Currently August.

It's August 1st and that means linking up with Farley for this month's Currently.

Click on Farley's name and link up your Currently.

Five For Friday On Saturday

It's been over a year since I last posted on my blog. This was on my to do list this summer. Didn't happen. I still have a week left of vacation so I thought I would join Doodlebugs linky party. A day late. 

On Monday, panic set in. 2 weeks left of vacation and I haven't even been to the beach!! I only live 12 miles away, so there's no excuse! So I invited my niece and nephew and mom and off we went. The weather was great. We ate lunch on the pier and went for a 5 minute ride on the ferry. Such a nice day.

It has been so humid this summer. What better way to cool down that with some ice cream. Mint chocolate chip is my favorite but I decided to try strawberry banana. Mostly because there was no mint chip. 

My vacation is almost over, so it's time to start getting things ready for the new year. I moved to a new classroom. I wasn't thrilled about moving rooms, this is my 3rd time in 2 years but it was a good move. I have 2 restrooms instead of one, I have a deep sink with a drinking fountain attached to it and the door opens out onto our playground, which is only for the TK class. Anyway, one of my projects was getting my 4 sided easel ready. It's a nice, big easel but needed lots of cleaning. Almost done. These are the "before" pictures.

I love Ebay. I spent lots of time browsing and buying mostly things for my class. I bought the whole series of Dinofour books by Steve Metzger. They're great for teaching social skills. I found some books that teachers have recommended. I bought some cartridges for my Cricut cutting machine, which I plan to use more this year.  I joined a group on Facebook that shares ideas for using the Cricut Explore. 

I'm obsessed with smashbooks, altered composition books, journaling and listing. This month I am doing a listing challenge. Everyday you have a prompt, like Things you are good at and then you list them. Do you like to make lists? You should try it. These listers also get very creative in making the books they use write their lists. Mine is going to be very simple. Journal cards, stamps, and stickers. If you have an Instagram account, check out #30daysoflists and see what it's all about.

If you would like to link up to the party, just click on the icon at the top.

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Currently July

It's July already!! Can you believe it? This summer is going by too fast. Three weeks have already flown by. I haven't been doing too much but I am looking forward to a fun time with family on the 4th and then on to I Teach K in Vegas. Woohoo!

Anyway, July 1st means it's time to link up with Farley for this month's Currently. I don't do these every month and always need a "refresher" lesson.

Mother's Day Gifts

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms!
Here is what we made for our mommies.

My sister gave me the box of beads and my students have been having fun with them. We have used them for patterning, counting and working on fine motor skills. 

One little sweetie asked if they could make bracelets for their moms. What a great idea! So that's what we did! We decorated small bags to put the bracelets in and made a card. I wish I would have taken pictures of those. 

This is now going to be my annual Mother's Day gift. Very simple but very cute!

Late Halloween post

Halloween was last week but I wanted to share a few pictures of our day. We did not have a parade (jealous of everyone who had parades) but we did do a few activities.

One activity was the retelling of the book Big Pumpkin. I love this book, it's one of my favorite Halloween books. I bought some masks from Oriental Trading, got out my fake pumpkin and fake vine and we put on a little show. I read this book many times so the kids would be very familiar with it. As I mentioned, I love this book and I love the illustrations showing each character trying to pull the pumpkin off the vine. One of my little smartie pants burst my bubble as she yelled out, "why don't they just cut the vine with a knife?". Ummmmm.....cuz then we wouldn't have a story. She ended up playing the character of the witch and did a great job.

The cast of Big Pumpkin

We did the pumpkin activities and then we did a little graphing. Tiffani at Time 4 Kindergarten made a graph for Target's spooky fruit chews. The kids loved it and so did I. I love those fruit chews.

We watched a couple of Halloween shows, of course, and that was our day. Even though there were no costumes or party, it was still a wild and crazy day.

Currently October

Wow! It has been so long since I last posted. Last year I didn't have much to post about, I was trying to adjust to a new grade level. First grade - it was REALLY HARD. Then I was enjoying my summer too much. Now a new school year has started and I am in a new grade level - Transitional Kindergarten. It's all very new but I am enjoying it. TK is considered the "gift of time" and I love that we are not stressing them out (or me) by pushing them to accomplish things they are not ready for. Hopefully that lasts and nobody decides to mess with it.

I am linking up with Farley for this month's Currently. I did my first one back in April and then couldn't remember how to do it!! Giving it another shot!

The down side to me getting the TK class was that I had to move schools. That was hard, I hated to leave my school. I really miss my old classroom. It was big with lots of windows, very bright. This new classroom is very small, only has 2 windows and has hardly any storage space so almost all my stuff is sitting in a huge pile in my backyard. Whenever I see dark clouds, I pray for no rain. My luck is going to run out soon. 

I have no treats to give so I just told you what my favorite kind is. heehee.

Happy Father's Day to my Dad

It's Father's Day and I wanted to blog about my amazing dad.

Growing up, he was the best dad and he's been such a great support to me since I began teaching. When I need my language arts and math books torn apart, he does them for me. When I need booklets made, he folds and staples for me. What ever I need built, he does it. He's posing with the dough stamp holders that he made for me. I bought the letter and number dough stamps from Lakeshore but I didn't want to buy the holders as they were a little pricey. So I showed him pictures and he built them for me. When I first began teaching, I needed some easels so he built 3 different kinds. A tall one to hold chart paper, a short one, with a chalk backing (it was a looong time ago, lol) for my big books. He even put dowels in the back so I could hang the books. He also built a wide, double sided easel one side he painted with magnetic paint and the other side I stapled flannel to use for retelling with my flannel pieces.

These aren't very good pictures but you can see the tall easel on the left and the backside of the smaller easel with all the dowels he put so I could hang the books for storage.

 He's made pocket chart holders.

And he made 30 of these  frames for me for a Christmas craft one year.

He rigged up some little contraption so that he could make them quickly and evenly.

When I got moved to a grade I wasn't too crazy about, his response was "We'll help you." Awww....sniff, sniff....

Happy Father's Day, Dad!!!! Thanks for your support and love.

Currently

Wow, Farley posted this a few hours ago and I am already late to the party! There were already over 100 linked up! So here's what's currently happening with me: so loving that I am on vacation but not loving that I still have to pack up my room!! Grrr.....

I had to move to 1st grade this year. It was rough. Not only did we get a new language arts series that was massive but we got rid of class size reduction for 1st and 2nd. We are now up to 32. I know, crazy, huh? I did LOTS of 1st grade blogstalking this year. Figured some things out. The hard way. I am working on a couple of things I will do differently and hopefully by August I will be ready to face my new class.

What's currently happening with you? Join the party and link up at Oh Boy 3rd Grade.

Summer Bucket List Linky Party

Yay. My summer vacation is almost here. 6 more days. I'm so excited So I'm joining the Summer Bucket List linky party. Here are the things I want to do before my summer kicks the bucket. Have you noticed how 10 weeks just fly by during the summer and draaaaaag during the school year?

1.  Learn to use my Cricut.  I mean REALLY use it. This has been on my list for the last two summers so hopefully this year it happens. I've been looking at my cartridges and saw all kinds of craftivities and decorations I could have made for my classroom. 

2.  Learn how to really use Word or Powerpoint or Pages so I can create my own classroom materials. 

3.  Make a fake cake out of paper mache boxes. I have had this idea for over a year. I have the boxes and the paint, I just need to sit down and DO IT.

4.  Sew. I want to make an overnite bag out of some cute polka dot oilcloth I bought a few months ago.

5.  Go through my Pinterest boards and see what I can start making for next year.

That's it. In between working on these projects, I will be laying around watching TV, seeing some movies, reading and getting together with friends.

What's on your summer bucket list? Click on the picture above and link up your list.

Open House

I love Open House. It's my favorite event. My school is pretty low key about Open House but I like to have fun with it. This year it was so late, we only have 9 days left of school (yay) and 1st grade about did me in, so we only did a few projects.

We've been studying all about plants and insects, one of my favorite themes because they go so well together.

We made this foldable flower book by Linda Kamp. I loved it but it was a lot of work. This kiddo did a great job on his. The hardest part was gluing the petals around the yellow center. They had to be evenly spaced and there were no guidelines. I will have to fix that.

We planted lima beans. But only half sprouted. I gave each child 3 beans, I figured one was bound to sprout. I guess some of us don't have green thumbs. We also did the sprout houses and those didn't sprout either. Hmmm....gardening is not our talent, hah hah.

Anyway, after we planted our lima beans, we wrote about the sequence of planting and used Hadar's cute little Garden Buddies. Loved the way they came out. You can see who is still having a little difficulty with fine motor skills. The blackline where they did their writing came from 1st Grade Hip Hip Hoorays' packet about plants.

This little garden buddy seems to have a 'Johnny Appleseed' thing going on with his hat. Not sure what happened to his hand or top of the shovel. There's always casualties when you do these types of projects.

This last one I did at the last minute. As in that afternoon and 45 minutes before the parents came in, I was painting branches on the bulletin board paper. Somehow it always gets done.

 This is a great way to see who understood how to write the time. They wrote about their favorite time of the day. Lots of them like recess, of course. 

We also made an insect book. We wrote interesting facts about several different insects and drew pictures to illustrate those facts. I didn't take any pictures of the booklets but we used this insect unit and butterfly life cycle packet here.The kids really enjoyed making this booklet. I tried leaving out some of the insects because of time, but they wanted to write about all of them. How could I turn down that enthusiasm?? lol! Anyway, the kiddos enjoyed sharing their projects with the parents and the parents loved their work. A successful night.

Currently

It's time for Farley's Currently. Link up here and join the fun.

Yesterday I was loving the warm weather. Today, not so much. Probably because it went from "warm" to "hot". I'm not too crazy about hot weather. And, yes, I did mention Vegas this summer, but there are pools involved. And cold drinks. And poolside service. So then you don't feel the heat so much. Until you have to leave Vegas.

Smarty Pants and a Visit From the Desk Fairy

One of my students gave me these little elf pants filled with chocolates for Christmas. Aren't they cute? 

So, even though they are "Christmassy" I wanted to use them as my "Smarty Pants." I'm sure you've seen them on Pinterest. It's a perfect size for the smarties and small enough to stand on my bulletin board ledge. I give them out when one of the kids gives me a really great answer or shows they've really done some thinking. I'll say, Wow, somebody's got their smarty pants on today! But sometimes I'll give them out to "jumpstart" them, you know, when they're giving me blank stares. The kids love it and sometimes they will say, "that was a good answer, you should give them a smarties." Ha.

And we had a visit from the desk fairy today. But I do have to say, almost all of the kids have neat desks. I'm surprised because the desks are very small and they have quite a few books to keep inside  plus a journal and their math packets. The messiest one is me.

I found these on Pinterest. If you click on the picture, it will take you to Learning and Loving 3rd Grade's TPT store and you can download a copy. I liked the little wand as a treat. I made it from pixie stix and star shaped post-its.

Currently April

It's April and time to link up with Farley at Oh Boy 4th Grade. I am excited about this because I FINALLY figured out how to fill out the template. The easiest thing in the world, I know, but I had such a hard time. Helpful bloggers posted tutorials but I either didn't have the same program, or their screen looked different or something else. But, success at last. Although I noticed one blogger just posted the blank template and wrote about her currentlies. DOH! Why didn't I just do that?

If you'd like to join the party, link up with Farley and join the fun. Tutorials are also posted in case you are like me and need some help.

Blogger Meet Up

I'm so excited. Tomorrow is the SoCal meet-up. These get togethers are always such a blast! If you live in the area, please join us and bring your camera. I can't wait to see everyone. Thanks so much Kate from Second Grade Sparkle and Katie from Teacher To The Core for putting this together.  Just click on the picture above to get more information.

Spring Break Linky

I am so excited to finally be on spring break. It has been such a difficult year and I'm so glad that its almost over. I saw this spring break linky and I'm linking up. I even put a border around it like some other bloggers. I'm so excited because I finally figured out how to do that. 

I love Vegas, its close, cheap, unless you're a gambler and I love the Cirque du Soliel shows. I want to see the new one at the Aria.

I have piles of books that I keep adding to but don't have time to read. 

I haven't been to the movies in a long time and I can't wait to grab some popcorn, cherry coke, peanut M&Ms and lose myself for a couple of hours.

I love to craft but again, there just isn't enough time. Although I don't know how far I'll get with my crafts. I recently bought some oilcloth that I want to use to make some tote bags. I also bought some tole painting patterns and wood pieces to paint and some scrapbook supplies. Might have to wait till summer vacation.

And to end my wonderful spring break, I will be meeting up with some fabulous bloggers from SoCali. I'm so excited. Actually, there's one other thing on my bucket list. I need to turn this into my blog button:

Are you on spring break? What's on your bucket list? Just click on the Spring break button at the top and link up.

Queen of the First Grade Jungle: ***Super Bowl Giveaway***

Queen of the First Grade Jungle: ***Super Bowl Giveaway***:  Go check out this GREAT Super Bowl Giveaway! Lots of football packets to have fun with a Super Bowl theme!

Dear Santa....

I saw this adorable mailbox at Big Lots and just had to share it with you. I thought I'd use it for some letter writing to Santa. I checked out TPT for some Santa letter writing units. There were quite a bit. Anybody have a favorite?

Monday Made It Tuesday

It's Tuesday but I wanted to link up to Monday Made It and share my pocket chart holders.

Mini pocket chart holders

 I already posted about them here. Head on over to 4th Grade Frolics to see all the other crafty, creative projects other teachers have made or link up your own Monday Made It.

Halloween Picture Book Linky Party

Next week is October and I can bust out the Halloween books! First Grade Found Me is having a Halloween Picture Book linky party. I have lots of Halloween books so I tried to narrow it down to my top five! I always start with the following 3 books. They are great introductions to pumpkin activities, talking about pumpkin pie, and carving a jack-o-lantern.

Big Pumpkin is another version of The Enormous Turnip. Lots of different Halloween characters all take their turn at trying to pull up the Big Pumpkin. Drat...hmmmphh..Love the repetition. It's  a great lesson on teamwork. It's also a great story to act out. And there's pumpkin pie. mmmm...

A cute story of a snitched pumpkin. An old man and an old woman go searching for their pumpkin. The old man wants pumpkin pie. mmmm.....

Now that we've read about pumpkins and pumpkin pie, it's time to read about the life cyle of a pumpkin. I love this book because it is so simple and has great pictures. After we read this story, we do a quick little science experiment.

Will our pumpkin sink or float when we drop it into a tub of water? The kids love this.

 Then we carve it open, stick our hands inside the pumpkin and say "ewwww!" Everybody gets some seeds to take home and save for spring planting.

 Then we paint some paper plates orange, sequence the life cycle of a pumpkin and we are now ready to retell to our parents.

I love Diane de Groat's holiday books. I have them all, featuring the character Gilbert. I used to love to read this before we had our Halloween parade. It would set the mood. But now no more parades. But I still like reading it. And the kids love shouting "trick or treat, smell my feet" !

This last book is great to read the day after Halloween. Who can't relate to eating candy until you're sick? A little lesson on sharing and self-control. (But all that candy is soooo tempting!)

What are your favorite Halloween picture books? Link up at First Grade Found Me and see what others are sharing.