So Much Thanksgiving Fun!

We are officially on Thanksgiving Break!  

It feels like Christmas Break with all the snow we have gotten today and are supposed to keep getting until tomorrow...it is a winter wonderland out there and it's b.e.a.u.t.i.f.u.l.

I wanted to share some of the Thanksgiving fun we have had in the last couple of weeks. We ended it all today with a fabulous Thanksgiving feast.  We (the Pilgrims) invited another class (the Native Americans) to come to our classroom and join us for our feast.  We ate turkey, pumpkin pie in a cup, and made our own butter.  Yum!  

My favorite Thanksgiving Day activity this year was these adorable Thanksgiving bracelets.  We ended up turning them into necklaces because it was easier for my kiddos, but it really helped them remember the Thanksgiving story and many of them wore them again today for our feast.  

The greatest news is that this is a FREEBIE!  If you're already done with school for the week, this is a must save for next year.  It was a huge hit with my kiddos!  Click on the picture to go download! 

She also included a book to go with the story.  This was great for my kiddos to work on while I helped tie the necklaces.  

We also played Thanksgiving Math games during our Daily 4 math time.  My kiddos LOVE playing Bump and this month they practiced counting by 5's with this adorable game board. This is a FREEBIE on Lory's blog and she has counting by 10's and 100's too!  

We also practiced ABC order with this cute FREEBIE:

We made these cute little turkeys and hung them up in the hallway.  We wrote 3 things we were thankful for to put underneath.  This pack isn't a freebie, but it's totally worth it!  

We used my own Night Before Thanksgiving Activity Pack for morning work and some review activities.  It's on sale for the rest of the week if you want to grab it for next year!  

Well, I am off to relax.  I am on Thanksgiving Break and I am going to enjoy it!  Happy Thanksgiving!  Hope you all enjoy your holiday with your family and friends!  

Lots of fun SCOOT freebies!

Last week was nothing short of c.r.a.z.y.  

We had conferences Thursday evening until 9 pm, I met with my principal for my pre-conference after filling out almost 10 pages of information, took a 4 hour online violence training course, had 2 meetings for a couple of my kiddos, had morning duty for 20 minutes each morning before the bell rang, and had to make sure the house was clean because we had company over Friday night!  

Phew...I'm tired just thinking about it again!  

I was observed yesterday morning and it went really well, but I always get so nervous so I'm very glad it's over!  

We have been working really hard on double digit addition and subtraction.  My kiddos are doing pretty well at addition and subtraction individually, but when they are mixed up they often struggle- especially with double digits!  

We have been practicing during our small groups and playing some games on our iPad, Smart Board, and we played Scoot!  

I have found that my kiddos LOVE Scoot!  It's pretty easy if you've never played before.  The kiddos take their answer sheet and pencil and rotate around the room and answer a question that is on each desk.  This year my kiddos can just walk around the outside of our desks so they're pretty much moving in a circle which has been way easier for them that what we tried last year!!  

It gets them up and moving which really helps my kiddos who have trouble focusing.  I say 3-2-1 and they say SCOOT!  

Here is a freebie you can use with flashcards or make your own math facts to put on kiddos' desks:

Here is a doubles fact Scoot freebie:

I am working on making a double digit math fact Scoot game to share with you too!  I highly recommend playing Scoot with your kiddos if you haven't before.  It's a great way to keep them involved and still practice important skills.  

Here are some other math Scoot games:

You can create any Scoot game with Amy's template!!  

This Scoot game is a great way to practice number sense!  

This Scoot game will help your kiddos understand whether math equations are true or false!  

Hope you can enjoy some of these freebies and enjoy a game of Scoot!  We love it!  :)

Now I need to get ready for my post observation conference.  This new teacher evaluation process is crazy!!  I am so hoping it goes well!  :)

November Currently

I can't believe it's already November!  Go visit Farley for the November Currently!  

Listening- Trust Me, I'm a Game Show Host is so funny!  I can't believe some of the lies they come up with!  

Loving- We went shopping last night and today and I got some really cute new Christmas decorations. 

Thinking- I can't wait to put all of them out, but Hubby says I have to wait!  :)

Wanting- I saw a new Vera pattern that I LOVE so I think I need a new bag now!  

Needing- I need to start my Christmas shopping.  Technically I've already started because I have bought a couple things, but I still have a lot to buy.  I don't want to let Christmas sneak up on me this year! 

Yummy Pin:

 Here is the link: http://cookiesandcups.com/krispie-treat-christmas-tree/img_5895/ or you can click on the picture.  

I love krispie treats and they're not as loaded with calories as other holiday goodies.  Even as a non-cooking wife I could TOTALLY make this!!  :)

Now go sign up with your own Currently!  You even have an extra hour tonight to do it!  :)

Bat Freebies and on Bloglovin'!

We have had so much fun learning about bats over the last 2 weeks! 

I wanted to share some of the great resources I have found with you so I started to type up a new post about bats.  However, when I went back to see what I shared last year about bats I saw that we did the same exact activities!  

Rather than retype the same things, I'm going to link back to it HERE.  Click on the link to go get some great bat freebies!!  

My kiddos loved making bats with bat facts from Lita Lita.

You can see one of the bats on the top of this graph!  

I also wanted to share that I am now on Bloglovin'!

I am not that old, but sometimes it is crazy trying to keep up with all these social networks....Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, TpT!  

I love it, but sometimes I feel exhausted!  Now I'm off to watch The Voice to relax!  :)

I'm Baaaack with an Updated Halloween Pack Giveaway!!

Hellooooo!!  Anybody out there?!?!  

Is anyone still following me after a month and a half blogging hiatus?!?!  :)

The beginning of this year has been a little rough to say the least.  Every school year seems to demand more and more.  I just needed to take a break from the blogging world and keeping up with TpT.

I think I'm ready to come back now.  I've really missed blogging and sharing things.  I have taken so many pictures and I think I'll blog about that, but then I never seem to have the time to sit down and blog.  

Now I'm going to make the time!  :)

I wanted to share my Night Before Halloween Activity Pack that I have updated this year:

  

This pack is full of fun Halloween activities.  You can use them on a sub day, when you're progress monitoring your kiddos, or when you need a few minutes to get some make-up work done.  It seems like I am always needing a few minutes to get something done! 

I always read The Night Before Halloween by Natasha Wing to my kiddos every year. They love it so I highly recommend it with this pack!  Click on the book below to purchase it on Amazon!

Since I have been gone for sooooo long I am giving this pack away to the *first 10 people* who leave a comment with their email address below sharing their favorite Halloween activity as a thank you for sticking around my blog!  

Hope you enjoy it and come back to visit!  Make sure you follow my Facebook page too so you can grab some freebies that are coming!  :) 

Currently....Late Again!

I am definitely never going to be known for being on time....  :)

We have a movie on Netflix, but obviously I'm not real interested...I don't even know the name of it.  

I have felt awful this week.  The "Back to School Plague" has definitely hit me and my family.  I'm just glad I feel better than I did yesterday and Wednesday.  

I feel like I am never going to get caught up on all I need to at school...2 steps forward and 3 steps backward. 

I would love to have some ice cream...my throat is still sore and I think ice cream is the cure.   

I...need...sleep- no explanation needed.  

1. Go the gym: I really need to go to the gym on a regular basis.  That's my goal for September. 

2. Leave school earlier: I have been staying way too late at school so I'm going to try to leave earlier...really, really try...I can do it....I think.  :) 

3.  Go to a movie: I haven't been to a movie in the theater in sooo long and I would love to go.  Hopefully this month it will happen.  

Well, I am off to see if I can get Hubby to get us some ice cream.  I think I'll be able to.  :)

Now go link up with Farley so I'm not the last one!  

Poetry Notebook Fun and FREEBIE

Today was our 8th day of school and we fully ran Daily Five today!!!  I was so proud of my first graders!  

I think this may be the earliest I have ever felt like my kiddos could do it.  We used our Smart Board to make our choices and I had kids reading to self, reading to someone, word work-ing, and listening to reading all at the same time.  I've decided to wait on work on writing because I have so many kiddos that just aren't ready to be independent with that yet.  

Then, in the middle of our Daily Five greatness we had a fire drill!  I was working with a kiddo on his DRA when it went off and the sound of the alarm literally made me jump.  I think I totally scared my little kiddo!  Oops!!

Something else I have already implemented in our classroom are our poetry notebooks.  We had our kiddos bring 3 ring binders this year instead of using folders like I have in the past.  I used my *FREE* Poetry Notebook pack for our binder cover, table of contents page, and poetry log.

I gave my kiddos a cover and wrote their name on it which is covered by the crayon in the picture:

This next picture is the inside and I hate that it's upside down.  I changed it when I saved it to my computer, but when I uploaded it here it went upside down.  :(  If anyone knows how to fix this I would love to know how!!

The purple paper in the front pocket is the parent log.  My kiddos take their poetry notebooks home every Friday and read their poems over the weekend.  I don't require this, but I do highly encourage and reward it.  This encourages reading at home over the weekend without officially assigning homework.  Parents can sign the log one time each weekend.  I don't care if my kiddos read 1 poem or 20 poems.  Once the log is filled up my kiddos get Class Dojo points.  The green paper attached to it is just an explanation for parents.  

The yellow paper is their table of contents page.  We give each poem a page number and then we write the title and page number on the table of contents.  It helps keep us organized.  I gave my kiddos 3 copies of this page on the front and back because we fill up our notebooks with so many poems that I don't want to have to add more pages later.  

Each week I give my kiddos 2 poems (front and back).  The first one is usually a phonics or sight word poem.  The one below is for our -at word family.  I have a notebook full of poems, but this year I decided to retype them so that I could make the font bigger, add an illustration, and add a place for my kiddos to write the page numbers.  I'm loving this idea.  :)

The second poem this week was called My First Day since we just started school.  The second poem is usually about a holiday or content area.  I will be using one on tally marks soon as well as apples as we begin our apple unit.  I typed this one up too and added a place for my kiddos to illustrate a picture.  This kiddo drew her at her desk and me in front of the room.  :)

I love our poetry notebooks.  My kiddos read these all the time during Daily Five and when they finish their work early.  They also enjoy showing their families how well they can read on the weekends.  :)

You can download my *FREE* Poetry Notebook pack here to get started.  I didn't include any poems because I use ones I have in books or have found online.  I'm not creative enough to make my own or I would totally share them with you!!  :)

If you have any other suggestions or ideas for a poetry notebook, I would love to hear them!  I'm always looking for new ideas to help my kiddos read.  :)

To read about what causes rain, follow my Facebook Fan Page and see what one of my kiddos told me this week!  LOVE first graders!!  :)