Owls Behavior Chart

I had never planned on having a theme for my classroom. That is, until Pinterest came along and I saw so many precious things that I just couldn't resist.

I (like many of you, I'm assuming) have jumped on the Owl bandwagon. I also have a lot of materials with polkadots and stripes, so my self-titled theme is going to be "Owls and Bright Colors." Original, I know. ;)

Tonight I made a behavior chart. It's certainly not anything new. This basic format has been floating around Pinterest for as long as Pinterest has existed. Using the basic outline as an inspiration, I created my own chart. I'm really proud of how it turned out.

I bought some cute owl clip art from the much-loved Scrappin Doodles. I got the black and white outline version and colored the owls on Paint to fit what I had in mind. Then, I typed up the labels and glued them to construction paper. Then I glued all of them together. Quick and easy.

The titles for each color are: Purple- Hey now! You're an "Owl"-Star; Blue- "Owl"standing Job; Green- Ready to Learn; Yellow- Stop and Think; Orange- Make Better Choices; Red- Tomorrow Will Be a Better Day

All of the kiddos will have a clothespin with their name on it. Everyone will start each day on green and can move up or down the chart depending on how they are behaving. 

At the end of the day, everyone who is on green will get one point, blues will get two and purples three. At the end of every month, the students will be able to spend their points in a class auction. I'll definitely share more about that once we actually have one. ;)

Hope you all had a great weekend! 

Birdie, Birdie...

Okay, I can not take credit from this. The awesome first grade team at my Partnership school (explained in the post below) thought of it. But it's such a fun idea that I had to share it with you.

We had been working hard on a bird unit for a few weeks. At the end, the children got to take on the role of birds as they made their very own nests.

The base of the nests were made by rolling down the top of a brown paper bag until it was about 2 inches high. The children used their hands to shape the bottom of the bag into a circle. Then, the children had to find a place in the classroom to hide their nests. They were encouraged to use their new knowledge of birds to find the "best" place. It needed to be away from predators and out of the rain.

While the children were at PE, we spread bits of tissue paper, Easter basket grass, ribbon and yarn all over the floor. After picking up the children, the activity was explained to them. They had learned that birds use their beaks to collect materials for their nest, so the children would be using their mouths- no hands allowed! They picked up the materials with their mouth and carried it back to their nest. As you can imagine, this caused a lot of giggles. They had a blast, though. It was a great way for them to really connect with something birds do.

With all of the excitement from our bird unit, some of our little friends even brought in treasures from home to share with the class. We got to see a big feather and a real nest during share time. 

I hope you are able to use this fun activities with the little birdies in your class! :)

Fun with Nonstandard Measurement, Plus a FREEBIE!

Last year, I had the incredible opportunity to participate in a yearlong partnership program through my college. We were in a local school all day every Tuesday and Thursday. I am so thankful for that extra observation and experience; I truly feel that it made me more prepared for student teaching.

 Anywho... one day per quarter was designated as our "integrated teaching day". We taught about a specific topic for an entire day (as a junior, the first one seemed soooo daunting. Last one? Piece of cake.) My day for winter quarter was all about nonstandard measurement. I think that of my three days, this is the one I was most proud of.

 For one of our activities, we used snacks as a nonstandard measurement tool. The students (first graders, by the way) could choose whether they wanted to use Cheerios or Goldfish. I made up this little activity sheet for them. They lined the snacks up on the pictures and recorded how big each one was. The idea was to get them used to lining up the measurement tool end to end with no spaces in between. They did really well and I think it was their favorite activity of the day.







As you can see... my precious firsties were very engaged in this activity. I loved seeing their little brains ticking as they measured the pictures.

The activity page we used is nothing huge. I still had a lot of learning to do when I made it a year ago, so it's nowhere near perfect, but I wanted to share it with you anyway. Just click on the link below to see it!
Snack Measurement Page

June Currently

Linking up with Farley over at Oh Boy 4th Grade for my first Currently!

Bad Blogger! (Catch Up Post)

In September, I was SO excited to get started with my blog. I had been reading teacher blogs for the entire summer and was beyond stoked to have one of my own. I planned to photograph and write about every activity that I did with my class during student teaching.

....and then the TPA happened. And three Praxis tests....

I put a lot of things on the back burner and unfortunately, this blog was one of them.

Let me bring you up to speed.

I finished my primary student teaching in December. After Christmas break, I began my pre-primary placement. I was placed in a toddler classroom at the childcare center on campus. I had twelve precious two -year-olds who kept me on my toes but made my heart overflow with joy every single day.

Favorite toddler quote?
Child 1: (spits)
Me: "Please stop. Spitting makes people feel bad."
Child 2: "Well, I like getting spitted on."
Whatever floats your boat, right?

I graduated Summa Cum Laude on May 4. In addition to my regular license (PreK-3rd), I also took extra classes to get a reading endorsement for K-12th.

Are you ready for the best news of all?

Are you sure?

Really sure?

I.

GOT.

A.

JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's right, friends! I was offered a job teaching THIRD GRADE. This isn't just any old position, though. This job is in my dream school. It's the elementary I attended growing up. My mom and three of my cousins work there, too. If you know me, you know that I have more than a lot of pride for my hometown. My heart will always bleed brown, white and orange. I feel blessed beyond words that I am able to give back to this spectacular community that I'm so fortunate to call home.

I'm going to try to blog consistently this summer as I plan ideas and set up my very first classroom. I'm also hoping to make some "flashback" posts with activities I did with my toddler class this spring.

If you're still with me after this long hiatus, thank you. Sorry if you left a comment and didn't get a reply. I'm going to go visit your blogs right now.

P.S. Like my design? I'm a total cat lady  if you can't tell. Like what you see? Go visit the fabulous Erin over at Creating and Designing to get one for yourself!

You know you're in a small town country school when....

...school closes down for the county fair! Yep, that's right. We got a 4 day weekend for the fair. A lot of our kids are showing animals (not the one above... he's from a few years ago) and participate in other events throughout the week, and everyone gets the time off because of it. How cool is that? Although I adore my class very much, I have been so thankful to have this time to rest up and get some things done.

On Monday, we are going to be finishing up an adorable plant craft that we started this week. I can't wait to share the pictures with you!  Then we'll be starting a unit on animals.

I'm also going to be taking over one of the reading groups this week. Reading has always been my favorite thing to teach so I am very excited about this! I already have some great ideas swirling around in my head!

I hope you all have an amazing weekend! Enjoy the cooler fall weather! :)

PS: If you think closing school for the fair is crazy, you should know that the district I went to growing up closes on the first day of Deer Season. Love it!

Busy Times, Exciting Beginnings

Hi, Friends! Boy, have I got a LOT to tell you about!

Last week, I officially started my student teaching! I am in a wonderful school district with an amazing teacher. It's about 30 minutes away but thankfully there are two other girls placed there so we have been carpooling together. Having someone else to talk to definitely makes that early morning drive a little brighter.

I will be in first grade there for the rest of the semester. The kids in my class have completely stolen my heart. Seriously, you guys. I. AM. IN. LOVE. Yesterday one of my little buddies said "I knew our student teacher was going to be pretty." I melted!

I have already started taking on some responsibilities. Today and yesterday, I taught science. We are learning about plants. I brought in a potted plant and placed it on the back table in the classroom. The children are able to look at it with a magnifying glass during periods of free time. Today, we took apart bean seeds and looked at the insides. I wish I had pictures, but I forgot my camera at home. Boo. After that, we had sunflower and pumpkin seeds for a snack. Much to my shock, the kids absolutely loved them!

Thank you for being so patient with me as I rearrange things and set up new sections on my blog. I hope you'll continue to come back as everything grows and changes! . I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!