Classroom Jobs Linky Party

I'm back! What a great first two weeks. Looping with my class has been an awesome experience...so far! It's nice not having to explain everything, we just get right down to business. Like classroom jobs; they already know the jobs and how they're to be done. But that doesn't mean there's not room for improvement. Check out the classroom jobs ideas at Mrs. Dillard's 1st Grade Linky Party. I love her management chart and all the jobs! Lots of other great posts too.
I don't have a job for every student but I do have a boy and girl of each of the following: line leaders (girls lead to / boys lead back); door holders; paper passers; messengers; and helpers. This means about half of the class has jobs one week and the others are "off". I use a small pocket chart with each child's name on a small sentence strip and use clothes pins with the names of the jobs on them. I just move the clips down one spot each Friday. Simple and effective :)
How do you set up classroom jobs in your classroom?

Signature Generator

I was wondering how to get a signature on my blog....now I know! And you can too! Visit http://www.mylivesignature.com/mls_wizard1_1.php

Give Away Apalooza!

WOW! I can't believe all the giveaways that The Organized Classroom has put together! Visit the OC blog to find out how to enter, I know I'm looking forward to (hopefully) winning!!

I'm Back!

It's been a while, but I'm back! Between workshops, setting up the classroom (with no AC), and getting my kids ready for school, I haven't been able to post much. Never fear! I have lots of wonderful ideas to share, so make sure you check out the classroom corral for activities and resources I will be using this year.

At our staff meeting on Monday, we had a really cute ice-breaker that my team decided to use with the class. The original activity used M&Ms, but since we're not allowed to give food to the students, we changed it to colored tiles, unifix cubes, centimeter squares, or other non-edible item. Each student receives a bag of colored tiles: 1 brown; 1 red; 1 orange; 1 blue; 1 yellow; and 1 green and the following instructions: 

"Open your bag and choose 3 colored tiles. Share the following information with your group based on the color of the tiles. If you have 2 or more of the same color, choose more tiles until you have 3 different colors.

Brown = How did you keep cool over the summer?

Orange = What was the best movie you saw this summer?

Red = What is the most interesting thing you did this summer?

Blue = What is one thing you will miss most about this summer?

Yellow = What is the best book you read this summer?

Green = What is one reason you are excited about coming back to school?" 

You can also have the instructions posted in one spot for everyone to read. The students always want to talk about what they did over the summer, and this lets them do just that. 

What are some of your ideas for sharing summer memories?

Neat Feature for Your Blog

If you're like me, your blog is acquiring quite a  list of buttons from other blogs. Reduce the amount of space being used by adding a scrolling widget. It's really neat and can be used for buttons, lists, links, whatever you have too many of on your blog!
http://www.anshuldudeja.com/2008/10/scroll-bar-widget-for-blogger.html

Why Didn't I Think of That??

Ever have one of those moments when all you can say is "Why didn't I think of that?"  That's all I could say when I saw my team mate sticking little felt pads to the bottom of the legs on the student desks. A whole lot cheaper than tennis balls and they keep the desks from making that awful noise when pushed on the floor. A pack of 48 is only $5 at Wal-Mart. I use them all the time at home (chair legs, cabinet doors) and starting tomorrow, I will be sticking them to the legs of the student desks. Thanks Melissa!!

Great Site!

During a workshop on Fluency today, the presenters told us about The Florida Center for Reading Research. Click on Instructional Materials for Teachers on the right side to access a wealth of lessons and activities.