Picture Overload (Magnet and Land Form Fun)

Friends,

Since I've been MIA for a month, I've not been able to share some of the fun things we've been doing in my room.  We finished landforms two weeks ago and we are ending our magnet unit tomorrow.

This is the first year that my students have just "gotten" land forms.  In the past, they knew them but they couldn't really explain what the definition was.  So, we used the land form packet that I made last year.  We created our own land form book, we made tableaus, and played lots of games.  I can truly say my students know their land forms. 18/19 made a 100 on their quiz and 1 made an 80.  One happy teacher right here.  I just hope they remember them when they go to 3rd grade. ;-)

Here are some tabeleaus in action.  Can you guess the land form?

Mountain

Lake

Canyon

If you are interested in checking out my landform packet, click the picture below.  No pressure, just sharing. ;-)

We've also been busying studying magnets.  They LOVE learning about magnets. We've been completing lots of experiments. I purchased the magnet unit from Amanda Madden of Teachers Clubhouse.  I just love her and all of her units.  It's almost stalkerish how much I love her stuff. Click here to check it out.  

Here we are learning what attracts to a magnet.  So much fun!

Sorry for the picture overload, but I just had to share some of the fun things we've been up to the last couple of weeks.

I hope that y'all have had a GREAT day. 

Lots of love,

Did We Break Up?

Friends,

I feel like we've broken up.  I've not had the energy or motivation to blog at all.  I promise we've been doing all sorts of fun and exciting things in my classroom, but I have not had the energy to sit and share.  I'm sorry, friends.  I hope this will be the end of our separation.  I truly have missed blogging and my blogger friends.  Please accept my apologies.  :-(

Here's my main reason for not blogging in a month.

I've been having some momma guilt and spending as much time as possible with my muchkin'.

I finally found the motivation to create a couple of things for Halloween.  Since I've been MIA for a month, I would like to give both of these away to 3 of my friends.  All you need to do is leave me a comment telling me that you want it.  

Now, how about a freebie?  We've been learning to build, scramble, and unscramble our spelling words. Click the picture below for the freebie. My students LOVE mixing their words all up. 

Frame: The Bubbly Blonde Teacher

Fonts: KG Font

Don't forget to leave me a comment if you would like BOTH of my newest Halloween themed packets.  I'll pick 3 winners sometime tomorrow afternoon.

The winners for Melanie, Karen, and Roxanne.  

Lots of love!  I've missed y'all so!

The Game Plan for the Week

Hello, Friends!

It's Sunday.  I've been busy, busy preparing my lesson plans for the week.  Before I share with you what my plans are, I know 2 of you are waiting to see if you won a free copy of my addition and subtraction football themed packet.  The winners were numbers 4 and 14, Becky Melcher and Kristin from Teachntex.  Ladies, if you will please leave me your email addresses. I LOVED reading who everyone roots for.  So many different teams.  Love me some football!  

So, here's the game plan...

Click on either picture to get a closer look. :-)

 The listening center and computer center are still blank.  I have not introduced them yet. 

For some reason, my hyperlinks didn't go through.

This week I'll be using the following packets.  Click on the pictures to check them out. :-)

My Football Packet

Teacher's Clubhouse Community PowerPoint and Community Review Game PowerPoint

I hope that everyone has a great and relaxing Sunday.  We are waiting on Brayden to wake up from his nap so we can head to the zoo.  It's his first trip to the zoo.  I can't wait.

Lots of love,

Are You Ready for "Sum" Football?

Happy Saturday, friends!

I had a GREAT week.  I'm still tired and my feet hurt, but I am in love with my new class.  They are talkative, but I don't have any so called "boogers" this year.  We may still be in the honeymoon stage, but they are precious! 

If you've been reading my blog, then you know how much I love football. Especially, the Clemson Tigers! ;-) I created a football themed packet to reinforce adding and subtracting to 20.  My students LOVED it.  We only played a couple games from it, but I was definitely the "coolest" teacher last week.  They love that I like football.  Even my girls were loving the little football kids  :-)

No pictures from the week.  I've been bench marking like a mad women every free moment that I get.  Then, I forget to take pictures.  I need to fix this.  

So, I'd love the give a free copy to 2 of my friends.  All you have to do is leave me comment telling me your favorite football team.  I'll pick two random winners (promise it'll be random...I won't be hating on anyone's team). ;-) I'll announce the winner's sometime tomorrow afternoon.

Click the picture below to check it out.  

I hope that y'all have a GREAT weekend.  Off to watch some football.  LOVE this time of year!

Lots of love,

September Currently

Hello, Friends!

I hope that everyone has had a great Labor Day.  It's been a stressful one here. My husband's iPhone died on Saturday.  Yep, just cut off and wouldn't do anything.  We took it to the Apple Store and they couldn't find out what was wrong.  So, we had to buy a new phone.  Those things sure are expensive!  

Is it really September!?!? September sure did sneak up on me. I'm linking up with the fabulous Farley from Oh Boy, Fourth Grade for her monthly Currently.  I just love reading these every month.

Listening: Golf is on the tv.  Brayden is sitting beside me with the iPad watching Mickey Mouse. Pretty boring...hence the reason I'm blogging. ;-)

Loving: I am LOVING that football season has arrived.  I love watching football games on the weekends (and the occasional Thursday night games).  To make it much better, Clemson won their opening game.  I just know that it's going to be a great year. 

Thinking:  I cannot wait to go to the beach.  I will be relaxing at the beach in a few weeks. I need a little mini-vacation.  We didn't get to go anywhere over my summer break.

Needing:  Last week was our first full week of school, so I have some papers that I need to grade.  I don't have much, but I need to get a head start so I don't get behind.

3 things that I plan to do just for me.  

1.  I will get a pedicure within the next week.  This is the one thing that I just can never find time to do, but I will take a minute to let myself soon.

2.  Hair cut...it's time.  

3.  I will make another purchase from Mint Julep this week.  I tend to buy Brayden clothes and forget all about me.  So, I love that I've found an online shop where I can buy something when I need it.

I hope that everyone has a great week!

A Look Back at My Week

Friends,

I've been a SUPER slacker blogger lately.  The beginning of the school year always drains me. I really do LOVE my new set of kiddos.  They are so sweet, still super talkative though.  I started Class Dojo this week and that fixed the problem for most.  LOVE it!  

So, what's been going on in my classroom this week?

In math, we began our new unit on adding and subtracting.  We've been practicing what to do in each center.  

In reading, I started Daily 5 last week.  We are up to 15 minutes in reading and writing.  Read to Someone is at 5 minutes.  I've been following what the sisters have told me to do, and it's really been working.  I can't wait to get all of my centers up and running and turn them loose.  I know they'll do great.

We've been talking about bullying this week.  We learned to tell the person to stop, walk away, and tell a teacher if it's still bothering us.  Check out these pictures.  I love how mean I look in one on the right.

We started Writing Workshop this week. We've been writing like pros and jamming out to Jewel.  Thank you, Amanda from Teaching Maddeness for letting me know about her kid friendly album.  Check it out from iTunes, friends.  I love Jewel!

In WORD, we've been practicing some first grade word wall words.  We played Ghost Writing this week.  This game is always a hit with my students.  They "write" the word on their partner's back and their partner has to guess which word it is.  So much fun!

Lastly, football season has arrived.  Football is my favorite part of Fall. My Clemson Tigers won against Georgia last night!  Love me some football and love me some Tigers!

I hope that everyone has a wonderful day!  

The First Week=One Tired Teacher

Happy Saturday, Friends!

I've been super duper busy and TIRED this week.  I kept saying that I need to blog, but I just couldn't.  I did stay up until 11:00 on Wednesday night.  I HAD to watch the new episode of Duck Dynasty.  As soon as it went off, I was out.  I was asleep by 9:30 last night.  

Here's me and the munchkin' after the first day of school.  Can someone say EXHAUSTED!  I was trying my hardest to keep him awake.  He's not used to getting up so early. :-(

The first three days of school have drained me.  Even my feet are swollen! I have an ADORABLE class.  I do have some talkers, but overall this may be my favorite group.  We will see. ;-)  My only struggles right now are the number of students that I have.  Last year, I had 13 students. Yes, friends, 13.  Wednesday I started with 19 and Thursday I wound up with 20.  I know some of you fabulous teachers have more than that every year.  It was a shock to my little brain.  I love having a full class though.  Last year, I felt like I needed more kids. I really love them all ready.  I even had an adorable friend draw me a picture at home to bring me on the first day of school.  PRECIOUS!

These first three days have consisted of learning the classroom rules (Whole Brain Teaching) and getting to know each other.  Next week, we will begin learning.  I have some friends who have asked me everyday for homework.  They were disappointed to hear that they won't have homework until Monday.  I'm sure they won't be too excited when they actually get homework. 

Hope from Second Grade Shenanigans gave all of her Facebook fans her 2013 morning song. My students LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it.  I wish that I had done this with all of my students years ago. So motivating.  My friends ask me if we can sing our song all day long.  They can't wait for me to play it in the mornings.  The fabulous Hope also sang the song herself to help you with the beat.  {She's amazing.  Isn't she?} All I have to do, is play it and we all sing along.  Click the picture below to check out her post.  

Other news...

I have a confession.  I've become addicted to online shopping.  It's SO MUCH EASIER than trying to find a babysitter or attempting to shop with Brayden.  My new obsession is The Mint Julep Boutique. I can't do a lot of shopping...the budget won't allow that, but I like that I can get a new outfit when I need one.  This was waiting for me on Wednesday.  Such a nice back to school gift. 

I'm planning to be lazy/productive today, mostly lazy.  I've got to send my fabulous teammates some reading plans.  Tomorrow, will be lesson planning day.  I need a day to rest and be lazy. I hope that everyone had a great week.

Lots of love,