Grade Level Fingerprint Trees

At the beginning of the year, the students added their fingerprints to a large tree to create a grade level piece of artwork. We did this in connection to building our social contract of class expectations. We talked about how we are going to often work as a team to create artwork.

Classroom Management Downloads

I recently uploaded a few files to my TpT store that I have used the last few years for classroom management.

The first is a set of classroom helper cards to use when assigning classroom jobs. I display mine in a small pocket chart with student names next to each job. I rotate the names each week.

 

The next is a set of guided reading group signs. These signs are for grouping students for guided reading. I put Velcro tabs next to each sign and each student had a Velcroed name tag. The name tags could be moved from group to group quickly as their levels changed. I also used the grouping signs on the guided reading book baskets. Using colors for the guided reading groups kept the students from knowing which groups were high, medium, or low.

The last set is a set of cards I used for early finishers. These finished assignment cards are suggested tasks for students to complete when they finish work early. They are in card format to go in a pocket chart so that the teacher can use some or all to differentiate.

The Kissing Hand Connections

We read The Kissing Hand a while back to practice making connections. We talked about how Chester felt in the story. After reading, the students shared with a partner one thing the story reminded them of from their personal life. They then wrote a sentence about it and illustrated it.

Wemberly Worried

To help the students make connections and to ease them into the change of a new grade and class, we read Wemberly Worried by Kevin Henkes. After reading the story, we discussed how we should treat one another in class. The students then wrote and illustrated their favorite part of the story.

Spider Web: We're All Connected

At the beginning of the year, the students worked together to make a large spider web to practice working together as a team and to show that we are all connected. We started with a large ball of yarn and each student took a turn rolling it to one another as they shared interesting facts about themselves.

Welcome to First Grade!

Here are a few pictures of my classroom this year. It is similar to what I have done in the past but I got rid of some things (like my giant teacher desk) and organized even more to make it feel more open.

We Are Going to Have a Ball In First Grade!

Fellow teachers, in case you are looking for a back-to-school bulletin board idea, I want to share this idea with you. I am going with a gumball theme on one of my hallway bulletin boards with the saying "We are going to have a ball in first grade." My sister drew a huge gumball machine on several pieces of posterboard and I made several colors of gumballs from construction paper. Each student's name will be written on a gumball as a way of welcoming in this year's new little first graders.