A Monday List (and a freebie...and a winner!!)

Holy Moly.  It's Monday and I already feel behind. 

 

Is that possible?

I guess so...because I'm already 2 days behind on posting the winner of my big giveaway!  The weekend just got away from me. The weather was definitely fall-ish here in southwest VA and I spent a lot of time with my boys watching football...and eating football food...

 

and doing lesson plans.

I was so excited to "meet" so many new friends during my giveaway and even more excited to announce that the winner of all the fabulous TPT products from my blog friends AND the LOFT gift card is...

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Melissa!  Congratulations! You have some serious shopping to do. :) I'll be getting in touch very soon!

 

Thank you...EVERYONE...for entering and leaving so many sweet comments.  Seriously.  I got excited to read every single one.  If you could ask Andy...he would tell you how excited I got everytime my phone "dinged" with an email. :)

 

 

I have so much I want to share with you but I also have so many papers sitting on the coffee table that need to be graded and entered.

 

Sigh.

 

For that reason,

 

(and because it's a cold rainy Monday night)

 

I will be posting a completely random list that I hope you will enjoy!

 

This is what we've been up to in my little corner of the world...

 

1. LOTS of playing games to practice our math skills, sight words, and everything in between!

 

 

 

2. Movin' and Groovin'

 

 

Oh my goodness gracious.  Leave it to Pinterest. 

 I have found the CUTEST videos and songs to put up on the smartboard anytime we need a quick wiggle break.  It makes such a difference in our day and is so quick and easy to do.  I made a board on pinterest just for videos so I can get to them quickly.  They have been crucial for some indoor recess time since the weather has been wet and dreary. Our favorite is the Madagascar "Continental Drift" dance.  Seriously fun.  We're all out of breath when it ends (from a lot of giggling and a little bit of exercising).

http://www.youtube.com/watch/?v=uMuJxd2Gpxo

 

I also have been using Will.I.Am's "What I Am" song to clean up and  transition from math tubs to our math lesson in the meeting area each morning.  Such an awesome way to start the day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch/?v=cyVzjoj96vs

 

I think I need to do another post about some of the brain breaks I've found.  I could go on and on.  I'll just give you the link to my pinterest page for now so you can check them out if youre interested.

http://pinterest.com/amyj38/videos-websites-for-smartboard/

 

 

3. Studying Spiders

The kids reeeeallly enjoyed our spider unit.  The coolest thing EVER (for a first grade teacher, anyway) happened on Friday.  We were finishing up our spider unit, eating spider cookies, making glitter webs, etc.  and a real spider spun a web right outside our window and stayed ALL DAY LONG.  Bless his heart. 

 

 

The kids named him Larry.

 

We got to count his legs and body segments.  

I think the kids were in awe that I arranged for the spider to come.

 

Am I good or what? 

 

We invited the other first graders to come see our class pet. It was delightful.

I hope Larry has a long, happy life...preferably outside somewhere where I never have to see him again. 

 

Here are some of the spider projects we worked on last week.

 

 

Spinning Spider Webs

 

We used paper plates with the middle cut out and holes punched around the inside.  Then, we just strung yarn between the holes and made torn paper spiders to go on it.  You MUST have a spider ring on when making these though.  ;)

 



 My teacher friend next door told me it looked like fall exploded on my bulletin board.  I told her to hush. ;)

 

We made "Spider Diaries" after reading "Diary of a Spider" by Doreen Cronin.

 

 

 

The kids pretended they were a spider and came up with a different adventure to write about in their diary each day.  This one says "On Monday I went to California." Fun!

 



 

 We ate oreo spiders on Friday

 (mostly because I wanted an excuse to buy oreos).

 

 

3.  We are gearing up for Fire Safety Week, Christopher Columbus, and some MONSTER writing.  We are reading these books this week to get us started.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then...we will be making our own "pinterest inspired" monsters and using these templates to write about them.  One template is meant to be a prewriting and the other is to write sentences describing your monster.

 

  Click on them to get your free copies!

 

This was my inspiration for the monsters.  I just cut out different bright shapes and had them add everything else.  I just used black strips for arms and legs.  Aren't they precious?

 

I found them on pinterest but here is a link to the original source.

http://www.houseofbabypiranha.com/2010/09/shape-monsters.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

5.  My brand new "Fall for All" Math & Writing Pack is ready!  It includes the spider diary project listed above along with 11 other FUN activities for you to use in your classroom including some SPIDER RING math games. 

 

 

Here are some samples of what's included...check it out in my TPT store.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions.

  Have a happy week!