Reader's Theater Fun!

About two weeks ago I introduced 2 of my reading groups to Reader's Theater. I really didn't have any expectations when I introduced the cute little 'plays', I just thought this would be something different for reading groups between now and the end of the year. 

Well...leave it to students to go above and beyond! My kids loved everything about these! 

They chose a partner and then found a spot around the room to practice reading. Their goal at first was just to become more fluent.

The same day I introduced these stories to my kids, they decided to spend their 'free choice' time making puppets that went along with their 'play'.  

Keep in mind...this is probably only a fourth of all of the puppets they made...for 3 different shows!

Well, these little puppets brought Reader's Theater to a whole new level! The next day the kids were practicing their play behind the theater. This created some new goals for my kids...they had to learn how to use the puppets at the correct time, they definitely needed to practice reading louder, and they needed more expression! So this was the perfect opportunity to model these to them.

By the end of the week my kids had pretty much mastered all of their new goals :) They were totally ready for a real...live...performance!! They were SO excited!! I set the chairs up, had them quickly practice introducing themselves, and they were ready to go! It was the cutest thing ever!!

I was so proud of them! Almost before they could even take a bow, they asked me if I bought more printer ink so I could print more plays for them!! 

Thank you Kristin for creating such a wonderful pack for my kindergartners to use!! 

Between you and me...I already asked her if she was going to make more of these gems and she said yes! I would just LOVE some that are a tad easier for my beginning readers!! Yipppeeee!!

You can find her pack by clicking on the image below.

Mother's Day Crafts

Happy Mother's Day to all of the wonderful moms out there!! I hope you are enjoying your day with your family!! 

I am SO lucky to have the most amazing mother in the world! I love her SO much!!

In class, we made Hadar's cute Mother's Day purses and I just love how they came out! So super perfect...and easy!!

I prepped the purse for the students and they filled out the pages... pretty much independently!! They did such a good job! 

The kids also had a blast making this craft for their mom from Cupcake!

Cupcake includes so many different 'sprinkle' options and it was the cutest thing to watch the kids pick out which ones they wanted to include on their ice cream cone.

Enjoy the rest of your evening :) 

Orange 'ya glad it's a Blog Hop?

Yay! I am excited to be a part of a Florida blogger's hop!! I am actually the last stop :)

First, I have a fun product to show off today. We have been learning all about plants this past week! 
 One of their centers was walking through the 'garden' and finding different words that would build a sentence. I told them that when they were finished they would be able to read a secret message...they were so excited!! 

After they found the words they read their message and had to illustrate what it said...

 We have also been working on plant parts. Here is one of my little boys labeling and coloring her flower.

 In math some of my students had to sort their addition problems under the right number. They loved this!

Then they recorded the equations onto their activity sheet.

All of these activities and many more can be found in my plant unit below...

I have also added the last page of my word work center cards! I have been updating this pack every month and sadly, this is the last one I am going to add to this file! Don't worry there is more coming...but they won't be added into this document :) Just click below to see more of this product.

Behavior Management

About 2 years ago my school 'adopted' the clip chart. Before this, I was using a stop light--and just had green, yellow, and red. At first I was a little apprehensive, wondering if this was just 'too much'. But, I absolutely love it! 

 Each day all students start on green, 'Ready to Learn'. There are certain times throughout the day where the students know that I am looking for someone to move their clip up the chart. For instance, every morning we listen to the morning announcements. When it is finished, I choose 2 students that listened quietly to move their clip up.   I also have a student that leads calendar math. When they are finished, their job is to choose 2 friends that were listening quietly to do the same. Having this be a part of our daily routine is nice because all students know that I am watching them during these times! ;)

 At the end of the day, if students names are on blue they earn one sticker, pink they earn two, and if they made it to purple they get three stickers! The stickers go onto their stars. When they earn 10 stickers, then they earn treasure box. 

I leave the stickers totally up to the students. So, at the end of the day, THEY must remember to get their own stickers and add it to their stars.  I have never had a problem with honesty here...students take this very seriously haha :)

Chart is from Tammy over at Live, Laugh Love

If students move their clip down to yellow, they have 5 minutes of 'slow down' time where they need to sit at their desk with their head down. This is always during our 'free choice' time at the end of the day. If they are on orange, 'Teacher's Choice', then they have 5 minutes of 'slow down' time and I choose a consequence for them. This may be different for each student. If a student really loves the art center, but they are on orange, then I may take the art center away from them. (again this is during free choice).  

There has been a couple times throughout the year where students have had an AMAZING day! They were on purple and I asked them to move their clip up again! So....now what? They get to take their name off of the chart and I clip it onto my necklace (keys and school i.d.) for the day! If they can stay there, then at the end of the day they can pick a 'diamond' and I glue it onto their clip. This is SUCH a big deal in my class!! Whenever someone earns a 'diamond' the rest of the kids usually clap for them and give them a giant hug...which ends up more like a tackle...then they need to move their name down haha kidding!

I would love to hear if you use your clip chart differently then I do! Always up for new ideas!! Click below to read some other blogger's ideas on Classroom Management