Lettering Delights

They are having the best sale of the year!  I would know because I am a professional shopper!  They are having Dollar Days!  All of their fonts and clip art sets are $1 and other items are $2 and $3!  AWESOME!  I bought $35 worth of stuff for $27 with the code biggerbloom. Also, if you are new member you will get tons of freebies with freebies every month!  Who doesn’t love freebies?  Go Now… Maybe one day I will post some pictures and some activities.  Softball is kicking my tail, but on a better note we are 8-2 and we won our first tournament! So forgive me for not posting everynight, I will resume shortly.  Please pray for me because my kids have needed a break since Valentine’s day and we have THREE weeks till Spring Break!  Any suggestions on how to motivate them to behave, pay attention, listen, etc?  I did make some really cute sticker awards so I will try to post them tomorrow.

Loving Letter Delights!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Transitions Made Easier

If your school system is like mine every website and its momma is blocked!  I get so frustrated sometimes.  I love using music in my classroom, but until I find the time to put my cds on my IPod there is no easy way to stop what we are doing, find the song I want to play, cross my fingers, and hold my breath and PRAY that the cd works.  Only to No AVAIL! So by now the kids are off task, I don’t even remember the number of the song I wanted them to do and I am ill because at least 5 of my 12 boys are either hitting each other, throwing erasers, or picking at the bottom of their shoes!  Sounds like a nightmare right?  YES!  After about the third time that happened I looked for alternate means of transitioning.  Viola! http://users.elite.net/gurpal/tv1.htm This amazing website that offers short commercial or sitcom jingles or longer movie themes. I use it on a daily basis. 

The Call to the Carpet… short song

Magic Trash..depends on how messy the room is if I need a short or a long song.

Get out your ______ book…short short!  Coca-cola is a great one.

Mix and match ..long and then I pause according to the number of times I want them to mix and match.

Get your wiggles out…depends on how restless they are

I still use my Dr. Jean CDs for movement songs, rewards (my kids are all about Peanut Butter right now), and learning skills, but this website is my quick go to website when I need an extra hand managing my very vivacious firsties!

Do you use any musical websites in your class?  What do you use music for in your classroom?

Fun Stuff

So February and March are really fun times to be a teacher.  There are so many things that teachers can use to incorporate “fun” activities to teach our objectives.  Sometimes I feel I have to do a dog and pony show for my kids to pay attention, but these past few weeks my kids have really been super great.  They are tired and worn out from being in school so long and there is no break insight {Spring Break is not till mid April}, but they are trying.  It helps that we have had Valentine’s, Presidents’ Day, and Dr. Seuss’s b-day to celebrate with some really cool activities. I am also looking forward to my St. Patrick’s Day and SPRING units.

What are you looking forward to in the next few weeks?  Don’t forget to click on the blogs on the sides.  There are some really talented and giving teachers out there.  I have no idea how they find time to put together the units and pintables that they do.  I am so thankful for their creativity and willingness to share with others.

Pictures are from my cell phone I missed placed my camera for several days sorry they are pretty much awful but maybe you can get the gist of what we did.

 

Presidents’ Day sort: I really need to do a better job of documenting where I get things from off the internet… If I got this from your blog please let me know I will give you credit for it.  I wanted the kids to have some independent working time but didn’t think that they could just read, cut and sort this cold turkey. So, We read each fact and decided together if it was about Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, or if it qualified for both.  As you can see we colored G.W. facts blue, A. L. red, and both Green.  After we colored coded everything the kids were able to cut and glue independently while I got some other things completed. The next morning I had all the piece for the presidents  on the kids desks and they glued them together.  Then they got to choose their scrapbooking paper color and design and glued the Venn diagram and presidents to the scrapbooking paper. I didn’t take the picture till after I took all of them off the wall… but they were pretty stinkin cute.

               

This was the first of our Dr. Seuss activities: We read Horton Hears a Who and we made specks… ohhh this went over with a BANG! The kids colored a popsicle stick with a marker {which makes the kids so happy when they can color with MARKERS}. Then they got to choose the color of their clover and I puff painted a speck on the craft ball.  They were all talking to their specks and making sure the Who’s were okay.  So cute!

I found my camera today and will take more pictures from our Dr. Seuss week tomorrow when I go plan for the week.

Happy Teaching!

Rainy Day Work Day

         After being rained on at the games last night our softball tournament was rained out. So instead of lying around and doing nothing {after sleeping till about 10:30} I decided to be productive.  With my Daddy gone on a boys trip {Court Side Seats at the Alabama/Georgia game} my Momma came over and we got started on the wedding favors.  I really DISLIKE wedding favors like bride and groom (anything) really, wedding cake candles, heart (anything) haha. I am more impressed when I go to a wedding and get something a. I can eat or b. I can use.  So I decided to incorporate both things.  I’m not gonna give our surprise away until after the wedding for the readers who will be in attendance at the wedding but I will give a sneak peak!  The clothes pins will have magnets on the back so they can be {used} and as you probably already figured out they will hold something that you can {eat}.

Nasty Nasty Rainy Day

 

 

 

 

 

 

The supplies strewn out all over the living room table and floor…    

My lovely mom and my “lovely” self haha this is what Saturday hair (that got rained on) and day old make up looks like..gross but this is the realness of my life:

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

We watched the Bama Game {Roll Tide, Yall} and about 4 different On Demand Shows, we got all 200 clothes pins covered with the paper and I got all but about 50 tied with the ribbon!

Finished product:

I love them. #1 because they are absolutely adorable #2 people can use them and most importantly #3 Momma and I made them together and had a great day despite the rain.

Roll Tide Yall! Laura

Dr. Seuss’s {Read Across America Week}

What great week when you’re a first grade teacher!  It is just what we needed after coming back from a six day work week.  The kids are pumped about reading and learning all about crazy words like Zeed and Wump!  Hello, do you know what they mean?  If not join in the Dr. Seuss fun and head over to whattheteacherwants and down load the awesome unit that is already done for you!  Along with the unit I have added my unit day by day lesson plans complete with AL course of study objectives.  Click on the picture below to download the day by day lessons.

When Two Become One

So as any good Southern Christian Girl would do Carter and I are not living together before we get married… but we are taking the “moving in” in stages.  WE HAVE LOTS OF STUFF! It’s a good thing that Carter is super handy with tools.  So for Valentine’s Day…along with a pack of sharpies!  Carter redid the closet in the master bedroom. It only had two shelves with two small rods on the sides of the semi walk in closet. Carter opened it up with two long rods and shelves on the long wall a short tall shelf for dresses and a wall of shelves for shoes!  It is AMAZING! I am thrilled with it… He made fun of me because I wanted to paint it a pretty color (maybe even put up some super trendy wall paper)!  That got vetoed. Now we can’t decide if all of my clothes..summer and winter will go in the closet or if carter is going to take the top shelf. Decisions Decisions.  This one is just one on the the list of about 1000 left to make.

Before: It is usually more organized.

{Top-shoes that don’t fit on the shoe rack on the bottom in picture two. Bottom- Jewelry chest, bags in the floor, sweatshirts, sweaters, scarves, skirts hanging.. dresses had already been taken out. There was no extra space in the closet.}

  

   

After: {top: 1.top shelf..still deciding summer clothes or carter’s clothes? 2. all of my winter clothes on one shelf, organized by color :) bottom: 1. I tried to get a complete view, but couldn’t really.  2. dress rack with a basket full of CHS softball sweatshirts! 3. side shelves for my shoes!}

 

   

Love It. Can’t wait till two actually become one under the same roof. I’ll post my President’s Day activities soon. Plus a wedding weekend update.

Did I mention we are making up a school day THIS SATURDAY!!!!!!!?????? Saturday school whooo hooo get excited.  I have a softball tournament so will be taking off 1.2 day but school…. on Saturday. {sigh}

Loving my CrAzY Life

Laura

MIA

For those of you wondering… I do still remember that I have this little thing called a blog!  I have been crazy busy with wedding planning and the beginning of softball.. Hopefully things are going to get back into a routine here in my life and I will be back to blogging soon! (like tomorrow!) Now I am being summoned to print an updated guest list….which is growing by the min… 454, 455, 456….and it goes on and on. Check back tomorrow.