Name-O

I've started teaching first grade and can I just say how much I love it... The kids are so sweet. They want to hold my hand and hug me all day long. They are just adorable. One of the activities we have been working on is called Name-O. My kids love this activity. I did this activity with my second graders last year and they loved it too. I made a file folder with the words NAME-O written on the front and I cut a slit in the front of it. Every day I choose three students names. I have all my students stand up. I pick one of their names and I slide their strip through the hole. One letter at a time. When I show the first letter. I have all the students who's name doesn't start with that letter sit down. I pull the name out of the slit slowly to only show each letter at a time. If a child has the same first and second letter in their name they keep standing until my class is able to figure out who's name it is. Then I have that child come to the front and we sing the song together. Putting their name in the blanks.  I'm going to use the example Michael. The song goes like this:

There is a boy/girl in our Second grade Class and Michael is his name-o. M-i-c-h-a-e-l, M-i-c-h-a-e-l, M-i-c-h-a-e-l and Michael is his name-O. It's to the tune Of BINGO. How do you teach names in your class?

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If you would like a copy of the strips of papers I use. I put them in my TPT shop. You can just click on the picture above and it will take you . 

Freebie Friday!!!

   I'm so excited to share this birthday freebie with you. This is how I celebrate birthdays in my classroom. For this birthday activity, you have two options: first you could print page 2 and have the birthday child cut it out. Or option 2, you could have the birthday child cut out page 3 and color it to their liking. Page 4 are sparkle statements. I place one strip on each child’s desk. They have to write a sparkle statement to that child on their birthday. I tell the kids I don’t want them to write Suzy is nice. I want them to think of good qualities about that specific child. We usually have a lesson before. Then when they are finished with their sparkle statement they bring it to my back table. I usually do this first thing in the morning. I make the strips into a chain. I attach the chain to the picture of the cake. If your going to print this off. I would suggest using card stock because it's flimsy without. :). My students have always loved this activity. If you want  to grab a copy of this click on the picture!
 

If your looking for some more FREEBIES check out my TPT Store. I have a lot of them!!

                                My cutie N he didn't really like being the example but he was a good sport. 

Check out Falling Into First to link up with your birthday ideas.

Therapeutic Thursday

How do I unwind on a stressful day? Well first I am the type of person that has to talk it out. My mom and I are very close and I usually talk to her almost EVERY day! She is so supportive. I also have to say that my husband is such a great listener as well. He gets me. He just knows the right thing to say in any circumstance. I'm very lucky to have him.                                                                            

Have you ever eaten at Kneaders? I absolutely LOVE Kneaders. I don't think they're in every state but there are a lot of them here. They have the best food. I love their Turkey Cranberry  Salad. Plus it has tryptophan in it so it helps on those stressful days when I just need to go to bed. 

Plus you can't resist one of these. I always tell myself it's okay because I had a salad right?

My exercise of choice. It reminds me of the days of when I used to dance. I love dancing.

Who doesn't love to shop to unwind.  How do you unwind?

Where I teach Wednesday.

 My room is finally done for the most part. We came back from Summer Vacation and it took a lot of cleaning on our part to get things ready. My classroom is all bees. I love the black and yellow look. I'm so lucky to work part-time. I work on Thursdays and Fridays and rotate every Wednesday. My partner teacher is AMAZING!! I love her. This is her last year, she is retiring at the end of this year :(. So if anyone is looking to go part-time with me come apply. I really want to stay part-time at least until my two little ones are in school. 

You may be wondering WHAT FIRST GRADE???? Yeah me too. We found out we're teaching first grade. However. I will still be posting second grade stuff too. Because I LOVE SECOND and I really hope next year I might be able to go back. 

Don't you love vinyl lettering. It's so adorable. My teaching partner found these sayings.

Found these darling bee lights on Etsy. 

Front of the room. 

We handed these out at back to school night. I used my template below and wrote. We're pleased to pieces that you will (bee) in our classroom this year. They were a hit with the kiddos. I love me some REESES. 

Back of the room. Don't mind the mess on the back table. 

We call this area the hive. I love our kiva. My dad built it for us. I do a lot of teaching from this area. See that fan. Yeah we don't have air conditioning. So the next month is going to be HOT!! I feel so bad for the kiddos when it's HOT!
What's your favorite thing in your classroom?

Teacher Week Technology Tuesday

PBS Kids is one of my student's favorite sites. If they have free choice they always choose to go to Pbskids.org. In fact my 5 year old is watching me type this and he wants me to go to their site.

Game Goo is one of my favorites. It's great for grades k-2 

I found this great site. It is so awesome, especially with the new common core. Sometimes when I read the standards. I might teach it a different way than on the core test. So this site is great for teachers, it gives you specific examples of what each standard means. I love it. I found it off of a blog. However I can't remember who's . I would like to give credit where credit is due.  So if you know who's let me know.If you would like to go to any of these sites just click on the picture or the words under it. One or the other will take you to the correct place :). 

What do you use for technology in your classroom? 

Teacher Week

I'm linking up with What The Teacher Wants on Must-Haves Monday. Here are a few of my FAVORITES!

I love these mouse pads off of Etsy. I like to be able to customize them to my liking. :)

A lanyard, the more bling the better. Plus it goes with everything. We are required to wear our name badge. So of course I have to have something cute and blingy to go with it. What girl doesn't?

I know I know I've mentioned these pencils before . But they are my absolute favorite.There is still time, order them from Star fall. I actually ordered about 1000 of them to start school. A teacher can never have too many pencils. 

Coat Hanger Labels

I love the blog Queen of the First Grade Jungle. She has been getting her room all set up and has made the most adorable locker labels. I copied her idea and made some for my classroom. I didn't know if anyone else would like them as well. So I posted them on TPT for free. They are editable too.{ I hope so anyways} I tried it out for the first time. If you download them will you let me know if it worked for you? Check out Katie's too. Hers are way better than these. I love the chevron print she put on hers and she made the most adorable teacher gifts with them too. Click on the picture if you want to download them :).