Twitter in the Classroom

Does anyone use Twitter in their primary classroom? Just thinking out loud here -- but I can see a lot of great possibilities by having a class Twitter account and linking to classrooms all over the country/world. Teaching students to share their learning in this way could be very powerful.

What do you all think? 

Letter Writing Unit Winner Announced!!

Thank you everyone who entered the Letter Writing Unit contest! I'm excited to announce the winner!

 Cari from http://sturchstars.blogspot.com is the winner! Congratulations, Cari! Please email me: gena_marie33 (at) hotmail (dot) com.  


Still want to get your hands on this awesome Letter Writing Unit? Visit Erica's TpT store by clicking HERE. 

Letter Writing Unit Giveaway -- Deadline to Enter is Quickly Approaching!

The awesome Erica Bohrer is offering up her amazing Letter Writing Unit to a lucky winner! The deadline to enter this contest is Tuesday at 9pm. The winner will be announced sometime on Wednesday. Go HERE to enter! Good luck to all!

If you just can't wait to get your hands on this unit, visit Erica's TpT store HERE.

Bunny Hop and Penny-Dice Games for Everyday Math

I posted two more Everyday Math games that can be played on the SMART Board to my TpT page -- Bunny Hop and Penny Dice. Click on the pictures above to get your free downloads.

Postcard Exchange and Letter Writing Unit Giveaway!

Look at all of those pins on the map! Those represent the participants so far in our 2011 Postcard Exchange, hosted by Mrs. Saoud of Primary Graffiti and myself! You can read more about this exchange HERE.

We are still looking for blogging teachers to join us from the following states:

**WEST VIRGINIA, OREGON, and INDIANA are no longer available.

If you are interested in joining in on the fun, visit Primary Graffiti and get the details on signing up HERE.

  

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To assist the participants and other teachers as well with the postcard exchange or just letter writing in general, Erica Bohrer from Erica Bohrer's First Grade has a fabulous Letter Writing Unit. This 62 page unit includes a bibliography of letter writing themed books, lessons based on those books, anchor charts, file folder word walls, and reproducibles.

 Erica is teaming up with The Techy Teacher and Primary Graffiti and giving away a copy of her Letter Writing Unit to one lucky winner! Want to win? Here's how:

• Follow my blog, Primary Graffiti, and Erica Bohrer's First Grade.  Leave a comment for one entry!

• Follow Erica's TpT store. Click HERE to follow, and leave a comment for one entry!

• Post about the Postcard exchange and/or this giveaway on your blog. Leave a comment with a link to your post for a third entry!

That's 3 chances to win! Good luck! Deadline to enter this giveaway is Tuesday 9pm CST.

Rolling for 50 SMART Board download

I apologize....something went wrong when I uploaded the first time to TpT! It's working now!! Go HERE to grab your free Rolling for 50 Smart Board game now!

Rolling For 50 - SMART Board game for Everyday Math

I'm excited to share with you all a game I made for Everyday Math -- Rolling for 50. It's one of the first games that is played in the first grade series. I'm offering this FREE download on my TpT site. Click HERE to get yours! Here's a preview:

Monster Squeeze for SMART Board

Visit my TpT store and download an awesome Monster Squeeze interactive SMART board lesson! It features funny sounds that will keep your kids engaged in the fun. Go HERE to download!

I'd love feedback on any of these Notebook lessons, so if you download and like it, let me know! Thanks!

Postcard Exchange!

It's time to sign up for a postcard exchange!  The basic idea is to enlist 50 school teachers, one in each US state, and get their class to commit to writing and sending out 50 postcards.

You'll need to send out 49 postcards to each state participating (you are the 50th).  This does require you to purchase postcards and stamps.  

If you find 25¢ postcards, that will be $12.50 in postcards, 40¢ postcards will run you $20, and 95¢ postcards will cost you $47.50.

Postcard stamps are 29¢ each, so the 50 stamps are going to cost $14.50.

 

Mrs. Saoud from Primary Graffiti and I would like to open up a postcard exchange to classrooms with a blog so that we can read blog post updates with pictures of cards received. 

The exchange is open on the first come, first serve basis.  Participants will include an introduction to their classroom and a fact about their state.  We would also like to include a line "want to learn more about _______, just Skype us at _____" OR "want to learn more about ______, just contact us at _______".

We would like all participants to mail out their postcards by the end of October.  The deadline is set to allow correspondence between participants through blogs, email, or Skype.  

Are you hooked?  Link here and see if your state is available and details on how to join the postcard exchange!  

SMART Board Lessons -- Free Downloads!

I've been working on a couple of SMART Board lessons and thought I'd share them with you all.

This first Notebook file is a game called Teacher vs. Team. It works on 3 digit numbers (place value and comparing numbers). Students will LOVE to try to beat the teacher! Click HERE to download FREE from TpT.

This next one is a Ladybug Word Sort. The categories and words can be changed easily. Students can do this activity in a center, and then use the following page to record the sort. Feel free to download both the Notebook file and PDF of the recording sheet. Click HERE to download for FREE from my TpT.

Ladybug Recording Sheet

Don't forget to enter the GIVEAWAY for a $10 gift card to Coldstone Creamery and a fun picture book to use in your classroom!! Go HERE to get the details and enter!

First Grade Mystery Reader

I love getting the parents of my students into the classroom. Our weekly Mystery Reader is a great way to do just that!

Each week, I have a parent or grandparent come in and read a story to the class on Friday. During the week, I give 3 clues as to who the mystery reader might be. I give the clues on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. By Friday, we have figured out who the mystery reader is and so excited to see them and hear them read a favorite story to us! Many of our mystery readers bring in a little something for the class that connects to the story, but that is definitely not something we expect!

This is a favorite part of the week for my students. I'm attaching the form I send home at the beginning of the year. I grabbed it off of the web years ago and tweaked it a bit to fit my needs. Feel free to do the same!

Don't forget to enter my first giveaway! Go HERE for the details!


Mystery Reader

Operation: Cute Classroom

So back when I was on maternity leave a little over a year ago, I was told that I would be moved to a "portable" classroom.  That's a trailer, people! Our school is growing so fast and we are running out of room, so sadly, I was the one who had to relocate. 


I was super sad initally, because not only did I feel like I was getting kicked out of the building, but my "classroom" had.....WOOD PANELING. Dark. Icky. Musty. Definitely NOT first grade cute! 

Unfortunately, I had very little time to make it all cutesy before the start of last school year. So we lived with the dark brown walls. I put up a ton of art work and called it good. 


Now I have all summer to plan on how I'm going to make this room so fun and cute for my new class. Obstacle #1: I can't paint the walls. Obstacle #2: Fabric to cover the walls would cost an arm and a leg. So....I'm wallpapering. With bulletin board paper. Covering every square inch of the wood paneling nastiness with bright colorful paper. 

Here are my walls before: (see....SO not cute)

And here's a start of what I have done so far on my "yellow" wall. 

And the tree I saw on Pinterest that I knew I had to paint on one of the walls! I love it so much, that I think I'm going to add a few others around the room. Keep checking back to see how my classroom goes from blah to super cute!!

Regarding Pinterest, I have send invites to all of those that commented in my previous post. Please give me a follow! pinterest.com/genamarie . And if YOU are on Pinterest, let me know so I can follow you! 


Just a few more followers until my first giveaway! I'm so so excited! 
Gena

Pinterest -- my latest addiction!

Have you visited this amazing site yet?  In a nutshell, Pinterest is a social catalog. You "pin" your favorite online ideas and share them with friends. I have boards for every room in my home, recipes, things I'd like to make, and a board for school ideas. Finally a cool place to keep all of these wonderful blog ideas in one place. The pins will link you directly to that blog post or website for easy access.


I can see how this would be a helpful tool for all of us teacher bloggers. If you'd like an invite for Pinterest, just leave your email in the comments and I will send you an invite!! Happy pinning!!

P.S. I'm so close to my first giveaway!! Please tell your blogging friends to give me a follow. When I hit 100 I'll post a super "cool" giveaway!

Postcard Exchange??

 Ok, I'm breaking my own rule of not thinking about school stuff during June! But getting on the blogs just sparks all of these ideas.

I was a part of a postcard exchange last year. It was supposed to be with 100 schools ----send out 100, you get 100 back. Well, we only ended up getting 40-something back. The kids still loved it, but there were so many teachers that flaked out. Bummer!

How many blog friends would be interested in something like this? It would be cool to incorporate Google Earth, and maybe even skype into the postcard exchange as well.

Just kicking around the idea of this......any interest??

Oh, hello there!

Hello! I've been MIA for a few weeks now. I have been on summer break for 2 weeks and have pretty much checked out of school stuff and focused completely on my family. It's been a nice change! Good luck to those of you finishing up your school year.

I usually plan to take June off and relax.....then really dive in during the month of July and focus on my new ideas for the upcoming school year. And boy oh boy, do I have some great new ideas, thanks to all of you!

Only 14 followers away from the big 100!! When I reach 100 followers, I will have my first giveaway, and it's a goodie!! Invite your friends to follow my blog!