My Favorite Ideas from this School Year

My Favorite Ideas 

of 

My Year Back In First Grade

1.  My absolute favorite idea this year was the REWARD COUPONS.  My students would earn five bonus stickers on their folders and then they would pick a surprise coupon.  It was the highlight at the end of the day.  The students wanted to know who earned a coupon and then they would all stand around to see what coupon the student would pick.  It made the end of the day fun and exciting.  I plan on two new coupons for next year:  1.  Pick any book in the classroom to take home to read.  2.  Pick your own reward!

2.  One of my favorite art projects this year was the self-portraits and rainbow names the students made at the beginning of the year.  I hung them above the lockers and it made the back of the room colorful and the students loved having their pictures hanging up all year.

3.  The poetry notebook was something I worked on all year.  I was searching for new poems that went along with our curriculum each week.  At the end of the year I had the students add a self-portrait they made for a religion lesson and decorate the covers.  We moved our poems from our 3-prong folders into 1-inch binders.

4.  Each week I had the students record the books they read in class.  The reading log started out with them telling me if they liked the book and transitioned into the students making a text connections.  I loved reading how they connected to the book.

5.  Our school participates in the Accelerated Reading Program.  Each week the students picked one book that they would focus on one book for their independent reading.  They practiced at school and at home.  At the end of the week they wrote me letters.  We started slowly as I introduced the different parts of the letters.  At the end of the year their letters included:  title, characters, problem, events, and the author purpose. 

6.  Each month I tried to put together Challenge Activities.  Many of my activities came from Doodle Bugs Teaching and Moffatt Girls.

7.  I was looking for an easy no fuss Mother’s Day gift and this is what I found on Pinterest.  I think they turned out adorable and I will be doing these again next year.

8.  At the end of the year I found another great idea on Pinterest.  I took pictures of the students by the classroom door the first day of school and the last week of school.  I used photo shop to add some of their favorite things next to their photos. You can see that Grace grew a few inches next to the door.

9.  At the beginning of the year we made a giant map of our community.  It was one of my favorite activities.  So many parents and teachers gave positive comments about the map.  

10.  I loved my reading area.  I moved my room around towards the middle of the year and I loved how I expanded the reading area.  It gave the students room to spread out and read.   My students love sitting at the table and chairs and reading to one another.  They also love the red benches.  I think the reading center always had students in it.  They even begged to read during recess.  Really I am not joking!