Choosing Groups

I just love to find neat ideas to make my classroom work better. Trolling the boards today, I came across this neat little idea for choosing partners for group activities from a middle school teacher. It was one of those "why didn't I think of that idea"- so simple.  Click here for the cards and happy grouping!!

Differentiation

I popped over to a  Differentiated Kindergarten site yesterday and saw some great ideas to get me moving in the right direction to make sure I am reaching all the children in my class as I have many levels and it is a bit extreme.

I picked up a Pirate Differentiated Activity and a Subtraction Differentiated Activity at Differentiated Kindergarten. Click here for the links.




I made a number sort that is differentiated to 3 levels as well. If you are interested, please click on my store link here.

Check back next week to see what other freebies I find trolling these great blogs.

This is much harder to keep up with than I thought. This past week, I found two great writing activities on pinterest. One was fromhttp://first-grade-fever.blogspot.fr/2011/08/hippo-ray-for-1st-grade-writers.html The children loved sharing about their summer. I am very jealous, these kiddos are world travelers!!

The next writing activity is tied in with the bucket filler series. I started this two years ago, and I just think it is a fantastic ongoing activity for the classroom. I won't explain it here as many people are already in the know about it, and if not check out all the buzz at pinterest.   I use plastic buckets purchased from Oriental Trading Company and the buckets hang from a plastic shoe holder. I keep bucket filler paper by the buckets so the children can "fill a bucket"whenever they have free time. I hang all my bucket fillers that I receive on my wall by my desk and keep them always. They are treasures. Here is the link for the paper: http://teacherbitsandbobs.blogspot.fr/2011/09/bucket-fillers-activity.html

Well, here we are a new school year!! I love my new class of first graders! These first 1/2 days we focused mostly on classroom expectations and behaviors. While I don't have a classroom theme, I loved the "Rockin Behavior Clip Chart" from the Inspired Apple Blog:

http://theinspiredapple.blogspot.fr/

Here is a photo of the chart in my classroom.  The children already have said, Oh, I never want to be "singin the blues"!!                           

We also did two fun first day of school activity. One was a "Find a Friend"Activity. After much modeling, the children understand what to do and were going around the room asking their classmates the questions. I loved it!! Here is a link to my store for this activity:

www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Back-to-School-Activity-Find-a-Friend

We also did a bit of writing so I could see what they could do in terms of phonics, spelling, capital letters and full stops. I found this great writing activity. I apologize as I am not sure where it came from - I think LessonPlan Diva, but if anyone knows, please let me know so I can give credit to the correct person.

I have also discovered Dropbox. If you don't have this app, this is a must have!! All your storage in one place! No more "Where is my USB key?" Check it out at this link:

https://www.dropbox.com/

Summer Wrap-Up

Lucky for some of us we are still whittling away our last days of summer and preparing our classrooms for fall searching TPT and pinterest for great classroom ideas.

I am excited as I purchased an Ipad for my classroom and am busy searching ideas for what to do with one Ipad in your classroom. Below is a great link to some ideas



One Ipad In the Classroom