Tracks Across The United States

At the beginning of first grade, I introduced my class to Roary.  Roary is a stuffed lion that became our class mascot.  Roary got to travel all around the United States.  He even went to Hawaii and Alaska!!  Roary would send postcards and pictures of all the places he had been.  My 1st graders got so excited to get a postcard from Roary.  They were always asking me where he was and when we would hear from him again.  When we would receive a postcard I would read it to my class.  After we read the postcard we would put a pin in our map of where Roary was.  The students then would get to write a letter back to Roary.  They would tell him what we were learning about, our new smartboard, and the school disco party!!  This is just a fun and creative way to get your students writing.  Roary will be continuing his travels throughout this next year!!  You just never know where he will be going next!

Roary went to Hawaii with my sister and brother-in-law!

One of my students grandparents live in Alaska.  So, Roary got to go with her mom for a visit!!

Smartboard Attendance

Taking roll takes me soooo long.  It takes so much time out of each morning.  So, I downloaded an attendance page for each season and holiday on the smartboard.  My first graders love anything that has to do with the smartboard!! Who wouldn't??? I love trying new things on it!!  This was so easy.  Just go to http://exchange.smarttech.com/#tab=0.  If you search for attendance you will find ones that other teachers have made.  All you have to do is download it and then go in and change the names.  There are so many ideas.  My students love coming in each morning and moving their name or tapping on their name.  The following picture is our attendance for Christmas.  The students drag the ornament with their name to the Christmas tree.  It's so much fun that the older students come in asking my students if they can move their name for them.  It's just a fun way to start out each morning!!