Classroom Printables

My classroom needs a few more posters, so I found some phrases that I liked online to replicate. I made these this morning using picnik and just sent them to Walgreens to be printed in 8x10's for less than $3 each!

If you would like to steal just click the image for a larger version, then right-click and choose "save picture as."

~Mrs. Scott

WAR!!!

My students have had a blast playing the card game War in class this week!

Remember War, the game where each player flips over a card and the person with the highest card gets them both? We put a spin on it for math, putting fractions on the cards to be compared (picture and numerical versions). Later next week we are going to use decimals, and then mix the stacks to compare both.

I have also thought about making other decks in the future for...

Math comparing:
Rational numbers
Squares/square roots
Scientific notationArea/perimeter/volume

Language Arts comparing:
Number of syllables
Number of nouns/adjectives/verbs in a sentence or paragraph

Science comparing:
Number of protons/neutrons/electrons
Age of trees based on tree ringsTemperature by reading thermometers
Calculated speed/force/energy

I would love to hear your suggestions as well!
~Mrs. Scott

Picnik

I am slightly obsessed with picnik. If you have never used the website before it is amazing! And a lot of the features are free! Basically, it is a photo editing site, but you can also use their goodies to turn pictures into cards and collages. Their image templates and cute text makes activities like printing class rules/posters and sprucing up your school webpage super easy.

I just recently found a new use: awards and Student Council acceptance cards. We printed 75 of these from Walgreens for $7.50 and it took all of 5 minutes to create and export:

~Mrs. Scott

Classroom:Froggy style!

I am a tad bit obsessed with frogs as you will see in my classroom environment pictures. This was what my classroom looked like for Meet the Teacher night a few weeks ago.

This is what my classroom looks like when you first walk in. Yes, that is what was formally my changing table that is now holding my math manipulatives by the door.

This is my job wall. I have 18 jobs for my classroom. I switch the jobs every Monday. The most popular job is the lunch count. That person takes our lunch count for the day to our team leader and they are able to carry the lunch behavior clipboard to the cafeteria at lunch time. Very important stuff!

These are my rules and my behavior chart. I haven't had to use my behavior cards too much this year so far! I have an awesome group!

This is a look at my two center tables (writing and math) along with my students' lockers. Notice how they are two different colors? The teacher in the room before me decided to take down the doors and leave it open for the students to put their stuff in. SOOOO UGLY! I had to look at it for two years with no doors but luckily this summer my principal had the money to get them replaced. I don't care that they are two different colors. I am just happy to have doors!

In my listening center area I found a cute rug at Wal-Mart for $20 (score!) and thanks to Donorschoose I now have a brand new mobile listening center for my students to use this school year. I am so thrilled! My awesome mom also made those pillows for my firsties to rest their little heads on while enjoying a fabulous story.

Here is my center rotation chart, Social studies vocabulary area and AR incentive board. My school requires an AR incentive area. Next week when AR begins, each student will have a bookmark with their name on it. During the first semester, if the student earns an 80 or 100 on their AR test over their library book, that student will earn a sticker. Once they have filled up their bookmark, I take it down, write a "Way to go" type message on the back and laminate it. The student then is able to pick a new bookmark out of the cup you see there. They get so excited about picking a new bookmark. I just ordered a bunch more from Shapes, Etc. When second semester hits, the students will earn a sticker only if they earn a 100.

This is how I keep organized throughout the week. I keep all the materials I need for the week in this crate by my desk. Each subject has a hanging folder that will hold what I need to do my lessons for the week. I tried by days but then I would get confused if I didn't make it to that particular item on that day so I changed it to subject.

My student desks had a "Welcome to 1st Grade" bag with a book, bookmark, first grade pencil and a sweet treat inside. I also put my student information sheets on their desk for their parents to fill out before they left. I always have them fill it out there before they leave because I may never get it back.

This is the view from my teaching board.

Here is where we start our morning every single day. We have a 15 minute calendar time that we review most of our important math skills such as money, time, place value, and have a number of the day time.

I was so excited to bring my glider to use in my teaching area this year! It is so comfy to sit back and read a book to my firsties. They also like the incentive of sitting in the teacher's chair to model different things for me. Such a great behavior incentive!

The all important classroom library. No, this is not all of my books. I have MANY more. I just put out a little at a time in the beginning to get them trained on how to make our library area work. I especially love my little book display shelf that my mom bought me as a birthday present several years ago. I rotate those books out with different ones to match the theme or month.

And of course... here is my guided reading table with my crate seats! My kids love to sit on them already. Plus, I have so much more storage space!

Hope you have enjoyed my little tour of my classroom! First grade sure is FROGGY! :)

Mrs. Halbardier

Doodle Sheets

I love this doodle duvet:

What I don't love is the $73 price tag!!!

The concept is that you draw on the fabric with washable markers, when your done, throw it in the washer and you get a brand new blank canvas!

I came up with a cheap knock-off version: $5 flat bedsheets from Walmart, cut in half! My class used them as "posters" to display student objective strengths based on their previous testing data.

The kids loved the novelty of being able to write on fabric! (And I felt a little bit greener not wasting paper!)

~Mrs. Scott

WatchKnowLearn- Free Educational Videos

When we returned in August my school district announced they would be discontinuing our district Discovery Streaming and Brainpop accounts.  As you can imagine the gasps were echoed throughout the library.   With so many school districts facing the difficult task of balancing budgets, they are left with  having to make hard decisions such as this. By discontinuing these services we were able to save 3 teacher jobs. It was then reality set in making this sacrifice less painful.  Many teachers went on the quest to find videos that would supplement our Discovery Streaming library.


I just happened to stumble on WatchKnowLearn it has an indexed of  over 20,000 educational videos, placing them into a directory of over 3,000 categories. Their videos are available without any registration or fees to teachers in the classroom and to students at home 24/7. 


Happy Streaming!
Washburn