Another fun font that I use!  This font is great for newsletters! 

                                                                                                    One of my favorite fonts to use in my classroom is the “Doctor Soos Bold” font.  The labels that I have posted under Classroom Labels are made with the “Doctor Soos Bold” font.  If you download my labels and the font is not the same on your document, that is because you don’t have the same font that I used to make the document.  I will try to find the fonts that I use and find the link for you to download.  I found the Dr. Soos bold font!  There is also a Dr. Seuss font available, but I like the Dr. Soos better.  When you follow the link below to the website, download the font and save it in your documents.  I recommend that you create a “font file folder” to store your special fonts in.  This makes it easy to share these fun teacher fonts with your coworkers.  After you download and save to your file, right click and copy the font.  Open your control panel and find your computer’s font folder.  Right click and paste the font into your computer’s font folder.  If you have trouble let me know and I will try to explain in more detail.

I love my Cricut!  If you are a scrapbooker and have a Cricut Machine, you can have so much fun with vinyl in your classroom.  I use my Cricut to cut out letters for bulletin boards on cardstock too!  But my favorite thing to do is cut out polka dots and letters to decorate all of those plastic containers in my classroom.  These hand sanitizer bottles were so much fun to play with.  I peeled off the Purell label, tied coordinating ribbon around the top, and used my Cricut to cut out the letters for my name and inital on each bottle.  These would also make great teacher gifts!  If you have a Cricut, share how you use your Cricut for your classroom.  I love hearing new ways to use mine! 

WOW!  I can’t believe it is that time of year again!  We went back to school for our professional development and teacher workdays this week.   I still have several things to do in my classroom before the big day on Monday! I know it will all get done, but the process can be so stressful!  This weekend I will be labeling folders, making BEE Binders, and sorting school supplies.  I thought I would share with you my favorite way to store all of those extra school supplies that will be used throughout the year.  A few years ago I was on a teacher site (I can’t remember which one), and I saw a picture of  how she stored her materials.  I thought this would be great for storing my students’ supplies, and it turned out to be perfect.  I found these 3-drawer containers at Walmart, and I still see them all of the time.  I used apple nametags from our local school supply store and wrote numbers on each drawer.  After I get my roll, I assign a number to every student.  All of their extra supplies go in their numbered drawer.  I love this system because I can quickly check to see what students need extra supplies when I send a supplies reminder home. 

One of the ways I keep my classroom running smoothly is by the help of my “Table Captains.”  I have 4 tables in my classroom, and they are organized by color; red, green, blue, and yellow.  Each table has 4 or 5 students.  At the beginning of every week, one student is named the “Table Captain” for the entire week.  This picture shows how I organize the rotation of the students.  I turn the top of the star to the child who comes next.  I will describe below how I made the Star Spinners.  The Table Captain is the student at each table who is in charge of getting and putting away any materials or manipulatives that are needed for their table during a lesson. 

Here is a close-up of the Star Spinner for the blue table.  I cut out a white circle and laminated it before writing on it.  I wrote Table Captain on the blue star before I laminated it.  I used a brad to attach the star to the white circle, and this allows the star to spin.  I wrote the names of the students who sit at the blue table.  Willie would be the Table Captain for this week, Ian would be the Table Captain the following week, and so on… 

After I choose the student to be the Table Captain, he/she will put this Star Cone at his/her desk as a fun reminder that they are the Table Captain for the week.  This also helps to remind the other students that want to take over the job! I found these cute cones at Party City in the circus section.  The stars are out of a pack of cut-outs.  I hot-glued the stars to a popsicle stick, and I punched a hole in the top of the cone to poke the popsicle stick through.

 Are you looking for a little something to give to your students on Move-In Day or the First Day of School?  This Hershey Wrapper Template is an easy way to turn a simple treat into a personal gift! As I was printing labels for my folders tonight, I started thinking of what I could put in my students’ back-to-school bags I give out at Move-In Day.  All I have so far is a pencil!  Well today I bought my girls’ teachers a Hershey Bar for their Back-to-School Pails, so I thought it would be a great idea to wrap a Hershey Bar like they do at weddings and showers.  I “Googled” but could not find a template I liked without paying up to 20 dollars, so I decided to create my own and share it with you!  I did not add a colored background or lots of clipart like some I’ve seen on the web, because I have to print out 20 of these and that is alot of ink!   After you download the file, change the text to make it your own!  You can also change the clipart if you have a certain theme you use in your classroom.  Don’t change the ”blue” shape box, because that is the size the shape needs to be to wrap around the Hershey Bar.  Have fun making your students a fun back-to-school treat that they will remember!  

If you create a Hershey wrapper that you would like to share with others, join our “Teaching with Passion Community” by clicking on the tab above.  Sign-in and after you are approved, you can create your own personal profile and start uploading your great ideas to share with us! 

Last year I decided to try something a little different.  I wanted to make my calendar more interactive, but my bulletin board with my calendar just wasn’t cutting it!  What better way to make it more interactive than with the SMARTBoard.  I looked on SMART Exchange and found an adorable notebook that a teacher had created with a calendar and many other activities.  I downloaded it and edited the notebook by adding my own personal touches.  I added my own pages as well to incorporate things I was already doing during my Morning Meeting/ Calendar Math.  This 36 page SMART Notebook Activity will engage your students as you start your day with the following activities:  Attendance/Calendar/Days/Months/How Many Days in School-Place Value/Weather Tally/Lost Tooth Graph/Venn Diagrams/Survey Question/Counting Money and Coin Review/Addition and Subtraction/Number Line/Numbers and Number Words/Fact Families/Shapes

 There are 12 calendars included with interactive number cards and holiday cards to label your calendar.  The kids love to manipulate the pictures on the calendar!  The other activities can be used on different days of the week to introduce, review, or reinforce the skills you are teaching in math. Throughout the notebook you will see empty boxes with a music note.  This is where I inserted my songs that I use during my calendar time.  The songs are not included due to copyright, but most of my music came from my trusty Dr. Jean and Mr. AL CDs.  I start off on the first day of school with this notebook by teaching the students how to move their name on the attendance chart and completing the calendar activities.  I always do the daily routines like calendar, weather, counting how many days in school, and tooth tally every day.  I don’t do all of the other activities every day.  I pick one or two extra each day and change it up throughout the week.  Directions are included in a pull down tab on each page, but if you have any questions let me know.  The original version of this can be found on SMART Exchange under Calendar.

Recently I’ve had a few people interested in how I manage my reading group rotation and literacy centers.  This is the chart that I use in my classroom.  I got the idea from a teacher at our school (Cindy) and I love it!  I have used it for 2 years, and it is the best that I have tried.  I’m going to try to explain it the best that I can.  If you have any questions just let me know. 

When I am doing my reading groups, I have the class divided into 3 groups of 6 or 7 students each.  The wheel shows the 3 groups and how they rotate.  I have one group of 6 at their seats doing independent practice activities.  I have another group of 6 students with me at the reading group table.  The remaining 6 students are at a literacy center.  I only have one student in a center to cut down on noise and play.  Some teachers like to have a pair in a center, so you could have only 3 centers.  The blue pocket chart shows my 6 centers: 

I really hope this makes sense!  Let me know if it doesn’t and I will try again!

My students love their poetry journals!  Each student in my class has a regular 3-prong folder in a designated color.  We don’t ask for these on our supply list, so I just watch the sales to see when I can get them cheap! I don’t like the 3-prong plastic folders because they are extremely hard for my first graders to open by themselves.  (I even have trouble.) I use these labels so when I tell my students to take out their poetry journal with the crayons, it helps them distinguish between all of the other folders. Every time I introduce a new poem, we add the poem to their poetry journal sometime during the week.  The copy of the poem that I give them has no pictures, so that my students can  illustrate the poem with their own meaning and creativity.  We use highlighters to find our word wall words.  Their poetry journal stays in their book browsing box to read when all of their other work is finished.  This also makes a great literacy center activity or independent learning activity!   Use Avery template 8163 or Office Max OM99062 White Shipping Labels.

 Labels- Poetry Journal

I LOVE LABELS!  Are you as crazy for them as I am?  Ok, I will admit that I am a little OCD when it comes to my students’ folders.  I like for all of their folders to be the same color with the same labels and their names all in the same place.  It just makes it easier for my first graders to transition from each activity, which in turn makes my job easier!  If you look under the Resources tab above, I have added a new page called Classroom Labels.  These are the labels that I use in my classrooom.  I would love to hear about what you label in your classroom, so please comment and share what works for you!  Check back often, as I will always find more things to label!  (I know, it is an addiction!)