New Year's Goal Party

Here is a quick peek into some of the fun things we have done since returning from break.  Tuesday was our first week back, so talked all about New Year Goals and resolutions.  We watched Squirrel’s New Year’s Resolution and made this cute anchor chart defining what a resolution is and how we could have one at home, school, and at play.  This really helped them to understand the concept.

When we finished our chart they had to make their own resolution or goal for the year.  Some of the kids chose school related goals (read chapter books by the end of the year, clip up to purple once a week) and others chose the sweetest ways to help at home.  This usually involved helping out mom! Love that ; ) Then they got to design and make their face.  They needed some fun laid-back activities for the first week back.  They even topped off their pictures with their party blowers from out goal party.  Here are some pictures of the finished product.  They made a very cute hallway display!

Grab your free copy of this activity here. 

At the end of the day we had a New Year Goal Party!  The kids shared their goals with friends and “toasted” with orange Crush.  The best part from the party was a little boy who wanted to take all the “fancy” glasses home with him.  He had never drank out of a glass that fancy ever.  Talk about melting your heart and making you laugh at the same time.  Little did he know the glasses were plastic and came in a pack of 6 from the Dollar Tree.

I have also been busy making these adorable book baskets for the teachers in my grade level.  They are their “Must Read” buckets.  The teachers fill up the bucket with their favorite books 10-15 and then throughout the next week of two they have to read one book from the bucket everyday.  When the two weeks is up they are going to switch buckets with another teachers bucket. 

The purpose of this is to 1. Get kids excited about reading.

2. Be able to read to the kids out of pure enjoyment and not just because it is used for a mini lesson. 3. Let the kids get to know each teacher through the books that they chose as their favorites.

So far this has been a HUGE it with the kids.  The love coming in from recess because they know it is Mrs. B’s Must Read Time!

We just introduced Two Vowels Go Walking.  They have some many wonderful resources out there for this and the kids love all the games and video from Starfall and PBS. The kids came up with words to match the first vowel pairs we introduced.  Here is a look at our newest anchor chart.

Be sure to check back later this week for some fun centers and freebies to go with Vowel Teams! Happy Hump Day and stay warm! It is currently 7 degrees in STL.