What's the BIG idea??

Spring Break has officially come to an end and I am SAD about that but going back means I'm getting closer and closer to May when I get to marry this handsome guy! 

 

 

Then, of course, glorious summer days ahead!  I think I can do it!

 

Spring Break was productive, but not busy.  I had plenty of days to sleep in and work on some wedding projects at home.  It FINALLY warmed up yesterday and spring decided to make an appearance in my little corner of Virginia so I spent the day getting a little (too much) sun and reading a book.  It was a REAL, grown-up book.  I don't read those much from September-June!  I read "Gone Girl" by Gillian Flynn.  WOW. I highly recommend.  I finished it in two days...couldn't put it down.  It's definitely not a "feel good" story...pretty disturbing actually, but quite good!

 

 

I also had a chance to FINALLY finish up a new unit I've been working on for quite some time. I had a really hard time in the past teaching main idea to my first graders as a reading strategy.  I feel like I've finally come up with some ideas to help them grasp the concept.  This year was the first year I felt truly  successful with it, so I decided it was time to share!  This is also the first year that I feel like I've truly used the concepts of main idea and details to help my students as writers.  I am shocked at how it helped many of even my reluctant writers feel confident writing a short paragraph with multiple sentences on the same topic....YES!

 

I also noticed that as I shopped on TPT, there were a lot of resources out there for upper elementary grades...but not so much for primary. So if this is something that you are working on this spring with your little ones...I hope you can use it! 

 

It is on sale this week for $4!

There is a lengthy preview available on TPT so you can see exactly what you are getting. Just click the picture below to check it out. :)

 

 

I'd also love to give away a copy to the first 3 friends to leave me a comment.  On your mark, get set...go!

 

For now...I'm off to watch the Country Music Awards and gear up for my kiddos tomorrow! 

 

Happy Monday and as always...Happy Teaching to you!

 

My clock is broken.

Seriously, it must be broken.  I woke up early, poured some coffee in my Bon Jovi mug (Yes...I have one of those.  Don't you judge me.) and watched part of the Today Show.  Then, I went to get my oil changed (wow.  WAY past due.), went by my parents' house, ran to Target, and I swear the next time I looked at the clock it was 6 pm. 

 

Why do spring break days go by so darn fast??

 

I'm going to blame it on Target. 

 

Going to Target on a weekday is a little slice of heaven...and it's possible I may have indulged for a little too long.

 

On that note, here is an ode to Target via Pinterest.  These make me laugh.

 

 

 

 

 

I haven't posted a lot lately because my student teacher took over full time teaching the two weeks before break and her time with us has been FLYING by. Is it seriously April?

I have been a labeling/filing/paperwork doing/grade entering/long-term planning FOOL while she's been teaching.  

 

I did want to drop in tonight and say a belated "HAPPY EASTER"...and of course...drop off a quick freebie!

 

This is such a simple math activity, but one of my (and my kids') absolute favorites.  They have no clue how much they are learning by doing these 100's Chart Puzzles. ;) 

They just think it's fun!

 

I made new ones this year because my originals were showing their age.  I leave these in my regular math tub rotation and keep some handy for early finishers because they learn so much by working them and noticing all of the patterns.  They will get REALLY quick at doing these eventually...but the first few times they are totally bewildered with all of the pieces and feel pretty awesome when they get it all put together!

 

Basically...I just printed this little 100's chart on lots of different colors of paper and laminated them.  (My Scotch laminator at home has a lot thicker plastic than the one at school, so I used that to keep the pieces a little sturdier.)

 

Then, just cut each 100's chart into crazy, zig-zag pieces and stick them in a bag. 

 

Voila! Puzzles!

Click on the picture below to get your free copy!

(By the way - it is supposed to be off-center. I wanted the pieces to be more square instead of rectangular so I squished it to one side.)

 

Also...here's another fun 100's chart just in case you need one!  Feel free to grab it.

 

 

 

I'll be back soon with a brand new packet full of Reading and Writing Ideas to study Main Idea! Check back to WIN it.

 

Happy Spring Break and Happy Teaching to you!

 

 

 

Friday Phonics Freebie

Is anyone else doing R-Controlled vowels anytime soon?? 

 

These sounds are giving my little ones a fit so we are going to go slow and concentrate on ar/or first.  Then we will work on all of the sounds that say ERRRR (ir/ur/er) before we mix them all up.

 

I found these ADORABLE posters (for free!)  by Lory at Fun For First.

 

Go get 'em!

 

I was having a hard time finding any activities with isolated sounds...so I HOPE someone can use this freebie that I made this morning.  I plan on copying enough of the blank pages to let them do 4-5 words and illustrate them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh...remember how I said my kiddos were having a TOUGH time with one more/one less and ten more/ten less in math?

 

 

Ta-da!

 

Pretzels and M&M's did the trick.  They did MUCH better today.  Now they are saying that the tens is the "pretzel number" number and the ones are the "M&M numbers" and remembering which number to change when adding/subtracting ONE or TEN.

 

Yes! Lightbulbs going off! I love this time of year in first grade!

 

Now if only the weather would cooperate so I can wear flip flops...

 

:)

 

 

Happy Friday!

 

 

Catching Up!

Well, hello!  It's been a while! 

 

My blog was having major technical difficulties for a little while and apparently...planning a wedding and teaching first grade is a full time job...TWO full time jobs...so, this girl has been a bit busy. 

But, in extremely important news...my gals are going to be STUNNING, aren't they?

 

I'm so excited.

 

My house is currently a disaster but my bridesmaids have dresses... and report cards are finished. Sawyer doesn't mind the house being a wreck, and I have a good excuse.  It's called...

I had to work on a SATURDAY.

 

Yep, it's true. I wouldn't kid about such a thing.  Working on a Saturday is not a joking matter. 

 

I know you don't believe me, but it's true.  Our snow days caused us to have staff development day last Saturday.   I had to present, so I was nervous and for some reason I kept thinking about the hilarious Kristin, aka the Teeny Tiny Teacher, talking about people throwing rotten tomatoes. 

 

(She cracks me up.  If you haven't checked out her blog...you must.  I especially love her Tuesday recaps of the Bachelor.  She makes me laugh out loud. A lot.)

 

Anyways...luckily, no one had any rotten tomatoes to throw so I'll take that as a success....especially for a Saturday. 

 

I actually presented about all of the fabulous resources in blogland and on TPT, Pinterest, etc.  So, basically, I've been too busy talking about blogging to actually blog.

 

Sigh.

 

Things have not slowed down in Room 106, though!  My student teacher has been gradually taking over more subjects and it's been eye opening to sit and watch from a different perspective.  It's crazy how many more little conversations I hear and things I notice when I'm not the one in charge of instruction.  I'm learning things about myself and the way I teach. 

Today, I heard one little guy say "I got the most sleep I've gotten in ages last night!"

He's like a 70 year old trapped in a 7 year old's body.  Cuteness.

 

I try to get things done that I never have time to do while she's teaching, but I have a hard time concentrating because I'm always turned around watching my kiddos and giving them "looks" when they are not acting right.  I can't help it.

 

I did go on a "labeling" spree, though.  Labeling things is therapeutic for me.  I use these cards from Creative Teaching Press to label EVERYTHING in my room.  Everything.  It's concerning, really.

 

 

I just noticed that they are out of stock until April 6th.  I will personally apologize for that.  If anyone needs some, I have approximately 700 packs hoarded in my classroom. ;)

 

We have been working on place value and numbers to 100 in math.  It's one of my FAVORITE things to teach. Love it.  I have oodles of resources for place value that I've collected over time...but most of my games are from Cara Carroll's Place Value Packet of Fun!  Awesome resource!

 

Race to 100 - We will continue to play this all year!  It's tough to learn to trade but when they finally get it, angels sing...or something like that.

 

Cover Up

 

"Make the Most" 

Super simple game played with numbers 1-9 of a deck of cards and unifix cubes to keep score.  Each student takes turns picking a card and deciding whether to put it in the "tens" or "ones" space.  It didn't take long for them to realize that if they got a high number they should put it in the tens place to make the biggest number!  Fun to watch the light bulbs go off!

 

 

Here are some fun websites to check out as well...
 

 

Big Count Bayou - Love this bear's southern drawl

 

Dogbone 100 - Addictive!
 

 

Interactive 100 Grid - So many possibilities

We worked on 1 more, 1 less, 10 more, and 10 less today.  Some of them got it right away...some of them looked at me like I was crrraaazzyy. 

So, while I was at CVS today using a coupon for some anti-aging eye cream,

(ever since this last birthday, I've been a little nervous about this whole "getting old" thing)

I had an idea!  Tomorrow, we shall EAT our place value and I am quite sure that will do the trick.  I got some pretzel sticks for tens (rods) and some M&Ms for ones (cubes)...because let's be honest...math is always better when you can snack!


We also studied the sun, earth, and moon last week.  I am a firm believer that sometimes the simplest of projects turn out to be the best!  We had some extra time on Friday, so I set out my basket of "space" books and piled scrap paper on the table and let them go to town making their own picture of what they had learned about outer space.  It led to a lot of great discussions and some pretty phenomenal pieces of art!




 

 

 

This picture has evidence of my sick labeling obsession. I wasn't kidding.

 

Happy Friday and Happy Teaching to YOU!









Yuck!

I am so sorry for the ugly gray boxes all over this page!  I am aware that it is a hot, hot mess... and I am currently relying on my fabulous blog designer girl to help me solve the problem ASAP.  I will be back soon as I can to catch up!  

For now...I am putting on my entire TPT store on sale for my birthday weekend!  

See you soon!

The Day I Was Called Nana...

It's been a while, friends!  Sorry!

 

The 100th day of school, Valentine's Day, an 11 hour parent-teacher conference day, and an "emergency drill that turned out to not be a drill" to top off the week on Friday afternoon will do that to a girl! 

 

I don't have tomorrow off for President's Day...but I know lots of you do so ENJOY and stay in your jammies for as long as humanly possible tomorrow so I can live vicariously for you.

 

I still have some school work to do to get ready for the week so I'm going to let the pictures do most of the talking!

 

We played tons of math games this week to work on new stuff (skip counting, numbers to 100, patterns on a 100s chart, etc.)  as well as to review some old stuff that was a little shaky on the last cumulative test.

 

My kiddos were still struggling with ordering 3 numbers from least to greatest and greatest to least.  I made a simple litle sheet for them to practice and used a deck of cards to spice things up a bit.  They worked with a partner to draw 3 cards, build cube towers for each of the cards, and order the 3 numbers from least to greatest before recording on the sheet. 

 

 

They LOVED this little fact family activity (more review).  It is available in my TPT store for 2 bucks!
 

We partied hard on Valentine's Day!  We kept the food simple because let's be honest...the kids are WAY too excited about those silly little paper valentines to care much about eating.  We did make these little Valentine Floats (lots of versions on pinterest!) as a fancy-schmancy drink!

They were a hit!  I used a scoop of vanilla ice cream, cherry 7-up, LOTS of whipped cream, and fun sprinkles!  I'm not a huge fan of anything cherry but the kids slurped them right up (and I may or may not have eaten a cup full of whipped cream and sprinkles).

 

I did glowstick valentines (thank you Target dollar spot!) and the kids loved wearing them as bracelets.

 

My favorite part of Valentine's Day was (and always is)  the "Bucket Books" that I make for the kids.  It's a kind of a pain-in-the-rear project that I always end up being glad I did once I make them and the kids read them.

Over the years, I've simplified it a little bit and it's really not so bad.

 

Basically, I call each kid up one at a time (you need to start a week or two in advance)  and ask them to give every member of the class a compliment...something to "fill their bucket."  They come up with some great things...some need a little prompting, but it's actually amazing what they can usually come up with on their own.

 

I type each compliment on a blank page of labels (in MS Word).

 

Then, I print them out and stick each label on a half sheet of paper.  I put all of the half sheets in a gallon ziploc bag and we take an afternoon for the kids to illustrate all of the pages of compliments that they came up with.

 

Then, I sort them by student so that each kid gets an entire book of compliments about themselves!

 

 

You should just see their sweet faces light up when they start reading through them. They're shocked at some of the things that people think about them! 

 

Here are some sweet examples of the kinds of compliments that my sweeties came up with.

 

Total sweetness.

 

Now...my LEAST favorite part of Valentine's Day was when a child called me "Nana" by accident.  Don't get me wrong...I get called "mom" every other day but "NANA"??

 

Sheesh...time to look into some new concealer and wrinkle cream, I believe.

 

The only redeeming part of this little cutie calling me Nana was that he also brought me a red rose and gave me this card.

 

My heart offically melted.  He can call me Nana all he wants now.
(and he gets an A on everything from now on forever and ever, amen)
Kidding...kinda.

 

On a completely unrelated note...look what I got in the mail yesterday! 

We are now officially ready for the wedding (hurry up, May!) because our "son" has his attire!

  How handsome is this little dude?

 

Stud. muffin.

 

 

Happy Monday!

 

Happy teaching to you!

 

Valentine Pattern Freebie!

Is anyone doing some candy heart patterns and graphing in the next few days? 

 

Is that a silly question? Probably!

 

If you need a little independent practice or a quick assessment for patterns...here is a freebie that you might be able to use!

 

Click the image to download.

 

 

 

 

Happy Monday! XO!