Show Me The Money.....

In the great state of Alabama, we are out of money for schools and classrooms. No instructional money has darkened my door since....I cannot tell you when. Fortunately, I have an awesome school where the PTA and the parents get involved and we do not lack for much. Not all of my teacher friends are so lucky. Times are tough all over, I know. We have tons of copy paper at Rock Quarry but are now limited in copies. Across town, they have NO copy limits, but they also have NO paper. Insane!

A few years ago I wrote a grant from http://www.donorschoose.org/ for a classroom set of Leapster HandHeld Games and software and had the grant fully funded in a matter of weeks by a complete stranger. It was quick, easy and fun. In fact, I might need to write a few more of these and get some more fun things coming through the doors of #221. Teachers get bored with the same-old, same-old, too!

My husband buys my copy paper and printer cartridges through the company that he owns when I run out.

How do you get the stuff you need for your classroom? Alicia

Reading Street Centers

One of the emails from one of my online learning communities just asked a question about managing centers. I thought it might be something that others would be interested in. I love seeing/hearing how everyone works things in their classrooms. This is the way we do it!

We use the flip charts provided by Reading Street (RS) (except technology because we substitute activities on our promethean boards for this center) and we ADD to them. Our reading block is 90 min +. The center charts are a great start, but they take 3 minutes to complete. (I believe that each is listed as 15 minutes, but that is a stretch)Silly to think that it would be enough, but I like it cause it allows me the flexibility to add my own center stuff, things we’ve purchased from Lakeshore, etc…. Here’s how we do it:

We have the crayon pocket chart with red/blue/green/yellow crayons. We have the children divided into mixed ability groups and their names (on a piece of sentence strip) are at the bottom of the chart. One student in each slot on the crayon. We have 18 children so it’s 4-5 names on each crayon. Then at the top of the crayon we put the titles of the centers. For instance the blue crayon might have these centers at the top: Word work (use the flip chart), worksheet (usually one from RS that reinforces the skill taught at word work), then there will be an independent activity (book boxes/read to self) and then something else, like Stamp a Word (where they use letter stamps to stamp and write spelling words).

The other 3 crayons will also have 4-5 centers listed. We try to make it a combo of active learning (where they manipulate or move around or interact) to balance out passive learning (where the sit and take in information) i.e. a listening center.

At the end of the day, you move the center ACTIVITIES to the next crayon (the children stay in the same place) taking the end crayon’s activities and moving it to the first crayon and bumping everything else down one. The students ONLY go to the centers listed on their crayon for that day….Make sense?

Because the children are in mixed ability groups, when you call the blue star readers (all of my groups different are colored stars) there are still some yellows(on level people) to help the greens (below level).

We look at the skills listed on the center flip charts and then we match what we already have. For instance, this week we are doing Where Are All My Animal Friends Unit 3, Story 6. For writing this week (center flip chart) says to write about some ways animals take care of themselves in the winter. I paired this with a non-fiction listening set about baby animals because it covers some of the information they will need to have to write effectively. Then they are doing 2 other activities…..and for the life of me I cannot think of what they are right now….. but you get the point.

Another important thing to know is that there will be 4 crayons x 4-5 centers going on….but not all of the centers are in use at the same times. You will not have pandemonium, going on. It is very controlled and calm. I promise. With the above mentioned 4-5 centers described for listening, only listening will be going on at one time. After they finish listening, they will break apart and move to wherever they want to go to complete the other activities (if it is a worksheet, etc).

We also only do center rotations 4 days per week because specials and unexpected things take up one day. If there is a week where we get it all done by Thursday, then the children who have completed all of their work have some free choice centers on Friday. And of course, Friday is our assessment day. We’ve been doing it this way for years. We’ve only had RS for 3 years, but when we got it we just incorporated the center flip charts and moved on. I hope this helps give you a sense of how we do things. It works for us. How do you do centers in your classroom? Alicia

Happy New Year!

We had a fun time learning about New Year's Resolutions. I told the children that it was like making a promise to yourself about something you wanted to do better. I encourage them to try and think of something no one else is going to say. That way, I don't get a lot of repeats of "I want to play with my brother/sister/dog/friends." I think my favorite one was from Marlee...."My resolution is...I want to do more cartwheels!" Yes indeed! More cartwheels! Isn't that what childhood is all about?!

So, we made our paper people, very TLC Art style, and added a party hat (triangle flashcard...who knew they had such things) with an Ellison cut star on top and 4-5 itty-bitty stars glued on for effect. The teacher supply store was out of pre-cut party hats so I had to make do. Hot glue a party blower to the mouth and they turned out quite festive. I like the way they look on the black paper.

In first grade, we have a New Year's celebration on the first Friday we are back at school in the new year. Everyone makes a party hat (stapled to a sentence strip. We give each child a party blower, one baggie each of 12 washed, seedless grapes, a pile of confetti, and a long strip of bubble wrap (we have people save this for us all throughout the year). We explain all about the tradition of eating one grape for each month of the year and making a wish for that month. Many Spanish-speaking countries do this and at our school, we've decided to do this instead of toasting with sparkling grape juice. We decided to not portray anything that resembled drinking....just in case! We make our wishes. Count down the last minutes, and let them toss confetti, blow their blowers and twist the bubble wrap! Sounds like fireworks going off! The children love it! The adults love it for about 2 minutes....then the headaches set in! (which is why it happens on a Friday afternoon!) So much fun! I think the best part is that all 5 first grade teachers work together for this little bit of fun! I have a great team. We plan together each summer so we know when our special events are and each person works to lighten the load. Many hands make light work! I'll do a post soon on our awesome day of planning.

What do you do to celebrate the new year? Alicia

After Christmas Sales

I love after Christmas sales and thankfully, I was able to find a few of my staple items for gifts and projects. I was able to get small white plastic glittery ornaments for snowman heads, large blue ornaments for handprint snowmen ornaments, Jumbo Christmas coloring books for part of the children's Christmas gifts, stockings for "Santa for a Day", boxes of bells for the Polar Express Day, and gift bags....all for 50-75% off! I have a big, clear storage box with locking lid in the garage and I just toss it all inside, lock the lid and I am ready for another season! Now, If I could just find 7 more pair of black, stretchy gloves, I'd be set.

For each child's gift, I usually give them a gift bag with handles and inside I include a coloring book, stretchy gloves (that they can leave at school or take home), a chapter book (since I teach first grade I usually include a Junie B. Jones book) and a box of new crayons (Crayons must be purchased in August and stored indoors, not in the garage! until needed). Total cost for each gift, including the gift bag breaks down as follows:

Gift bag .33
1 pair of Gloves .50
1 box of Crayola Crayons .25
Chapter book FREE (I use bonus points and purchase them when the book I want to give is $1.00 or less)
Jumbo Coloring Book .50
Total = less than $1.75 per child

What do you do for Christmas gifts? Alicia

Idea Notebook

Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Idea Notebook

I love to gather new ideas from blogs, observing in other teacher's classrooms, in books and magazines....the only problem? How to store it all? How to keep all of those ideas organized in your head? Each January (which is when I start planning for a new school year) I get a new, fun notebook. I try to get something small enough to carry around, but big enough to write in. Usually, this ends up being a
5x7ish size. I get one that is cute and easily recognizable so if I put it down somewhere, I'll be able to find it quickly. Then, I take a small post-it note pad and tab some pages into sections for each month we are in school.

When I spy a cute idea, I just turn to the tab for the month in which I'd use the idea and jot it down. Sometimes, I include a sketch or other information to make the idea clear, and then I always include the website where the idea was found.

I use my notebook in planning for the month. That way, I am always on top of the cute and wonderful ideas I find on the web. This year's notebook is a Dr. Seuss one, found at TJ Maxx for $5.99. It's only the 4th day of January but I am already filling it up! How do you organize your "found" ideas? Alicia

Classroom Tour 2010-2011

I teach first grade in a great school in Tuscaloosa. These photos were from the beginning of the school year in August, 2010. (I have no idea why the date on the photos is wrong...and why I did not notice it before now...oh well!) I hope you enjoy the tour!

I have 18 students in this class, with seating for 3 more without having to rearrange the room. You may also notice that there is no teacher desk. I have no room! I have not had a teacher desk in 12+ years. I do have a small 3 drawer cabinet behind the yellow horseshoe table (where I teach reading). My teacher computer is also located behind this table on a small corner cart. The room is not large, but we utilize all of the space and we do have a private restroom (all of our classrooms grades K-2 have their own). The restroom is located behind the wooden door with the stars word list.

A new year...a new blog.....

I have been inspired by all of the great blogs (that I've been stalking), where teachers share their neat ideas. I have a personal blog and I also post to edublogs to keep the parents of the munchkins in my classroom updated....but neither of those sites is a place where I can share cool teacher-nerd information. So, I decided to create a blog just for that purpose. I hope you can get some ideas here. I love to share and since I am a visual learner, I'll be posting lots to photos, too!

The title of my blog came from a cute, witty parent that I have this year. In her emails, she usually addresses me as the Playdoh Princess. Probably because I made a remark about being able to buy all the Playdoh I wanted without judgement from the public.

Since tomorrow is my first day back at work after the Christmas holidays, I'd better get to bed. I have a ton of stuff to share! Up first (tomorrow) will be a classroom photo tour...I just love sneaking a peek into other teacher's classrooms....don't you? Check back tomorrow! Alicia