So excited!

Friday was a staff development day for us. One of the sessions that I went to was a Make-It Take-It session hosted by our ELA coordinator. She brought several resources to share with us and gave us the time and material to make them.

One of my favorites from the session was this little sentence buddy:

 

 

I can't wait to use him with my firsties! We're getting ready to review sentence structure soon and this little guy will be a big hit. 

 

After the session, I came home to find the original resource in order to share it with you and my teammates at work. With a little searching, I found it!  You can find the template for this guy here: Sentence Buddy.    And he's free!

Whoa Weather!

So, I originally had planned to blog about the 100th day of school and some of the fun that we had. Overall, the 100th day made this a good Monday.  However, there's much more interesting news for this week. The excitement of the 100th day of school is kind of being overshadowed by the weather. Yes, the weather.

I live in a state that rarely gets snow. We often don't even see the really cold temperatures. (Though, we've had our fair share this year.) That's why it's such a surprise that we have snow in our future. The next two days hold possible wintry mix and snow. What's more surprising is that it was 68 degrees today and will be in the low 30s for Tuesday and Wednesday.

Everyone is preparing and the schools are operating on half-day dismissal tomorrow. This may sound silly to some of you northerners, but us southerners are just not equipped to handle the snow and cold. (Give us the blistering heat though and we know what to do with it!) I have had the opportunity of seeing snow already this winter when I traveled to Arkansas to spend time with my boyfriend's family for the holidays. It was a much different experience.

It also made me realize some of the differences between a place that normally experiences snow and a place that sees it every ten years or so. Arkansas had things in place to clear the roads and people (for the most part) knew how to drive in the icy conditions. Switch over to South Carolina and we don't stockpile road-clearing goodies. Nor do we know how to drive on icy roads. We rarely have to. Hence, the massive closings and early dismissals taking place throughout the state.

It's sure to be an interesting week with lots of opportunity to create TPT products! Among these products will be the February Work Journal. Check out the January Work Journal to get a glimpse of what's to come. February will have a similar set up!

Arkansas

Half Way Point

I know it's been a while since I've posted. I spent the two weeks of holiday break visiting my boyfriend and his family. (I hadn't seen him in a couple of months, so this was an awesome way to spend break.) And I've spent the week since then getting back on track with school. (A couple plane delays threw off my plans of how to accomplish everything!)

On a happy note, we hit the half-way point last Friday. 90 days of school have passed and there's another 90 days left to get these firsties strong for second grade. With the 90 day mark passing, that means we have the 100th day of school coming up! What do you have planned for it? I would love to hear others' ideas for the special occasion!

On another note, my kiddos have really been enjoying my January work journal for morning work. I'm looking forward to creating one for each month from here on out. It has simplified planning for me because I know longer have to go searching for morning work each week. Instead, I run the book at the beginning of the month, the kids put it in their table baskets, and they get it out and work on it in the mornings. All I have to do is check it!  It has really been a great system. I'm greatly loving it.

If you'd like to get your own copy, click on one of the pictures above to find it in my store! For $2, you can have your entire month of morning work ready!  I will be adding up February in the next week or two. 

(P.S. I offered January's work journal for free to my Facebook followers. If you want to grab a February freebie, head over to Facebook and follow me in order to get the news about freebies!)

Now, I really want to hear about your ideas for the 100th Day of School! Comment with your favorite activities, printables, or blog posts about the topic!

Freebie Alert!

Are you a follower on Facebook? If so, then you already know about the awesome offer I posted!

If not, click on the image below to find out how you can get my latest TPT product for FREE!!

 

Consider this an early Christmas gift from me to you!

What has the little elf been up to?

Well, I introduced my Elf on the Shelf to the class on Monday. They were beyond excited to receive a box and letter from Santa...

 

Before I opened the box, I had them guess what might be inside. I got everything from "a gift from your boyfriend" (I'm guessing this one stems from the flowers he sent a couple weeks ago) to "a toy." No one actually guessed an elf. They had lots of fun guessing and it was a good way to work on our predicting skills. I even gave them a few clues as they guessed.



 

 

After we opened our elf, we read the book that goes with him and then voted on a name. There were several suggestions, including "Happy Face" and "Furby." Marco ultimately won though and I think it suits our little elf quite well.

 

After selecting a name, I introduced their Elf on the Shelf journal that will be their morning work for December. We filled in the first page, which has them share his name and how he arrived. Every morning, they will come in and complete a math page of the day and write about what the elf is doing. This all comes in the packet that I have listed on TPT. If you'd like just the journal pages, I have them listed as a freebie here.

 

Each day, they have a math page to complete and a picture to color:

 

Along with a journal page to fill out about what the elf is doing:

This journal set has my kids so excited about writing in the mornings. Now, just to get them to take their time on their drawings!

 

 

 

On his second day in our classroom, Marco found some friends. He decked them out in Christmas clothing and they played Candy Land together.

 

On the third day, he decided to make a mess on my table trying to get a flower and to hang out on the phone. This day didn't go so well for my firsties and I actually had to write a note to Santa about all of their talking.

 

Marco returned on the fourth day with a note from Santa telling them they should listen to their teacher and be quiet. He sat in the front of the room and watched them all day (I forgot to snap a picture). They were much better and even surprised me by all being at the top of our behavior chart by the end of the day!

 

On Friday, he got creative with the board markers. He even found a green one to use! (I normally use blue.)

 

What has your little elf been up to?

 

Link up with Seusstastic!

 

 

 

A little fun for the holidays! Enter to win my Elf on the Shelf pack from TPT!!



 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

December Currently

It's December!!! Wow - where did November go???

Since it's a new month, I'm linking up with Farley for December Currently!

 

Listening - I've been working on Christmas themed materials today (such as my Elf on a Shelf pack), so I've had the Christmas music going to keep me in the spirit!

 

Loving - I'm loving that I get to see my boyfriend for Christmas. We've been doing long distance dating since mid-May and I haven't seen him since October. I'm excited that I get to spend the holidays with him and his family this year!

 

Thinking - December is going to be BUSY. I filled in my wall calendar yesterday of all the things I've already committed too and it's a lot. Then, today, I realized I forgot to put a couple of things on the calendar.

 

Wanting - I'm wanting to finish decorating but there's still a couple more things I need to get ready for my kiddos tomorrow.

 

Needing - I could really use another day of vacation to work on things!

 

Favorite Tradition - I have always loved hosting a good holiday party. This year is no exception - I've invited friends over for Christmas Fun on December 7th!!  

 

Head on over to my Facebook page for a FREEBIE. 

(You can find the link at the top of my blog.)

 

Don't forget that the big TPT sale is Monday & Tuesday! My store will be participating. :)

Another Temporary Freebie!

I've just uploaded another temporary freebie. This one is a word study pack. It is appropriate for first or second grade. We are currently starting double e this week in word study and I thought I'd make some practice pages and activities for my words center. I hope to go back and make similar sets for all of the patterns that we have already covered, including the short vowels, silent e, and l blends. Get it while it's still a freebie! (About a week)

Temporary Freebie Alert!

Remember when I told you that I would be working hard on new content for TPT? Well, I got one finished up tonight! I am very pleased with how it turned out!

This packet includes passages and diagrams about community helpers. It is aligned to RI.1.1 & RI.1.7. It gives students practice in asking and answering questions about text. It also gives them diagrams for each community helper to write facts about. A bonus center game is included at the end! There are a total of fourteen different jobs included. I even included soldier in honor of Veteran's Day! 

Head on over to my TPT store to grab this while it's still free (until November 16th).  If you do download it, I would greatly appreciate it if you left feedback.

Temporary Freebies Coming Your Way!

I have some free time finally this weekend. October was a whirlwind of trips, baby showers, and wedding showers. There was something every weekend and I'm happy to simply have survived it all without getting vastly sick.

Unfortunately, the busy time meant quite a few resources that I created for my classroom did not get posted on Teachers Pay Teachers. I will be polishing these this weekend and posting them on TPT for your enjoyment. They will be free for the first week that I publish them and then I will set a price. Keep an eye out for these units coming soon!

Is anyone else having a hard time getting used to the time change?

Bones for Base Ten

We've had a busy past couple of weeks in first grade. Last week, we visited the Corn Maze for a field trip. It just so happened to be on my birthday (October 24th) and the kids were convinced that's why we were going. It was a lot of fun and they enjoyed seeing animals, getting lost in the maze, and decorating their own pumpkins.

This week, we've been busy doing a variety of activities. In math, we're pulling all of our recent place value lessons together. On Monday, I pulled out a new activity for the kids that they simply loved! I heard a lot of "This was fun." when we finished the activity. It was such an easy lesson to plan that I was surprised by how much they loved it!

The first thing I did was create bones of various sizes on the computer. (I'll be uploading these to TPT soon for those who don't want to create their own.) Then, I printed them on cardstock and had them laminated. The largest of the bone had to be taped together after lamination because it spanned two pages.

Next, I set each bone (several of each) on a table. There were five different bones. I gave them each a number. Then, the students used their recording sheet and went to a table. They used base ten blocks to "measure" the bone. They wrote down how many tens and ones it took to go from tip to tip. Then, they had to write the expanded form of the number and draw a picture of the blocks.

 

This lesson could easily be adapted to other objects as well. We haven't covered measuring yet, but I felt this was a good way to pull it into our lesson just a tiny bit.

SLANT Box Reveal & A Sale!

My buddy for the September SLANT box exchange was Lindsay at Flipping Over Fourth Grade. Although we didn't get as much time to talk as we both would've liked, I still enjoyed getting to know her! September was a very busy month.

Here's what she sent me:

I loved every bit of it! You can be sure the colorful pens will be put to good use in my classroom. I also love the sticker sets - one is full of quotes (I love quotes) and the other is a nautical themed set that's way too adorable! I also adore the necklace - in fact, I wore it to school the very next day. (I even switched away from my pre-planned outfit to find something it would go with!) I'm not sure how she managed it but this box is absolutely perfect!!

Also, for those of you that don't follow me on Facebook (they found out yesterday), I'm hosting a 10% off sale in my TPT store through Monday!!

Stickers - Awesome Motivators

I have once again discovered the joy of using stickers to increase motivation. Every year I forget the power of them and then rediscover them.

My kiddos this year have been enjoying them and we've been collecting them on the front of their writing journals. It excites them that they have a place to store them where they won't get lost.

Discovering the power of stickers meant I also discovered I needed new ones. I got lucky and found two adorable sets at A.C. Moore that are appropriate for October. My kids are going to love them! (I may even have to keep a few myself.)

 

(For some reason, Blogger is turning this picture even though it's correct on my camera and computer. I wanted you to see the adorable owls and mustaches that were in the sticker pack!)

 

My Falling into Fall unit in action. My kids are loving the sorting game!

What Exciting Lives We Lead

This week I realized that this Saturday (as in today) would be my only free weekend day with no plans for the next month. When I told this to someone, they asked what I planned to do with it. My response: make teaching things. (In my defense, I will be out for three days in October and I'm trying to get prepared.)

I thought I was weird - taking my one free day and spending it on work. Then, I looked at my Facebook page and saw statuses such as "Loading apps onto the kindle for my students." and "Cutting out lamination." I quickly realized that I wasn't the only teacher spending a Saturday night doing work.

I wonder - why are we so willing to bring our work home with us and even do it on the best day of the weekend?  I have no remorse about how I've spent my day. I've worked on a monster-themed base ten packet, watched a couple of movies, and even taken a bubble bath. Bottom line is, I still did work on my day off. I'm curious - how guilty are you of doing work on your days off?

 

And now onto a linky...

 

 

Last week was very busy. I started organizing things in my classroom and working on plans for the upcoming weeks. I will be taking a Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday off for some personal stuff. I thought I was getting ahead by thinking about sub plans. Then it dawned on me that I needed plans for the week after as well because my plane will be getting back in town late on Sunday. So, my feeling good about things quickly turned to panic. A little organization and a very happy Friday with my kids has helped my panic subside.  I'll share some photos of my organization adventures later this week. I am quite happy with how things are turning out!

 

Finishing up my fall packet certainly helped my panic as well. This packet has printable center games and activities related to fall. All items are common core aligned with the standard on the instruction cards!

 

 

Next week holds more sub prep and a baby shower for my sister. I'm sure to be a busy little bee in the evenings as I prep for both. I also hope to have my monster packet finished and uploaded by Friday!

  

Speaking of being out...would anyone be willing to write a guest post or two for those days that I am out?  If so, please email me at momentstoteach@gmail.com!

Falling for Fall & Facebook Winners!

Introducing my new fall unit...

Click on the pictures to view the activities!

These would go great with the books I mentioned in my Fall Linky Party.

And announcing the winner of my Facebook giveaway....

Debbie Saffren Jacobson

 

You've won a free item of choice from my TPT store!

 

And as promised...freebies for Facebook followers coming soon!
 

 

Facebook & A Giveaway!

I am going to be improving my Facebook page in the upcoming weeks and offering more freebies and games over there. I currently only have 6 followers.  I would love to see that number increase.

So, I'm hosting a giveaway to promote my Facebook page!

The winner will receive their choice of one item from my Teachers Pay Teachers store.  I will also be giving away choice of items on my Facebook page after the raffle has ended. You'll need to be a follower to be entered into that random drawing!

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Thanks for being a follower!!!

Room Reveal!

 



I have so many things I want to blog about, but I feel a room reveal is in order first! My room and I survived the first week of school so I'm excited to share some pictures!

This is the before shot:

 

Our writing center. I will blog more about this and how I utilize it when we've started our center rotation. I decided to put it under the back bulletin board so that I can display student writing in the center, which is what will be on this board. Above it is my treasure map that shows the writing process.

This is the computer area - which will also be used for centers. I used dots on this bulletin board, which will soon show snapshots of our "First Grade Crew."  You can see my homemade bulletin board in the background. It's above my desk and I love the way it looks.

 

These little ducks added a little fun to our computers!

 

Our behavior chart found a new spot in the room. I figured it needed to be lower for my lovely firsties so I found a spot where it would hang lower. So far, it's working well!

Sign In table for Meet the Teacher night. I used my teacher table for this.

One of the crafty ships around the room. This project involved Dollar Tree bins, dowel rods, hot glue, and scrapbook paper. They turned out cute. :)  The inspiration for these came from the Schoolgirl Style website.

 

These were set up to show where their seats would be. I also included pens on the table for Meet the Teacher night because I always have them fill out an information form at Meet the Teacher. 

The updated book bins are in the cubbies! Don't they look great?

Our fish! He still needs a name. :)

Although I do have suggestions from Meet the Teacher night.

 

Some very interesting names...

 

 Cupcakes to go were a huge hit at Meet the Teacher night!

 

 A view of the whole room. :)

My number line finally put together and on the wall. You can find this product in my TPT store.

A view of our whole group meeting area.

Our birthday cupcakes. Coming soon to my TPT store!

I took an old bulletin board that was sitting in the classroom and transformed it into this:

Meet Mischief, our classroom helper:

And Anchor, our travelling buddy:

And Punctuation the Parrot - our writing helper:

The clips are stored in a ship and each morning, the students come in and put them on the chart themselves. It is taking a little while to get into this routine.

Their nametags were stored ready to find the tables. (I let them pick seats the first two days. Then, I started picking their seats - based off of what I noticed the first two days!)

Book bins were waiting for them to look at on the first day. They found morning work on their tables the second day.

A revamped mailbox. This was originally a small Valentine mailbox featuring Elmo. Now, it fits in much better!

 On the second day of school, one of my lovelies from last year found me, gave me a huge hug, and then handed me this HUGE shell. I almost cried.

She was delighted when she visited on the third day and I had the shell sitting on my desk:



 Well, that's the pictures I have to share for now! I'll have to get shots of the hallways display this week and share those. :)  I'm loving my room. It's gotten so many compliments, including one teacher that said it looks like a mini apartment in there!