Five for Friday! {August 29, 2014}

Why hello  there 3 day weekend... it's soooo nice to see you!!  I'm linking up with Kacey at Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday! Here are five random things from this week.

One

Today we read Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons and then we did some fun activities to go along with this too cute book.

We made our first snazzy snack of the year... Pete the Cat inspired!

We made paper plate buttons. I called them by groups to come up and forming categories for their buttons by the characteristics that their buttons had in common. They then shared how they decided what went together and why.

Colorful/designs is what they said these all were.

One color with button holes is what they called this group

Buttons with writing is what they said about their buttons.

and happy face buttons... you can't tell the best but the one on the far right does have some happy faces. :)

They did so great with their ideas of how to sort and group their buttons!

Two

This year my school has began implementing workshops at two different times a day. Since all students learn at different paces and have differing abilities, these workshops allow for all students to get some extra practice in the areas of their needs. For those students who may need a little extra practice with beginning and ending consonant sounds I have been using Build-a-Skill Instant Books from Creative Teaching Press. These are a perfect little resource! We begin by discussing the sound and then we brainstorm words that begin with that sound. After we brainstorm the list together, I then have students complete one of the little instant books by themselves for the letters that we just discussed and brainstormed.

Creative Teaching Press has a variety of the Build-a-Skill Instant Books to choose from for different skills. AND they are on sale for $2.40 right now!! Yes, you read that correctly....$2.40!!! So go getcha some...or all of them!!! ;) They can also be purchased in eBook editions from $5.99-$7.99. 

Three

In math we have have been working with number bonds. I love using these plastic plates to practice our number bonds! 

Four

We have been working hard in our interactive reading journals! This week we learned all about singular and plural nouns. This is a singular/plural sorting activity found in my Reading Street Interactive Journal Printables pack.

After we read Pete the Cat today one of my little sweeties raised her hand said "do you know what, Miss Elisabeth? When Pete had four buttons that was plural and then when he only had his belly button, that was singular!" LOVE IT!! She totally made my teacher heart happy!! I love it when things click and they share things like that with me. Makes me feel like I'm doing something right! :)

Five

There is only one day left to enter to win the Seat Sack Classroom Pack that I'm giving away! If you have not entered this giveaway yet be sure to do so ASAP.... you don't want to miss out on the opportunity to win such a great pack! You can enter below by using the rafflecopter. Be sure to check out my original blog post HERE to learn all about how I am using these in my classroom! They are such a BIG help with storage and classroom management. Seat Sacks are a classroom must have!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Well, that's my Five for Friday! Be sure to link up with Kacey!

Have a fabulous 3 day weekend blog friends! :)

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Teacher Week 2014-Meet the Teacher!

It's teacher week over at Blog Hoppin'! And today is Who Monday! 

So here is a little bit about ME :)

My name is Elisabeth and I teach first grade in Tennessee! This is my seventh year as a teacher and I have been in a first grade all seven years and love it dearly! 

My Little Family

Are my guys cuties, or what!!??  I'm so lucky to have these sweet boys! LOOOOOOVE them! :) There is nothing I love more than coming home to these two smiling faces every day. I'm one lucky girl. :)

 Dexter is my sweet fur baby... and I would seriously take him everywhere with me if I could. He isn't spoiled... much! ha

  

In the summer you can find us on the pontoon. Love me some sunshine, fishing, relaxation and a good ole game of Rummy on DHL with my favorite guy!

Friends

I met my bestest friends when I was in college {the couple on the left}. I started working for them at their recycling center while I was in college. We became instant besties the first day and the rest is history. We double date, go to Titans games, and on vacations together. Some of my best and happiest times have been with these two plus Eric. They are two of the best blessings that God has ever given me and I'm so thankful he brought them into my life. :)

Love them! :)

My other bestie is my child hood friend, Steph. We go all the way back to Kindergarten. So thankful we have remained such good friends for so long....Love her!

And I'm lucky to have some great work friends as well!

Some Things I Love

 country music, sweets, cooking, crafting, the lake, fishing, traveling, children's books, purses, shoes, running, NASCAR {Go Jimmie Johnson}, football {Titans and UT}, pasta, sweet tea, Lilly Pulitzer, creative teaching press, Target, pinterest, soap operas, and my family.

And here are 10 totally RANDOM things about me...

Thanks to Amy for sharing the cute template!


And I wanted to share with you something I was excited about! Today, I was featured in an online article about my little classroom! I would love for you to check out the post here: Miss Delk’s Back-to-School Tips with Seat Sack Colorful Classroom Management

And don't forget to enter this amazing giveaway that I'm hosting for a classroom pack of 25 Seat Sacks!

You can read all about how I use them HERE and you can enter the giveaway using the rafflecopter below or at the original post.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Well that's me in a nutshell. Be sure to link up with Blog Hoppin' with your Who Monday post!

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Classroom Management {Seat Sack Style} and a BIG, BIG Giveaway!!

Today I wanted to share some classroom management ideas with you...Seat Sack style! This year I have my largest group yet-- 24 first graders! I have a very small classroom and space and storage and organization is a major issue for me. This summer I spent quite a bit of time trying to find alternatives to help me save on space because I knew I was going to have such a large group. I decided to try Seat Sacks by The Original Seat Sack Company to help me out with storage and classroom management. I have always loved the idea of them and thought they looked great and would be a super resource to add to my classroom. When I received my box of awesomeness I fell completely in love with them!!! The colors were so bright and fresh! They were the perfect size and fit for my student chairs and will do a fabulous job of helping me out with my storage problems. Seat Sacks are absolutely amazing and I don’t know why I did not get them sooner....I have truly been missing out and now can't imagine not having them. I LOVE them!

I would love to share with you all the reasons that make Seat Sacks so amazing and why Seat Sacks are an essential classroom must have!! Seat Sacks come in five different sizes, ranging from small up to adult. There is a Seat Sack for everyone!

Seat Sacks have a wonderful variety of colors to fit your classroom color scheme. Colors include original blue, apple red, crisp green, tuxedo black, sunny yellow, royally purple, and fresh orange. The colors are all bright and vibrant. When I opened the box the colors were speaking to me because they were all so bright and fun.

The colors I picked for my classroom were green, blue, purple, orange, and red. I decided to group my students in 4 groups of 6 so I am only using the green, blue, purple, and orange ones this year.

Aren't the colors so bright and fun?? 

Seat Sacks are flame retardant, which is sure to score you some points with the fire marshal! Seat Sacks slip right on the back of the student chairs. Seat sacks can be used to hold books, journals, graded papers, and supplies. Each Seat Sack has a clear pocket for you to slip the included name card into. There is also an option to have the name cards printed with your school name or logo. Additional name cards can be purchased in packs of 25. Seat sacks are sturdy and very well made. Chairs still stack easily without having to remove the Seat Sack. Seat Sacks are machine washable and can be tumbled dry. This will be super handy and sure to help keep my Seat Sacks looking good for many years to come.

Now that you know some of the many reasons that Seat Sacks are so amazing, I would love to share with you some of the ways I plan to use them in my classroom this year. In my class I have my students sitting in groups. Each group is a color and I have corresponding caddies and baskets at each group. I call the groups by color when I need them to do certain things. For example, green group line up or blue group go vote for lunch. I was beyond excited when I realized that Seat Sacks come in such a variety of colors. This meant that I could not only coordinate my colors with the caddies and baskets, but now with the Seat Sacks!! Exciting!! Another way that I plan to use the Seat Sacks is for “book boxes.” Rather than each student having a large box or bin sitting on a shelf to hold their “good fit” books, they will keep their books in their Seat Sack. When it is time for them to read to self, they will simply pick the book from their Seat Sack they want to read and then get busy reading. I wanted my students to have a special place for their books, but with such a large group my space is very limited. Seat Sacks are a great alternative to help store their “good fit” books. Another way I plan to use these is to store their personal clip charts. My dear blogger friend, Rachelle Smith, created personal clip charts and I loved the idea! Rather than them keeping them in their desks, I plan for them to clip their personal clip charts to their Seat Sack. Whenever they need to move their clip up or down it will be super handy for them to turn and move the clip quickly and then get back to whatever we are working on, without wasting our precious instructional time.

Another idea of how to use the Seat Sacks is to store graded papers that will go home each day. In the past I took home a mound of papers each night to grade. With 24 students that mound will be even bigger! I have been trying to walk around and check things as much as I can in class as time permits. You could totally have students to place those papers in their Seat Sack when they have been checked and at the end of the day they could remove them and place them in their take home folders or binders.

I am so happy that I decided to try Seat Sacks and I highly recommend them to anyone!  If you don’t own Seat Sacks or other products from The Original Seat Sack Company then you are truly missing out. The Original Seat Sack Company’s products are superb quality and are a wonderful investment that you will be able to use for many years to come. I am super excited about my first year using Seat Sacks and I know they will be very helpful when it comes to my lack of storage. My room looks so great this year and I owe that in part to the addition of these awesome Seat Sacks!

In addition to the Seat Sacks, The Original Seat Sack Company offers a wide variety of other products to help you with your classroom storage needs and management. Check out their site to find the Seat Sacks like I have in my classroom as well as all of the other amazing and quality products they have available. I promise you will not be disappointed!!! If you do not have Seat Sacks you are missing out! They have a ton of potential to help your students get organized and to help out with classroom management.

Here are a few pics of how they look in my classroom. You can see that I have color coordinated mine with our desk caddies. I have used the color coding system for several years now and LOVE IT! I was so excited to be able to color coordinate my Seat Sacks with the caddies I already had! My students are loving them and they have been super useful! I love how it all turned out!!

Now.... for some exciting news!!!!

 I am giving away to one of my LUCKY followers a Seat Sack Classroom Pack!!!! In this pack one winner will win 25 Single Pocket Seat Sacks, 1 Read-n-Go Book Bag, 1 Hand-e-Sack Stick and Store!!! This  has a value of over $200!!!

And.... since this post is all about classroom management I would love to also giveaway two of my tpt packs that I use in my classroom to help with classroom management.

Use the rafflecopter below to enter the giveaway! Good luck!! :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Classroom Reveal: 2014-2015

Happy Monday!  I'm popping in today to give you a snapshot tour of my classroom! I did a lot of work on it this summer and I'm pretty excited and happy about how it all turned out! This year I stayed with the jungle theme that I did last year since it was the first year to do jungle.... but I spiced it up a bit with some lime and purple, and lots of  BW and Chevron collections from Creative Teaching Press. CTP makes me one happy teacher...Love their stuff!! :)

Prepare for picture overload!

This is the view from the front classroom door.

I have grouped my kids in four groups of six this year since I have 24. I got black book shelves from Wal-Mart and added one to the front of each group. Students are store their SAFARI Books, journals, supplies, etc. in the shelves. I'm loving them! Sooo glad I decided to get them this year! I'm also loving the chair pockets I got this year from Seat Sack! I am trying something new this year.... I'm trying my best to check as much work as possible in class. After I check off their work they slip it into their seat sack and at the end of the day they remove the work and put it in the keep at home side of their SAFARI Books. So far it's working really great... and I'm loving not having so much to check at night! Students also put their personal clip charts in their seat sacks and will be putting some good fit books in their as well. 

Purple group- chair pockets are from Seat Sack

Orange group- Chair Pockets from Seat Sack

Desk Caddies from Oriental Trading

Red and Blue baskets from Dollar Tree

Orange Basket from Oriental Trading

Purple and Lime book boxes from Steps to Literacy {LOVE how roomy they are!!! if you don't have any get you some!} I plan to store interactive journals in these.

Trash Can- Dollar Tree and I added Chevron Solids 2" stickers to say "Trash."

Green Group- Chair Pockets from Seat Sack

Blue Group-- Chair Pockets from Seat Sack.

 

Math Focus Wall-- I really love how this area came together!! My favorite is the new chevron Fadeless paper! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!! It matched my decor perfectly!! 

Like something you see from my Math Focus Wall? Below is where you can find these items from. :)

Fadeless Designs Chic Chevron Lime Bulletin Board Paper from Pacon

Black Bordette from Pacon

Grade 1 Math GNOMe Bulletin Board Management Set from Creative Teaching Press

Numbers 1-120 Chart from Creative Teaching Press

5 Star Mathematician Poster from Creative Teaching Press

Scholastic Piggy Bank Money Pocket Chart from Amazon

Judy Instructor Clock from Amazon

Number and Shape Posters from Cara Carroll's Chevron Classroom Decor Bundle

Classroom Keepers Bookshelf from Pacon {I will be using this to feature theme books... right now it is filled with all things back to school!}

BW Calendar Set from Creative Teaching Press-- I took this pic before I added the month header and the calendar letters.

Deluxe Chart Stand from Teacher Direct

Bean Bag from Old Time Pottery

Math Focus Wall Header from Creative Teaching Press-- I used BW Collection Chart Cards 6" Designer Cut-Outs and attached Bold Brights 4" Designer Letters

Palm Tree-- I made from bulletin board paper and I attached Monkey Student Incentive Charts from Creative Teaching Press

Reading focus wall and this area is also my reading nook and group meeting area. I LOVE how it turn out!!!

Like what you see? Below is where you can find these items. :)

Reading Focus Wall Header from Creative Teaching Press-- I used BW Collection Chart Cards 6" Designer Cut-Outs and attached Bold Brights 4" Designer Letters

BW Collection Chart Cards 10" Jumbo Cut-Outs from Creative Teaching Press--- I will add our weekly words, skills, etc. to the cards each week

Polka Dot Party Border from Creative Teaching Press

Leveled Reading Tubs from Dollar Tree

Stuffed Animals from Kohls

Chevron Rugs from Wal-Mart

Bean Bags from Old Time Pottery

Pom Poms from Hobby Lobby

Here is a closer look at my leveled reading tubs from the Dollar Tree. I attached Monkeys 6" Designer Cut-Outs from Creative Teaching Press to each tub and then I added Bold Brights Uppercase 2" Letters to each monkey for the guided reading level.

  Listening Center

I love how my door turned out!!! I made it with bulletin board paper and then attached soer me supcute accents from Creative Teaching Press.

Banana Cut-Outs from Creative Teaching Press

Monkey Cut-Outs from Creative Teaching Press

Chevron Solids 4" Letters from Creative Teaching Press

 A closer look at the palm tree... It hold incentive charts for Box Tops. Each time a student brings in a sheet of 10 Box Tops they get a sticker. When they fill up a row {5 stickers} they get a trip to the treasure box.

BW Happy Birthday Bulletin Board Set from Creative Teaching Press

I'm loving the Learning is Fun Pennant I made using Bold Brights 4" Designer Letters and the new 10" pennant banners in purple and green from Creative Teaching Press

Inspire U Posters from Creative Teaching Press

Lime Green Chevron Border from Creative Teaching Press

BW Flowers 6" Designer Cut-Outs from Creative Teaching Press

Book Containers from Highlights teacher program

Back to School Hallway Bulletin Board for first day of school

 

Lime Green Chevron Border from Creative Teaching Press

Monkey Business Bulletin Board Set from Creative Teaching Press

Sight Word Super Stars Board-- I used Shining Stars Bulletin Board Set from Creative Teaching Press

Doodles and Dots Border from Creative Teaching Press

Numbers 0 to 30 Bulletin Board set from Creative Teaching Press

I snazzed up my candy reward box with some cute sprinkles stickers and border from Creative Teaching Press. 

This is a view of the front of the room. Since this pic was taken I got my projector mounted and there is a projector screen above the middle white board. I hope to get a fancy smartboard sometime before I retire! HA  The two side boards {white and black} will be used to house anchor charts. :)

 

Well I think that about does it....I hope you have enjoyed the snapshot tour of my little classroom! :)

Have a great week!!

Be sure to link up you classroom digs with the gals at Blog Hoppin'!

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