My Four Groovy Buttons

It came!

Yesterday, I came home from my school's Open House well after 8:30pm to find my new Pete book waiting for me.

My poor husband had to listen to it not once, but twice!

Luckily, he liked it too. He even chuckled at the ending.

You just can't help but love Pete.


So, I had to put those eggs on hold again {What's another day?} and have some fun with my blue, four-legged feline.

Rhonda Baldacchino of the blog Classroom Fun has created a great little graph, reading response, and craft to go along with the book. You can get it from TPT by clicking {here.} 

My students love to collect data and complete graphs so this was a big hit.

First, I began by reading the new book. The littles loved it!
We also listened to it from the Harper Collins website. {Click Here}

Then, I read the other two stories (as a review AND because I have a new student who hadn't had a chance to hear me read them aloud yet.)

After the stories, I had the students come to me one by one (because this group is easily swayed by their peers) and quietly tell me which book was their favorite.

I revealed the results and we completed our graph.

Then, we completed a response to the story.

Their responses were pretty cute.

"Pete the cat buttons fall off his shirt. Then, he don't have a problem. Then, he don't cry."

Last, we made our Pete craft. Lots of paper pieces, scissors, and glue, Oh My! 

Hooray for Pete!


Now back to those eggs...

Pete the Cat and Daily 5

Thanks to some pretty cool people (Deanna Jump & April Larremore @ Chalk Talk) and their recommendations, I am now the proud owner of both Pete the Cat books.

Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes
& Pete the Cat: Rocking in My School Shoes

My kiddos absolutely L-O-V-E-D these books! The You-Tube videos are so cute and the kids (let's face it, me too) liked to hear the melody by the author. 
Click {here for the link} & Click {here the second book's link}


Just the most enjoyable way to start the year! The books are short, they have a pattern, they review color and school words, and the positive message is hard to miss.
*I'm in love*


I found some cute ideas to go along with these books on Pinterest. Also, I purchased Deanna Jump's newly revised Pete the Cat Literacy and Math pack from TPT.


Here's what we have done so far:

I used Deanna's Bubble Mat anchor chart ideas and them added the essential question, "What is Character?" We added the bubbles and talked about what they thought character means. It was nice to discuss a character with positive qualities and how my students should try to be positive as well. We all would much rather hang out with Pete than Little Rabbit Foo-Foo!

Then we made our own Pete the Cat's. I loved to see how well each child could follow directions, his/her fine motor skills, and her/his reading ability with this activity. Some little cuties would spend all of their time on Pete and then spend 2 seconds adding the words and not even read it was mixed up.


Here are two average papers:

AND here's the paper from my little sweetie who wants me to call her "Palm Tree."

I love the eyebrow whisker!


It always amazes me how young they are at the beginning of the year!


Daily 5:


For those of you new to Daily 5 or frightened to use the management system here's my Day  6 update:


So, I didn't get a chance to begin the Daily five on the first day of school, but I did begin the first week. We begin with Read to Self. We talked about the three ways to read a book and completed the I-chart together.

We modeled what it won't/will look like a few times. Then, I picked their spots around the room, and we worked on building our stamina for 3 minutes. It took about 4 tries and then we finally did it.
*You WILL get some students who think the rules don't apply to them. You want to nip that in the bud right away!*


Also, the most important thing for you to do is to sit at your Reading Table (alone with your own book) and BACK OFF! Read your book and sneakily look around the room for any rule breakers. The second you hear a rule breaker bring EVERYONE to the rug and model the incorrect/correct way because they need the reminder. After a few times of not meeting their goal and having to stop and come to the rug, most of the kids are annoyed and will speak up about trying harder to meet the goal.


After we met our goal, we had share time. We shared our favorite parts of books. Then, we were done for the day.


The next day, we reviewed the I-chart, incorrect/correct modeled what it looked like, and added a minute to our goal. The same thing will happen again about the rule breakers. So, we stop. Come to the rug. Review the I-chart. Model and try again.
Also, we discussed where the appropriate places to sit in the room are.

Please don't laugh at my AWFUL drawings!

The next day was the same routine, bumping it up a minute. Also, we discussed the I PICK method for shopping for new books. I let them pick their spots on their own, too! Read to Self still took a few tries before we hit our goal. Don't expect perfection right away. It takes practice to build that muscle memory!!


After another successful day, we added shopping for new books into our routine. I showed them where to put their old books (3) and had them pick three new books from my library. It took some time, but I really wanted them to be excited about their book choices. We bumped it up a minute and practiced until we met our goal.


Today, we added Work on Writing into the mix. We started with the I-chart.

I love the comment: "Doing teacher stuff."

We incorrect/correct modeled what it would look like (just like Read to Self.) Then, I placed them around the room and practiced for three minutes. We had to stop twice, due to talking, and then we made our three minute goal.


Tomorrow, we will discuss what our writing tools are and how important it is to have the things we need before we begin Work on Writing. And, of course, bump it up a minute.


Make sure to chart their results!

It's hard to see but there is 3 minutes filled in for Work on Writing.

Sorry this post is soooooo long. 
I hope you find it helpful. :)