Cafe & Daily Five!!!

We made it back from a fabulous holiday full of boating and eating  some of the most amazing seafood dishes known to man!!! So delicious!!! During my travels I was on the hunt for 2  "teacher" books created by the now famous Two Sisters called The Daily Five & The Cafe.  I think I found the last copy not on back order anywhere in the world. I am sooooooo excited to have tracked down these books and have read them front to back many many times! I cannot wait to get started with some of these ideas in my classroom this year! Could it really be true there is a way to meet the needs of every single child, and to let them have ownership of their learning and STILL HAVE FUN!?!!?!?! I can hardly sleep thinking about the endless possibilities for my kiddos this year!  

Three Of My Favourite Sites For Kids!

Of course there are a ZILLION sites for kids but these 3 are definitely at the top of my list! The first one is starfall.com which is fantastic for kids learning to read and reading practise. There are lots of fun interactive games that the kids love.  Your kiddos my have used it in Kindergarten and will be able to navigate easily. 

My second favourite is storybird.com which really gets the kids writing because they are inspired by gorgeous artwork from zillions of artists. They get to choose their favourite pictures and then add their own text! They choose the layout and publish an actual BOOK they made themselves! You used to not be able to print these stories but now you can which is a really great feature!! You do have to sign up and get a password, etc.. but everything is totally FREE! We have done this in the computer lab and the kids LOVE it!

Last but not least for science and math is studyjams.scholastic.com which is aimed at a slightly older crowd than grade one, but they still have many primary units for our grade ones (plants, animals, ordering numbers, and more!)  I love this site because it has lots of mini movies,games, show me how features and even SONGS to get the point across.  When the little guys see the animated teenagers they are instantly hooked, who doesn't have a big brother, sister,or  cousin to look up to? Hope you have time to check these out with your sweeties!