A Little Behind....but here are my 1st week Read Alouds!

I am linking up with  DeAnne from First Grade and Fabulous to celebrate reading by giving you a list of my top 5 stories for the 1st week of school. 

 Wow, doesn't seem possible that the first day is a little over a month away.  Where has the summer gone? 


1.  The Kissing Hand

This is one of my favorite books to read the very 1st day of school.  I have a raccoon puppet that I have named, Chester.  He joins us during the story and interacts with the students throughout the book.  The kids love it and it really captivates their attention on the first day.  I wasn't going to read it this year because I decided I needed to change things up a bit, but what would a year be like without Chester.  Plus, I have implementing Daily 5 this year for the 1st time and it was on the suggested list for introducing Read to Self.

2.  This is on my wish list with Amazon...The Recess Queen.  We do character ed in our school and also PBS.  We are supposed to teach desired behavior, so I thought this would be an excellent book to help teach some of the positive traits we want from students.

 

3. Chrysanthemum
This is always on the top 5 because we are learning about our names. It is a great way to introduce names. We then graph how many letters in our name and I even have an assignment for them to do at home. They have to work with their parents to learn about how they were named.

4. No David! This is a great book to use to talk about rules. I also use it to review shapes when we make a paper David.

5.  Have you Filled your bucket....a wish list for this year.  I am going to use a French Fry holder (purchased in the $1 bin at Target) for my buckets.  It will be my "Hot Stuff" wall or my "Rays of Sunshine.  (haven't quite decided yet).  I am going to paint popsicle sticks yellow and use instead of balls.  The sticks will represent french fries.  So excited about this!

 

Super Give Away!

Primary Inspired is once again having a great giveaway!  Jump on over to her blog for a chance to win some amazing products!  Good Luck!  Here is the link:  http://primaryinspired.blogspot.com/

B.Y.O.B. Build Your Own Binder from Teaching My 3

Keep On Rollin' Bundle from Stories by Storie

Winner's Choice from Bunting, Books, & Bainbridge

AND - TWO Items from my store!

  

Give-aways!

Congratulations to Primary Inspired for their 1000th follower.  They are having a giveaway listed below:

1,000 Followers? Let's CELEBRATE!

I cannot believe that I have hit 1,000 followers! Seriously! It's just crazy!

It really snuck up on me, too! I happened to notice a couple days ago that I had 994 followers & quickly sent out a H. E. L. P. smoke signal to some bloggy besties for some help in celebrating. . . 

And celebrating, we are! For the next week or so, you'll be seeing a freebie or a giveaway every day!! Make sure you keep checking back! 

It all starts TODAY!! 

Today's treats will really get you in thinking about summer ......

Let's Go Camping- Commas in a Series From First Grade a la Carte

AND

Math Scoops (up to 20) from The Moffatt Girls

AND

Your Choice of TWO items from MY store!

The winner of this giveaway will be chosen Saturday night! Hurry and enter!

head on over to their blog and enter to win!

http://primaryinspired.blogspot.com/

Also, I want to give a shout-out to my friend Amber O of synonym rolls and antonym moments for her 100th follower.  She also is having a give-away for her awesome calendar set as well as a HUGE give-away of free stuff.  Check out her blog.

http://sweetschoolmoments.blogspot.com/

More Inspiration

I have been inspired by the various behavior clip charts that I have been seeing.  However, I just have not been able to find one that "jumps" out at me.

I am still new at designing these items, but am finding that it is a lot of fun and I am enjoying it quite a lot.

Here is my clip chart to fit my with my classroom theme:

In addition to my behavior clip chart, I also created a voice level and parent/student behavior log:

I have my Guided Math book ordered and am excited to start my first blog book study.  My friend Amber participated in the Daily 5 book study last year and made me excited to join in one this year.

If you are interested in learning more about Guided Math, check out Brittany Kielar of second grade sweets blog.  She is hosting Chapter one of the book.  There is also a calendar available to tell you who is hosting all of the chapters in the book.

Happy Book Study!

Here is the link to Brittany's blog: http://secondgradesweets.blogspot.com/2012/06/guided-math-ch1-review-and-reflect.html


In addition to my book study, I have been working on classroom decor for the fall.  To go with my "Sunny Day" theme, I have created a new set of classroom rules.  Check them out!  I am pretty proud of my new, inspired creation (thanks to all my fellow bloggers)!

They are simple, but I think they will be a nice touch to my calm, relaxing inspiration!

Wow, I have been a busy "B" today!  I have created so many things that I am excited to put in my classroom in August.  Here is a preview of my word wall.  If you are interested in it for your classroom, click on the picture below to download a free copy at teachers pay teachers.com

Hope you enjoy it!