Egg-citing Math: Problem-Solving Task Cards

The cold came back to get my poor little guy. He took an extra-long nap and is resting here in my lap while he watches World Girl. {SUPER excited he is over the Barney phase!} 

In my "downtime" I created a set of problem-solving task cards. These activities are "egg-cellent"! Haha! I love egg yolks....I mean jokes!

I am really rather productive when I have everything else finished! Now if only my poor little man would get to feeling better!  

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Happy Hunting!  

I've been scammed!

My toddler barely slept last night. I was up with him three times. He was sick this weekend but was on the road to recovery or so I thought. I went ahead and took a family illness day. I made plans at 4:30 this morning and even managed to slap some make-up on and appear presentable at 8 so I could be there for class pictures. I ran home to be with my little man before my hubs had to get to his teaching job.



That being said I was just hit with a bean bag. Someone is up and running around the house while I type. During his first little nap I was able to get a few things finished. Then I started thinking ahead to next year. I know...I know....we still have 40 days left in this school year. But I can't help it. This warm, beautiful weather has me thinking about summer and all of the things I need to do to get ready for next year. Then I start thinking about the changes I want to make. Then I start freaking out because school is going to start in August! That's when I grabbed an iced coffee and start doing what I can while telling myself to calm down.

So while my little man plays with his cars I put together a few things for my new THEME next year...SUPERHEROES!

My NEW Daily Five Posters

My NEW EEKK Poster

Next year I want to do a better job of setting classroom norms with my students. I will still keep my 5 rules but I want to try setting the norms with my class. I did some research and for those of you who are unfamiliar with norms (as I was) they can be defined as accustomed ways of perceiving, believing, evaluation, and acting in an environment.

I am working on a set of posters for the norms. But I think it is time to go and play cars with my little man!

Me On the Map

Our firsties recently read the book Me on the Map by Joan Sweeney. They always love this story. Last year, I had a really hard time conveying the concept of living on our planet, hemisphere, continent, country, state, and town all at the same time. I always got the "that just blew my mind" look. 

This year we took it slow. We used concentric circles and started with the largest circle and began talking about our planet. 

The next day we reviewed the details about our planet and added a slightly smaller circle and discussed our continent. We also sang our continent song. LOVE it! 

 We then cut out a smaller circle and drew our country. {For some it was easier than others!}

Then a smaller circle for our state. 

Our town was the next circle followed by a circle for ourselves! 

I love first grade self portraits. 

  Using clothes pins to keep their art together for the week was a life saver. I always try to collect then sort everyday but with a project with this many pieces I needed another idea. So I wrote their names with Sharpie on the clothespin and then had them clip everything together for "safe" keeping all week.

Seusstastic!

I didn't always like Dr. Seuss stories. I like article adjectives and real words so Seuss stories were not always appealing to me. It wasn't until I was ready to graduate and I was given Oh! The Places You'll Go that I saw the magic of Seuss. Reading his biography has also opened my eyes to how his stories were really ground breaking in the Dick and Jane world of early reading. Enough of the psychobabble, here are some fun Seusstastic activities that my firsties were working on this week! 

 I was inspired by Mel D. over at Seusstastic Classroom Inspiration. She has the cutest examples and printables. Click HERE to head over to her site. I didn't have the time to paint their hands red for the body. Instead I had them draw a body and a picture that matches the destruction that Thing 1 or 2 would wreck on their house.

So cute! 

They had such creative ideas. This writer had Thing 2 throwing out her clothes! 

Tomorrow we are going to have a birthday party for Dr. Seuss complete with guest readers, birthday donuts, and Seuss hats! {We may even have a surprise visit from the cat himself!}

Happy Reading to All! 

Valentine Aftermath

This is not a timely post. I really wanted to post the day before Valentine's Day but I was too busy making  my Valentine cards. Then I was going to post the day after but needed a nap after our party! 26 sugared-up firsties really know how to have fun at ear-piercing volumes. We sure did have fun. 

Here are the Valentines I made for my students. I found the idea on Pinterest and the templates and tags at Blond-Girl Designs. Click here for the templates. I love spending time on their site. They are amazing!

I found this idea for cereal box card holders here at Plaid online. I had a wonderful volunteer help the students wrap them and then help glitter them! Of course some had more glitter than others! 

 The day of the party we played some really cute games. We played a relay race where the students had to unwrap chocolate while wearing mittens. They loved this game!

 We, of course, passed out cards and candy! 

We also made some spectacular party shades! What is a party without party glasses? 

From the looks of the Valentine cards, parents have also fully embraced Pinterest! 

Here are some really cute ideas. 

My reading student gave this to me. His mother saw one in the local grocery store and made it herself. 

This was a flower pot cupcake, complete with green grass icing. What a fun day! 

My husband surprised me by putting roses on my desk after I left on Monday. When I went to work {at 6:30am} they were there waiting for me. What a sweet surprise! 

Have a wonderful Presidents' Day weekend! I'm enjoying my Pączki and coffee. Happy Almost Lent! 

Another Meeting

I am on WAY too many committees. After planning for meetings THREE days this month already! {It's only the 6th of February!} I've decided that next time my substitute should sub for me in the meetings. They can get paid to take notes and ask questions I compiled from my colleagues. That way I can be in my classroom doing what I love to do...TEACH!

Right now I am meeting with the administrators and teachers from our district to write our teacher evaluation rubric. So I am torn. I believe what we are doing has value and merit, but why do I have to miss school to participate?

I really miss my students. :(

 At least I have Ryan to help me get through. I will be all professionally developed. I also will become a Master at substitute lesson planning. *sigh*

Thanks Ryan, thanks! 

I pulled these amazing pictures from here. 

Are You Ready for Some Football?

Well, I live in Indianapolis so we have been hearing about the Super Bowl for MONTHS! Indy is a fantastic city and it is wonderful to hear the positive comments from visitors. It is 58 degrees here today so I know a lot of people are taking in the happenings at the Super Bowl Village. Our family went last weekend. I, of course, had my camera at school.

In school we can't help but talk about the upcoming game. {This Sunday for those who are far removed from the hype!} Today, we made our "super" players and added our prediction to our Super Bowl t-chart. It was a great way to collect, organize, and analyze data. As you can tell, most of my firsties are going with Peyton's little brother Eli and the Giants to win the Super Bowl. Myself and only ONE other firstie chose the seasoned Patriots to win. We had a great lesson about possible and impossible. I had to admit that my favorite team, the Philadelphia Eagles are an impossible choice since they failed to win their division. One little guy pointed out that the Colts are in impossible choice to which I immediately felt better about the Eagles.

I freehanded the footballs and they are free if you click on my TPT store HERE. One less thing to do, right?

Tomorrow we are going to write personal narratives about our Super Bowl experiences. So many of our students have been to the Super Bowl Experience or downtown to see the village. We are SUPER excited about our city being in the spotlight.

I found some really great writing paper from the Littlest Learners. Click HERE to download. It is adorable and even better, it's free!