Interrupting Chicken - an Update

 Hey there!  Happy Wednesday!  These last few weeks of break are just flying by :(. I am now in a rush to get everything off my to do list!  Isn't that always the way?  I haven't even stepped foot into my class, and I am moving rooms, so the anxiety is high.

  With back to school on my mind, I thought of one of my favorite stories to read, Interrupting Chicken.  I have a product in my TPT store that has activity pages to go along with the book.  As I was looking through it, I realized that it needed an update.  Nothing better than an update, right?

Isn't he cute?  I can't wait to make a bulletin board of these chickens!  

If you haven't seen the pack, here is what you will find inside.

Since I wasn't able to get this out in time for the big sale, I thought I would discount it 28% until the weekend!  Hop on over a grab yours if you'd like, or re-download it!

                                                      CLICK HERE TO GET YOURS!

A Three Pigs Update!

Hey there!  Is anyone still out there?  Haha, seems the year got the best of me and only now, one week into my summer break, ready to blog!  I have been organizing all my files on my HD because I often create things, edit them, save them, and then have 20 copies of similar products.  Does anyone else do that? No?  Well it has been a labor of love and I am almost through.  I needed a change of scenery, so to speak, so I decided to update one of my past units.  This is what it looked like before.  I think I had actually updated it from the first version.

I have only changed a couple things up - but I have changed the clip art and style of the pages so it better fits my kiddos needs!  So, if you have this ---> re-download it.  If not, click here to check it out.

I hope to back soon - I have photos of activities we did this year that I can't wait to share.  Have a good Tuesday!

Hello December!

Wow!  It's the second week of December and I can't believe it!  I have been sick for the past week or so, and it has taken its toll.  I am so glad to be feeling better!  Sad I ddin't get to enjoy my Thanksgiving (or Thanksgiving Break), but glad I am on the upside of this sinus infection.  Before I got sick, I created this Christmas Around the World Pack.  I am so happy with the way it came out and plan on starting it this week.  I have actually purchased some around the world packs, but I just felt that they didn't have enough information for my kiddos to make it meaningful, and to me just creating a craft is not meanigful enough,  SOOOOOOO...I created this version...

You can click on the photo to take a closer look

I have 8 Christmas celebrations, as well as Hanukkah and Kwanzaa. Each page has 3 real photos to accompany the country or celebration.

I have added small craftivities that are super simple to put together.  You have the option of printing them on white and just having the kiddos color them, or copy them on construction paper.

I have directions on each page on how best to put it together.  Seriously simple and fun!

When Icreate my packs I always want to have something to put in their writing portfolios - so I created this simple to put together writing companion.

They complete a simple writing page that focuses on complete sentences about the photo and what they have learned!

This pack is still on sale so click on any of the photos to go to my store:)  Happy Holidays!

Hello and Happy November

Hey there!  I won't beat around the bush and give any excuses, I just have been too exhausted to write an entry here on blog.  I wake up, be mom, work, soccer mom, work, homework helper, TPT work, and then crash on the couch:) Seriously.  I wouldn't change it for anything, but I sure am enjoying my 4 day weekend!
  I have been creating this weekend - well actually, finishing up a pack that I started over a month ago.  If you have any of my units like these:

Then this one will be right up your alley.  I created one for Veterans Day - and yes I know it is tomorrow - but it is what it is.  Time flies and my kiddos will be learning about it Wednesday through Friday.  I say that is perfect!

It has all the non-fiction text with real photos inside.  I also added a writing component this time.  I always love to have some kind of culminating craftivity to put up after each unit we learn.  I added a quick writing activity that will be easy to complete and put up. You can see them in the second preview.

I can't wait to get this printed and ready for my kiddos.  I know they will love choosing their soldier and writing about them.  Click on any of the photos to head over to my store and check it out!

Have a wonderful Monday!

Five for Friday!

  Seeing as I didn't get around to blogging earlier this week, I thought I would link up with Doodle Bugs Teaching, and Five For Friday!

Where to start?  I guess Sunday is good.  It came too soon, but the weather was oh, so nice.  My girlie and I went and played some soccer - and by playing soccer I mean, kicking the ball around and resting for a bit.  It was fun.  In this photo, she thought she was being cute and tried to get me with the ball as I was taking the picture.  Ha!  Little did she know I have ninja reflexes - and that ball was sent flying (okay maybe not flying, but it didn't hit me).

 This week, I wanted to get something up on their writing wall.  So we wrote about the steps to make a PB&J sandwich.  My plan was to bring in the real items to make a sandwich in front of them, but I forgot - doh!  But thankfully WikiHow saved the day.  We were able to watch a video after we discussed what we needed, and then we wrote the steps together.  They are so yummy looking!

 This week, we also had BTS night.  It was late this year, but I had all but 3 parents show.  We had a lot to go over, and let me tell you, it was nice to only have one grade level to talk about!

 As I was walking out to recess, I saw my kiddos cubbies and I couldn't help but love the way they looked!  I have 2 very responsible 5th graders that come in during their recess and help me.  OH. MY. GOODNESS.  I am so thankful for them.  I can give them directions ONCE, and they go!  They help me so much!!

 And lastly, my kiddos have been loving their Language Notebooks.  They are loving making, sorting, gluing, etc. the different activities.  We even went over how we can use these when we are waiting for the next activity - they were floored!  "You mean, we can do the sorting over and over?" YES!  Nothing better!

I am so looking forward to the weekend and finally putting together some of the items that are on my TPT list.  Wishing you all a restful weekend!  And Happy Friday!

What a week!

 Hello there!  I am writing this on Sunday night and I am just finishing up lessons for the upcoming week.  I don't know about you, but I am all kinds of shuffling things around to make it ALL fit.  Sigh.  We haven't even started out RTI or ELD pull-outs.  But, I have a new plan this week, and I hope that it works:)  Well, at least if it is better:)

  I am proud of my littles.  We made it to 8 minutes of stamina!  Wooohooo!  The problem is, fitting in the Daily 5, well, Daily! LOL!  We do it, but not in its formal setting, and the kids are asking for it, so I moved some things around that will hopefully help us.

I know, we've only written down 3 days, but that's my fault.  They are doing really well.

Since I had to change things up quite a bit, our time to choose books daily has gone out the door.  Insert this idea I got from Instagram.  I am not even sure whom it was, but I quickly took a photo of it and recreated it to fit my classroom.  We started our shopping days this past week, and it has worked so well.  The kiddos remember more than I do, so that is even better.

I have to tell you, this next thing, I have been meaning to put together since the start of school.  I really just never got around to it.  My kiddos needed somewhere to put their reading bags.  Their desks just weren't working.  So I headed to Wal*Mart and purchased these crates, I had wanted black, but there weren't 8 of them, so since pink matches, I went with it.  I bought the baskets at the Dollar Tree.  I put a label for each table and now their bags fit perfectly inside.  It is also much easier to have my 5th grade helpers change their books (with my guidance of course).  

Another big change was my direction board.  I had my purchased ones that I loved, but were just too small for my kiddos to see, and just didn't have the right photos for my class.  So I made my own.  Not sure if you can see (if you click on the photo you will be able to see better), Morning work has a girl with a sun behind her.  Then, I added a photo of myself for the kiddos to see me next.  I used photos that were similar to what we have in our class, and it has made all the difference, they know exactly what to do.  I even put a the work that they are supposed to be working on, for those that are not sure what activity they should be doing.  I have quite a few more to add, but so far, I love this change.

Our stamp center is working so much nicer since I bought these ice cube trays and placed the alphas inside.  I added the letters in sharpie at the botton of each cube, and that helps the kiddos know where they go.  I will be honest, this center is ALWAYS picked up, but the stamps are not always where they are supposed to go, and that's okay.  I have a helper put them back, or even my 5th grade helpers do it.  It works.

One of the first class activities we did was our name activity.  They have been sitting in a nice neat pile waiting for me to put them up, and I finally did.  This is only one side of the class and they are back to back with more.  I have 29 kiddos, so space is limited.

Last weekend I put together a non-fiction newsletter/reading about 9/11.  My kiddos love the real photos of these newsletters and I thought we could use something that was appropriate for their age.  That is how this little product came about.  My kiddos had so many questions and we learned about Patriotism.  I think that even though it is a tragedy that happened, we need to inform our kiddos of how we coped, and what we are doing to keep them safe.  We made the Patriot Day watches and showed our USA pride.

If you would like to see the product, click on the photo and it will take you to my store.

 My daughter and I have a tradition of taking a photo every Friday before school. They can range from happy, exhausted, silly, to all at the same time.  We did this every Friday last year and I made a collage that I LOVE!  So here is our picture.

And I didn't get a great picture, like last year, but it was crazy sock day!  Wooohoo!  We ended the day with a sock hop and I was laughing so hard at these crazy socks!  Check out the toes!  It was our own personal, K & 1, GONoodle time:)

Whew!  What a week!  I am not sure I am ready for this one, but morning is coming up fast, so I am off to bed!  Have a great week!

Back to school!

  Hello there!  Happy almost first complete week of school.  I was talking to the secretary at my school and we were saying how nice that is was a 3-day weekend (last week).  And I said school should start gradually, one day a week, then two, three, and so on.  It would make the transition for the kiddos AND me that much easier.  Do you agree? LOL!  That being said, I must say that I love my new kiddos.  I am so happy to have an entire class that is first grade.  Don't get me wrong, the combo class last year was really a dream class and taught ME a lot.  But there is something to be said about an entire class that is in the same grade!

  Let's see, here are some things we did.  The basic back to school activities.  We started with my First Grade Smarty pack, which they loved! I thought I had taken a photo of them working on this, but I was obviously too busy teaching/modeling to do so;)

We also did some graphing of how we get to school, favorite colors, etc.(FYI, I just spent 20 minutes trying to look through my files looking for the back to school pack I got it from.  Turns out, I have like 25 BTS packs! Not really, but a lot and I couldn't find it).

Here are my two Melonhead kiddos gluing how they get to school.  They did pretty well.  I gave directions first, and they followed, who knew???

  Don't mind the poor cutting skills (mine, not the kiddos).  We counted and then recounted until it all made sense.  Our first graph of the year!

Ahhh...Journals.  My kiddos love them.  I mean so much that they came in the first day of school asking where they were (thank you kindergarten teachers).  I actually did not start on the first day (shocking, for me), but we just had too many procedures to go over.  So day 2, it was.  I created this set of journals last year, and I love them (if I do say so myself, LOL).  There is a topic every other day, with the second day always being free write.  We started with a topic (which I normally do not do (but somehow, the machine messed my journals up;))  So I went over the basics and we added the date together, underlined words in the topic, and talked about what a good journal entry looks like.  I then created my own as a model and they were off.  They were to write 3 or more sentences, and they did pretty well.  I could quickly see where they were with writing.

(click on the journal picture if you would like to take a look).  Now during journal time, I do something that many do not like to do.  I read EVERY.SINGLE.JOURNAL.  yep.  I do.  It is the only way I have found that I can keep up with how my kiddos are doing and what my focus needs to be.  I do not however, pick apart each entry.  I focus on differnt things.  It is a lengthy process that I should get down on this here blog...one day.

Before I go, I thought I would end it with an organizational tip that I picked up from The Clutter-Free Classroom.  She organized all those donated zip bags into a cardboard box and then stored it.  I loved the idea when I saw it, but then forgot about it.  I really don't need to find another place to store a box(I am out of space), but then I thought of something.  I have this 3 drawer cart by the sink in my room.  I decided to empty the middle drawer and use it to store my ziploc bags.  We only ask for 2 sizes, quart and gallon, so I divided it in half.  Not quite in half, but you know what I mean.  And they ALL fit!  Ahh, so much easier grabbing a bag for items.  And no hidden ziploc boxes around the room.

  Here is to hopping that this next week is a good one!!