Eggstravaganza!

We did all things Easter/eggs related today!

We started off by creating our own Egg Venn Diagrams using adjectives to describe them.  We did this as a class first a couple of days ago but it was time to see if they have grasped the compare and contrast concept as well as using adjectives to describe.

Here is another look at our class Venn Diagram!

Here is a look at some student samples!  They are quite the artists!  If only some of them would put in the effort on their spelling! :-)  We're getting there!

For some of our literacy time and most of our math time, I had "Easter Basket" time.  I once again found and AWESOME Easter unit online and was able to print, laminate, cut, and sort everything out pretty quickly.  Each tub has one literacy activity and one math activity.  Four students are assigned to one tub and do one activity and fill out the coordinating recording sheet to hold them accountable.  Then, they move onto the next one, do the activity, fill out their sheet, and get their tub packed up!  Seems pretty simple right??  That is until they seem to completely forget things that we have done all year....  Between this week and next, they will have a chance to check out all 6 tubs.

Super cute & cheap buckets from Wal Mart.

I placed everything inside the bucket that is needed.  The only thing they have to bring is a pencil.

And last but least---some super eggcellent workers!

Have a great and hopefully extended weekend!  We will be laying low and won't be running around like chickens with our heads cut off so it has to be an awesome weekend! I will certainly be thanking the Big Man upstairs for all of the blessings in my life! Travel safe if you are heading out to see family and friends!

An Eggcellent Time to Review!

Where has March possibly gone!  It has flown by and now that April is just around the corner, this means we only have TWO months left of school.  It doesn't seem possible!

We wrapped up our President's Unit and did a little craftivity.  They had to choose either Abraham Lincoln or George Washington, create him, and then do a writing portion.  They then had to share out their three facts (that were written in complete sentences!)....this is an ongoing battle!

George Washington at his finest!

We have spent the past month or so working on spelling combinations of our vowel sounds!  These are tricky since our English language only follows the rules some of the time!  I bought an amazing Long E  Unit from thefirstgradeparade.blogspot.com.  She is simply amazing and I wish I could find a way in my salary to buy all of her stuff!  Here is a little look at my munchkins working in their Literacy Tubs!

Making words with long e endings!

Sorting Real words and Nonsense words!

Spin, it, Flip it, & Write it!  This was an all time favorite!

This unit was simply amazing!  It even came with stories for each long e that was linked to a kiddos name!  My kids loved it!

We have since moved into our Nutrition Unit--one that I am passionate about.  Yes, I bribe my loveys with candy and yes I bribe them with mini marshmallows to get their snow clothes off quickly but I do talk regularly about the need to be healthy.  I go to PE with them and show some of them it is okay to get sweaty!  Nothing bad about a hot sweaty mess. :-)  I think this is something that they are not yet comfortable with!  ...and I'll step off my soap box :-)  We are exploring the new and improved Food Pyramid and discussing healthy food choices!  We also got the ever-so-exciting opportunity to make and bake bread with our school cooks.  Have I ever mentioned that our cooks make homemade bread EVERY morning and it is just coming out of the oven when I get to school in the morning!?  My mouth is instantly watering and I normally take a lap to the kitchen and back just to enjoy the aroma!  Each 1st grade kiddo got a ball of dough after helping mix all of the ingredients and got to make any shape they wanted!

They had a blast and we even got to enjoy it later on in the day!

This week, we are working on comparing and contrasting & adjectives!  Why not tie it into some fun Easter eggs?!  I created a life size Venn diagram and we used adjectives to describe the two eggs!  They then got to create their own and show me they could use adjectives that compare!

I'll get some pictures up of their eggs and some of our Easter Literacy and Math tubs later on this week!  But for now, I need to get prepped for the day!  Have a great day and travel safe if you are heading out to spend some quality time with family this weekend!

Happy Easter if I do not get back on here before!  God is good!

~Toodles!

126 Days in the Books!

It is hard to believe that I am well over half way--almost 3/4 of the way through my first year of teaching!  I can still remember getting offered the job, Back to School Night, my first day like it was yesterday!  There are lots of things though that have flown by in a blur!  I was always told that my first year would be challenging.  I have definitely had my challenges but none that I haven't been ready to step up to the plate and take on.  Along the way though, there are lots of the things that I already know I will do differently.  Actually, there were things on day 2 that I said I would do differently!  Here are just a few.

Keep in mind that I am typically not a patient person, although I have to say I have done a pretty good job keeping patient with my little ones!  Gavin says I use all of my patience up at school and have little none at home!  Opps...will need to work on that

• Starting with Day 1, we will practice tying shoes!  Most kid shoes now-a-days are velcro from day one but lots of new school shoes come with laces!  126 days in and I refuse to tie shoes! I could spend my whole day tying shoes. Please go find a friend to tie your shoes before you leave the room.  It has become one of my biggest pet peeves!  I hate seeing shoe laces destroyed because they just walk on them and I'm sure parents don't appreciate it either!

• How to HANG things in your locker!  I totally overlooked this!  I just figured they would know how.  WRONG!  They like to just shove it all of the bottom in no particular order.  This probably wouldn't matter a ton but we have the wettest, sloppiest, and muddiest playground!  Lots of times I find coats on the bottom, then snow pants, and then dirty boots!!  We had to have a little discussion and practice hanging everything up.  Note to self, do this on Day 1!

• How to put things in a folder--another thing that I thought they would know how to do!  It blows my mind watching my munchkins shove, crumple, and fold things to put them in their Take Home Folder.

• Lining up!  I have battled this one all year!  It may have been partially my fault because I let them get away with chatting too much in line at the beginning of the year.  After Christmas break, I cracked down on it and they haven't been a fan!  We simply don't leave the room until everyone is facing the front of the line and with their voice off.  This is a challenge and it some times takes us 4 or 5 times of lining up before we walk down the hall.  If they are talking, I send them all back to their seats to try it again! This can become quite the fuse blower to some of them that think they won't make live another moment without lunch.  You would think this would be a motivator to not talk....

• When I say hustle, I don't mean continue talking to your buddy and not taking off your snow clothes!  I picked up a little trick from a friend of a friend---she gives one mini marshmallow to the first 10 little ones into her room after recess!  This has shortened our recess undressing time into a fraction!  It didn't work for all but certainly a majority!  Bribery at its best!  And one mini marshmallow?!  I feel the need to eat the whole bag every time I allow myself to have one--handful! ;-)

• Bathroom breaks!  There was a time when I would have half of my class asking to go to the bathroom---right in the middle of core instruction time!  It has always been a first grade rule that you must use the restroom before each recess.  Evidently that wasn't enough or my littles were eluding work!  We had to switch some things up!  They now get one freebie through out the day and they have to make the choice any other time during the day if it is an emergency or not.   If it is not, they have learned how to hold it.  If they still think they need to go, they will need to move their clip down. Now, I am not a bully about this.  If I can tell that it really is an emergency, I let them go.  I figured out real quick that they could hold it.  Our bathroom trips deceased dramatically!

• Simplicity is best!  Short and simple!

There are certainly more that I have written down here and there but this is all I can think of right now! I hope you are having a great weekend and are looking forward to your week to come!

~Toodles!

Birthday Blessings!

Monday marked me getting one year older!  Everyone warns you that once you get past all of the exciting ones that they aren't quite as fun.  While every birthday is pretty exciting to me, I would have to agree that this one wasn't one that I over celebrated, which was perfectly fine by me!

None the less, my family and friends made me feel super special!  Gavin and I spent Sunday at my parents.  My mom made us one of my favorite home cooked meals: mushroom steak and mash potatoes!  Gavin and my dad got to give Simbah (and the my parents' dogs) a bath since he thought it would be fun to play with a skunk the night before when he stayed at their house while we went to the State Championship game (how about that for a run on sentence?!).  Needless to say, he still stinks and I got to sneak Drake into the house to let him dry! :-)  If anyone knows my mom, she NEVER let an animal into her house before a couple of years ago!  She even remodeled it this past fall and was perfectly fine to let her baby Tucker, Simbah, and Drake hang out in the house to get some extra TLC while they dried from their baths!

Monday swung around and boy or boy did my friends and family shine through with the Facebook comments!  My phone never stopped dinging!  Thank you all for the love!  One of my munchkins came walking down the hall with this beauty!  Seriously, does it get much cuter than this!?!  They make me feel loved each and every day!

I am guessing it is a Pinterest idea and I am in love!  A whole bouquet of tissue paper flowers!

It didn't stop there though!  Towards the end of the day, our secretary came waltzing in my room with this GORGEOUS bouquet of roses from Mr. Wonderful himself!  My kids made me open the card right away to see if they were from him.  Before this year, I have never gotten flowers.  But twice in one year!?  Actually, twice within a month!!  He's pretty amazing if I do say so myself!

Love, Love, Love!

Here is to getting one year older!  I can't wait to see what this year has to bring!

~Toodles!

Life Principles

Each morning while I am getting ready at The W, the KWWL news is on.  They always have some sort of guest speaker.  It is normally some sort of financial or political expert that talks about our debt crisis, taxes, split political parties, and things that are somewhat scary, over my head, and stressful.  Occasionally they will have health experts but today they had a life coach.  She hit some great points and reminded me of my New Years Resolution that I have done a pretty good job at living up to ( or so I think).  I have been reminded of this several times in the past couple of days so decided to share!

First off, I have to give credit to our speaker at church this past weekend.  Not only did he hit some great points, he linked them directly to real life situations and explained everything in ways that we were able to relate to.  One of the many reasons I enjoy Sunday mornings.

Secondly, my New Years resolution was to make a difference.  Not only in my own life but really try hard to relay this into my kiddos' lives.  I want to be someone that people in my life see as a motivated person doing the right things.  And I especially want my class to look up to me and remember for years to come!

I decided a while back that I needed to set a couple of simple goals to follow and was so excited when I heard the life coach this morning repeat them almost exactly as I had written them down.  So here they are...

#1: You either get it or you don't!  
Simple as that although it may sound kind of blunt.   Life comes at you at full speed.  You either understand what is going on or you are confused.  If you are confused, do something about it!  By golly, don't sit on the sidelines and watch life pass you by!  This surely is only going to confuse you even more.  It has been my goal to not get passed by.  If there are things that I don't get, I have made it a point to take the time to figure them out and be responsible for moving in the right direction.  I have tried to get this across to my munchkins as well.  If another teacher or myself gives directions or a task that they don't understand, they need to ask or try to figure it out on their own!  They have to do something to get it figured out and be responsible for their own success....quitting, giving up, and not  trying hard are not options!

#2: Be willing to make the change!
This feeds well into goal number one.  As the old saying goes, don't expect change by doing the same things.  It pains me to see people complain about the same things time and time again without trying to make a change or fix the problem.  In the end, we are responsible for our own happiness.  It may require hard work, discipline, and/or both but it is normally worth it in the end!

Hopefully some of you can relate to these things and maybe take something away from it.  I felt like after being reminded of it several times, it was my time to help make a difference and pass it along as well.  More importantly, I hope I am making a positive impact on my class as I help them become well rounded 7 year olds.

I'll step off my soap box for the day though and as Rick Coleman says every morning, go out there and make this day count! :-)

~Toodles

One Proud Teacher!

Thank you to my cooperating teacher during student teaching, I was introduced to individualized spelling tests.  I am a firm believer in them and they are researched based! Everyone in the education world knows how important it is to use research based techniques....although I find it hard to be a believer in some of them. 

You ask what they are?!  Well, I would love to fill you in. :-) 

Each Friday, I give my kiddos a spelling pre-test.  These 10 words come from our reading curriculum and are words that follow the phonics pattern that we are working on the coming week.  They write their words on the left side of their spelling sheet.  I am fortunate enough to have some help during this lovely endeavor so my sidekick and I walk around and check each one of their tests.  From here, they move the words that they got wrong to the right side of their paper.  For example, if they got 6 words wrong, they rewrite those six words again with the correct spelling.  The words that they spelled correctly the first time, they don't have to worry about!  This is where it becomes research based.  If they already know how to spell them, why do they need to study them for a week and be tested on them again?  Note: some kids don't miss any and others miss all 10.  This is also where it becomes so differntiated (another research based strategy).  Each student takes home a completely different list for the week.

Once the incorrect words are rewritten correctly, they all receive their journal card.  On their journal card, I have written words that I found spelled incorrectly in their journal that they write in each morning.  These are words that they are interested in using and ones that they will find easier to learn.  This where they get the words to fill the individual list of 10 words.  These 10 words get checked to make sure all are spelled correctly and then they must rewrite them again on their weekly newsletter.

I know this sounds like a lot of work, which it is.  At the beginning of the year it took us quite a while to get it done and there were weeks where I was ready to throw in the towel.  They are pros now and know the routine.  I can't explain how worth while it is though.  Each student takes home a list that is at their level and meets their needs.  Some of the students are spelling words that even I have to look up.  Others are using the initial 10 words and the words are at their level.  Each student is challenged to the right degree and hopefully doesn't become too frustrated.  On Thursdays, I call each one of them individually to my desk to take their test and one of my aids pulls them to the hall to check their fluency.  They read or write while they aren't testing.

I ran into some issues though!  Some students were not spending enough time with the words and were not doing very well when it came time to take their post test. I tried to make it the point, which is true, that by learning these words reading and writing would become much easier.  I was giving time to study during our Daily 5 rounds but even that wasn't enough.  After several chats about being responsible 7 year olds, I knew I had to change something.  Just this past week, I made it homework.  Each night, they took home a spelling practice sheet.  I had found several off of teacherspayteachers.com so they weren't doing the same one each night.  Attached to this sheet was a slip that a parent had to sign saying they had practiced.  Although I was a little worried about requiring this, I wish I could have taken pictures of their faces when they came to my desk to take their post test and they KNEW they were going to get all 10 correct instead of knowing they hadn't looked at them since they wrote them on their newsletter.  Each kid was to bring back that parent slip each morning.  If they didn't, they had to stay in and do it before they went out for recess (we have a 25 minutes recess before we start our day).

Now, their goal from the beginning of the year was to get 9/10 or 10/10 to make the door.  If you make the door, you get a Laffy Taffy taped to it as well!  Our class goal from day one, as well, was to get everyone on the door!



Well folks!!!!  WE DID IT!!!!!!  This Thursday all 14 of my students that do spelling in my room made the door!  We actually got 137/140 words correct!  I couldn't have been more excited and proud of my munchkins and I let them know it.  They knew if they got this as well, they got a popcorn party!  We will be celebrating tomorrow (since we had a late start on Friday) and I couldn't be more proud and excited to do this with them!

Take a look at that beauty!  14 spelling sheets!  ***I do let them pick the color of their Laffy Taffy and hang it on the door so they seem to get cluttered.  It takes about everything I have to not spread them out a little! :-)***

Hopefully this continues!!

I hope you all had a great weekend and are excited for your week to come! I have two nights of conferences and Friday off!  Whoop whoop!!

~Toodles!

Pictures as promised!

Here is our class Polar Express!  This is prior to the train earning it's official letters.  The only pictures I have of it finished has my kiddos sitting in their seats.

We worked on the skill of retelling during December!  It is a Mexican holiday tradition to decorate with poinsettias so we read a poinsettia related book and retold the story on the leaves of our flower!

Meet Jack!  He was a hit and these are some of his daily poses after he came back from the North Pole! Remember that his one rule was that he couldn't be touched without losing his magic!  It was difficult to leave him alone!

We spent a January learning all about penguins!  Here is what we thought we knew about them before we even started!  The stars mark things learned after reading the book.

The flowers Mr. Wonderful sent me! :-)

Each student made one of these to hold their Valentine's goodies!  They worked really well and I only have to pay 5 cents for the bags from HyVee!  My monster wasn't feeling very well after being shoved full with sugary treats!

Take a look at those Valentine's!  It will be the first and last time I make them and they took FOREVER and a half but they did turn out pretty well if I do say so myself.

Meet my monsters!!

I don't even think I blogged about President's Day but here is a little craftivity that we did for it!  Evidently, many of them would get rid of schools if they were the President.