Help me with... Common Core WRITING!!

Ok... Eeek!!! We reported back today at school for a grades/teacher work day, and let's just say - knowing that I only have 5 more months to get my little ones where they need to be for 2nd grade kinda hit me H.A.R.D.!!

I was looking through my lack of plans for next week then the babies return, and realized... my writing time just isn't cutting it. No sirree. The writing basics taught in our basal series just aren't keeping up with the CCSS, so when we do our end of quarter writing pieces for their portfolios, I can totally see that these kids are lacking a lot of the skills they need to know!! :(

So, here's where your help will come in and be INVALUABLE :-)

The wonderful Deedee Wills and Deanna Jump have created some really great units (Writing Through the Year) for their lucky dog kinders. These units lay out daily lesson plans for writer's workshop, offer anchor charts, brainstorming pages... everything to make my lesson planning a cinch! Buuuut. They're really geared for kindergarten. Have any of you first grade teachers used these packs in your own classroom? Do they get "beefy" enough for our kids to be ready for 2nd grade writing?

OR...

Is there some genius first grade teacher/team that's put together something like these for us?!?! I have never taught writer's workshop before (I know, I know...), but seeing the success of D5, math workshop, intervention groups, etc, I think that's the direction I need to head for this semester with my class.

I'll gladly make my own plans and come up with something sort-of-fabulous for my kids. But, if it's already been done, I'd rather use a tried and true unit!! :-)

Leave me links to TpT/TN products that have been wonderful for your kids. Connect me with blog posts about how you run your writing time and give me some great pointers. I owe you. BIG TIME.

{Oh... and all of you still on Break... I'm.So.Jealous.}

Help me with... Math Journals!

We had our bi-weekly Common Core First Grade training-meeting-thingy this afternoon, and I came away feeling like I need to be doing SO. MUCH. MORE. with my class in order for them to really succeed with these new standards! Luckily for me, I have an unusually bright group this go 'round, but that just puts even more pressure on me to stretch them even further! :/

So... I'm doing a Math Workshop rotation in my room now (going on week 3) and it's going fine and dandy. I need to do a better job at planning more differentiated lessons for my Teacher Time, but I'll get there :) My gut is telling me I also need to add in a Math Journal time to my day. And that means I need some good daily Math Journal Prompts.

Here lies my problem. WHOSE DO I BUY?!? I surely don't want to make my own when someone else wonderful out there has an incredible product up on Tpt or TN. :-) So who do you recommend? Are you using someone's math journal prompts in your room? Do the kids love them? Are they getting smarter by the day?? Let me know! Leave me a link! Plug your own product shamelessly!! I wanna know what I can do that's the BEST for my firsties.

Thanks! You're the best! Okiloveyoubuhbye!

Help Me With... and a Sale!

First off, thank you for the wonderful comments about my I Have, Who Has post!! As a thank you... the pack is 1/2 off in my TpT store for the weekend! On Sunday night at 10:00 CST, it'll go back to full price. Enjoy!

Alright - I have asked for your help before, and now I need it again! I REALLLLLY want to purchase either a Cricut or a Silhouette cutting machine.

                    vs.                

Which one should I go with? I want easy and user-friendly! I am thinking the main use will be for vinyl purposes, both for school and home... so keep that in mind! Any advice will be greatly appreciated!

Help me with... the Bloggy Blues!

Now, don't get me wrong!! I loooove my blogging and blogstalking... my blues are coming from my layout!! :)

I loved this layout when I first began blogging back in the spring, but I've grown bored with it and I see it on lots of blogs (b/c it's so darn cute!). I'm looking for something new, and with my birthday coming up in 3 weeks, I'm asking hubby to buy me a custom-made design!

Here's where you come in - what designers have you worked with that you've had good experiences?? What about design elements - what shops are you finding great scrapbook elements from to use in your blog?? I'm not necessarily stuck to numbers/letters/rulers for a school look, but rather something fun and catchy and pleasing to the eye! Lemme know your thoughts, and I'll hopefully have something new to grace my screen here in a few weeks!

Thanks for your help, friends :-)

Help me with... 2 things!

I've got some quick questions for you guys!

1) When creating units/activities to offer to other people, how do you  get some pages to be 'landscape' and others 'portrait' in the same file?? I'm pretty computer savvy, but this has baffled me. I haven't googled it yet... I thought I'd ask some real experts first! ;)

2) I'm wanting to make my read aloud time purposeful next year, and I think that I want to do that by focusing on author studies. What are your favorite authors to study with first graders??? I'm looking forward to using my creative side to make some great activities to put out there in Blog-Land!

Thanks in advance for your advice... I admire you guys so much!

Help me with... A Sports Theme! :)

Our school chooses a new theme very year to base our State Assessment assemblies and whatnot around. This really helps the kids to get excited about learning, even down in the first grade level!

The winning theme for next year is all about Sports... so I want to hear some great ideas you've used that can be based around that theme - classroom decoration, welcome boards, management systems, language in the classroom, etc! I'll cal our class a "team" and let them know I'm their "coach," but I want to go further than that and have a lot of fun with the big idea!

I hope you're having a wonderful start to your weekend!! The end is in sight... only 16 1/2 more days for us! :-)

Help Me with Homework! (A Linky Party)



Alright, I knew I'd have to start one of these for myself one of these days.... why not today? No one peed on the playground. No one threw a hissy fit tantrum. No one brought pickles for snack! There was a boy, however, who informed me while taking his DIBELS nonsense word fluency probe that he "knows about all sorts of nonsense, Mrs. Scoma." Ha! :) 

So, the idea: since we got a new reading series this year mid-year (Storytown), we are wanting to create homework that is meaningful and helps the kiddos transfer their new knowledge. So... what do YOU do for homework? Is it weekly? Is it daily? Many subjects? Just literacy? Do you tie it into your reading series? I want to get a good head start on this project of mine so that when August rolls around I'm all set and ready to go. Any advice you can offer is greatly appreciated!

Please join in on the party below... and tell your friends that they're invited, too!! :-)
(to the lovely person/people who left me 2 ideas already... I realized I set up the wrong kind of Linky!! oops!)

Help me with...Story Town!!

Okay, teacher buddies! It's time for me to ask for your help... It'll happen again, I'm sure!

At my school, we are piloting a new reading series, Harcourt's Story Town, and we're LOVING it! I am curious though... how in the world do you fit it all in during your literacy block?? We have 90 minutes for whole group literacy and then each student is in Guided Reading for 30 minutes after that. But I cannot get through the whole day's lesson for the life of me. I want to do best by my kiddos, so I need advice!

If you have faced something similar with your reading series (escpecially if it's Story Town!), please leave me a message with advice, kind words, or a good recipe that I can bake/eat while trying to figure all of this glorious stuff out!! :)

'Til the next time that I have a question that I'll need help with...