We're Wild ~~ WILD RUMPUS!!!

So the day finally came for our Wild Rumpus!  We have read the book numerous times and done several extensions and to culminate our unit we had our WILD RUMPUS!!!  Here are some pics of our fun day!

So we set up rotations and I have parents come in to 'man' them.  Here are the rotations:

1 ~ Make a crown ( like Max ) they add jewels and then take a picture by a cute backdrop

2 ~ Listen to the story on tape and do a response sheet

3 ~ Make a popcorn monster hand with candy corn and popcorn & a spider ring

4 ~ sequence the story

5 ~ Play a fun wild thing game

During the rumpus we had....CAN YOU BELIEVE IT.... A REAL Wild Thing came by and VISITED US!!!!

Of course we all had to stop what we were doing to meet her/it.  Not sure what to refer to it as. LOL

Here are some fun pics from our great day!

At the crown center the kids stuck jewels all over their crown to decorate it.

They played 2 games - this one involved building a puzzle - they had to roll a die and according to what letter they landed on they could put that puzzle piece down.  It ended up being a Wild Thing of course.

ALso a memory game of monsters.

Here is a collage of our day

How cute is our backdrop and the kids with the scepter?

If you want to try this fun day next year - everything you need pretty much can be found here.









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Blends and I love Wild Things...

We started our unit on Where the Wild Things Are and it is sooo much fun!  On Tuesday we will wear pajamas to school and have a WILD RUMPUS!  Am I crazy or what?!?  The next day is Halloween ~~ I think I'm just asking for it next week.  Here is my hallway bulletin board to get them excited.

Now for some fun with blends.  I made a pack last year AFTER I taught blends and I can't tell you how much fun I had using it this year with my class.  We all walked home on the last day of the week with 'blender' crowns.

They LOVED wearing their blends crowns home.  It was a fun week.

Here's one of the fun activities we did too.

Check back next week to hear all about our WILD RUMPUS!!!!!

Also you gotta go check out Teaching Maddeness - Amanda is having an amzing giveaway on those super cute boot socks!!!

Oh and just for fun - here's a picture of me this morning when I ran the 80's run....it was SO much fun!  Great costumes!!



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Making your child feel special part 2 and....a GOOD LAUGH!!!

I posted last year about my sweet daughter when she made her school volleyball team {post}

http://traditionslaughterandhappilyeverafter.blogspot.com/search/label/Making%20your%20children%20feel%20special...

...well Friday my son gave his speech for student body president at our elementary school and...HE WON!  So happy for him!  Celebrate milestones with your children.  Be their biggest fan and go the extra mile to make them feel special.  Here is the poster I made and hung in his room.

and here we are celebrating!!

oh..and 1 more thing --- I'm pretty sure you will get a good laugh out of this one...I love first grade writing. OH MY!!!



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I've been boo'd...

You've probably all played the popular game BOO at school where you leave a ghost on someone's desk or mailbox along with a treat.  Let's do the same by sharing some love from our stores...

Here's how to play.  Choose a fellow blogger that has MORE followers, another that has about the SAME number of followers, and last, someone that has LESS followers.  { I ran out of time so just picked 2 friends }

Highlight their blogs with links to encourage others to check them out.  Don't forget to let your fellow bloggers know that you shared about them. 

Lastly, leave them some love by offering them a goody from your store as their "treat."

Here are my three two -- in a hurry today....  Just click on their button to check out their blogs.

Here are my 2 friends that I will boo - check them out!!

My sweet friend Traci at Dragonflies in First - one of my very first and loyal and HELPFUL bloggy friends.  She has the best ideas!

and to my other precious friend Sandy over at Soaring Through Second - we are 'twin' bloggy friends.

  Now you can see why we are 'twins' I just love Sandy!  She has such a sweet, humble spirit about her.  Her ideas are great and I love how she shares exactly how she incorporates them into her everyday teaching! I was going to squeeze in one more but I gotta go - 30 people are coming to my house in 30 minutes...whew! If you want to find out more about being boo'd check out the original post over at... http://www.2ndgradepad.blogspot.com/2012/10/who-will-be-bood.html Happy boo-ing everyone!!! xoxo

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Throwback Thursday

THROWBACK THURSDAY

Maybe it was because  I didn't have kids yet...not sure.  I still feel like I do fun stuff even with being a mom/wife/runner, etc.  Right?!?  Well I just don't quite do stuff like this anymore...this was way back in 1998. 

 First Grade - I turned the entrance of my classroom into the Mayflower and part of my class too.  I remember stopping at a hotel and asking for 40 bars of soap so 2 first grade classrooms could use plastic knives to create 'arrowheads' - they sure made my class smell good while they were carving away at those.  haha!  Good times, good memories!

This school was so good to me - I have since changed schools but am still in the same district...anywho for my baby shower for my first the invites said -- BABY SHOWER HAPPY HOUR!!  LOL isn't that crazy!  They all had happy hour at my baby shower while I drank punch.  Too funny!  Then they took a 6 pack ( wine cooler ) pack covered it with baby paper - then put baby bottles in the holders where the wine went and filled each bottle with cash to go with the happy hour theme.  Clever!!

Hope you got a good laugh and if any of you feels creative and energetic give this a try the kiddos loved it!!

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Guided Reading Round Up

Guided Reading Round up

I often get questions about how my morning looks --- so I thought I would try and answer that for you with pictures and some information on how it looks.  I haven't read the Daily 5 ... enter { * GASP* } here.  But from what I've heard I have been doing a fairly modified version of it since around 2007. 

Our district currently has kept the adoption of Houghton Mifflin so most of the skills have been pulled from there as long as they are aligned with the standards.  I have almost a unit/pack for every skill that we cover in my first grade class if you want to check them out.

We begin our morning at the rug with word work/ we brainstorm words that have the vowel sound/pair/ending whatever it is we are focusing on for the week.  After we brainstorm and pair share we move on to what I use to call CHALKS AND SOCKS.  Now we use white boards and it just doesn't sound as cute.  They make this on their boards

Then I give them words ( almost like a spelling test ) each day to reinforce the skill we are working on...sometimes I will even throw in a skill from last week like ( qu ) to see if they are retaining it.  Here are some pics of theirs and me as I walk around the room to see whos struggling then model the correct way.

As you can see last week we were working on double consonant endings.

Here is my chance to model it correctly with my ELMO.

After this we move on to guided reading.  I use a wheel --- that I really like BTW. =) 

Each group has something to do that relates to reading.

The only thing is the finish your work center is also a Word Work Center or Listening to Reading Center as well if they are done.

When the kiddos are not meeting with me they are writing, reviewing a skill or reading

Now during our group time we are at the back table..they take out their logs and I write the new book that I'm introducing that they will have for homework while they re read the book from the night before.

Here is the log that I write down their books and parents sign each night.  It also has reading strategies stapled to side for reference and a book mark with the strategies on it as well.

The first thing we do back there is review sight words!!

Then a picture walk and here is where we find tricky words or work on vocab.  They use highlight sticks I made by cutting up bright see through folders and pipe cleaners shaped like a magnifying glass.  THEY LOVE THIS!!

After we have found some tricky words and done a picture walk they can pick a pointer and we are off and reading!

Guided Reading is my favorite part of the day!!

For my kiddos that are ready - maybe reading harder non-fiction or chapter books we work on activities to go along with the text.

I have 2 guided reading packs you might like ...

and..

Hope this was helpful and answered some of your questions friends.

NOW for the FUN -- leave me a comment on something you do --- I will pick one that I think I can incorporate into my morning and I will give you BOTH of these packs!!!

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Candy Corn Door Fun/Adjective lesson

Hi everyone...I keep trying to pin this from my website:  http://www.vickymoore2.com
Mrs. Moore's Busy Bees but it WON'T let me.  I wonder if the server has it blocked. :o(  Anyway I love doing this in October and it gets my kids thinking about adding descriptive words to their writing!

So I write Have on the first part and Halloween on the last part and we come up with all kinds of fun adjectives for the middle part.  I also have a little printable of this idea in my Halloween Pack.



And why not throw in some candy corns for them to munch on while their brain is thinking about these descriptive words...

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Land Ho!! Mapping Fun

We had SO much fun today friends!  We started our unit on mapping/my place in this world.  To get them excited about it we always do a little experiment/predicting activity.  I ask the kids, " Do you think there is more land or water on earth?"  The first activity we did was from my mapping unit and it turned out so to be so fun.  My kids really enjoyed it.

Before we started the lesson we discussed what a prediction was and made one about the earth/globe.  Do you think there is more land or water on earth?  They wrote what they thought on the line.  Then we sat on the rug and let the fun begin.

Here is the graph we started to work on.  I called the kids up and they each took a turn spinning the globe with their eyes closed.  Next they put out their finger to see what it landed on when the globe stopped spinning.  Of course the kiddos that predicted water were cheering for anyone that landed on water and the ones that predicted land were sure to cheer for the times their finger ended up on land.

How precious is this little one?!?

And the spinning continues...

Of course I'm coloring in the graph as they are spinning...

and the winner is...

Water of course...but {we} already knew that. :o)

Then we went back to our desks and we discussed how it's okay to be wrong about a prediction --- scientists make wrong predicitions all the time...and we circled thumbs up or thumbs down whether our prediction was correct or not.  Then we drew and colored a globe and wrote a fact that we learned.

This is the first year I created the unit to go with it and I have to say this was a fun way to introduce mapping.

If you are interested in this fun, engaging pack you can grab it here.

What fun things are you guys up to in your classrooms?



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