Hey, whatta ya know? A post about school!

The other day, some of the babies were working with white boards during centers, and one of my super stars brought this over to me. Of course, being the bitch that I am, the first thing I did was chastise him for interrupting my group. (Rule #1 of center time - DO NOT interrupt my group!)But, a few minutes later, when we were ready to switch, I told him to bring it over so I could see it.
Translation: My teacher is sweet and good, and mad, but good. She gives us new stuff, problems, math stuff. My teacher really loves to sing, sing, sing.

How smart is this kid?! The last line made me laugh out loud. Funny cuz it's true!!

I discovered a few new teacher blogs this weekend. There were a couple of 1st Grade blogs that I found particularly interesting. Mrs. Larremore over at Chalk Talk posted about these Word Helpers that she found over at Sarah Cooley's blog, First Grader...at last! I immediately set to work, making a set of my own.

I also put together a power point slide show, that I plan to show the babies tomorrow. From that, I printed out a page with all the slides, that I plan to copy for them to keep in their homework folders. This color copy will stay at my group table. I plan to make a few more to keep in some of my centers.

Look what I bought at Sam's Club!! This is the first time I decided to do something completely frivolous with my $100 supply allowance. This laminator was $99.98. It's something I've always wanted, and after the past few months of HELL, I decided it was time to treat myself to something nice. (Yes, only a nerdy teacher would think THIS is a treat. What about it?!) It came with 50 different laminating pouches; 10 ID badge pouches (complete with clips!), 10 5"x7" pouches, 10 'menu size' pouches, and 20 letter size pouches. For another $20.68, I picked up a pack of 200 additional letter size pouches.

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I quickly laminated the 6 posters I made with my Word Helpers, although I've decided to call them Reading Buddies. I can't wait to hang these up near my small group table tomorrow, and introduce them to the babies. Thanks, Sarah!

One of the "projects" I plan to make with my new laminator (woo hoo!) is dry erase "boards" for the kids to keep in their desks. This laminating film can be written on with dry erase markers, so I'm going to put a piece of cardstock in the pouch and laminate it. Oo, wait! I can put lines on one side for them to write on, and leave the other side plain for them to draw or whatever. Now I'm excited!

Oh, AND I'm even more excited about this....Pissed Off posted about these amazing Dry Erase Crayons from Crayola the other day. Hallelujah! What the hell took so long for someone to come up with these!! Do you have any idea how many markers I've had to throw away because the babies either pushed the tips in from writing too hard, or they didn't cap them correctly and they dried out? These things aren't cheap. Sure, I've bought the cheap ones from the dollar store, but they don't last.

This year, for the first time, I put dry erase markers on my supply list for parents. I decided to go with a very nontraditional list this year (you know, to go with the nontraditional grade!) and asked for dry erase markers, sanitizing wipes, index cards and hand sanitizer. The only 'supplies' I asked that the babies have are 3-5 sharpened pencils and crayons. That's it. I have scissors and glue, and I don't allow the babies to have markers. (Occasionally, we use markers for projects, but if they have them in their desks, they try to do EVERYTHING in marker, which means my desks, chairs and students also get covered in marker!) I told parents that they should have scissors and glue available at home for homework and projects, but please don't send any to school. The more they have, the more they play with. I know, I'm mean. Eh, I'm over it!

Anyway, I think if each of them had a personal dry erase board and crayon in their desk, there would be a whole lot of writing going on, not to mention the number of trees we'd be saving! (That one's for you, Suz!) I'm a little too excited about this now. I will be bringing card stock to school with me tomorrow to put in the copy machine to put the lines on one side. I'll probably bore you with the finished project later. You've been warned!