I am so excited to join  in The Back to School Wish List Sale with this group of talented bloggers !  It amazes me that I have been blogging for a year and on TpT for less time than that!


A huge THANK YOU goes out to my bloggy friend Tamara Russell at Mrs. Russell's Room for organizing this sale.  Tamara is an amazing teacher who has embraced Common Core in her classroom and teaching practice.
One of my first products is still one of my best sellers and in the top 5 for wishlisted items in my store!  It was one of those items that was made out of a need in my classroom and stayed a favorite of the kids for the ENTIRE year!  You can click on the picture below to head on over to pick up this goodie today only for 20% off !


Thanks for stopping by.  Remember to visit tomorrow to check out Day 2 of my wishlist sale!

It amazes me that in the mist of budget cuts, common core, testing and increased accountability, good teachers continue to build community in our rooms and teach with rigor.

Creating a classroom community is my number one priority beginning on the first day of school.  Children need to feel love, accepted and safe everyday at school.  Until last year, I had an internal struggle with a class behavior system.  I had used a clip chart and colored cards in the past, but knew in my heart they were not for me.  (**There are things I likes and dislike about them and there are children who benefit from them; it was a personal choice.)

Then I read A Teeny Tiny Teacher's post about Gold Tags.  This is the most amazing, simplest classroom behavior management system I have found:)  I love it because anyone can easily adapt it and make it their own.   In a nutshell, students can earn gold tags and even lose them (GASP!) for good and bad choices, work, quiet line and the list goes on.  The one thing that stayed with me as a teacher and a parent was when a mom said to me it was so nice not to see a red box colored in daily for her child's "bad" behavior.  She said she knows her child was "challenging", and they are working on that, but there are lots of good qualities that she has felt in the past were overlooked.

Kristen has them trade their gold tags in on Friday for centers.  I am using Our Best Behavior Prize Pass Catalog from First Grade Fever.  This is a FREEBIE folks so head on over to her blog and check it out!!


My favorite community building activities this summer are from Michelle at Run! Miss Nelson's Got the Camera.  I {heart} her Happy Notes!  You can check them out on TpT HERE.



My second love  slight obsession is Michelle's Behavior Beads.  They can be used for good behavior, homework, reading incentives, math facts and the list goes on!  I have to say my new favorite is her Primary Beads.  You should head over to her store and check out all the different sets.




So what are you doing to build kids up?  I would love to hear about it:)

There are probably as many ways to teach phonics as there are colors in the world!  Each teacher has his/her own philosophy, style, background and county mandates that mold how he/she teaches phonics.  No way is the best way and I have learned that  VARIETY in my instruction is what is best for my students and I.  So I am joining Melissa over at First Grade Smiles with her How to Teach Phonics Linky!


I have to say that I am NOT a worksheet teacher.  I structure my teaching with the gradual release model of I do- we do- you do.  There is whole group instruction, small group instruction and lots of independent practice.  Children learn by doing.  However, this said, there is a time for worksheets.  Some of my students have said they LOVE worksheets!  This is a huge reminder to me that all children learn differently and have different likes and dislikes.  My job is to make it all come together:)

Here are some pictures from my Daily 5 Word Work Centers that include skills and activities that have been introduced whole group, practiced in small group and then added to the Word Work Center for independent practice.




One of my go to's this year for our new reading series is Wonders:  A Supplemental Unit {Grade One-Unit 1.  It includes 5 games like the ones above for each week.  Short vowels a, i and o and well as blends with l, r and s are included.  I love that I will be ready to go for the first month.  Even if you are not using wonders- the unit is worth the purchase for the five phonics games.

Do you ever wonder where the other bloggers are for your grade level?  As I love to follow so many bloggers, sometimes I am just looking for a first grade blog to get grade appropriate ideas from!  You can head on over and link up by grade level.   There is a tab on the top of her blog called Blogs by Grade.


I added myself to the first grade tab.  You can grab the button above and add it to your side bar so others know what grade you teach.  This is especially helpful if your blog name is not grade specific (like mine) or if you change grade levels.

I am so excited that I found Caffeine and Lesson Plans blog and this amazing link up.  Mandy has lots of wonderful ideas on her blog that you can check out while you are there.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

So remember to celebrate each and everyday! 

I don't know about you, but I always struggle with morning work.  We have 20 minutes that the kids come into the room upon arrival/breakfast before the bell rings.  I struggle with what to do during this time as some kids might not walk into the room until a minute before the bell rings.

Last year, I was able to get in 4 rotations of Daily 5 so the fifth one was done during this time.  It was always the last center from the day before so it was like a bonus:)  It made the kids want to get to class so they didn't miss a Daily 5 Center! 

I have contemplated the idea of Morning Work.  I love the spiral review that this offers.  My concerns are 2 fold.  1- We have paper/copy issues occasionally and 2- When do my late arrivals have time to finish it?

There are so many fabulous Morning Work units available.  I keep coming back to it...

Jodi Southard has a fabulous morning work pack available and she just bundled all the months.  I love that the language and math are both on the same page.  She offers a fluency page that can be copied on the back side.  The fluency page would be a nice resource for reading groups, read to self, read to partner or another resource to read at home.  I also love that the morning work has been differentiated, and the pages look similar so the kids won't notice.  You can read more about it over at Fun in First.


I have also used Kelley Dolling's Morning Work in the past.  I used it on the overhead as a group review and even as an introduction to a new skill at times.  For this reason, I liked that the language arts and math were two different packs.  I only printed one and used it on the document camera. The kids loved to share the pen and come up to lead the activity:)  You can check out her post about it over at Teacher Idea Factory.

Writing is used through the curriculum on a daily basis.  I have to admit the majority of journal writing has been used during my Daily 5 block.  A mini lesson is done daily and my firsties are able to practice/apply it during their Work on Writing rotation.  Now don't get me wrong, this doesn't always happen!  There is lots of reteaching and conferencing happening too:)

I attended the first part of a Write Track Training today and was asked to think about if we use Metacognitive Journal Writing.  Going back to the meaning of metacognition-the reflection of what we know about a particular topic and delving deeper into what we want to learn, I have to say I don't use it consistently in journal writing or across all content areas.

Simple sentence starters such as I know... and I don't know... can be a powerful tool to assess the student's prior knowledge or even to evaluate the student's understanding of concepts taught.   In my county, we use a "ticket out" for each lesson as a quick assessment for the lesson.  Metacognitive journal entries would be the perfect tie in to writing across the curriculum. 

This lends itself well to science and social studies, but I am thinking about math as well.  I am thinking about students reflecting not only on lessons/concepts taught, but also as a reflection to problems they get wrong on a test.  Imagine how powerful it will be to reteach and have students reflect on what they did incorrectly and what needs to be done next time.  It is much too easy to hand back tests to go home and not reteach the material with misconceptions.  I know personally, I tend to reteach the concepts, but I think miss the importance of the students' taking ownership of their mistakes and then their learning. 

You can check out my recent unit called Reflective Journal Writing Across the Curriculum on Teachers Pay Teachers.  This is a freebie to get you started thinking about written ways for students to reflect and respond.  I would love to hear what you think about this!

I would love to give a shout out to my friend Tamara over at Mrs. Russell's Class as she celebrates on year of blogging fun.  She is having giveaways on her blog and her Facebook page.  My Jellyfish Fun unit is included in her giveaway today so head on over and check it out!

A year ago, I started a new adventure with blogging and Teachers Pay Teachers.  Being new at it, my graphics collection was limited pretty non-existent!  I was lucky enough to find Mel and Graphics from the Pond. 

It was at the same time that she started a new venture of her Premium Club. She send us a file a day (Monday through Friday) that included a graphics set, paper or even borders!  You can head on over and read her post about her journey.

Mel is such a sweet lady and went above and beyond for this club.  This club might not have been what she had envisioned, but I can tell you that she has earned many repeat customers here.  If you have not checked out her store lately, you should head on over and check it out by clicking on the link below. 

Hope everyone had a fun and safe 4th of July!  I know I am a little late posting, but many TpT sellers are having sales for the holiday, so I am joining in the fun!  EVERYTHING in my store is 20% off through Sunday.  I would love you to click on the sale picture below and check it out.


I am also participating in a 250 follower giveaway with Jessica over at Tales of a First Grade Teacher.  You can check it out by clicking on the picture below:)


I am returning to Florida on Saturday after being on vacation for 3 weeks.  It was fun visiting family in Rhode Island and Maryland, but we are ready to be back.  I have a list of things to work on for back to school so you will be hearing from me soon!