Five for Friday!

Five for Friday is back!

Thanks Doodle Bugs Teaching for hosting!

 

 We just finished our first week of students & it was wonderful!

Very positive energy from other teachers and the little ones are responding well to the consistent structures of first grade (♥ my team!). I have a full plate this weekend with switching IEP goals to CCSS language (for upcoming meetings - starting at the end of this month!), differentiating lessons plans, and scheduling (blah).

 

Here's my Five for Friday!

 

5.  I  have an intern that I will be meeting on Monday!

He will be with us 20 hours per week through December and then full-time (!) through the end of the year. I'm a bit nervous since I could possibly be a control-freak when it comes to my students' goals and objectives. Hope he's a hard worker! Stay tuned!

 

4. As our students adjusted to their new classrooms this week, we went over routines and expectations. I walked into one classroom and saw this:

 

 

hahaha, I appreciate their honesty!

This rockstar teacher (my 3rd year working with her!) always adds student initials to any contribution. It's a small, but important way to have every child feel part of the learning community.

 

3. Another teacher was talking about using kind hands and words. The students' independent practice was to draw a picture of themselves with a speech bubble featuring kind words. There were many "please" and "thank you" and other PETSYS:

 

P - Please

E - Excuse Me

T - Thank You

S - Sorry

Y - You're Welcome

S - Stay Clean

 

"Stay Clean" is explicitly taught at the first-grade level and includes fingers staying out of noses/ears/ANYWHERE, coughing into elbows, washing hands, etc.

 

I was very impressed with the details I saw in the students' work and then I came across this:

 

 

I wasn't sure about it, so I asked the student to tell me more about his picture. He said it was "angry birds." I asked him to explain the directions to me and with major prompting (okay, I eventually just had to tell him), we reviewed how the picture should show himself with a speech bubble...

 

I visited him again and saw this:

 

 

Hmmm...do you see any kind words? I asked him why he looked sad and he told me it was because I made him stop drawing angry birds! But no worries, soon every bird had a speech bubble saying "Excuse Me" and "Please" and we were able to move on. I'm sure he went home saying "school was great, except this one lady..."

 

2. I've been working hard on updating my TPT products to reflect my students' (ever-changing) needs. If you have ever purchased anything (thank you very much!), please check "Your Purchases" at www.teacherspayteachers.com to see if the product has a "newly revised" notice to download the updated version. I just uploaded 32 new pages to my Letter of the Day product:

 

 

The packet includes flashcards, assessments, alphabet charts (3 versions), and two activity pages:

 

 

I also have a Number of the Day packet at my store.

 

1. There's a BIG sale going on this weekend! I'm throwing a 20% off sale Saturday August 17 through Tuesday August 19. TPT is graciously adding extra savings on Sunday and Monday for their humongous annual Back to School sale! Don't forget to use the code (I've done that before, very sad!).

 

 

Thanks 3am Teacher for the cute button!

 

Have a fantastic weekend!