Fall fun

               Our adorable pilgrim art and writing 

Found this idea on pinterest --- love that site.  Paint bubble wrap with orange yellow and brown and put on white paper.  Cut to the shape of corn and add to corn pattern I found on the internet.  Add a bit of raffia and you have a very cute project. :o)

I had to get dressed up to join in the fun for our Journey We Will Go day...

Johnny Cakes, candle making, etc.

Here I am reading to my students -- they are dressed up too.

Then candle making....my friend Tammy always does this rotation with me...The kids LOVE going home with candles they made!!!



** WILD RUMPUS** ~~ culminating our unit on Where the Wild Things Are

I love our Wild Rumpus in first grade!  We have a party to culminate our unit on Where the Wild Things Are...here are some pictures from our fun day!

Our picture for our memory books

making our 'Max' crowns

 

Playing a monster dice game - kinda like candyland
(thanks C. Bainbridge for the printable )

Playing a puzzle dice game...I created a bunch of monsters and cut them up in strips...They have words on the bottom - WILD Thing.  Kids roll a die ( that has the matching letters ) WILD on one side and T H I N G on the other sides.  They roll to create their puzzle.  Winner got a prize.  They love this game.

They are trying to roll the letters to finish their puzzle.  You can see wild thing if you look closely.

This puzzle is almost done...just needs the 'n'

We also made a popcorn monster hand with candy corn fingers.

Our Wild Things...they had an at home project to create a wild thing.  I love how creative the kids are...

Such a FUN day !!!

What's going on in my room ~~ centers and other STUFF

We worked on an anchor chart in class today after reading Halloweiner..focusing on sequencing.

I love this center...I found it on pinterest this summer and made it.  Donuts with the middle ( CVC ) vowels written on paper plates.  They create words and read them to their friends and then write them on mini white boards!!

I think I found this on another teacher's website...but I can't remember who :o/ - let me know if it was you.  Sight Word sandwiches...the kids love building their sandwiches and reading the words to their partners.

The are using their book boxes like crazy working so hard in reading...so proud of these little guys!

I started a math journal a couple years ago...but I chose 1 student every couple days or so to write about what we learned about in math.  I save it for Open House and the parents enjoy seeing what we've learned.

My students working  hard on sight word building center.  They find the letter tiles to copy the word, spell it under it and read it to their partner.  ALSO instead of spending $$$$ on laminating if you are on a tight budget like our school.  Put your center in a page protector and it works the same.  I got a huge box donated by a parent. :o)

This project was SO much fun.  It was also found on pinterest ( my new favorite time sucker )...darling pumpkins made with strips of paper.

Cookie night!! ( math and literacy family night centering around if you give a mouse a cookie

how cute are they in their costumes?

of course we made cookies in class...that evening they tested oreo, oatmeal and chocolate chip and we graphed their favorites.

mixing the ingredients

my daughter and I had to get in the spirit for cookie night :o)

Every year we have cookie night...we make costumes, sing a song, recite poems and visit various centers around the MPR.  Such a fun night!!  We graph our favorite cookie, take a family picture for our memory books, make a mouse (art ), estimate how many hershey kisses fit in a giant size cookie, write # sentences, and have a reading nook with pillows so they can re read the book to their parents.

here's our cookie graph from that night.

pointers for reading groups

my reading group pointers

Of course how can you read without 'witchy finger' pointers. :O)

the fake nail pointer  lol

The highlighter pointer -- my mom made these back in the 70's by cutting apart see through dividers -- she was so before her time in teaching. :o)

Reading groups are in full swing and I have had fun using these pointers with the kids.  Before I start each group I go over sight words with the kids.  I also play a sight word word find game.  They use the pointers you see above and highlight the word I ask them to find on each page.  After that they pick another pointer to follow along.  The ones with the pom poms on it they call Puffles -- for all you moms out there it's from Club Penguin as I'm sure you know.  They love the 'puffle' pointers best....lol -- surprisingly several of the boys like the fake nail one.  Anything to get a kid interested in reading I say :o)

IT CAME IT CAME IT CAME TODAY!!! Can u tell I'm happy :o)

My package came today from Donor's Choose...I'm so excited and so are my students!!!  Here is a sneak peek of me with the package.  I will post pics tomorrow of the class using it all set up...Hooray!!!

My Donor's Choose project was funded!!!

I am sooo excited....my donor's choose project was fully funded yesterday.  This is my first project and it has been a really neat experience.  This is the link:  http://www.donorschoose.org/we-teach/1017958.-5560570?historical=true   and here is what I got for my classroom.

It holds 28 backpacks and lunches on the bottom:  It has wheels and a brake.  No more tripping on backpacks or shoving them in cubbies on top of others students stuff. :o)  I am a happy girl!!!

Meet the teacher - Blog Hopping

Tell us a little about you/how long have you been teaching....  Hi all --- My name is Vicky Moore --- this is my *gulp* 18th year teaching.  I job shared for 7 years so I could raise my kids while they were babies/preschoolers.  I have taught first, second and third grade.  I love teaching and feel so very blessed to be in this profession.  I like many others went to school for something else...psychology.  But...while considering grad school stumbled upon a preschool job and the rest is history.  My mom was a teacher and I feel that some of my natural teaching abilites came from watching her teach. I went back and got my Masters in Education with a focus on curriculum in 1999.  I am NEW to blogging -- so I'm still learning a lot.  I have had a class website for about 5 years: 
http://www.vickymoore2.com/      
I have 2 wonderful children : Mandy 6th grade....Josh 4th grade.  They have gone to my school since Kinder -- what a blessing that has been!!  My husband is a football coach and PE teacher at a local high school.  So we have our summer off together. <3

What you might not know about me....    I love to run and swim and scrapbook.  I dedicate my runs to my amazing mom who passed away in 2007 to cancer.  Not a day goes by when I don't think of her...
My life is filled with the joys of my family as well as a job that I absolutely adore!!  I also feel blessed to be in the midst of such amazing teachers through these blogs.  I love to share ideas and get excited for school to start each year just like the kids do.  I was a junior national competitive swimmer for many years.

Since I'm a newbie -- please become a follower so we can collaborate together. :o)  Happy teaching everyone!

What are you looking most forward to this year?...  I am looking forward to applying many of these wonderful blog ideas into my classroom and incorporating new and fresh ideas into my teaching.  After teaching as long as I have you HAVE to keep it fresh!

What do you need to improve?...  We have had a new math program for a few years now and I changed grade levels last year so it's still new to me.  I would like to get a better handle on it.  I am strong in teaching reading and want to meet the diverse needs of my students better in math.

What teaching supplies can you NOT live without?...  I would have to say my DOC camera...love that thing!!!  Also chart paper - I love doing anchor charts and brainstorming with my students!

my beautiful family

My hubby and I - Pismo Beach

My back bib for my runs to honor my precious mom

more running fun...

I have 3 wonderful older brothers -- I'm the only girl and youngest :o)

I LOVE first grade!!

Hope you enjoyed getting to know me...come back often :o)

Weather Unit

We have just started our unit on weather and I wanted to post some pictures of what we work on also add some printables...enjoy.  I will add to this as the unit continues...

here we have brainstormed weather words and we made a class book about weather

We also make a weather vane with a pencil, T pin, straw and arrow.  Then we go outside and see how the wind blows it.  The kids love it!!

Here is a cute back to school night page to give to the parents...they fill it out and then I save it for their memory books.  The bottom part of the page we cut off and save in their personal files but usually they don't write anything on the bottom part because we already do a learning about your child page also.  Mount it on cute paper and you have a sweet note keepsake from the parents to put in their memory book. :o)

~~Back to School Night lil gift for parents~~

I always think the parents need a little pick me up also at Back to School Night...they are nervous to meet us and see our curriculum etc.  So to ease that I made these adorable little candy treats for them with some scrapbook paper and ribbon.  Also I always have each parent fill in a raffle ticket for coming that night.  The next day whoever gets chosen from the raffle gets to go to the TOY MACHINE!!!  So fun!!

they didn't take too long and the parents loved them!!



Best PTA ever!!!

I LOVE our PTA -- I just had to post pics of our welcome back bbq lunch they threw us last week.

Yes those are adorable PIG cupcakes!!!

pulled pork sandwiches...corn...biscuits...fresh fruit...salad.

Such a wonderful PTA!!!

More classroom photos

So Back to School Night is just around the corner and I've been a busy bee getting everything ready for that.  Powerpoint is almost done and packets too.  Here are some more photos of my room...I know I love peeking into your rooms as well. :o)

My 'BEE havior' chart...they can move their clips up or down in the same day.  I use student #'s instead of their names.

close up of the top 1/2

and close up of bottom 1/2

middle one is hard to read it says Bee - ware...

Our table baskets..here is a word dictionary page we put several in a basket to help them during journal writitng.  I use to do individual word dictionaries but it's too expensive to make all the copies.  This is laminated and works great!

another view of my library

I LOVE this...I have heard about a tattle the turtle poem but couldn't find any short enough... so this one came to me and I think it's just right!!!

got this from a friend of mine -- I've seen it before...perfect for buddy reading!

My calendar board -- I call it the daily buzz...

My b/f/f's board...How cute is she...I love her owl theme!!

My bee board for the hallway

My other bee board entering my room

I LOVE my toy machine!!  Can you believe when we were dropping off stuff at Goodwill they were loading this in the truck?  I had to BEG the guy to let me buy it even though it wasn't put through the system yet to purchase.  He just gave it to me....it's the best!!!

My reading strategies poster that our district uses...

That's it for now!!