Thursday, November 12, 2015

The kiddos have been crazy lately!  I'm not sure if it's a full moon, the storm front or what. For the last few weeks have been pretty stressful with behavior battles.  So, I decided to chuck my Reading Mini-Lesson and talk about being responsible.  We made a great chart.  I got the idea online, but can't remember who to give them credit.  It was worth taking the extra time to remind them of how important it is for all of our class to be responsible students.
I was very impressed how intrigued they all were about how they are expected to behave.  For some reason, they were acting like they had never heard this before???  I have decided that we are going to review a character trait of the expectations in our classroom every week.  This is just a "friendly reminder" for those students who have forgotten from the lessons at the beginning of the year.  Hopefully, taking time to do this now will pay off later.  We still have a long year in front of us!

I also tried something different at the end of the day.  I hate, and I mean hate how hectic the end of the day always seems. Is it just me???  Last minute rush to pack up and get in the right line, and I always have one student who is clueless on where to go at the end of the day.  So I decided, about 10 minutes before we leave, to put on soothing music and color.  We pack up, organize, and get ourselves ready to leave (including where we are going and how we get there). They hang their ready to go backpack and jacket on their chair.  We turn the lights low and just relax.  They don't talk. They don't get out of their seat.  They just grab their tool box and color.  It has been really successful so far!  It's relaxing for me as well!

Monday, November 2, 2015

What an awesome Fall celebration on Friday!  A huge thank you to all my parents who helped make it fun for everyone.  We have incredible families here at Cowan!

Thursday, October 1, 2015

Fire Safety Visitor

Our class was blessed with having a very special guest today.  My favorite fireman, Firefighter Mike Murphy came and taught the munchkins all about fire safety.  We were all so excited, very few pictures were taken!  :(  

The best response from them today, "Mrs. Murphy!  I learned a ton about fire safety today!"

Job well done, Mr. Murphy

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

My Guided Reading Groups loved working in their Reading Notebooks yesterday!  This is a great way to incorporate different comprehension skills!  I love the Interactive Reading Passages from Miss DeCarbo!!!!!

Friday, September 18, 2015




Pinterest success story!!!  What a powerful idea for my munchkins!  I love incorporating these now meaningful strategies.  My kiddos love the "FACE of a reader"!

Have a great weekend!

Thursday, September 17, 2015

Thursday September 17, 2015

I haven't written anything in a long time, but here is a quick update.  I've been in First Grade now for 3 years, and I feel like I'm home.  I absolutely adore this age group. I've enjoyed diving into new teaching ideas this year, including my word work and small reading groups.

More to come.......

Much love.......