learning zone

Hi everyone! Many of you are very familiar with the name Eric Litwin and for those of you who may think they are not, this might help... Eric Litwin is the # 1 New York Times best-selling author of the original four Pete the Cat books, The Nuts, and Groovy Joe. Ring a bell?? I bet so!!! His books truly are one of a kind that gets students engaged,  excited to read, and are books that they remember for many years!  Eric does an absolutely amazing job at bringing literacy and music together in his books and in the classroom!  Many of you may have read some previous blog posts of mine about his books (Pete the Cat, The Nut Family, and  Groovy Joe). These books have been HUGE hits in my classroom and stories that my students LOVE to read over and over! To say that I am a fan of Eric Litwin and his books is an understatement! Not only do I find his books to be so much fun, but seeing the excitement, joy, and learning through my students lets me know that hi...

Hi everyone! I know school has officially started for a lot of you and for others it is right around the corner! I am so excited to share with you my First Grade Back to School Centers !! Centers are probably one of my most favorite things to create and to also do in the classroom! This is the time of day that I swear my students do not even know I EXIST! But that is okay with me because it allows me to get in some time for intervention, guided reading, assessments, and more! One thing that I feel that has really helped with the management of my centers are the 'I Can' kid friendly posters that are included for each activity. These posters allow students to refer to them anytime they have a question on what to do on the center activity. It has helped keep students on track, engaged, and has prevented a lot of interruptions/questions when I am working with other students. Basically... these 'I Can' Posters are my centers LIFESAVER!! Here is a closer look at one of the ...

Setting up the classroom is very exciting and can be quite overwhelming, but there is always one thing on my mind that seems to take FOREVER to come! I don't know about you, but I literally can't wait for the second I get my hands on my class list! As teachers, we LOVE to label, label, label, label, and did I mention LABEL?!?! As soon as I look through my class list I officially get into GO mode to get labels created and placed on what seems like 100+ different areas in my classroom. For some reason it makes me feel like my classroom is more ready to go and I feel so much more organized when everything is labeled! I am sure I sound nuts, but maybe there is someone out there that feels the same! Another thing I absolutely LOVE about getting my class list is that I am able get a head start on creating my different Name Activities for each student. At the beginning of the school year, I have a HUGE focus on working on names. I have some students that come into my classroom who ar...