Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Flat Stanley is Coming Home!

Hello!

I hope this post finds you happy and enjoying the sunshine!

It's been a crazy week (and it's only Tuesday!)  My baby girl is sick and I spent my birthday on Sunday and Monday trying to love her back to health...she stayed home with my hubby today.  I'm hoping she's on the mend soon!

But...I did want to take a minute and share with you all of the great pictures that are coming back for our Flat Stanley project.

Our Flat Stanleys are making their way back to our classroom.  Check out our bulletin board!

As you can see, the majority of Stanleys traveled within our state of Michigan...some strayed a bit further to Las Vegas, Port Charlotte, Colorado, Florida, Rhode Island, and Montana!  One Stanley even went to Canada for a day trip:)

The children each mailed one Flat Stanley to a family member and took a Flat Stanley home for a week and recorded their adventures in a journal.







I quickly realized that I would run out of room if I put up ALL of the pictures we received, so I created a binder with a page for each student to put additional letters and photos in their own page protector.  Now, the kids all want to use the Flat Stanley binder during Read to Self!






Here is a picture of the students' journals they created with their own Flat Stanley.




This is a photo of the Flat Stanley binder with all of the pictures and letters sent to us from family and friends.  The kids also put their journals in this basket.  It is a popular Read to Self or Read to Someone selection:)



That's all for today!  I hope to post an Adventure Journal for you in the next few days;)

Have a great night!

smile:)

~Nichole

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Little Things Make Me Happy!

Just a quick post today!

I snapped a few pictures of my classroom and thought I'd share my new door display and homework reward organizer:)

Originally my classroom doors were covered in lists, lunch count baskets, parent notes, etc. and it was starting to look a little unorganized.  This is just not okay with me!  I don't know about you, but when something is visually distracting me in my classroom, I can't stop thinking about a way to make it better.

So...I knew I had to come up with a solution.

FAST.

It's the little things in life that make me happy:)

TA-DA!    Here are pictures of my new door!

If you see something you would like for your room, but want it to say something different, send me an email or write a comment and I'll make one to fit your needs!


I stuck with my trees/nature and black, white, teal, and green theme.  It is so much easier to create things for my room and purchase items now that I have a color scheme in mind.


(Notice Sparty in the window?  I have to show my Michigan State Spartan pride!  Sparty and other MSU logos pop up in various places in my classroom:)  GO GREEN!)






Click here to download the {Classroom Display} files!


My students also are responsible for completing a weekly homework and reading log.  If the logs are returned completed on Monday, they can choose a reward for one day of the week.  I mounted each sign on black paper, laminated it, and placed magnets on the back of each sign.  Each Monday children sign up for a reward for completing and turning in their homework log from the week before!

Pick a day to wear your socks!


Bring a stuffed animal to school.


Curl up on a rug any where in the room.


Do your work using a marker.


Sit or lay on a pillow during the day.


Take over MY DESK for the day!  (I never sit there any way!)



These are available at my TpT store!  Head on over and check it out!


I hope you're having a great Thursday!  39 days left of school...but who's counting?


smile;)

~Nichole


Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Conjunction junction, what's your function?

Do you have School House Rock running through your head right now?  I do!  I've been singing it all week!

On that note...

We're working on conjunctions in my classroom and my sweeties are using their eyes to spy conjunctions all over the place and they're proud of the super sentences they've been writing.

I came across the acronym "FANBOYS" to aide in remembering the conjunctions for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so and had to laugh out loud!  Seriously?  Fanboys?  That's crazy, right?  Well...I have to admit, it helped me as I created these activities.  Now, along with singing conjunction junction, I have an image in my mind of a group of boys carrying fans!

We have been working with states of matter this week and my students are creating more complex sentences using conjunctions!  YIPPEE!








Download the Conjunction Activities here!