Anchors Away...

Just the title makes me wish I was on a boat, drawing up the anchor, sailing away into the sunset without 6 and 7 year old crazies....ahh...20 more days well, until school is out *cancel* the boating dream.

Speaking of anchors and my complete love-fest with making anchor charts to fancy up learning and my room (courtesy of Cara Carroll and Abby Mullins), I have created 2 new charts the past few weeks to introduce a few grammar concepts to my firsties.

~Pronouns~

~Prepositions~

 

---------Here are a few I have made in the past!---------

 

I'm in the process of remaking them on the computer to put into a packet just-for-YOU!!! Can't wait to share the final product with you.

Hang in there...tomorrow is Friday!

Teacher Appreciation Sale and a Giveaway!

There's times in our career when we feel like we are often overlooked, unappreciated, taken advantage of, and overworked. But this week, it's all about you pretty little things! I want to take a minute to say how much I appreciate you as a blogger and the time you spend reading, commenting, and furthering my success. I love what and who I have come to know in this blog world and can't say thank you enough!!

As most of you know, TpT is having another humanginormus 2 day sale (can I get a WHOOP)! Of course there's no better way to express my appreciation than to join in on the f-u-n! Starting tomorrow everything in my store will be on sale for 20% off plus another 10% that TpT is throwing in with their code...and somehow it magically comes out to a fabulous 28% off.

Thanks to Ashley Hughes for sharing this cute as a button, button!

Here are a few products that are already in my shopping cart:

 

 

Can't wait for tomorrow!

Click {here} to be taken directly to my TpT store. Don't forget to enter the promo code TAD13 at checkout!

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My friend Melissa over at First Grade Smiles is having a GREAT-B.I.G giveaway. Head on over to her blog or enter below for a chance to win some some of the prizes from 3 of these giveaways!

 

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Good luck and Happy Shopping!

 

 

Five for Friday in May!

Praise the Lord for Friday and a fun linky party to celebrate! Here are some random happening that "went down" in our classroom this week!

We do word work everyday and on Thursday's we change it up a little bit to get out of the normal routine. My kids live for word work on Thursday (which as a teacher, is awesome)!! Did you know you can use Expo markers on your kid's desks and they wipe RIGHT off!?!? It's pretty much one of the most amazing things eva! The kids think it is cra-z that they can write on their desk....what!?

We have dug deep into our plant unit (ha--dug!) the past 2 weeks. We made a quizable flipbook and I had the kids read the clues and quiz their partner's knowledge about the parts of a plant and their functions.

Our school celebrated Teacher Appreciation week early. I'm thinking this week should be moved to late winter like January/Februaryish. I guess whoever created it didn't realize the massive, like HUGE, amounts of food, candy, chocolate, etc. that is consumed during this week a-l-o-n-e!! And with it being so close to summer, it's hard for a girl to say "I've just got to stick to that swimsuit diet." This week=total bust!

My room is decorated in full-out jungle printness. These clothes pins were one of my favorite gifts this week. I'm in need of a trip to Michael's to purchase more for the clip chart. Love Love Love!!!

I was out 2 days last week to administer the STAAR test. I have a wonderful class of firsties this year but occasionally they are a little, silly shall we say. I found this beyond precious note when I was going through and checking their work:

"I am sorry for getting in trouble when there was a sub.  You are the best teacher. Thank you." 

Bless his little heart. Love me some sweet notes!

Don't forget to link up with your random 5 things from this past week over at Doodle Bugs Teaching blog:

Wishing you a weekend of beautiful spring weather!

Currently May {already??}

Two words: Holy Smokes! It's May! Yes, I changed my calendar at school and yes, I wrote the date on the board...but it didn't hit me until I saw the word "Currently". That always makes my brain jump up in awakenment (new word of the month). So here's to the last FULL month of this school year---MAY!

Listening: I started dancing at a very young age, and continued competitively through high school. I love me some Dance Moms. It blows my mind how they act (I never remember any of our mothers acting like that). Nevertheless, I continue to watch it!

Loving: I started our class' countdown to summer early last week. Each day, I let my leader tear off one chain link from our decreasing chain. Except...I'm kind of thinking this whole "countdown" thing has backfired as the kids slowly lose their mind.

Thinking: There are quite a few changes happening on my team next year. One veteran teacher is retiring, one is transferring, and 2 want to move grade levels. Those of us left on the team have started the interview process. I am very anxious to see who we add!!

Wanting: Can I get an amen!?!? I think that Phil the Groundhog should be fired! I mean, 40 degrees in May...in TEXAS! That.is.absurd

Needing: This week was teacher appreciation week and let me just say....chocolate, candy, sweets. Don't get me wrong, those are some of my favorite thing in life but summer IS just 24 days away folks!

Summer Bucket List: 1) First and foremost, I am looking forward to no scheduled routine so I can R-E-L-A-X    2) Tan--this goes back to there being an awkward spring, with not a lot of sun which leaves this white girl whiter than white for it being May!   3) Revamp my file cabinets---they are overflowing and are in major need of some TLC. I want to take a lot of the units I have purchased and put them into binders.

Don't forget to link up with Farley for her fun monthly linky!

 

Enjoy your weekend ladies! The countdown to June is on!

 

One Word...Instagram!

I have found a new love and its name is Instagram! I've had a personal account for about a year now and recently realized what the hype is all about. So, I ventured off and turned it into a personal/teaching shared account. If y'all haven't jumped on the bandwagon, now is the time! What is more fun than seeing what other teachers are doing in their rooms? It's a great new way to get ideas, comment/talk with other teacher bloggers, and get a peek inside some great teacher's classrooms!

Rachelle from What the Teacher Wants and Michelle at Apples and ABC's have come up with a genius idea.

Here's how it works:

1. Create an Instagram account and join in on the fun!

2. Post a picture on Tuesday of happenings in your classroom.

3. Tag the picture using the hashtag #teachertalktuesday.

 

For the Love of First Grade is on Instagram so don't forget to follow!

@fortheloveoffirstgrade

 

Here are a few of my favorite posts from the last 2 weeks:

 

We finished our poetry unit learning all about alliterations. Here is the chart my kiddos helped me create.

 

 

 My newest freebie for Mother's Day was in the works last week, and was posted on the blog yesterday (check Sunday's post)!

 

 

While blogging Saturday morning, my cat decided to catch, tackle, and take on this fierce lizard!!

Come join us on Tuesday for our first #teachertalktuesday! And don't forget to link up with Michelle over at Apples and ABC's for an Instagram linky!

Colorful Carnations, Magnificent Moms, plus a *Freebie*

I feel like I am always saying "I can't believe it's already ______!"  Before I started working as a teacher, 2 short years ago, I think back and don't remember time ever flying by as fast as it does now. It just blows my mind! I mean...Mother's Day is in just 2 weeks. Did you hear that? 2 WEEKS {gah}!!

I wanted to come up with something sweet, simple, and creative for my firsties' magnificent mothers! I thought it would be fun to buy some white carnations and let them pick a color, or their mom's favorite, and dye them!

I put together this FREEBIE to go with it.

I plan to print out the tags and have the kids tie them to the flower. There are 3 different patterns, each with the same poem...by {ahem} myself! I'm sort of proud, so please don't ruin my moment, ha!

"I dyed this flower just for you, because my love is ever true!"

If you would like to download, head over to my TpT shop. Please be kind and let me know what you think with some feedback.

We are definitely also using A Cupcake for the Teacher's Mother's Day ice cream adjective craftivity.

So. stinkin. cute!

What kind of activities do you have your class put together for mom? The more suggestions, the better!

Six for Saturday

So I'm a day late. I hate being late...but a night with the girlfriends of dinner and shopping definitely won over a blog post late last night! Despite being out 2 days this week to help out with STAAR testing (I told a colleague I would rather have been tied to some of my firsties instead of stuck giving this dumb test), we had a great week in 1st grade!

Instead of the regular 5 for Friday, I added one more picture to make up for my lateness....so it's 6 for Saturday!

We started our perfect plant unit this week by digging up some plant schema to see what we already knew and of course, activate our prior knowledge!



We did a little observing to see how much our plants grew this week. 

 If you missed out on my Perfect Plant Observation Log post with the 2 freebies click {here} to check it out!

 

A Cupcake for the Teacher inspired me to make a similar anchor chart after we discussed ways we could reduce, reuse, and recycle. We also put a "pledge" of one things we can do to help save Earth around the edges! They loved it!

If you missed out on my Earth Day post with the a craftivity freebie click {here} to check it out!

 

In math, we learned about time all week so before our test Friday, we did a little review game of Time BINGO!

 

Mother's Day is just 2 weeks away! Holy smokes batman! I created another freebie. Be on the lookout on the blog post tomrrow for a cute, easy, and simple activity to do with your students. Here's a peeky!

And the most exciting part of all.....drumroll please......we O-FFICIALLY started our summer countdown! WOO HOO! 28 days.....

 


Head on over to Doodle Bugs for her super-fun linky to see what has been happening in classroom all across the country this week!

On another note, if you haven't heard...I'm on Instagram! Follow me here (click on the pic below) for the latest happening in my classroom and life in general.

Enjoy your weekend friends!