Leap Day!

Happy Leap Day! :)

 I wanted to post so I can always see the date on my blog! :) I will post soon with updates from my week; I will hopefully have a lot of pictures to share as well.  I have had a busy week and have done quite a few fun projects in my classroom!  I will post pictures and give details within the next few days...stay tuned!

Hibernation Pajama Day!

Today was our Hibernation Pajama Day!  It was a Blast!!!  The kiddos were so excited all day to ‘hibernate’ and do science…Mission Accomplished :)  First of all, my little first-ies were absolutely ADORABLE in their jammies!  Secondly…getting down to business.  We started by meeting in our classroom library to discuss what was all going to happen during our science lesson...aka…hibernation simulation!  Then, we became squirrels and scurried around the room to gather food to prepare for hibernation. The students scurried around the classroom searching for their ‘hibernation snack mix’ and set their snack bags on their desk for when we woke up…after hibernation, animals are hungry!!!  We then found a spot in the classroom to hibernate.  The students ‘hibernated’ while I read a story we all took our heart rate and counted our breaths per minute before and after our hibernation.  A thermometer in the classroom helped us to know when it was time to begin hibernating, as well as when to wake up from hibernation.  The students just LOVED this lesson.  We finished by gathering again (with our snacks) and talking about the life of a hibernating animal.  Students were able to understand what animals do to prepare for hibernation, when they hibernate, why they hibernate, what happens to their bodies when they hibernate (heart rate, breathing) and finally what they do when they wake up from hibernation!  The lesson was a complete success and the kids were 100% engaged!!!! :)

OWL Cupcakes!

OWL Cupcakes! 

On a Roll...

I am sooooooooo thrilled right now with the amount of lesson planning and organizing I accomplished today!  I picked up some stackable drawers to house my lesson plans and papers that I can bring to school and help to keep me organized.  With teaching multiple subjects and trying to plan and stay weeks ahead of schedule it was hard to keep everything organized.  I also picked up an accordion type folder to help keep my other papers and such organized.  Feels great! :)

I finalized all of my ongoing projects and units and made originals for all sorts of graphic organizers and such...I feel a bulleted list may be helpful to show off all my hard work!

• Science Unit (Hibernation and Migration)
• Printed and Cut animals for T-Chart Activity
• Printed Parent Letter on 'Hibernation Pajama Day'
• Made Thermometer for Hibernation Simulation 
• Shared Writing and Reading Unit (Laura Numeroff)
• Created Unit Plans
• Made up Vocabulary Cards then printed and cut them out
• Found Clip art for Story Map Project
• Created Model for Story Map Project (Super Cute!)
• Found Clip art for Milk cartons and Cookie Template for our Taste Test Graphs
• Created and Printed Taste Test Forms
• Social Studies Unit (American Symbols)
• Created Entire Unit and Lesson Plan Overview
• Created Graphic Organizers for Statue of Liberty and American Flag (Fact Sheets)
• Created Science Experiment Recording Sheets (Green Pennies)
• Created Assessment Forms for End of Unit 
• Word Study
• Made Paint Bags for students to use to practice writing their words! :)
• RTI
• Cut out 80 'Grapes' from purple construction paper for an activity
• Made a Tombstone for our 'Said is Dead' activity
• Created Sentence strips and cut out words for our Word Choice and Expression Activity
• Math
• Reviewed Upcoming lessons 

I feel as if today was a successful and productive day!  I feel GREAT and am super excited to teach the next few weeks; I feel prepared and I can't wait to show off all of my handwork and planning!

As for tomorrow...I will be sort of taking the day off of lesson planning and school work.  I will be attending my sister's dance competition pretty much all day.  I do hope to run to the public library tomorrow in between her dances to check out a few books for my social studies lesson.  I feel happy with my productivity this weekend and all I have gotten accomplished...here's to a great next few weeks!  I will spend the next day and half telling myself I'm ahead of schedule until Monday rolls around and I realize there is no such thing as 'ahead of schedule' as the lesson planning never ends...Good thing I absolutely LOVE what I do! :)

Good Night World and Happy Sunday! :)

V Day

Alright...as the days go by, I get busier and busier only have time for a quick blurb on our Valentine's Celebrations today and a few pictures! :)  I have been continuing to teach math and overall, it has been successful.  I have also started word study this week and so far so good!  This afternoon, we had our valentine's day party!  It was a hoot.  The kids just love passing out and looking at their valentines.  I have to admit I made out pretty good too (picture below).  I think it's safe to say my kiddos love me! <3  However, its also safe to say I LOVE THEM just as much! :)  My valentine glow sticks were a success, the kids definitely had enough treats as it was so the glow sticks were a great choice.  During our party, we turned off the lights and had a glow stick dance party.  ADORABLE to say the least.  Let's just say I'm still loving first grade...As for tomorrow, I'm hoping my black bean and corn salsa goes over as well as the puppy chow I brought in on Monday!  Lastly, I hope to post soon with a more detailed update!

*Also pictured, a picture of my 'Queen of Clean' Desk Fairy Award!  I will be checking for clean desks tomorrow morning and someone will be lucky to receive a treat from...The Queen of Clean! :)  (Idea Compliments of Pinterest) :)

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY <3

Valentine Goodies from my Kiddos!

Desk Fairy Award :)

Pictures!

Alright keeping this short and sweet, but I did want to share a few photos!  My sister has reminded me that I still haven't posted the 'Love Monster' photos.  So I will upload those now! :)  I am also sharing a picture of my valentines.  I think they turned out pretty cute!  Even though they do not contain any candy, I think the kids will still love them!  I am getting busier and busier with adding on new content areas and trying to stay ahead on lesson planning.  I have a small group and large group seminar this week and I have signed up for staff treat on Wednesday.  I will be making my mom's famous 'black bean and corn salsa'....hope to do it justice! :)  Sorry for the short post tonight, I will hopefully post more this week. I've had a wonderful but busy weekend and need to continue prepping for tomorrow!

Gingerbread Man

You would NOT believe what happened today!!!!  Our class has been 'studying' gingerbread books for a few weeks now we have read several different gingerbread books with another classroom.  Yesterday, we decided to make our very own gingerbread man to eat as a snack.  So today, we decorated the gingerbread man but...shucks time for recess. We took a few precautions by closing and locking the door.   When we came back....You guessed it...HE WAS GONE!!!! There was frosting on the door handle, frosting on the desks, and sprinkles and candy all over the floor!  The kids ate it up; absolutely loved it.  We are now on the search for our lost gingerbread man.  Tomorrow we are going to brainstorm ideas of how to find him, writing an announcement, making wanted posters etc.  It was so fun to see the kids excitement and of course a fun, creative way to get students to love reading and writing! :)

Secondly, I placed my first book order tonight!  My coop. teacher is generous enough to allow me to take over the book order process.  It is great to have the chance to have this responsibility to see how the process works, understand the 'behind the scenes' time and work of a book order and of course the benefits!!!! With this order, I was able to get $20 in free books with teacher coupons and I earned 1047 bonus points to spend toward free books!!!! :)

Overall, today was a great day I did a fun writing activity using shaving cream and the kids loved it...got a little messy of course but sometimes messy is fun!  I'm looking forward to the weekend as I hope to catch back up and hopefully try to get ahead on some planning and organization!

Night! :)