One Year

One year ago today, I started something new.  I began an exciting adventure.  I started my very own blog. 

Wowwie, wow, wow!!  Has it really been a whole year?  Time sure does fly.  When I first started, {besides being VERY nervous and excited} I wasn't sure if I would be any good at it, or if I would even continue to do it.  Now, one year later I am happy to say that I have stuck with it.  I have learned so many things this year and I hope to continue to learn more.  I still can't believe that I have been doing this for a whole year!!

Silence for Sandy Hook Elementary

A Package from the North Pole

Today I had a very special delivery to my classroom.  It came wrapped in brown paper that was a bit wrinkled, as if it had came a long way.  The return address was NORTH POLE. . . . my little firsties were so excited!!  They knew who it was from.  I tore off the paper and found a very special guest inside.  Inside I found our very own Elf.  I can't wait to share more about his adventures!!

The Night Before First Grade

Summer days have come to an end. No more sleeping in, relaxing by the pool and crafting all day. Tomorrow is the first day of school!! I am very excited to meet all my little firsties!!

More Summer Giveaways

Lyndsey at A Year of Many Firsts is having a Monstrous giveaway!

Jamie at Bright Concepts 4 Teachers is having a giveaway! There will be 8 lucky winners!

Amanda at Teaching Maddeness is having a giveaway for a HearALL Assessment Recorder from Learning Resources!

 

 

Patti at Primary Pizzazz is having a 100 followers giveaway!! 

 

July Currently

Back to School iPad Giveaway!!

Would you like to win a 16GB iPad for your classroom?  I know the answer . . . . . YES, of course you do!!!  Teacher Created Resources is having a giveaway where one Grand Prize Winner will receive a new 16GB iPad and a Writing Prompts App!!  The five First Place Winners will receive a Writing Prompts App.

Click here or on the picture below to enter.



Happy 4th of July

I hope everyone had a very Happy 4th of July!!

June Currently

I am linking up with Farley, from Oh Boy Fourth Grade to participate in her June Currently linky party!!

{Fabulous} Dollar Tree Finds

I was at the Dollar Tree a few days ago and saw that they had some new items in their teacher section.  I found a few FANTASTIC finds!!  First, I found some VERY cute certificates and awards.  They had "I Know My Shapes!", "I Lost My Tooth", "I Know My Colors", and "I Know My ABC's".   They are too cute!!

Next, I found these super cute Student Work Grabbers.  They had one for almost every classroom theme.  I am doing an ocean theme . . . . so, I didn't get any of these.  Although, it was hard to resist buying one of each!!  {HA, HA!!...I may have a problem}

Then I found Birthday Hats {crowns}!!!  My students love wearing a crown for their birthday!!

I LOVE the awards and certificates!  Which of these fantastic finds was your favorite?  Are you heading out to the store now?

Summer Giveaways

Jennifer from Herding Kats in Kindergarten is having a Texas Giveaway!
 


Jessica from The Littlest Scholars is having a Birthday Giveaway! 
 

Alphabet Songs

Have Fun Teaching is a fantastic resource for teachers!!  A few months ago, I won a giveaway from Randi at Teach It With Class and won one of their CDs.  It is fantastic!!

Their Alphabet Songs would be great for review at the beginning of the year {and during the year, too} for my firsties!!  Check out the video below for a sample:

These videos would be a great way to review the letters and sounds in a fun way!!  I know my students always get excited when I use music in my classroom and this would be even better because it has the visual too!  I can't wait to use these with my firsties next year!!  I know my kids are going to LOVE them!!

May Currently

I am a little late, but I am linking up with Farley, from Oh Boy Fourth Grade to participate in her May Currently linky party!!

If you haven't joined yet, what are you waiting for??  Hop on over to link up or to find some new blogs.

12 on the 12th {May}



A Very Pinteresting Spring Exchange

First Grade Summer Skills Review Pack by Teacher Tam

My firsties have made great progress this year.  Yet, I worry that some of their skills will be lost over the summer.   Do you worry about this too??  Well, I found a great resource to help my firsties get additional practice with the important skills we have learned this year during the summer.  It is a great new product from Tammy at Teacher Tam's Educational Adventures.  She has created a first grade Common Core based summmer skills review pack.  This will be perfect for my firsties!!  Click on this link or the picture to hop on over to her blog and check out this great resource!



Happy Birthday . . . . to Me!!!

Happy Birthday to me,

Happy Birthday to me,

Happy Birthday Dear Jennifer,

Happy Birthday to me!!!

Today was my birthday and my team teachers would not let me {or my firsties} forget!  I will update this post with pictures of the welcome to my room and my handmade cards {from my students} tomorrow!

12 on the 12th {April}

Look in my Lunchbox Linky Party!!

I am linking up with Tara at 4th Grade Frolics for a fun linky party!! 

Here is a picture of my cute lunch bag and cup.   I won this lunch bag in a fantastic giveaway from Amy at The Resource(ful) Room!!  I also have an older 31 lunch bag that I use sometimes.

I take my lunch everyday. . . .but, somedays I do change my mind and decide to eat the school lunch instead.  I usually pack either a ham or turkey sandwich, chips or pretzels and fruit.  Sometimes, I also have cookies or brownies for dessert.  Other days, I bring leftovers for lunch.

My lunch is from 11:30 - 11:55.  This is a normal lunch time, but most of my firsties are very hungry by this time.  We do have a morning snack, so that helps them some.  I have a duty free lunch.  I eat lunch with my team members and after all our chatting I usually have little time to eat my lunch (oh . . . also I sometimes have to take time to go to the restroom or make a quick copy if needed)!! 

Great Giveaways

I have found some great giveaways the past few days!

Erica is giving away an autographed copy of her new book "20 Super Spelling Centers"!! Hurry on over it ends tonight.

Kaleigh is having a giveaway for reaching 100 followers!! 

Tammy is having a giveaway for reaching almost 200 followers! She is so close to 200!  Hop on over and follow her if you don't already.

Erin is having a MyMemories Scrapbooking software giveaway!

Pam is having a 1000 followers giveaway! Hop on over to see what you could win!

Amy is having a fantastic giveaway!!  She is giving away a $50.00 gift card to whatever store the winner chooses.

Happy Birthday TBA!!  Teaching Blog Addict is turning one on April 8th!  To celebrate their 1st birthday, several authors offered to donate their amazing products and gifts!  Don't miss your chance to win 24 teacher-made products and 2 Amazon gift cards!

Lisa from Live Laugh and Love to Learn in Second Grade is having a Super Spring Giveaway!


Teri from A Cupcake for the Teacher is having a fabulous giveaway!!  She is celebrating 1000 followers! 


Also, check out Cole's Little Pups' new Butterfly and Frog Life Cycle unit... it looks great!!! Click {HERE} to go to her TpT store!!!

A K-2 Linky Party



I am joining a fantastic linky party.  Jeannie from Kindergarten Lifestyle is hosting a linky party for all K-2 blogs!!  Hop on over and you may find some new blogs to follow!

I {Heart} My New Smartboard!!!

Last year, we had one classroom in my school that had a Smart Board. Each teacher had a designated time when you could take your class to this Smart classroom. This past summer, the intermediate and kindergarten classrooms were installed with Smart Boards. First grade, Second grade, and Third grade teachers were told that we may get our Smart Boards over winter break, after a few fundraisers and our Winter Carnival. So, our white boards were taken down and moved over this past fall to prepare for our Smart Boards {YAY!!!}. However, after we returned from winter break and there were no Smart Boards……….it looked like it would be next summer before they would be installed. My wall looked very sad and empty!

But, in February the Smart Boards arrived at school!! They were installed last week over Spring Break!! I am still waiting for someone to finish installing and hooking the cables up but…… it looks like we are getting close!! My wall is much happier now!! So are my students and me!!

I am so excited to begin using it in my classroom!! I don’t have much experience and would love suggestions. If you have a Smart Board in your classroom, do you create your own lessons? What types of activities/lessons do you use it for the most? Thanks!!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

I LOVED the Holly Bloggy Christmas gift exchange!  So, I was excited to participate in the Valentine gift exchange, too! 

My partner was Allyson from The Fashionable Teacher and I had so much fun creating her gift.  I made her a clipboard with ribbons, a personalized post-it note holder, a fancy hand sanitizer bottle and a personalized journal.  I also included a box of chocolate covered cherries.  I hope she liked it.

I was so excited when my gift arrived.  It was waiting on my doorstep when I got home from school last Monday.  I opened it that day!! My partner was LaDonna.  I don't know if she has a blog or not.  Please let me know if you do and I will add your link.  She gave me a wonderful gift.  I got an eyelid mask with cucumber/orange eye pads, an inspirational book, Ghirardelli Milk & Caramel chocolate squares, an apple candle holder, lip gloss and pink sparkly nail polish.  I love chocolate and caramel!!  I can't wait to paint my nails and use my relaxing eye mask.  I can see a spa day coming!!  Thanks LaDonna, I loved my gift!

I want to thank Caitlin from Ms. Preppy and Sarah from Kindergarten Korner for organizing all the teacher exchanges!  I can't wait to see what they have next!!  Be sure to check out their new blog - where they will be hosting all the teacher blogger exchanges!

I hope everyone had a Happy Valentine's Day!!

Brag Tags

Look what I got in the mail today!!

  

In December, Rachelle and Natalie from What the Teacher Wants hosted a fabulous giveaway for a personalized class set of Brag Tags in the design of your choice (plus 24” neck chains) from imagestuff.com!!  There were five winners and I WAS ONE OF THE LUCKY WINNERS!!!  I was so excited.  I LOVE winning giveaways!! {Who doesn’t??}

I first saw Brag Tags on Cara’s blog and I fell in love with them.  I couldn’t wait to try them in my room.  The hardest part was choosing a design.  There are so many fantastic designs.  Was I going to choose a design for good behavior, good reading, overall academic achievement, a special day, star student… so many fabulous designs to choose from!!   I finally decided upon a super cute design for star students.

I am planning on using them to reward good behavior.  I saw a post by Sandra over at Sweet Times in First where she is doing this in her classroom.  I am using a clip chart in my room this year and I love it!!  I am going to use Sandra’s idea to add beads to their necklace for good behavior.  I plan on adding a bead to their necklace when they are on pink {Outstanding}. When they get ten beads, they will trade them in for a special bead and a trip to the treasure box!!  I love this as a way to motivate and keep track of good behavior!!

Check out these super giveaways!!

Heather from Heather's Heart is having a great giveaway! It ends Feb. 10 so be sure to check it out!

 
Kelley from Buggy for Second Grade is celebrating having 200 followers! This giveaway ends Sunday!

Versatile Blogger Award

Yeah!! I love blogging awards!! This is my second award!!  I am very flattered and excited to have been given this award!!   I have seen so many fantastic blogs and having your support feels wonderful.   Thank you!  It is still hard for me to believe that I have a blog and that people are reading it!  I am enjoying this fantastic community of teachers!!  You are all so supportive!!

Here are the rules...
1. Thank the person who nominated you with a link back to them. A HUGE thank you to:

Rebecca

You are a fantastic blogger and I am so grateful to have you as a blogging friend!  You are very supportive of new bloggers and I want to thank you for all you have done to support me as a new blogger.

2. Tell seven things about you

It has been a long day and I still have planning to do for school….so I am going to have to add this part tomorrow.

3. Pass this award on to 15 new blogs

I am off to search for 15 who have not already received this award……It is going to be hard!

Five Senses Unit by Little Miss Hypothesis

Are you going to be doing a science unit on the 5 senses?  Want to add some fun science activities to your curriculum?  Check out Little Miss Hypothesis’ 5 senses unit.  It has lots of great activities to use in your classroom to teach about the 5 senses.  It also includes posters for the scientific process.    Hop on over to her blog to find out more!!  Check out this post to see some super cute posters you can make/create while teaching this unit!!  I can’t wait to use this unit with my firsties!!

The Clutter-Free Classroom Project Week 1

This year I am making it my goal to be more organized. I am joining The Clutter-Free Classroom for the Clutter-Free Classroom Project. I am somewhat reluctant to share my pictures with you, so please be kind about my mess of a mess! I would love to have someone – anyone to blame as the one who has created this mess. But, I must confess that I am the one responsible. Unless, you would believe the kids did it! HA!

Before I show you the pictures, let me explain how I got into this mess of a mess. The first year I started teaching, the teacher who had previously been in my classroom had switched grade levels. There were several things in the room that still had her name and “personal” written on them. There weren’t a whole lot of resources in my classroom (she had taught for six years in first). The resources that were left were much older. I was a new teacher and I was afraid to throw anything away. I wasn’t sure what I would use and what I could toss. I kept everything and decided that I would go through it next summer.

Then the next summer….well, I never got around to it. I was busy planning and mapping our new reading curriculum and making a reading canopy for my reading corner. I know I shouldn’t have put it off, but I waited until the next summer (which was this last summer).

Each year we have to pack up EVERYTHING in our classrooms. Well, except for the materials stored in the built in storage and filing cabinets. So, I have to pack up my black storage cabinet, centers, my teacher’s desk, indoor recess activities, math manipulatives, classroom library, science materials, etc.

Last summer, my room was on the list to be painted. So, this meant I also had to remove everything from the walls, too! As I was getting my room ready last summer, I didn’t do the best job unpacking. Then this fall, we had to move things in order to prepare for our Smart Boards {YAY!!!} that we will be getting. They were supposed to be installed over break, but now it looks like it will be next summer.

Check back tomorrow - I will udpate this post with pictures!!

A little bit of snow . . . .

HIP, HIP, HOORAY!! Today I had a snow day!!  It wasn't much snow, but where I live it only takes a little bit of snow to get a snow day.  We only had about 1 inch of snow, but it is a rural area with lots of roads that do not get treated or cleared off.  So, a small dusting snowfall can cause us to cancel.  {Last year, we actually had too many days off.  At least, that's what I thought in May}

I got "the call" last night.  I love knowing the night before . . . . . that way I can sleep in.  I had good intentions of getting lots of work done today, but instead I watched some movies, checked out some fantastic blogs, and made a to-do list {that I will work on this weekend}.  It felt so good to be back in my winter break routine. Oh, how I missed it!! :)

Here are a few giveaways I found today . . . .

Julie from Second Grade Style is having a giveaway! She is giving away 3 different holiday books about Gilbert by Diane DeGroat! Hurry and enter the giveaway ends Friday, Jan. 13th!

Jody from Camp Kindergarten is having a giveaway for 200+ followers!  She is giving away 2 items from her Teachers Pay Teachers store.  There will be 2 winners!

Beth and Lisa from Made In the Shade in 2nd Grade are having a fabulous giveaway! You could win a giftcard to either Target or Amazon!

Elizabeth from Fun in Room 4B is having a great giveaway! The winner will get to pick which item the want to win! The giveaway ends Friday, Jan. 13th!

Happy New Year....in my classroom

I wanted to share some New Year's activities that we did in my classroom last week.

First, we read the book Squirrel's New Year's Resolutions by Pat Miller.  This book has a good expaination for resolutions especially for younger students.  I know it can be hard for first graders to understand making a resolution, but this book does a fantastic job of relating it to goals to better ourselves or help others.

 

After reading Squirrel's New Year's Resolutions, we discussed different goals that they could set for themselves.  Next, each student decided upon a goal for this year.  Each student wrote their goal on lined paper.   Over winter break, I found Cara's New Year's door post.  So cute!!  I knew I HAD to do this with my firsties.  I even bought the party horns before New Year's {just in case I couldn't find them afterwards}. 

Then the students drew their face and cut out hair to create a self portrait.  I glued on their party hats {with their New Year's goal}.  I added party horns and pom-poms!!  Here are some pictures of my students' work.

During Math, we played New Year's Roll and Cover from Mrs. Littrels Learning Detectives.  {Actually, we have played it on two different days.... they loved it and keep asking to play more games like this}

I also used Cara's Happy New Year! {Math & Literacy Freebies}. 



I had so much fun celebrating New Year's in my classroom this year.  My students loved each of these activities and they were LEARNING, too.  Shhhhh, don't tell them!!  They were having too much fun to notice that they were actually doing work!  HA, HA :)

A No Internet Monday!!

Oh.my!!  That is all I have to say about yesterday.  I was sooo tired after school, even though it was only Monday.   I was wondering how I was going to make to the end of the week.  I mean, I have to work FIVE days this week.  Last week, I only worked three days and I was exhausted on Saturday.  My only hope was that the kids were just as tired as me!

I was looking forward to sitting down to my computer after school and doing some blog hopping.  When I got home, I went straight to the computer.  {Doesn't everyone}  I am a little addicted!!  HA, HA:)  I clicked on the internet and waited to check my google reader.  Only, no google reader!!  I got an error message .  So after multiple cries tries, and a  call to my internet service provider I found out that I was going to be without internet for 2 1 whole day evening!!   However, it felt much, much, much longer.  I didn't know what to do.   I was having internet withdraw.  Ok, I must confess I wasn't totally without internet.  I used my mom's ipad and made a quick trip to McDonald's to use their free WiFi.  I bought a sweet tea for the use of the internet. :)

I had planned to post last night about my New Year's Bulletin Board, but no internet = no post!  It takes me too long on the ipad to type and my pictures were on my computer. :(  I thought about posting it tonight, but I had to catch up all my blog reading from yesterday.  Also, I am having trouble getting my pictures into my post tonight.

So, tomorrow I hope to post my pictures! 

My First Award

I want to say thank you to Christine at Hopping into First Grade for giving me the Liebster Award!  I have just started my blog and I am already being recongized!  It really made my day week to know that someone thinks my blog is already awardworthy.  I am so thankful to everyone that is following me as well.  I am still learning about blogging and I know that I will continue to learn more everyday.  Now on to the award!!

The goal of the award is to spotlight up-and-coming blogs with less than 200 followers. The rules are:

1. Copy and paste the award on your blog.
2. Thank the giver and link back to them.
3. Reveal your top 5 picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
4. Hope that your followers will spread the love to other bloggers!

I am going to pass the award on to:

Check out these blogs, as well as, Christine's blog!  You are sure to get some great ideas for your classroom.  Thanks again, Christine!!