I can Statements

I can Statements

I am finally finished with my I can statements.  I am so excited about them and I think they turned out great.  Check them out at my Teacher’s Notebook store.

Sharing our Friends

Ever had your kids say “she’s my friend, you can’t play with her?”  I think this happens so much in first grade.  Children find a friend and then try to control who that friend plays with.  As I was reading a few books from the library, I came across this book  My Friend Fred by Hiawyn Oram. 

It is a great story about a little girl and her dog and how she tries to keep her dog from playing with anyone else but her.  I am going to use this book when I start to see my first graders not sharing their friends.

It’s such a cute book and will really hit home with the kids. 

Hope you guys enjoy it.  What are some books you use to deal with friendship problems in your classroom? 

Summer is here!

I am so excited! I finished my last workday today so summer for me starts tomorrow! I can't wait to spend time with my girls by the pool! I have my summer reading for school already picked out. Here is what I'm starting with 1) Daily 5 and Cafe books 2) in pictures and in words by Katie Wood Ray. I have already read Daily 5 but I need to retread it because... Wait for it... Yep! I'm going to the 2 sisters workshop on Daily 5 and CAFE this August in Atlanta, GA. I just ordered my tickets and I CAN NOT WAIT! I hope to blog more this summer and also to post more on my TPT store.

Oviparous Animals

I have seriously got to get better about blogging more.  Life around my house has been CRAZY!  We are moving in 4 days and all I can see is boxes, boxes and MORE boxes.  The good news is we are on spring break this week, so I have plenty of time to finish packing. 

Here are a few things we did right before Spring Break.  We started our oviparous unit.  I must say this is one of my favorite themes to teach.  It’s just fun! 

Oviparous  Animals

We made an ostrich.  These turned out too cute and the children learned lots of facts about the flightless bird.  Check them out:

We also recorded our learning about ostriches on this graphic organizer. 

Since Easter was coming up, we decided to have a math Easter Egg hunt in the classroom.  This was AWESOME!  Here’s what I did, I made up 20 different math questions.  Some were addition, some money, some measuring, etc.  The children had a recording sheet.  They walked around and found eggs, recorded their answer and kept on moving.  I can’t tell you how much fun the kids had.  They were begging to do it again the next day!  Here are a few pics

So now, I’m taking a break from packing and going to do some planning.  When we return we are starting our BUGGY BUGS theme, another favorite of mine J 

100th Day Of school

So Friday was our 100th day of school.  I love this day of school.  We had so much fun.  Here are a few pictures from our day. 

We started our day with a 100 piece puzzle.  This was interesting :)  

Next, we worked on centers.  Here the kids had to write 100 words.  Look how focused they are.  



Here we worked on our hats.  Students used stickers, stamps, stencils to draw 10 sets of 10 on their hats.

This was writing numbers to 100.  

We worked in groups to put together a 100s board.  This was lots of fun.  I had placed a few numbers on the board randomly and then students worked to put the other numbers in their places. 



This turned out to be a great day.  I really felt like my children learned the meaning of 100.  It was so

fun to hear their "math talk." 

The other thing I love about 100th day is that now we get to start the countdown to summer :) This has been an awesome year and I can't wait to see what more we will do!  

Nothing to do with Teaching- just a life thing :)

I cannot tell you guys how excited I am to be back to blogging.  I have had a rough couple of weeks but I am here to tell you that I serve an AWESOME GOD!  On January 19th, after a few days of "odd" symptoms, I woke up to get ready for school.  I took my shower and everything was fine until I went to dry my hair.  It was at that point that my head was KILLING me and then my right arm went numb, making me drop the hair dryer.  I can't lie, I was scared.  The night before I had an episode where I was very confused and couldn't stand up.  I didn't know what was going on, but after my arm going numb I knew I MUST get to the doctor ASAP!  I headed off to the ER and by that afternoon they discovered I had 2 mini-strokes.  It takes just a blink of an eye to put life in perspective for you.  I lay in the hospital bed that first night terrified I was going to have another stroke, or a bigger stroke.  I honestly didn't sleep but maybe 30 mins the whole night.  The doctors continued to reassure me that the numbness/tingling that I felt on my right arm and face would go away.  I admit I didn't believe them but I was just so thankful I could move my arm and I tried to stay positive.  After 2 nights in the hospital I was sent home to return to normal duty!  REALLY?  I went back to work that Monday which happened to be a workday and I made it but I was not up to par.  The next couple of days would include many fears, worries and weird feelings.  My principal (who is awesome) suggested I just work half days which I did and which helped me.  After a restful weekend I went back full time this week and it has been a great week.  I have my feeling back and I have my energy back!  Praise be to GOD!  
I am so thankful that God decided to spare me and keep me safe as my body reacted to that blood clot that went to my brain.  I can't even begin to describe how incredibly blessed I feel. 

Here's the verse of scripture I held to during this time-

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.
Proverbs 3:5-7


When we trust in the Lord, He will comfort us.  I felt His presence with me every step of the way. 

OH MY GOODNESS!! 100 FOLLOWERS

I feel horrible- Why in the world did I think my giveaway was supposed to be announced today?  I have no idea where my mind has been but it is clear I have been overwhelmed with many things.  It has been one crazy week and to be honest I haven't had hardly any time to get on my blog (OBVIOUSLY) :)  I apologize for all who entered my contest- I promise I didn't mean to be 4 days late on the winner!  I am so sorry! 

So now that you have patiently been waiting- here comes the WINNER!!  

I have no idea why that big black rectangle is there!  Things that make you go hmmmmmmmmmmmmm :) 
Well congrats to Tammy and thanks to everyone for helping me get to 100 followers!  Again I apologize for being so late!  I have no idea what I was thinking :)