A Really Quick Post!

A fellow teacher and I (well mostly him to be honest) have been working on a way to get iPads and other types of technology donated to our school. Well the website is finally up and we are so excited to launch it! Please click here to check it out. Please 'Like' us on Facebook as well! We are trying to spread the word and hopefully get iPads into our students' hands! Thanks so much and have a wonderful evening! Also, I should be studying...okay back to work I go!

M.I.A.

I'm going to be away from my blog for a while.  I am going to be taking my bilingual certification test in a few weeks and I'm sick to my stomach about it, nervous that I won't pass. So I need to study, study, and study! On top of studying, I still have to plan, teach, and try to have somewhat of a life. I'll probably pop in once in a while with pictures and short posts but nothing too crazy because I have a study plan setup already for the weekdays.

I take the test on April 9th, for the afternoon session.  We don't have school that day because we're off for Easter break. I just really hope I pass because bilingual certification in Texas means holy career boost Batman! So keep me in your thoughts, please!!!

Okay, I need to get off my blog and start planning the activities for tomorrow. We're going to be learning about the ow/ou sound (which I've been pre-teaching since forever, so hopefully they get it) and learning about color and number words. So it should be an easy week!

I hope you all have a beautiful Sunday!

  

Can You Say Busy?

 It's been a very crazy, busy week so far.  We have been doing lots of learning and having fun :).


This week we are learning the "or" sound. I was racking my brain trying to figure out what to do to get the children engaged in our phonics lessons.  So after much tossing and turning (yes things like this cause me to lose sleep, ha ha) I put together a new friend called, "Sorry Cory". I first showed the children a picture of him and they asked why he was sad, well I was ready for them. I wrote up a cute little story to explain why Cory had a sad face on and he pretty much does not like to do his chores.  I passed out 12 "or" words and sat them down around me.  We read the story together and every time we got to a blank line the children would quickly look down to see if they had the missing word.  They really had a lot of fun and didn't even notice it was lunch time by the time we had finished.

On Tuesday I drew a picture of "Sorry Cory" on 81/2 x 11 paper and put empty bubbles around him. I'm sorry I don't have a picture of it to show you but I can draw one up if anyone's interested or you can have a stab at it. Anyway, we all sat on the floor again and I had each student give me an "or" word.  I can't tell you how quick the were shooting words at me.  Amazing! So I asked the children where we should hang Mr. Cory and they said the sound board.  Up he went for my kiddos to reference to if they need him. :)  

Our reader required us to teach compare and contrast. I had taught it several months back but I don't think it really stuck with them. So I put it in a way that they can connect to.  This lesson comes from Abby. Go check it out if you haven't done so already.  Well I compared myself to the third grade teacher at my school.  I think the funniest thing on here is that she eats healthy food and I eat candy!? Okay, I have maybe had candy once or twice in front of them for a little pick-me-up, but I don't go chewing on candy all day long! They are too funny! The third grade teacher and I do bathroom break/snack after math so us teachers can use the bathroom too, since you know we can go whenever we please (are you sensing sarcasm?).

Our weekly basal reader is dealing with weather this week and the kids are LOVING it! I made this cute weather journals and each day we are checking the weather in a different country.  I honestly didn't think they would be THIS into it, but they can't wait to check the weather and use all their new weather vocabulary. :)

A few weeks ago at a faculty meeting I expressed my love for a Now Board! Google it now if you can! I want one terribly but they are $500 :*(. It converts any flat surface into a Smart Board! How cool is that?Well today my principal called me on the way home and said if I had heard about another piece of technology called a MimioTeach (click here to watch). We have money from Scholastic to get it and she wants to know more about it before actually getting it for our school. We can't seem to find any legit reviews on it so if anyone has heard good/bad reviews on it I would appreciate your feedback!  I'm just keeping my fingers crossed because it looks cool and there's no need for a bulky Smart or Promethean Board in my classroom.

Well it's time to plan some lessons for tomorrow. I like to do a big review on Thursday for our weekly reading test so the children think it's a piece of cake! See ya later alligator! I'm so first grade right?

A Case of the Sunday's

I think the title of this post sums up how I am feeling at this point.  It's my last day of spring break :( and I'm just not ready to go back yet! I have gotten most of my work complete, yea me! On the agenda was, report cards-check, lesson plans-check, Mass readings-Check, daily lessons- uncheck. Oh well, three out of four is not bad. :)

So I was featured in Laura's "Someone New Sunday" post. You can check out what I had to say if you have some extra reading time over at http://kinderkraziness.blogspot.com/.  I think it's so wonderful of her to do that especially since I'm just starting to get more followers.  It's a pretty sweet feeling.
Well this spring break was a very relaxing one. I'll break down my week for ya.

Monday- Hmm, see I thought I would be able to remember what I did on Monday but now I just can't. I think it was a lot of nothing to be honest with you.

Tuesday- Well now that it's been several days I think I'm ready to blog about it.  I had to put my cat Tigger to sleep on Tuesday. It was probably one of the hardest things I have ever had to do.  He's been a part of my life since he was just a few weeks old.  He lived a pretty good 13 years of life I would say. The weird thing is his birthday was sometime in March. :( Well a few weeks back my mom and I started noticing some odd behaviors in him, just not like him. We took him in and he got some blood work done (poor baby) and he was diagnosed with Hyperthyroidism. That's pretty much equivalent to cancer in kitties. The doctor said we could give him medication and that would keep him alive for another 6 to 12 months or give him a radiation treatment. I'm sorry but I just didn't want to see my poor baby suffer that way. It was an extremely difficult thing to do and thank goodness I was with the people I love the most to ease the day.  But he will forever be in my heart. Check him out below, he was always such a handsome fellow. I just love him and will miss him dearly. :*( Oh boy here come the water works....

One thing that did make Tuesday better was that I won Vicky's giveaway. $20 to Target..woo hoo! That was really surprising and neat. Check her out she's so sweet! http://traditionslaughterandhappilyeverafter.blogspot.com/

Wednesday- Prince Charming and I went up to the really neat park in northern Fort Worth (I think). I'll have to get back to you on the name but it was a very nice day. We saw some pretty neat things on our hike.   I also think I did very well for someone who has never been hiking before. I didn't complain once! :D 

Me looking terrible and pointing to buffalo.

Buffalo..'nuff said!

Butterfly! There were tons of these!

Thursday- I did a lot of nothing again...haha!

Friday- Went to school did lesson plans and re-did my entire library. The kids are going to be amazed when the walk into the class and see this...

It's never been this organized before! I'm so excited!!!! 

Some really great news to share. I am finally paired up with a teacher who lost her school building in the wake of the tornadoes. Her name is Mrs. Tracy Mullins and she teaches first grade.  I went to Target last night and bought her a few things. I'm going to look around my classroom and see what else I can send off for her. I have also written a note up for my parents to see if they want to join in and help Mrs. Mullins.  I feel so great about this and helping another teacher is a beautiful thing!

Well I think that's all for now. My mother and I did mother-daughter hang out day yesterday because she knew I was going to be super busy today.  I'm going to go do some groceries for the week and finish planning some things.

One more thing, I added a weekly weather journal to my TPT store. I'm selling it for $1. Go check it by clicking on my tab. It's perfect for firsties and even some second graders.  It's also my very first product that I am selling, so I'm nervous!

Okay time for me to get started on worrying about me, haha. Thanks for visiting and if it's your first time, please follow my blog and I'll be sure to return the favor.

A Giveaway and a Linky Party!

http://firstwithfranklin.blogspot.com is having a cute giveaway. Click and join the fun! I promise you won't be disappointed!
Also, http://www.kindergartenlifestyle.blogspot.com is hosting a Kinder-2nd  grade Linky Party. Who doesn't love having more followers and meeting wonderful new teachers?

 

Teachers Taking Care of Teachers

I broke the "one post a day rule" but it's for a great cause! I came across http://kreativeinkinder.blogspot.com/ and saw that she's having a linky party to help those teachers that lost everything in the tornadoes that hit our country two weeks ago.  I can't imagine what I would do if I lost my entire classroom worth of things and let alone my school.

I've decided to help out one teacher with supplies he/she will need in order to get some things running again.  I am going to pass this on to other teachers at my school and even parents to see what they can donate.  I think this is a great cause to join! So please do what you can!

I'm Back Sooner Than I Expected!

So the children went home on Thursday after they completed their Styrofoam hat coloring and were so excited because the Leprechaun was going to do magic. 

I had one of my wonderful mom's take a video of the children walking into the classroom. Because don't you know that our Leprechaun friend left our room a mess! There were chairs all over the place as well as their Daily Five Book Bags. The look on their faces says it all. Watch the video below for all the real fun. Once they saw the "gold coins" it was just crazy!  Click below!

Well I didn't want to make this a long post because I'm trying not to think of school since I'm on break. 

Have a great Sunday everyone!

Happy Almost Friday Dance!

Talk about being super busy and trying to throw everything into one week. I don't know how other teachers get through all that they have planned, please share your secrets. I only have one prep time for half an hour(P.E.) every day and I still feel like I can't get through everything.  On the other hand, I have to be their computer, library, art, and everything else teacher, no wonder i'm so tired at the end of the day. But I love it and wouldn't have it any other way! It keeps me busy and makes my day go a lot faster. :)

I've had to cram St. Patty's day stuff because we're on spring break next week. So guess who's causing some mischief in our classroom tonight? Why the leprechaun of course!  Today the children colored Styrofoam cups because the leprechaun will be using his magical powers to turn them into hats ;). If you want to know more about this, type in "leprechaun hats" into the Pinterest search bar. I hear he's also going to mess up our classroom (not happy about this, but it's for the kids so...smile and grin). He may or may not leave us some chocolate gold coins. I know the kids are just going to be crazy!

Here's is the letter that the leprechaun will be leaving the children. If you plan on doing this activity you are more than welcome to take it, just click on the picture below. If you would like me to make any changes for you just drop me a line and I will be more than happy to do that for you. :)

I've been terrible at thanking Vicky over at Traditions, Laughter and Happily Ever After and Danielle over at Twirly Bird Teaching for giving me my first ever blog award...*big smile* :D Isn't it precious! (see below)

I also have to thank Kaleigh over at Kaleigh's Klassroom for giving me a "Top 10 Award"! I've always wanted one of these!!! Thanks so much girl!

I never thought that anyone in a million years would read my blog but I guess putting myself out there did the trick and I'm slowly building up a crowd of followers. Thanks to everyone who took/takes a little time out of their day to read this post and any other thing I post, I really appreciate it. :)

 

I think it's time for this tired teacher to start making my assessment for tomorrow. I have a phonics test that the kids love on my TPT store. It's a word document so you can change it to whatever phonemic skill you are working on. Basically the child reads the word and then they have to draw a picture to go with it. I'm telling you whenever it's time for that test the kids get really excited, it's the funniest thing ever. I was NEVER happy to take tests but I'm glad I've made it enjoyable for my students. So if you're interested click on my TPT to the right. 

I'm trying to get better at creating worksheets and I may even dare to create a unit but I'm not very good. I wish there was a course I can take :( or someone please shed some light, please! 

Alright well I don't know when the next time I'll be on here to post anything so have a nice weekend!

 

I'm Numb and this Post is all Over the Place! Oh and My very First Linky Party!

No, really, I'm numb from dental work! Grr cavities! I'm crazy about flossing and brushing but what can you do? That's enough complaining for one post. 

Okay, you guys (the Jersey in me) need to know that today was a crazy busy day. Even at the end of the day some of my kids said they were tired. I sometimes forget they're only 5, 6, and 7 years old. Yes, I said 5! 

Today I started off my lesson with a little inference activity that the wonderful and always brilliant Babbling Abby posted on her blog a few weeks back.  My basal is either way behind her's and I know she uses treasures, hmm?! Well I brought in my purse and filled it with goodies.  I explained to the children what making an inference means and at first they kind of gave me the "what on earth are you talking about crazy lady" look and then I related it to them and pulled out my asthma pump. Several of my kiddos have asthma so it finally clicked. "Oh, if I see someone use an inhaler that must mean that they are having trouble breathing or they don't feel good." YES! I get them!  So from there it was cake. I made a chart, that didn't come out as fancy as Abby's but I tried. I'm not artistic but I do try and I guess that's what counts! Check out the pic. below of one of my girl's inference paper.  She draws so well! If you haven't checked out Abby's page go on over and get it, it's a must!

The picture on the left is my wallet and the picture on the right is my pink camera!!!!! This one is def. going in my teaching portfolio.

Moving on... We also started learning about "ar" today! Is it just me or are some vowel-consonant combinations just so much more fun and easier to teach? Can I get a whoop-whoop! I'll get more to "whoop- whoop" in a minute. Again the pics go hand in hand with Abby's Pirate Lesson that you can get at her TPT for $5! SOOOOOO WORTH IT, trust me! I wore a bandana (thanks to charming for letting me borrow it last minute) and did the whole pirate voice thing. I can't draw or sing well but boy can I put on a good accent for ya, seriously, I should record myself. I do a mean Cookie Monster impression. Ha! Earlier in the morning I hid the words around the classroom without making it too obvious and only a few noticed. They we're so excited to look for the words and find the treasure. What's the treasure you ask? What's a pirate's favorite breakfast meal? Candy Bars! More like Twix. Since I went shopping with Momma Dukes yesterday, I picked up a pretty cheap treasure box that I will most likely be using for other things. So they got to eat their Twix and create their pirate craftivity. I'll be sure to post pictures of their pirates tomorrow. They put A LOT of work into it!

The treasure map is similar to Abby's but I took a warm tea bag  and spread the liquid all over the paper to give it that old treasure map effect. Then I took my candle burner and burned some of the edges off. There's a close up of the map below as well.

Making our pirates! Aaargh! (taking forever!)

"I'm ready for my close up Mr. DeMille" Oh-em-gee, I'm so corny! Oh in case you're wondering I give my students bathroom tickets. They get two each day. They can use it to get a drink or use the restroom and they must show me their ticket to leave my room. They must also place the hand sanitizer on their desk so other children know who left the room (or a reminder for myself). After they come back and we just know how "well" (I hope you're sensing my sarcasm) they wash their hands, they must pump and return it to the board. It's a great system and cuts back on the bathroom usage. They also get a free bathroom break at lunch and after recess. Using their signals of course! If you want to know more about my signals just let me know!

Okay, back to being all over the place. So I saw this cute thing to help the kids read their sight words using a Nerf gun. I bought one yesterday for $9 at Walmart. I didn't notice however that the darts weren't the suction kind so they were just bouncing off the board. So I plan on buying those darts instead! But overall, the kids had a great time trying to aim for the words. Whoever got a chance to shoot had to try and hit a sight word on the board and the children at their seat had to read it and write it. The boys were *loving* it!. Give it a try if you can, so-much-fun! I'll take pics of it next time!

"Can I get a Whoop- Whoop" - One final thing before I start planning for tomorrow. If you haven't already watched the video below. I highly recommend it. This teacher is just amazing! So I started searching more about Whole Brain Teaching last night and there are teachers out there who either love it or hate it.  Now I don't know if I would do the whole thing cause sometimes the kids seem like robots but some of it is really, really useful. I started implementing it today in my class and the children responded well. I must say I lucked out this year because the class I have is amazing.  But if you have time just watch her, she's great!

My students definitely think I'm crazy! I stand on desks, do funny voices, sing (even though I can't hit a note to save my life). I do anything to keep my kids engaged! My friends would say I'm charismatic. I can charm anyone that crosses my path, haha! Finally caring, I think anyone in my family would say I'm caring. I worry about everyone even if I don't know them well and want what's best for them. :) 

Okay not gonna lie this was the hardest thing to do, so I cheated and Googled adjectives that start with "C". :). I found another way to do this linky party thing. I use Picnic to upload and change images around. They even have amazing fonts. They are going to merge with Google+ soon so let's see what they have in store. So give it a try and see how easy it is. You have to have an imaged saved first!

Go here for the party http://ohboy3rdgrade.blogspot.com/

See ya! Back to work time!

The Sunday Before Spring Break

I know it must sound terrible of me to be excited for spring break but we haven't been off (aside from weekends but those don't count since we're still doing work for our kiddos) since MLK but that was only a day! I am looking forward to relaxation and possibly doing lots of exercising because I can feel myself packing on the pounds. I honestly don't know how some people manage a family and work and still have time to work out. Kuddo's to them, seriously! 

Okay back to teaching! This week we were finally introduced to adjectives, I LOVE adjectives.  I think the kiddo's do too!  Well I totally got this off Pinterest (where else) and I had the kids make pictures of themselves and write at least three adjectives about themselves. Well some of them went above and beyond because well their first graders and they are ego-maniacs, ha ha! Below you can see the children's pictures and what they wrote. I think they turned out really stinkin' cute! 

This here is a long view of my classroom. See my beautiful reading table. It was designed and made by my dad. Gosh, I am just a lucky girl to have the men in my life be so crafty with woodwork! My dad also made a children's computer desk and different stools for the kids to sit on.  :)

 Here are the adjectives the kids came up with for me. Aren't they too kind! 

I love the lips on this one. She claims to be stylish, my kind of girl! 

This is a completely unrelated picture. Our school had a fundraiser and the children who sold the most chocolate got to throw a pie in the principal and two other teacher's faces. The kids were SOOOOOOOO excited! I had a good chuckle myself! I can't post pics of the pie covered ones because they would probably kill me!

This week we are moving on to controlled-r with ar words. We are going to be doing the Pirate Mark lesson from the wonderful Babbling Abby! I know the kids are just going to be ga-ga over it!

Well fellow readers and bloggers I need to start getting ready to go out. I'm going to the teacher store (love it) and Central Market for lunch with my mom. Sunday is always Mom and Daughter Day. Maybe if I'm good she'll buy me something! (I kid, I kid, errrr, maybe!) Ok see ya!