Surviving Halloween! Maybe a FREEBIE will help!

WOW!  That's about all I can say.  Friday was R.O.U.G.H.  Not sure if it was the sugar high from candy breakfast, the ensuing sugar crash, the end of the week delights of spelling and reading tests or some terrific combination of all of the above!  But, it's over!

I am trying to get some fresh new Daily 5 activities together.  The little darlin's have decided that they are darn cozy in first grade, and are trying to be sneaky about completing Daily 5.  I have news, I am on to them!  I am going to have them work with my ELL aide during one rotation to master sight words.  For the most part my kiddos are on track, but I have a few strugglers.  Nothing better than a game to keep things interesting.  Here's a freebie for you!  All I ask is that you leave a little feedback.

 

Happy November!

Addition and a FREEBIE!!

This week my lovely student teacher taught a lesson on addition, nothing unusual right?!  Ohhh, did I mention it was vertical addition.  The kids totally lost the ability to add.  Could not figure it out!  It never ceases to amaze me what will throw off a group of first graders. 

So as I sat here absorbing another Chiefs win!! I made up this cute little Addition review game.  I am basing it on those cute little plastic nuts in the dollar section at Target.  I made an I can sheet for independence, three different spinners of differentiation, and black and white option for those of you that are out of color copies.  (I am, so sad.)  Here's the freebie-- Nuts about Addition.  All I ask is that you please, please, please follow me and leave kind feedback.

Where does the time go?

How is it already October?!!

I meant to blog regularly, darn it!!  Off to a slow start.

I'm back teaching first grade where I belong!  The first quarter ended today.  I can hardly believe it!  My 19 little darlings have made so much progress already.  I started the year with only 3 kiddos above grade level, in reading.  Now, I have 6 above grade level!!  And I've gone from 8 emergent readers to only 3!!!  PROGRESS..... right!?!

I am so excited to see such gains in only 9 short weeks!  Math progress is coming along too!  I have to grade the first quarter assessment, but my initial glances are looking at the same growth. 



I'm wondering how the rest of you are doing?  Any interesting stories?  I have a doozy to tell, but I'm not sure you'd even believe me.... 

What's your favorite crazy kid story??  OR crazy pet story?

Paisley, has been hanging out watching out the dining room window.  I knew she liked to look out when I found my blinds mangled.  Solution, leave them up so she can see out.  Well apparently, all that looking outside is exhausting.  So she needed a place to rest.  I had noticed that everything from the dining room table was ending up on the floor.  Odd, but I assumed that when Paisley and her partner in crime, Watson were home alone they knocked stuff off the table in an attempt to get people food, napkins, salt shakers, etc...  So we started to make sure all the chairs were pushed in, so they couldn't jump onto the table.  Then I started to see scratches on my table...... Hmmmmmmm...... very odd.   Well, my lovely youngest found Miss Paisley ON THE TABLE, asleep!!!!!   She was ASLEEP perched on my NEW dining room table!!  Can you believe it?  The darn dog jumps on the table and NAPS.  IN the sun!  On my TABLE!!!!  GRRRRRRRRRR..............................

Happy Friday!

Blog Lovin'

So I read all about the Google reader thingy ending.  I even went so far as to sign up to follow all my favorite blogs on BlogLovin'... but I didn't realize I needed to get on over there and register my blog just in case some one actually wants to follow me!!!  LOL!!

 

Follow Me on BlogLovin'

 

My goal this year is to blog more often and create more items for my classroom.  I am hoping now that my life is a bit more settled, down to one teenager at home and living with Mr. Miller (love of my life) things will be less stressful!   One can hope!

 

Happy July!

Finally..... Combined Quiz Quiz Trade Cards for Harcourt Trophies and a Give Away!

It has taken all year, but I finally combined my individual quiz quiz trade cards into a set of 15!

 

  These are the same cards that I have had for sale individually, now in one great download!

 Just For You Set includes:

 The Mixed Up Chameleon
Get Up and Go
Henry and Mudge
Days with Frog and Toad
The Enormous Turnip
Helping Out
Mr. Putter and Tabby
Hedgehog Bakes a Cake
Lemonade for Sale
Johnny Appleseed
From Seed to Plant
The Secret Life of Trees
Watermelon Day
Pumpkin Fiesta

Please remember these cards are created using Harcourt Trophies end of selection tests. 

I am not claiming to have created any of the following questions.

 

 

 

They are on sale through the Fourth of July! And I would love to give away a set to a bloggy friend.  If you want your own set of quiz quiz trade cards for these 15 stories leave a comment and I will choose a random winner tomorrow!

 

If you stick with me I will get the second set (Banner Days) of quiz quiz trade cards packaged up and onto Teacher Pay Teachers this weekend. 

 

Happy Memorial Day and a Big Thank You!

So glad to get a day off to sleep in!  Kansas has some seriously rainy weather which is perfect for sleeping in.  I didn't get up early even though Watson wanted to party.  Tiny dog doesn't seem to remember summer vacation.  He seems to need a reminder that we don't need to be up at 6:00am EVERY morning.

 

Another great thing about Memorial Day this year - oldest daughter, aka Navy girl may get to come and visit before she'd shipped out to who knows where.  He she is in her dress whites. 

 She's super smiley because her man, let me clarify her Marine, was on his way back to the states.  He made it back after a L-O-N-G tour.  Yesterday they got to hang out together on the beach!

 

 

Aren't they cute? 

 

Anyway, here's a BIG thank you to my favorite Navy girl and Marine!  (Also, a BIG Thanks to my Dad, Alan Nelson, retired USMC!)

 

Love for Ms. Lander!!

This was our last full week of school and I am simply exhausted!  I really don't think any of you need more explanation.  I know you are there too.

 

Here's some of the random Ms. Lander love I received this week.  Here's love from Tuesday.

 

 

 

 

 

You need to know that I do not give out candy regularly.  I do give out one of those ridiculously large pixie stix attached to a birthday balloon cut out for the kid's birthdays.  (Miss Kate is my daughter-- she does pick up the pizza when we have pizza parties.  Of course we had one the day this was written.)

 

On to Ms. Lander love Day 2, Thursday.

 

 

I love it that they want to stay with me.  I would loop in a heart beat, but I have such a great team - it would be hard to move on.

 

One more AWESOME picture from this week.  AS many of you know I am a Jayhawk fan.  And all great Jayhawk basketball fans learned some wonderful news with the addition of Andrew Wiggins to the 2013-2014 team!!  Here's a pic of one of my kiddos sharing the jubilation!

 

 

Rock chalk Jayhawk!

 

Happy Mother's Day

I wanted to wish all those moms, grandmas, and teacher moms (I know you think of those 21 kiddos as your own!)  a Happy Mother's Day!!

 

Here are my lovely girls!

 

Ali, my Navy girl!

 

 

Kate, my ESU college girl!  Yep, she's going to be a teacher.

 

 

Here's my baby Libby, before the Winter Formal.

 

I am so glad I had three delightful girls.  I couldn't have had a more wonderful life raising these awesome kiddos.  I am so proud of all their accomplishments.  It surprises me everyday how completely different they are.  I am a lucky mama!

 

Teachers Pay Teachers SALE!!

I am all over a great sale and I am definitely loading up for next year!

 

I don't have many items in my Teachers Pay Teachers store, but I am having a sale.  

 

What are you buying?  I am loading up on Poems and Songs Through the Year by Jodi Southard, Common Core: Writing All Year Long in Second (Bundle) by Anna Brantley, and Hope King's Dig into Learning: Summer Practice. 

 

A Camping we will Go!! (Day 1)

Today I introduced our end of year adventure --- Camping!

 

Let me remind you that I have at least half of my class that are English Language Learners.  One of my little guys really thought we were headed out to camp!

 

We started with an easy graph of have you been camping? yes or no?

 

Turns out that 10 of my students had not camped and 9 had some sort of camping experience.

 

We moved onto our writing lesson, Terse Verse.  I read One Sun: A Terse Verse by Bruce McMillan.

 

 

We made a list of possibilities.

 

 

Then we wrote our own!

 

 

Snack Pack

 

 

Bent Tent

 

 

Bike Spike and Fly Sky

 

 

Deer Fear and Spoon Noon

 

 

Bright Light and Pole Goal

 

 

Bent Tent and Foul Owl

 

 

Sky High, Bee Tree, and Fly High

 

 

Bee Tree, Fish Dish, and Frog Log

 

 

Cat Hat and Bike Hike

 

 

After lunch and specials we moved on to learning about Skunks!!! 

 

We read Smelly Skunk.

 

and

 

Backyard Wildlife Skunks

 

 

 

We wrote down some skunk facts on our anchor chart.

 

 

 

Then we made the cutest skunks ever!!!  Thank you Cara Carroll!!  Her craftivity was just perfect!

 

 

Please note some skunks have bows and crowns!  The kids just crack me up.  Needless to say today was a complete success.  I survived teaching ALL day, without my most awesome student teacher.

 

Happy Monday!

 

 

 

 

May Currently

 It's time to get back into the bloggy world, I can think of no better way than to link up with Farley over at Oh' Boy 4th Grade and complete the May Currently.

 

 

 

 

So you may have caught on to the NEW house reference!! 

 

YEP, I am totally buying a NEW house.  I am super excited to get out of my teeny, tiny apartment.  The girls and Watson are super excited too!  We may even get another furry companion.  Who knows?!

 

I am READY for the end of school, we have 13.5 days of school left.  I have a ton to do!  I have to start teaching again on Monday.  The MOST awesome student teacher ever is leaving me.  She has been a trooper, because I have the most challenging class EVER!  (Seriously --  I stopped blogging the minute I met this group.  I cried the first two weeks of school, and I never cry.)

 

 Needless to say the group has come a long way-- I really will miss them.  (While I am on the deck drinking grown up drinks soaking in the sun's glorious rays!!)

 

For the last 13.5 days we will be going on a camping adventure.  Thank you to Cara Carroll's Camping Capers as a starting point for our adventure.

 

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Camping-Capers-Math-Literacy-Science-Activities

 

My dearest co-worker got a s'mores maker for Christmas and we are going to try it out!

 

What are you doing to end the year?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sneaky Healthy Snacks!!

  

So my wonderful PDS Intern, aka student teacher, Ms. S. has been teaching the most fantastic nutrition unit.  She utilized the Nothing but Nutrition Unit from Lesson Plan SOS.   The unit has everything you'd possibly need to teach nutrition.  The kids were totally surprised to see that french fries stay in the same state for over a week when placed in a glass jar.  The banana was a gross mushy mess after just a couple of days.  SERIOUSLY-- check out this great unit!

We decided to "trick" the kiddos after their lesson on healthy snack choices.  One of our fabulous, paraprofessionals brought in her Jessica Seinfeld cookbook, Deceptively Delicious. We choose two options, brownies and chocolate chip cookies.  We made the snacks and let the kids vote on their favorite treat, before we revealed the truth!!

I like the chocolate chip cookie.

Brownie for me!

Hmmmm.... I liked the cookie and the brownie.

The kids couldn't decide, the brownies were so yummy, 11 students selected them as their favorite.  Then 14 students decided that the chocolate chip cookies were their favorite.  This is when Ms. S. said "Wait a minute! We only have 21 kids in here.  Who voted twice?"

They loved them--- UNTIL..... we did the big reveal!!!  The brownies contained carrots and spinach, and the chocolate chip cookies had chick peas and oatmeal!  SHOCKING!!!!


The looks on their faces were priceless, too bad I was laughing so hard I forgot to take pictures.  I had one little darling that had previously been begging for a second brownie start rubbing his tongue with the paper towel!!  It was a HOOT!

***This is where I throw in a minor word of caution, chick peas are a legume.  Watch your peanut allergy kiddos.  Better yet, don't let them eat the cookie!! ***