Are You a Winner??

THANK YOU, Thank You, thank you to everyone who entered our giveaway! Ashley and myself had SO much fun putting this together and we hope you had just as much fun participating!

 

Here are the 12 *lucky* winners: drumroll please.....

 

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

CONGRATS Winners!

 

Ashley or myself will be emailing you shortly with your beloved prize!

 

A B-I-G shoutout for those who donated a product. Without you, this definitely wouldn't have been as successful as it was!

 

*Planner HEAVEN*

I confess...I love to be organized. There is nothing greater than walking into any space and seeing it's nice and tidy greatness! Having everything just where it is supposed to be brings me great joy. That is probably why I love planners. The last few years, I would take myself to Office Depot to search for the "just right" planner. This is NO longer the case.

I've been hearing so much "chatter" about the amazing Erin Condren planners and OH-MY-WORD! She is one genius lady y'all! Mine arrived yesterday in this pretty little package {I knew it would be good if the packaging was such a beauty}.

There is everything you could ever think of in this thing!!! Who doesn't love to have everything safe and secure in ONE place?

Here's the layout of each month (you get to fill in the dates, they are blank).

There is a place to write down your lesson plans by the day/subject/week. Score!

There are extra places to keep a list of classroom volunteers/parents contact information and a substitute page {which I could never part with mine so there will be no sub using it, ha}.

There is a absentee log to record when students are absent.

And this is only the beginning of the greatness of my new little friend. I am elated and sharing the news with my teammates {as of walking in the door this morning}and had to share with my great bloggy friends also.

If you visit Erin Condren's website before the month of May is over, you can get 25% off your purchase using the code: weloveteachers.

Trust me. It's worth it!

A Double Dose of 150 Followers {GIVEAWAY}!!!

 It is finally here! The 150 follower giveaway has arrived! I hope you are as stinkin' excited as I am! As a token of our appreciation to our amazing followers, Ashley from Flying High in First Grade and I are hosting a double dose of 150 followers giveaway.

Check out all of these amazing contributors! Click on all of the following links to follow all of us and then enter the rafflecopter at the bottom. The giveaway will end next Friday, May 31. And if you share about this giveaway in a post or on pinterest, you can earn another entry!

All of the items donated have a "Back to School" theme or are lessons that you can teach at the beginning of the year. There's are even some great classroom management bundles and classroom decor! Since most of us are thinking about next year any ways, why don't we hook y'all up for next year?

Flying High in First Grade

 Blog

TpT Store

For the Love of First Grade

Blog

TpT Store

The First Grade Parade

Blog

TpT Store

Teacher Idea Factory

Blog

TpT Store

Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits

Blog

TpT Store

Step into Second Grade

Blog

TpT Store

Queen of the First Grade Jungle

Blog

TpT Store

 Smitten with First

Blog

TpT Store

Mrs. Richardson's Class

Blog

TpT Store

First Grade Fairytales

Blog

TpT Store

Just Reed!

Blog

TpT Store

Keeping Up with the Kindergarteners

Blog

TpT Store

a Rafflecopter giveaway

There will be 12, yes 12 winners! So you better enter because you have a good chance of winning. Good luck!



Printable Anchor Charts are HERE!

I am uber-obsessed with anchor charts y'all! I love to have things hanging around my room that I use to teach with and that the kids are able to refer back to. You may remember seeing these babies a few weeks back after I finished making my own collection...yes, slaving with the pencils, crayons, and markers making them just perfect.  

 

 

I swore to you I would turn them into easy to use, printable anchor charts for your classroom and.....WALAH!

 

 

Your wish is my command!

This packet includes anchor charts for the following 6 grammar concepts:

*Nouns

*Verbs

*Adjectives

*Adverbs

*Prepositions

*Pronouns

 

I've made it pretty simple folks. If your printer is plugged in and your computer is on, all you have to do is click, print, and laminate!

 It's up in my TpT store and I'm putting them on sale for 20% off tonight and tomorrow.

 

 

Cheers to the End of the Year {Gifts and Such}

As I was planning today, I realized how little time I have left with my firsties. What teacher wouldn't be excited...AND...sad at the same time!? This is so me right now. I have an amazing group of kiddos (I'm fixing to brag) with little to zero discipline problems, yes I have been blessed this year! Thinking about putting their end of year gifts makes me sad to see such a great group of kids leave.

 

Last week, we began the "end of year venture" by beginning our process of making our gifts to each other. I have all the kids bring a new, clean, white pillow case. A mom comes up to help, and each kid gets to put their hand print on all his/her classmate's pillowcases and adds their signature underneath. I also print out a cutesy poem and iron it on.

 

They turn out oh so precious and the kids absolutely go ga-ga over them! I roll them up when dried, tie on a name tag with ribbon, and hand it to them with their award. It turns out to look like a diploma when all wrapped up. Definitely darling as can be!

 

I also purchase swirly straws (Walmart: 97 cents for pack of 6) and small kool-aid packets. I slip the packet and tag with the saying "Have a totally kool summer!" into the straw for a quick and simple addition to the pillowcase and their award.

 

I always have some special parents who help out with almost everything throughout the year. I also like to get them a little something to show them my appreciation.

 

  I purchase a bottle of hand soap from Bath and Body Works (they normally have some type of deal like 5 for $15). I wrap them up in shrink wrap, print out a tag with the saying "Thank you for your helping hands!" and tie it on with a cute ribbon.

 

Here is my end of the year gift pile, all complete. Feels so good! Now...onto that summer countdown!

 

 

Get Acquainted with MY Bloggy Friends!

I'm always up for a F-U-N linky party and I haven't joined in on Flying into First Grade's *Let's Get Acquainted* series in a number of weeks.

 

 

This weeks topic is Meet 2 of My Bloggy Friends. What better way than to get to know other wonderful bloggers who you may have never heard of!

 

First up is Lisa from Growing Firsties.
 

 

I first found Lisa's blog several months ago when she was just starting out. She has since grown her blog like cray-Z! I consider her a great mentor and I often go to her with many questions I have with which she never, EVER hesitates to help me with! It is always great to have someone with such knowledge to go to for help!

 

Second is a newer friend, Ashley from Flying High in First Grade.

 

Her and I insta-clicked and I consider her a great friend even though we have never met {hurry up July}! We are both from Texas (holla!), and have very similar interests. Just like it is great to have a mentor, I believe it is equally important to have someone to take the journey with! If you haven't checked out her blog, please do. She has some great ideas to share and she is super sweet!

I'm honored to say that her and I are both in the same place in our blogging journey and we are hosting a GIVEAWAY together! It starts May 24, so take a look at the participants below...some I'm sure are very familiar! If you don't already follow these amazing ladies, make sure you do so when it comes time for the giveaway, it makes it super EASY to enter!!!

 

Happy following! Don't forget to link up {click on the linky party picture at the beginning of this post}!

 

 

Five for Friday

Tonight I'm thanking the good Lord above that the weekend has arrived. This week was r-o-u-g-h! Tuesday was just about the longest day of my life...I'm telling ya, it was never ending (you know that Lambchops song? I was feeling like it was the day that never ends!). I packed Wednesday for a Thursday/Friday trip for a district training and came back this afternoon to a faculty meeting where our principal told us she is moving school. It's been an emotionally draining week. Needless to say, my firsties and I trucked on through it. Here's a peek at our week:

 

1)

We went totally buggy this week! My kids are obsessed with the word "schema" and love letting me know what they know. We recorded some schema, watched a BrainPOP then recorded some new learning.

 

 2)

We learned about a new insect each day and recorded facts about them, labeled their parts, and completed a directed drawing. Here are some anchor charts I hung around the room.

3)

After learning about the parts of an insect's body, they had to build a bug and have a buddy check their work. 

 4)

The day we learned about Caterpillars and Butterflies, we made a cute and fun life cycle activity with noodles to represent each stage of the cycle.

 

5)

Another milestone has been reached, and why not celebrate!!! Ashely Sanderson from Flying High in First Grade and myself are putting together a 150 follower giveaway. She has become a great bloggy friend and both of our blogs have been growing at the same rate. Take a look at some of the great bloggers who are helping us out with our giveaway. Throughout the week, we will be adding a few more. Make sure you are following the bloggers below for easy entry when the giveaway starts!

 

 

Have a relaxing weekend friends!

 

 

 

 

Don't Let the Pigeon....

I've got them this time...they fell hook-line-sinker! My whole class is head*over*heels in l-o-v-e with The Pigeon! He's funny, definitely silly, quirky, and very demanding. A great fit for firsties. If you haven't read these books you better run...and I mean fast to your library and check them out people!{I feel a little bossy, but even I love these books.} I picked one up last year and the next thing I knew...I owned every single last one.

 

In these hilarious books by Mo Willems, The Pigeon wants many different things. These books are perfect for teaching needs and wants, plus they put a fun twist on it as well!

 

I read every single book, yes all 4 in one sitting. I know what your thinking...."First graders sat still and were engaged for that long??" YES!  

They help me list the things The Pigeon wanted from the books and the things we figured he needed to survive (I went back and drew pictures later).

 

They had me reread ALL the books again the next day (they have a "kidmance"----my take on "bromance"----- with these books).  Then comes the BEST part! They got to write their own "Don't Let The Pigeon....." books. They were in pigeon heaven...you would like I was having a pigeon party they were so excited. This made the teacher in me melt!

Their books blew me away! They were so stinkin' creative! Here's some of their creations:

Don't Let the Pigeon Eat Candy

Don't Let the Pigeon Eat a Mean

Don't Let the Pigeon Dress Up

Don't Let the Pigeon be President

Don't Let the Pigeon Make a Pizza

 

They had the *best* time sharing these with their classmates. We even put them in our classroom library!If you have any spare time at all, please read these books to your kids. I promise you won't regret it!

 

 

Five for F-R-I-D-A-Y {WHOOP}!

HAPPY FRIDAY! This has been one l---o---n---g week. This time of year is always crazy busy and EOY testing (yuck) made this week drag on fo-eva! None the less, we still had to add in a little bit of fun! Here's a peek at our week:

We made our fabulous mother's a poem, picture, and ice cream/adjective craft (c/o A Cupcake for the Teacher)!

We topped off our plants unit by making and labeling the parts of a flower. I just let them have a 'free for all' flower constructing zone. Yes...NO templates provided, yikes! They turned out mighty cute though I must say!

 This time of the year gives me alot of reasons to be SO stinkin' proud of my babies. They have come SO far! Read to Self is SOOOO amazing this time of year. With all the testing I did this week, I gave them some alone time, turned off the lights, let them cuddle up with a good book and just let them read. Ahhh...peace and quiet (and they are such gosh darn cute readers too)!

 We finished up our nonstandard units of measurement. They had a blast measuring their partners y'all! The room was *roaring* loud but I loved watching every minute of their learning experience.

We have been working diligently on writing letters. We finished our class letters and sent them off to a neighbor teacher and our school nurse. Here is what we got back in return. They rollllllled with laughter and I did too! Love my teaching team's creativity!!

Next week, they are on their own writing letters but thanks to Lisa over at Growing Firsties and her amazing Turning Points Letter packet, my kiddos will do fabulous!

Can't wait for the weekend! My little brother graduates with the Fightin' Texas Aggie class of 2013, WHOOP!

 and then moves to Missouri Sunday *definite sadsville*. It's going to be one emotional weekend!

Don't forget to link up with Doodlebugs Teaching for all the linky fun!