The ABCs of First Grade (A Link-Up)

As I was scrolling through Instagram today I noticed that First Grade Stripes posted a link-up party with other first grade blogs. You might be asking yourself, "What is this?". Well let me tell you, it's AWESOME-SAUCE! This is where different bloggers all link together and blog about the same topic. So I thought, "Hey self! We've got time today. Let's do this!" So stop reading this and get to scrolling down to see my ABCs of first grade. You can click on the banner below to go to an original post about this or scroll down to the bottom for a chance to join!

Here we go!

Active- 1st graders are constantly active. We have to be moving!
Balls- Recess balls are plentiful at the beginning of the year....not so much at the end.
Centers- We do these daily for reading and as often as possible for math!

DIRT- This is our Daily Individual Reading Time.
Eraser- "Do you have an eraser? Can I have an eraser?" Are there ever enough?
Friends- We are all about making friends and learning how to be a good friend

Gonoodle- One of the best internet inventions ever! Free brain breaks and activities.
Hands-on- We. Must. Touch. Things! You know this is true.
Illustrate- I push kids to express their writing with detailed illustrations.

Jokes- They are always being told. We work on having them make sense ;)
Kindness- #kindnessmatters and must be taught
Laughter- Always acceptable (as long as it's not meant to be hurtful)

Messy- Scraps, and pencils, and papers, OH MY!
Non-Fiction- This has been a big push and my kids eat it up.
Owls- This has been my theme for the last couple of years.

Pencils- We never have enough sharpened.
Quality- We learn that quality is better than quantity.
Recess- We will take it any way we can and any time we can!

Smiles- Nothing makes your day better than a 1st grader smile!
Talking- Yes we talk, and we talk a lot!
Up- Remember how I said we are hands-on? We are also always up & down!

Victory- We celebrate everyone's victories, big or small.
Whisper- Such an important concept but so hard to master.
eXpo- If you love a teacher, get them Expo markers!

Yes- It is perfectly okay to use this word often. "No" is not always necessary!
Zippers - While wonderful....nothing says frustration like trying to get 22 winter coats zipped while they are wanting to get outside to recess.

So there you have it. My ABCs of first grade! I hope you've enjoyed them. I'm sure you were thinking of your own words as you went down the list. If you'd like to participate you can grab the image below, click on the picture of the frame I used to get my frames, or create your own! Be sure to go back to First Grade Stripes post so you can link up with us!

Summer Update - Fun trips, fun gadgets, and a FUN new app!

Where has the summer gone? We are nearing the end of July and it seems like it was just yesterday we were beginning summer and I was getting ready for Summer Camp. As you can see from my lack of blogging I've been a busy bee working on other items. So here's a quick update with all of the FUNderful (See what I did there? fun + wonderful) points of my summer thus far.

1. FUN TRIPS
While I haven't really gotten a chance to travel this summer I was able to get back home for a little bubble fun this weekend. I met up with a best friend and we rocked the Bubble Run at the KC speedway! I've done Color Runs, an Electric Run, and now a Bubble Run and this was definitely a run(walk) we'll be doing again!

I have also just scheduled a visit to Salt Lake City, UT for their ComiCon!!! Chris Evans is going to be there and I will be getting up close and personal :)

2. FUN GADGETS
If you are like me you are constantly on your phone. From school email, personal email, Facebook, Instagram, games, pictures, Periscope (read below), music and more, my poor phone was struggling to keep up. Getting tired of the constant reminder I was almost out of storage.....I slumped into Verizon and skipped out with a new phone, Vivofit, and a tablet. Let's say Verizon won me over with a package I couldn't pass up. So while I am rocking away on my new phone (with a beautiful new case) my kids can use my new tablet for AR tests, rewards, and photography for the blog!

      

3. FUN APP!
Here is my favorite part of this summer. I took the leap and got on the Periscope app after seeing all my fellow teachers post about it on Instagram after the TpT Vegas event. Well let me tell you "I. AM. HOOKED!" This app lets you connect with others, watch live streaming videos from them or post your own, and comment to interact. So far I've followed and connected with a ton of different teachers in different grades across the country. I've posted a few short scopes (videos) but I have watched at least 10x that many scopes. I've gotten ideas for WBT teaching which inspired a book purchase as well as ideas for center management. I can't wait to see what new things I learn through the use of this app!

 

 

Center management tips from Elementary Shenanigans

Great tips from Angie @ Lucky Little Learners

Here's to my FUNtastic summer. I hope that you are enjoying yours as well. Don't forget to hope on to Periscope and give me a follow. I promise to follow back!

TpT Sellers Challenge - Dare to Dream

This week we were all tasked to dream. Doesn't that sound so simple? Dream...... It's harder than you think. Often times our minds are so consumed with what needs to get done and what we haven't done yet that we don't actually take the time (or get the chance) to just dream. Now, I'm not talking about those dreams that come when you close your eyes and drift off to sleep. I've got plenty of those creative dreams. (movies, houses that turn into whales, helping ghosts escape....I could chat you up for days) I'm talking about those dreams for the future that you haven't told many, if any, others. Those dreams that you may be afraid to fully admit. Those dreams that you might not have even let yourself have. That was our challenge. So after some thoughtful reflection I came up with these 6.

teacher resources: I would love to be able to create meaningful activities that will benefit not just my kids but the kids in other teachers classrooms as well. Over the years I have gotten so many great ideas and resources from other teachers. I want to be able to give back and help other teachers as they have helped me.

#EdTech: I like to say that I am some what tech savvy but when it really comes down to it I am not truly using our schools tech to the best of my abilities. I want to push myself to truly go beyond tech as a center or as a some-time tool. I want my kids to be pushing their limits. I want the question in my class to be "What can't I do with technology?"

National Board: I am currently going through the process for National Board Certification. I have only done two components so far and already this process has helped me to reflect on my teaching. I truly want to have this certification, keep this certification, and help other teachers on their journey through this process.

SpEd: I started my journey to get my masters in SpEd last spring. Originally I wanted it for the information and for the bump on the pay scale. As I've gotten into more of the classes I've started opening myself to the possibility of leaving my "regular" classroom and heading to something a little more "special".

home owner: Rent. Rent. Rent. That's all I've done. All of the walls are the same rental property white which in fact is not white but an eggshell cream. I dream of the day when I have a place to truly call mine.

happy: Last, but certainly not least, I want to be happy. Don't we all? No worries about work or administration. No added stress besides our normal  issues. I want to be happy with what I'm doing, where I'm at, and who I am.

I challenge you to Dare to Dream. What are your dreams? While you're pondering, head on over to a couple other blogs and catch their dreams as well!

Dare to Dream --- Grab the image and fill out your own!

TpT Seller Challenge Update!

I finally finished updating a product! A while ago I created an editable Substitute Binder and it was pretty lack luster. It got me through the year but there were definitely changes that needed to be made. Enter in the challenge for this week of a make over. Here's what my product used to look like:

Sad, right?

Let me introduce my new sub binder:

 I cannot wait to get this in my binder. Sub days will be no sweat now. If you like what you see head on over to my TpT store!

Here's to happy planning!

Let the Challenge Begin!

As summer camp continues I find myself with tons of extra time. My afternoon grad class has finished leaving my afternoons completely open. If you are like me, unstructured time is both a gift and a curse. There are tons of things I could be doing......

Getting in some shopping!

Working out (this is clearly an old picture)

Napping (I've enjoyed this since birth)

Checking out new sites!

Instead I find myself sitting and watching tv. With amazing shows like Game of Thrones to catch up on and applications such as DVR and Netflix I can quickly see my summer could fly by as I waste my time. Soooooo with that being said this is me kicking my own butt into gear. I have joined the TPT Sellers challenge. For the next four weeks I will be tackling a different challenge. I am hoping this will spark some new ideas, get me to complete my long list of projects I have put off creating and doing as well as grab some more followers. Here are my beginning stats:

Here's hoping those numbers move by the end of this challenge. Big thanks to Third in Hollywood for the challenge. So sit back and watch me work or join in the challenge yourself.

Here's to a FANTABULOUS next four weeks, lots of school projects, and if I'm really good a little extra

Kid Bloggin' Wednesday: Farewell

Note from the teacher:
Our second to last day was full of learning. I apologize for just now posting. Here is our last Kid Bloggin' post from the 2014 - 2015 school year. These kids were a blast to work with and I can't wait to see what they do as second graders!

Yellow Group

• favorite part of first grade: sock party
• least favorite part of first grade: purple bags
• what we will miss most: Miss Messick and our book buddies
• advice for next year's first graders: Don't talk in the hallway!

Green Group

• favorite part of first grade: recess
• least favorite part of first grade:  writing
• what we will miss most: the class
• advice for next year's first graders: Don't run in the hallway!

Pink Group

• favorite part of first grade: Junie B. Jones
• least favorite part of first grade: long tests
• what we will miss most: Miss Isbell, Miss Messick, and the whole entire class
• advice for next year's first graders: Clean up the floor!

Orange Group

• favorite part of first grade: Art
• least favorite part of first grade:  homework
• what we will miss most: our friends
• advice for next year's first graders: Read the alphabet!

Blue Group

• favorite part of first grade: math
• least favorite part of first grade: journal
• what we will miss most: poetry
• advice for next year's first graders: There are a lot of tests.

What's Field Day again?

While I am super glad we made it to the spring I can do with out the rain. How's the song go.... "Rain! Rain! Go away! Come again another day"  I don't know about you but I could do without a little rain now. How about it comes back in a couple of weeks. Not only can the rain mean indoor recess (Gonoodle is awesome-sauce but we need some outside air too!) but it can mean delays and cancellations.

We got to experience the latter this past week. Miss Redfern (our fantabulous P.E. teacher) designed a great Field Day for the whole school. She scheduled the days for last week and everyone started getting excited! We blocked off Thursday afternoon and got ready to get our fun on.....cue the rain :(

Since we couldn't have it last Thursday we tried for this Thursday. Again, we got pumped and excited to play some games in our field! And then it rained from 4 p.m. Wednesday into this morning. You can imagine the sad faces this morning when we heard the announcement. So what's a teacher to do with a restless group of first graders who are craving some out door fun??? Create a Mini Field Day, of course!

We LOVE our mini Field Day!

Up first we did a timed race to see which group could walk quickly to the office, politely ask for a block which I had given the secretaries, and then walk quickly back. We FaceTimed my phone so the person walking could take us on the journey. Polite groups got a :20 second reduction and this resulted in a win by :02 seconds!

Next we took it outside for some relays and a water bottle showdown! Thank goodness our interior courtyard was dry!

Relay Race

The Over-Relay

The Under-Relay

Beanie Baby Relay

The switch off!

Obstacle Course while balancing a pom-pom on a spoon.

Knocking dominos down with water guns!

Down they went!