First Grade Fun Dr. Jean Giveaway!!!

Check out the giveaway happening over at First Grade Fun and enter for your chance to win a Dr. Jean cd!!! Congrats to Ms. Van Orman for reaching 200 followers!!! How exciting:):):)

YAY for a new blog makeover:) and BOO for new url issues:(

Hey Everyone!!! I'm loving the blog design Cara created for me!!!! It's perfect and makes coming over here and posting even more fun:) On the downside, I tried to change my url to crazyforfirstgrade.blogspot.com and realized that it's WAY more complicated than I thought it would be! Turns out that changing your url is easy...I was able to keep all of my awesome followers (yay!), BUT (here comes the yucky part)the news feed wouldn't show any of you my new post ....double disappointment for me! I love the news feed and want everyone to know what's happening over here sooooooo.....I changed back to my old url for now. Sure enough my latest post popped right up in the news feed for everyone to see when changing back over.


Here's the deal....I want a new url, but don't want to have followers who can't see what I'm posting in their news feed! What should I do? Any suggestions???


Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!!

Think Dots Choice Board

I love using "Think Dots" choice boards in my classroom! The activities on each choice board are differentiated by levels and interests. My little loves have so much fun with them:) They roll a die with a partner and complete the activity if it is one that interests them. They have to complete at least 3 activities. When they complete one, they color the box and put their recording sheets (or whatever they used to show their work) in their math folder. Since this is a very student directed activity, I act as a facilitator and just circulate the room monitoring/helping as needed. I usually give the choice boards towards the end of a unit for extending and refining purposes. Click HERE to download a  Money Think Dots choice board!

I love, love, love these plastic storage drawers! They make having materials for several activities a piece a cake!!! I just put everything the kiddos will need for each choice in a labeled drawer!

As higher order thinking and differentiation become more and more of a focus at my school, I have found these choice boards really helpful. When I first started using them, my students and I went over the expectations and modeled how to complete each activity. Please don't get discouraged if the first, second, or even third time you do a choice board is a little crazy...trust me, it will get much, much better!!!

For more resources and information on a TON of awesome differentiated activities check out this awesome website- http://daretodifferentiate.wikispaces.com/

Happy Friday Eve!!!

AN EXCITING BLOG ANNOUNCEMENT & TpT 10% off coupon code :)

Hey Everyone!

I'm beyond excited to announce that the awesome, Cara Carroll, will be giving my blog a much needed makeover in the very near future(a week or so)! Check out her blog designs at OH SO SPOILED. I admire her work so much & can't wait for my "new look". With a new look will also come a NEW BLOG NAME! When I originally set up my blog, I didn't do a good job of looking to make sure that my site name wasn't already taken or similiar to others. Turns out, Fun in First is a very popular name, which is awesome because first grade is so much fun, but I don't want to confuse anyone at the same time:) With much going back and forth about my new name, I've finally decided on one that fits me better, " Crazy for First Grade".....perfect, huh? My only worry about this is that I could possibly lose my sweet follower/visitor friends b/c my url will change & I don't want that to happen at all! When Cara's done designing and ready to get things looking a whole lot better here, I will post another announcement letting everyone know what my new url is before I actually change it over:) I've had a ton of fun sharing ideas with all of you and look forward to continue doing so in a much cuter space :) :)

FYI -TpT is running a 10% off special ALL WEEK with this coupon code- G2R2M :) Awesome!!! I have a few wishlist items that I can't wait to use it for:) Please check out my TPT store if you are in need of St. Patrick's Day and/or Spring centers. I love creating centers that are easy to use, but engaging and fun for my students! My packets include printable centers and games with coordinating accountability sheets! As mentioned in an earlier post, I finally have my Spring Math and Literacy center packet up and running over at TpT, but for some reason my preview isn't working right now. I've contacted TpT to get help with that so please know it will *hopefully* be attached soon. Here is the downloadable preview if you want to check it out.

Since my Spring packet is finished, I'm now working away on my next math and literacy center packet called "Bugs, Birds, and Butterflies". These centers will be really cute to use when you get tired of bunnies, chicks, and eggs...ha! What skills are you working on in you classroom that you could use a center for? Let me know:)

Hope you have a super Sunday and a GREAT week!!

~Anna Brantley