the students love to make their own interactive Mrs. Wishy Washy books.  You can grab your own from Kelly's Kindergarten.

 Here is one more project that we completed for our letter study.  I found it here!

 



Target Gift Card Giveway!

As everyone now knows, Google Reader will be gone as of July 1st.  Many are looking to Bloglovin for a replacement. 

 

If you currently follow my blog, will you please choose to click the Bloglovin button to the left and continue to follow me!  If you are new to my blog, I would love to have you join in!

I am having a giveaway!  One lucky winner will be chosen on July 4th to win a $10 gift card to Target!
 

 



a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Join in the fun!

Book Study-Next Step in Guided Reading and Linking up with Throwback Thursday!

I was thrilled to see the new book study on Jan Richardson's book, The -Next Step in Guided Reading!  I have used this book for that last few years and adore it!  As you may know, after teaching Kindergarten for 10 years, I moved to First Grade last year.  I reread the book last summer with a  new purpose!  This summer I have brought it home again to reread.  I always take away new things!

 

 

Chapter One is all about preparing.  I always have to remind myself to take it slow and review, review, and review with my kiddos what the expectations are.  Though it is a long process, it totally pays off for the rest of the year!

Organizing what my day would look like took me awhile this past year.  In Kindergarten I spent many years using literacy centers and stations while I met with my groups.  When moving to First Grade, I was ready to dive into the Daily 5!  I loved it and so did the kids!  They were always excited EVERYDAY when I announced that it was time for Daily 5.

With that said, it still took some time and a lot of tweaking to figure out the best way to fit it all in.  Once we were up and running, it was like a well oiled machine!

Below is a picture of the chart the students used to clip their choices.  I got this last summer at Seusstastic Classroom Inspirations's TPT Store

 

 

This photo is from last summer when I made it at home.

 

I am looking forward to the next chapter on Assessment!

 

Check out all the other posts on this chapter by going to:

  

 

 

 

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Over at First Grade Parade she is having a Throwback Thursday Weekly Linky Party! 

I thought it would be fun to repost the following entry of my little blog.

Last summer, my own kiddos became pen pals with some cousins who live far away.  This next school year, I have plans to pen pal write with another First Grade Class!  Maybe these will give you some ideas!

I wanted to share with you a new activity that we are starting!  Pen Pals!  We have cousins that live all over and we do not get to see them much at all.  So, I thought that it would be fun for my kiddos to get to know some of them by being pen pals. 

We wanted to do something special for them for our first correspondence. So, where did I turn?  To Pinterest, of course! Here is a photo of our kits that we created for our cousins! You can get the printable label and poem here!

We also included a fun information sheet that was also found on Pinterest.

You can get one too, here!

Do you do pen pals with your kiddos or in the classroom?  I would love to hear about it!