Apple Discipline

Our class and school rules for the year.
1. Give Respect.
2. Allow Learning
3. Think of Others
4. Observe Safety.
5. Remember Responsibility
Each child will have a large apple with five small apples. If they follow the rules, they get to keep their small apples. If they keep all their apples all day they will get a chomp ticket at the end of the day. If they keep 20 apples all week they will get a special treat. Students will be rewarded for having a certain number of chomp tickets throughout each six weeks.
The following is what happens if they pull an apple:
1 apple = warning
2 apples = time out/modified recess
3 apples = silent lunch
4 apples = contact parents
5 apples = principal

Crayon Wreath

My coworker and friend Sarah Cates made me this awesome crayon wreath. She used about 2.5 boxes of crayons, a cardboard wreath shape cutout, some hot glue, and ribbon. My students really LOVE it!!! Thanks Mrs. Cates

Salt Art = Teamwork

My favorite first week of school activity is a lesson on teamwork. Everyone in our class (adults included) works together to make salt art. This is so easy. You just pour some table salt on a paper plate. Next you rub a piece of sidewalk on the salt until it changes the color of the chalk. Last you pour the salt in to a jar. When we finish the project we discuss how it took us all working together to complete the project. We talk about how if just one person did not do their part the salt art would not have been complete. We then relate that to the class and how important it is for all of us to work together to make our classroom run smoothly. I leave the jar of salt art where the students can easily see it. When the students stop working together, we refer back to the jar of salt art. My students LOVE doing this and always beg to do it again.

Calming Down

Each school year one of my first lessons is to talk to students about what to do when they are upset or mad. We read, discuss, and interact with Shubert is a S.T.A.R. After the story, students draw on a star what they can do when they are bug crazy mad to change to caterpillar calm. We use their stars as one of our first boards.

Color Hunt

One of my favorite first week activities is Color Hunt. My students work in groups of two or three to go through magazines to find pictures to match the color construction paper they were given. The students always does an awesome job working together. What I love to hear during this activity is students sharing pictures with students not in their group. I love seeing the children working together. Here are a few pictures of my students during their color hunt.

Rockingham County Educator's Conference

On August 4, 2011 I very reluctantly got up early to attend the Educator's Conference. I almost decided not to go because it was one of my last two days to sleep late and I just wanted to be lazy, stay at home, and read. Thankfully I forced myself out of the bed and went. I returned home that afternoon with a lot of websites and ideas that I am excited about using in my classroom. Here are some of the better ones that you might want to try too.

The first one is one that I wished I had when I was in college. It is a bibliography maker. It is so super easy http://www.bibme.org/

The next one is a website that allows you and/or your students to make music. There is a cost for this one but if you go down to the left there is a button called "In the classroom". You can click here and apply for a grant which is just a few questions. You will quickly be given an email opening you up to free stuff. www.jamstudio.com/Studio/index.htm

Another one I loved is called Story Bird. Students select a set of art pieces and write a story to go with the art. You can order the completed stories for a small fee. They have added it where you can do this as a fundraiser in your class. I think students really will love this. http://storybird.com

This one takes long url's and turns them into little ones. http://tinyurl.com

This one is really cool, students can make a newspaper clipping. What a great way to retell a story. A lot of interesting pieces could come from this. http://www.fodey.com/generators/newspaper/snippet.asp

Here is a silly animated book website http://www.sillybooks.net

If you want creative ideas for book reports, then you may want to visit this online article. http://theapple.monster.com/benefits/articles/8529-10-technology-enhanced-alternatives-to-book-reports

This is a whole cluster of reading/language websites. There is a lot of valuable resources here. http://techtoolsforreading.wikispaces.com

Juxio is a cool website that allows students to create posters http://www.juxio.com/beta/index.php

If cute clip art is what you are looking for then you may want to visit here http://www.phillipmartin.info/clipart/homepage.htm

Students can review characters from stories by making character trading cards. http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/trading_cards

This site is really helpful to find favorite children books on students reading levels. I know I will be using this http://www.simonandschuster.net/?intcmp=z_100402_MC_Net_Monopoly