First is a Fairytale

Seussy Decorations!

2012-03-05T19:27:00.001-08:00

Cute Seuss decorations in my hall!

1 fish 2 fish - blue jello, red fish!

2012-03-04T18:49:00.001-08:00

So on tuesday this week I'm focusing on one fish two fish red fish blue fish. I saw this idea and had to try it! I made them for my class and my boys liked them so much I made some for their classes as well. Super easy! I got about 6 cups per package of jello.

New Cute blog!!

2012-03-04T18:17:00.003-08:00

Come and check out my friends new blog! She is so excited about her new blog and would really be tickled to have some support! Please swing on over to Mrs. Mason's Monkeys!!
We all know how much we love comments and followers! Let's give our new bloggy friend a grand welcome!!!

One Lovely Blog - OH MY!!!

2012-03-04T10:12:00.006-08:00

Awwww! Thank you Stacey at 3rd Grade Times! I have been a slacker at blogging and just got back in to the swing of things lately! I am so happy that you noticed me! YAY!
I love that we can all share ideas and help each other across the borders. Being a part of blog land has definitely helped me to become a much better teacher!

I have some favorites out there, so below I am going to pass this award on and recognize them!!!

Here are the rules:
1. Link back to the blogger who gave it to you.
2. Pass the award on to 15 other lovely bloggers.
3. Follow the person who sent it to you.

So, here are the One Lovely Blog Award winners that I have chosen:
Petersons Pad
First Grade Heart
First Grade School Box
Yearn to Learn
Empowering Little Learners
Extra Special teaching
Hangin' With Mrs. Cooper
First Grade Smarties
Sassy in Second
First grade blue Skies
Time 4 Kindergarten
Sunny Days in Second Grade
Blooming in to First Grade
Mrs. Mason's Monkeys

Help these ladies feel Lovely today by checking out their Lovely blogs!
Have a wonderful rest of your weekend! Thanks again, Katie

Fox in socks

2012-03-01T18:56:00.002-08:00

Today we all wore silly socks! We read Fox In Socks & Oh Say Can You Say. We practiced saying other tongue twisters like .....
How much wood could a wood chuck chuck
Peter piper
And my favorite...you need unique New York
They were cracking me up! Then we ate popsicles & got our tongues really cold & tried to say them again.....whoa! We were all getting the giggles from how silly we sounded.
Fun day in first

Green eggs and ham candy

2012-02-29T18:45:00.001-08:00

Made these for my sons kindergarten class. Thanks Denise for the stuff!

Wacky Wednesday

2012-02-29T14:44:00.002-08:00

Would your like them at school?

2012-02-28T11:17:00.005-08:00

Cat in the Hat day!

2012-02-27T08:11:00.002-08:00

I'm so excited about Dr.Seuss week!
I think we are going to have to celebrate for 3 weeks to have time to do all my favorite things!
Thing one and thing 2 craft, I tweeked it a little, but got the idea on pinterest!
When it dries we will make a face!

This was our snack today! YUMMY! Red Velvet cupcakes with cream cheese icing and cotton candy! (Thank you Fisher and Tracy for the cupcakes!)
I did this last year too! I am not sure where I originally got the idea from, but it is now all over pinterest and easy to find!

Other things we did today...
Watched Justin Beiber read "The cat and the Hat" on you tube!!! The girls loved it so much! i told the boys not to worry because tomorrow we will be watching Tim Tebow!
Played cat/hat tic tac toe!
And of course we squeezed in math, handwriting and writing complete sentences with punctuation and capitals!!! Oh and a visit to the Library!
phew! busy day!

What Does she do with the Teeth???

2012-02-24T20:46:00.009-08:00

Aren't these the most adorable tooth fairy pictures ever??!! Well, the stories are adorable too! I asked my students what they think the tooth fairy does with their teeth and got the cutest answers!

I feel so bad...I saw this on a blog but the site I coped to give recognition to was only linked to a picture and now I can't give credit to the right person!!

Not enough time sometimes!

2012-02-20T20:06:00.001-08:00

Trying to cram in all the cute presidents and dental health stuff I can this week so I can move on to Dr. Seuss in time for his birthday! What are you doing this week? Ill post pics soon!

Do you love your Pencil Sharpener?

2012-02-05T12:58:00.000-08:00

Oh My gosh!!! My pencil sharpener died...I thought I bought a really great one...and it was great for awhile...it did last 2 years...But I don't want to spend another $60 bucks to get another!
Do you have a good one??? Help!!!

Valentine party ideas?

2012-02-04T21:09:00.001-08:00

Trying to figure out what we should do at our party...
I'd like to set up party centers, just trying to think of new ideas...
Have a gummy graphing project, but nothing else yet!
We are having valentine donuts in the morning.
What are you doing for your party?

100th day of school

2012-01-31T13:52:00.001-08:00

Welllll, I tried to blog from my phone...which I prefer because it is way easier to post the pics...but It turns them all sideways and it won't let me write about the pictures underneathe....so, does anyone have a good blog app?Anyway, it was a great day! I started out by hiding 100 kisses around the room! We found 98 of them! Uh oh! My son found one after school but I have no idea where the other one is!My firsties totally loved searching for the kisses! We put together a hundred piece puzzle, estimated, dressed up in "old people" outfits for pictures, decided what we would buy with $100, and lots more!

Here are some of the things we have done so far....

Qr code!

2011-08-08T15:04:00.001-07:00

Check this out! Its a barcode that people can scan with their phone and it wi ll lead then right to my blog!

Day 2 in my room

2011-08-07T14:19:00.001-07:00

Well I forgot to take pictures of my room on the first day I went in to organize. Furniture was everywhere.....but not too bad.
Her are my pictures so far...

I think I might put border around my white board so it doesn't look do dull next to the smartboard.
I'm going to put a vocabulary word wa on the bulletin board thats blank
and my word wal on the blank wall.

Birthday Freebie

2011-07-06T13:31:00.000-07:00

Check out this super cute new blog I found! You can leave a comment and earn yourself a freebie!
Peace Love and Learning

Need to Remember?

2011-06-27T11:05:00.000-07:00

Ok! I have just been exposed to the best organizing program ever! I read your fabulous blogs all the time and love the wealth of knowledge I gain from all of you! However! I have the hardest time remembering where I saw what and because I stalk to many of you....well, I get totally LOST! Sooooooooooo...Here is what I found...

EVERNOTE

At the is site you can download a note taking program! It is super easy to use AND you can also get the app on your phone! They sync together so you can always have any note you take at your side!

You make a title, write a quick note along with the website and save it under the category of your choosing!

Sight word practice

2011-06-15T11:31:00.001-07:00

Man! I have been looking for new ways to practice sight words. I think I found keeper! I read and discover so many things....but it is the remembering part that gets hard some times with soooo many great ideas out there! I totally love this idea from GrowingKinders!
I think I will start on this as soon as I get back from the store with the Popsicle sticks!

Free math vocabulary cards

2011-06-14T18:41:00.000-07:00

If you haven't check out Gracehopper blog it is super cute! Today she posted a great resource for math vocabulary words for grades k-5. These are super cute picture cards that explain tons of math vocabulary words. Thank you for posting this resource Grace!! Check out her blog for the link. :)

Summer Activities

2011-06-11T18:13:00.000-07:00

Check out Lakeshore's summer activities!

Moons and stories!

2011-05-18T08:59:00.001-07:00

I bought the space unit from fun in first and love the ideas! Here are some pictures

I love my new smartboard!

2011-05-05T11:14:00.001-07:00

Firstie gardeners

2011-05-05T08:03:00.001-07:00

As part of my plant unit we planted some seeds to care for and observe. We planted grass, morning glories and carrots! I an so rxcited about the flowers, they are so excited about the carrots!
I love their observation journaling and pictures!

docstoc charges?

2011-04-17T18:31:00.000-07:00

I have been trying to download things form docstoc but now it wants me to become to a member....is that new? i never had trouble before.

Owassoisms.com: Barnes Elementary McTeachers Night Tuesday

2011-04-11T17:33:00.000-07:00

Owassoisms.com: Barnes Elementary McTeachers Night Tuesday

awesome giveaway!

2011-03-14T19:00:00.000-07:00

I absolutely love the blog...What the Teacher Wants. I can always count on finding fabulous ideas when I visit! Check out how you can win a $100 gift card to the container store here!

Cotton candy ice cream

2011-02-28T20:19:00.001-08:00

I bought these cute little mini ice cream cones and stuffed them with a little bit of cotton candy. This will be a fun treat for my firsties!

Thing 1 & Thing 2

2011-02-28T18:01:00.001-08:00

These 2 "things" are trying on my new hats for size! I thought it would be cute to take pictures of the kids dressed up like Thing one and Thing 2 for Seuss week! I just bought one of those stretchy balls and cut a hold in the bottom....wallah, you got yourself a hat!

Green Eggs

2011-02-28T12:03:00.001-08:00

We read "Green Eggs and Ham" today and I brought some green deviled eggs for all of us to try! The kids thought it was fantastic! It was really fun to watch their reactions!

How many feet are you?

2011-02-27T13:31:00.001-08:00

I thought it would be cute for the kids to partner up and measure how many feet tall they are after reading the "Foot Book" by Dr. Seuss. I am just going to laminate the feet, cut them out and place them at the math center for a measurement activity!

how many feet are you

TIC TAC TOE 3 HATS IN A ROW!

2011-02-27T12:46:00.000-08:00

Here is a simple little tic tac toe game that I am going to print off, laminate and place at a center this week

tic tac toe

Lorax Diagraphs

2011-02-26T20:46:00.000-08:00

Save the Truffala Trees! I will be putting this in a pocket chart for my words center!

I don't know why the words on this document are not displaying correctly. It seems to be downloading okay though. If you want this center and it does not download correctly please let me know. I will be happy to email it to you. Sorry for the technical difficulties.

lorax diagraphs

Yay! I have 100 followers!

2011-02-26T10:10:00.001-08:00

Here are my 100 followers! My sweet husband gets the honor of drawing the lucky winner of a Dr. Jean cd!

And the winner is... Conchy Marcano!
Congratulations and thank you to everyone for following my blog!

Seuss!

2011-02-25T12:44:00.000-08:00

You should totally follow these cute blogs!!! They are having a give away now for an awesome Dr. Seuss unit!!!! Go here to see how to enter and who to follow!

Washington to Lincoln

2011-02-24T19:37:00.001-08:00

I love this adorable craft! The shirt for Washington turns into the hat for Lincoln when you flip it over. It is so cute to use pennies for Lincoln's eyes and quarters for buttons on Washington's shirt.

Reading in the Rain

2011-02-24T07:28:00.001-08:00

I don't know if you can tell tell from the picture but it is raining and thundering here today. As we began our morning we were inspired by the beautiful sounds and the relaxing mood to spread out all over the classroom and curl up with a good book.
Ahhhhhh, it's wonderful here in First Grade today.

The Foot Book

2011-02-23T17:22:00.000-08:00

So I love doing this cute activity with my Firsties after reading "The Foot Book"
I paint all the kids feet different colors and then we stamp their feet on large paper. After all the paint dries we write the colors of their feet....
"John has blue feet"
"Sadie has red feet"
Then we staple it together for a fun story to read together in the reading center!
Here are some pics!

GE MODEL SCHOOL

2011-02-22T20:23:00.001-08:00

So my school is a GE model school again this year and I got to go to the celebration with some of my teacher friends and our wonderful principal!
We listened to Allan Johnson speak in the morning. He is a pretty good speaker and funny too. We had an awesome lunch at Charlestons!! Unfortunately I got so car sick onthe way home I threw it up. Darn it! Int he afternoon we listened to Janet Barresi

Then we had our pictures made and headed home!

My favorite part of the day...... well I have to admit, It was dessert with Stacey! YUMMMMMY for brownies and ice cream!

Need 28 more followers for give away!

2011-02-21T18:29:00.000-08:00

I absolutely love Dr. Jean songs in my classroom. We sing all the time, I love music in the classroom. So I thought it makes since for me to share something I enjoy, use often and believe it to make a huge a difference in my day.

Once I gain my 100th follower I will Randomly select one special follower to receive 1 Dr. Jean CD! I will purchase it from AMAZON and mail it straight to the winner!
I hope I get to do the drawing soon! Tell all your bloggy teacher friends to follow my blog to get a chance to win a free CD! This could be a $15-$25 value!!!

FIRST IS A FAIRY TALE

Bummer- Teacher Salary

2011-02-21T06:46:00.001-08:00

This didn't make me very cheery!

Check it out!
Katie's Blog

So Cool

2011-02-20T21:00:00.000-08:00

I love blogging!!! Why??? Because sharing is fun!
Check out this trick!!!!

Ladybug Teacher Files

MY FIRST GIVE AWAY!

2011-02-20T18:15:00.001-08:00

OK! So I finally came up with something I would like to give away! I absolutely love Dr. Jean songs in my classroom. We sing all the time, I love music in the classroom. So I thought it makes since for me to share something I enjoy, use often and believe it to make a huge a difference in my day.

Once I gain my 100th follower I will Randomly select one special follower to receive 1 Dr. Jean CD! I will purchase it from AMAZON and mail it straight to the winner!
I hope I get to do the drawing soon! Tell all your bloggy teacher friends to follow my blog to get a chance to win a free CD! This could be a $15-$25 value!!!

FIRST IS A FAIRY TALE

stay tuned!

2011-02-20T18:12:00.000-08:00

I just won the most adorable read the room kit from Ocean's of First Grade Fun! She is going to put it on TPT soon I think! Check out how cute it looks here!

100th day with pictures-FINALLY!

2011-02-20T17:57:00.000-08:00

I finally got to insert some pictures form our 100th day of school! The kids had a blast....It was a very fun day!

ZIGGLE HATS!
(goofy I know, I made that up...thats what they look like to me!)
I just cute out a bunch of "ziggles" on my cricut. The kids will glue 10 "ziggles" on to a sentence strip and put 10 fingerprints on each "ziggle" I had my own children model the hats since I have not been at school in a week!

Here they are putting their finger prints on!

100 KISSES!

This is a very cute idea that I got from the very cute blog Kinderpond!
I am going to hide 100 kisses for the students to find. We will place them on this 100 chart I made! Then maybe we will all share the kisses!

PENNY REACH!
Another teacher at my school found this idea from smithsroom.com and it sounds fun!
I am going to gather a bag of pennies and the children will co me up 2 at a time. One will grab as many pennies and they think they need to equal 100 and then the 2 will go off to count them. 1 students is the monitor and 1 is the counter. Then they will switch roles. If there is a student who actually gets exactly 100pennies....They will win a crisp new dollar bill!

100 TALLIE DICE GAME!
I got this good idea from one of my favorite blogs....what the teacher wants

ESTIMATION!

What the teacher wants also has a good sheet to print off for your estimation activity

I have a jar full of cotton balls and a jar full of plastic hearts I got at target! I am going to fill the third and fourth jar at school. The students who get the closest in estimation will win a prize!

MARSHMALLOW SCULPTURE!

I loaded up several baggies with 100 marshmallows and some toothpicks. I am going to put my students in groups and let them create something with their supplies! I will post pics as soon as I actually get to see how it goes!

COIN FLIP!
I am going to give each student a penny to flip 100 times. They will reveive a 100 chart and get to record their data by marking a t for tails and an h for heads!
We will discuss the results after filling out charts up.

DRESS UP!
The kids were funny! I left the dress up clothes in the story center and they dressed up our frog friends...

This is my most favorite of all! I have done it every year and it always seems to be funny and turn out cute. The kids really like it. I went to goodwill stores and gathered some old scarves, hats, canes,glasses, wigs, jewelry and spent very little!
I let the kids pick what they want to wear to make them look older and take a before and after picture. Then I print it and paste it in their 100th day booklet. You may want to print the one from "what the teacher wants" in the link above. She has a really good one. Again...I will post some cute pics when I actually get to go to school!

SNACK SORT
The kids got 10 of each snack and counted them to by 10's to 100!

giveaway ideas?

2011-02-20T11:11:00.000-08:00

So I am super new at blogging but I want to get really good at it!! I love how many ideas are shared between teachers! I have been posting since January 8th and I already have 57 followers! wow! That is so cool to me!
I've been thinking that when I reach 100 followers I could have a special giveaway! Any ideas on how I should do it or what to give away?

Presidents Day

2011-02-20T09:22:00.000-08:00

So here are some things that I have found....

Presidents Day writing activity from what the teacher wants!

President Obama time line suggested by Primary Perspective

George Washington hats from First Grade Parade

Lincoln craft from Mrs. Wheeler

Washington and Lincoln craft from Mrs. Bohreer

Cute penny poem by First Grade best

Make a Ballot Box from Brook Perry

Crafts form fun in First Grade

Money song from Mrs. wills

Abc Order from me

Great Songs we will be singing this week....

Proud to be an American - Jack Hartman
Found a Penny - Dr. jean
Money Song - Dr. Jean
The United States - Dr. Jean
Presidents - Dr. Jean

Target Special St. Patricks Day

2011-02-19T14:12:00.001-08:00

These are such cute little props for dressing your firsties up as little leprechauns for St. Patrick's Day!

Target Special!

2011-02-19T14:05:00.001-08:00

Hurry! Hurry! These are on sale in the target Dollar Isle for only 50 cents! You can make some center games or you can use the one from Once Upon A Time In First Grade

Presidents in ABC order

2011-02-19T07:59:00.000-08:00

Here is a short abc order pocket chart center. I have included a recording sheet as well! I would love to see what you are using for Presidents day! i really need some new ideas! Post a link if you would like to share!

president abc order

2011-02-17T16:51:00.000-08:00

Stylish Blogger Award
I am still very new to the blogging world and yet I just received an award. What a neat surprise!

My sweet friend Cheri awarded me!! Thank you Cheri!

Here are the rules for receiving this award:

1. Thank and link back to the person who awarded you this award
2. Share 7 things about yourself
3. Award 15 recently discovered great bloggers
4. Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award

1. Already done.

2. I have been teaching for 8 years.
3. I was named teacher of the year last year.
4. I started this blog because I saw other fabulous blogs to steel from , so I thought I'd better share too! (Although I still have a lot of work to do on my blog!)
5. I love spending time with my family
6. The coolest place i have ever been is Israel
7. My favorite TV show is Gray's Anatomy

3. I have selected the following 15 bloggers to receive this award:

Katie's Literature Lounge

A place to share

Beginning Reading Help

Crayon Bits

Cricut your classroom

Erica Bohrer's First Grade

First Grade Best

Fun in First

http://kinder-pond.blogspot.com/2011/02/shari-sloane.html

CUPCAKE VOWEL SORT

2011-02-12T09:29:00.000-08:00

I got these cute bags form the dollar isle at Target! I figured I could make a ton of word sort centers to go along with it for the week of Valentines Day. Below you can download a short and long vowel sort. I also included recorded sheets. Hope you like it!

cupcake sort vowels

Good buy!

2011-02-10T18:47:00.001-08:00

Found these cute bags at Target on the dollar isle! I an going to make some kind of sorting center to go with them. Thought they were perfect for a sweet little Valentine center.

VALENTINE RHYMES

2011-02-09T21:02:00.001-08:00

Just have a bit of night owlishness happening lately! So I made this. I am wanting to make a bunch of stuff and fill my blog with it....but I am getting kind of lazy with all these snow days we are having. I have not been to school since January 31st because of snow!
Anyway....Hope it is ok...I am new at this creation thing!

valentines rhymes

100th day of School!

2011-02-06T19:32:00.000-08:00

We have had to reschedule the 100th day celebration twice because of snow days!! We had a record snowfall of 22 inches this last time and more is expected! FUN!
Anyway, This is what I have planned for the 100th day....whenever it may be!

ZIGGLE HATS!
(goofy I know, I made that up...thats what they look like to me!)
I just cute out a bunch of "ziggles" on my cricut. The kids will glue 10 "ziggles" on to a sentence strip and put 10 fingerprints on each "ziggle" I had my own children model the hats since I have not been at school in a week!

Here they are putting their finger prints on!

100 KISSES!

This is a very cute idea that I got from the very cute blog Kinderpond!
I am going to hide 100 kisses for the students to find. We will place them on this 100 chart I made! Then maybe we will all share the kisses!

PENNY REACH!
Another teacher at my school found this idea from smithsroom.com and it sounds fun!
I am going to gather a bag of pennies and the children will co me up 2 at a time. One will grab as many pennies and they think they need to equal 100 and then the 2 will go off to count them. 1 students is the monitor and 1 is the counter. Then they will switch roles. If there is a student who actually gets exactly 100pennies....They will win a crisp new dollar bill!

100 TALLIE DICE GAME!
I got this good idea from one of my favorite blogs....what the teacher wants

ESTIMATION!

What the teacher wants also has a good sheet to print off for your estimation activity

I have a jar full of cotton balls and a jar full of plastic hearts I got at target! I am going to fill the third and fourth jar at school. The students who get the closest in estimation will win a prize!

MARSHMALLOW SCULPTURE!

I loaded up several baggies with 100 marshmallows and some toothpicks. I am going to put my students in groups and let them create something with their supplies! I will post pics as soon as I actually get to see how it goes!

COIN FLIP!
I am going to give each student a penny to flip 100 times. They will reveive a 100 chart and get to record their data by marking a t for tails and an h for heads!
We will discuss the results after filling out charts up.

DRESS UP!
The kids were funny! I left the dress up clothes in the story center and they dressed up our frog friends...

This is my most favorite of all! I have done it every year and it always seems to be funny and turn out cute. The kids really like it. I went to goodwill stores and gathered some old scarves, hats, canes,glasses, wigs, jewelry and spent very little!
I let the kids pick what they want to wear to make them look older and take a before and after picture. Then I print it and paste it in their 100th day booklet. You may want to print the one from "what the teacher wants" in the link above. She has a really good one. Again...I will post some cute pics when I actually get to go to school!

SNACK SORT
The kids got 10 of each snack and counted them to by 10's to 100!

Meet the SNOKLAHOMA teacher

2011-02-03T20:58:00.001-08:00

Well I have not left my house in 3 days...4 tomorrow! My town has had a lot of snow days lately. We missed groundhogs day and the 100th day has been canceled twice! The day we come back (whenever that is) will finally be the 100th day! We re expecting more snow this weekend, so I am not sure if we will be back on Monday or not! This doesn't give me much time to participate in the fun pen pal group Mrs. Perry is hosting! However, we will enjoy the time we have and hopefully fit in some skypeing among our celebrations of the 100th day and valentines day!
Sooooo....with all the snow at my place here is a link to my other blog that shows what I have been doing
SNOKLAHOMA FUN WITH MY BOYS!
CLICK HERE FOR SNOKLAHOMA PART 2

Now I’m linking up for the Meet the Teacher “Linky Party” from The First Grade Parade
Here is the Q & A

Q: What would you be doing if you weren’t a teacher?
A: I would be a stay at home mom. :) But really as a teacher I get to do that in the summer. The job with 2 worlds!

Q: What are your hobbies?
A: lesson planning! lol
I like to take pictures but I don't like to scrapbook. I do love my cricut...but I just make craft stuff,

Q: When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A: I wanted to be Miss America! lol

Q: What are your guilty pleasures?
A: ahhhh junior mints and reeses and dr pepper!

Q: What is your biggest fear?!
A: something happening to my children

Q: When you’re on vacation, where do you like to go?
A: FLORIDA

Q: What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
A: sometimes you have to start over

Q: What do you value most in others?
A: honesty

Q: If you could choose one of your personality traits to pass down to your kids, what would it be?
A: Understanding....not so quick to judge negatively

Q: If you could have lunch with anyone in the world….living or dead…who would it be?
A: Never been that in to famous people. I think I would choose my boys every time.

Now tell us one random thing about yourself:

I love paper... I always want to buy cute little notepads or scrapbook paper even if I don't know hat to do with it or need it. It all started when my Grandma took me shopping for art stuff every time I stayed the night with her when I was little.

Oklahoma SNOW! updated 4:40

2011-02-01T09:28:00.001-08:00

Ok! i know this is not "teachery stuff" But I have to share! I am so excited! We don't get weather like this often here in Oklahoma! My sidewalk is filled with 15 inches of snow and it is still falling strong!
Sadly, this is the second time our 100th day of school has been canceled for snow! Last week it was supposed to be on Friday but we did not have school Thursday or Friday! And now today was supposed to be the 100th day but.....No one can get out! Emergency vehicles are all in 4 wheel drive vehicles now. We just heard one of them picked up a stranded Dr. who was headed to the hospital to deliver a baby! YIKES!!
15 inches!!!!

Now it is a few hours later and I have more snow!!! This is measured in the same spot as the one above.19 inches!!

And this is my porch!!! 22 inches!

And one last thing! My 4 year old opened the door in the garage and...

Valentine Boxes

2011-01-31T16:27:00.001-08:00

So I usually have my students decorate Valentines Day bags in class, but this year I decided to do something different. I asked them to decorate a shoebox anyway they wanted and bring it to class. I have only received one back so far, but it is sooooo cute I had to post it!

He made one for me too! I love frogs and all the kids know it. I love it so much I will use it for years to come!

Groundhog Activities

2011-01-31T08:40:00.000-08:00

Yay! I actually did it! I made something and figured out how to share it...thanks to my sweet, helpful husband!
So tell me what you think...be easy though, it is my first thing to upload ever! lol
I can tell you what parts I wish were better....
1. I would have liked to make the ground partner with his shadow or a hole instead of another groundhog. (hopefully I will build up my clip art collection)
2. I could have made the recording sheet say ___+____=_______
3. I could have included pictures to make reading the words easier (again, need to build my clip art collection!)
Anyways, hopefully it is something someone will use. :)
Thank you for any feedback

Groundhog Compound Words

I like to put alot of different things in pocket charts! I just love them! Since groundhogs day is so close to the 100th day I thought this would blend in the week nicely

100 groundhogs

On groundhogs day I like to take my kids outside to check and see if they can see their own shadow. We trace our shadows with chalk and measure them. I used to use a ruler or yardstick, but I am sure you know that is very hard for them to keep tack of when measuring a large object. So, I though it would be cute to print off and laminate a bunch of groundhogs for them to measure with. We have 5th grade buddies to do activities with but you could could partner the kids up with another class or within your own class.

groundhog measurement

Nursery Rhyme - Baa Baa Black Sheep

2011-01-30T19:25:00.001-08:00

I made this for my son's preschool teacher. It was very easy to do with the nursury rhyme cricut cartridge!

Nursery Rhymes - Little Boy Blue

2011-01-30T14:17:00.001-08:00

This is a poster I made for my son's preschool class. I made it with my cricut and I am working on some others. I like the way it turned out!

Martin Luther King

2011-01-17T18:15:00.000-08:00

I love this really cute Martin Luther King Jr. portrait activity that was posted by Mrs. Perry on her blog Primary Perspective. I went to the link on her site and purchased the template and instructions.
http://www.littlegiraffes.com/martinlutherking.html

Then, I found another site where you can print a dream sheet for free. The students can write their own dreams and glue them to the back on Martin's portrait.
The dream sheets are from
http://www.littlegiraffes.com/martinlutherking.html

The Emperor's Egg

2011-01-14T16:13:00.000-08:00

This is a great book about Emperor Penguins. The kids always find it interesting that the daddy penguin takes care of the egg on his feet and doesn't get to eat for a long time! They like to hear about what the babies eat too. Their reactions are so cute.
As a followup activity to the story I had them draw and write 4 things they remember and liked about the Emperor Penguins. I think their papers turned out pretty adorable.

Dad guards the egg! (cute!)

(love the picture of the penguin sliding on belly!)

(awww, look at the penguin family!)

(Ha! the mommy gets sick in the baby's mouth.)

Polka Dot Penguin

2011-01-14T16:04:00.000-08:00

This is an idea I got from my Aunt Suzie who taught for many years. You just get a penguin template, some pencils and some paint! Super easy! I just put the materials in a center and let them dot away.

Puffy Snowman

2011-01-14T15:59:00.000-08:00

This is the coolest thing ever! I was so impressed at how it works! You just mix shaving cream and glue together and spread it around on paper. It dries puffy! The only problem is it gets ruined easily. You have to be extra careful when the kids transport it home or it flakes off. At least mine did. Still totally worth the experience. The children loved their snowman creations!

Valentine Counters

2011-01-10T16:10:00.000-08:00

I found these pretty little table scatter hearts ont he dollar isle at Target! They were actually $2.50 per box and they come in pink and purple. I think they will be great at my math center in February. Now I just need to figure out how to make and upload cute lessons and I will share more ideas!

Meet Scamper

2011-01-09T17:57:00.001-08:00

This week I will be starting my Penguin unit. This is a picture of the newest edition to our class! Last week we got to watch a special show called Scamper. It was about an adorable little penguin that the children fell in love with. I spotted this little guy at Hobby Lobby and just had to have him. He is going to join us this week in class as a behavior incentive. I bet I have the best behaved class of the week. I mean seriously...who wouldn't wanna earn a chance to snuggle with this cutie?

Sharing Some Pointers

2011-01-08T06:42:00.002-08:00

I got this idea from the blog First Grade at Last. She has a really great blog! You can make these cute little pointers for not too much money. At Hobby Lobby you can get the little characters already painted and you just hot glue them to a stick and wallah!

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Cricut Penguins

2011-01-08T06:42:00.001-08:00

These are the cute little Penguins that I made with my Cricut this week. We hung them up in the hall to decorate for my upcoming penguin unit. The kids really liked making the craft. Although, I have to admit I like the crafts that dont look so perfect better. I am going to have to do some more research on what to do with my cricut!

The Mitten With My Cricut

2011-01-08T06:41:00.001-08:00

I got this idea from another teacher blog http://whattheteacherwants.blogspot.com/2010/12/mitten.html
My students really got in to this project, it was fun. We read the story "The Mitten" By Jan Brett and then we made our little mitten and hid something inside! The kids looked and looked though magazines to find the perfect animal. It was funny to see how important it was to them to find the perfect picture to hide in their mitten.

The Left Over Snowman

2011-01-08T06:39:00.001-08:00

I love these cute little snowmen! I got the idea somewhere to paint with marshmallows. I thought the kids would really enjoy doing something different and sure enough they did! Then, after painting, I realized they really needed some dressing up! Soooo, I just pulled out a bunch of stuff from my art shelf and we went to town! I call this guy, Leftover Snowman because we just slapped a bunch of leftover stuff on it! I was surprised how much I ended up liking this craft!