What's the Word on Wilson?

Hi all.  I'm in need of some guidance.  Our school is system is moving toward Wilson Fundations for our K-2 classrooms.  I have participated in some trainings and have some, not all of the materials.  I'm trying to wrap my head around using this program knowing that I have not had in depth training and that I do not have all of the resources.

So I have some questions . . .
1.  Have you used Wilson Fundations in your class and are you still using it?  (if not, tell why)
2.  Do you use Wilson with your whole class or do you use it as an intervention?
3.  If you had to outfit your class with materials (for Wilson), from your own pocket, what are the essentials?
4.  Do you follow Wilson's pacing to a T or do you teach some units out of sequence?

If you have experience with this program leave a comment, I would love to hear from you on any (or all) of these questions.
Thanks so much for stopping by and have a great week.

Yes It's Here...The Beginning of the Year

Let me paint you a picture of my past week.  Tuesday and Wednesday I was in State Department Common Core Training.  Thursday I presented at my school district's reading and math conference.  On Friday, I was at my home school for our super long beginning of the year faculty meeting and a visit from our district's head nurse to talk about blood born pathogens.
Meanwhile my poor classroom looked exactly like this . . .

When I finally got back to my class, I busy beed it until dinner time.  Trying all the while to control my ADD tendencies when I have a big project in front of me.  I felt pretty good when I left.  (Sorry I didn't snap a pic.)  My classroom is absolutely not ready, but I finished enough to not have to go in this weekend.  Yippee.
I have just about a week before welcoming my new firsties and their parents.  Hopefully I've got a good start and will not feel too pushed as time gets closer.

Since it's a new year and a fresh start, I have some new goals.  (I try not to set too many, so that I'm not overwhelmed and give up.)

My goals this year are:

Begin using literacy centers during my Daily Five time.
Have my students read more decodable texts that do not have picture support.
Incorporate Wilson Fundations (focusing on my struggling readers during small group).
Go to bed on time (a left over New Year's resolution that I've not managed to accomplish).

Fingers crossed that these goals are doable.  If I have any aha moments as I work toward meeting them, I'll be sure to report back.
Best.

Number of the Day for the Year: FREE Math Printables

Happy Monday.  I hope you had a nice weekend.  Mine was pretty packed with some last minute summer break quality time with my little family.
I'm back to work tomorrow and I wanted to share my Number of the Day packet before things started getting too busy.

You can click on the pic below for a FREE copy of this packet.

I'm a big fan of Number of the Day activities.  I created these printables to maintain a simple and fairly consistent layout and at the same time grow in skill level as the year progresses.
I like to use these handouts as morning work 2-3 days a week.  They are great review and really help my students stay sharp with their skills.

Below you can get a closer look at all of the printables in this packet.  They are in the order I use them throughout the year. 

for numbers 1-10

for numbers 1-20

for numbers 10-99

for numbers 10-99

for numbers 10-99

I hope these Number of the Day activities can be of use to you in your class this upcoming school year. Thanks for stopping by and have a great week.

Best.

How Did That Get In My Lunchbox?: A Science Mentor Text

Hi Friends.  I'm not going to bring you down by telling you how few days I have left for summer break.  Instead, I'm trying to get my good attitude on.  One way to stop focusing on the end of a summer is to look forward.

Thinking about wonderful books for my class is a nice way to look forward.  Read alouds are really my favorite time of the day.  The students are always so engaged, it is so rewarding to see their connections to fabulous books.

Speaking of fabulous books, I'm linking up with the Collaboration Cuties weekly Mentor Text Linkup to share a favorite science text.  My choice this week is How Did That Get In My Lunchbox? by Chris Butterworth.

In my class we do work with nutrition at the beginning of the year.  How Did That Get In My Lunchbox? traces the path of food from farm to school and is perfect for this topic.  It gives a closer look at parts of plants, and food/nutrition related vocabulary.  The illustrations are colorful and fun.  

Even better, How Did that Get In My Lunchbox? can do double duty as a resource for your class' study of economics.  Don't you love books that can be brought out again later in the year?  

Since we're on the topic of food, D and I went to an event last night that was very yummy.  It was a fundraiser for the Southern Foodways Alliance which is dedicated to the preservation of southern foodways and recipes.

It was a dinner with five courses featuring five different top chefs in our area.  Date nights are rare and we had a fab time.

But enough about my weekend.  Here's the scoop on my science pick for this week.

For more science text recommendations, be sure to head over to Collaboration Cuties.

Have a great week.

The Daily Five: Focus on Small Groups

Happy summer everyone!  Mine is winding down and I am getting ready to present at our school system's annual reading and math conference.  I will be sharing about The Daily Five.  My presentation focuses on the recommendations made by authors Gail Boushey and Joan Moser in their book The Daily Five.

However, I have had to make a few adjustments to some of these recommendations so that this literacy structure can work in my classroom.  I think the mark of a good program is that there is some room for flexibility and personal touches.  From my experience, The Daily Five does offer that flexibility.

If you are launching The Daily Five, I have created a set of mini books to support student learning of procedures.  These mini books mirror the language I use on my I charts.  I plan to use them as I introduce each component of The Daily Five or use them as review (if and when students need a refresher on expectations).  If you are interested, click on one of the pics to find out more information.

Thanks for reading and if you have any questions let me know.
Have a great week!

This Plus That Life's Little Equations: A Math Mentor Text

Hi Friends.  I'm sorry to say I am on the count down to the end of summer break.  I have just about a week and a half left.  But, on the upside, I have some great new books that I am excited to introduce to my first graders.  Books that I found thanks to the mentor recommendations through the Collaboration Cuties' weekly mentor text link up.
This week's link up is for math texts.  My pick is Amy Krouse Rosenthal's This Plus That: Life's Little Equations.

This book is a whimsical introduction to mathematical equations.  The equations create conceptional relationships rather than numeric relationships.  The illustrations are lovely and warm in tone.  This Plus That is a good jumping off point to have students come up with their own little life equation.

This text is a great companion to another one of my favorite math read alouds, 1 + 1 = 5 and Other Unlikely Additions by David LaRochelle.  I like to read This Plus That at the onset of our class' work with addition.  I read 1 + 1 = 5 and Other Unlikely Additions after the students have a firm grip on the concept of adding.  If you would like to read more about this text and an accompanying activity click here.  These are two fun texts that your students will love.

Here's the scoop on this week's mentor text . . .

For more mentor text recommendations, visit Collaboration Cuties.

Thanks for reading.

Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy: No Reply Blogger Fix

Hi Friends.  I hope you have a minute, because now is the time to stop and ask yourself a question, am I a no reply blogger? 

If you have no idea if you are a no reply blogger or not, then you probably are.  Why does it matter if you are a no reply blogger?  Well, basically no one can correspond with you via your blog email until you change your settings off of no reply.
If you change your settings off of no reply, you will (most likely) receive email responses to the comments you leave for other bloggers, which allows for better correspondence opportunities.

Follow the steps below to check if your blogger settings are the way you want them.

I hope these steps are easy and clear.  If you change your settings, feel free to leave a comment and I'll try to email you back to check to see if you have fixed it.

Best.