Open Court Imagine It! Spelling Words for 1st Grade

I have had several followers ask for a list of all of the Open Court Imagine It! 1st grade spelling words for the year. Unfortunately, I don't have the entire year compiled in one file (at least not yet). However I do have a list for the first 6 units which I developed based on the Open Court curriculum, since the program does not begin spelling lists/test until unit 7. So, for those of you who have been asking, and for those that would find it useful... Here it is. Click HERE to grab your copy!

Classroom Tour Linky Party

I just joined Brigid Classroom Tours Linky Party. Although my classroom isn't quite finished, it is pretty close to being ready. Now all I need are my darling 1st graders to show up and ADD all of their creative and whimsical touches.

I stuck with my sailor and pirate nautical theme but moved the furniture around, changed out some of the bulletin boards items and classroom posters, and created a reading reef for my students to curl up in using my son's old soccer goal that was being stored in my garage. I think my kiddos are really going to enjoy this space. See for yourself!

Create a free digital scrapbooking design

After you've toured my room, make sure to check out some of my fellow bloggers amazing rooms as well. Just click on their links below. Then join the party and add some pictures of your room as well.

Pirate Booty for My Crew

This afternoon I will be meeting my new first grade CREW for the first time. I am so excited! It is just a thirty minute meet and greet, so we won't have time to do much more than go on a little classroom scavenger hunt that will end with them finding their pirate loot bag, drawing a picture of themselves, as a member of our crew, and hearing a story.

I made a few tweaks to the booty bag from last year, and have posted the FREEBIE note along with a few little extras to place in the bag HERE.

2-Day Back to School TPT Sale

I will be throwing a Back to School Sale on August 12th and 13th along with all my favorite blog authors over at Blog Hoppin'.

Every item in my TPT store will be 20% off!

But that's not all... if you use the coupon code BTS12 at check out on these days, you will receive an additional 10% off. 

So hop on over to my store and check out all my blog friend's stores as well! It's time to get ready for a new school year! 

Classroom Rewards

This year I plan to pass out pirate doubloons as rewards to my CREW members. These can be saved and used once enough have been collected.

Students may use them to:

• Select something from our classroom treasure chest
• Purchase special classroom privileges
• Participate in a monthly raffle 

Grab a FREE copy of the doubloons here.

Open Court Sound Spelling Cards Reference Sheet

Open Court Teachers, this one is for you! I just compiled a FREEBIE one-page reference sheet with all of the sound spelling cards. I printed a class set and ran back-to-back with a digraph and blends reference sheet created by Lacey Yates from Wild About Teaching! It is available for FREE as well in her TPT store. You have to check her stuff out!

Then I laminated the set. They are now ready to go in my students' literacy boxes. I plan to run a second set and place in their three-pronged SHIP to SHORE folders to use as a reference at home as well.

Writing Journals

I just finished preparing my students writing journals for the year. It took a little time - but well worth the effort. All it took was a pack of decorative paper, a glue stick, my pirate-themed labels (with each student's class number on the treasure chest), and a role of clear contact paper.

These Stage 3 Primary Journals by Mead worked just perfectly for my 1st graders last year. It was amazing to see how their writing progressed .
There was plenty of room for pictures and top, middle, and bottom baselines for proper letter formation.

They were more pricey than the regular composition books, but worth the investment.

Update...

A few weeks after this post, I received an email from a follower asking if I could create these labels for second grade as well. So, here you go Liz! Click HERE to download the labels for SECOND GRADE.