ESGI and their Pot of Gold

I love ESGI! It saves me over 400 hours per year! What can you do with an extra 400 hours during a school year? 

So what is ESGI? It is an assessment tool that allows you to assess your kids online! That's right online paperfree!!!

My firsties love it! They beg to be assessed!!! I love it because I can assess for report cards in one day! I can give formatives throughout my unit and not worry about excessive amounts of paper and grading! That's right! It grades it for you as well!!!

You can make an assessment that is aligned with exactly what you are doing or you can go to the test explorer area and find one there! There are 100s to choose from!! 

Differentiation has never been easier! We complain about having to differentiate our instruction but assess the same, no longer! You can create assessments based on your kids abilities!! 

Need assessment and data points for your IEPs?! Go no further! You can create your own in ESGI and print off the results and bring it to your IEP meeting! Progress monitoring has never been easier!

But it gets better!! Parent communication is a breeze with ESGI!! You have the ability to print off parent letters for each child with the assessment data and what needs to be a focus! There are flash cards that are also available to print off to send home so the parents can help your kiddos at home!!

This is truly an amazing and a can't live without program!

Now for the amazing information! ESGI is having a promotion!! Between now and April 10, 2017, of you sign up using my promotion code below (http://www.esgisoftware.com/ESGI/?promo=gators)

Or by clicking on my button on the sidebar for ESGI, you will be able to get a free trial period but not for only 60 days! You will be able to use ESGI for free until August 31, 2017! That is 5 months! At the end of the five months if you can't live without it (which you won't be able to) then you can get it for the promotional price of $159!!! 

Also! You will be entered into their Pot of Gold giveaway! They are giving away a mystery prize! Announcement of the winner  will be made on April 11,2017!

So what are you waiting for click for you free trial period and you will soon have to figure out what you are going to do with an extra 400 hours per school year!! 

 

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!!!

There are many special days throughout the school year that we celebrate with our children but I have to say that March 2 is my all time favorite day of all! 

March 2 as we all know is Read Across America  Day or Dr. Seuss' birthday!!!

To celebrate it this year, I did a room transformation and my kids walked into Seussville!!

I put red and white table cloths on their tables! In the center of each table was a Dr. Seuss book and coordinating stuffed animal that I bought at Kohls!!!! 

I put all of their supplies into Dr. Seuss pencil cases! 

But what I loved most of all was how my lights turned out!!! By cutting pool noodles from the top tonbottom and wrapping them around the light post and adding a fluff ball, my lights became truffula trees!!! They looked amazing!!

If you noticed, I made a lorax to go with this truffula tree!!

From the ceiling and the doorway, I found  amazing Dr. Seuss swirly decorations at Party City to hang!!!

The table by the door was transformed into a birthday celebration table with a Dr. Seuss birthday cake hat, goody bags, blowers and photo booth props for all!!!

Target had an awesome basket in their clearance section that went amazingly with my theme!!! Don't you just love Target!!!

My morning message board also had a Seuss theme today!!

The hats for my kids were bought at Party City as well and I loved them because they were sturdy and adjustable!! Party City rocked the Dr. Seuss stuff this year!!! 

I can't forget my lightbox!! Of course, I had to make inserts to go with the day!!!

So that was the inside of my classroom, now the outside!!!

I, of course, had to change my door!!! 

I also created a photo booth area for my kids to enjoy!! Check out the area and their pictures!!

We had our principal and assistant principal come and read to us! We heard Green Eggs and Ham and One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish!! The kids loved it!!

We also made Green Eggs and Ham from pudding, green food coloring and vanilla wafers!!! The kids loved it!!!

Of course I had to use my all time favorite app on my iPhone, The Cat Cam!!! I love how the pictures came out!!!

We made Sam I Am from Green Eggs and Ham and wrote about whether or not we like Green Eggs and Ham!! We also read books about Dr. Seuss and learned all about his life!!! 

I love the shirt one of my firsties came in wearing today!!! 

So now you can see why today is my favorite day with my firsties and I have to say it was an awesome day!!! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mardi Gras

I love giving my kids opportunities to experience things they normally would not! Fat Tuesday is one of these opportunities! 

I transformed my room into Mardi Gras! I put out purple and green table cloths. Crawfish were hanging throughout the room. Mardi Gras decorations were hanging throughout as well as in the hallway for a photo booth!

When they entered the class they walked through purple, green and gold streamers and there was New Orleans Jazz and Blues music playing in the room! 

We did two read the rooms today! A Mardi Gras vocabulary read the room and a one less, one more, ten less and ten more read the room! They wore their masks and beads that they received this morning!!

To end the day, we had King Cake and boy were they excited! They all were searching their piece of cake for the baby which one of the girls found!!!

Happy Mardi Gras!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our day with Abe!

We love learning about Abraham Lincoln!!! My kids absolutely love him as much as I do!!! This year we read the amazing book, I am Abraham Lincoln written by Brad Metzer. We discussed about the importance of his hat and how that symbolizes him. 

Then we made a lifesize Abraham Lincoln and the kids measured him during math using nonstandard and standard units!! 

Here they are measuring him!

Then we hung him in the hallway and I took their picture with him! Look how little they are compared to him!!!

they also drew Abraham Lincoln directed drawing and then measured their Abraham Lincoln with cubes! They also took the picture they took with Abraham Lincoln and wrote about what they would do if they were friends!

We love Abraham Lincoln!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy 101st Day of School

Today was a busy day in first grade! Not only was it Valentine's Day but it was also the 101st day of  school!

To celebrate this day, we made our Dalmatian shirts and hats! The shirts are made by taking bingo daubers and sitting our plain white tshirts! Thank you @ericabohrer for this amazing unit!!!

Aren't they cute!!!!

We also did lots of activities such as tiny word search, write the room and draw and write about if I could have 101 things I would have ___________! 

We got our pictures taken with our frame as well as going home with a special treat! 

And we also put together a collection of 101 things at home to bring in and share with us during morning meeting!

They received a special treat that represents 101using two pretzels for the ones and an Oreo for the zero!

Happy 101st day everyone!!

 

 

 

Happy Valentines Day

Have I told you lately how much I love Oriental Trading!!!! They have the most amazing things that make the special days with our kiddos even more special! 

Valentine's Day is always a big favorite with my firsties! So this year, thanks to Oriental Trading, this day was even more amazing! 

We love Snoopy(I know who doesn't) and when you mix Snoopy and Valentine's Day together with a group of firsties you get nothing but success!!!

First, did you know that you can buy plastic tablecloth by the roll!! Well, you can so of course, I had to get the Snoopy Valentine roll. Oriental Trading has more then just Snoopy!

 

I used the tablecloth to make a background for our photo booth!!!! There are so many amazing Snoopy decorations available from Oriental Trading! The kids loved our photo booth decorated with Snoopy decorations and the giant stand up Snoopy! 

Aren't their pictures adorable!!!

Of course, I had to decorate inside my classroom also and Oriental Trading makes this an easy task! I absolutely love the Snoopy valentines day decorations!!! They have many styles to choose from!! 

The hearts are from a set I already had but the tiny Snoopys are from the centerpiece decorations!! See how versatile their decorations are!!!

If it's a game you are looking for, this is the place to look! They have a variety of games! My kids loved this bean bag game!!!

What is a holiday without a craft! My kiddos loved making the Snoopy magnet for their parents!!!

What can we do to bring home our valentines? Make boxes of course and they have a variety of valentine boxes and holders!! We made the Snoopy ones!!!

Every teacher loves to give their kids a little something for their special days in the classroom! There is such a huge selection at Oriental Trading! My  kids loved them!!!

Crayons, pencils and erasers are just amazing little gifts for my firsties!!!

Thank you Oriental Trading for always having what we need and love!!!!!!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!!!!