Giveaway Winner!

Thank you to everyone who participated in my first giveaway!

--Mrs. Pollard

Hip-Hip-Hooray... Claps & Cheers!

Last weekend I blogged about the awesome videos that The Apple Basket Teacher posted on her blog.  I quickly typed up some task cards with directions to the cheers so that I don't forget to use them in my classroom.  I plan to print them out on colored paper, laminate, and hang on a metal ring.

Click {Here} to Download

Thank you to Nancy at The Apple Basket Teacher for allowing me to share this with you!

--Mrs. Pollard

Don't Miss It!

Hey y'all!  I just wanted to remind you that my 100 follower giveaway will end tomorrow night!  I am giving away one of Anna Brantley's TPT items, mini polka dot file folders, and the book "I'm Your Bus".  The winner will be announced on Sunday!

Click {Here} to Enter

--Mrs. Pollard

Woohoo... 100 follower giveaway!

I am so excited and thankful that my blog experience has been so successful!  I love creating, posting, and sharing with you all.  To celebrate my first 100 followers I am hosting my very first giveaway!  :)

Here's what my giveaway will include:
1.  Anna Brantley at Crazy for First Grade is letting me giveaway an item from her TPT store... winner's choice!  Have you seen her stuff?!  It is awesome!  I have her Fun in the Sun Math & Literacy Stations and her Pirate Math & Literacy Stations.  Love her!





2.  My giveaway will also include the cutest little polka dot file folders!  I really mean little... they're 4x6!  I just had to have them.  They are the perfect size for index cards.

3.  And finally, my giveaway will include a new book that I have discovered titled "I'm Your Bus" by Marilyn Singer.  We just had a book fair at our school and I saw this book.  I bought a copy and read it to my class.  They loved it!  I will definitely include it in my back to school lesson plans in the fall.... and maybe you will too!

You have 5 chances to win....
1. Follow my blog.
2. Show that you follow my blog on your blog's sidebar.
3. Leave a comment telling me how you would use the miniature file folders in your classroom.
4. Follow Anna's blog at Crazy for First Grade.
5. Follow Anna's TPT store.

Be sure to LEAVE A COMMENT FOR EACH ENTRY.  The giveaway will end at midnight on Saturday.  The winner will be announced on Sunday!  Thank you to Anna for helping out with my first-ever giveaway!!

Thanks again for supporting my blog!

--Mrs. Pollard

Giveaway Tonight....

Tonight I will post my 100 follower giveaway!  Thanks for following me.  :)

Scrambled Animal Sentences

I made this station to go along with the zoo unit I'm doing right now.  With this station they're getting practice with building a good sentence and learning animal facts at the same time!

Click {Here} to Download



--Mrs. Pollard

Class Cheers & Claps

You have got to check out The Apple Basket Teacher.  She has video samples of a ton of different class cheers and claps!  I'm a little too close to summer now, but I see introducing a couple new cheers each week in the fall.  These are wonderful!  You definitely need to check them out!

 

--Mrs. Pollard



Happy Birthday to You!

Yesterday I had two birthdays in my classroom!  I have so many birthdays in May that I ran out of little birthday squares for our classroom calendar!

I thought I'd share what I do for each student's birthday.  I made a couple of birthday buttons that they get to wear at school.  They also get a birthday pencil and birthday bookmark.  Then, the kids get to choose a birthday book for me to read to the class... they love this!

It's very simple and inexpensive, but it makes the kids feel special.

*Do your students obsess over your birthday?  I never bring up my birthday, but the kids start asking about it and never forget it.  This year we were on Spring Break on my birthday so I was showered with birthday wishes and creations the day we returned from break!  They're so sweet!

--Mrs. Pollard



What do you do?

I'm thinking ahead to next year, of course, and what I want to change or keep the same.  I am wondering... how do you collect your student's finished work?  I'd love to hear your thoughts and ideas!

--Mrs. Pollard

Hands-On Number Line

I know the school year is winding down and we've all got our minds on summer, but I wanted to share something I made this year to help my students with adding and subtracting.

It's so simple!  Go to the paint department at any store and ask for a class set of their FREE paint sticks.  (I got mine at Walmart and they don't have any printing/advertising on them.)  Then, get a roll of sticky number line from the Dollar Tree.  Cut the number line after the 20 and stick it onto the paint stick.  Last, get some clothes pins (I got mine for $1 at Dollar General) and you've got a class set of hands-on number lines!

To Use:  Put the clip on the starting number and then make it 'hop' forward or backward depending on addition or subtraction.

P.S.  I have 15 days left until summer!  :)

--Mrs. Pollard

Memory Book

Here is the end of year memory book I plan to use with my kids this year.  I hope you can use it!  :)

*I can't get the image to work tonight... the border isn't showing up.  I'll keep trying, but you can still download it and the border shows up on the PDF.*

Click {Here} to Download

--Mrs. Pollard

I'm so excited...

...to have 80 followers!  The blogging world has been such a wonderful resource since I discovered it a few months ago.  I have found endless new ideas to use in my classroom and my kids have loved every bit of it.  It's so awesome to be able to share my ideas with other teachers out there!  Thanks for following!!  I'm thinking a 100 follower give away will be in order.....

--Mrs. Pollard

Goodbye Insects, Hello Animals

Well, we just finished our 2 week insect unit.  Let me just say that I have 23 little entomologists on my hands!  They soaked up every crazy insect detail I threw at them!  How is it that some of them can't remember the simple everyday stuff, but they can recite, explain, and read words like entomologist, thorax, and oviparous?!  I just love how their minds work at this age!

I used Deanna Jump's insect unit from TPT for almost our whole unit.  It was amazing!  We started by reading "Busy Buzzy Bee" from our reading book.  We learned about bees and beekeepers and even tasted honey!  We built bugs with candy and shape blocks, wrote a book about various insects, and rounded up buggy rhymes.  By the end of the two week unit the kids were able to read an insect book and make a poster to share with the class.

Here are some pictures from our insect adventures...

Now, we'll be moving onto a 3 week study of animals and their habitats.  I'll be using the map of our state zoo as a way to move from animal to animal.  Along the way, we'll stop at the consession stand to get some 'popcorn adjectives'!  Among other resources, I'll be using Deanna Jump's zoo unit and Babbling Abby's Popcorn Adjective lesson pack.

--Mrs. Pollard

I'm glad I'm not the only one....

....to be thinking about next fall!  I just can't help myself.  Every year at this time I start thinking about what I want to change in my room or how I want to do folders, etc.  I was so happy to find this Linky Party hosted by Time 4 Kindergarten.

1.  Keep a list of all the ideas swimming around in my head.  I have new ideas for my name tags, homework, take-home folders, etc. and I don't want to forget so I start jotting down any thoughts that I have so I can iron them out over the summer.  (Note:  Try to keep all of your list writing in the same notebook... scattered thoughts in lots of different places aren't helpful!  Speaking from experience here, of course!)

2.  Go ahead and copy your student information cards/sheets.  Last year, I copied them on bright card stock, cut them out, and put them on a ring so they were ready to go for Open House night.  This year I am thinking I may switch to a full page and keep them in a cute binder.  Hmmm.....

3.  Pictures, pictures, pictures!  If I like something in my room this year I take a picture of it so I'll remember to do it again in the fall.  This could be how something is set-up in the room or a poster I made with the class.

4.  Clean everything!  The worst thing is to come back to a room that has been collecting dust for two months and there be sticky glue marks and who knows what else on the tables, chairs, and counters.  Have the kids help to clean up this year's mess so you can start fresh in the fall.

5.  Weed out the extra stuff.  I think teachers are collectors of all things!  I recently opened a cupboard in my classroom and realized I had stuff I'd never even seen before.  I'm going to be doing a serious gutting of cupboards and cabinets in my room.

6.  I load up my master binders and  personal resource books to take home for the summer.  I hate to recreate something I already have when I'm planning ahead!

7.  I'm sure there are many more things I could add to list, but here's the most important... take the time to reflect back on the amazing year you've had with this group of firsties.  Think about how far you've come together through the months.  Next year, they'll be all grown up and off to second grade and you'll have a new group of babies.

Happy End of the School Year!  Don't forget to link up to the Linky Party hosted by Time 4 Kindergarten to share what you do to get ready for next year.

--Mrs. Pollard

Dollar Spot Find!

Wow, what a busy first week back from Spring Break!  I can't believe I haven't posted anything for over a week!!

So, I was out and about this morning and went to a Target in a different town.  I told myself I was going in, getting what I was there for, and then leaving... but then something caught my eye in the Dollar Spot!  I found popcorn containers in different colors-- orange, blue, green, and, of course, red.  I proceeded to walk past them and get what I was there for, but I couldn't get them out of my head so you all know how that ended.  :)

I've posted in the past about a popcorn words station, but now there are 4 different colored containers!!!  I don't quite know how to use them, but definitely for a sorting activity.  They could sort nouns into person, place, thing, animal.  Using only 3 of them they could sort into noun, adjective, and verb.  They could also be used for different word families or spelling patterns.

What are your ideas?!

--Mrs. Pollard