Blog – Page 5

Five Reasons I Do NOT Do Big, Over-the-Top Classroom Parties…and it’s still “THE BEST DAY EVER!!”

1. TIME I already have a hard enough time fitting everything in to our regular classroom day! If I have games, activities, all kinds of junk food, meltdowns, etc....that is taking up some very valuable instruction time for me and I just can't justify it! 2. HEALTHY EATING/FOOD ... read more

Science Notebooks in the Primary Classroom!

Science Notebooks are my favorite part of science lessons in my classroom! They are low-prep, can be used with any science curriculum or STEM activities, and are so meaningful and full of amazing thoughts from my 1st graders. As a new teacher many years ago, I kind of dreaded science because I was always looking for ... read more

FIVE Quick and Easy Ways to Revise with Young Writers

Writing with my first graders is a fun, beautiful, and messy process that I love! It's not always easy to get young writers to make important and needed changes to their pieces, so I'm here to share some of the ways we start this process at the beginning of the year with our personal narratives. To begin, I introduce ... read more

Teaching Portfolio for Interviews

I always show up at a job interview with resumes and my (informal) portfolio. It's a bit like a scrapbook of my teaching career and classroom environment. I've heard that it's common in our extremely large district for candidates to show up to an interview with nothing, so I'd love to show you a quick glimpse of ... read more

Community Time

I make room for "Community Time" each week and we love it!What is it?A time for kids to share a quick personal story. First graders often share about weekend experiences, pets, or upcoming plans, but it can be about anything. We listen to our friends, sit quietly, learn more about each other, and make ... read more

Be Passionate…about many things!

I'm working on a Word Work activity post, but still need to get some good pictures of my kiddos in action. So, since I had a fantastic time at the Route 91 Harvest Festival this weekend, it got me to thinking about some of the things I'm passionate about in my life, besides teaching 1st grade.I say it all the ... read more

Teacher Emergency Baskets!

We've started a "Welcoming New Teachers" Group at my school for both brand new teachers and teachers who are new to our school. You can read more about the start of that group here: Welcoming New Teachers And, I'm always open for more ideas for our meetings if you have a great mentoring program in place at your ... read more

My first Blog Hoppin’ Teacher Week!

So, I participated in #bhteacherweek16! Look at me!!!!! Two blog posts in two days! It's a record!!! I kept up every day and it was fun to see all of the different posts! This was the layout for the week. Here are my posts from the week: Meet Me Monday...I shared a picture of me and the new hubby, ... read more

Welcoming New Teachers

The first week is finished and I'm soaking up football, sleeping in, and a three-day weekend! I'm going to be adding pictures of my classroom to my blog finally, but I really wanted to talk about something I'm excited to start this year...an informal mentoring group for new teachers at my school!When I started at my ... read more

Friday Free Book Drawings!

I decided to give my Free Book Drawing Box a makeover this summer, to match my new room decor, and I thought it would be a great time to blog about my Friday Free Book Drawings! For YEARS, I was buying cheap, useless trinkets to put in my Treasure Chest because that's what I'd always seen in Treasure Chests. When I came ... read more