We Give Books, A Pearson Foundation Initiative, has 150 or more books available in an online format for FREE access. Perfect for projecting or for students to access individually. I used Big Red Lollipop for a connections lesson this week.
Personal Pencil Sharpeners. This year I’m providing each of my students with their own personal sharpener with the lids. Right now they are $.20 each at Target, so I equipped my class for $5. One of their tasks at the end of the day will be to empty the sharpener. If each student has their own, it should take the novelty away and students will hopefully be more responsible with their own. I was through with having crayons and markers ground up in my nice electric sharpeners. I still have an electric, but I will be the only one to use it when needed.
This is a great book for the first week to read and discuss friendship and playing together. The Recess Queen
I’ve wanted to start a section on my classroom/teaching ideas on this blog. With the help of Erica Bohrer’s First Grade, I’m going to start with our class “mascot” Fred Frog. Fred visits the home of each student throughout the year. Each student has a turn to take him home for the weekend. I’ve attached the letter that accompanies him. Fred Frog letter and instructions I can’t remember where I found the base of the rhyming note, it’s been three years now, but thanks to whoever it was. I printed the picture I’ve attached to this post onto printable heat transfer paper and transferred it to a canvas bag.
Our class "mascot" - Fred Frog
I taped the letter to the front of a primary lined composition book published by mead (I just saw these yesterday at Walmart for about $2.50 a piece) and place the journal and Fred in the bag. Students share their illustrations and writing during our morning meeting on Monday’s. This year, I plan to add a few books about frogs and some “Froggy” stories.
