Contractions, Money and Shadows!

Enjoy this blast from the past!

                                          

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February 1, 2013
There has been some crazy weather in the south! Last Friday students (and teachers) were praying for an ice day. On Wednesday we had to watch out for tornado warnings.  It was super warm for January. Then today it was freezing and super windy! This seems like it should be March weather!

Here's a quick weekly recap. I'm sleepy despite having Starbucks coffee at 7:30pm this evening!

1. Contraction Gardens

I originally planned to do this last week, but ran out of time. I decided to make heart shaped flowers so we would have something to decorate the hallways for Valentine's day. Some of the students in my class now want to pose with their pictures. I'd much rather post the student created project than my own! Sometimes mine gets slapped together right before we are going to do the activity, i.e. it doesn't look as pretty as I want it.

2. Piggy Banks

We are in the middle of our money unit. Every year I give the students an amount and have them use paper coins to display a way to make that amount. (Easy way to differentiate as well!) This year the students glued them to a piggy bank.

3. Shadow Puppets & Box

In science, we studied light and shadows in preparation for Groundhog's Day. The students had to find a partner in the room and come up with a mini play to perform for the class. At first they wanted to draw detail on their puppets, but I had to explain to a few of the students that we would only be able to see the outline.

a princess

a Knight

They had so much fun with this! It was really easy to make the shadow box.  The bottom of a copy paper box was cut out and then two sheets of white tissue paper were added.

4. A visit from the Tooth Fairy!

We are kicking off our teeth unit next week. A local dentist, along with the Tooth Fairy and Tiger (not really sure why Tiger was there!) came to visit. The dentist was great and really engaged the students.

Neat Numbers

Does anyone else get sad when they look at the calendar in July? I have 5 or 6 unfinished items that I want to make for the beginning of the school year.  I'm back at work on July 31st, but the students don't arrive until August 11th.

Since back-to-school is right around the corner, I wanted to think about my lessons plans.  I think one of the toughest things is having engaging activities for the students to complete while you are assessing other students.  Something that they can do independently, but still slightly challenging and maybe a little time consuming.

The first unit in math covers number sense, comparing numbers, and number words.  Most of my students come in knowing their number words to twenty, but I always have a few that do need extra practice in this area. I have a hard time fitting in handwriting lessons the first few weeks. Students (and parents) think it's silly to practice writing numbers. 

But I have to disagree!  In October, when I can't read your child's answer to an addition problem it is a problem.

I created this interactive booklet to help students practice writing numbers, number words and using ten frames.

For 0 - 10, students color, trace and write the number and number word.

For 11 - 20, students fill in ten frames to represent the number as well as tracing and writing the number and number word.

The books are easy to put together.  There are two booklets per page.

Cut down the middle and staple!  

I made a sample one to show my students.

Can't wait to use these in my classroom this year!  Be sure to check out Neat Numbers in my TPT store!

Target Sales & Wishlist Wednesday

Have you been playing along on the BlogHoppin' 2014 Scavenger Hunt?  I decided to join in (I'm up to 53 items!) and you can follow me along HERE.

I'll warn you though, I'm still learning how to use Instagram.  One of my pictures actually says "Double  tap to edit."

My days have been filled with the gym, the pool, and visiting Target.  I loaded up on some  green composition books.  I'm planning on having 3 sets of interactive notebooks - math, phonics and reading.  My problem is two of the composition books I have will be black (my school is ordering them for me.) I thought about putting colored tape on the spine of one of the black composition books, so it's easily identifiable for the students.  

Look what's on sale at Target!

Picture from Totally Target

Even better there's a coupon for it! $5 off a $10 purchase of Scotch Expressions Tape. If you're not following Totally Target, you must!  It's how I always walk away with the best deals from Target.  Be sure to check out the weekly deals at the top of the page.

All these TPT sales gets me excited for back to school.  I love finding new products!

One of my most popular items in my store is my Landforms Posters.  It has 18 posters of various landforms like volcanoes, hills, plains, glaciers, etc.  I included both colored and black and white versions.  I recently updated it, so if you've already purchased it make sure to download it again.

It's on sale from today (7/16) to Friday (7/18).

You can also enter to win it!  The giveaway ends tonight at midnight.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Throwback Thursday: Vowels

It's Throwback Thursday time!  I had this post all ready to go, but then the day got away from me.  So enjoy some extra reading on the 4th of July.  :)

One of my favorite books to read at the beginning of the year is The War Between the Vowels and Consonants.  It really helps student identify the vowels and consonants that they seem to have forgotten about over the summer.

Here's my original post!  If you stick to the end, I have a freebie that goes along with the book. ;)

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April, 8, 2013

My first day of spring break had a few bumps in the road.  I went to take my dog to get her shots and didn't realize I needed an appointment. Then I headed up to the Mall of Georgia and got there at about 9am...too bad the mall doesn't open until 10am.

At least Target was open! I was also supposed to meet a friend in the afternoon, but she ended up cancelling on me. Instead I got a mani and a pedi, took a nap, started putting my winter clothes away, walked the dog and made burrito bowls for dinner. (You have to try this recipe!) 

Luckily yesterday was a little more relaxing. I can't even remember what I did.  I took a walk with my husband....and I think that's about all.

Today I'm linking up with Collaboration Cuties' Mentor Text Linky.

I discovered The War Between the Consonants and Vowels my first year teaching. I distinctly remember asking my students the first week of school to name all the vowels.

There was a blank stare, people.

And then one student said "What's a vowel?"

Now I know you kindergarten teachers taught them about vowels and consonants. It's just that summer took it out of their brains.

Therefore every year, I read this book the first week of school.  Perhaps even the first day of school.

You see, in this book, the vowels and consonants don't get along.  They strongly dislike each other (you know I can't use the h word).

A war breaks outs.

Don't worry it's not violent. The capital T's turn into airplanes.

All of the sudden a squiggle comes to town. 

Eventually the vowels and consonants work together. They form words and scare that darn squiggle out of town.

Because squiggles are Scary (with a capital S).

Since I have a lot of time on my hands, I decided to link up with Flying into First Grade's Let's Get Acquainted Linky Party. 

This week's question is "What 3 things would you take with you if you were stranded on an island?"

1. Sunscreen.  I'm a redhead and I burn fairly easily. Except if I use that spray on sunscreen.  I started using that stuff about 2 summers ago and I haven't gotten burned since. A-mazing!

Side note - I bought a Groupon for a spray tan.  Any advice? I've never done one before and my legs are 12 shades of pasty. 

2. Bathing suit.  Would it stink to get stuck on an island with no bathing suit??

3. Kindle.  Because you know my stranded island would have an outlet and access to Amazon. Honestly I love to read so much! On the note of stranded islands, you should read On the Island by Tracey Garvis-Graves

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To keep the idea of vowels and consonants fresh in their minds, one of their morning work assignments is to color the vowels on a printable.  The one I had been using was from 1990.  Let's just say I needed to update it.

Click the picture to download the printable!

Flash Freebie! Go USA!

In honor of the USA v. Belgium game, my newest two items (Phonics Charts: Pink Polka Dot Edition and Character Education Posters) in my TPT store are FREE until the end of the game.  If the US wins, I'll leave them up for free until tomorrow morning.

Click each picture to go to my store for your FREE download!  Please leave feedback if you download it. Thanks!  :)

July Currently

It's been sooo long since I've linked up with Farley's Currently - I just had to do it so this month!

Loving - I love walking my dog on the greenway near my house.  It's mostly shaded and so pretty!  I know I'm going to miss this when school starts up again.

Thinking - One of my favorite parts of summer is all of the lunch dates.  Today I'm going to my favorite BBQ restaurant with my oldest friend (we've known each other since 2nd grade - going on 26 years!!)  You've got to keep these friends around because they could potentially blackmail you with pictures and stories from the most embarrassing years of your life aka middle school.  

Wanting - I'm pretty sure I have to report back to school on July 31st.  It was in that paperwork somewhere....hence, I really want this month to go by slowly!

Needing - I'm forever behind in updating my computer.  It's only $20, but that money would be much better spent at Target.  I really want to update my Microsoft stuff too (mine is from 2008), but the price just gets me every time.

4th Plans - I'm excited to watch the Brazil v. Colombia game on the 4th.  I'm not a sports fan at all, but watching the World Cup has been exciting.  All the dramatic falling down to try to get a foul.  It's like these players never left first grade.