Open House

WOW!! Life has been busy!

Last night we had our school open house. I worked hard to get the classroom ready and my firsties worked even harder. They worked so hard to get all the fun projects done. Some of the kids were working to the wire but they accomplished what they needed to. 

Here are some pictures of the set up of the room. I did a spring theme so there were all things spring in my classroom. I really like a bright, neat and clean classroom!

Here is a view of the whole classroom from the door. Hanging from the clips are noun and adjective umbrellas. The kids loved putting these together. Each student also did a biography book report and as part of the report my firsties had to make a doll of the person they did their report on.  This was a highlight of the evening! The kids and parents loved looking at all the dolls.

Here is another view of the classroom!

Here is the view of one the doors. I had each of the kids make a fraction kite from Christina Bainbridge from Bainbridge class. They loved creating these. 

Here is the other door welcoming all the students and their families. I had the students write their favorite things that they learned this year. They all came up with such interesting things. The great banners came from Sunny Days in Second Grade. 

Out of everything that I included in the classroom, my favorite was this board about what plants need. Each of the kids did a sunflower. Then I used my Cricut to create to make all the critters and some fun clipart to make the sun and watering can. This great idea came from dragonflies in first. 

This final picture is a fun flower report that my firsties did. They turned out so cute! 

Have you had open house yet? If not what fun projects are you planning on doing? I hope everyone has a great rest of their weekend. 

Some Fun Things Happening!

Hello blogging friends! I hope everyone is doing well. 

Was your week as busy as mine? We had so many fun things happening in class. This week I started using the program Class Dojo with my class and my first graders are loving it. I think this is the best behavior they have had all year. What took me so long to use it? Don't get me wrong, I still have some behavior issues, but they are far less than they were. If you have not tried this site yet, give it a try. You will love it. 

This is such a great classroom management program. I have it set up on my computer or iPad with the projector for the kids to see. I also have it set up on my phone. It is amazing how quiet it gets when the kids see that I have given out points. They even think I am a magician because points were given out, and I never left the back of the classroom while working with a group of students or walking around giving them help. 

We also celebrated our 100th day of school this week. We did some fun things in class on our own, and then we came together with our whole school and did some more activities. It is really fun being in a school with only 54 students in grades K through 4th. It allows us to do a lot more things with the whole school. 

The kids loved coming to school in all their fun T-shirts. They created shirts with 100 things on them. 

Of course we had to make our 100 snacks. This was a favorite of the day for the kids. 

Finally, I am so excited about going to the Southern California Kindergarten Conference at the end of the month. This is my first year teaching first grade and I am so excited to learn tons of great insight from some wonderful teachers. I was also able to just get in on the Blogger Bash before it sold out. Is anyone else planning on attending? I can't wait for this conference and to meet up again with some of my favorite bloggers. 

I hope that everyone has a great rest of their weekend! See you all again soon in Bloggerland!

Christmas Questionnaire

Christmas is my favorite time of year. I love all the lights, finding the perfect presents for my family and friends, and all the Christmas carols being sung. I just love this time of year. So I am linking up with Michelle at Fabulous in First for her Christmas questionnaire linky party. 

Hot Chocolate or Eggnog? 

I love hot chocolate! I enjoy it throughout the winter months. 

Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them underneath the tree? 

Santa always wraps the presents unless they're just too big to wrap, otherwise he'll just put them under the Christmas tree. 

Colored lights or white? 

I love the shine of the white lights. 

When do you decorate? 

As a child, we always decorated the Friday that school got out for vacation. My mom was a teacher so it was hard to decorate before school got out. Now we decorate as soon as we can. Usually we decorate right after Thanksgiving. 

Real or Fake Tree? 

 As a child we always had a real tree. My dad used to own a garden supply company so he would have nothing else. This was also another reason we always decorated once school was out; the tree stayed fresh longer. Now that I am married, we have a fake tree. We travel a lot during my vacations so it is easier to have a fake tree. But I sure do miss the smell of the real tree. 

What Tops Your Tree?

As a kid we always had an angel on top of the tree. Now my husband has a Disney Christmas hat that he likes to put on the top. 

Favorite Christmas Memories or Traditions?

My family would always watch the Christmas special on PBS at the Dorthy Chandler Pavilion on Christmas Eve. Sometimes we'd watch on TV and sometimes we would go downtown and watch it live. Then we would go out and celebrate my grandfather's birthday. 

Do you remember your favorite gift as a child? 

My favorite gift was definitely my first pair of figure skates. I was so excited when I opened that present. 

Do prefer giving or receiving? 

 For sure I love giving gifts. It is so much fun finding the perfect gift for someone. 

What is your favorite Christmas song? 

I love the song "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" from the movie "Meet Me in St. Louis." 

Candy Canes. Yuck or Yum? 

I like candy canes but I will not seek them out. 

Favorite Christmas Movie? 

 I love the movie "Miracle on 34th Street." It is not Christmas until I have watched this movie.

Do you shop online or at stores?

I do both. I buy things online and I buy things at the stores. 

Photo Cards, Letter or Store Bought Card? 

We do photo cards. I love receiving photo cards from our friends and family as well and seeing the adventures they had in the last year. 

Thank you for reading about my Christmas traditions. If you love Christmas be sure to go link up with Michelle.

I am back!

WOW!!!! It has been a really busy last few months and this blog has been neglected. 

I am now finally done with my teaching credential and my masters degree. That means I should a lot more time for blogging. 

Another great thing that happened was that I got a job!!!

I am now working at a small school, teaching first grade. It is different then second grade, but I am really enjoying it. And the best thing is that there are tons of amazing bloggers out there that I can follow and learn from about first grade. 

The last couple months of school we have been doing so many things. This last week we celebrated red ribbon week like a ton of other schools. We had dress up days and the kids had tons of fun. 

On Monday we started out with nerd day because we are too smart for drugs.

On Tuesday we had crazy hair and hat day.

Wednesday was red sock day and Thursday was favorite team jersey day, but in all the craziness I forgot to take pictures. 

On Friday the kids wore all red and we had a whole school red party. Here is a picture of all the kids having tons of fun. 

We had lots of fun this last week. I am so happy to be back in blog land. So until next time, I hope you all have a great rest of your Sunday.

Summer Fun!

Well I am sitting here in Starbucks catching up on my blogging. I am sorry I have not been around lately. I have been so busy since school got out. I am finishing up my Masters Degree which has taken a ton of time and I am looking for a job for next year. But I am finally able to take a breath and write about what has been happening this summer. I am sorry that this post does not have a lot to do with school.  

My husband and I just got back from a wonderful trip to San Diego. We didn't go very far this summer, but it was just what we needed. Some time away to rest and relax before I start my second half of student teaching. I think we slept in every day till 12. Ok well maybe I didn't sleep in that late, but I did sleep in most of the time we were gone. It was wonderful!!

Here you can see some of the fun things we did while we were gone. 

My husband and I love desserts. So of course we had to try lots of great places. 

These were just a couple of the things we tried out. 

While we were gone, my husband finally got to do something that he has always wanted to do. He went paragliding in La Jolla. I have to say it did look fun and I think I might have to try this one out the next time we are in the area. 

And of course we did lots of laying out at the beach. I finally got a chance to start this great book that has been going around the blogiverse. I am so excited to keep reading it!

The final thing for today. I am thinking about starting a TPT store. I will post all about it when it is up and running!

I hope you all are having an amazing summer.

Throw back Thursday

I am linking up again with Cara over at The First Grade Parade for her throw back Thursday. 

This post is reminder of a fun little tip. I hope you can use this as you plan your decor for this next school year. 

I wanted to take a few minutes and share a cool tip with you. I really hate putting paper on my bulletin boards. The paper always rips and fades, and it also is just plain hard to get the paper up. At the beginning of the year, I use fabric on my boards. It is easier to put up, and I can keep it up all year. All I have to do is change the items on the board based on the seasons. And I don't have to put new paper up every time I change the board. I'm also able to keep the same fabric up year after year so in the long run, I save money!

 This is a picture of a map that I had up in my room. This was a piece of fabric that I found at a small store. 

 This was a spring board that I put up. I used a cute piece of fabric, and I used my cricut to cut out all the cute bugs and flowers. 

In this picture, you can kind of see that the bulletin board fabric is money. 

These two boards are some of my all time favorites. I just LOVE how they turned out. The top board was crayon fabric which went well with the theme, and the bottom board fabric looked kind of like honey combs. Have you ever thought of using fabric on your boards? I just love fabric in the classroom because it makes the room look so bright! 

I hope that everyone is enjoying their summer!!

Throw Back Thursday

Today I am linking up with Cara from the First Grade Parade for her throw back Thursday. This is such a great idea and I am so excited to revisit some of my favorite posts. Just click on the button if you would like to join in on the fun. 

I am going to revisit one of my favorite posts. I hope you enjoy reading this one again. 

Original post November 10, 2012

 Recently, I had my third graders do a rally coach activity. Rally coach is one of the structures designed by Dr. Spencer Kagan. I love using his materials in class. His structures are easy to tie into any lesson. There is hardly any prep that has to be done.

   This activity worked out to be a great review for our test on sentences. The kids all really enjoyed getting to work together. When I told them what we were doing for the day, all of the kids got so excited! They remembered doing this activity several time last year and were ready to get to work. Below are some pictures of the kids working hard on the activity:

The kids all worked really well together. I was so proud of them and all of their hard work!

Well I hope everyone is having a great summer so far and getting lots of rest and relaxation.