My VERY 1st Throwback Thursday

I decided to join The First Grade Parade for a Throwback Thursday.  I promised to blog more this summer, so here goes.

Click {here} to visit the linky party.

I have decided to share one of my most popular posts (and a favorite activity of mine).  It is about Parent Writing Journals.  I love having my students write in parent journals.  They write in them on Friday, take them home for the weekend and the parents write something back to the student.  We share them on Monday mornings.  I learn a lot about my students when they share their parent journals.  It is one of my favorite activities of our week.

Here is the original post:

Well, I have survived my first week of school.  It was only 4 days but, that is long enough for my little kinders.  I love my class.  They are doing a wonderful job of learning all of the rules and  procedures.  Most of them are catching on very quickly.  We are going to have a great year!

My school is focusing on teaching writing this year.  I know that when my students have a reason to write they are more likely to want to write.  So after much careful thought and a little luck while looking for a file on one of my jump drives, I found an idea I had used several years ago.  I had my students write in Parent Journals.  A Parent Journal is a spiral notebook where the students write (or draw) a note to their parents/grandparents/their family.  Then whoever the note was written to writes a note back to the student and returns the Parent Journal the next day. I had my students write in the journal on Friday and take it home.  Hopefully, each of my students brings the journal back on Monday.  The the students can share their journals and responses with each other.

Here is a link to the note I attached to the front of the spiral notebooks.  It is in Word, so that you can change it to suit your needs.  

Parent Journal Letter

Thank you so much for stopping by to visit.

Who Wants to Save Money????

Hopefully, all of you are getting some rest and relaxation this summer.  Even though you are supposed to be getting rest and relaxation, I know that many of you are already buying things for your classroom.  I wanted to share a couple of ways that I have saved money buying books and other things for my classroom.

First of all, there is a web site that is called Paperback Swap.  You list books that you have that are in good condition but that you don't need anymore.  When someone on the site wants one, you receive an email.  You send the book to them via media mail (which is a cheaper way to mail books).  This usually costs between $2 and $3.  Then you receive a point.  You can then use that point to order a book from someone else.  That person pays for the shipping of your book.  When you sign up and list at least 10 books, you receive 2 points so that you can begin ordering books right away.  I have gotten many books for my classroom library this way.  Sometimes, if you are very lucky, you can even find some teacher books on the site.

Click {here} to visit PaperBack Swap.

Another place that I found to save money buying stuff for my classroom is a new Facebook page that was begun just a couple of weeks ago.  Charity Preston from The Organized Classroom Blog started a FB page called Used Teaching Treasures Emporium.  There are almost 1,500 members.  I have sold a bunch of teaching items that I haven't used recently.  I have also bought some new things for my room next year.  (It is kinda like what would happen if I worked at Kohl's.  I would spend my paycheck on clothes and not really make any money.)  The items are in good condition and are much less than if you would buy them new.  Just go to Facebook and search for the page.  You have to ask to join.  It is a win-win situation.  You can get rid of some of the books cluttering your shelves and make money to buy new things for your classroom.

If you have any questions about either of these ideas, please email me or comment here and I will try to help you.

Thank you for taking the time to visit,

My First Monday Made It This Summer

So, I hope that all of you survived the 4th of July.  My family tried to squeeze in as much family time as we could.  My son is going to college in September, so we are making family time a priority. Also my sister was in town from Chicago, so we spent time with her.  A drive-in movie, a trip to the zoo, a rained out baseball game, a couple of barbecues and brunch together were all a part of our long weekend.

Yesterday, I was able to squeeze in a little time to create a quick Monday Made It.  I am tutoring this summer and needed something to help my students practice sight words.  So I created some cute flashcards to use for practice or to play a memory game.

I used some border that I bought last summer when the local teacher store was going out of business.  (Better late than never, I always say.)  The package not only had border but it also 4 corners.  The border was seashells and the corners were crabs.

The Border

Next, I cut the border apart.  I used two strips of border to make one set of cards.  I made 4 sets of cards and placed one crab in each set.

After that, I used a permanent marker to write sight words on each seashell.  To make a matching game, I wrote the same sight word on two cards.  I left the crab plain.  I haven't decided what should happen if someone turns over the crab.  The player could lose a turn, get another turn or lose one of his/her matches.

I am tutoring this afternoon, so I will see how the game works.  Once I go back into my classroom, I will probably laminate the cards.  But they seem pretty sturdy for now, especially since I am using them one-on-one with students.

Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog.  Have a terrific week!

My First Freebie Friday of the Summer!

As I promised in my previous post, I am going to be posting more this summer.  For the first time, in a long time, I am tutoring this summer.  One of my little guys is doing a great job of sounding out words but he needs to practice sight words.  So I have made an ice cream matching game to help him practice his sight words.  

Click {here} to go to my TpT store and get my freebie.

Since I thought others might be tutoring this summer, I wanted to share this with you as a freebie.  I have linked up with Freebie Friday at Teaching Blog Addict with my freebie.  Please check it out!



Click {here} to go to Freebie Friday!
Have a terrific last weekend of June!

Blog Lovin

So, who else can't believe that Google Reader won't be around any longer, after July 1st.  My brother-in-law informed me of it's demise this spring.  I guess in my head, I kept thinking that it wasn't possible that this was happening.  Now that it is the end of June, I have had to come to terms with it's leaving.  

It took me a little while, but I have finally put a Bloglovin' button on my blog.  Please click on it or click the link below, so that you don't miss any of my posts this summer.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Have a Terrific Tuesday!

I'm BAAAACK!!!

So, I finally logged back in to my Blogger account.  It was pretty embarrassing to see that I haven't posted anything since March.  I  was doing a wonderful job of blogging last summer.  Then the school year happened and my blogging went down hill from there.  But, I finally finished closing down my room yesterday, so here I am, ready to blog some more.

My classroom all packed up for the summer.  It looks so sad.

My school year ended in a blur.  I not only planned a graduation for my kindergartners, but (I blinked) my son graduated from high school.  So I had to plan a party for him.  I thought I would share some ideas I used for decorations for both graduations.  I know everyone is finished for the summer, but you can always use the ideas for next year.

For kindergarten graduation, my little ones made pictures of themselves.  I have done many different things over the years, but this one is my favorite.  I had my students make them for the first time last year and both times they turned out adorable.

I found the idea on TpT.  Here is a link to the Peace, Love, and Kindergarten store where I purchased it.  Just click {here}.

For my son's graduation party I went a little crazy.  I made center pieces from gift bags, stickers, dowel rods, shredded paper, paper circles and pictures of him.

Here is what a couple of them looked like (each one was different):

To decorate the cake table, we (my sister, daughter and I) modge podged pictures of my son onto the numbers 2013.

My other sister helped me make a tri board.

The picture isn't that great, but you get the idea.

Then, I gave my sister and brother in law materials to make a picture frame to use when we took pictures at the party.  They did an awesome job making it.  (I got the inspiration from all of the picture frames teachers were using at the beginning and ending of the school year.)  

J.J. with his two aunts.  (I couldn't have done the party without them.)

As you can see, the end of the school year was a little crazy for me as I'm sure it was for all of you, too.

I hope to "see" more of all of you during the summer!

A Terrific Last Day Before Spring Break!

Happy Middle of the Week!

Who doesn't love a 2 day week?  I know my students did.  (I still have to go to school for 2 more days.  Tomorrow is Records Day and Thursday is a PD day.)

It is a little difficult to keep 21 kindergartners interested in learning when they are ready for a vacation.  It helps that it snowed yesterday and sleet/snowed this afternoon.  Then it doesn't really feel like Spring Break is coming.  

Thanks to a terrific freebie, the students completed a Peeps experiment this morning.  They had fun and were learning at the same time.  My student teacher did a terrific job of guiding the students through the experiment and teaching the students the word "hypothesis".  How impressive is it when a 5 year old says that word?

I found the freebie at the Happy Teacher Happy Kids TpT store.

This afternoon we had an egg hunt.  However, you can't hunt eggs without a bunny hat and a bunny basket.  I used the patterns from on of my favorite blogs, Heidisongs.  You can click {here} to find the blog entry with the patterns.

Aren't they adorable?

Thank you for stopping by my blog.  I just love sharing good teaching days with all of you.