Kid Bloggin' Wednesday: It's Almost Winter Break

 This is stuff about Hanukkah.

• This is our menorah.
• This is a dreidel and some chocolate coins.
• We like Hanukkah.
• 8 days last in Hanukah.
• We light the menorah.
• The menorah is colorful.
• Hanukkah is before Christmas.
• It is on the 17th.
• One of our friends celebrates Hanukkah in our class. 
• The menorah has 9 candles.

These are our math strategies.

• It's helping us counting to 140.
• It helps us learn.
• It helps us count on.
• We love it.
• It helps us with math.
• We do them.
• Sometimes we flip over the cards when we learn a new strategy.
• One of them says "I can count on".

 We read Junie B. Jones.

• They are chapter books.
• It is a silly book.
• We like it so much.
• We read them at the end of the day.
• Miss Messick reads it.
• We are reading Junie B., First Grader: Toothless Wonder.
• We read a lot of the Junie B. Jones books.

This is our Problem Solving Wall.

• It helps us solve problems.
• If you get to 5 you have to get a mat.
• There are cards on it.
• We want to be at a 1 or a 2.
• There is a number thing about happiness and madness.

This is our chart center.

• We fix the words.
• We fix the sentences that Miss Messick writes.
• After Miss Messick checks our papers we get to do an extra center.
• Sometimes Miss Messick puts wrong sentences but we have to fix them.
• 
  

Kid Bloggin' Thursday

Koo Koo Kanga Roo from GoNoodle

This is our brain break.

• We dance with the people on the screen.
• We dance with them.
• It has backgrounds.
• After we are done we check how much points we have.
• After we fill up all of the points we get to pick a new person.
• We dance!
• It is super awesome!
• After we fill up to 10 we get to see how big he gets.
• We like the brain breaks.
• We do them.
• We love having brain breaks.

 These are our letters.

• They are special.
• We fill them up.
• One is lunch bunch.
• One is iPads.
• We like getting them so much.
• If the whole class is good the teacher picks one person to fill in one letter.
• One is extra recess.
• When we fill up the whole letters we get a class party.
• The one where we only have 2 filled in is the iPads.
• One is sock party.
• We earn them from being good.
• We earn them from being quiet.

Good Behaviors

This is our good behavior wall.

• It shows us good behaviors.
• It has all of the good behaviors on it. 
• We are so proud of the people that are good.
• Be respectful.
• Some people help other people.
• We hope that people do the stuff on the good behavior wall.
• We hope that other people treat other people how they want to be treated.
• When they are good we like them because they are good to us and we be good to them.
• They have responsible.
• We be nice to our friends.
• We be good to our family and school.

This is our reading table.

• We go to it every school day and we read special books.
• We read Beth's Job.
• It is grey.
• Around the grey there is red.
• We really like the table because it is pretty.
• We like to work on it.
• We can write with a marker on it.
• We sit on the blue cubes.
• We sit on the boxes and inside of them there is books.
• The teacher works with us and we work with her.
• We blend sounds at the table with our teacher.
• We work with Miss Messick at the table.
• Miss Messick calls our names back and we come.

This is our Jan Brett book.

• There is a moose in it.
• We read them.
• There is a stray bob cat in it.
• A lots of animals eat the corn bread in this book.
• Jan Brett is a author.
• She puts pictures on the sides to show us what comes next.
• Miss Messick is in it reading the book.
• Jan Brett wrote this book.
• We like it because it has pictures on the bottom.
• This is a video of one of Jan Brett's books.
• There are pictures on the top and the bottom.

It's a Party!

Well, it was a party.

Let me back up. <insert cool rewind sound effects> This past summer as I was working the awesome Northview Summer Camp I began thinking about what changes I wanted to implement for the coming year. Let's be honest: Our brain never really leaves the "teacher" mode, even during the summer. The big idea I kept coming back to was parent involvement. I wanted to get parents more involved with our class.

In the past I had tried different things. One year we used a flip camera. Students got to take it home. They recorded their parent reading a book and then brought it back to school. We then played the video for the entire class and it was as though the parent was reading the story to us. The kids loved that!

While I thought about trying that again for 2014-2015 I wanted to go bigger. Go big or go home, right?  So I thought, "Why not have a parent night?" That then quickly got bigger. "Why not have a parent night each term?" Which then got even bigger. "Why not have food at the parent nights AND do parent volunteer months during the fall and spring?"

So that's what I decided. I would have a parent night each term as well as host parent volunteers at two different times during the year. That brings us to this past Wednesday......

I hosted our Parent Poetry Night. It was completely centered around my kids and poetry. The students had selected a poem from amongst their poetry that they do daily. We then practiced reading in front of an audience and while wearing a microphone. It was a good chance to practice introductions and speaking so others can understand.

The night of the event students had different centers they could choose from. We had poetry books from the library as well as their poetry binders from class. (We've blogged about them before. You can check out that post here.) I also made copies of different word family poems they could choose from. To finish it off I bought a ton of pizza! Let me tell you, it was all eaten!

Thanks Little Caesars ®

I gave families time to mingle and watch their students work. Families were free to jump from activity to activity. About every 10 minutes I called small groups of students up. Everyone watched and listened as they read their poem. Each student was met with a round of applause when they finished.

This was such a fun event.  I can't believe I haven't done this sooner. Now we are preparing for our Parent Volunteer Month. I can't wait for our parents to see what a typical day is like in our room.

Here's to connections, fun, and parent involvement!

P.S.
Parents: How do you get involved with your student's class?
Teachers: How are you getting parents in your room?

Kid Bloggin' Wednesday: Safety Week

Math in Focus workbooks

 This is our math workbooks.

• We work in them.
• We like them.
• They have a fish on them.
• They are awesome.
• They have math things.
• We learn from them.
• We do some adding with it and subtracting.
• We learn math.
• It is fun to learn in them.
• They help us with math.
• Some pages we can color on.

Globe

This our globe.

• We can see the whole Earth.
• We can see all of the states.
• We can see America.
• We can see Florida.
• We can see the United States of America.
• We can see the city.
• We can see the world. 

Our New Book

What If You Had Animal Hair!?

• It is funny.
• It is cool.
• It is so amazing.
• It has real information.
• It is non-fiction because it tells real things.
• We like this book.
• There is real animals in the book.
• There are people that have animal hair on them.

Shapes

This is a picture about flat shapes and 3D shapes.

• We have been learning about vertices.
• We have been learning about 3D shapes.
• We have been learning about flat shapes.
• We have been making shapes together.
• There is solid shapes.
• They are so cool to build with.
• Some of them can roll and some of them can stack.
• Some of them can stack but some of them can't.
• Some of them have sides and some of them don't.
• We are learning about faces.

Poetry Binders

This is our poetry.

• We read it in our centers.
• After we read it we get to color it.
• We learn how to read.
• We put it in our poetry binders.
• We love poetry.
• It is fun.
• We are practicing them for Parent Poetry Night.
• We read to each other.
• We practice them so we can get a new poem.
• Every day we read them.
• Every day we learn from the poetry.
• We read them so we can learn and read what they say.

Here's to a great Wednesday!

Kid Bloggin' Wednesday

September Author Study

This is a picture of our Author Study Books.

• They are fun to read.
• The are awesome.
• They are cool.
• The books are all from the same author.
• The books are silly.
• The books are fun.
• Our author study is Eric Carle.

This is Miss Messick's desk.

• Miss Messick's desk is awesome.
• It is colorful.
• Miss Messick's desk is partly clean.
• It is amazing.
• There is a lot of stuff.
• It is next to the listening center.
• Miss Messick works on it.

Star Center

 It has sight words.

• It is very fun.
• It is awesome.
• We read all of them.
• We can choose any one.
• We lay one of them out to the floor.
• We really like them.
• They're fun to read.
• It is a center.

Classroom Library

 This is our books.

• We read them.
• We pick books out of them on Wednesdays.
• The yellow books are real.
• The yellow books are non-fiction. That means they are real. The other books are fiction because they are not true.
• We practice reading them.
• We like reading them.
• We like all the books.
• They have pretty pictures in them.
• They are cool.

 

The Book With No Pictures 

 This book is with no pictures.

• It has funny words.
• This is our book with no pictures.
• The book is called The Book With No Pictures.
• The book is so funny it makes us laugh.
• Some of the words don't make sense.
• The author is B.J. Novak.
• The book is white.
• The book has colorful words.
• The book is so long.

Kid Bloggin' Wednesday: The Field Trip

We were going on a field trip. We watched The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. We got to see people performing in costumes. We saw the Mixed-Up Chameleon by Eric Carle. We rode on a school bus. It was really fun. The bus was bumpy. On the bus we got to sit by our friends. There was a light on the bus when it was going.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar:

• It turned into a butterfly.
• The hungry caterpillar ate through a lot of food.
• The hungry caterpillar ate through one apple and two pears and it ate through three plums.
• It ate through five oranges.

The Little Cloud

• The Little Cloud was always left behind.
• The Little Cloud turned into a shark.
• The cloud is pretty!
• The cloud turned into other kinds of stuff.
• The little cloud was so funny because he turned into a sheep, an airplane, and a shark.
• Two big clouds said, "Little Cloud, Little Cloud, come back!" and then he came back and it rained.

The Mixed-Up Chameleon

• The chameleon had a lot of parts of the other animal parts.
• The chameleon turned different colors.
• The mixed-up chameleon was brown on the tree.
• The mixed-up lizard wished for all the animals parts but then he realized he couldn't get the fly then he wished to be himself again.
• When it was on the rose it turned red.

We saw a rainbow at the end. It was pretty and had lots of colors.  We lost the bus.

Kid Bloggin' Wednesday: Friday Blog

Listening Center

This is the Listening Center

• We like it.
• We listen to books.
• It is funny.
• It is pretty.
• Every day when we switch we listen to it. You have to push number two and you get to listen to number two story.
• We can read those books.

Number Balances

 These are our number balances.

• The number balances are so awesome.
• They help us with math.
• They help us with numbers.
• They are so awesome because we like them.
• They help us with numbers and how to make them by helping us with the biggest number.
• The person who has one picks it first.
• We put tags on them.
• They are in math centers.

Proud Wall

 This is the Proud Wall.

• People put lots of colors in them.
• People did hard work.
• There are peoples papers on them.
• If they're so colorful we hang them up.
• We put lots of detail in them.
• We have to put our names on them.
• If you don't put your name on it, it goes on the No Name Work wall.

Our Book Buddies Classroom

It's our book buddies classroom.

• Their classroom is nice and clean.
• The book buddies read to us.
• The book buddies are nice.
• They are so awesome.
• They listen to us reading.
• Some times book buddies read to us and some times we read to our book buddies. 

 This is our math centers.

• They help us with numbers.
• It is fun.
• They help us building numbers.
• We learn stuff in them.
• It helps us with math.
• We play.
• They help us read.
• We like them.
• They help us learn.
• They have different things in them.
• There is a math puzzle in one of them.
• They have cool games in them.

From Miss Messick: Normally I do not alter their pictures or text. This post I had to alter one of their photos. I talked with the group before I touched their picture and explained the reason why. They were very understanding as we had to have photo releases for their pictures on DonorsChoose.org.

Kansas Teacher of the Year: And the winner is.....

I posted earlier that I received the great honor of being nominated by my school for the Teacher of the Year. I was then selected, along with Dr. Casey Ewy, to represent my school district. The next step in the process was for us to submit our paperwork and compete to represent our region. Yesterday we went to the Region 1 Kansas Teacher of the Year Luncheon that was held in Salina, KS.

Luncheon Brochure

All of the nominees were recognized. There were 15 elementary teachers and 18 secondary teachers. As we walked up to receive our certificates they read a short bio which included key information from our packets and parts of our recommendation letters. The whole environment was one I can't quite explain. It was inspiring. Listening to the accomplisments and passions of these fellow educators really helped me to reflect on my own teaching and ponder my future aspirations.

My recognition as a nominee with the Deputy and Interim Commissioners

Once all of the educators were recognized they announced the 3 elementary semi-finalists then the Region 1 elementary finalist as well as the three secondary semi-finalists and the secondary finalists. I am proud to say that both myself and Casey were announced as semi-finalists for our respective areas! I can still remember the shock on my tables face as they announced my name! It was a great honor full of excitement, nerves, and awe.

Region 1 Elementary Semi-Finalist

As I went my back to my seat my heart was pounding. Then they announced the Region 1 finalist. <insert dramatic pause and everyone holding their breath> The name was not mine. While it would have been an honor to be selected I can happily say that this process has already made me a better teacher. The work that is yet to come for me as a semi-finalist will only improve my teaching methods, strategies, and activities that much more. In getting prepared for this event I wrote a speech in case I was selected. While I didn't get to give it there, I thought maybe I could give it here.

I'd first like to thank the Kansas Department of Education. Not only do you put on amazing programs that bring educators together but you've created a program that benefits every educator involved. No matter how far a nominee makes it in this process they'll come out with a better understanding of themselves, their philosophy, and their beliefs. I'd also like to thank Security Benefit for sponsoring this program as well as helping me personally with my retirement so that I'll be prepared when that happens in 26 short years.

Next, I'd like to thank my family, friends, and colleagues (many of whom I call my second family). All of you have helped to lift me up and guide me to today. When I was feeling run over and championed by my students you gave me encouragement so we both felt successful. When I cried no knowing how I was gonig to get my room ready in time you hugged me and let me in on a secret, "They'll only know you're not ready if you let them know. They won't know you have 5 more posters to hang and 2 more tubs to organize.". And when I am drowning in tech requests you simply smile and remind me I'll do fine as you slip out of my room.

And lastly, but certainly not the last on my mind, I'd like to thank God. He's gotten me through all of those nights praying for tomorrow to go better, field trips to run smoothly, and for students not to devastate the sub.

When I first heard I needed to prepare something to say today my initial response was, "Say what?". This quickly turned to rambling and mild panic. As I gave it more thought I realized I should just talk about what I know and that's my kids.

While I may not have given birth to any children yet I can say I've claimed about 140 of them at some point in my teaching career. This year there are 21 of them imparticular that I am able to give some extra lovin' to. What is it I ultimately want them to take away from my class? Of course, I want them to learn the content standards and all of the skills that accompany their mastery and application. I also want them to grow to be the best little people they can. This means learning how to navigate life.

Last night I sat on my couch discussing my day with my mom. I was telling her about one of my students and the phrase I've begun using with him as well as the rest of my class. I tell him, "Help yourself before you help someone else. Save yourself before you save someone else." For any of you that have ever flown this should sound very familiar. My mom looked at me stunned and said something along the lines of, "Ashley! It's a good thing he is helping. In real life if that happened we'd probably save the other person first." So I explained, that's okay in some situations. My goal is to get this student, as well as the others, to look at their situation. Obviously there are going to be times where helping someone else isn't detrimental yourself but there are times where it is okay to take care of your needs first and that's not a bad thing. I want my students to learn the difference. I want them to want to help others but I want them to know when their helping can hurt.

They've got so much to learn but they are resilient and can handle much more than we, as adults, give them credit for. My class this year is proof of that. We've only been in school 18 days and they've learned 6 reading centers, 9 math centers, procedures and routines for all of our core subjects AND each other's name which is a big deal in 1st grade. They've picked up that in order to do a brain break their minds have to earn it and they are working their hardest.

They amaze me every day with their with, kindness, and quirks. I hope they can say the same about me. We disagree and some times they don't like their consequences but we also shake out our wiggles, learn to be ninjas and how to stomp like a dino. I know they'll learn lots this year. Some of it will be academic and some of it will be relational. If they leave first grade feeling loved I'll know I succeeded. After all they might not always remember what we say but they'll always remember how we make them feel. Here's to making them feel intelligent, silly, accepted and loved. Definitely loved.

This process has been eye opening. I am thankful for the support I had at the luncheon. I know that this is a huge accomplishment. I've only been teaching 6 years and already I've had so much awakened inside of me. I can't wait to see what the rest of this year brings. I'm sure my kiddos will continue to make the rest of this year a surprising, fun-filled, rowdy learning experience!

My Mama!

Here's to classroom visits, growing my education, and educating others.

P.S. Sorry about the extremely long post. High-five to you for making it to the end!

Kid Bloggin' Wednesday

• -The school is red.
• The school is big.
•  The school is made out of bricks.
• It has lots of books in it.
• It has a gym in it.
• It has kids in it.
• We have a board in our school and it's big and we can write about it because it's large.
• We learn in our school.
• We have a playground and we play on it.

This is our computer center.

• It is beautiful.
• We like to play on it.
• It's fun.
• It teaches us.
• We play games on it.
• It helps us read.

 This is a picture of our door.

• It has our names on it.
• It has blue paper.
• It is beautiful.
• It is very colorful.
• Since we read a book about Chrysanthemum and her name was too long and people made fun of her.
• It was about Chrysanthemum and everyone was making fun of her and her teacher said that her name would scarecly fit on a name tag.
• We learned each other's names. 

This is a picture of our ABC center.

• We built some words.
• It helps us with ABCs.
• We write the words.
• It helps us learn.
• It is fun.

This is a picture of Number One Man and Girl.

• It is a number one kid.
• It helps us with math.
• It helps us with numbers.
• It is colorful.
• We made it in Math Enrichment.

How to Survive Testing: The DIBELS Edition

Testing: the time of year when regular schedules are interrupted, routines are broken, and students brains are picked over. That time of year has started for our school. This means Dolch word tests, beginning of the year assessments and of course the DIBELS! In our school, first grade teachers get to test our own students. Here are a couple of tips for surviving.

Tip #1:  You must find a comfy little space since you'll be there for an extended period of time. This little book room was my home for two days. It's cozy and quiet but more importantly, it was right across from my room. This really cut down on the travel time when switching students. The chairs are student size so I always bring my chair in. My bottom needs to be in a comfortable chair.

Our Little Book Room

Tip #2:  Find a timer you enjoy the sound of. Don't get me wrong, the little classic timers work well but I cannot stand that beep more than a few times. I love using my iPad. I can change the sound and I can control the volume. I also like that it counts down in a way that I can see the time running out in my peripheral while I'm looking at my students. I have it set to "boing". It doesn't seem to have distracted the kids and they know what the sound means now.

iPad Timer

iPad Sound for the Timer

Tip #3:  Treats! When you are testing all day, no matter what kind of assessment, you must have treats. Not only does this help ease your stress but it helps when colleagues stop by to ask questions, plan, or for a brain break of their own. I always keep treats handy and I make sure that my colleagues know they are always welcome in my room whether I am in it or not. Treats are never something you keep to yourself.

Treats: drinks, donuts and candy

Here's to finishing assessments, comfy digs, and great results!

P.S
Teachers: What are your testing must-haves?
Parents: How do you help your students during their testing times?

Kid Bloggin' Wednesday: Our Colorful Classroom

This is our carpet.

• It has a special reading chair on it where a teacher reads us books.
• It helps us learn the ABCs cuz it has letters on it.
• It's very colorful.
• We go on it for calendar.
•  It has lots of pictures on it.

-

This is a picture of our calendar.

• It has a minute clock.
• It has numbers on it.
• It has a point on it.
• It has the months of the year on it.
• We use it for math.

This is a picture of the ceiling.

• It has shapes.
• It has owls.
• It has lights.
• It's colorful.
• We use it for knowing what color the table is and we do math centers.

They are backpacks from our class.

• They stuff in them.
• They have cool characters on them.
•  They are very colorful.
• They are so awesome.
• We hang our bookbags up.

This is our room.

• The desks are pretty.
• The desks our colorful.
• There are cool things.
• The desks are shiny.
• They're clean.

ADD: Accomplishments, Donations, and Details

It's been a while since I've posted. The kids have posted more than I have and they have another one coming out tomorrow!  While it seems like the year is already taken off to a fast start, I have to remind myself that we have only been in school 11 days. Isn't it strange how something can seem to be both fast and slow?

Since my last post a lot of exciting things have happened!

I finally got my official invitation for the Kansas Teacher of the Year Luncheon! I can't tell you how wonderful this made me feel. The initial shock is gone but it still brings a huge smile to my face any time someone brings it up. This is a huge honor to be both nominated and recognized by my colleagues. My mother and friends will be joining me in Salina. It is sure to be a grand celebration!

Official Invitation!

Another huge piece of excitement came Sunday morning. After getting up and around I jumped on Facebook and noticed that there was a post from my account about a project I had put on DonorsChoose. (Jump back to the end of last school year......I created a project to get new materials for our centers. This project included cd players, headphones, addition games, and math puzzles. I put the project on DonorsChoose.org and hoped to get enough donors to fund the project.) So Sunday, after seeing this notification, I checked my email. I was afraid the project had been dropped. Earlier I had received an email saying that time was running out and if the project didn't get enough donors it would be canceled. Miraculously I got 5 donors Sunday! The project is now fully funded! We will be getting new materials! I haven't told the students yet. I think I'm just going to wait until the materials arrive and use it as a jumping point for a meeting. I can't wait to see their faces!

Over the summer I taught an older group during summer camp. While we had a fabulous time the students were a little rough on our paper trays. These are the same trays that I use with my first graders during science. Solid paper trays seem to work better than the wired ones. Our experiments can get messy and we need containers that will keep the mess contained! Since they had taken some serious wear-and-tear I went ahead and bought some new ones. Well yesterday they came in! When our fabulous secretary brought them in I nearly giggled with excitement. This in turn got the students excited. Needless to say, we will be completely prepared for science!

With all of this excitement happening in the last couple of weeks I am sure that the school year will be full of many more adventures and accomplishments.

Here's to organization, excitement, and projects!

P.S.
Teachers: What are you adding to your room this year?
Parents: What materials stood out to you in your student's classroom?

Kid Bloggin' Wednesday: Northview School

Here is our post from last Wednesday, August 20th. It took us a while to get a picture of the playground with no other kids on it.

This week we went to the library. We played outside. We like playing. We play hide and seek. We made new friends at school. We like to play with our friends. We made new book buddies. They read to us.


This is a picture of name-tags. They help us with math. They have shapes. They help us with colors. They help us with our left and right. Coloring. About our hand writing. They help us measure. They help us with our numbers. They are all different colors.

This is our math board. They have mathematicians on it. Don't forget to be a mathematician. It helps us with math. It has pictures of paper on them. The people on them are mathematicians. The mathematicians have glasses. It's green.

 There is flowers. Flowers and teachers. This is my teacher's desk. This is my teacher's flower. It's a fake flower but it's pretty. They are very beautiful. We like it. They are very lovely. It's fake. And it's so pretty.

This is the playground. It's very fun. There are slides and swings. There is this spinny around thingy that people stand on. There's another spinny around thingy that you can jump on. At lunch recess we get to go there and at special recesses too.