Can You Say Busy?

 It's been a very crazy, busy week so far.  We have been doing lots of learning and having fun :).


This week we are learning the "or" sound. I was racking my brain trying to figure out what to do to get the children engaged in our phonics lessons.  So after much tossing and turning (yes things like this cause me to lose sleep, ha ha) I put together a new friend called, "Sorry Cory". I first showed the children a picture of him and they asked why he was sad, well I was ready for them. I wrote up a cute little story to explain why Cory had a sad face on and he pretty much does not like to do his chores.  I passed out 12 "or" words and sat them down around me.  We read the story together and every time we got to a blank line the children would quickly look down to see if they had the missing word.  They really had a lot of fun and didn't even notice it was lunch time by the time we had finished.

On Tuesday I drew a picture of "Sorry Cory" on 81/2 x 11 paper and put empty bubbles around him. I'm sorry I don't have a picture of it to show you but I can draw one up if anyone's interested or you can have a stab at it. Anyway, we all sat on the floor again and I had each student give me an "or" word.  I can't tell you how quick the were shooting words at me.  Amazing! So I asked the children where we should hang Mr. Cory and they said the sound board.  Up he went for my kiddos to reference to if they need him. :)  

Our reader required us to teach compare and contrast. I had taught it several months back but I don't think it really stuck with them. So I put it in a way that they can connect to.  This lesson comes from Abby. Go check it out if you haven't done so already.  Well I compared myself to the third grade teacher at my school.  I think the funniest thing on here is that she eats healthy food and I eat candy!? Okay, I have maybe had candy once or twice in front of them for a little pick-me-up, but I don't go chewing on candy all day long! They are too funny! The third grade teacher and I do bathroom break/snack after math so us teachers can use the bathroom too, since you know we can go whenever we please (are you sensing sarcasm?).

Our weekly basal reader is dealing with weather this week and the kids are LOVING it! I made this cute weather journals and each day we are checking the weather in a different country.  I honestly didn't think they would be THIS into it, but they can't wait to check the weather and use all their new weather vocabulary. :)

A few weeks ago at a faculty meeting I expressed my love for a Now Board! Google it now if you can! I want one terribly but they are $500 :*(. It converts any flat surface into a Smart Board! How cool is that?Well today my principal called me on the way home and said if I had heard about another piece of technology called a MimioTeach (click here to watch). We have money from Scholastic to get it and she wants to know more about it before actually getting it for our school. We can't seem to find any legit reviews on it so if anyone has heard good/bad reviews on it I would appreciate your feedback!  I'm just keeping my fingers crossed because it looks cool and there's no need for a bulky Smart or Promethean Board in my classroom.

Well it's time to plan some lessons for tomorrow. I like to do a big review on Thursday for our weekly reading test so the children think it's a piece of cake! See ya later alligator! I'm so first grade right?