Character Education Books

I spend a lot of time building a community in my classroom during the first few months of school.  I feel that this is extremely important for the year to run smoothly.  We read lots of books and do activities that center around character education.  I am always on the lookout for new books that send great messages for classroom behavior.  I have a book list typed up with some of my favorites that you can snag here.

Recently, I discovered the "Learning to Get Along" series from Free Spirit Publishing.  I love the books so much!  I like the way they are so forward and to the point.  The books also have great illustrations.  I have used two titles, Be Honest and Tell the Truth as well as Listen and Learn.  I am happy to announce that I am able to giveaway both titles to one lucky reader!  All you have to do is fill out the Rafflecopter below!  Good luck!  Winner announced Wednesday, September 18th!

xo
Megan

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Little Green Witch

One of my favorite Halloween read-alouds is The Little Green Witch!!!  It's similar to the all-familiar Little Red Hen.  In the story, the little green witch is asking her friends to help her with the 'un-housework,' and prepare a pumpkin pie.  They are not interested in helping her with anything, and as suspected, at the end, when asked who wants to eat it, they jump at the chance!  Do you think she gave them any pie? You will have to read the story to find out!  **And, there's a special surprise at the end!!

We read the book, did a writing, and made our own "Little Green Witches..." just in time for Halloween! Also, here is a clip of a 4th grade class reading the story! Fun for your projector or tv!

Please leave a comment if you downloaded my document and let me know what you think.  I appreciate your feedback.





Happy Saturday!
-Mrs. Wheeler 

April Fool's!

For April Fool's Day, we read some good books:

April Fool, Watch Out at School!
April Foolishness

After reading the books, students wrote about a time when someone had played a trick on them, or they had played a trick on someone.

When students were gone at specials, I put brown e's on their desks.  When I picked them up, I told them i had a surprise for them..."brownies!"  They were shocked to see that I had played a silly April Fool's trick on them! Tee hee! It was a lot of fun!

Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch!

I realize it is now May and I am posting this, but we just got a new computer, and I have to get all my pictures/files off of it (per my hubby's request!).

Back in February/aka blizzard month, we read Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch.  I stopped reading right before the "surprise" and asked students to draw/write a speech bubble about what they would say to cheer Mr. Hatch up.  They did a great job!

Leprechaun on the Loose!

There is a leprechaun that's loose in our classroom! His name is Lucky and he is a little sneak! Today, he messed up our room and left a note.  We began the day by reading Leprechaun on the Loose and then writing how-to stories telling how we will catch Lucky.  Finally, everyone got to make their own leprechaun! I love how they turned out.  No patterns here.  If you have noticed, I do not give patterns.  I like my kids to be creative, so that all their art projects look unique. 

Happy Dental Health Month!

Here are a few ideas for dental health month!

Children's Literature (Some of my favorites for read-alouds)

-Open Wide

-The Night Before the Tooth Fairy

-B.Bears Visit the Dentist

-Dogs Don't Brush Their Teeth

-Take Care of Your Teeth: Rookie Reader

 -Brush Your Teeth Please

If you have never done this experiment, check it out.  It's real fun!

http://www.ehow.com/how_2192676_eggs-as-dental-hygiene-experiment.html

Winter Favorites

I am extremely bored from watching the Superbowl, and have eaten waaaay too many Bagel Bites, chips/dip, carrots/celery, and  potato skins (let's just pretend that I did not eat those).  Hence, I am here on Blogger, being an OCD blog-checker. 

Snow, hail, rain, freezing rain, winds, etc.etc.etc. here in the mid-west.  I thought that with the upcoming snow storm (number 10,000 of the season), I would post about my favorite winter read-alouds.  So grab a mug of hot cocoa and enjoy!

Please tell me! What are your favorites?

Non-fiction Mania!!

I attended the 1st grade teachers conference in Columbus, Oh this past Monday and Tuesday.  I have to say that it was pretty awesome! But probably one of the best parts of the whole trip was stumbling across this nice little man selling quality non-fiction books for (get this...) $1.00 each!!!! WHAT!?  I had to restrain myself.  I only bought 20, but easily could have bought the whole lot of them! My favorites: Labor Day  and Constitution Day.  Seems like those days pop up and I have to scramble to the library looking for a book.  I have decided that I am a children's lit hoarder.  I get a high from buying kids books.  I think I would rather spend money on them than groceries!! Also, I am running out of room in my personal library at school.  It's time to hit up Really Good Stuff for more of their containers.  Thought I'd share my findings with you all!

Snow Sticks!

Last week, we read a classic children's book...The Big Snow.  For a Math activity afterwards, we made "snow sticks." Your children should have some background in non-standard measurement prior to completing this idea.  My class has been doing things with non-standard measurement all year, so the project went very smoothly.  Here's simple directions on how to make these.

1. Gather enough paint sticks for your class.
2. Put students' names on the back with a sharpie.
3. Students paint one side of their stick white.
4. Once sticks are dry, students use unifix cubes to measure 1-inch marks on their sticks.  *NOTE: Model this very explicitly. 
5. Once they finished all their markings (I told them to go to 10), they drew on a face.
6. I passed out sharpies for the students to trace their marks/numbers/faces.
7. Finally, add felt for a scarf, beads, poms, chenille sticks, hats, etc...for "snow clothing." *I did this part myself with a hot glue gun as the students watched "The Snowy Day."  I had them pick out their earmuff colors. 

I did not get bogged down with "perfect" measurements...as long as everyone tried, that was fine by me (let's face it, manipulating a small unifex cub on a narrow paint stick isn't the easiest for even an adult!).  For the most part, no one really needed a lot of assistance. 

The kids loved their snow sticks! Good thing we did them last week! We were finished just in time for a huge snow storm yesterday! I am hoping they went out to measure the snowfall!

The 13 Days Until Holiday Break...

Here's a fun idea to do...
1. Choose as many holiday picture books as days you have left until holiday break.
2. Wrap them up in a variety of paper.
3. Lay them out in the classroom.
4. Draw names each day for students so they may choose a book to unwrap for you to read to them!

Fun & Free! =)

Happy Holidays!  I give the gift of sharing with you; please return the favor by telling your friends and co-workers about my blog!!!

~Megan

Book Basket Labels

My most favorite part of my classroom is my library.  I just LOOOVVVEE children's literature! I can't get enough of it! This year, I decided to purchase new book basket tubs for my library to spice it up a bit.  I also made these awesome labels that I am so graciously sharing with you.  The bins were purchased at Dollar Tree in the summer, but I'm sure they'll have them again next year. I also got some of the bins from Really Good Stuff.  Enjoy!

Personal Library

Aside from my classroom library, I have a "personal library," where I keep books that are near and dear to my heart-many hardback or ones I use often in all subject areas.  In the past, I wasn't really using all of my books as much as I would have liked, because they were all mixed up on my bookshelf.  I bought these tubs from RGS and organized my books according to subject area, seasons, holidays, etc...It makes it so much easier to find books when a certain skill or holiday approaches.  Happy organizing!

A Leaf Man's Got to Go Where the Wind Blows...

I am obsessed with Lois Ehlert's Leaf man book! We took a field trip to an Arboretum this week, so this leaf activity just fit right in! We'd read the book several times throughout the week and today for our harvest party, students were able to create their own leaf men.  *I sent a note home inside of a small baggie, earlier, asking parents to help their child collect various nature items for their baggies (leaves, twigs, acorns, buckeyes, etc...).  The students could create whatever they wished with their materials.  I had them use Elmer's glue for the leaves and smaller items.  For the heavier items, such as acorns and buckeyes, they brought them to me and I hot glued them where they chose.  I just love doing this project...they turn out adorable!

Browsing Box

Keep browsing boxes on your student tables for kids to look at as they complete their work.  Rotate them at the end of every day.  I keep library books that go along with whatever we're learning at the time in mine.