Five For Friday - February 8

I am linking up with Doodle Bug for Friday's linky party.

Here are 5 things about this week.

1.  Our Chinese New Year Board, love it.  We celebrated Chinese New Year today and according to my kiddos, "It was the best day ever."  I had to remind them that they said that for the Mitten day and Gingerbread Houses and .....  I love my kids.

2.  We made these adorable dancing dragons.  We battled another classroom, so much fun.

3.  Glitter - the reason why my custodian loves me.... not, giggle.  There was glitter, everywhere in our classroom today.  I told the custodian that I left him a present by my reading table, he just laughed.  He is the best.  The kids thought that I put glitter all over the classroom on purpose.  Which is why they thought "it was the best day ever".

4.  We, almost, finished working on our contraction unit.  This is the last character in the story.  Nikki from Melonheadz made him just for me.  Love this guy.

5.  District assessments and a lockdown drill during recess made this a very long week, plus we had hail today at dismissal - in southern California.   How was your week?

Hoping to get some rest this weekend, but I have a birthday party for my grand daughters, baby shower for the twins, and grades to finish.  Math assessments start on Tuesday and I am flying to Hawaii to see hubby for Valentine's Day/Long weekend, so excited.

Land of Contraction

I am super excited that I finished the packet that was keeping me awake at night - spinning.  Contractions is the one of the hardest things that I need to teach.  It might just be me, but it is hard.  I was going to make a small book for my kiddos using contractions.  A wonderful co-worker, Meridith, one of my BFF - suggested that I break the words into groups.  What a great idea Mer, but how in the heck am I going to do that - they are boring.

Then in the middle of the night, I got the idea - BAMM, woke me up.  I go so excited.  So I would like to introduce you to .....

The Count of Not - he is all about contractions that end with not.  There is a mini story, small book, pocket chart cards, individual letter cards to make the contractions, spelling box activity, a page with the count and boxes to write the contraction and an assessment.  Each individual book contains the same things.

The Countess of Will

The Prince of Would

The Princess of Is

The Jester of Everything Else

You can get them separately or I bundled them all together in the Land of Con-Traction.  The bundle includes the intro story about the character and how the Jester is the guy really in charge.  The individual story cards, word searches for each character and an overall assessment.  Oh, in every book there is a little Jester hiding.

My kids are loving it, they are really understanding contractions - I am so excited.  I am hoping that their score on the District Assessment will be better, because in the past they weren't that good.  Yesterday, they kept asking me when they would be learning about the next character.  It made me feel really good.  I thought it might just be me, because kids learn better when the teacher is excited about something.  Nope, my BFFs started it yesterday and their kids enjoyed it.  I had a couple of their babes come up to me after school and tell me "thank you".  I almost cried.

Here is the bundle.  The beautiful papers are from Corinna and see the cute little Jester - Nikki made it just for me.  Make sure when you read the story, you do your best "Count" voice.

  I made a big poster of the big guy.

Word cards

 The book, it has a little story within the book.  Kids loved it.

Here is one of my little ones making the contraction.  One of the kids said that we are using a "countrophe" instead of an apostrophe.  He laughed, so cute - love first grade.

A 8 1/2 x 11 of the poster included in each packet.

I hope you check it out and I am so happy about my kid's progress.

Five for Friday and Currently February

I am linking up with Kacey and Farley for their wonderful inspiration.  It was a very busy, productive week.

1.  We celebrated Grandparents' Day this week.  It is a lot fun, but also a lot of work. The kiddos and grandparents really enjoy themselves.  The grandparents start off in our multi-use room with some school entertainment.  Then they visit their grand children's classroom.  We have an activity planned for them.



2.  Today, we predicted if the groundhog would see his shadow.  I saw this on a blog, but now I can't find it.  I thought I wrote it down.  So if this was your idea.  Thank you, it was a great one.  The kiddos enjoyed it.

3.  Full moon, 29 first graders - no further explanation needed.

4.  We started contractions today.  Oh my gosh, the kids got it - super excited about it.  I will get it posted to my TpT and TN stores tomorrow.

5.  Currently February.  We are pretty sure that my grandson is teething and he is miserable.  I am excited about Sunday's game - I am a fan of both teams.  One of my cuties said that no matter who wins I will be happy and he is right.  I want to make something this weekend, not sure what yet.  I miss my hubby a lot and wish I was with him this weekend.  Probably need to grade the stack of papers so I can finish grades for report cards.  I can't believe it is time to fill them out again.

Hope you have a great weekend and don't forget the sales going on at TpT and Teacher's Notebook this weekend.

Happy Birthday/Super Bowl Sale

February 1st is my grand daughters' birthday.  Two beautiful girls born on the same day, a year apart - Irish twins.  These two bring such joy to my life.  So in honor of their birthday, both of my stores will be on sale from Friday through Sunday.

Miss Kay will be 7.

Miss M will be 6.  She gets her curls from me and she doesn't like her curls, like me, lol.  Adorable, sweet little girls that brighten up my world.

And because San Francisco is going to the Super Bowl, woo hoo - the sale will continue on Sunday.  We had to make sure that the Twins' baby shower wasn't this weekend, just in case that the 49ers went.

Tpt

and

TN

I will be adding a few things to the store tonight and tomorrow morning, like my new packet - that I LOVE.

Happy Birthday girls and GO 49er's

Obsession

I am working on a new packet for my kiddos and I am obsessed about it - all I want to do is work on it.  I don't want to eat or sleep or teach. - just finish this packet up.  Sleep is kinda of important, because when I get stuck on something - I dream about the answer.  It is kinda of cool, but then I get up extra early to work on it. 

 The first packet is done, as soon as my teaching buddies at school look at it.  I want to start it right now, but I need to finish the other 4 parts first.  Has that ever happened to you?  I keep adding little things to it and little tweaks - here and there.  I know my kids are going to love it.  I am hoping to start it on Friday. 

Tomorrow, we are having Grandparents' Day (a fun but exhausting day).  Thursday we have awards ceremonies all morning (I need to send out the reminders).  So Friday might be the special day.

Since, I can't post without a picture - here is a new one.

Three months old and has stolen my heart.  I walk in the room and he starts babbling and smiling at me.  This grandparent thing is the best, highly recommend it.

 

Small Books

I have been busy this weekend.  I took naps both days, played with the grand baby a lot and even cooked dinner both nights.  The cooking thing is huge around my house, because I never cook anymore.  I finished a lot of school goodies this weekend and got them loaded to both of my stores.  I love productive weekends.

I have been making small books for my kiddos based on facts for the holiday.  I have included vocabulary cards and a test for the grade book.  I love when I can give a quick assessment.  Below are the books that I have finished, so far.

Groundhog Day at TpT or TN

Abraham Lincoln at TpT or TN

George Washington at TpT or TN

Chinese New Year at TpT or TN

I love the clip art and the paper for the Chinese New Year book.  I asked Corinna at Surfin through Second if she would make me some special paper.  It is adorable, you have to check it out.  I am addicted to her paper and frames, I have everyone she has made.

I am almost done with February's Vocabulary Cards and Activities packet, should be posted later tonight.  I am, also, going to add the vocabulary cards to the Martin Luther King, Jr. packet - so if you downloaded the small book, look for the update soon.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Five for Friday - January 25

I am linking up with Kacey for Five for Friday.  Why do short weeks seem so much longer than a 5 day week, or is it just me??  We did get a lot of art projects done this week, which makes me happy.

1.  We read the "The Mitten" and did a little freebie activity from What the Teacher Wants.  They turned out really cute.  I used scrapbook paper for the mittens and cotton balls for the cuffs.

My kiddos underline words that they think are spelled wrong.  I love how this little one - underlined cold but didn't underline cald.  So sweet.

2.   We started our Penguin unit today.  We made these little guys from Cupcake for the Teacher.  They are in her Penguin packet.  I love all of her goodies.  They are hanging on the clothesline in my classroom.  One of my little ones told me that we should have put the scarf on BEFORE we put on the flippers.  Maybe, I should read the directions next time,  haha.

3.  We did some graphing from our Mittens, Marshmallows and Snowmen day.  I put a graph on my white board because it is magnetic.  I marked off the areas with black ribbon, backed with magnet tape.  I got a 4 x 6 brag book/photo album and cut the pages out.  Then, I added magnet tape to the back.  All I have to do is put in a 4 x 6 card or 3 x 5 and my graphing words and pictures are done.  I keep the parts in a 4 x 6 photo box, so I will have them for next year.  Super easy.

4.  We, also, read "Snowmen at Night".  My kids love this book.  I found this idea on Pinterest last year from The First Grade Parade.  They turn out so cute and my classroom is really quiet when they are working on them.  Perfect for a rainy day project.  In the writing frame, they wrote what they thought snowmen would be doing at night.

5.  Next week, we are having Grandparents' Day - so the first grade team decorated our halls with antonym mittens hanging on black yarn.  We, also, made  big snowflakes hanging down the middle of the hallway.  It looks adorable.

Oh, our lockdown drill was cancelled today because of the rain, so maybe I will be able to catch up on some sleep tonight.

Enjoy your weekend!