First Week of School Activities

We had our first day of school with students Wednesday and I forgot how utterly exhausting and mind blowing that first day is! We did lots of rules, routines, and procedures but also made time for some fun first week things. 

Here is what we have been up to!

 You can purchase these Scholastic Order Form activities from Clutter Free Classroom HERE!

I also introduced the students to the Activ Expressions! They were literally asking me about them ALL week long and so Friday, we took a Multiple Intelligence Survey using the device! I adapted this activity from Laura Candler's printable survey which you can download free HERE! You can download the flipchart by clicking the image below.

Important Note: You must have Promethean Activ Inspire software installed on your computer to OPEN and use this file! Please do not download otherwise!

I also made some labels to go on my Activ Expression bins. You can download those by clicking the button below!

I have also decided to implement brain breaks into my classroom this year! We needed a little wake me up on Friday morning so we watched this HILARIOUS parody of I'm Sexy and I Know It, called I'm Elmo and I Know It! I am definitely adding this to my brain break file!

I plan on making some brain breaks sometime this week. Stay tuned to find out how I plan on incorporating this bad boy into my brain breaks!

I absolutely can't wait for it to get here!!

Long Range Plans and a Reading Interest Survey

Hey everyone! It's been an EXHAUSTING, but WONDERFUL first week of school! I love my students to pieces and the students are really loving Whole Brain Teaching! We're still working on whole class participation, but we will get there! I already had my instructional coach come in my room while we were doing it and she seemed quite interested! 

Anyway, I'm kinda late to the Freebie Friday party but I wanted to share a couple of things.

I have had a bunch of emails and comments asking whether or not I would share the long range plans you saw in THIS post. Of course, I would be HAPPY to share! It is already filled out, but you can just change it to suit your needs. 

Just click the picture below to download. I changed the font to Arial Narrow so that it didn't show up weird when you download it. It is a WORD document.

Something else I wanted to share with you is this Reading Interest Survey that I conducted with my class this week! We did it together as a class so I could explain each question. I think this is a great tool to get to know the students reading interests and habits. This file is a PDF. Just click the image below to download your copy!

Go link up at Blog Hoppin' if you haven't already!

Therapeutic Thursday

My therapy....

I mean really? Did you all not know??

Some of you may be vaguely familiar with my wine obsession. I tried to go without it for a week, but I think we all know how that turned out! LOL (I swear I'm not an alcoholic, I just really love wine!)

My other forms of therapy...

I have recently become obsessed with Trader Joe's chocolate!! I LOVE it!! If you have a Trader Joe's near you, you MUST try it!!

WHAT WHAT!!?? I love Julie Chen and the whole Big Brother drama!!! I might be watching right now while I blog...

These are my forms of therapy!

What are your forms of Therapy!? Please go visit Blog Hoppin' by clicking the picture below to link up with yours!

Technology Tip Tuesday

It's day 2 of Teacher Week 2012, but before we go there, I have a few more pictures from my room! I know I showed you my halfway finished birthday bags! Well here they are complete!

And the students come tomorrow, so I had to get everything ready on their desks!

That adorable "All About My Summer" sheet is from K-2 Texas Teacher! Just click the picture below to go grab your copy! It's only $1.00!!

Okay, onto Technology Tip Tuesday!

In this segment of Teacher Week, we will be sharing websites or tools that we use to teach or manage our classrooms!

My first favorite website of choice is Class Dojo! It is used for classroom management and behavior! You can view my post about it on Technology Tailgate HERE!

I also use Youtube and United Streaming ALL the time to show videos in the classroom or show read alouds with someone other than me reading!!

I love this website for Interactive Read Alouds!

Our faculty is receiving ipads next week and I was told about an app to help administer running records for Fountas and Pinnell! I am so excited to test it out! You can download it free on your iphone! Not sure if they have it available for other smartphones!

I discovered Prezi.com last year and it is like the new and fun Powerpoint! It twists and turns and does cool stuff! You can check it out by clicking my Meet the Teacher Prezi below!

And finally, the technology that I can't live without and use ALL the time, every day, are my Activ Expressions! They are interactive devices that connect with your Promethean or SMART board. You can put questions up on the board and students send their answers with these devices! You can informally assess, give quizzes and tests, practice math facts, give self paced tests and quizzes, and so much more! Our school is fortunate enough to have sets for most all classrooms! 

TIPS: Set them up with your students names so you can see exactly who hasn't answered and who answered what! I also keep them in a bin at each group so I don't have to distribute them every time we use them -- which is OFTEN! You can see the little bin in the desk preview above!

I start school with the kiddies tomorrow so I am kinda nervous!! I will probably be having those new class nightmares tonight! Wish me luck!

Go link up your Teacher Tip with Blog Hoppin' HERE!

Classroom Reveal and Must Haves Monday

I know you all have been DYING to see my classroom reveal! HAHA Well, we had Meet the Teacher tonight so I had to have it ready! Meet the Teacher went well, BTW. =)

And after the reveal I will be showcasing my Classroom MUST HAVES and giving you a FREEBIE for back to school!

Every teacher has things they can't live without in their classrooms! Here are my MUST HAVES!

Go link up with your must haves HERE!

If you click my Ginger Snaps button below, you can download a copy of some of the forms I send home for parents to fill out for the teacher. This is a ZIP file, so you will not be able to open it unless you have an unzipping program.

1500 Follower Giveaway Winner

Congratulations to Meagan from Buzz Around in 2nd Grade! 

I will back with more later! 

We have meet the teacher tomorrow, so my class should be ready for the full reveal!! YIKES! I'm so excited! I'm already so pleased with how it's turning out! Just have some finishing touches!

Have a relaxing Sunday!