Hollywood, Pumpkins, and a Freebie...Oh my!

Guess what I'm doing tomorrow after school?

 

Having a conference with a parent?  Faculty Meeting? Staff Development?

 

Nope.  Something *slightly* more fun. Just slightly.

 

Give up?

 

I'm (hopefully) going to watch this handsome guy film a movie.

 

 

Remember him from Sweet Home Alabama? LOVE that movie.

 

"Hollywood" has invaded my fiance's little family farm in Giles County, VA. :)

 

 There is a movie being filmed there and we are going to head over tomorrow afternoon and see what it's all about.  I'm looking forward to seeing how everything is set up and watching them do some takes.  I'm hoping we make it in time to see some of the action.

 

Unless I get discovered tomorrow on the set and run off to Hollywood...I'll be studying PUMPKINS with my kiddos this week.

 

So, basically...I'll be studying pumpkins with my kiddos this week. ;)

 

I'll be using several things from my Fall for All Math & Writing Pack.

 

 

 

I also stumbled upon Jennifer's awesome pumpkin freebies (over at First Grade Blue Skies) tonight.  I think I'll have to squeeze a few of these things in too.

 

My favorite part of the week will most definitely be watching "Spookley the Square Pumpkin" movie.  Usually I run around like a mad woman while the kids are watching a video...getting things done, pulling kids to make things up, etc.

 

 

 

I can't ever tear myself away from Spookley, though. It's ridiculous.

 

Love the book, love the movie...and I'll have the song stuck in my head for days.

 

I can't wait to make our "Spookley Inspired" pumpkin patch, too. 

 I love how different they all turn out! I'll be sure to post pictures of them when we're finished.

 

The directions and template is included in my Fall for All pack as well.

 

As I was grading spelling tests today, I happened to think that someone might be able to use my spelling test paper. 

 

I use word study in my classroom.  We sort and do all kinds of word work activities during the week. At the end of the week, I call out words like a traditional spelling test for the front of the test.  On the back, students write review sentences that I call out loud.

 

For example, this week we are working with ot/og/op word families.  So I will call out mop, top, jog, fog, hot, shot, etc. for the front of the test.

 

On the back I will call out sentences that use all of the past word families we've studied as well (at/an/ad/ag/ap/it/in/id/ig/ip, etc.)

 

This cat can jog.  My mop is in the van. Dan is a pig that likes to nap.  etc. 

 

I like to make my sentences extra weird to make the kids giggle.

 

That's just how I get my kicks.

 

Click on the picture to get your free copy!

 

 

 Happy teaching to you!
 

 

 

 

 

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!

 

 

 

 



Fall Freebie!

 Hope you're having a fabulous fall weekend!  The weather is nothing short of perfect here in Virginia!  I was hoping to have all of my fall activities ready to share today...but it doesn't look as though that is going to happen. 

 

Life is getting in the way. :)

 

I still have grades to enter and lesson plans to do.  My morning was spent at a group obedience class with Sawyer.  He has some...ahem, "issues"...that we are trying to work out. He needs practice being in the same space with other dogs, following commands with distractions, etc. 

 

Andy calls it "group therapy."

 

I call it nerve-wracking.

 

Anyways, we survived another week of that and all three of us are worn out from it.

 

I do have one activity (a fall poem!) that I wanted to share, in case you are able to use it this week.  We are studying the seasonal changes this week and this is one of my favorite activities to do with my kiddos.  It makes a beautiful fall display on our bulletin board when paired with some fall artwork. 

 

I love to read this book:

 

 

before writing our poems, but you certainly don't have to. 

 

Now...if I could just decide what fall art projects I will have time for.  Darn pinterest is giving me too many options!!

 

Click here to grab the directions and poem template from my TPT store for free!

 

 

By the way....the ADORABLE fonts I used on this poem template are from Rowdy in Room 300. I love them...they are my new favorites.  I just found her blog and it is too cute!

 

So head on over to to download them for FREE.  She actually MADE them using an ipad app.  Can you believe that??

 

 

If you are able to use my freebie, please follow my blog and my TPT store. It means a lot. :)

 

 

Thank you so much for stopping by!

 

Happy teaching to you  (and Happy Fall!)

 

 

 

 

 



Fall Linky!

The super duper cute Mrs. Wheeler over at Mrs. Wheeler's First Grade Tidbits invited me to link up for her fall sale! 

Then...I realized TONS of bloggers were celebrating the first day of fall with sales!
 

Ahh! I'm not quite finished with the fall activities I was planning to share (being sick this week has been rrrrrough!)  but I don't like to miss out on good sales!

(Plus, if you haven't checked out her cute blog...head on over.  I love her blog, you will too!)

 

So...for now, here is a little fall freebie for ya!

 

My firsties are shying away from taking chances with their writing.  They are stuck in a

 

"I like ________."

"I see a ________."

 

writing rut.

 

I'm ridiculously happy if they just write a sentence with finger spaces and a capital letter and period right now, so I'm not complaining....but I made these silly fall sentences to encourage them to take a risk and write some new things.

 

These are fall sentences...with a twist. 

 

 

 

A scarecrow having a birthday party with a squirrel?

check.

 

A ghost eating a lollipop?

yep.

 

A cat with a bumblebee on it's tail?

of course.

 

I think they will have fun with these. :) 

 

I sure had fun making them...but maybe that was the cold medicine taking over...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In any case, help yourself if you think your kiddos would enjoy writing some silly sentences to go with these crazy pictures!

 

 

 

And, yes....everything in my TPT store is on sale tomorrow (20% off). 

Check out these linky parties to find TONS of bloggers with good sales going on! :)

 

Mrs. Wheeler's First Grade Tidbits

 

 

 

 

Second Grade Math Maniac  <---just found her blog and am lovin' it!

 

 

 

But if there's anything I love more than a good sale...it's FREE stuff. 

And...pssssst.... almost everything in my store is free. :)

 

So head on over and stock up!

 

I'll be back soon with tons more FALL activites.  Be sure to follow my blog and TPT store so you'll be able to check it out when I get it all posted....lots of freebies!

Here is my current best seller.  An entire year's worth of Dolch sight word curriculum with word cards, daily assignments, homework, assessments, weekly oral reading checks, etc.

 

 

I'm getting close(ish) to 100 followers and I'd love to start planning a fabulous giveaway.

 

Just sayin'.  ;)

 

Happy Weekend to you...and Happy Fall!