Mapping Our World! {Freebie!}

Hey all! I hope everyone has has had a great week! It feels like fall here today and I am LOVING it!! We have started working on plants this week, but I have not taken photos yet, so I will share a quick activity we did last week with our mapping skills! {Get the FREEBIE at the end of the post!}

 

Before we really started mapping, we read

It's a cute story that is a wonderful intro to mapping skills! It teaches all the parts of a map {title, map key, compass rose, etc.} It also teaches about different kinds of maps. We practiced our directions, taught them "Never Eat Sour Watermelons," and made some maps together as a class.

 

Then I typed up some directions, and as a group they had to make a map of a community. They had to come up with a title, draw the compass rose, and come up with the symbols for their map key. Then they had to follow the checklist of directions to construct their map! They did an awesome job!

 

 

 

 

Click HERE to get your mapping activity FREEBIE {You get the directions to construct the map, a blank map key and blank title template}.

 

Be sure to follow my store and leave a rating if you download! Have a wonderful weekend, friends!

Apple Graph FREEBIE!

Hey all! Amy and I were kind of getting an overview of next few weeks, and we realized it's almost time for Apple Week in honor of Johnny Appleseed! I am working on re-vamping some of my apple stuff, and I wanted to share a FREEBIE with you all!

 

I always like to make an apple graph with my kiddos. I send a note home asking parents to send an apple to school with their child. Then we graph the apples we brought! Click on the picture below to pick up your FREE graphs and parent note!

{Please be sure to follow my store and leave feedback if you download!}

 

I also have my kids measure their apples in standard and nonstandard units. They wrap yarn around the apple and measure the yarn. You could also have them weigh the apples. Then I like to make applesauce for a yummy treat :)

 

Pssssst.....don't forget your apple themed math journal prompts! Pick them up HERE :)

 

ENJOY!

 

Giveaway Winner{s}!!

Hey all! I decided that since no one got the answer correct {at the time I posted, I was watching Million Dollar Listing LA on Bravo}, I am going to just give my three friends who entered BOTH packets :) Hope you enjoy! I will email them right now. Happy Labor Day :)

Giveaway Time!

Hi friends! Are you all so excited that it is a three day weekend? I am! I finally went back to school yesterday and I am glad I did. I needed to get out of the house and get my mind off of things. My kiddos were so excited to see me and had lots of cards and bucket fillers for me. Love them! However, it sure is nice to have a three day weekend before I really go back. I plan on taking it easy this weekend, getting caught up on things, and just getting back to "normal." 

 

My spririts are up today, so in honor of that {and a three day weekend!} I would love to give away your choice of....

 

....my {NEW!} Fall Frenzy Math Journal Prompts....

 

....or my Apple Week Math Journal Prompts!

 

The first person to guess which reality show marathon I have been watching all day will get their choice of math journal prompts. Be sure to leave your email address :)

MIA lately.... PLUS Communities, Apples, Voting {new TpT items!!}

Hi blog friends. I have been MIA lately. In fact, I have not been to school this week, due to some personal things going on in my life. I am going back to school tomorrow, but will be taking it easy {hopefully I can get a big chunk of our kiddos Dibel-ed}.  All I have to say is thank goodness for my wonderful friend Amy and the fact that we are team teaching this year. She has been a life saver this week.

 

They have been working on communities this week. Since I was not there, I do not have photos, but you can see some of the stuff they did in my post last year. Just picture two streets in the suburban community and twice as many skyscrapers! Amy said the kids had so much fun :) I can't wait to see their communities tomorrow!

 

It's about that time for Apple Thematic Units! I cannot wait until we start our Apple theme in the next couple of weeks! I have some apple themed math journal prompts in my little store. Be sure to pick up a copy by clicking HERE or clicking the picture below.

And I know its a couple months away, but I made a fun mini packet for the upcoming election! Pick up your copy HERE or clicking the picture below.

Daily 5, Mini-Tour & Bucket Fillers!!!

YOU GUYS. I loooove our class!! All 44 of them! They are doing AWESOME! I am loving this team teaching thing! We had our parent meeting last night, and we had a great turn out, and the parents all seemed excited :) Made us feel really good! We have great kids and great families for sure!

This week we have started the Daily 5. We are using Daily 5 for Dummies to help us plan our lessons. HOWEVER, we are taking it a bit slower. So what D5 for Dummies says to do in one day, we are doing in two. Yesterday and today we learned 3 ways to read a book. We also learned the CAFE strategy of Check for Understanding. Then we worked and worked on building our stamina for Read to Self. Amy and I were honestly a tad worried about how Read to Self would go with 44 kiddos, but OMG they were AMAZING!!! I am so excited for Daily 5 to really get up and running in the next several weeks :)

Okay, last week I was very busy with Open House and other last minute things, so I did not get to post photos of my classroom. These are from Open House night {so excuse all the baskets and whatnot all over the place!}

These are the packets we had for Open House... A checklist for what to do that night, Magic Confetti {I cannot remember who I got that from-if it's yours PLEASE leave a comment so I can give you credit!}, Cara's Student Info Sheet and Getting to Know Your Child sheet, my Helping Hands sheet {from my Beginning of the Year Forms}, and a Welcome letter explaining our class!

My teacher table {with the lanterns I bought and pom poms I made}

Our Classroom Jobs {from my store} and our library pockets. Each pocket has a popsicle stick in it. We write each child's reading level to help them find books in the library. It also serves as a hall pass!

My giant leaf from Ikea! This is a favorite reading area :)

Our Writer's Eye board {pick up your FREE copy here}

My teacher computer & Word Chunk Wall..... AND where my Smart Board is supposed to go.... still hasn't been installed :( I am getting impatient and antsy!!!

Our morning routine board. We say our pledges, then do the school creed, school song, class creed, character trait of the month, word of the week {not posted yet} and quote of the week {not posted yet}.

Our Tree-riffic Words! We will add each word of the week to this tree, so it will be FULL by the end of the year! This is also our turn-in station. Kiddos highlight their names on their papers before turning them in. No forgotten names!!!

Our Bucket Fillers!

To kick off Bucket Filling, Amy demonstrated using a tube of toothpaste. She squeeeeezed it all out.

Then we tried having a few friends put the toothpaste back in using toothpicks {because Mrs. Lynes has no toothpaste at home! Haha} Of course, we couldn't get it all back in! So we talked about how we can't take back our words, and if we say something hurtful, those words stick-even if we say sorry.

Then we read

and discussed what it meant to be a "Bucket Filler" and "Bucket Dipper." We made a Bucket Filler anchor chart and a Bucket Dipper anchor chart.

We threw away our Bucket Dipper chart because we will only fill buckets this year! :)

It's been a great year so far, and I am SO EXCITED!!

First day of team teaching!!

You guys, I LOVE my new class! All 45 of them :) Yep, read correctly. Forty-five sweeties. My friend Amy and I are team teaching this year, so we are sharing two classes of kiddos. We did a lot of stuff together with our classes last year and it was always so great! So after a lot of research and planning, we got the go-ahead from our principal to team teach! And believe it or not, lots of our parents are really excited about it, too! Not gonna lie, this morning I was a liiiittle nervous about having 45 bodies together ALL DAY, but it was AWESOME!!! They did so well! I think it'll be a great year, and we are going to be able to differentiate and meet the needs of so many more of our babies! So excited for a great year :)