National Board???

Happy National Board Certified Teacher Day!!

I recently achieved my NB Certification.  I was one of 8,600 teachers to achieve this year.  There are now over 91,000 teachers that have their certification.  I was checking out the NB website and found some interesting data.

I was shocked at the fact that North Carolina has 2,277 teachers that have their NB certification. (Compared to New Hampshire with a total of 19)  Until this year the state paid all fees for teachers during their first attempt.  North Carolina also offers a 12% increase to teachers that achieve NB.  I’m sure that is why their numbers are so high.  This made me wonder how many states encourage their teachers to work towards their NB certification.    

Map of NBCT’s by State

 National Board is all about what it is we want our students to learn, how we teach it, and how do we know if our students GET IT. 

Congrats to all the rest of you NBCT’s out there.

Cold Weather??? I NEED A HEADBAND!!

I’m so excited about Babbling Abby’s give away.  She is giving away a SUPER cute flower headband. . . . which of course I would love to have.  Check out her page for more information. 

See below picture:

If You Take a Mouse to the Movies - Chain Reaction

So . .  .  tonight I found some SUPER CUTE ideas on Team Carroll’s Blog The First Grade Parade.   She used the book If You Take a Mouse to the Movies for some of her in class activities. 

This book works perfect with our upcoming comprehension skill: Cause and Effect.  I created this Chain Reaction graphing organizer to use with my students.

Chain Reaction Graphic Organizer

The Mitten Box

After the holidays we will be learning about describing words.  We will be reading lots of poems.  One poem is called the Mitten Box.  I would love to have each students bring in a mitten and place it a box.  During our comprehension station each student will choose a mitten from the box.  Then they will generate 4 or 5 words that describe that mitten.  In our vocabulary station the students will read each card to see if it describes these mittens:

Download Here:

Mittens and Cards