Monday, January 31, 2011
Sunday, January 30, 2011
14 Days of Love!
I hope everyone had a wonderful, relaxing weekend! We enjoyed some beautiful 70 degree weather this weekend, but by Tuesday or Wednesday, we'll be in the 20's (That's Texas for ya)!
Just wanted to give you a heads up that I'll be uploading a series of posts called
"14 days of Love"
beginning February 1st through Valentine's Day! Stay tuned for LOTS of freebies, printables, giveaways, tips, and more!
Sweet Treats for Valentine's Day
Here are a couple of cute yet simple ways to show appreciation to friends, family, and co-workers! This post was inspired by Rachelle at "What the Teacher Wants." She is full of cute and creative ideas!
(If you're reading Rachelle, thanks for all you make, share, and do for fellow bloggers/teachers!)
valentine mandm
Friday, January 28, 2011
Super cute football unit from Katie!
This is such a cute unit! It was created by Katie from http://katielately1.blogspot.com
You'll love it...thank you for sharing this Katie! Click on the football to get to the downloadable unit!
Any football fans?
I had so much fun creating this one! I hope you can use it as a great learning tool during the upcoming week!
superbowl mini unit
Thursday, January 27, 2011
A Bad Case of Stripes
Today my first graders had a great time thinking "out of the box" and picturing themselves as a doctor, scientist, or specialist. Take a look at some of their inventive pills, cough syrups, and assorted medicines!
Tacky the Penguin
We finished up writing a text-to-self connection with "Tacky the Penguin." The kids created some amazing penguins and did a fabulous job connecting the text to themselves. I loved this activity!
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
New York and Company
I don't know about you, but I love shopping-especially at New York & Company! I just discovered that New York & Company loves teachers and gives us a discount (thanks to Mr. Perry-because he knows that I love to shop)! If you sign up on their site, you can get 20% off just for signing up and take off 15% off every time you shop there (all year round)!
Monday, January 24, 2011
Candy Heart Fractions
This is a fraction activity that my class did last year. We completed this as a review activity after we learned about part-part-whole. They loved grabbing a handful of hearts, analyzing the fractions, and of course eating them! There are so many wonderful math and literacy activities that can be done with those little hearts-I'm working on a list which will be posted soon! valentine fractions
United States Monuments PowerPoint
This is a PowerPoint that I created last year for my class to learn about U.S. monuments. They enjoyed making predictions about each of the monuments, learning new facts, and writing about the one that they would like to visit.
United States Monuments
United States Monuments
cute clip art
If you're looking for some cute and inexpensive clipart for classroom projects,
has some really cute stuff for FREE! They recently added lots of Valentine graphics. I also love the animals, food, backgrounds, and winter clip art! Check it out...you'll love it!
Valentine Pen Pals
This February, I'm hosting a pen pal Valentine exchange! The project is open to any K-2 group. If you want to participate, here's what you have to do:
2. Include your name, school mailing address, and the grade level you teach.
I will place all of the teachers in a group (the number will depend on how many responses I receive-most likely it will be 20-25 cards). Then your class will create Valentine Cards for the other classes in your group (snail mail only).
The theme for this project will be cupcakes. Inside each of the cards, you can include information about your class, how you're celebrating Valentine's Day, and the things you LOVE about your school or grade level!
You will be responsible for shipping costs, and you might also be interested in skyping with another class too. If so, please mention that in your e-mail. The deadline to mail the cards will be Wednesday, February 9th to ensure that each class receives the cards on or before Valentine's Day.
I hope this project will serve as an extension to social studies as we learn about maps, the U.S. mail system, and Valentine's Day!
You will receive a confirmation e-mail and an excel document with information about your group once everything has been finalized. I will do my best to make sure that you get to correspond with teachers/students from a variety of locations! I hope you're able to join us in this fun Valentine project!
-Brooke
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Christian's Invitation
This weekend I have devoted a lot of time to planning for Christian's 3rd birthday party, which is about a month away. I found the cutest idea for his invitations. Even though I loved the Eric Carle "Very Hungry Caterpillar" cards, I think I'm going to go with this one.
Remember, he was born on President's Day-so I think this one is perfect for him! All I need to figure out now is which picture I like best. I'll probably just several of them since they're so stinkin' cute!
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Random Weekend Post
This post has absolutely nothing to do with education or school. It's just that "sleeping in" no longer exists in my house because both of my boys are early risers 7 days a week (I've been up since about 6:30 this morning). So I'm here at the computer as Solomon is crawling around and exploring in my office. I'm sitting here thinking about how fast time flies. Last week the boys were wrestling (or as my grandmother would say-wrasslin') around on the floor. I caught the memories on camera!
Here they are just playing around. Christian thought it was hilarious that Solomon wanted to rough house with him!
Solomon was determined to keep Christian down-I think Christian was the most exhausted between the two of them!
(Please excuse the house shoes and whitie tighties in the background-I'm surrounded by men in this house!)
Solomon was so proud, and yes-Christian was still lying there next to him.
Have a good weekend!
-Brooke
Friday, January 21, 2011
Groundhog Day
I know it's still January, but February is one of my favorite months! I get soooo excited! Today while I was enjoying some (much needed) R&R at home, I spent some time surfing the net and looking ahead for next month. I love Groundhog Day (don't ask me why I love it so much-I even have a stuffed groundhog with a reversible shirt that says (winter/spring)-got it from Build A Bear several years ago)! Valentine's Day is one of my favorite holidays, and my oldest son was born in February (on President's Day)!
groundhog day fun
groundhog day fun
new making words activity
I just finished up on a Valentine's Day unit with math, literacy, and word work. Here's a freebie from the unit. This is my favorite "making words" activity. The entire unit is posted on TpT for $3.99, but it's on sale for $2.99 until Sunday!
cupcake making words
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Verbs
Today we reviewed nouns and verbs. After discussing the difference between nouns and verbs, we created an anchor chart with a verb for each letter of the alphabet.
Each student also wrote a page of a class book. Tomorrow we'll create "Verb Village," a place where everyone is always busy, moving, and on the go! Here are a few examples from our book.
Another Great Resource!
I found this great resource last week. I haven't even had a chance to fully search through it, but I've already come across so many wonderful lesson plans and ideas!
(This link is specific to first grade.)
(for other grade levels or to search by content area)
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Great Fonts (for free)!
I just found some really cute handwriting fonts on Rachelle and Natalie's blog
If you haven't checked them out, you should because they have tons of cute activities, tips, and great printables!
The fonts are from "Sugar Frog Fonts."
Click on the frog to take a look!
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Penguins are just so cute!
I just posted a penguin unit on TpT! It's called "Cute Litle Penguins," and it's $5.00. It includes 50 pages of reading, writing, science, art, and research activities!
Friday, January 14, 2011
Scientists in the Making
Here are some memorable moments from science day! The kids had an amazing time, and it made me love teaching science even more!
This was our schedule. Mrs. Wilson, our 1st grade rep for the science vertical team, organized our activities and schedule. She did a fabulous job!
Mrs. Marsh taught a lesson about seasons and weather. The students discussed what each season looks like and how the winter changes.
Ms. Reeves taught a lesson about air. She read a book and led the students in a discussion about the properties of air. She conducted a science investigation with a small tub of water, a cup, and a towel. When you press the cup down to the bottom of the tub quickly, the water does not enter the cup because the air pressure blocks the moisture. However, when you turn the cup to the side, the air escapes and the towel becomes saturated.
Mrs. Wilson taught a lesson about magnets. The students discussed the properties of magnets and how the opposite poles attract each other. The students conducted an investigation and tested various items to see if they were attracted to the magnets.
Sometimes science can be messy!
Mrs. Ferguson taught a lesson about liquids using rubbing alcohol, food coloring, glitter, and oil. The students predicted whether or not the liquids would mix. They also investigated whether or not the alcohol or the oil would rise to the top.
I conducted an investigation with the students about the water cycle. We made snow using snow powder and water.
Each teacher was able to keep a large bag of snow powder to use with literature connections. The students will also get to take a small bag home with them.
Here are some of the responses from my students' science investigation journals. I enjoyed reading their responses and hearing them share reflections about what they learned.
