Thankful.

Over at What The Teacher Wants, they're having a link party. You're supposed to name all the things you're thankful for. So, I decided to participate. Here are some of the things I'm thankful for... in no particular order.

1. A Two-Day Work Week

 Half way done!

2. My health and the health of my family.

We've been very blessed and believe me... not a day goes by when I'm not thankful for that.

3. Pinterest

And, whoever the wonderful person is who created it and brought it into my life.

4. My Amazing Family 

I love them so much. That just about sums it up :)

5. My Class

They really are a great class and I enjoy them every day. I think they're going to end up being one of my favorite classes ever. It makes me super happy to see their cutie-pie faces every morning. Now, by the afternoon.... ha!

6. Reality TV

You can just check out this post to see how I feel about reality tv, ha!

7. Teaching Blogs

I seriously don't even know what I did before I discovered teaching blogs. I sure spent a lot of time searching Google! But, blogs have completely changed the way I teach. I'm so thankful for amazing teachers who share all their awesome ideas!

This is a blog some of the teachers at my school and I started. You can check it out here.

8. My New House

I LOVE my new place and am so thankful to have a nice and safe place to live. And, I'm thankful for a great roommate.

9. Harry Potter

Because, I'm a huge nerd. It's true. I can admit it.

10. Movie Nights

We have one every week. Tomorrow night, we're watching Elf! Jealous?

11. My ELMO

I don't think I could teach without it. It's the single thing in my classroom that is used the most. Except for maybe that darn pencil sharpener.

12. Great Friends

Because, they make me laugh. And, I really like to laugh.

13. My Smart Phone

Y'all? What did people even do before these things? Can you think back to what life was like when you couldn't check Facebook and Twitter while waiting in the check-out line at Target?

14. Candy

You can judge me. I don't mind. 

15. My Job

I'm pretty sure I have the best job in the world. It's tiring and stressful and this year hasn't been the easiest. But, I get to spend my days with precious kids. And, I get to work with some great people who I really like. I spent my Friday night taking up money at a school dance and not once did I think "Man, I'd rather be somewhere else." I love being a part of a community. I'm thankful to be a part of Cole Elementary.

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Stay tuned this week for a post about our Thanksgiving activities at school the past few days. And, maybe a post about a super special 60th birthday!

This and That

Oh. My. Word. What a week! I'm pretty sure this week ranked right up there as one of the most stressful in my teaching career. We had assemblies and picture day and progress monitoring and a culture fair and multiple meetings after school. And, the kids basically lost their sweet little minds. Maye it was the full moon... or, maybe it was because we got off our schedule. Probably a little bit of both. I'm just glad it's the weekend and I'm so thankful that Monday we can start over :)

We did manage to do one cute activity that I wanted to share. We've been working on contractions the last few days. So, I decided to have my kids make some of those cute caterpillar contractions I've been seeing all over Pinterest. But, of course, I had to add my own little twist to them!

I had in my room a little pad of round circles that had a clip through them that I got at the Parent Teacher Store. I usually use them to make flash cards for the kids. I pulled those circles off of there and gave every kid three. I cut six little rectangles out of index cards for the legs.

We did each part together, one step at a time. I had the kids write two words on two legs and then write the contraction on a big circle. I did give them all the same ones. If they were a little older, or if it hadn't been such a crazy week (see above), I might have let them make their own.

After we made the caterpillars, I gave them pom-poms for the tails, googly eyes and two pieces of gift wrap ribbon for the antennas.

Then, the next day, I had the kids write about their catrepillars. I told them they had to have one sentence using each of their three contractions.

Love that this little friend named his caterpillar Goldilocks.

And, here's the little sign I hung above them in the hallway. I'm trying to be good about making cute signs so I will have them for next year.

On a totally unrelated note, we studied short u this week. I pulled out this worksheet that I made last year as extra practice. The kids were literally GIGGLING as they read these riddles. It was the funniest thing ever. I may have to make some more... just to hear them laugh ;)

And, I just have to say. I am SO EXCITED about some of the fun Thanksgiving stuff we're going to do next week. I've been hard at work getting ready.

I made this anchor chart for us to record information we learn about the Pilgrims and the Native Americans.

It should be noted that I made a vow to myself this very week that I would stop making anchor charts that took prep work because it's not always the best use of my time.

You can see how long that lasted :)

I also made a Thanksgiving book for them to fill out and some graphic organizers. Here's a little peek...

There's a Pilgrim one, too.

Well, I guess that's all for this week.

 Here's to hoping next week is a little bit calmer :)

Just Keeping It Real...

I've gotten a couple new house additions in the last two weeks. Nothing major. Just some little odds and ends.

My sweet grandmother, Momma Jean, passed away a couple of years ago. We were very close and she was somebody that I just really enjoyed being around. She was goofy and funny and dramatic and opinionated. I'm sure you can see why we got along so well :) She was so proud of me for being a teacher and she LOVED to buy things for my classroom. She just about single-handedly stocked my classroom library my first year of teaching!

One of the things she gave me was a rocking chair for my classroom. I had told her that I wanted one... but, I didn't want one of those big ol' Cracker Barrel looking chairs that took up a ton of space. So, she searched high and low and she found me the sweetest little rocking chair. I used it in my classroom for two years. It's been sitting in my parents garage ever since. 

Well, I got it out last weekend and dusted it off. And, put it in its new place:

I like it there. It's definitely on the small side. But, it makes the room feel more full.

I also got a cute little lamp at Target to put in this room.

I like it because it gives the room some extra light. I added the tassel myself. I do love a good tassel.

And, see that white urn that the hydrangeas are in? I got that last weekend from my other grandmother. She was just giving things away... so, I snagged it up :)

Just keeping it real: I didin't even remove the hydrangeas from the vase they were previously in. I just put the old vase inside the urn. How lazy is that?

And, speaking of keeping it real? I look at a lot of blogs. And, I've seen millions and millions of decorated rooms on them. And, there's never a sock on the floor or a thing out of place. I think people ony take pictures of their house when it's perfect. And, I am TOTALLY guilty of that myself. So, I'm going to show you what life is really like around here :)

This would be a massive pile of clean laundry. On my floor. And, a random box that's been sitting beside my door for the last week just waiting to be carried down to the trashcan.

Those bags on the dresser? Yeah, that's not new stuff. It's trash.

My super organized closet.

Luckily, after I took these pictures, I did clean it all up.

Here's the bowl of Halloween candy that has taken up permament residence under my nightstand.

 And, ladies and gentlemen, here is the parade of dead plants:

front porch,

back porch,

and even in the den.

And, the crowning glory?

Yeah. That would be the chunk of sidewalk right in front of my house that I broke off when I pulled in to my parking spot too far.

I don't even have any words. And, check out those cigarette butts. No idea where they came from. Probably the massive construction site across the street. Have I mentioned that the view out my front window right now is a dumpster? Nice.

Anyways, I just thought I'd show you what it REALLY looks like over here at my house.

Road Trippin'

(Mom, are you super impressed that I remembered that song title by a popular country artist we all know and love? Ha.)

Last weekend, my mom and I took a little road trip to my grandma's house. We went because it was her birthday and because we hadn't seen her in a few months. It was double fun, though, because my aunt and cousin came. And, they brought these two little turkeys:

We did quite a lot this weekend! Of course we went shopping and spent way too much money. But, around the house, we did all sorts of fun things...

We read magazines with our arms a little full.

We made the beds. Or, just jumped on them. You can decide.

We showed off our new toys.

We took a few naps. At least, I did.

We hid under the tables.

We stole some sweet baby snuggles :)

Oh, and we ate a TON of this while we watched The Wizard of Oz on TBS. You know how I feel about The Wizard of Oz. And, you also know how I feel about candy, ha!

As you can see, it was a great weekend. I didn't take any pictures of the adults. Because, really? It's more fun to take pics of the sweet kiddos. But, it was lots of fun to hang out with and see some of my family that I don't get to see that often.  

Sunday, Monday, Happy Days...

We had the most fun week! I've been teaching for 5 years... but, I've never thought to celebrate the 50th day of school! I'm shocked at myself, really.

When I saw Cara Carroll's 50th day unit on The First Grade Parade, I just knew I had to teach my sweet kiddos allll about the 1950's. We actually had the 50th day of school on Monday... but, we stretched the unit out all week.

On Monday, we used a Power Point to learn all about the 1950's. The kids were just sooo into it! I was so shocked at what they remembered and talked about thoughout the week. My favorite part of the Power Point was when  a picture of Marilyn Monroe popped onto the screen and one of my precious kiddos yelled "There's Taylor Swift!" Noooot quite, ha.

In Math, we did the 50th day booklet. It was great because it gave us a bunch of oppurtunities to count to 50 and practice making 50.

On Tuesday, we played Roll-A-Record in Math. The kids loved using dice to fill in 50 records. I loved it because it gave them something to do so that I could pull back my low babies and work with them. I differentiate their math centers... so, they were shocked that they all got to do the same activity!

On Wednesday, we read a big book called Things Have Changed! Then, we used venn diagrams from Mrs. Carroll's unit to compare their lives to life in the 1950's.

I wanted my kids to do some kind of group project about the 1950's. They really seemed to want to discuss it and talk about it and I knew that they would come up with some good ideas if I encouraged them to do so. So, I printed off labels and let them work with their teams to make posters about the 1950's. They honestly didn't turn out great. But, I had to keep two things in mind: 1. it was their first time to work in groups like that and be completely responsible for doing something by themselves and 2. it's not always about the finished project... it's about the process. They WERE deep in discussion about the 1950's and they WERE developing social skills in how to work together. So, I guess it doesn't matter that they randomly drew hearts and stars and smiley faces all over their projects :)

Again, please don't judge me. Ha.

On Friday, we let the kids dress up. I can't post pictures of the kids on here. But, believe me. They were A-DORABLE. We also made root-beer floats. The kids thought they were pretty much the best things ever. As I was walking around pouring root beer into their cups of ice cream, I heard one little boy say " Mr. High (our principal) is realllly not gonna' like this!" Ha. I told him not to worry about it ;)

I had a hard time getting pictures of the floats because by the time I got my camera out, those floats were about gone!

The kids kept saying " I hope the frizz doesn't get on my desk!"

After we drank our floats, we completed a graph about our data.

We had such a great week learning about the 1950's. And, I would totally recommend Mrs. Carroll's unit over at Teacher's Pay Teachers. I'm not really big on buying units because I can usually make anything I need. But, ya'll? It was 4 bucks. And, totally worth every penny.

We winded down Friday afternoon with a little Wizard of Oz. I've been reading it to my kiddos and we've been filling in a chart about Dorothy.

My kids are now completely and totally OBSESSED with this book. They are sooo into it! And, it doesn't hurt that it's my favorite movie of all time. So, I could talk about it for days. We've had some really good discussion about the book and I've been shocked at how much they understand it. I think most of them have seen the movie and some of them led us in a chorus of "Follow The Yellow Brick Road." Ha. One little girl turned around while we were reading a particularly tense moment and said "Don't worry guys, it's all just a dream." So, I guess we can just skip the ending :)

When we finish the book, I have some ideas of some things we're going to do with it. I'll keep you posted.

Thanks for reading!

A Lesson To All...

Sometimes, in first grade, we have a little trouble controlling ourselves at centers. I have a reallly good class. In fact, I adore them! But, there are times when friends have to take  a little "time out" and go back to their seats. I'm not huge on giving a ton of warnings for center behavior because my friend Debbie Diller (at least, she's my friend in my mind...) taught me that centers are a privilege, not a right. So, you get one shot and if you're acting out, you're done.

To keep them from just sitting there and wasting time, I sometimes ask them to get out their journals and tell me why they had to sit out at center time. One of my sweet girls had to sit out today during math centers. She went back to her seat (VERY reluctantly, I might add) and got busy writing. I carried on with my small group and then asked the kids to start cleaning up. As they were cleaning, I walked over to her desk to talk with her and I glanced at what she had written:

In case you don't read "first grade," it says: "I can't go to centers because I didn't do centers right. And I yelled. I'm so so sorry. Let this be a lesson to all. Never do centers wrong."

I think my laughing might have undermined my talk with her about her behavior at centers today.

So, let this be a lesson to all: If you can make Ms. Ridings laugh, she might forgive you when you get too loud at centers :)