Peanut Butter and Jelly Vowel Team Posters

All I will say is that it has been a while! I have been super busy because I FINALLY got a more "permanent" job teaching first grade.  Last year while teaching reading intervention I made these awesome PB&J vowel team posters.  I explained to my second graders that some vowels go together like peanut butter and jelly.  I even played the "Peanut Butter and Jelly Time" you tube video for them to dance to.  I felt that this method to teaching vowel digraphs works! I would always display the poster of the week on my white board and then add it to the bulletin board. 

Enjoy!

My Sick Day and Yoga Take Home Book Lesson

Hello everyone!!

So today I stayed home from school.  I have been battling a horrible flu/cold symptoms for two days now! I drive an hour to get to work every day so the days have felt extra long and tiring.  This morning I realized that I would not be able to do it today because my symptoms are getting worse.  

Of course now that I am home I miss school!!! I was so excited to plan a lesson I found on readinga-z.com.  I found a book at level O where it shows you how to do different yoga poses.  I have been turning into a yoga junkie ever since my friend Nicole (a teacher friend) and I have been taking classes.  I cannot wait to do this lesson with my kids. After reading the nonfiction book, we will be able to actually practice the poses.  I plan on bringing in my yoga mat to build background knowledge.  

In order to download this take home book, you must subscribe to A-Z Reading.  It is $80 a year and totally worth it.  I revolve my guided reading groups around these books.  The lesson plans included tell you which phonics features to work on with each book.  They also provide worksheets, quizzes, discussion cards, and full lesson plans for each book.  You can also download the benchmark assessments to find out which level your students are at.  Check with your school to see if you can subscribe through them! If you are a reading intervention teacher, you will DEFINITELY want to purchase this!!

I am anxious to do something productive so I am reorganizing all of my college binders and watching Desperate Housewives on Netflix.  

I am interested what is going on in the elementary world today!! What are you all doing as I sit at home sick? :(

Polka Dot & Apple Theme Classroom

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Finally here it is!! My apple word wall that I am currently using in my classroom.  My classroom is a read and green apple/polka dot theme.  This word wall includes Fry's first 300 words.  I promise you it is of great quality!  Shown below are the letter cards and word cards.  Just print, laminate, cut, and oooo la la it is done!! I also provided a picture of my **FREEBIE** labels and pennant banner.  For my banner, I hung it above my word wall.  I used the Ellison machine in my building to spell out "apple words" and pasted each letter on a different triangle.  Then I bought some black and white polka dot ribbon, punched 1 hole on each top side of the triangle, and threaded it through.  

      

So what do you all think?

Here are my "acceptance apples" that I have hanging in my classroom near my library :)

Right now I am currently using polka dot labels for my classroom library.  I plan on switching the labels to my "homemade" labels that were shown above.  Just type in the category and print!! Easy as that.  I am using red and green polka dot ribbon to decorate each bin. I punched a hole on each top side of the label and used a ring to attach it to the buckets.  I bought the buckets at Dollar Tree :)