Word Wall

Just before I took down my word wall last week I snapped some pictures of it thinking I might post about it and wouldn't ya know, Ms. M. is having a word wall linky party!

I'm lucky to have two huge magnetic white boards in my classroom. So I can use a whole board to display the high frequency words that go with our reading series (Harcourt Storytown). The first 20 days of school we use to review, so the red words are kindergaten words that my kids "should" know already. Then we have 5 reading books that we use throughout the year. I color coded the words so that the color changes each time we get a start a new book. The real reason I made the words different colors was so when little Timmy asks how to spell "what" I can say "That's on the word wall; it's a yellow word." By having multiple colors I can give hints if the kids are having trouble finding a word.
Also, I put magnetic tape on the backs so my kids can take words down and to their desks if needed (if they can reach it- sometimes I grab it for them). And I just organize them in one of those coupon envelopes that have dividers (it really takes 2 coupon envelopes to store all the words!).
So if anyone uses the Storytown reading series and wants to print these off I'm sure I have them saved somewhere on my computer. =)

Edit: I posted  link for all the words. Click here.

Melissa

End of the Year Gifts

I've been crafting a little bit lately and personalizing these sunglasses cases for some important helpers in my classroom. I got the cases at the Dollar Tree, probably my favorite store. And I used freezer paper stencils to paint the initials. Just print of whatever you want to stencil and if you aren't familiar with making freezer paper stencils here's a good tutorial. I LOVE freezer paper now that I've found out how easy it is to use. I even used it at school to let my kids make t-shirts for the 100th day. That's why their numbers look so neat=)

Four more days to go! I've got a lot of cleaning and organizing to do in those four days!!

Addition Review

It's that time of year to start reviewing. Here are two activities I made the other day that I plan to use this week to review doubles plus one and three addends. Click the images to download. I got the coloring pages from this site: http://coloringpagesforkids.info/spring-coloring-pages/

Students will need one die with numbers 7-12. I had to use stickers and make my own.

 Students will need three regular dice to give them three addends.

 And finally, I thought I'd share what my little ones made for their moms this year. They made red and yellow finger prints on the pots and then drew with a sharpie to turn them into bees and ladybugs. I think they turned out pretty cute! We put flowers in them before they took them home.

Classroom Management

Someone was posting about this last week and I meant to take pictures of what I use and link up, but I kept forgetting to take my camera to school. So I finally snapped some shots today.

I've always had my kids desks arranged in tables and I've always given out table points when tables are following directions or dispalying great behavior. On Fridays the table with the most points got treasure box. A few years ago I started using money instead of points. So now I just give out a penny to the table that does whatever I ask. I also give out coins to individual students anytime- could be while lining up, in the hallway, during reading stations, in the lunchroom, at an assembly, etc. Whenever we line up to travel I'll say "I'm bringing 2 pennies" and my kids know that I'll give them away to whoever is using their best manners. Once a table gets 5 pennies we trade up for a nickel and eventually they can trade for dimes and quarters if they get enough points. And sometimes I give out nickels, dimes, or quarters if I see something that really deserves it. Even individually earned money counts for the whole table though. So just because there's a big trouble maker at that table doesn't mean they'll never earn money.

I hot glued magnets on some play coins and I stick them high on the board so little ones can't mess with them. I only have 2 tables now (we used to have 4).

I keep the coins in this little divided container I found at the thrift store. It needs a cute label on the front. Anyone with cute fonts want to make me one?!

I love this because:
a) it's quick and easy to do- if we're out of the room the kids just stick the coin in their pocket until we return
b) it's teaching counting and trading coins
c) I only have to give away about 5 treasure box prizes per week
d) I can secretly rig it (by giving out a valuable coin) so a table can get treasure box if they haven't had it in a long time!

Freebies from Teachers Pay Teachers

I was so excited to open my email this morning and read the Teachers Pay Teachers weekly newsletter and find one of my items in the freebie download section! If you don't already get the newsletter you should sign up. It's sent every Sunday and always has great free products to download. Here's the link to their website and if you scroll down and look on the right-hand side bar you'll find the spot to sign up for the newsletters.

There's also a link in the newsletter to watch a video segment from Fox News about Deanna Jump and her amazing success selling lessons (click here to watch). It's so inspiring!

Oh, one more thing - Everything you purchase on TpT is 20% off on Tuesday in honor of Teacher Appreciation Day. Use the code: TAD11

Happy May Day!