Easy and Fun Review!

Happy Sunday everyone! It has been so long since I have posted! I am happy to get back into the swing of things on here. I have spent the day working on my TPT store and planning for next week and am in the mood to post a great idea for end of the year review. 

In New York state we have about 3 weeks left of school. That means it's crunch time for us! My first graders have 2 more math units to get through and we are taking our test on the first one this Friday. Today I am going to share how we prepare for these tests.

2 days before the test I whip out my secret weapon! WRITING ON THE DESKS! I know I'm breaking the rules - but... the kids LOVE it! They are only allowed to use the dry erase markers on their desk when we review as a whole group, and we typically only use this method for math review. Doing it this way keeps it fresh and interesting. To this day I have yet to have one of my kiddos draw with dry erase markers on their desks outside of this designated time. 

I'd like to say that I came up with this idea on my own.. but I did not. I saw a post by The Tattooed Teacher explaining how she uses it and I decided to try it out. I was hesitant at first but do not regret doing it! You have to check out her post here. You can check out her blog by clicking on the button below.

Now, the first time we did this I set very strict ground rules. I have made a poster that outlines them that you can download for free! Just click on the picture below :) 

Here's a few pictures of what it looks like during our math review. I will say that blue and red do not erase as well. You might need to wipe down the desks with a wet wipe after. For me that's okay because our desks need a good cleaning and disinfecting each week!

To make it more fun I will go around after each question and give my students a star or a smiley face, they can give themselves points for each question they get right. They love to keep track, it really motivates them!

30 Minute ELA Centers!

Hi everyone! I wanted to give a little look into some 30 minute ELA centers that I use from time to time. I tutor a class of 20 first graders after school Monday-Thursday. We only have one hour together so I have to improvise if I want to use centers. I do have the luxury of having 2 wonderful aids in my classroom during that time who are both GREAT with all of the students. That being said, these centers could also be implemented on your own. 

We have been working on acrostic poems for the past 2 days. Here's our anchor chart we made together! Everyone loved writing about cake - YUM!

We started writing them with our first names but I noticed the students were really struggling coming up with describing words and completing them independently. That meant today was center day. This way I could meet in small groups with all my lovelies and really solidify their understanding.

Introducing 30 minute centers! I set up three groups and each center goes for 10 minutes. I usually give myself about 35 minutes to get all the groups done so we have some wiggle room and time for transitions. Here's what the introduction looks like.

I go over each center and explain then I assign students numbers. What ever number they get is the center they start with. They learn quickly that they must listen and remember their number or they will end up lost! Great way to reinforce those listening skills :) If my kids don't know their number I have them ask the two people next to them what their numbers were to find out theirs.

Typically two of the centers are independent centers and one is with me to work on those skills that need refining - today's case was our poems. 

Here's an example of an independent center.

Here's the center my aid did with them but could also be independently. They were brainstorming adjectives to help out with their poem writing. (They were getting stuck here yesterday). Now I have this beautiful anchor chart that everyone added to!!!

And by the end of centers everyone had gotten a really solid start on their poems and left feeling much more confident. Check out this one. I love the line, Oh, Miss M. :)

Hope this helped any of you strapped for time but still want to implement centers! 

YOU CAN DO IT! 

Good luck!

Autism Awareness with Teacher's Lounge

Hi everyone! Today I wanted to take a minute to share something with you that has made me super excited. Melanie from Teacher's Lounge reached out to me a few weeks back and asked me if I had any products that I would like to donate to some bundles she is creating to sell on TPT for autism awareness. All of the proceeds will go to help support autism education, awareness, advocacy, research, and families living with autism. 

I was so excited to get to be part of this wonderful cause so of course I told Melanie yes! I just sent over my product today. Check it out below.

If you would like to donate a product please check out her blog post here.

The bundles should be up by April 1st and the event will run to the 30th on her Teachers Pay Teachers store!

Until then you can check out the product I have chosen to donate at my TPT store here.

March Pinterest Pick 3

So I have decided to share this month's top 3 Pinterest picks through this wonderful link set up by Inspired Owl's Corner and PAWSitively Teaching.

First up is a classroom management tool. I really enjoyed reading Ship Shape First Grade's post on how she felt about the behaviors in her classroom here. That post led me to look for her freebie - Stop and Think. I think it's an amazing idea! You can get it at her blog post here.

I'm not sure this even needs an explanation so here's a picture of Surviving a Teacher's Salary's brilliant idea! 

I love Mum in the Madhouse's clocks made from paper plates. I especially like that you can flip the numbers up to see the minutes! A great hands on activity I will be using next month! Check out her how to here.

Check out my Pinterest profile if you would like to follow me!

Visit Nicole's profile on Pinterest.

Five for Frunday - Teacher Clothes Edition

I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching a few days late but I wanted to share some great outfit ideas with all of you!

A little different than my usual FFF posts but here we go. If you like the outfits check out my Tumblr blog - Teacher Clothes - OH MY here!

Here's Monday's outfit! I usually pick out my outfits for the entire week at some point on Sunday. It saves me so much time to do it that way! I hang them all up on a hook inside my closet door. The night of I transfer the next day's outfit to a hook behind my bedroom door. Before I go to bed I lay everything else out that I will need (coat, shoes, socks, and even my underwear!). When I wake up there's no need to think :) That means I get the most sleep possible so I am ready for my kiddos!

Enjoy the last few hours of your weekend!

Have a wonderful week!

Enjoy the last few hours of the weekend! Have a wonderful week!

March Currently

So you don't think I fell off the face of the earth here is my March Currently. I hate excuses. I hate hearing them from my students, family members, and most of all I hate coming up with excuses for myself. So here is an explanation - not an excuse of why I haven't been around for the past few weeks. So the first week of March I was in a car accident - not bad but I have been having some pain related to it that has stopped me from keeping up on my blog! So there it is. I am starting physical therapy later this week so I am making myself catch up and stay updated on my blog and TPT!

Today I am linking up with Farley from Oh Boy 4th Grade for her March Currently.

Listening - When I get home from school I always throw on ABC Family - I'm not sure what it is but it just seems so relaxing to me.

Loving - Check out a few of the products I have recently posted - More posts on them to come!

Thinking - See my rant above :)

Wanting - A KEEP CUP! I have become obsessed with these even though I don't own one yet. I am thinking of ordering one on amazon here. I fell in love after seeing Jen from Organized Jen post about it on Instagram.

Needing - I need to purge tons of material things - Maybe a project for spring break. I have WAAAYYYY too many clothes!

Spring Break Plans - The puppy is staying home with me over the break. Here's an updated picture!

Five For Fraturday!

I'm back on time this week!... Nope not really, Today is Saturday morning, the puppy stopped me this time! I feel like I'm finally back on my schedule and it makes me feel so much better. Here we go! I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching just a day late! 

I was super excited to see that Alex & Ani followed my Tumblr blog - Teacher Clothes OH MY! It made my day when I saw it in my e-mail earlier this week. I had posted a few looks that I had included links to their brackets and they must have found me. Another small milestone that I am overly excited about :)

Check out my Tumblr here!

Today I was with some lovely Kindergarteners and we worked on a writing prompt on TV Shows. Let me tell you, I have never seen a group of children so engaged, excited, and writing such detailed and descriptive pieces at such a young age! I am thinking about creating a whole TV show unit for writing now! What do you think?

Oh the dog, the dog, the dog... We are making progress, slow progress, but progress! Finally he is sleeping through the night. Realistically one week for that to happen is super quick and we are so proud of him. He's getting bigger so quickly too! Here's a new photo!

I created this new product to help keep track of behaviors in the classroom. I first saw this idea utilized in my host teacher's classroom while I was student teaching. I loved it.

Here's why. Instead of having weekly log which gets overbearing if you save all of them the monthly logs makes it easy to have a glance of a child's behavior patterns. This makes it easy for me when it comes time for report cards, or IEP meetings, or creating behavior plans. There are so many uses of this one product. The parents also love it because it is so easy to see how their child is doing. I also added a communication log on the back of the calendar in case I needed to talk to the parents or they need to talk to me. 

You can pick it up at my TPT Store here.

Hooky on Thursday. Do any of you enjoy deciding to take a day off for something special? This Thursday I decided to take a day off to spend time with my Aunt and Grandmother. We ended up going with her so she could get a new do. Here's a selfie we took.. Isn't she too cute?!