Happy Friday! I’m linking up with Doodlebugs Teaching for another Five for Friday!
Here’s a little peek at my week…
Can I just say how much I love Ink Joy pens?
If you’re not already swamped with running records, phonics screeners, high frequency checklists and grading baseline writing assessments. You soon will be! These Papermate Ink Joy pens are the best. I like to be able to color code my assessment scores by quarter and I appreciate a pen that’s smooth and easy to write with when I’m taking a running record. Of course, I love my pretty Flair pens too!
I made these for my teammates because a girl’s just gotta have a good pen when she’s taking a running record.
We wrapped up our Louder, Lili book study this week. This little book is a true gem for talking with your class about kindness, being a good friend, and standing up for what is right. It lends itself well to teaching several different reading strategies and skills and my class really connected with these characters. Click here to find the book on Amazon.
Last week we did this Math About Me activity and defined ourselves using math! I send home a math autobiography so parents can help their child gather all of their math info like address, phone number, family ages, etc. That way they have everything they need to describe themselves using math!
I got my reading area cleaned off, assessments finished, and we’re ready to go! #majoraccomplishment
Our center rotations are slowly taking shape. I wanted to do something different in my poetry center this year so we’re doing it Teacher By The Beach-style.
Jen has a great poetry station routine that I love. She incorporates fluency practice and sound/spelling pattern identification with a highlighter (Which is always a hit with kids), spelling practice, illustrating, and labeling.
I’ve since added having students write sentences using the words from their list on the back side of the page.
You can read all about Jen’s poetry routine here.
I introduced this center routine with a sweet poem by Kristin Smith from A Day In First Grade. I purchased this poem with
her I Can Be A Pal pack. It tied in perfectly with our how to be a good friend writing.
Just like Jen, I typed up the poems I wanted to use from Scholastic’s Big Book of Phonics Poems plus some other random
poems I’ve gathered over the years. I purchased my poems HERE.
I had a parent copy and cut the whole year’s worth and all I do is change the poem each week. I love easy!
Since I also love these silly Hey Girl’s so much I’ll leave you with this…
Get those pens! Ha!
Have a wonderful weekend, friends!
You show so many pretty colors in the pen picture. How can I get those colors because I am seeing a set of 7 in the Amazon link, but I would like more colors like you. Great gift for my team as I am trying to find some cute ideas since I am the team leader. Thank you!
Amy, are you looking for the Frixion pens or for more colors of Flair pens? I got the Frixion pens on Amazon a few years ago, but you can get larger packs of Flair pens with more colors at Walmart or Target. I hope this helps and you have a great new school year!
Hi- I love your poetry center idea! Do you sell the poems typed up and/or the I Can list for the station?
Hahahaha! I am printing the awesome "Hey Girl" pen printables as I type this. My teammates will love it! Thanks for sharing! š
YOU CRACK ME UP! Thank you for being such a great teammate and helping me be one too! Thank you for the freebie! Pinned it baby!
Hi Kristi! Yes, clicking on any of the pics or the link just above will take you right to it or you can find it here: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Louder-Lili-Book-Companion-and-Activities-1326286.
Is there a link to the Louder Lilly activity? If not can you email it to me?
jonezy10@yahoo.com
Every single word of this post makes me smile. I want to hug the bejeezers out of you and have a 6 hour coffee session! Love love love your brilliant, creative and humorous brain!
xoxoxo Lisa
It's so true, Caitlin! My handwriting is so much better with a good pen!
I'm a big fan of Flair markers, too!
Have a great week at school!
I am laughing about the pen thing. The right pen can make such a difference in how efficiently I can mark papers. It even makes a difference in whether I can write cursive well on any given day or if my hand will cramp! I am on a constant search for that pen with the perfect drag! My favorite right now is a Pilot Razor Point.
Caitlin
TheRoomMom
Hi Sally! Those Hey Girls always make me laugh. My teammates and I send them to each other to lighten our day. Humor is a great stress reliever, isn't it?
I enjoyed seeing you in Vegas again and hope you're having a good year so far!
You're welcome, Barb! This routine is working really well for my class and they're enjoying it too. I'm so glad you found an idea you can use! Fingers crossed I can wrap up my assessments on Monday!
I am also knee deep in running records, but the end is near for this go around any way. So inspired by you and Jen that I just purchased the Scholastic Phonics Poetry Book. I'm so excited to use it! Thanks so much for sharing that!
I love those "Hey Girls" too. And yes, I'm up to my neck in running records! Louder Lili sounds like a great book!
Sally from Elementary Matters