Celebrating Little Readers' Small Accomplishments *Freebie*

Hi All!

I just got back from a meeting with a colleague of mine and our principal.  Talk about diving right back into it! Being our School Improvement Chairs means we're right in the thick of it.  I have definitely had to leave my comfort zone - we handle a lot of our school's PD.  My friend and I used to affectionately refer to ourselves as "Dumb & Dumber" but after today's meeting, I tell you - I think she and I rock it out! HA! School is going to start really soon people, REALLY soon!

I did poke my head into my classroom before I left.  I don't know if that was such a good idea.  If you remember, I'm switching from desks to tables and that just has me all jittery inside.  The only furniture that looked the same was my trusty kidney bean shaped reading table.  

Which got me thinking about this new product I created for my classroom that I wanted to be sure to share with you.

It's on sale now for only $4!!! Can't beat that!

As teachers of the little ones we know just how fragile their little skills are.  Even those who come to us already reading have to rise to the challenge of bigger thinking {inferring, mental images, connections, finding evidence}.  I try to boost their egos as often as I can along the way.  I find myself reaching for a sticky note to jot down something one of my first graders did well at the reading table or during our conferring time and either they are someplace else or I can't find a marker.  So, my best of intentions always seem to be thwarted.

My plan is to have these mini rewards at my fingertips so that I can just pick one, use it to celebrate learning and to reinforce a specific skill.  I tried to include the littlest of accomplishments because it's these foundational skills that really impact a child's ability to read.

I made six on a page, they are pretty small and come in a boy version, girl version as well as black and white.  Super easy to print, cut and put in a cute container...keep 'em right at your reading table so they are there when you need 'em!

I'm putting mine in this pencil box

Handy dandy - at the ready!

So simple!!!! {Remember, they come in black and white too if you're conserving ink like me!}

Click to pick up your label!!!

Have fun celebrating your readers small accomplishments!

Land Sakes Alive...

Land sakes alive...

Shoo....

Smellin' that soup... {Breathe in.....}

And coolin' it down... {Blow it out....}

Not a good week to have assessments to do.  No week is a good week.

 I wanna wear one of those hidden cameras for a whole day; and I want to wear a pedometer and something that can measure how fast I walk too.  Cuz this week was crrrrrrrrrazy.....you know where I'm coming from,  I know you do - that's why I love you!  Sheesh.  You know those days, weeks where you actually sorta forget to breathe.  You are a whirlwind and know if somebody was on the outside looking in they'd have the straight jacket at the ready because they are just sure you're gonna lose it at any moment. But you never do. You just whip around, do, do, do and go, go, go!!!  Imagine what that would look like with one of those cameras that attaches to your head...you know like one of those lights people wear when they go cave dwelling or spelunking?  What a hoot...

I've pretty much have learned helplessness in some key areas.  Cooking and grocery shopping to name a couple {Hubby does both} but I'm also, very much by choice, NOT very handy.  So when I accomplished THIS today...

Looks easy right?  I guess it should have been, but I usually leave stuff like assembling tents up to my husband. I did break into a sweat while putting up this cuteness but it was well worth it, wouldn't you say?  My kiddos are going to be SOOOOO excited to meet Yertle the Turtle.

I hope it's still intact when we get to school tomorrow morning. That, for surely, is questionable!!!

Oh tomorrow....what a busy day ahead.  We'll be making Cara's Seuss Juice  and writing about it.

Equal parts Hawaiian Fruit Punch and Sprite....yummmy! {Cara's idea - not mine!}

We're also having a Brown Bag Book Club Reading Celebration tomorrow - what perfect timing! I told the kids today that if Theodor Geisel were to walk in our classroom tomorrow he'd be pleased as the punch! 

We've been using our schema to make text-to-self connections and text-to-text connections too.  We prepared our brown bags today.  We wrote about our connections and attached them to the front of a brown lunch bag.

Click on the document to pick it up!  My lovely friend, Barb, made this for me last year before I knew about text boxes...

We're going to get into Book Club groups and share our connections, eat popcorn and drink our Seuss Juice. I'll probably be hiding out in Yertle because I know my kids are going to be hoppin' on pop tomorrow!!!!! {That's code for: WILD and CRAZY}

I got a couple awards while I was away...

Barbara over at The Corner on Character gave me the One Lovely Blog Award...awww, thanks!

And Miss S over at Just Teaching Kindergarten passed the Top 10 Blog Award on to me - so nice!

I will fulfill my blogger duties that go along with these awards this weekend.  That will take some thought and I don't have a brain cell left!!!  Thank you so much girls...so sweet of you both!  If you haven't checked out their blogs...head on over!

Deep Thoughts...

How many stripes does The Cat in the Hat's hat have?  We're having a debate in my class over today's March is Reading Month trivia question. 

Have a great Friday!

Holly

Pictures, Pictures and More Pictures

Today was my last day before break - phew, what a sense of relief...what a long week.  I'm so happy -

What -

Huh?

Wait -

I still have FOUR. MORE. DAYS.

So all the rest of you can just stop your bragging right now, hear me?!?!

Here are a few pictures from today... {I was a picture takin' fool}

We had a reading celebration today  - celebrating all of our hard work retelling stories.  These were their gifts for a job well done {gotta love winning a blog giveaway!}.

The kids brought their stuffed buddies from home to help celebrate!

Got these retelling bookmarks from somewhere in blogland - can't remember where - it's been years.  LOVE using these bookmarks.  I teach one or two important components of a thorough retell each day.  After all of the parts have been taught, I make my "fake phone call" to my teaching buddy, Barb {remember her?} and pretend to retell a REALLY GOOD BOOK that she JUST HAS TO BUY!  Then I send the kids off to practice with a reading partner.  The paperclips are attached for them to slide down as they tell that part of the story.  The ones above {with the stuffed buddies} were made by my parapro.  I'll grab them from school next week and will post them here.

I walked into school today to these little bursts of sunshine. They came from a dear friend for my 40th {yikes!!!!!} birthday.  xoxo

I also walked into this...

Happened upon this little awesomeness today minutes before doing the snow globe craftivity with my kiddos.  Only wish I had brought a snow globe from home  - what was I thinking!?!

Don't you just love 'em?!?! Click {HERE} for more details.

If you haven't tried glitter spray - you might want to.  I'm anti-glitter. Haven't allowed a sprinkle of that evil stuff in my classroom in YEARS.  Love this stuff...xoxo

Came home to this...

And this...

I got a new camera for my birthday. Just trying it out. Here's our Christmas tree.

The reason for the season..

Our village - with a strange black blob on the right. I swear that's not on my wall...hmmmm

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care...

Just my wreath - she hangs all year round, but I like her!

Happy weekend girls - let's enjoy this nice l o n g break -

Shoot - mine hasn't started yet. 

Get some rest for me ya'll {I love saying that - do you think my Michigan friends would get annoyed with me if I started throwing it into everyday conversation?}

xoxo

Reading Celebration

Hey Chickaroonies...

You know how I love having reading and writing celebrations at the end of each unit!!!!  I keep them simple - so they really aren't any extra prep on my part.  I saw a parent {Paparazzi} a while back at Target {where else?!?} and she told me that one of her daughter's fondest memories of first grade were our academic celebrations.  This made my day and confirmed that they are a worthwhile addition to our classroom.  Here's a copy of the note I'm sending home reminding the parents of our upcoming "Shoeless Workshop" {please pray for no evacuation drills...that would be my luck, right?  I always worry about that...}.

We've already had our first writer's celebration which was to share our "published piece" with our writing partner and then we all had an apple juice toast.  Click {HERE} to read about it and see pictures.

Have a great week!!!!!!