The PERFECT Christmas Gift!

Hey y’all! How are ya? Have you started your Christmas shopping yet…..or are you like me and work best at the last minute, ahem, I mean…..under pressure? Have a teacher friend to shop for or searching for a personal pick me up to prep for returning in the new year? I’ve got the PERFECT solution for you! …….a TPT gift certificate!

I’m teaming up with a group of blogging buds to host a giveaway of nothing but $10 TeachersPayTeachers gift certificates! Not only is it the perfect gift, but you’ll have the opportunity to win more than ONE! Each blogger’s giveaway may vary a little, so be sure to read the rules as you hop from blog to blog. The giveaway will run until December 23rd. You can enter using the rafflecopter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Let’s stay connected! Join me on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter for more firstie fun and teaching ideas to come. I’m looking forward to catching up and sharing all that we’ve been up to now that I’ll have some time to relax! If you’ve never used any of my resources, stop by my TPT store to check them out! While you’re there, download a freebie to check out the quality of my work.  I enjoy creating rigorous work station activities that are simple enough to be kid-friendly, yet challenging enough to meet the rigor of our required standards.

Be sure to visit the link-up below. Enjoy your holiday break and if someone asks what you’d like for Christmas…..remember to tell them....a TPT gift certificate makes the PERFECT GIFT! Merry Christmas and don’t forget to check your email on Christmas Eve to see if you've won! =)

An InLinkz Link-up

First Week Jitters

Hellllo……is anybody out there? Can you hear me now…OR are you coming out of a first week coma too!?? I think I might've forgotten how much work goes into the first week of first grade! Don’t laugh….BUT it reminds me of child birth. Only the labor is spread out over an entire week! My bed is still perfectly made from a week ago because I never made it to sleep in it last week! I dropped as soon as I could right onto the couch and found myself waking up there each morning. Thank God for a charged iphone battery and SEVERAL morning alarms!



Now that I’ve regained a little of my senses, I’m checking in with Kacey for a little Five for Friday catching up!


With each passing day, routines and procedures began to take shape. Our first crack at building stamina lasted for a whole whopping 30 seconds! I was flipping cartwheels (in my imagination) by Friday for having built it up to a whole 7 minutes!

I usually draw our anchor charts, but with the sonshine having started his first football season the same time as school, well……ain’t nobody got time for that! Clipart spruced up our anchor chart and to keep them uniform, I’ll be printing pictures for all 5 of them.



I did, however, whip out this little guy over a cup of yogurt Tuesday morning! This chart was definitely the class favorite of the week. We’ve learned that we can do tough stuff without quitting or giving up! There were lots of smiles as we raised our arms to flex our muscles before practicing read to self each day…



By Friday….we had gotten to know each other a little better and were ready to be on our feet for some learning fun. We used Dr. Jean’s Rhythm rhyme to generate a list of rhyming words. These little items came from Lakeshore Learning’s rhyming basket. Each student was given an object to “hide” in their hands. When I gave them the signal “ready…rhyme” they walked around the room to find their matching rhyming partner. 

Learning on our feet? Fun!



Later that day, we also learned how to format our math journals. The sheet of chart paper is laminated. Each day, I’ll write and wipe 4 spiral review topics for students to copy and complete in their math journals. Because this was our intro lesson….we worked through one square at a time. I covered the remaining squares with construction paper so they wouldn’t get overwhelmed. As students begin checking into math writing next week, they will work through all 4 squares at their own pace.

Introducing this activity whole group allowed  me to see who has trouble copying too. Now, I know how many students I will need to provide a copy to glue into their journal.



….and you know that last post? The one about the room set up? How happy I was with the finished product? Perfect plan…..? Ha! You know what happened the minute the kids showed up, right? Yep! I found out what really worked and what really did not! Kids know best…..and every afternoon, I tweaked things until we got to a format that will work best for all of us.

There’ll be no riding dead horses for us. What doesn’t work, gets tweaked until it does! 

I think this one is a winner!

Lesson plans included lots of Kindergarten review and time for getting to know one another.

Today was a day of rest….tomorrow, it’ll be time to prep for week 2! As we get ready to move full speed ahead, I thought it might be a good time for a little pick me up! A little something to help get energized….How about a fun Give Away? I can’t send you a caffeine boost, but I can help with adding a little fun to those fingertips as they work to mold little firsties!



The first week is a wrap! Enter below to have a little fun and win some Jamberry nail wraps from my teaching bud, Dani! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Fun with Friends {Giveaway}

Hi, Friends! How are ya? Did you hear it? Did you hear the mighty rush of wind last night as the calendar swooshed past July right into the FIRST day of August! Say what?! The summer has come and GONE! But, don’t fret! There’s still just enough time left before heading back to school for some fun to be had!



This Five for Friday is gonna be all about classroom prep and fun with friends!

I started the week with a bite from the decorating bug and made a few pretty changes to my home work space.

…then made sure to grab school supplies during Walmart’s Teacher Appreciation sale. Can I just admit, that makes my teacher heart take a big leap looking at all those supplies? My mommy heart, went……WHOA!!! LOL!

 

Being creative also spilled over into classroom prep. I had been working on a simple display for my work on writing station in the classroom for the last few weeks. This week…I finally wrapped it up and was so excited to get it laminated, cut and prepped to roll out in the classroom! 

Want a quick easy way to display student work? Check out the clip above! These little clips will house labels for different writing types that we’ll do throughout the year. They’ll also provide an easy way to “clip” student work to the board as they complete excellent work!

My awesome team got together for the first time to throw around ideas and lots of yummy food. Before we knew it, 5 whole hours had rolled by! It’s gonna be a GREAT year!

I’ve also been in the midst of doing a little planning with my virtual firstie friends too! How about a little GIVEAWAY FUN? That should make that quick calendar change a little easier to bear. Check out the details below and don’t forget to head over to our FB fanpage to enter!

Enjoy these last few days! August is HERE!

Are you ready for a HUGE giveaway? I have gathered together with some AMAZING teacher bloggers and we have put together a fantastic set of prizes for you. We have 42 bloggers participating, so we are giving away a prize pack of 14 products each to 3 winners! :) You can enter on the Firstie Friends Facebook Page, and you can earn a LOT of entries. Go to the tabs under the header picture and click the tab that says "Giveaway". The giveaway will end on Sunday, August 4th at 8pm CST. At the bottom of this post you will also find links to ALL of my Firstie Friends' stores! :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you so much for reading! Good luck in the giveaway!

Happy Bloggy Birthday Giveaway

Have you ever been so busy that you forgot your OWN birthday? Has it really been a year already?!!! I looked at the calendar and realized, my little slice of bloggy pie indeed, has turned 1 year old! How could I have missed that?!

This past year, I’ve been incredibly blessed to have gotten to know and befriended a number of talented teachers that have truly helped me to “step up my game” as a teacher. Within a year’s time, I went from asking “What is a blog?”, to following some really GREAT ones, to starting one of my own! It took 4 blog designs to finally get to the ONE that captures the essence of my classroom. I started out with 2 fantastic followers, Amanda and Krysti, and am simply amazed that there are REAL people out there willing to join in the fun of teaching firsties with me……to just shy of 500 now!  You ALL totally rock!

You can read one of my very first blog posts here. It’s from the day Krysti and I met Jack Hartmann! Looking back helped me to see how far my posts have come! Ha! By far, my post popular post has been about………click here to read it!

My most popular TPT product has been one that I was completely hesitant to make! It helped me to realize to follow my gut and only include items in my store that I would actually use in my classroom. It takes me FOR.EVVVVVER it seems to complete a product, BUT knowing they’re all items that are kid-tested and approved makes it all worth the while! My personal favorite so far is my little fraction unit. We’ll be pulling that one out next week and I can’t wait! We had a total ball with it last year!

             



Soooo, in the spirit of all things bloggy goodness…let’s celebrate with a little giveaway fun, shall we?! Now, BOTH the blog and the FB page are just shy of 500 friends, so let’s see if we can tip those numbers right on over the 500 mark! I’ve come to learn that bloggers like nice round numbers {and surpassing them too}, heheee!
I’ll choose 3 winners sometime Sunday afternoon. My fingers and toes are crossed that the 500 mark will be crossed by then!

Winner #1 will receive a $25.00 gift certificate to TeacherspayTeachers.

 

Winner #2 will receive their choice of any 3 items from my TPT store.

 

Winner # 3 will receive any 1 item of their choice from my TPT store and a custom decorated clipboard created by one of my very first blog followers, Amanda!

 

 

Enter to win below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

 

So that EVERYONE feels the birthday love, here’s a little goodie for ya that my students *LOVED*! Do you have dice in dice? If not, go get some! They’re fun and reduce the need for two dice to play math games. It’s always good to mix up the manipulatives a bit!    

  

   

Give each student one di to shake and roll. They look down into the di and use the two “tops” to write an addition sentence, then a related subtraction sentence next to it, using the recording sheet below. Shake, rattle and rolllll!



Thanks for following along, friends! It’s been a fantastic year!

Enrichment & a WINNER

Hi, Friends! How are ya?

We’ve been busy, busy in Room 113. Do you have a set time in your schedule to address enrichment or tutoring? As part of our daily schedule we’re required to enrich the curriculum.  It’s generally when students who have special pull out programs leave the room, so you’re left with an incomplete class group.  Well, what do you do with them?

You can’t introduce anything new because the students who just left will miss it.  You can’t do graded work because then it becomes make up work for the students who’ve been pulled out.  Welllll? You have select students you want to see and make sure to “fill in the gaps”.

In the land of firsties, this time comes during our Math block, so insert Math station activities, HERE!

Enjoying “Sum” Play Time

To keep it kid friendly, we simply call this time of day…Math Stations.  As teachers, its enrichment.  To them….it’s one of their favorite times of day because they get to learn through exploration and play.  As adults, we must remember that play IS the work of young children. Learning doesn’t always look like quiet mouths and bodies sitting perfectly at desks in neat rows or table groups.

Generally, after our whole group Math lesson is complete, we clear our desks and move to a Math Station.  We have 6 table groups in our room.  There are 5 activities each week + a station to play math games online.

Sorting sums of  7, 8, 9, and 10

If Math runs a little long or the unexpected schedule hiccup occurs, we work in our Math journals or move stations to the next day (and double up), but on a day when everything falls into place, we visit one Math station each day.

The set of activities works for about 12 days.  The first six days, we explore, sort, discuss/use each activity.  For the second set of six days, we do the same activities AGAIN and THEN complete reflection sheets to solidify our learning!

Snowman {his name} found an apple.  He got two more apples. 1+2=3

We make cross curricular connections by reading and writing during Math time as well. If the activity proves to be one that won’t take too long to complete, students also have Math related books in their tubs to read and discuss.

I thought writing addition stories might’ve been a little tough BUT they loved it! I walked over to one group last week that visited this station and each of the 4 friends were sitting there scratching their heads, so I asked how I could help.  Then they’re little rep spoke up and said, “We have a problem!”……. Oh, NO!

Surely, this activity wasn’t a mistake?! {Insert BIG SMILE} and then she went on to say that the their problem was how to choose a picture to write about because they were all SOOOO CUTE! Ha! Yep! I love my firsties! THAT was a problem easily solved!

Modeling and Sorting Sums of 4, 5, and 6

We  moved this activity to a pocket chart because it was hard to see against the white tile floor.

 Sorting by number:  Place Value(10-Longs, Units of 1), Standard Form and Word Form

Did you know that even firsties begin learning about the expanded form of numbers? So you can guess what will be included in the next set of activities! And how do I choose what activities we’ll do, you ask?

I monitor what skills we need extended practice on through assessments and observation.  I look at what’s been taught, what’s getting ready to be taught and what in particular they’ve enjoyed learning about.  You’d be surprised at just how vocal firsties can be about their learning!  They like having a say in what they will get to do too. We also have a Math inventory that we must administer at the beginning, middle and end of year that guides choices for this time as well.

And just how does the class feel about their enrichment time?  Well, check out this letter that I found on my desk Friday morning. It’s from one of my former students. I’m a big old softy when it comes to my students and this letter nearly drove me right to tears first thing Friday morning!

Well, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a letter to go write! You can check out this little set of activities in my TPT store by clicking the picture below.

Thank you to all of my friends who entered my little Giveaway as part of The Magical Product Swap! Congratulations, Sandra! There’s an email headed your way! Get to shopping, girl! Any two items that you like from my little shop are all YOURS!

Thanks, again! Enjoy your SONday!

Another GREAT Swapportunity

Hi, Friends! How are ya?! Well, today’s THE day! Another great chance to swap and share! That’s right…the wonderful Mrs. Jessica Stanford is hosting the 2nd Product Swap  and I’m happily joining in the fun!  

Through a wonderful stroke of luck I was paired with the sweet Laura from Peace, Love & First Grade this time.  Her blog is just the cutest and she’s been teaching for 21 years, mostly in first grade! A.ma.zing!



Her products are fun and colorful.  Simple to put together, include great directions, and are easy to use! I loved the product that she shared with me and it was very timely as we’re currently working on addition in the classroom.  It’s perfect for my little classroom of Texans too!  Can you tell why? =)



As I prepared this activity for the classroom, I used my own little Texans to help demonstrate its use! Poor teacher’s kids…do they ever really get a day off?

Laura provided two options for this little Add Em’ Up packet.  One was to post the cards throughout the room for students to find and record their answers.  The other was for them to complete it as a sort {and record activity}.  I’ve got 2 kiddos at home, so each chose a different option to demonstrate for you!

The first one pictured is sums of 8 and 9.  My daughter chose to sort them and record her answers.  If I were using this in the classroom, I might provide a pocket chart or tape off a grid using the floor tiles.



She created two piles, one for sums of 8 and the other for sums of 9.



Sorted by sum…



Then recorded her answers, neatly…

My son, chose to “Read to the Room”. So, I posted the cards in different places throughout his bedroom.  It’s not as big as a classroom, by any means, but you’ll get the gist. (And this happy mama snuck in some math facts practice!)



He worked with sums of 6 and 7.  There are several differentiated options for recording learning included in this packet as well.

 
He searched his room to find each math fact. 
 


…and recorded them as he found them! I can just imagine the delight on my firsties faces when we do this in the classroom.  Letting them get up and move works wonders for when its time to sit and settle down some too!



And…that’s it! Sweet, simple and to the point! *LOVE*.  Before you go, don’t forget to head over to Laura’s blog to check out the little goodie from my TPT shop that’s she’s reviewing.

To add in all the swapportunity fun….if you like what you saw here or at her blog, consider becoming a follower! Following is a REALLY good thing when it comes to blogging, so that you don’t miss out on any freebies, fun or sharing!

There’s a freebie in it for ya! Choose either or both of the options below and I’ll pick a winner to post on next Saturday.  The prize?  Any two items you’d like from my little TPT shop! Whoo hooo!

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Thanks for stopping by and happy blog hopping!