These Are A Few of My Favorite Things...

Teaching Idea Factory is hosting her first linky party.  Hop over, check it out, and link up!  Who knows, maybe you'll find a few new favorite things!

I feel a bit like Julie Andrews now that I'm finally on summer break!  So...These are a few of my favorite things... 

Overhead Spinners

My overhead spinners.  Now I don't actually use them on an overhead, but they are essential for literacy and math stations.  You can read a bit more about how I use them here.

Sharpie Love!

What teacher doesn't love Sharpies and have a rainbow assortment in every possible tip size?  This year I actually let the kids use Sharpies (not mine, of course) on several art projects.  I loved the pop that the Sharpies gave their artwork and they were very responsible while using them.  Needless to say they have a very deep understanding of the word PERMANENT! 

MOBI Interactive Tablet

I love my MOBI Interactive Tablet and the kids do too!  Now if I only had an interactive board to go with it.  

I use it all the time during whole group instruction and the kids use it during literacy and math work stations.

Fisher Price Kid Tough Camera

Another favorite in our classroom. We use it regularly during our literacy and math stations.  When kids have an activity that is purely manipulative, they take a picture of their name tag next to their work.  It helps with accountability when necessary, and also give me a peek at how the are doing with stations when I'm too busy with small groups to check in.  We use it for so many projects too - shapes in the real world, small moments writing, poetry, and as a reward for our PBS system they can take it to recess.  It's truly kid tough. We have been using ours for the last 3 years and it still works like a charm! 

And of course, I don't know what I would do without all the fabulous inspiration from fellow bloggers and Pinterest!

What are the Rockin' Resources that you couldn't live without?  Head over to Teacher Idea Factory and link up and share your favs!

Jeannie over at Kindergarten Lifestyle is hosting a linky party so that K-2 bloggers everywhere can unite, or at least find one another.  There are so many fabulous new blogs out there that it's hard to keep up with them all. Jeannie will also be creating a Pinterest board with all of the blogs that link up too!  What are you waiting for, hop on over and check it out!

 Now, I'm off to visit the linky and find some new blogs to stalk:)

Fabulous Free Fonts

Fonts are like office supplies: you can never have too many.  There are a million (ok- a lot) of free fonts out there, unlike office supplies.

  

Mrs. Lyon at Teaching the Art of Possibility is having a

Here are a few of my go-to favorites that are kinder friendly.

http://www.kevinandamanda.com/fonts/freescrapbookfonts/rhino-dino/

http://www.dafont.com/lavender-lime.font

http://www.dafont.com/mtf-peach-cobbler.font

http://www.dafont.com/champagne-limousines.font

A fun font I used for our insect unit last year

http://www.dafont.com/a-bugs-life.font

and one from my oldest son's Harry Potter party last year

http://www.1001fonts.com/font_details.html?font_id=789

I loved themed fonts to go with our units and there are so many fun ones out there.

Link up with Mrs. Lyons and share your favorite free and fabulous fonts!

Fall Read Alouds - Linking up with Mrs. Parker

Mrs. Parker is hosting a Read Alouds for Fall Linky Party!

Here are some of the books I plan on using:

Starting School:

      
      

   


Character:


    

    

Content Related Back to School:

     

Fun:

    

It makes me want to go read a few good picture books!

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Exchange

OK, so there's nothing like jumping into the blogging world with both feet! I am linking this up with The Chicka Chicka Linky Party at

to share a fun idea that my class participated in last year!  

The wonderful teacher who coordinated it last year isn't able to this year.  So..... I'm hoping that my fellow bloggers (sounds so funny since I'm still fumbling my way through this process) will want to join in the fun!

Here's my bulletin board from last year.

     

A few close ups of the letters we received and notes from other classes.

R was definitely a favorite: rainbow, red roof, race cars on the road.

Very simple letter u, with upside-down umbrellas.

Notice the foam ear with the dangling earring on the letter e? This was one of our favorites! 

Letters (correspondence) from all of our Chicka Chicka Boom Boom friends!

And our map (Dollar Tree) that me marked our letter's originating locations on.

During our shared writing, we brainstormed a list of things that started with our letter D.  Then I started collecting those items. We used stickers, clipart I printed that the kids colored and cut out, and real items - a dime and a diamond (scrapbooking bling!).  I made letters cut on the die cut machine from school, and the kids glued one of each item on each of the letter sets.

We composed our note to send with our letters during shared writing, everyone signed it, and I made copies.

The kids stuffed the envelopes, put the mailing labels and return address labels on, and off to the post office I went.  There were some 1st grade classes that had students address the envelopes or write the notes to accompany the letters by hand!  They were really cool, but I thought it was a bit much for my class that early in the year.

It was a great experience for my kids, and the school secretaries even got into it.  They knew when the new letters came in the mail and visited our room frequently to see the evolution of the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Tree!

So, here's how the exchange will work:

1. Email me and let me know you want to participate.  Info I need from you: Your name, or class name, address of where letters should be mailed to, and an email address for the fall, if it's different than the one you use during the summer.
2. Each participant will decorate 25 uppercase and 25 lowercase letter ( plus one set to keep - or your alphabet won't be complete) of your assigned letter. You mail your completed letters by the first week in October.  You can send them earlier (which is fun because the letters trickle in instead of coming all at once) but I wouldn't send any before Labor Day because some don't start back to school until after Labor Day.
3. I will send participants an email with more detailed instructions and template to print address labels for mailing.

If you are up for some Chicka Chicka Boom Boom fun, email me.

Classroom Jobs - Linking Up with Mrs. Dillard

I'm linking up with Mrs. Dillard's Classroom Jobs Linky Party

I am reworking my classroom jobs, largely based on the some end of the year PD on oral language development and a book I am reading, Why We Teach:Learning, Laughter, Love, and the Power to Transform Lives by Linda Alston.  I also saw Linda Alston speak our district K-1 Conference in May.  She is amazing and I will have to devote an entire post to her work in the future.

Some of jobs are based on those in Alston's Logistics Team, and others are specific to my classroom.

1. Line Leader -  this is the simplest title, but quite possibly carries the greatest significance, with the emphasis on what it means to be a leader.
2. Door Attendant - pretty self explanatory, with the emphasis on respecting and serving others.
3. Postmaster -  responsible for distributing papers into student mailboxes and ensuring that everyone has collected all of their mail at the end of the day.
4. Conservationist - responsible for turning off lights, ensuring the faucet is not dripping, and that we are recycling within our classroom, with the emphasis on being good stewards or our resources (natural and material).
5. Botanist - responsible for watering the plants and rotating them so they can all get a bit of natural light.
6. Courier - pretty self explanatory.
7. Information Technology Specialist - responsible for turning on all computers in the morning and shutting them down at the end of the day.
8. Staging Manager - responsible for making sure the chairs are stacked, materials are returned, and we have an orderly environment to return to in the morning.
9. Support Personnel - one or two individuals who step in and fulfill the roles of absent students.

The remainder of my jobs are centered around my morning meeting and calendar routines.

1. Facilitator - leads our morning meeting and the transitions between the various calendar routines.
2. Historian - basic calendar routines - yesterday was..., today is..., tomorrow will be..., number of days in school, upcoming events
3. Meteorologist - basic weather routines that builds into an oral weather report with commentary.
4. Flag Attendant - hold the flag during The Pledge of Allegiance, with the emphasis on the proper handling of the flag.
5. Data Collector - attendance routines and graphing analysis during calendar routines.

My final job is Classroom Ambassador.  This job exists through the building.  Each classroom has four ambassadors, two boys and two girls, with one boy and girl being bilingual.  These students hold the position for a determined period, usually a quarter or semester.  These  students act as buddies to new students throughout the year, assisting them in the classroom and throughout the school.

I'm still have to create my management board, but it will likely consist of library pockets.  I would love to hear any thoughts or ideas you have!