I'm Back...with Pictures! :)

Oh my goodness....it has been over 3 weeks since I last blogged!  Busy, busy, busy is all I can say!  

Hubby and I are moving this weekend and we are sooo *excited* but have been so busy cleaning, organizing, packing, and soon to be remodeling!  

I wanted to post some pictures of our weather experiment at the end of our weather unit.  We actually did this a couple weeks ago, but I'm just now getting to posting them....oops!  

We made it rain and my kiddos thought it was the coolest thing ever!  Thank you to Pinterest for the idea!  

Once our experiment was over we had some extra shaving cream so I did what any good teacher would do.  I put some shaving cream on everyone's desk so we could play in it practice spelling our Fundations words!  

After we practiced a few words we started practicing some other important first grade words like....(sorry they're all sorts of crooked)

Mrs. Seymour - Mrs. really is a Fundations words so this was good practice!  :)

Rock Star- that's our class theme

First grade is awesome - now that's just true!  

So this was the end of our weather unit.  My kiddos loved it.  We'll be bringing back the shaving cream again for sure.  It makes the room smell great and helps clean their desks...that's a double win!  

We've started using my May Activity Pack and End of Year Countdown to Summer this week.  We're counting down the days to summer with some fun activities each day to encourage good behavior!  

I'll be back to blog more about this with pictures this week.  At least I'm really going to try...if I can find my laptop in all the boxes!  

Pictures.....Finally!!

I'm. so. tired.  


Grading, blogging, end of year activities, blogging, entertaining my wild and crazy kiddos, blogging, grad school homework, blogging, grade level and classroom ordering, blogging....my list just goes on and on!  :)  


I've finally loaded the pics I've taken of my stars from my May Fun Pack.  Behind the big stars are little stars with activities or treats for my kiddos.  Those that get all of their work done and have good behavior get to participate.  


I started this yesterday and it's working like a charm so far.  It's great being able to remind them throughout the day that if they don't make good choices, they're not going to get to participate in our star surprise.  


Here are the stars:

I know the bulletin board paper doesn't match the stars, but it was the only open spot I had.  Next year, I'll plan ahead better!  :)

These two are back up on the board now.  After we turn them over, I just tape them back up so we can see what we have done so far.  

We also have a book that we write in before we see what's behind the star.  We have to write 2 math sentences for the number of days left....just to tie in a little math.  :)

And, just in case you were wondering...I've had kids miss the treat/surprise both days so far.  :(  Overall, my classroom behavior has been much better though so I'm happy!  And, my kiddos are loving it!  


If you do purchase my May Fun Pack and would like some other ideas/treats on the small stars, please email me and I can put whatever you would like on there!  

May Fun Pack and Countdown to Summer

I LOVE Pinterest!  I'm sure many of you do too!  I found an idea on there not too long ago about hanging balloons from the ceiling with little papers in them with activities for your kiddos to do at the end of the year.  I thought this was a GREAT idea!


However, I have a couple kiddos that I think would be stressed by the popping of the balloons every day so I decided to make stars to hang on my bulletin board instead.  I found some cute stars at Graphics From the Pond and I put numbers on the them starting at 36 and going down to 1.


Today I had them them cut out and laminated (by my awesome aide Mrs. J) and put up on my board to start using this week.  I've made smaller stars with activities on them to tape to the back of the bigger stars for my kiddos to do.  I explained to my very well behaved, especially for a Monday kids today how it would work.  (I took a picture of the stars, but I will have to post it later!  Then, I realized I left my camera at school so I will post pics tomorrow...promise!)


At the end of the day, we will get out our Countdown to Summer booklets (included with my pack) and find two ways to make the number of days left.  For example, on day 10 we might put 2 nickels, 10 tally marks, or addition and subtraction sentences, etc.


Then, we will turn the star over to find the surprise on the back!  I've told my kiddos no peeking or the stars come down.  I also told them we will only have fun with the stars if we can get all of our work done throughout the day and we continue to follow school rules.  Those kiddos who are beyond ready for summer don't make good choices will not get to participate in the activities!  I'm hoping this encourages some great end of the year behavior!!!!!  :)


I've included enough stars to count down from day 36 and I've also included a bunch of activities on smaller stars.  I did leave some blank ones for you to add your own ideas too.


I also thought it was important to include a recording sheet of the surprises so you know exactly what's going to happen that day.  My kiddos will think I'm totally surprised, but always prepared!  :)  This will help in making sure you have enough time or if you need to switch an activity with another at the last minute.


I figure if I can get excellent behavior and lots of work completed throughout the day, I can give them the last 5-10 minutes!  Some of the activities I plan on doing are some science experiments (not included) that I have found.  The star just says experiment so I can choose which ones I want to do.  I also plan on using some of the activities more than once!


Here is a snapshot of the activity pages and the countdown stars and booklet:

I'm going out to dinner with my Hubby and his family, but I wanted to give away two May Fun Packs to the first two people who comment and leave me their email addresses!  I'll send them out when I get back home!

And, here's a freebie for all of my followers:

If you use the freebie, please leave me a comment letting me know how you handle classroom management at the end of the school year!  

I'm sure we could all use some tips!  :)

Lots of Winners!

I'm so excited to have over 100 followers!  I have 10 winners to announce and here they are:

I will be emailing you your choices from my store in just a few minutes!  Thank you everyone for participating in my giveaway!!  :)

And, now for the GRAND PRIZE WINNER: (drum roll please):

Karla at Life in Special Education!!  

Karla, please let me know which item you would like from my store and from Christina's and I will send them to you!  

Thanks again everyone!  

I've created a new May Fun Pack with a Countdown to Summer book with lots of fun activities to do with your kiddos to help encourage great end of the school year behavior!  :)  It's for sale at my TpT store right now, but I will be posting a freebie tomorrow!  

I've been working on grad school homework for HOURS and I'm going to bed!!  I can't keep my eyes open any longer... 

Have a good week!