Bling! Bling!

I went to school today and worked on a couple of bulletin boards.   I was inspired this week when I was in Mardel's and found some cute designer letters with little blingy jewels that are self sticking - just peel the paper off the back and stick. 

Here is a close up of the bling: 



I also used the letters to make my new word wall (minus the blingy jewels):

 I used self sticking foam letters I found at Wal-Mart for the alphabet on the word wall.

Summer T-shirt Winners!

Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

I have 3 winners and will be contacting you at your email address soon to get the color and size of the T-shirt you want.

Winner #1 ~ Tammi

Winner #2 ~  First Grade Delight

Winner #3 ~ Laura

{Note:  I had one comment through email, hence you will notice the random generator has 13 on it and that email entry was the 10th person to enter the give away.}

Computer Desk {Cheap} Spruce Up

Last year, I had my big teacher desk at the front of the room and it took up too much space!  Sooooo, I have been wanting a small computer desk to go by my promethean board to open up some space a the front of the room for student desks.  I am rather impatient so instead of shopping around for something I really wanted, I settled for this:

a Family Dollar store find for $25

{They had one that was much cuter, but had very little table top space and I have to fit a DVD player on this as well}

I decided to spruce it up with this:

a Wal-Mart find

It all came together to look like this:

And it fits nicely in its new home right beside the promethean board:

Now this makes me want to go buy a ton of peace themed decor for the classroom! 

Sight Word Practice

Have you ever used the rapid response boards for sight word practice?  I used these last year and I must say this has been the best tool I have found to teach sight words.  I send these home for homework Mon-Thurs. and then I make more copies to keep in the classroom.  I use them during reading group and I also have my students get them out and partner read them with each other usually pairing a strong reader with a weaker reader.  This not only helps them learn sight words but it also helps build fluency.  You can also use these boards to practice letters, numbers, and shapes.  To help students with b and d reversals, I made a board with only b's and d's.  Instead of saying the name of the letter, I had them say their sounds.  This is a wonderful tool. 

If you use the Journey's reading series, then click on the picture to get the set for the Unit 1.