Happy Easter!

Friday, March 29, 2013

Happy Easter Everyone!
Here is 5 random things for this week (Thanks Doodle Bugs for Hosting)

1. AWWWW...Look at this bunny! I am sorry, I swear can't help it, my five month old daughter makes the cutest bunny ever and I had to share! Oh the things we do to our children! I would have my older daughter in the picture too but she is in school today and I am off. My kinder daughter goes to school in a different district that is closer to our home and our days off don't always align :(




2. It is CRAZY but the end of the year will be here before we know it! (I am doing my happy dance) Each year I make these books and use them as my end of the year gift for the students in my class. By the time May comes, I have NO MORE MONEY to spend on my classroom so this is an affordable but incredibly meaningful gift!
The theme of my classroom is bees so the title of the book I make for them is "I Loved BEEing with you in First Grade!" We pick one student each day and everyone in the class writes two sentences about why they liked being in first grade with them.
 The kids do an AMAZING job writing these books and it is the most precious keepsake ever! (I still have the one that was made for me in second grade!) I write the last page in the book and students get really excited to read what special secret message I wrote just for them :)

I have created a BEE theme, Circus theme and Owl themed book but if you would like a different theme book for your class just let me know and I would be happy to create one for you! I just posted these on TpT for only $3 and each packet comes with a title page for Kinder, First and Second Grade and two different writing pages. Click on the pics below to link to the book!

 3. In honor of the holiday weekend I am going to put 5 of my favorite items from my store on sale. You will have to hunt to find them! Click on the pic above to link to my store!
eastersale

4. Cathy from First Grade A La Carte is having a birthday giveaway week! She will be giving away my Ice Cream Unit soon so stop by and show her some love!

5. My newest discovery! Are you kiddin' me?
I am off to go spend some time with my new best friend! So sad....the poor little bunny never live to see Easter! HA! 

Have a wonderful weekend friends!

Five for Friday Linky!

Friday, March 22, 2013

 1. It's my BIRTHDAY! Truth be told...I am NOT happy about this getting older business but, I am having a TpT sale to celebrate. This weekend everything in my store will be 20% off! Click on the image above to link to my store. 

2. The clipart above is so super cute right?! My new favorite clipart store is Zip-A-Dee Doo-Dah Designs, I LOVE her clipart! 
I just purchased her Base Ten Clipart package last week and created a Base Ten Around the Room activity. Simply cut out the 8 cards and post them around the classroom. 
Students use the recording sheet to show the number by:
 1. coloring their base the blocks to match 
2. writing the numeral 
3. writing the expanded notation

 My kids had a blast with this activity! This activity is part of my newly-revised
 UNIT 4 FIRST GRADE CORE MATH but I also posted it as a FREEBIE in my TPT store, click here to grab it!


3. Last week I posted a pic of my new chevron maxi skirt that I am completely obsessed with and so many people commented and emailed me asking where I got it. My daughter's kinder teacher introduced my to a new boutique in Gilbert, AZ called Junky Trunk and they have some of the cutest clothes EVER! This is what I bought this week! 

The best thing about this store is the owner,  (that is her modeling in this pic) does phone orders and ships anywhere the worst thing about this store is that she posts pics via facebook ALL DAY and being the shopping addicted person that I am, I go crazy! 


Don't say I didn't warn you when you become addicted to her boutique! 

4. I am still working on revising my First Grade CORE Math packets, I have finished Units 5 - 8 and will have the revisions uploaded to TpT this weekend! 

Exciting News...I have had so many request and I have decided that 
 I am going to begin creating CORE math units for 
SECOND GRADE!
(as soon as I finish revising my first grade units)
 
5. Next week we are going to start working on our Animal Research Reports. I will be sure to take some pics so I can share with you! 

Have a wonderful week everyone! Thanks Doodle Bugs for hosting this linky!

Five For Friday

Friday, March 15, 2013

I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Five for Friday Linky Party. Here are 5 random things from my week.

1. IT'S SPRING BREAK! 
 Ha! Just kidding! That has so NOT been my week but Ahhhhh remember those carefree college days??
 Sorry...snapping back to reality.
I have had a wonderful time this week being home with my little girls! In Arizona its has been in the high 90's all week so we have been outside enjoying the weather before it gets too HOT!

2. I bought new glasses yesterday. I am still trying to decide if I like them. You see, I am very blind and I HATE wearing glasses but since I have no choice, I figure I might as well make it fun and wear some funky frames. My five year old daughter took this picture, excuse my messy closet in the background!  

3. I have been working very hard this week during my daughters nap time and at bedtime to revise my First Grade CORE Math Units! I have totally revised the first quarter units (units 1-4) and I think they are SO much better! 
My First Grade CORE units were the first items I created for TpT over two years ago and I have learned so much more about the CORE curriculum and technology since then. I am now working on revising the second quarter units (5-8) and should have those posted in the next week or so. If you are already using these units in your class just re-download them if you are looking for complete CORE curriculum with daily lesson plans, math journals, practice pages and assessment you should check them out! Just read the feedback from other teachers and you will see how valuable these units could be in your classroom!
 4. I bought a new skirt last week and I am totally obsessed with it!
   5. Let's see if I can make this last thing school related...How about a FREEBIE? I just made these greater than, less than and equal to posters for Kindergarten CORE Math Unit 14 that I posted late last night. Click here to download the posters for FREE! (If you download the freebie, I would LOVE it if you would take the time to leave feedback).
Happy Friday everyone!

HEY AZ Bloggers

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Fifth in the Middle has a linky page for all AZ teacher bloggers to link up! What a great way to get to know and support other Arizona bloggers! Take a minute to link your blog so we can get to know you!

Ice Cream CRAZINESS!

Saturday, March 9, 2013

My maternity leave came to an end and I went back to work this week :( It was really hard to leave my sweet little baby, there were several days this week of driving away from the babysitters house in tears. 

I had heard from my teammates that my class may need a little "help" with their behavior when I return so I pulled out my ice cream unit early. I usually use this unit at the very end of the year to keep those little kiddos behavior on track until the end of the year. But desperate times call for desperate measures! So here is a look at our ICE CREAM week!


To begin our week, the kiddos were given a Ice Cream Behavior Challenge page. In order to participate in our Ice Cream party at the end of the week students had to earn green and blue lights for the week. We used the writing lines on the right to review our classroom behavior expectations and explain the rules of the Ice Cream Behavior Challenge so parents could read all about it. 


When the kiddos came in on Monday there was a envelope taped to the whiteboard. It was addressed to Mrs. Neal's First Grade Class from Cold Cow Creamery.  The kids were given a planning sheet to brainstorm the ideas for their new ice cream flavor then they began writing. I love this time of year because their writing is amazing and you can totally see their personality coming out in the writing. I loved the use of the word "epic" in the picture below.
We did a guided art drawing of an ice cream cone and students painted their ice cream to display next to their new ice cream flavor.
 We LOVE Mo Willems so we also used an Elephant and Piggie book called "Should I Share My Ice Cream?" to complete a persuasive writing piece.
 
We also reviewed and learned about Fact and Opinion, ABC Order, Adjectives, Building Words, Fractions, Measurement, Fact Families, Addition, Subtraction, Graphing and Solving Word Problems. 
WHEW! What a CRAZY fun week! 
The kids had a blast and they were super motivated to behave and earn their ice cream party that I had a wonderful week too!
 

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