Thursday, March 31, 2011

Feed The Pigs!


Dollar Tree Piggy Banks = Instant Math Station!




We won't officially begin our Money Unit for several weeks, so I have plenty of time to add to these ideas (...and to add some "bling" to the plastic pigs), but until then 

Have a fabulous evening!

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Ladybug's Giveaway


Check out the Dr. Seuss blog design giveaway at 

Ladybug's Teacher Files!



How Cute is Her Giveaway Design?!?




Perfect Classroom Blog for the "new" school year!




I entered in on the fun!


You Know You're A Teacher When


Fabulous Abby at the Inspired Apple is having a link up party!


You Know You're A "First Grade" Teacher When...


You have more coffee mugs than IHOP!

You do not have any names to give to your own children as the “names” have all been taken!

You have a fabulous immune system since you have been exposed to every germ on the planet!

Your husband willingly cuts out your laminating, corrects math papers (so you can have a  “life” on Saturdays), and picks up all of those classroom extras at the store each and every week without ever questioning as to why you need it!

You are on a first name bases with the clerk at the Dollar Tree!

You have a shirt or sweater for every holiday and you are not embarrassed to wear it in public.

Amazon.com boxes arrive at your home residence weekly (…or even biweekly) because you just can’t wait for the lower price in a future Scholastic book order!

You buy “247” boxes of Girl Scout cookies each year, just to be fair!

When walking through the hardware store, your husband sees PVC pipes, you see reading phones, science projects, and/or parent volunteer projects.

You LOVE Technology and even worse you will spend hours making sure your lesson plan, newsletter, classroom display, (etc.) have the cutest clip art!

You get just as excited as your students for the first “Snow Day” of the season!

You have the best job in the world!
After all,  “joy” is just one letter away from job!

 Happy Wednesday!



Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Play Ball!


We will be working on reading (and pronouncing) words with the "ed" ending correctly!

Here's a fun game I just made to reinforce these skills.


The game cards can be used to for matching, sorting, and/or recognition skills.
I've included the baseball field as a game board and a simple spinner.


If you are interested in using it as a game board, you may want to model how to read the card, spin the spinner, and advance correctly along the baseball diamond.

Play Ball!

Monday, March 28, 2011

Pretty In Pink!



Spring is in full bloom in our Nation's Capital!



These famous Cherry Blossoms inspired our classroom learning today!


On Saturday, I had the pleasure to meet the author of this fabulous children's book, Cherry Blossom Friends!  The author, Corkey Hay DeSimone, engages readers of all ages through the use of riddles and fascinating facts included in her book.

This book teaches the history of the cherry trees gifted from Japan.  It also uses the fun riddles to inform students about the animals that live in the area and among the famous cherry trees.  The book shares history of the monuments and other historical landmarks in and around the National Mall.  

Her beautiful words and eye catching illustrations inspired my young authors and illustrators today!

Take a look at some of our projects!






Thank you to Mrs. DeSimone for sharing your talents and your books with many young children!

Click here and here for a couple of links, if you are interested in additional information.

Happy Spring!

Sunday, March 27, 2011

April Poems


Looking for a few April Poetry Notebook Pages?
(Click above to download the four poems.) 
(Please note: I did not write these poems.   I wish I was so clever!)

Did you know?
I came across these cool tools today at the craft store!

Just had to pick up this handy little gadget as well!
The Crayola Dry Erase Travel Pack

Have a great last week of the "looong" month of March!

Thursday, March 24, 2011

R Controlled Vowels

We've had a lot of fun this week with bossy "R"!

Download two "r controlled" word sorts and a word study game.

Here's a writing sort grid.  
(It can also serve double "duty" as a game recording sheet.)

Happy (almost) TGIF !!!! 

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Bon Appetit!


March is National Children's Nutrition Month!

We will begin our Nutrition Unit tomorrow!
(I'll post a few pictures of our activities later this week.)

Here are a couple of great sites!
(Click above to visit the site.)

(Click above to visit the site.)

Here's a pdf with a few more links!

Happy Teaching!