Five for Friday~Happy New Year!

Hi, Friends! Happy New Year! Have you taken some time to rest? Actually enjoyed the time off?  As I wake to enjoy this final Friday of vacation, I’m linking up with Kacey at Doodle Bugs Teaching for the very first Five for Friday of the year…


I’ve actually forced myself to rest throughout this break, so this’ll be a great way to kick start my teacher brain and begin to prepare for the new semester. I don’t know what it is about the spring semester of 1st grade, but I absolutely LOVE it! I suppose it may have a little to do with how much the kiddos have matured over the first semester. It’s truly an amazing time of reflection AND planning to finish the year as strong as possible.

Anywho…..let’s get on with it, shall we! {Sigh……smile.} Alrighty, well….we’ve been out of school for two weeks, soooo I pulled a few random moments of awesomeness to share with you from before the break.



If you’ve followed my little blog for even a minute, you know how much we love to doodle in Room 159. We use anchor charts a lot, but there’s not always room to create and keep them all, so some we put together on our handy dandy whiteboard. We used this super sneaky guy to introduce long vowel patterns.



This is another example of our ‘smart art’. This little cutie glued his flap book down backwards, BUT his examples of cause and effect are all matched correctly….looks like a winner to me! Causes are on the outside….effects, glued underneath on the inside.



Smart art + kiddo discussions in small groups = comprehension made fun! (Please forgive the naughty camera strap that made it into that photo!)



The ONE thing that I did work on over the break is our morning work. Every morning, my kiddos walk into a calm atmosphere of low lights, soft music, and instructions prepared on the whiteboard. The structure of our routine is consistent, but the tasks change each morning. I like finding little sneaky ways to get them reading all day long….without them knowing it! After all, we are learning to read for a purpose, right?

Unpack. Put your things away. Read a good fit book. Follow the directions on the board. When the long hand on the clock touches the 11, everyone should be at their desks completing the task of the day. That’s our morning routine. Every.Single.Day. Students have a journal in their book box that is just for morning work…and if they should need extra time to complete it, they know they can continue working on it the next morning. Quick…spiral review and no time wasted. Learning begins the minute we walk in the door.



This is an example of a reflection being completed. I love our morning work routine because students are also learning responsibility. They must read the directions, manage their time, and organize their journal. The tasks increase in difficulty as we move through the year. Most are reflections on “good fit” books, others….like this one are math applications. Cross curricular connections are made through writing about science and social studies topics too. And the best {teacher} part? I don’t have to make one single copy for morning work! Nada. Zilch. Zero….I come in, cue the computer and we’re off on our journey for the day! *LOVE*!!!


Interested in giving it a try? Click any of the pictures below to grab a sample.  These would also be great to print and use as task cards for early finishers! Now, that January’s set is all wrapped up, I’m looking ahead to February. Any suggestions for skills? Leave a comment below…

Grades and lesson plans are calling! Laters Gators! =)

Five for Friday~Smart Art

Hi, peeps! How are ya? It’s an UN-TX-like 20 something degrees in our neck of the woods today! Brrrrrr…….What’s the temperature like where you are? Please send warm thoughts our way! It actually FEELS like winter and I’m not quite sure what to make of it, but I know I don’t like it! Ha! Bring on the sunshine! While we wish for warmer weather, I thought I’d catch up with the awesome Kacey over at DoodleBugs Teaching for a Five for Friday {..ahem, late Saturday} post!



Our Daily 5 routines usually run Monday – Thursday. Fridays are run a little differently. We give numerical grades on our students report cards, which require assessments. We collect grades in a number of different ways. This quick post will outline what a typical Friday in our room looks like.

Just after our morning recess, students gather at the carpet and begin selecting partners to ‘Read to Someone’. They find a place in the room with a copy of our story of the week to read and discuss. After they have completed their individual discussions throughout the room, we meet together and discuss the comprehension strategy we practiced throughout the week. Our main story, generally, comes from our reading series. Sometimes we pull stories for Reading A-Z. Other pieces of authentic literature are pulled in throughout the week and used to make connections to it or replace it, if the selection in our book isn’t a good one for the skill we’re focusing on.

Once this discussion is complete, we complete a comprehension and related phonics assessment.

Afterwards,……it’s time for Smart Art! We work together to extend what we’ve learned. This is also the time that requires students to have completed their ‘Must Do’ stations activity for the week. No ‘Must Do’, No Smart Art…..you can read about our ‘Must Do/Can Do’s’ HERE.



This week, students were separated into mixed ability groups to read and identify examples of cause and effect for a specific season of the year. Each group was led by a student. I explained the requirements of the group work to the 4 leaders. The 4 leaders explained it to each of their groups.



After the groups met and completed their discussions, we moved to our desks to prepare our smart art. Each student labeled the front of their foldable. We discussed cause and effect as one event that causes another to happen. Why it happened and what happened.


….then the leader of each group selected two friends to present for their group. 1 friend gave the cause, the other presented the effect and I recorded it on the board. Students then returned to their groups to write the example agreed upon by their group. They also created a symbol to represent their respective season.



Still learning…(always learning)….but in a way that’s interactive, fun and creative. We don’t use our desks a whole lot either. You’ll notice, we work on the floor quite a bit. Why be cooped up in a chair all day, when you can stretch out and get comfy? And because, we generally do this after completing assessments, we’ve already been sitting for long enough.



Here’s what our finished smart art for the week looked like! Like? Winter. Spring. Summer. Fall. I love them ALL! Do you think my kids have picked up on the fact that I like doodle frames? Ha!

Could I use this for a grade too? Yep! Sure could did!  =)



After grabbing the FREEBIE to mark must do’s in her stations, my sister from another mother asked for a cupcake to mark her remaining  tubs as ‘desserts’. I thought you might be able to use them too, so here ya go! If you like 'em, click 'em…they’re all yours!

What creative ways do you use to assess student understanding? Do tell…..=)