Daily 5 - Building Our Stamina & Getting To Know Me Bracelets

I'm so excited about how well my students are learning to build their stamina as they "Read to Self" during these first two weeks of school.  They've worked together to work up to 8 minutes of "Read to Self" time.  They were so proud of themselves!   While students began reading alphabet charts and sound charts to practice with, I gave the DRA test to each of them.  They were super thrilled to see actual books in their book bags this week after I put several in each of their bags according to their reading levels.   

Students get to choose where they'd like to read during "Read to Self" time.  Most choose to read underneath their desks for the first few times.  Some realize this isn't the most comfortable place to read for long amounts of time.  Eventually, they begin to spread out across the room and read, read, read!

 

 

The whisper phones always make "Read to Self" time more enjoyable. 

 

 

 

Another fun activity we did this week was our "Get to Know Me Bracelets".  This activity is something fun to do at the beginning of the year when students are learning each other's names.  It gets them out of their seats and talking to all their new friends.  They all loved their new bracelets!

 

Some assembly required, but these bracelets were a lot of fun to make.  Everyone pitched in to help assemble them and tie them together.

 

 

This friend chose to make his bracelet an armband. Adorable!

Making new friends is a lot of fun!

Look! I have the bead you're looking for!

Find a friend who likes dogs.  Students looked for friends with the blue speckled bead and wrote their name on their recording sheet.

How do you spell your name? Students problem-solved to figure out where they could find each student's name.  To make it challenging, they could only write a friend's name once on their page.  They had to find a different friend to fit each category each time.

They worked so well together...just like friends should!

 

Happy Teaching!

 

AR Goal Trackers at Manic Monday Classroom Freebies

Thanks for stopping by today! I'm offering you a set of my Accelerated Reader Student Goal Trackers for six and nine week terms.  These accompany my AR Mini Clip-Chart and Goal Packs on sale in my TpT store.  They are a great way to motivate students and hold them accountable for their AR reading goals each grading term.  I also custom-make AR Mini Clip-Charts to fit your classroom theme and needs!  Just message me or leave a comment if you're interested.

 

 

These are student-friendly sheets and take just seconds to complete.  They fit easily into student AR folders or binders.  Have students color the stars to set their goals.  After the term ends, students can go back and put the actual number of books they read on their goal sheet, too!  What a great way to motivate them to keep reaching for the stars and read, read, read!

 

 

 

 

Here is the link to get your copy from my Google Docs.  Unfortunately Blogger was not allowing me to link any of the photos above today! 

 

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B0LAmZA0mladb2V1QWQyV0otaDA/edit?usp=sharing

 

I hope you enjoy using these AR Goal Trackers with your students this year! Thanks for taking time to download them.

 

Happy Teaching!

 

Feeling "Ducky" this Week & a Giveaway!

  I was so tickled to purchase my new Melonheadz clipart this weekend during the big Back-to-School sale!  I'm enjoying making lots of adorable things with it like these cuties:  

 

These come in two different styles: quizzes passed and by points. I even custom make these for you in any increment you need!  Just message me or comment below to get your's!

 

   These mini clip-charts also come with a goal recording sheet for students to use to set their own goals each nine weeks.  I've also added a goal sheet in my store for six week terms as well!    

    Check out this Duck Dynasty-themed PK-1 letter sequencing game! It's a fun way for young learners to learn their ABC's!  

    I'm sure I'll be making more fun games and decorations soon! This is my first week back to school (with kiddos) and this girl is T-I-R-E-D!!   But of course I can't just leave you hanging! I would love to give one "Lucky Duck" (ha!) a free Happy, Happy, Happy Letter Sequencing Game to use in your classroom this year!   Enter below and good luck! a Rafflecopter giveaway
 

Manic Monday at Classroom Freebies

Today I'm linking up again with Classroom Freebies to offer you one of my Word Wall Games for FREE! This is a game for beginning readers who are still recognizing letters in words as well as initial and ending letters in words.  It's great for beginning readers.

 

 

 

  Thank you for stopping by today! Be sure to check out my TpT store for other word wall games and word wall packs!      

TpT Back-to-School Super Sale! August 18-19!

It's finally here!   The Teachers Pay Teachers HUGE Back-to-School Sale!    August 18-19 - with up to 28% off all items.    Use the promo code: BTS13.  

  Now is your chance to stock up on my Reading Street Rattle, Roll, & Read Games!  They are most wishlisted items!  

 

Or grab all of Chapter 1 in this bundle!

 

   Or maybe you've been eyeing those cute AR Mini Clip-Charts?  

 

  Are you needing to spruce up your Word Wall?  

Plus over 40 more items available for your classroom this year!  Stock up your wishlist and be ready to shop this Sunday and Monday!     

Yee-Haw! School's About to Start!

 

 

Well, here is my room for this year! I love using a western theme, and the addition of my Word Corral has really made the room complete!

 

 

My sweet hubby spend a few hours this past Saturday putting this up for me.  It's going to be a great resource for my kids this year!

 

 

Write 'Em Cowboy is a board we use to display student writing.  It's also located near two of our netbook computers and a great place to organize log in information and headphones!

 

The covered wagon is the focal point of the room.  It houses our small group activities and inside recess toys and games.  It's another vision I had that my hubby built for me!

 

Our listening center is located in this red bookcase.  Books with CD's are also available for the students to use during our Listen to Reading time.  They love the cowboy seats, too! I love the storage :)  The saddle bag is something I plan to use this year to help me get students interested and excited about our lessons. It's a great inferencing activity.  I got this idea from Abby at The Inspired Apple.  She uses a mystery box, but for my room, it's a saddle bag! Cute, huh?

 

Chow Time!  Our students get to choose a lunch tray or lunch from home.  Each is assigned a number and move it to the correct spot according to what they're having each day.  Those left in the middle are my absent students (or the ones who forgot to move their number)!  It's a quick and easy way to get a lunch count done each day.  I used my Western Number Cards with magnets for this display.

 

My Behavior Clip Chart is something I created last summer to use for my students.  I like the option to move back up if student behavior improves throughout the day.  Instead of clothespins, I began using magnets numbered for each student.  Students move their magnets down the chart (or back up) according to their day.  I record their daily behavior in their notebooks with a gold star for Yee-Haw behavior, Horsin' Around for 3 warnings, Cluck, Cluck, Ack for Parent Contact, and Boo-Hoo Moo! for a trip to the office or severe misbehavior.  Hold on to Your Gold means they get a chance to redeem their behavior and get the gold star at the end of the day.

 

Our AR (Accelerated Reader) Round-Up board highlights students' AR progress in our classroom.  This year, the addition of my AR Mini Clip-Chart will allow students to clip their names to the chart for the quizzes they pass (we don't count points).  Right now my chart records up to 100 points, but I'm sure I'll be adding more cards!  My kids LOVE to read!

 

I use a scheduling chart to display our daily schedule.  Its a good visual for the students (and me) -- ha!

 

Here's another display I have to reference numbers and ten frames.  It's colorful, and I like displaying them on the polka dot ribbon.

 

I'm super excited to have this little helper!  I got my SMART Document Camera installed today!  We are going to do so much with it this year! 

 

Here are my book bags.  Each student has one to store their classroom books.  It's a great way to keep them organized for Read to Self and Read to Someone Daily 5 rotations.  I include an alphabet chart, whisper phone, bookmark, and sound chart.  As the year progresses, parents donate money to our Buckaroo Book Club, and each student receives a book from Scholastic each month.  Those books are also stored here for them to read.  My Western Number Cards came in handy here, too!

 

 

Here is my new calendar display with my Western Calendar Pack.  My student helper of the day is in charge of updating the calendar each day and guiding the class in reading the date and singing the Months of the Year song, Days of the Week song, and asking questions about yesterday, today, and tomorrow.  Those are printed on cards for the students to choose each day. 

 

My cubbies are labeled with my Western Labeling Cards.  Since my cubbies are in a set of 20, some of my students share, but it always works out fine.  Students store their glue, scissors, ear buds for computers, rulers, and extra supplies here.  Everything has a name on it so it all gets put away in the correct bucket.

 

I also have extra scissors and pencils in my red and blue buckets for students to use.

 

Here are my Ranch Hand Helper Name Cards ready to hang each day.  Everyone has a card, and I hang them to show who my helpers are each day.

 

And last, here's a shot of my CAFE board and calendar together.  This area is also my small group area with all our resources located underneath the board.  I hang my take-home book bags here as well for students to check out and take home once school starts.  They are full of activities for families to complete together along with several books to read together.  I also include a journal for writing and reflecting.

 

Thanks for visiting my classroom!  All that's left to do is add 25 beautiful faces and a lot of fun memories this school year!