School Supply LOVE

School supplies… you can never have enough, can you?? If you’re anything like me, you start making your list of necessary supplies to order/buy for the following year about February :) And, even with your careful and complete planning, come October, you realize you still need MORE!

Well, here is where the wonderful people of MPM School Supplies {www.mpmschoolsupplies.com}! They are here for us ALL YEAR at wonderful prices! No need to wait for the one-day only sales over the summer to stock up on what you need… get it now! Their selection is wide and varied, their email reps are super polite, and the shipping is crazy fast!

Here are some of the great finds I selected from their website to help both myself and my kiddos out for the rest of the school year:

My kiddos are LOVING their fun Friday activities from this book that correlate with our phonics focus for the week… it’s an educational I-Spy!

These a.dor.a.ble little markers are just the right size for my firsties’ hands when they earn the reward of getting to write with fun supplies for the day!

We all know the importance of these suckers!

I am enjoying getting to use some brand-spanking new markers when creating fun posters and signs for my classroom… and the best part? There are some smelly markers in here, too!!

If you don’t want to wait any longer for the supplies you need NOW – maybe for those holiday crafts you’ve got planned for the next few weeks – then here’s a deal that’ll tickle your fancy! Visit the MPM School Supplies' easy-to-navigate site and shop away… and save a little moolah, too! Use this link and save 10% if you’re one of the first 10 of my readers to shop!

Have fun and I can’t wait to see what you’ve purchased!



Phonics Language Lacers & BOGO!

First off, thank you for the great suggestions for Math Journal prompts for my sweet kiddos! I have sent some ideas to my principal, and we are awaiting approval for the funds to purchase some!! :-)

A few weeks ago, Lakeshore Learning (oh, how I love that store!) sent me their Phonics Language Lacers to try out with my kiddos!

"Phonics Language Lacers ($19.95) As students lace up our fun, shoe-shaped activity boards, they get hands-on phonics practice! The set includes 15 lacer boards and 15 plastic-tipped laces. Kids just lace up each shoe, building language skills as they match up words to the correct beginning, middle or ending sounds—with corresponding illustrations that ensure successful matching! 5" x 8" lacers come with an answer card for easy self-checking, plus an activity guide."

These cute "shoes" are quite the hit with my small groups in class! I love that they cover a wide range of phonics skills, from basic short vowels to vowel combos and digraphs, etc! {Not to mention... these make a GREAT opportunity to practice the oh-so-important shoe tying skill that so many kids lack!}

Not only is this kit available, but Lakeshore offers a whole line of these lacer items!! Do you need your kids to practice synonyms & antonyms? How about compound words or word families? Well then you're in luck! I'm seriously debating snatching up the rest of these kits - they make tremendously easy ways for kids to show their knowledge and allow me to check their independent work quickly so I know what skills need reinforcement.

If you're interested in any of these, or anything else that Lakeshore offers, take advantage of the great deal they're offering  my readers!

Enjoy a “Buy One, Get One 50% off” from Lakeshore: www.lakeshorelearning.com/bogo 

Happy Shopping!!

Lesson Plan Switcheroo

Happy Thursday!! :-) I am home with a sick little baby boy, but during his mid-day nap, I thought I'd share my new lesson plan format with you all instead of doing housework... ha!!

I started out the year with plans that looked like this:

 I have used a layout like this for years now, and I love it! It's customized every year to my schedule... and I can make the boxes larger or smaller depending on how much detail will need to be written for the lesson.

Buuuuut, this year, it just wasn't working for me! :( Our team is diving into the Daily 5 for the first year {and L.O.V.I.N.G. it, by the way!}, and I needed more space to write out what parts of our basal series {Storytown} needed to be taught before each Daily 5 breakout, along with which kids I would pull each session and what I was going to teach them! Plus, to add to that, we don't have reading support on Tuesdays, so we have an extra hour and a half to fill with engaging activities.

Soooo... the new version of my lesson plans was born. I have one page PER DAY now, instead of being able to see the whole week at a glance, but it is going to keep me more accountable and on track, and, most importantly, it will make my small group time much more intentional and focused every day!

{Ummm... SO SORRY for the poor quality :( I don't know what's going on, and baby just woke up, so I can't investigate right now!}

If you think you can use something like this in your room, please click on the pics to download the entire week in an editable format from Google docs! Leave me some love if you like 'em!

Ohmygoodness! Technology and I ARE NOT seeing eye-to-eye today! :( I clicked the link to make sure it worked, but the pages show up all sorts of caddywhompus {is that even how you spell that? My brain gives up!}. If you are interested, please shoot me an email and I'll send a Word doc your way!

iheartfirstgrade@gmail.com

Therapy & Freebie!

I am linking up again with Blog Hoppin's Teacher Week... 2 posts combined into one :)

I know that I am a little late to the game, but my sweet baby came down with his first ear infection this week, and that leads to a very unhappy 4-month-old! :( Blogging took a back seat for a few days...

Anywho, here is how I unwind after a long day/week/month/year at school - my "therapy"!

Pedicures always make me happy!

Speaks for itself ;)

Chocolate Moose Tracks Ice Cream... yum... my favorite!

But the best, best, BEST therapy for me??

Snuggles with this cutie pie!!

*************And now for your Friday Freebie!*************

This is usually for sale in my TpT store for $6.00, but I'll give it to you, my lovely followers, for free this weekend! The link will be good through Sunday night... so spread the word! If you like what you see, head over to my store to find some more great activities! Also, please follow my blog and let me know if you like the Making Words activities!

EDIT: The link is now closed, but please visit my TpT store to find the Making Words activity that so many people enjoy!!

Have a WONDERFUL weekend, everyone, and link up if you can!!



I Must Have....

I love Teacher Week! I'm excited to be linking up with Blog Hoppin' this week to share fun ideas with wonderful teachers all around! :-)

Here are the things I must have for each day/year/start to school!

* Big ol' teacher notebook!

I love having all of my long range plans, weekly lesson plans, student info, meeting notes, etc. all in one handy-dandy location!



* New Mr. Sketch Markers



I love using these on my poster papers when working as a whole class... and the kiddos love the pick their favorite scent to write in! Anything to motivate :)

* Family pics

Looking at the sweet faces of my hubby, my baby, and my nephew (another nephew pic to be added soon!) give me the little extra boost I need on some rought days... y'all know what I mean!!

* Water!!!



I drink AT LEAST 4 of these bad boys full of water every day while at school... as well as 1 before school and several when I get home! And I don't use ice; I prefer my water lukewarm - weird?? I know!!!

* My new Silhouette Cameo!

I got this baby over the summer, and I can't get enough! I loved being able to label the boards in my classroom with my favorite fonts and fun papers rather than the same ol' punch out letters that everyone has :)

* Netflix!!



We got rid of satellite this past year, and got Netflix instead! This has been a lifesaver in several ways... I don't spend as much $$ on TV each month! I don't spend as much time watching TV each night! And the TV I do watch is commercial-free and I can watch what I want when I want to! :) My faves lately have been "How I Met Your Mother" and "White Collar" and "Bones." Anyone have any other great suggestions??

Click the pic at the top to join in the linky fun this week!!

Welcome to my room, friends!!

Here is what life looks like in Mrs. Scoma's First Grade classroom this year... enjoy your little tour :-)

Here's what my door looks like for the little ones coming in. My window is covered with random scrapbook paper so I can pump in private during my lunch/plan breaks ;)

Directly to the right of my door is my little memo station and my "How We Get Home" clips. Looks to me like I need to stabilize the bottom of the ribbons so the clips don't make them go crooked!!

Keep going to the right and you see my gathering place, my math wall, word wall, and focus wall!

Close up of my word wall and focus wall - all set up for Lesson 1 of Story Town this week!

My desk area... Not sure what will fill up my space, but probably some student drawings!! {The reason my paper is rippled along the wall is due to a beam that runs up from the floor to the ceiling that houses computer cords... I pulled it as tight as I could, believe me!}

On my desk... my little happy place :-)

Area where my Daily 5 I-charts will hang eventually. Behind the curtains that my sweet mom made for me are my math maniuplatives, recess toys, and student reader anthologies. Oh... and a whole section full of tubs/containers!!

My student area

Close up of some D5 posters and my READ letters. The blue selves house my library... there's a DEFINITE reason I didn't take a picture of it! That's on my to-do list this week!

Current housing of book boxes... these will be moving to the black shelf I'll be purchasing and putting along the wall to the left of the window :)

More student space, white board, and BINGO board.

Here is the one area I didn't work on this summer... my feelings posters and my coat hooks with the shelf that houses all sorts of randomness.

Here are my table tubs this year! Yay for my Cameo :)

My kids' work display area and the drawers that will house my Work on Words/Writing materials. Thanks, Dad, for spray painting them!!

Close up of "Our Rockin' Work" display!

I hope you enjoyed your visit to Room 108... thank you to all who inspired an aspect of my room this year; I'm forever grateful for your creativity and sharing it with the blog/Pinterest world for all to see!! :-)

Link up and share your pics!!



One Week Down...!

Whew! My kiddos and I have successfully survived our first week of first grade! :) And by first week, I mean a FULL first week - we started school on a Monday this year. That's one looooong week for all involved. ;)

Thankfully, I have a super group this year, and we had a very fun week at school together. I have some teaching to do in regards to raising hands before talking, not chit-chatting with friends while I'm teaching, and the like, but other than that, I think we're gonna be good!!

I have decided to jump right on in with Daily 5 this year, and I am SO EXCITED about it!! Our whole team began the procedures this week, and I saw great success! We have completed 3 days of the implementation lesson plans, and we're up to 9 minutes of stamina for Read to Self :) We will discuss Good-Fit books, the I-Pick lesson, and intro Work on Writing this week.... and I think my kids are going to LOVE it all!

Here is what our I-Chart for Read to Self will look like when I hang it up in our classroom (we made one together, but I can't have something that's not in fun handwriting up all year... you know how it is!). If this fits your class' discussion as well, feel free to grab it for your room! It is set up to print on legal size paper (8.5 x 14), but I bet you can make it whatever you need it to be :)

I'll be back soon (hopefully tomorrow!) with pics of my room this year... I am loooooving my black backgrounds, B&W borders, and bright color accents!!

Time for some SERIOUS shopping!

I know you've seen it all over, but just in case... ;)

Click the button below to head to my TpT store so you can shop the sales! I'll have my store 20% off, along with tons of other fabulous bloggers! Add the *secret* code for an additional 10% off your ENTIRE order!

Here are some pics of favorite items from my shop {click to go straight to that item!}:

I'm off to load my cart so that during the SALE, all I have to do is click "BUY NOW!" :-)