Pirate Day!!!!!!!!!!!!! RRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr......

Oh my goodness!! For a few years now I've wanted to do something for International Talk Like a Pirate Day.  Every year, I've forgotten about it!

This year, I ALMOST forgot.....except that a post I saw on Pinterest at 5PM on Thursday reminded me about it....

This crazy teacher here, went to Party City at 8PM on Thursday night and bought some Pirate accessories...

This crazy teacher here, woke up 30 minutes earlier than she usually does to dress up in her Pirate outfit, went to Krispy Kreme, and got my free dozen doughnuts!

With less than 15 hours notice, put together the most amazing day ever - all pirate themed!!!!

During our morning rotation 3 pirate activities happened.

1.  When meeting with me, we ate our ***FREE*** Krispy Kreme doughnuts and used our 5 senses to describe the doughnuts!  (For those of you who don't know, when you go to Krispy Kreme on Talk Like a Pirate Day, and you're dressed up, you get 1 dozen free doughnuts!)

2.  When meeting with my co-teacher, they play a game about words that start with the letter R!

3.  During art center, they made a paper plate pirate!

Our staff development teacher let me borrow her treasure chest with fake coins in it. The kids saw it in the morning.

We put our pirate plates around it to protect it during lunch. 

While they were gone, the treasure "Disappeared!"

A note was left with very specific directions on how to find the treasure!  (Ok so what I did was typed up directions using a special font, printed it out, painted it using watered down brown paint, let it dry, and stapled it together.)  The directions used a lot of turn left and turn right (something I've been focusing on with my first graders!)

The directions took us all over the school!  Finally, they found the treasure in the office!  The office staff said they couldn't hand over the treasure until my students recited their class rules.  (Which they did!)

Once the treasure was safely back in our room, we used it for a math lesson!  We did a lot of comparing groups of coins using greater than, less than, and equal too.  One of my groups made groups of 10 and we used those groups of ten to figure out how many coins were in the chest!

I put their pirate projects on display in the hall!

As my kiddos were talking at the end of the day, I heard, "Pirate Day was the BEST DAY EVER!!!"

I love teaching!!

Some musings from this week

Happy Saturday everyone!

I don't have pictures from this week (YET) but I wanted to share some JOYS from the week!

1.  Reading testing started on Tuesday.  I finished Wednesday afternoon!

2.  Reading group rotations started Thursday. The kids adjusted really quickly!

3.  I read "The Day the Monster Came to School."  As I was reading it, I acted it out. Yes, this involved me climbing on chairs, dropping supplies on the floor, screaming, etc...  The kids CRACKED up!

4.  I brought my teammate's class down after lunch as she was just getting back from running an errand.  I decided to read an Elephant & Piggie book to them. Between my voices and the story, the kids were cracking up at every page!  Their laughs make me smile and laugh!

5.  My students love the Whole Brain Teaching rules.  Once a day we stand up and recite them.  They LOVE doing it!  We do 4/5 rules but we also added one.  Here we go:
                           
         Rule #1:  Follow directions quickly!
         Rule #2:  Raise your hand for permission to speak.
         Rule #3:  Make smart choices!
         Rule #4:  Be a bucket filler!
         Rule #5:  Keep your dear teacher happy!

6.  My kids loved Have You Filled a Bucket Today.  We did an art project with it. (Pictures coming soon!)

That's all for now!  What were your joys of the week?

Stacey 

Welcome to a new school year!

Wow!
I hope you all enjoyed your summer! I don't know about you but summer seemed to FLY by!!!!!  I went into work a week or so before I had to.  I wanted to work in my room! :-)

I have some pics and a video tour of my room.

Ready??? Set!  GO!!!!!!

Stacey's Classroom Tour 2014

*Warning - there is NO audio!*  I also apologize because I was turning way too quickly!  Hope you don't get dizzy!!!!

My Bulletin Board (Inspired by 2 pins that I found on Pinterest of course!)

View from my front door 1

View from my front door 2

View from my front door 3

Right when you walk in my front door is my book corner.  I think it's my favorite part of my room!

Carpet from www.dormco.com  Big pillows from Big Lots

The heart light is from Target

Next up is my desk (which is now messy!)

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Tree and Truffula Tree!

I have books hidden back there

Although there is a box there now, this bookshelf will house items I use during small groups

My reading table

1-120 board made from a shower curtain, duct tape, and sharpie pen.

Sink area

Lunch menu - yes, I'm aware of the fact that my utensils are not in the right spot.  :-)

Computer Center

Whiteboard / bulletin board

Whiteboard on the other side of my bulletin board

Another table that is used for small group instruction

One more pic - view of the room from my closet!

I should point out, I've definitely changed my seating arrangements since this pic was taken!!!

Thanks for touring my room!  Hope you enjoyed it!

Here is to a FANTASTIC school year!!!!!

Stacey