Mystery Reader

No, you are not hallucinating......Two posts in two days!  I think that qualifies as "on a roll!"   Just a quick general announcement: I saw Courageous the other day.  Awesome movie!  You need to see it!  One of only a handful of movies I've ever seen where the entire theater gave it a standing ovation at the end. 

So...anywho.  Back to "business".  This year I started something new with my class called Mystery Reader.  I carefully select our Mystery Reader and send home a Top-Secret invitation along with a questionnaire.  Our first Mystery Reader was the grandfather of twins in my class.  The last one was our "custodial engineer".  So really, they never know what to expect.   I then use the questionnaire to come up with five clues.  I give them one clue each day leading up to Friday, and they carefully record each clue on their form.  Just before I introduce the reader, they are to record their final guess.  Then, I bring in our Mystery Reader, and he or she reads either a book they brought from home or one I have already chosen for them.  It has been so much fun!! Who will I choose next?..........dun dun dun......

Pizza Pages

So, yeah.....it's been a while, I know.  I've been super busy lately. In the classroom and out. What's up with that? 

But here in Room 165, we are hanging in there!  The beginning of school is always a huge review of foundational things they should already know. But now is the time when we take the next step, and I have to tell you, it usually scares the mess out of me.  I always find myself trying to compare my class to previous classes, but it never fails.  They are just different. What worked one year, just might not work at all the next.  And that's exactly what I'm going through. But it's all good. in the neighborhood. :)

PIZZA PAGES
I started doing a new thing I got from Teacher Tipster.  If you have never checked him out, do it.  He seriously cracks.me.up.  So, anyway, I got an empty unused pizza box from the nice folks at Pizza Hut.  I printed tons of extra worksheets and told my students that when they finish their work and are all !BORED!, they can complete a "pizza page" worksheet, slap a big P on the front of it with their highlighters, and place it in the pizza box.  At the end of the month, I will randomly pick a pizza page from the box, and if the worksheet is completed and correct, that person will receive something special.  (Not sure what yet....Maybe sitting with a friend at lunch, or switching desks with someone, or doing their whole day's work in a colored pencil. It's the simple things really....) Let me tell you guys (or more specifically--Laura, my one follower!), they are ALL.OVER.IT!  And I certainly have no complaints because they are actually doing more work...shhhh, don't tell them that.

Later, 
Melissa.

Out Of This World!!

Yesterday, I was delighted to try one of the activities I got from Babbling Abby.  You know my class theme is outer space, so this was perfect!  I introduced my class to Astronaut Ice Cream!  (So cool, right?)  I ordered it online, and it's actually really easy to find.  So when it finally came in, I just couldn't wait! 

We all tried a little, and I must admit that it was pretty good.  The texture freaked me out a little, but I got over it.  I ordered two pack for my class, so everyone got a small taste, and a few got seconds.

Then, I asked each child which they preferred: Regular Ice Cream or Astronaut Ice Cream. We graphed the results, and here are the results........

(Wow, sorry for the sideways view......what's up with that?)

.........It looks like Astronaut Ice Cream won with 9 votes, while Regular Ice Cream received 8 votes (including my own).  I mean, it was OK, but it sure doesn't beat the cold stuff.  :)

I then had the children complete a graph on their own paper to show the results.  We really had a blast with this!  Thanks, Abby...It was a big hit! :)

Desk Pockets and "I'm Finished! Notebook"

We all have those kids who are just done too dog-gone early.  I found this cute little tip from TeacherTipster.com.  (I love him, by the way!)  Each student now has a binder that they can work in when they are finished early.  I call it the "I'm Finished! Notebook".  The binder has page protectors with different worksheets in them that I can change out regularly.  My firsties use a dry erase marker to do the worksheets, and then wipe the boards clean with a colored sock that I bought at the Dollar Tree (buy 3 pairs for $1, so I only had to buy 3 sets for my class of 16).  I got the binders for .70 each (not bad!) at Walmart. 

Did I mention that they LOVE them?  They are just crazy about these things!  (And I am just crazy about the fact that they are doing WORK while having fun and not being bboorreedd.)



So, who doesn't love those chair pockets that you can order from reallygoodstuff.com?  I definitely liked the idea, BUT I soooooo didn't want to spend that kind of money on them.  YOWSAS!  So, I did some experimenting, and I found that you can use stretchy Jumbo Book Covers for chair pockets.  They are affordable AND adorable!  Ijust love how they brighten up the chairs!  And the kids just love them!  :)  Check it out....

They have really come in handy for storing the "I'm Finished! Notebook" and also for storing the dry erase boards I bought for each student at.......wait for it.......Dollar Tree!  (So glad I did that, by the way!)    I got my book covers at Walmart for $2.  I got blue, purple, orange, and red.  Make sure you get Jumbo if you try it.  The regular ones are just a little too small. 

Classroom Photos!

  
These are MY babies, Jacob (8) and Kellen (4) on the first day of school.  They were excited!  Kellen started K4 this year (WHOA!) and Jacob started 3rd grade (how did that happen?)

This is my bulletin board in the classroom!  Totally stole this from pinterest, but it was so perfect for my outer space theme! Love it!

 These are my homemade curtains with adorable astronauts and aliens and spaceships.  I love how colorful they are!  They are just perfect in my room!  I must confess though....I did NOT sew these.  I repeat, I did NOT sew these.  I am not that domestic.  I found this too cute fabric at the Hancock store; then I bought emergency hem repair tape and VOILA!  Curtains were born! 

This is my bulletin board outside of my classroom.  The stars have their names on them.  On the first day of school, I took a photo of each kid wearing my super cool astronaut hat, and now their pictures are beside their star.  It looks really cute!  The banner I got from Vista Print for $10.  Can't go wrong with that!

Stole this idea from pinterest, too.  Seeing a pattern here?   I am a total idea thief!  But, I'm OK with that.  :)  I just added a few flowers and an "out of this world" star and hung it right on the outside of my classroom door with a 3M hook.  Easy peasy. ;)

A very kind parent donated several computers to our school.  Up until then, we didn't have any computers available for the lower elementary students to use in class.  So, needless to say, I was super excited to snag one of them.  Yeah, it's a little old, but it works!  I am so excited to try some awesome computer activities out on my firsties! This is the computer space station. 

This is my mailbox area.  Each student has a mail box.  They turn in notes, homework sheets, and classwork here as well.  It also makes a great place to store extra penmanship paper and construction paper, as you can see from that messy bottom right corner. :)

 This is my desk area.  I picked up the blue bookshelf this summer at a used furniture store.  LOVE IT!  I soooo needed it.  And the two file cabinets were also donated.  JACKPOT!  I have so much more storage this year, and I am loving it!

This is the view of my class from the door. 

 Cubbies.  I picked up those red crates at WalMart for $1.  Yes, I did force myself to go there.  But, what a great deal, right?!  I only wish I had picked up 6 instead of 5.  What was I thinking?  That top row of cubbies is sooo bothering me without that last crate!  AAHH!!

This idea was totally blog-jacked from Cara Caroll.  I really loved her BRAVO wall where she displayed student work, and when I saw it last year, I thought...hmmm....I really don't display my firsties' work often enough.  So this year, I couldn't wait to get this wall going.  The crookedness is driving me nuts, but I'll have to fix it later.  I am excited about it though. 

Well, I hope you enjoyed my little tour.  Have a great middle-of-the-week!

It's that time of year again!

So guys, I am SO excited to finally get my very own blog.  Let me begin by telling you a little about myself.  I am a third year first grade teacher in good ole' eastern North Carolina.  I love it!  My husband and I have two adorable sons, Kellen who is 4 and starting K4 this year (say what!), and Jacob who is 8 and a big ole' third grader this year.  Seriously, where has the time gone? 

Our school started back last Monday, and I have been all kinds of crazy busy since then.  ......And I thought I was fully prepared! HA! I don't know if you ever truly are.  It's this time of year that I have to repeat overplayed quotes in my head (AKA "Patience is a virtue") and remind myself constantly that these kids are practically still kindergartners.  And then comes the question................Do I really have what it takes to train another set of kids?    But, slowly but surely, the answer starts to feel like yes, I think I do.  Seriously, I have an AWESOME group of kids AND parents ('cause we all know that makes a world of difference too). 

I will post some photos soon and some more info on what fun activities we have done so far (AKA what fun activities I totally blog-napped from these ridiculously awesome blogs I follow religiously.  *cough*first grade parade *cough* the inpired apple* cough*)  :)  Have a great middle of the week!!