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

Mouse O'Clock

My firsties and I spent last week learning about and perfecting our knowledge of telling time. In first grade, they only have to be able to tell time to the half hour. This blew my mind after teaching second grade where I taught five minute intervals. (I'm not going to lie - after my firsties mastered the half hour, we moved onto discussing the five minute intervals as well. Never hurts to give them extra knowledge!)

I love doing crafts, especially towards the end of the week when things get a bit hectic and I need a break from the mundane. Last week, we took all of our clock knowledge and used it to create our own sentences about a mouse running up the clock. I started the week by reading the nursery rhyme of "Hickory Dickory Dock," so the kids really enjoyed this ending activity.  Here are a few of their cute mice.

This will eventually be part of the time unit I'm working on, but for now, I'm sharing it as a FREEBIE. To get the clock sheet, just click on the last picture (the one featuring the work hanging in the hallway). 

I explained to the students how they were going to do this craft and then I showed them my mouse. I cut an example body out of paper, but I didn't give them detailed instructions or a template to trace. This is how they all turned out unique! I love the fact that each mouse is it's own unique creation.

Happy Wednesday! I hope you're having a good week. :)

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!

Happy Holidays!

I fly out of Charleston in about 10 hours to see my guy!  I wanted to wish everyone a very happy holidays.  Due to some personal circumstances in the past couple of days, I did not get any posts prescheduled. I will return to blogging in early January!!

Until then, have a very happy holidays!

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!!



 

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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. :)