My first try at this..

Hello! My name is Melissa, this is my 2nd year of teaching 1st grade and I'm loving it! I have been following a lot of other teacher blogs and I have loved all the ideas that I have found from them. I thought it was time that I contributed and added some of the idea's I've created or found. Please stay tuned as I build the blog. Enjoy!

100 Classroom Organizing Tips by Scholastic

I found this website on Pinterest and thought it offered some great ideas for ways to organize the classroom. Read through and enjoy! click here to view the article.

My Year in First Grade

At the end of every month, I have my students choose one thing they did during that month that they would like to write about. As a class we brainstorm some ideas and then for some students who may have taken vacations or had a birthday during that month, they are given the option to write about it. The students then line up and tell me what they are planning on writing about. I have the students start their writing by saying In September (or another month) I.. . Their writing is posted outside the classroom all year and every month I add their new piece of writing on top of their older pieces. This way, parents and students can look back at the older pieces and see their child's growth as the year progresses! At the end of the year, the writing is made into binded books which serve as a memory book for the students. I love this idea becuase it has the students writing and it is amazing to see the amount of growth that happens throughout the year!

Snowy Day Snowmen!

We finally had snow!! My school was one of the only schools that didn't close down when the snow arrived. I was planning on having a typical day of school....and then my kids started getting pulled out of school to go home early! Thus, I decided to forgo the plans I had for the afternoon and instead make snowmen by ripping construction paper. The kids had so much fun creating this project and we even used a little bit of glitter at the end (it's a little hard to see in the pictures). I haven't heard my kids so quiet duing an art project..ever. Huge success!