Ghosts, Goons and Goblins

This week was one of those short, yet felt longer than normal kind of weeks. We continued to work through our Halloween themed lessons and I think the anticipation of the big candy day is getting higher and higher. I just love seeing their little eyes light up each time we introduce new topics that are Halloween based. The last thing on my list for October is pumpkin activities and that will all take place next week!

We started the week with a little classroom meeting on manners. Is my class the only class that seems to lose them while they sleep at night? haha.. But seriously, where do they go? I found this adorable book from Patrick McDonald called " The Monsters' Monster". The book with a perfect Halloween themed text that taught the big idea of how far the words "Thank you" can go, or according to the monster, Dank You. Which can I tell you, I think my little ones say "Dank you" now more than they ever said thank you. Our team is really trying to incorporate writing with everything and so I created the Monster Manners handwriting page. Just click on the link for your copy! Pintrest also inspired me to have my class create the Frankenstein monster, notice boy and girl version!! What on earth would we do with our time without that amazing site??? (Pretty sure I could accomplish a lot more than I do!)

 

 

I also finished out the week teaching character descriptions to my students. Although this was somewhat hard at first, because they don't add details to ANYTHING let alone characters within their stories, by the end of the day Thursday they seemed to be getting better....Fingers crossed....To help enforce this concept, I used an idea from First Grade Parade. I asked the students to write a character description and draw a picture about themselves. Then we put these cute little ghosts over the top of their pictures to see if other people could guess who wrote the disruption. They were so enthusiastic about go around the room to try and guess who's was who's and then begged for me to put them in the hallway for everyone else to try and guess as well!

 

 

Thanks for reading and here's to going and trying to enjoy part of my weekend here in beautiful St. Augustine, Fl!

Little details that I love!

So there are several little things in my class that I LOVE... I have beg, borrowed and stole many if not all of these ideas. (Isn't that the best part about being a teacher??)

 

Here’s my behavior chart. Each student starts out on green each day and has the ability to move all the way to purple depending on their behavior. If a student has achieved purple for the day, they are given a leader stick. 5 leader sticks =’s a leader privilege. Here’s a glimpse of my behavior system!



 

 

I am obsessed with my little monsters. It took me forever to create each one but it has saved a ton of arguments and pushing when the students are asked to put their book baskets away.

 

Aren't they adorable!!

Here are some other pintrest inspired creations! (I LOVE that website!)

Each time a student finishes there work early throughout the day, they get to visit the early birds poster (the activities change each day)

This little basket has been a dream for those poor books that get pulled apart from the students so eagerly reading them

 

Our classroom promise that we created all together!

Let me know if you have anything in your classroom that you just absolutely couldn't live without!