Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Welcome to A New School Year!

Welcome back .... 51 days later! In an effort to be just a little more organized and a better communicator :), I'm going to jump start my class blog! Please pardon an overload of posts while I try to catch up!

I have been blessed with a very sweet and silly group of little ones this year. In keeping with our theme, we each decorated our own "pirate self". We decorated our bulletin board with the title "We Arrrrre Ready for 1st Grade!"

Turn your head...it's still cute :)

If you have followed me for awhile, you know that I love No, David! Well, the beginning of the school year would not be the same without our David unit! David is great for teaching appropriate (Peace Maker) behaviors and inappropriate (Peace Breaker) behaviors.  We brainstorm various behaviors and record them on a poster. The  posters are displayed  in our class so we can refer back to them as needed and refresh our memory a little after school breaks. :)

 







last year's 'Davids'..They were eager to take them home this year and I didn't snap a pic! oops! 

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Fallin' for Clipart and Fun Books!

Surprise! It's me! I normally do not post this often, BUT I was so excited about the completion of my new pack I could scream  swallow some leaves! :) With the arrival of Fall and my latest Scholastic order, I have really enjoyed the story There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves. 

 My firsties LOVE the repetition (and recalling details  the "game" of remembering each item the lady swallowed in order) of this book. So when I ran across the CUTEST clipart EVER at Scrappin' Doodles, well, I couldn't resist! I am so excited to share with you (and my firsties) my newest pack!
Hop on over to my TpT store and let me know what you think! Enjoy the Journey! :)

**UPDATE ALERT! **
Here is a couple of the Old Lady my kiddos made with the template from my packet. They wrote words with initial blends on cards, read them, spelled them, then FED them to the Old Lady....
this is mine :)

kid creations... :)

a conference, a packet, and a FREEBIE!

I almost typed "a partridge in a pear tree" after that long title. I know I've been Blogger-MIA (and I know I have been saying that a lot lately..) I promise to put my lovely Erin Condren life planner to good use and PLAN my blogging days. (GULP)
This past week, I (with 4 other teachers from my school) spent three days at a WOW (Working On the Work) conference. Our district has adopted this idea and we have had several PD on it but this was my time GOING somewhere :)  I throughouly enjoyed it--honestly! The session I attended was learning how to DESIGN vs Plan a lesson while incorporating "design qualities".  I learned that you don't always have to use the time consuming DESIGN track for your lesson, that planning is still "good", but you should DESIGN when you need to "leverage" the achievement or interests for students...it's for those lessons that are boring hard to teach and/or hard to understand. We managed to pump out a very engaging lesson on place value. :) Exciting, right? Well it will be! I will definetly share how it goes (with pictures) after we have completed it!
While attending this conference, I also managed to complete a  fun new Monster Math pack. It includes a variety of math practice pages for sums with totals to 10, 20, and "fill" in the addends. A page to roll a die for each addend and the total equals how many of a particular body part your monster will have. (my firsties LOVE this-and their monsters are unique and ADORABLE scary :) ) I also managed to include a couple of Monster tic-tac-toe boards (sums to 10, 20, and doubles) with Monster markers.  You can find it at my TpT store! Check it out and follow!




Two of my "kid created" monsters! Too sweet to be scary (but I would NEVER tell them that!)

And to reward you for rewarding ALL of  my previous BLAH BLAH BLAH blog post, :) ...here is my newest freebie! Let me know what you think and if you are able to put it to use! It is a Monster Themed Ten Frame pack.
once you click on this image, then click file and download...you do not need
to ask for permission since that is the link! :)
Can you tell I am lovin' Scrappin Doodles clip art?!...What are your favorite clip art sites and sets? Would love to hear (and build to my collection!) Enjoy the Journey!

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Currently...and a new addiction

I love me some Currently's...to be honest I've always read them but NOW I'm going to actively participate! So, I've linked up with 'Oh, Boy! Fourth Grade' for my FIRST real CURRENTLY! (check her out and link up!)  They seem easy enough-until you are filling them out and then everything  you think of is boring  not as interesting as everyone else's, but it's a great way to see (and follow) new bloggie friends and their blogs.  Here goes....



Ok, there was my first "Currently" and now I will fess up. I am addicted to clip art. (I should have added to my "wanting" comment :a MelonHead of myself. They are A-dorable! I have to have one!) AND fonts!  They always seem to make things cuter and work more enjoyable...hehehe  What are your favorite fonts and places to find clip art? Can't wait to hear about them!! Until then, thanks for dropping by, <3 to have new friends follow, and  Enjoy the Journey!




Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Elmer the Elephant Fun!

We have really been pounding the "I am special" theme here lately. It seems to building my little one's confidence in themselves AND their work--BINGO! We have had a blast with the lessons and crafts to serve as reminders while at home. So much fun that I thought I would share this one with you!

A traveling book seller (I guess that is what they are called...) brought in a BIG pack of Elmer books and a tote the other day- the colors drew me in like a moth to a flame. I'm a sucker for a good marketing ploy. Anywho, I was totally stoked when I found out we would be using Elmer  in our ELA block. SO..... we decided to make the connection last using it in our social studies block as well.

In the words of one of my favorite stars, Lavar from Reading Rainbow... "You don't have to take my word for it" this is how it all went down in the words of a firstie! (great handwriting, huh?)\
 Enjoy the (colorful) Journey!

traced a copy of an elephant on a thick transparency 


they did such a great job! I don't want to give them back! :)


Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Got a TpT product completed...NEED SLEEP :)

Wowzer... today is Tuesday and I am exhausted! I've had so much going on with school, lessons, school awards, duty, birthday parties... BUT, I did manage to complete a TpT product.. woot woot!
Red Ribbon week is quickly approaching (the end of this month) and our school wanted to do something FUN, ENGAGING, and that would wedge its way into the children's mind and STICK!!! With technology all the rage and a norm to our kids, we decided to go with the theme "iTune Out Drugs". We saw a couple of items as far as surcies go-pencils and stickers, but...that's about it.

That lit a virtual match under my bottom and I got to work.  So, here it is. A pack that includes iPods (that I learned how to create watching a tutorial!! ), creative writing templates using a mp3 theme (My Priorities...they write 3 priorities that can before making unhealthy choices...get mp-My Priorities he he he). There are mini ipods, both color and black and white, and writing templates for the little kiddos and one for the older friends. I hope you enjoy it (beyond Red Ribbon Week!)  Check it out and let me know if you have anything fun planned for Red Ribbon....  Enjoy the Ride!

                                              



Friday, September 28, 2012

Unkind words leave "Wrinkles"

Are you shocked? I was MIA for about two weeks and then I post two posts in two days! Go me! I've decided that I would like for my first grade friends to pick a lesson or activity each week for me to blog about. I told them that it can be anything they choose- one they liked or even one they weren't that fond of.... I can take creative criticism from a firstie, right? (maybe.... :)  )  This week they picked TWO! (Who am I to make them choose only one?!) These kids know the way to my heart....they enjoy all the little craft ideas just as much as I do! YAY  :::insert Dr. Jean's Round of Applause here::: So, it was no surprise they enjoyed our "Unkind Words Leave "Wrinkles"  " lesson. We started out with the tried and true story Chrysanthemum  by Keven Henkes.

We talked about the characters (of course), how the illustrations depict the moods of Chrysanthemum, and the ugly actions of the "mean  girls". My firsties told me how they feel when people say mean things to them (and everyone had a story to tell here...but that is a good thing...self to text connection, right?) Then, the fun began. I introduced our "Green Friend" to the class.  (butcher paper outline of my personal child lol)
Next. each friend was told that they would whisper a "bucket dipper", "unkind word" to our Green Friend. While they were whispering to our "friend", they tore a piece of the person and balled it up. Each child whispered, tore, and balled up a piece of our friend. It was very interesting to hear what they "whispered" and what they believe to be "unkind" words.
Next, I told them that we had to apologize to our 'pieces' for all of the unkind things we said AND they had to get the wrinkles out when they apologized because we had to put our "friend" back together. UH OH!! You should have seen the look on their faces! They worked SO hard to get the wrinkles out and put the person back together.
the girls were BEGGING the wrinkles to "go away"
trying to piece our "friend" back together

 To make a long (yet truly engaging) lesson short...the moral of the activity is this... An unkind word to our heart is like crumbling the paper and putting tons of wrinkles in it. We can apologize (which we ALWAYS make them do), but the wrinkles in our heart never really go away. Things will never be JUST the way they were before... Remember friends, words CAN and DO hurt... Teach your little ones to use kind words AND we should practice what we teach :)  Enjoy the Journey!