Spring Break means that it is time to begin working on my TO DO List! I began today by making a few revision to my U.S. Symbols packet. 

I was asked by a few people to add a couple more stops into the U.S. Symbols Passport so now this packet includes: Mount Rushmore, White House, Liberty Bell, Bald Eagle, Statue of Liberty, American Flag and the Washington Monument. 

Here is a little preview of what is included:

To help learn facts all about the U.S. Symbols we used some really CHEAP but AMAZING books that I purchased from Scholastic. These books are by Lloyd G. Douglas and they are easy readers packed with information. 

    

This packet also includes a fun little torn art flag craftivity that I use to display above our completed passports. (Note: This picture was taken before I updated the cover of the unit.) 

Click here to check out this newly revised U.S. Symbols Unit! 

100th Day of School

Today was our 100th day of School and WHEW  - I have survived! I truly feel like a superhero when I make it to the 100th day of school. With the daily craziness that comes with being a primary teacher it is very easy to become overwhelmed, the enormous pressure to make HUGE changes in the lives of our students with very limited resources and support is daunting. So my teammates and I like to pause on the 100th day and have a little fun because that is what first grade should be about!

So...here is what we did today!

 My first grade team of teachers dressed up like 100 year old ladies today! WOW! We are stunning, right?! HA!  The kids were so excited when they saw us shuffling out to pick them up together this morning, they were LOVING it!

 I work with an amazing first grade team of teachers and and we frequently have the students rotate through classrooms for holidays or special events. The teacher stays in their own room and our students visits the other teachers, they are in each class for about 20 minutes. Here is a little run-down of what we are planning for each classroom:

Classroom 1: 100th Day Mystery Picture from First Grade A La Carte (This is FREE!) Great activity to practice even and odd. 

Classroom 2: 100th Day Dice Toss from Made for First Grade only $1!

Classroom 3: 100th Day Snack - I created this FREEBIE, click here to get it! 

Classroom 4: 100th day books (here are a few of my favorites)

Classroom 5: 100th day Glasses (sorry don't have the link for these but there are TONS on TpT)

I also got the idea from EduKate and Inspire to create 100 year old pictures. This app is called AgingBooth and it is only $1! This is a little before and after of my beautiful daughter.  

Too cute right? 

I printed my kiddos picture onto this template so they can write about life as a 100 Year Old. 

To help them, I provided them with the template:

When I am 100 years old, I am going to be _______ and _______. My favorite thing to do will be _______________________ and _______________________. 

You can grab this free page here if you want it :) 

That is all I was able to fit in for the 100th day of school because we are crazy busy preparing for Science Night next week. I will be back this weekend to share a few of our MLK activities. 

Totally Teeth Giveaway!

Hey All! I have a few more days of break before I return to work and I am spending some time preparing for Science Night in January. Science Night is a big deal at our school and we spend so much time preparing for it. I thought I would share some ideas and information so you can take a look at this fun event.

I just finished and posted my newest Totally Teeth Printables packet and I am so excited to share it with you. I created this packet to go with my Totally Teeth Student book pictured below.

On Science Night, I hang a giant toothbrush for students and their parent to walk through. The kids LOVE this!

To make sure my students are motivated to attend Science Night, and I am not spending the evening alone, I created this fun Guess Who??? Tooth Edition activity. We practiced doing some toothy smiles and I take each students picture. I crop the picture so only their tooth grin is showing. I open the template in Powerpoint, insert a table and randomly put each toothy grin into a cell. I copy one page for each students and they write their guess of who each smile is below the picture. Here is the catch: Students can only find out if their predictions are right when they come to Science Night. I hang the "key" on the board and the first thing they do when they walk in their room is run to the board to see how many they got right. So fun! The best part, most of them don't even correctly identify their own smile. HA! 

This activity is highly pinned on Pinterest and so many teachers have asked for the template so....I have included it in my Totally Teeth Printables packet :) 

Students display their Totally Teeth Student book on their desk. They share this book with their parents and discuss: Parts of a Tooth, Dental Do's and Don'ts, Tooth Traditions from Around the World and Tips for keeping their teeth healthy. 

On the back bulletin board, we display their Tooth Fairy craftivity and writing prompt. (Also included in the Totally Teeth Printable packet)

They teach their parents all about Dental Health Vocabulary with their toothy Vocab book. 

They share with their parents the activities in our January Math Tubs: Dental Health Measurement, Graphing and Data Analysis, Roll, Add and Color and Build-A-Word Scrabble. They also share our class graphs: How Many Teeth Have You Lost? Have You Had a Cavity? 

  

I would LOVE to share these 2 units with 2 very lucky people. If you would like to win my TWO Dental Health packets simply:

1. Like my Facebook page

2. Follow my TpT store 

3. Leave me a comment below with your email address

and you will be entered to win! Two random people will be chosen on Sunday night! I will announce the winners here on my blog and on Facebook. Good Luck!

Congrats to Jennifer and Mrs. Garcia! I have just sent the two units to you via Dropbox! Enjoy :) Thank to all who participated!

Fun and Family! Welcome 2014 Linky Party

I am linking up with Blog Hoppin' to share my Family Fun goals for 2014. I have the two cutest girls that I just adore and an amazingly patient hubby. My family is my world. I will admit that I sometimes often find it difficult to balance being a full-time teacher, mom and wife. Everyday is a challenge and there are nights I go to bed stressing about what I could have done better. I have this picture as my screen saver on my phone because it often helps me to stop and remember what is truly important.  

My FAMILY goals in 2014 are...

More family travel! One of our families favorite places to be is the beach. However, since we live in Arizona...we don't get to visit the beach often. I am hoping this year to make at least a few impromptu weekend trips to SanDiego to spend some time together. 

My hubby and I took a weekend trip ALONE to Vegas this year and it was AMAZING. We spent time relaxing at the pool, going to nice dinners and we even got to see two shows. So fun! In 2014 I am looking forward to taking another trip, just the two of us. 

I also hope 2014 bring more time with my siblings. We all live close to each other but our lives get so busy it seems we only spend time together on holidays - and this needs to change. When we were all together on Christmas I insisted that we remake one of my favorite pictures from our childhood.

I know we are huge dorks but what can I say, that's my family and I love em. 

Happy New Year Sale!

Happy New Year Friends!

Can you believe it is almost time for second semester to begin? WOW! I am working to be sure I have everything planned and ready for my students arrival back at school. I am excited to throw a New Year Sale but hurry because the sale is only ONE DAY! 

Here are a few items from my store that may help you in you planning for second semester. 

My newest product to help with incorporating non-fiction text with small group reading

My favorite fictional text that begin working on during second semester is FROG AND TOAD! YAY!

 

During the month of January we prepare for Science Night with our Dental Health unit. Check out this best seller - Totally Teeth. 

Are you Preparing for February?

February 2nd is Groundhog's Day. Take a look at this packet. Includes a fact book - All About Groundhogs. This is one of my students all time favorites! 

This Valentine MEGA packet is over 100 pages of Language Arts and Math activities and printables aligned to the K-1 CORE Standards.

I LOVE using this math unit in February!

Have you taught 3D shapes yet? Time is ticking.... Here are a few products to help.

 

Finally, due to numerous requests I have now combined all 16 Kindergarten and First Grade CORE Math Units and they are now offered at a bundled discount price. 

Even better they are 20% off with the sale! 

Happy New Year Everyone!

Arizona Blogger Meetup!

Hi friends! 

Tonight I had the pleasure of meeting up with some amazing ARIZONA bloggers! We had some dinner, conversation and a little gift exchange. FUN! 

We ended our evening with a little photo!

These ladies were so uplifting and fun! Tonight was a great reminder of how much I enjoy blogging and the incredible opportunity it has given me to meet and collaborate with such amazing teachers! 

Polar Bears, Penguins and Wolves OH MY!!!

    The Common Core State Standards require that we now give equal emphasis to both fictional literature and informational texts. I found this great website that gives more information about this shift from Teachersfirst.com:

There are a number of factors that led to this shift. Numerous studies have shown that students (in general) are engaged in reading very little informational text during the school day—in many cases less than five minutes per day. The study “Reading Between the Lines” (ACT 2006) determined that students who reached the benchmarks in reading for the ACT exam were those who were able to analyze and interpret complex texts. In 2006 the number of students who reached the benchmark was the lowest in over a decade. Why? Appendix A of the Common Core State Standards offers the following:

•  K-12 reading is primarily narrative in style, while college and workplace reading is mostly expository
• Research shows that K-12 school texts became easier after 1962
• Instruction is heavily scaffolded in grades K-12, but less so in college
• High school students are not often held accountable for independent reading

The Common Core demands that our students do a lot more reading in the course of their day and that there is a balance of literary and informational text. If we are to move students along a path of reading and understanding texts of greater complexity to assure their college and workplace success, then we need to build in more experiences with expository/informational texts.

    So, I am doing my best to expose students to high-quality nonfiction text but with our older reading series that is often very difficult. I have found that it is also extremely difficult to find exemplar informational text at the appropriate reading level. BUT… I have found something I LOVE - National Geographic KIDS books! 

     I use these books during our guided reading time with my on grade level and above grade level reading groups. (My most emergent readers are not yet ready for these books). These books are very affordable especially if you purchase them through Scholastic BookClubs. I found this set of three books for $8 or 200 Bonus Points. Another great way to get your students hands on these books is by writing a Donors Choose project. I have had a lot of success getting books for my classroom through Donors Choose, try it out! 

    Because these books are more complex with lots of vocabulary I have created Book Guides to accompany the text. During the month of January, we are going to be working on winter animals so I created books guides for the above books. The Paper Police are in full patrol at our school so I created each book guide to be easily copied back-to-back and folded in half to create 7 pages of comprehension and vocabulary questions.

I am working on a Martin Luther King Book Guide and presidents packet that I will have posted in January!