It's going to be a JUNGLE this year in my classroom!!!

I have decided to take on the jungle and take my students on

many adventures through Africa and Asia as we begin to learn 

about ELEPHANTS!  

I have created a new product in my TPT store that took me a long while to complete.  You see I have a love/hate relationship with my computer.  Many of you are great at using your MACs, where I have never used a Mac in my life!  I've had this computer for about six months and every time I mess with it, I get frustrated.  Seriously folks, I am the first person in my household to use a MAC and no one can help me when I get stuck!  Wait, it gets worse, I live in the country and have limited access to internet.  So, when my family of 5 uses up the data, our internet is slowed down!!!!  Let me tell you, this takes sooooo

much patience.  But I conquered and know that this is a small victory! Click on the picture below to check out this great Close Read!

Have a Junglific Day!!!

Amy Jordan

What a fabulous link up to participate in!  I am amazed at how quickly June has gone by! Anyone else out there wishing that there was just a little bit more sunshine in Ohio? Summer hasn't been very enjoyable yet for 
this girlie!

I love to be creative and branch out!  I'm not afraid to try new ideas in my classroom!  I am so unorganized in my classroom!  That is my biggest goal for this coming school year.  I truly believe now that I won't be coaching anymore, I will have plenty of time to keep up with my room.  I taught kindergarten my first year and have been in first grade ever since.  I also am teaching with my best friend!  Which is the best!

I do seriously love to garden!  We have had so much rain that it has hurt my plants!  It even killed my favorite new plant!  I love feeding the birds and try to keep on the lookout to make sure our cats don't get any of them.  I have been trying to save a little chipmunk lately from our cat and have been successful! Hehe!  

I have honestly cried more since my daughter has graduated than I ever did when my oldest son graduated.  I just drove past the school last week and started bawling!  I am honestly scared to see how I will be when my youngest graduates.  I only have two more years and they will all have graduated!  The good thing is that he is going to play football this year!  I am hoping that it's a good season for him.  He should do well since he's 6'6!

Is anyone else addicted to HGTV?  Honestly we will watch House Hunters International all day long if we could!  

Have a FANTASTIC day!

Amy Jordan

CODING In Your Classroom

CODING ANYONE?

This past year we were very fortunate to have someone teach technology to our K-2 students.  At first, I couldn't really see 

how this would benefit our students.  I mean they are K-2 kiddos!  By the end of the school year, I was fortunate enough to 

watch this teacher in action and I was blown away!  You see in our school district, we must observe other teachers in our 

building throughout the school year and fill

out a form about what we saw, ideas we 

could use, questions we may have, etc.  I 

was so amazed and inspired by what I saw. 

 I didn't even realize how simple coding 

was.  Let me also tell you that I was 

really afraid that this could be a waste 

because the class I was observing had 

many behavior issues.  She used our  #wholebrainteaching techniques and once they settled down, they were off and running. 

 I mean it was so quiet.  If you would like to know more here a few places to visit:  

www.scratchjr.org

You can also learn more by visiting  www.edutopia.org

#coding #technologyinyourclassroom #iteachfirst

Happy Days All!!!!

Amy Jordan

CELEBRATE Teachers!

It's once again time to CELEBRATE our fantastic teachers from all around the world!  I am having a sale at my store click on the picture to go there.

I have a new mini-unit just in time for Cinco de Mayo!  We will be having tons of fun tomorrow learning about Mexico's culture.

Have a great week everyone!  I know for most of us we are winding down so enjoy May!  I know I will be super busy with track, graduation, and plenty of birthdays to celebrate!

Fantastic First Grade

#teacherspayteachers

Amy's Fantastic First Grade

Amy Jordan

Daily Five: Work on Writing

It's once again time to share how I use #WorkonWriting!  I can't say it enough, I LOVE Daily 5!  For me, Work on Writing is the last thing I introduce in Daily 5.  I really don't even incorporate it into the rounds until around November.  I still only allow a select group to go to Work on Writing because a lot of my kiddos just can't handle building a lot of stamina.  We already have a block of writing built into our day but those kiddos that do get to go to Work on Writing get an extra dose.  What I love about writing is that it can be so open-ended.  I have been giving the students a choice to write on whatever they would like.  Some students are great at this, while others just can' get anything written down.  Which in turn, they begin to whine about not knowing what to do or as one of my students told me today "You didn't give me enough instructions." (This little guy is the King of Whining)

PUMPKIN PLANTS

We planted our pumpkin seeds that we saved from the fall.  These plants are growing so quickly that I don't think we will be able to wait until Mother's Day. Seriously, I had no idea they would grow like this (Plants on Steroids haha).

PUMPKIN OBSERVATIONS

Kiddos are writing what they observe when they check on their pumpkin plants.

GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS

Graphic organizers, jeez, I truly thought they were good at this, but alas they still need to work on them.  Yes, we are still studying Black History in April.  It was a looong winter.

WORD WALL

Spring Word Walls,  the students love having words that they can actually use when they are writing.  They are always unsure if they have spelled a word correctly.

One more thing, I am superexcited to be going to watch my favorite football team tomorrow!

Happy Friday Everyone!

Amy Jordan

Fantastic First Grade

Daily Five: Word Work

Who doesn't love to use Daily Five? I am so excited to share some of the Word Work options that we use.  I used stamps early on in the year and found out the hard way that a lot of the kiddos weren't ready.  Seriously, I had one girl that ended up with  blue ink all in her blonde hair!  Needless to say, I put away the stamps.  I finally brought them back out and am now using the stamps with play-doh. (Not as messy, in my opinion)

I also went to the dollar store and bought cheap photo album booklets to use for word work.  This one is reviewing specific blends.  I just use old pictures from Saxon and other pictures that I have collected.

 Wiki Stix!!! Love using them to practice our sight words.

I have this posted with my word work supplies to remind the students various ways they can make words.

I have many other things I use for word work like keyboards, magnetic letters, stencils, BOGGLE (probably the classes favorite), play-doh, bulletin board letters (took a lot of work to laminate and cut out but they are cute), foam letters, the list is endless!

Enjoy all!

Amy Jordan

Fantastic First Grade

@fantasticfirstgrade

#BookDeals Galore

Happy Easter everyone!  This was one busy week for me and am I glad we have a few days off to rest!  We don't get a spring break but we do get Friday and Monday off.  Even though I really wish we would've made a day up on Monday.  Anyways, I wanted to share with you one of the best places I have found to get books for a steal.

#GOODWILL  That's right everyone!  I have been perusing the local Goodwill's and have found over 80 books for around $25!  Now that's what I call a BARGAIN!  I even found a book with the author signature!  So start checking out your Goodwill stores, you will be amazed and what you can find there!

Hoping you have a wonderful day!
Amy Jordan