Monster Mash!

I LOVE Halloween!  It was always been one of my favorite holidays.  Of course we try to incorporate some educational Halloween activities into our October lesson plans.  A super fun activity that I did with my kids this past week was making our own monsters.  This is something that The Lesson Plan Diva and Plug-and-Plan have also done in the past.  I let the kids chose a mouth, nose, and some eyes.  They free cut a head or body and just created!  It was really cool to see what they came up with.  After they finished their monster, it was time to write!  I wrote some questions on the board to try and help direct their writing.  We also incorporated some Editing mini-lessons into our writing.  The kids did great with this! 

November and December Journal BINGO

Since November and December seem to be shorter school months I combined them into one BINGO board. Yay for Thanksgiving Break (we get a week!) and Winter Break (2 weeks!) I don't know about everyone else but I'm looking forward to some breaks to rest, relax, and refresh;) Click HERE to download!

Benjamin Franklin Unit

Our Social Studies Curriculum covers many different American  Heroes.  Benjamin Franklin is one of these people we study.  It is difficult to explain some of these people and what their accomplishments were to such young children.  You try to make it interesting for them but sometimes finding the resources is difficult.  I made this packet to help my students understand this great man and what he did for our country.  It contains a lot of hands-on activities, assessments, and writing prompts.

Click here to snag your copy!

Halloween Treats

While at Target this past week we couldn't pass up cruising the one spot. There's always the best stuff there! While scavenging we came across the cutest things for Halloween goody bags to give our students. We bought packs of notepads, erasers, wash off tattoos, pencils, and cute bags each for you guessed it $1.
We're going to also add little tubs of Halloween playdoh....and of course candy. What fun stuff do you during the Halloween season in your classroom? We'd love to hear! Post your ideas! And happy Target shopping;)

On Fire!

Thank you to Christine at Hopping Into First grade for this award! We feel so honored. The rules are to share 7 things about yourself and then pass on the award to other hot blogs. So first the random things about ourselves.

Courtney

1) I am not a morning person...I HAVE to have my coffee...I think I would sleep until noon everyday if not for an alarm clock lol
2) I recently discovered Thai food and am a little obsessed;)
3) I LOVE thunderstorms.
4) I have a scholastic book problem...
5) I will finish my Specialist degree in May...yay!
6) Parks and Recreation is one of my favorite shows...hilarious
7) I spend Saturdays in the fall watching college football...Roll Tide!!!!

Katie

1) I am lucky enough to do this blog with one of my best friends who I have known since middle school!  Luckily we went into the same awesome profession!
2) If I did not teach I would love to be a personal shopper, or to do hair!  I've always been a girly-girl!
3) I finlish my Specialist Degree in just a few short classes!!! Double yay!
4) My husband and I have been together since high school, he is probably the nicest person I know.
5) I love to read, my love of books has ended up with a serious Scholastic addiction.
6) Social Studies is my favorite subject to teach by far, I love history and try to instill that love in my students, even if some of my lessons end up a little eloborate for first grade :-)
7) I secretly read gossip magazines, they are a serious weakness!

Literacy Station Rotation

We both adopted this fantastic literacy station rotation about 3 years ago. And once we started we couldn't believe how we survived without it. We pair the students heterogeneously so the lower students learn from the higher students. The pairs really cut down on the noise level and it's easier for them to stay on task. We each do it a little different to fit our classrooms.

We have rotations of 3 to 4 stations a day. During one of their stations they meet with us which may leave a student alone in their center but this works out fine. In Kindergarten I set a timer for 10 minutes at the beginning of the year and slowly work the stamina per station to 15 minutes. In First grade Katie sets a timer for 20 minutes per rotation. During each rotation we meet with a guided reading group while students work in their stations. In Kindergarten I start the year with 2 rotations per day and then work our stamina up to 4. When the students hear the timer go off they clean up and wait for the bell to change to their next center. Each week in Kindergarten I would mix up the centers so students were not missing the same centers when meeting with me for guided reading. Here's a picture of our center boards at the end of last year.

I got the station cards at School Box and laminated them. I bought two sets and and put the other icon on the box to go with that center. Katie made her own cards.
For noise control and staying on task check out The Lesson Plan Diva's Center Patrol Idea.

If you have any questions feel free to ask!

Birthday Sale!!!

It's my birthday and I'll have a sale if I want to! Come visit my TPT store and enjoy the sale! It's on all of my TPT products. Hurry because it ends Sunday October 9th! Click on the sales tag to celebrate! 

Freebie: October Journal BINGO

TADA! Here is October Journal BINGO. Hope your kids are loving them as much as ours;) If you download leave a note or rating. We appreciate it! Click HERE to download.

You can check out the September Journal BINGO too by clicking on the picture below.

Lesson Plan Diva Giveaway!!!

The Lesson Plan Diva has hit over 1,000 followers!!! Wow! And to celebrate she is having a HUGE giveaway. You don't want to miss out on this one. To find out how to get all the great activities from some pretty cool blogs head on over to her page by clicking the button below. Hurry because the sale ends today!