Science Lesson- Cloud Cover

 

One thing you should know about me... I LOVE teaching science! 

 Today we learned the vocabulary words cloudy and clear.  We started by observing today's sky.  It happened to be clear.  We talked about how that would be easy to draw in our science notebooks and I drew an example on the board.  The only thing we need in our sky is the sun.  Next, I asked how would my picture change if it was cloudy?  I added clouds until the sun was covered. I asked questions to get rid of misconceptions like are clouds made of cotton balls?  smoke?  cotton candy?  No, they are made of tiny drops of water.

 Is the sun still there even though we can't see it?  Which is closer to us the clouds or the sun?  It looks like the clouds are covering the sun but it is just because we are so far away from the sun.  We modeled this idea of perspective using the lights on the ceiling and our hands.  Our hands were the clouds and the lights were the sun. 







We read the book Little Cloud by Eric Carle.  On each page we talked about cloudy vs. clear.  How clouds do not actually take or move by themselves. 




Next I told the kids they could draw a picture in their notebooks like I did but...it'd be way more fun to make a flip book!  So we did.  Here's what 2 looked like.  Each student got 1 piece of construction paper, 2 suns (copied from google images) and some scrap white paper.  They folded their paper in half to create 2 skies.  One clear and one cloudy.  The students colored the sun and labeled with markers.  The students cut out clouds from the white paper and glued them down to cover some or all of the sun.  You can't see the front but the students wrote the title, "The Sky Can Be..."

Pretty quick and painless and a whole lotta fun.  Hope you like it.  Let me know if you use it or if you have a way to change it to make it better.  I'd love to hear from you.

Behavior- Using CHAMPS

I thought you might find it helpful to explain a little more on how I'm keeping track of my student's behavior.  I showed you some posters on my previous post "Classroom Tour" explaining the color system.  I mentioned that I use CHAMPS and a clip board with my student's names on it.  Here's the page I use.  It lasts me a week.  I carry this around everywhere.  The kids can come check how they're doing whenever they like and I almost always tell them when I'm writing down a tally and why.  Tallies can be "erased" (Never erase, just cross it out.  It's good data to keep) I'm fairly certain my dear sweet colleague Meagan made this in Excel.  I posted a copy from one of my former years.  I keep these all year long.  You'd be surprised how many times I need to reference the.  Parent conferences, behavior specialists, giving out special awards, all kinds of stuff. 


http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/CHAMPS-tally-sheet

Speaking of special awards.  Last year we, as a grade level, went through our Tallies pages and found the student who had the least amount of tallies for the six weeks.  We named this kiddo the CHAMP of the ____ Six Weeks.  They got their picture taken with the principal, a special certificate, a cool sticker, and some 15 tickets.  It was a BIG deal.  I turned the picture into a magnet by mounting it on a die cut of a school house.  We hung the magnets on the door frame outside our rooms.  At the end of the year all CHAMPS from every six weeks in all 4 1st grade classrooms got to have a special CHAMPS lunch with the principal and assistant principal.  We decorated an unused classroom for them and even played "We Are the Champions" when they walked in!  They LOVED IT!

A Little More on the Tour

 

 

 

 

My space.  Let me be perfectly honest.  My desk will never be this clean again.  So I just had to snap a picture and send it into forever so that everyone can see that on this day my desk had this much wood showing.  Fact is I just don't spend a lot of time here so it tends to be a sorting pile destination.  With my little man at home I like to do as much as I can from home and while I'm teaching I just about never sit down, you know how that is I'm sure.  I am going to make an effort keep it cozy this year so I broke down and bought some fancy fabric at Hobby Lobby this year.  I also found this sweet little Count You Blessings sign at, of all places, HEB plus!  I thought it would be sweet to hang it above my former students' heads.  I put my ugliest classroom run under my desk for my toes. 


And this would by my to-do list board.  Oh where or where would I be without a to-do list ? I'll tell you where in an asylum!   

Here's my door.  Nothing special yet.  Except that notebook see him down there?  One of my students is has a parent that works at our school.  This first week has been a little tough for him to adjust to.  He knows she's here and wants to see her immediately.  Makes sense.  I tell ya now that I'm a mom I'm way more sensitive to these things.  So, when he's missing his mom he writes and draws pictures for her in their special notebook and then returns it to the door.  When she finds a second she'll cruise by our room and write him back.  It's been working for a few days now.  So if you have a sweet little "teacher kid" and they're having trouble.  Try this!

 

Venturing out into the hallway.  If you're like me and you spent the summer scouring pinterest, you were bound to find something to copy.  Mine were these little name tag clips.  Funnies thing:  while I was on my Hobby Lobby crusade for supplies to make these I kept running into dead ends.  They were out of boards, out of chalk board paint. Got me wondering, how many other teachers were here before me making the exact same thing?  God bless pinterest.  I got the caricature from the State Fair last year.  It just makes me smile. 

 

 

 

Last thing totally random.  Tower of Tissues!

Why the heck do I always have a million Kleenex boxes?  Why oh why can't it be dry erase makers?  I really wish we could individualize our school supply lists.  It's a nice dream. 

 

 

 

 

Behavior and Rewards

Ticket Rewards-

I'm sure you've heard of many teachers using tickets as rewards. It totally works for me. I put some in my pocket each morning and give them out with appropriate behavior or participation. Students put their name on the back and turn it into the basket on my desk. The beauty of the tickets is I can hold as many drawings in a day as I want. I don't ask the children to save them up and cash them in. Waaaaay too complicated for me. As soon as the ticket is pulled it is thrown away and the winner can choose a reward from the poster. I created most of the rewards and left some space at the bottom for student's ideas. Another little gem with these is you can totally rig the winners! It's like magic for you most struggling students to win with the first sign of good behavior. Talk about positive reinforcement. Last year my kids came up with the idea of putting a "Whole Class" ticket. If that's pulled everyone gets a ticket reward. You can also pull a ticket and wait to announce the winner when the lesson is over or supplies are put away. It's a great way to get kiddos down to the carpet quickly. I just can't say enough about ticket drawings!

We created our class rules together the first week of school. The kids brainstormed rules and I guided them into fitting our school's code of conduct.

 

 

Classroom Colors- We use a color system in the classroom.  Everyone starts on green.  If they are not following CHAMPS rules the drop to yellow.  If it continues the move to blue and parents are called.  If the problem still progresses students are on red and we involve the principal.  All of my other years of teaching we've used this system in tandem with a stick.  Each child has a clip with their name on it and we carry it around with us.  This year our Positive Behavior committee decided it is not appropriate for us to be broadcasting our student's colors to the school by carrying around a stick for all to see.  So the colors stayed but the stick is dead.  May he rest in peace.  Makes sense.  I agree with their thinking but I'm having some adjustment to not having the stick at all.  I'm going to give it a fair shot.  I do still use my CHAMPS sheet on my clip board but I'm worried about not having the visual for my little guys.  We'll see....it's gonna be fine. 

 

 

Now if the kiddos make it a week with greens and/or purples they receive a prize from the treasure box on Friday.  It's a big deal.  My little nephew Carter had a pirate birthday party last year and my sister ordered this pirate treasure chest from Oriental Trading Co. to use as a cooler.  I of course snagged it as soon as the last drink was gone.  A must for my classroom.  I was worried about it being inflatable and lasting more than a week but we're going on year 2...fingers crossed.  :)   

 

Items in the treasure box, hmmm I guess I should really be calling it a Treasure Chest!  lol  It started as a box I decorated just so ya know.  Anyway items can be anything from rings to silly bands, stickers to books.  I got soooo mad at my class last year when they complained, "There's only books left."  ooooooohhhhweee you did not want to be in the front row that day. 

 

I'm going to hope for lots of parent donations to keep the treasure chest stocked this year. I seem to have a rockin' group of parents so I think I'll be okay.  

 

The treasure chest is sitting here with our student computer.  See those labeled colorful solo cups?  They will soon be hanging on the pretty blue wall to be used as bucket fillers.  This was my first send home parent request.  I passed this amazing momma a bag of cups, post-its, tape, and a sharpie in morning assembly and she returned these beautiful "buckets" by dismissal.  Amazing!  Now if I can only remember to ask others for help this year.  One of my personal goals for 2012-2013

 

 

 

 Fuzzy Ball Jar- Use for compliments from other teachers.  Most originate in the hallways.  There are 2 sizes of fuzzy balls regular sized for teacher compliments and "big momma" fuzzy balls for principal compliments.  See how full it is with "big mommas?" We had a fire drill on Friday and our principal was so positive when we walked by.  Yay!  They are super close to filling up the jar to the first line: class treat.  This will get them something like a fancy sticker, pencil, eating lunch in the classroom etc.  The top line is class party.  Now I know we are not supposed to say "party"  but you know that really is just for the kids to get super excited.  They will vote for a popcorn, Popsicles, ice cream, bubble gum, etc. sssssshhh...party!

 

 

What do you use for your rewards?  What kind of behavior tricks do you have up your sleeves?  Please share or leave a comment on how you might alter mine.  I'm all ears :)

 

Classroom Tour

Here are some pictures of my home away from home.  I have been blessed this year with 23 little ones.  Whew...that's a lot.  That's the largest class I've ever started with.  So I've been arranging, rearranging, and rearranging some more to try to get the best traffic flow in my room.  Now that I've rocked it a week.  I gotta say, it's working pretty darn well.  Priority number one: workspace for each little one.  Priority number two:  a cozy place for my couch.  Priority number three: vocabulary walls.  :) 
Buckle your seat belts...I'll be your tour guide. 

Hanging above the doorway is my sign I had so much fun painting this summer.  You gotta love a Hobby Lobby 1/2 price sale.  I watched the ad for when they put their wooden supplies on sale and then scooped up these little letters and some cute little robots to put on the ends.  I loooove it.  Especially since this is the first year teaching with my maiden name. Sorry it's a little dark but for some reason the motion sensor lights wouldn't come on in the stinkin' hallway.  No clue why. 

 

Up next is a view of how the tables are arranged. I'm working with 5 student tables.  Notice my little guy there just trying his best to get to the pencils and scissors.  I need 5 arms. 

 

This wall is pretty hard to reach due to the cubbies.  I'm blessed with a classroom that has 2 walls full of cubbies.  Sounds awesome and it is.  But, it does cut down on bulletin board options.  So this is a board I don't really change throughout the year.  It houses our Ticket Reward Poster, Classroom Rules Poster, and Behavior Colors.  Please visit the post "Behavior" for explanations and close up pictures. 

 

This is the wall of cubbies my student's use for their back packs.  One of my little sweeties came up with the idea of putting their crayon box in at the end of the day so the custodians would have an easier time cleaning the tables!  Don't you just love those little teachers in training?

 

 

Welcome to the reading corner!  Under the word wall my little ones can curl up on the couch or the rug and pull a book for the grouped baskets.  There are little stuffed animals or "reading buddies" for them to read to sitting on the top shelf.  Books we've read in read alouds stand up on the shelf.  So far it's been a hit.  The couch also faces the white board and is a great incentive for participation.  Students who are consistently raising their hands and sharing ideas get to leave the carpet and sit on the couch for the rest of the lesson.  They love it!

 

Vocabulary Walls.  Aren't they beautiful?  And to make it even better guess who came up before school started to help me with these.  My sweet dear old dad.  He's always got my back.  There's not much on here now but soon it will be full of vocabulary words that are colored coded for each subject and examples of student work. 

 

 

Below the beautiful vocab walls are my center shelves. They are totally not the way I want them but who in the world has their centers running the first week of school? Not me...The colored buckets are literacy centers and clear buckets are math centers.  See that adorable Cars rug?  I found it for $9 at Wal-Mart. You know that chaotic clearance isle?  Well this little gem was just calling my name.  I love it! 

 

Here's my math shelf.  Don't judge me.....it's a work in progress.  Not cute but you know who is?  My sweet little nephew Carter sitting there on the floor.  Hey man! 

 

 

 

On to the front of the room.  The white board wall houses the calendar along with my rocking chair.  Here you can find the objective board and Champs board. 

The kids place magnets on the appropriate

picture for each learning activity. 

I used Cara Carroll's schedule cards from
the First Grade Parade.  I'm gonna need a
full blog entry to describe to you how much
First Grade Parade has helped me.  I LOVE
FIRST GRADE PARADE!  What an
inspiration. 

 

Underneath the white board are the animal reading strategies.  If the kids are going to space out while I'm teaching I'd rather they look at something beneficial.  I mounted them on paper plates to change things up. 

 

 

 

 

Last stop on the white board...Our daily schedule.  I bought these magnets last year when I had a student who desperately needed to know what was happening next.  We take down the subjects as we go.  Right now I have a copy of my schedule hanging until I memorize it myself!  haha

 

The table job wheel helps me use cooperative learning.  The black number wheel spins each week and the students get a new job.  I'm not a pro at using it yet.  This is my first time but I have already seen a HUGE improvement in pack up time and passing out papers is lightning fast. 

 

Helper Job Description:  Trash-throw away trash for the group.  Chair- stack chairs at the end of the day for the group.  Captain- pass out papers, get notebooks/folders from the table buckets.  Caddy- Sharpens pencils, gets glue buckets for table. 

 

What about all the other stuff you need help with?  Well for the extras like needing someone to take a note to the office, that's a job for...THE TEACHER HELPER! 

Each student has a number that I use for their cubbies, take home folders, etc.  I found this little photo album lying around my house.  I used some little polka dot name cards I got a Dollar Tree and some super hero stickers to make this.  I just wrote the number with a Sharpie.  I flip a page each day and the student that matches the number gets to be the Super Teacher Helper of the day. 

 

 

 

Also hanging on our white board is our Smarty Pants.  Inspired by the one and only Babbling Abby of The Inspired Apple.  Another one of my fav bloggers!  I used fabric paint, rhinestones, and a pair of Mateo's old jeans.  When a kiddo makes a really creative comment or shows critical thinking the whole class cheers "Smaaaaaarttttty Pants!" They get to hang their award on their chair for the day and eat the smarties in the pocket.  Abby has some precious little tickets she uses to write why they won the award.  They are super cute and great parent communication.  Thanks for the idea sister my kids LOVE it! 

 

I hope you've enjoyed this classroom tour.  I will have more pictures very soon.  Stay tuned for my desk/personal corner, behavior tricks, ticket rewards, and more.  Thanks for stopping by.  Please leave feedback or ask questions. 

 

 

 

The First Grade Circle- First Post Ever!

Welcome!  I hope you will enjoy my sweet lil' blog.  I teach 1st grade in my hometown of Buda, TX and I absolutely adore my job.  I am a single mom of one precious little boy named Mateo and to quote Forest Gump, "Me and Teo are like peas and carrots."  He'll be 2 in November and I swear he learns 10 words a day....so fun!
Dollar Tree, Target,  and Walmart seem to be my frequent hangouts. I have a newfound love for scrap booking paper and I love me some flip flops. 

I teach at the most wonderful school and I am totally blessed to work every single day with a dream team. The four of us could take over the world.  haha  But seriously I think if we put enough energy into it we could. 

Now that you know a little bit about me I hope you will find some fun ideas for you to use with your kiddos.  The great thing about a good idea is it's usually inspired by another idea.  So whether you like mine or they help think of your own...may this blog make your life a little bit easier and a whole lot more fun. 

-Ms. Ebner