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!!