Our favorite place to read

  I was wanting a new piece of furniture for my room...I had seen something like this on Pinterest and asked my ever-tolerant husband if he would be able to duplicate!  He rolled his eyes and said yes...Three days later I now have a new reading corner bench as well as reading box storage! Yay for handy husbands!  Kids love to sit on it to read as well as lay down and sit with a friend to share a good book!

Places to Read

One of our activities to get ourselves ready for the Daily 5.  We read the book, 

The Best Place to Read, by Todd Parr.  We then brainstormed places to read.  Kids made it more personable by drawing themselves in their favorite reading place.

Teaching My Students about Listening

As we start the new year, one of the things that I have been trying to instill in my students is the importance of listening.  Not just sitting quietly, but listening with our whole body.  We talked about how you need to be listening with ears, eyes, mouth (quiet) and with the brain!  We need all of these components to help us learn and remember.  Our saying is participate-don't be a bump on a log!

Math Manipulative Storage tip

Are you always scrambling around to collect manipulatives for students to play math games?  This idea has really saved me time and frustration!  I counted out 25 counters and put them in the plastic Gerber baby food containers.  The kids can easily grab one and get started working right away!

Stay tuned for more classroom pictures and how we use these manipulative containers.