Bloggy Christmas Party

I hope you read this in time (the deadline is tomorrow- Halloween)... this bloggy party will be so much fun. I hope you'll join up. Click on the button below to get started!

 Chrissy
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GiveAway Winner!

My first giveaway is over. The winner is (drum roll, please)........
Janine at Faithful in First.
Congrats and thanks for following my blog, Janine. I'll email your certificate to you.
 Chrissy
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Daily 5 Writing Conference Form

I love Daily 5! I continue to be amazed at how well it is working and I am SO HAPPY not to have to copy things for my students to do while I pull reading groups. I don't miss struggling to find independent things for my low kids and something else to challenge the higher kids. I've taught first grade for about 10 years and I never want to go back to using worksheets for work during reading groups again.
I sat with some students yesterday to conference about their writing. I made this form today so I could keep track of what I'm noticing. Here is what I created. Maybe it can help you too.
Writing Conference Form
Also, I could use some suggestions... I have a mac book and I have had a hard time getting a screen shot a document like this so I can include it in my posting. Does anybody know how to do that? I managed before but it took a long, long time and I'm sure there's an easier way. Anybody know one?
Have a wonderful evening. It's almost Friday! I will randomly choose a winner of my giveaway before I go to sleep later. Check back tomorrow for the winner's name!
 Chrissy
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Math Sorting Project

Hello all! I guess since it's 8:30 I can say that I'm tired, right? I had a busy 1/2 day with kids at school. I introduced Read to Someone for the first time. The kids have done so well with the other parts of Daily 5 that we're forging ahead. This afternoon I had about 6 parents conferences. I had lots of good things to tell parents and that's always nice.

I wanted to finally post my sorting project. I did this recently and the kids had lots of fun. Each little baker is glued onto a 12"x18" piece of construction paper. The cookie sheet is a 4'x8" piece of aluminum foil (I don't know if I'd do that again, maybe grey construction paper if I wanted to make it easier on myself). As for the shapes, I don't have templates, as I cut them myself. I did the circle with a die-cut and the triangles and squares on my paper cutter. There about 1" in size. The face and hands are cut out of manila paper. I cut everything instead of having the kids do it so that it would go a little faster. Anyway, I hope you like it. You can get the templates below for the pieces (just click on the picture) and the writing prompt. I put several options on the writing prompt page.


You can get the writing prompts by clicking on this link Writing Prompts.

Please leave me a comment if you try this. I'd love to know what you think.
 Chrissy
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My First Giveaway!

Oh my goodness, this giveaway is in honor of having my first 25 followers. But before I got this posted, I have more than 25 followers. You all have just made my day!!!
15

Oh, wow!

Wahoooo! I'm so excited! I just checked my blog and have 15 followers. Oh, you all have made my day. I know this is small potatoes for some folks, but they probably remember way back when.. when 15 was a thrill. Thanks everybody! I'm planning a give-away soon... please come back.

I also wanted to pass along that Mrs. Bainbridge is has an author's study on Little Critter books and you can enter her drawing for the free unit. You can check her blog at Mrs. Bainbridge's Class

Well, I've got some work to do figuring out how to implement the rest of Daily 5. I'm behind according to the 25-day plan at the back of the Two Sister's book. By the way, they are amazing if you haven't checked out Daily 5 yet. I was so amazed as I got it started that my class reacted exactly as they said they would and even said the same things the Two Sister's said they would. I love Daily 5! It is incredible. I'd seen it a summer or two ago and then this summer I found blogging (another incredible thing) and saw so many of you who said this was great and you wouldn't use anything else now. I feel the same way. Wow, I've rambled a bit I think. Back to my original thought.... I've only implemented Read to Self and Work on Writing so far. I was nervous about how it would go and so I think I had to see the success of Read to Self before forging ahead. Now my class can read 23 minutes quietly and on their own! Let me tell you, I never would have thought that was possible before. They also LOVE Work on Writing. I'll rush the rest this week (I hope that doesn't backfire) and then I'll really feel like reading groups are off and running.

I also have a math sorting project I intend to make available this week, so I'll work on getting that on my blog shortly.

Right now, 15 followers... what a nice surprise!
Take care, all.
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Link Up

Hi y'all! Kim at The Teacher's Lane is having a linky party. I like her idea of having blogs organized by grade level. I'm sure I'll find a lot of great blogs to check out. You can link up at
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Progress Report form

Hello out there. Sorry I've not been keeping on my blog much. I have so much I want to get on here. Tonight I was looking at what I need to do to get ready for Parent Conferences that are next week. I don't know if you do any kind of progress report or if you send home report cards already, but I find that this simple progress report helps keep me on track we schedule conferences in 20 minute blocks at my school. I like it because parents can take it home and share it with ??? instead of trying to remember everything. Most of it is academic, but I include "tying shoes" because it's something I want the children to be able to do for themselves. I thought I'd put it out there if you can use it. Just click on the link below. Hope your year is going well!
October Progress Report

UPDATE: I've posted a slightly revised report and made it available in Word format so you can make changes if you need to. Just click <HERE>
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