Managing Behaviors

I came across this idea on managing behaviors.  It sounds easy to do and effective.  I plan on trying it and thought others might as well.  I am always looking for new ways to help keep a peaceful classroom environment.

http://www.teachhub.com/teacherstudent-game-competitive-behavior-management

I'm Back! Read Alouds!

Yes, it's been a long time.  Thanks for not giving up on me.  Today's post will be a quick one!  I came across this great article on read alouds with the kindergartener and first grader.  It caught my eye because it didn't have a list of all the books kids should be able to read but had a discussion on the types of books kids need to be reading.  There is a step system of Core vocabulary that puts things in perspective for the primary teacher.  Check it out.

http://textproject.org/topics/beginning-reading/

Staying Steady and Quick ideas

It's been a very busy couple of months.  Here are just a few things that we have done this week.

I had a beautiful snowman salt shaker that I've had for years and I just found a cute Santa on a chimney salt/pepper shaker.  I like having small ways to decorate my desk for the season so I bought them.  Yes they were on sale.  I put extra fine glitter in each one.  I sprinkle a little bit of Christmas Spirit on each child.  Not too much.  Just enough to be able to see the sparkle on their clothes.

We skyped with our new friends from Texas.

We had our Christmas Concert.  Don't we look lovely.

We will do an hour of code today.  Check that out here.  This Computer Science Week.

One of my students created this Santa and Reindeer display.  I had to put it up!

 This was our Thanksgiving Family homework project.  I had them create beautiful wreaths.

 I love love love Pinterest!  16 triangles and 13 elves…So cute!

 Another Pinterest Special!  Love my Reindeer door!

 Have you ever thought about putting up a placemat as a decoration?  I love my red snowflake! Cheap and easy!

 Garland in the door way….easy decoration!

We will have our holiday celebration today.  We will be adding to the Red Barrel called Operation Happiness.  It's a way for my students to give back.

I hope all is well and that you are enjoying the holiday season.

Love Augmented Reality

   

Dancing pumpkins

       I came across this great app called colAR Mix.  It is the neatest thing to play with.    The app is free.  I downloaded the free picture of pumpkins.  I made copies and had all of my kids color the picture either with colored pencils or bright markers, no black.  Leave the blank spaces white to allow the camera to see the pumpkins.  Place the picture on the table and turn on the app.  Scan it until you see the blue tinted screen and hold it still.  Up pops those colored pumpkins dancing around.  It is so fun.  We all love it.  You can stick you hand under the scanner and the pumpkins still dance.  This is so fun.  It fits in well with my pumpkin unit.

The site has other pictures that you can download but you need to upgrade at a cost to the be able to see the those pictures dance on the screen.

Check out the website at: http://colarapp.com   
  

Here is a video showing just what these adorable pumpkins and other images can do.

colAR Mix

Enjoy!

Power Polygon Pumpkins

I love Investigation's Power Polygons.  My kids had such fun creating pumpkins and pumpkin patches with them.  I love their imagination.

Have a fantastic week!

Dollar Tree Fabulous Find

Have you seen these great Halloween character boxes yet?  I bought the 3 sets for my math games.  Each set has 2 boxes of the same character, one big, one small.  They each have googly eyes.

       I stacked them on my desk and the kids just thought that they were decoration until math rolled around.  They were so excited to see what games I was able to put into each of the boxes. 

I found some little pumpkins and acorns in Target’s dollar section and knew that they would be perfect counters in a box.  I have the kids count (in groups of 10 of course) and then write up their total on a sticky note.

I have 100’s of rubbery bugs that fit well into another box for counting. 

I am a dice addict and have a black pumpkin dice that went well with the easy pumpkin game.  I also quartered paper for the box. 

I added 2 large dice (orange and green) along with some pigs and numberlines to 50.  They roll the dice and move their piggie along.  For those kids  that can handle it.  I have them start to subtract their piggie after the number 10.

Another box has a plus and minus dice in it with 2 regular dice and a recording sheet.  So the roll 2 numbers and a plus or minus sign and write that as a math equation on the sheet.

I had 3 sets of numbers for counting by 5’s to 100.  This one is tough for some of my kiddos.

Here is the Hairy Monster on our door.  I found these 2 gigantic googly eyes at Target and I pulled out some Easter grass.  The kids had fun creating him.  Our custodian wants to know when it's coming down.  It's a little messy.  He keeps shedding.......Ha Ha

Have a great Halloween!  Maybe I should take Friday off....It's gonna be crazy the day after Halloween.

What did you carry into school today?

I am exhausted already and school hasn't even started for the day.  Teachers seem to have super human strength when it comes to carrying things from their vehicles.  I get my workout  in just walking into the school daily.   What did you carry into school today?

Did you notice the sandals?  There is snow forecast for the area this week but I just can't give up my sandals yet.  How many of you are still wearing yours?

I just love Pic Collage.