Construction Fun!

We had a new school built thanks to our awesome community!!!! The new school is WONDERFUL! We moved in over Christmas Break and love everything about the new building.  :-)

The students and I were a little sad to say good-bye to the old building and our old classroom.  We talked a lot about our great memories from the old building.  I was especially sad to say good-bye to my very first teaching home!

The construction workers recently began demolition on our old building.... At first we were so sad to see it go, but then the students were very intrigued by all the noise we heard! Finally, I just had to take them outside to see some of the action- from a safe distance of course! Here are some of our photos!

As you can tell, they really enjoyed it! 

Eric Carle Art!

We had so much fun with our Eric Carle author study! We read so, so many of his books! The students fell in love with his books and characters.  They especially loved learning about animals!

While I would LOVE to say that the students favorite part of the author study was some great project...they all unanimously voted that it was the art project!  I set up four different areas: blue paint with sponges, red paint with crumpled wax paper, tissue paper and modge podge, and yellow paint with small spikey balls. The students covered a page using the materials and paint at each station.  At the end of this stage, each child had four pages! 

So , I completely forgot to bring newspaper.....I thought it should be fine, it's washable paint... WRONG! LOL I spent about 45 minutes scrubbing our new tables! (We just moved into this school in January-look for my construction post soon!) Side note to my principal- don't worry the tables are once again spotless! :-) 

We let the papers dry over the weekend.  Then, we looked through some of our favorite Eric Carle books to get some ideas.  The students used their four papers to create an animal just like Eric Carle.  Of course, I was so excited about all of the great pictures they were churning out that I forgot to take pictures! :-( We did have an awesome mixed-up chameleon,  a giraffe, an elephant, a few dinosaurs, and lots of dogs! 

Whole Brain Teaching

I stumbled upon whole brain teaching this year and Oh. My. Word! It is AMAZING!!!! The best part was that I didn't really have to change my teaching much...we were already doing a lot of the components, I just didn't know it! I seriously LOVE it. It has changed my class! They are engaged, learning, attentive and on task!


My students' favorite is the class call back.  When I need their attention, I say, "class" in various ways and they say, "yes" in the same way I spoke.  Their favorite is for me to say, "Oh my classssss," in a very singsongy (is that a word?) voice.  They say, "Oh my yessssss." It is honestly amazing how much they like it and how well they respond!

They also LOVE to do the "teach" part! I will give them a direction and tell them to "teach," they say, "okay" and teach whatever it is I asked them to, to their buddy.  Every morning we review how to sit in meeting area, complete with fabulous gestures, and then they teach their neighbors using the same gestures.  It is so much stinking fun!

Here are my fab firsties teaching each other! SoOOoooOoooO sweet! 

Go to www.wholebrainteaching.com to learn more about it! I also just typed whole brain teaching first grade in on youtube and watched several great examples.  We have a consultant at my school who has a lot of knowledge on whole brain teaching who has also been a great help!

Smartboard Love!

Wow! Long time, no blog! It would be an understatement to say life as a mama to two little guys (under 3 years old), a wife to a very busy man, and a teacher to some adorable firsties is SUPER busy!!!!! I had the best of intentions to blog once a week, then once a month and well, then I don't know what happened! 

We moved into new buildings over Christmas break.  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my new classroom! It smells good, it looks good, there are no leaks or broken things! I love it so much!!!!!! One of my favorite things (Well, beside having an actual teacher's restroom instead of having to go in the girls' restroom.  It would never fail that some little sweetie would be in the stall next me and call out, "Mrs. Frauman, is that you? Do you want to know what I did yesterday?" LOL) is my smart projector! It turns a regular old white board into a smart board! I love that thing- and better yet so do the kids! I created an attendance sign-in using the smart board, a calendar that includes my morning message, high frequency word work, word problem of the day and so many other skills, a Math Workshop check-in and a Daily 5 check-in.  It makes everything so much easier and so much more fun! I used to have an attendance sign-in on my door in the old building, but those doors were magnetic and our new doors are not; not to mention someone would slam the door and the magnets would fall! 

I also find a TON of awesome activities to use on Smart Exchange and on Teachers Pay Teachers! There are a ton of resources out there to help incorporate technology and to make learning more meaningful and fun! LOVE IT!!!!!!!! 

The kiddos love to earn a Just Dance song! 

Still dancing! :-) So stinking cute! 

Our attendance sign-in