First Day Of School!

Have you ever been so tired that you can't sleep? Yep, that's how I feel tonight! Today was the first day of school WITH students!  I can't complain. Today was a great day! It's just very h.a.r.d. getting into a routine!
My kiddos before school...

I'm sure this will be the last year that they let me dress them alike. :(

 This morning, we discussed rules. After reading No David, we did some role playing and made anchor charts on behavior. I thought the little Davids were cute!

Before reading First Day Jitters, I asked what jitters were. The responses were FUNNY!!! One little girl said she bought her jitters at Wal-Mart!

One day down and 179 to go. If the rest of the year goes as smoothly as today did, I will have the best year EVER!

Back to School!

Summer has come and gone for me! On Monday morning, the students will come back to school. I have a new title this year. For several years, I've been a looping teacher. I decided I would like to stay in a traditional first grade classroom. Now I am a regular first grade teacher! I'm so excited!! I thought about changing my blog name but who knows, next year I may be looping again. Guess I will leave it the way it is...

I'm linking up with Miss Nelson's Got the Camera. Here's a sneak peek of my room. I will add more photos later.

I need to place the clock in the middle of the posters. 

Spelling Word List

Each class received a new rug. It's colorful!

Classroom Rules

I do calendar math online. This is just a tool for writing the date.

Core Standards and Anchor Charts

Students will turn in work here.

The Frizz In First Grade nominated my blog for the Liebster Award! I love her blog. Click on the link to check it out!

My 11 questions:

1. What is your blogging goal? This school year, I want to blog regularly. I hop around blogs regularly but don't blog on my own enough.

2. What is the silliest thing you have done while teaching? One year when I was teaching kindergarten, I numbered the Easter eggs from 1-18. What was I thinking?? It took FOREVER!!

3. Are you a bring your lunchbox teacher or eat a school lunch gal? Our sweet schoool PTO gave each teacher a lunchbox. I plan on taking my lunch in it on the days I don't order a baked potato from the cafeteria.

4. Who was your favorite teacher in school and why? Ms. Diane Tate-Ms. Tate was our 7th grade science teacher. She was ALWAYS nice! She had (and still has) a way of making everyone feel special. I still remember her each year on her birthday! Surprisingly, she was our motivational speaker at the end of professional development yesterday. 

5. What is your favorite book? Twilight Series

6. What is the most influential professional development book you've read? The fish book-I can't remember the real name of it but it's about always having a positive outlook on things even if you are working with stinky fish!

7. If you could learn to do anything, what would it be? Dance-I have NO rhythm! Haha!!

8. You have ten minutes to kill, what will you do? SLEEP-Recently, I've been having pregnancy insomnia!

9. What is one word of advice for a first year teacher? Ask-Ask for help when you need it!

10. Is there any grade you would not teach? Why? I would not want to teach anything after 4th. I'm better with the little kiddos.

11. Who is your hero? Why-My daddy! He taught me about Jesus! 

To accept the nomination you must:
1. Link back to the blog that nominated you
2. Nominate 5-11 blogs with fewer than 200 followers
3. Answer the questions posted for you by your nominator
4. Share 11 random facts about yourself
5. Create 11 questions for your nominees
6. Contact your nominees and let them know you nominated them

11 Random facts about me!
1. I'm pregnant with our third boy!
2. This is my 11th year teaching in the same school.
3. My favorite color is pink.
4. I LOVE ragdoll cats!!
5. I like thunderstorms.
6. I'm addicted to pinterest!
7. I don't want to live to be really old.
8. I don't like Japanese food. Yuck!
9. Now that I'm pregnant, I miss jogging!
10. I've been thinking about buying a van!
11. I love being a teacher!

The five nominees are:
All The Dots
First Grade By The Sea 
Fancy Firsties 
Cute Classroom Creations 
Kinder Colors

11 Questions for the Nominees
1. How long have you taught at your school?
2. Do you have any pets?
3. Do you use Daily Five in your class?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Where did you go on your honeymoon?
6. Do you drive a car, truck, van, or SUV?
7. Do you bite your finger nails?
8. Do you like to use pinterest?
9. Does your classroom have a theme?
10. Are you afraid of heights?
11. What job would you have if you were not a teacher?

On your mark, get set, GO!

Bloglovin

I'm linking up to bloglovin. Hope this works!
<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/5722637/?claim=v4e8z2r8bgx">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

Five for Friday with a FREEBIE!

This is one of my fav things about Friday! Five For Friday!

1-On Wednesday, my kiddos made a chick and wrote a story about it. The stories were so cute! One little girl's story began with "I took my chicken to church. She sang gospel songs very loudly." Another student began his with  "I took my chick to Walmart to get chicken tenders".

2-We had an Easter egg hunt yesterday. Each student brought 12 plastic eggs. I numbered each egg 1-12. I tossed the eggs out. As they hunted the eggs, each child had to pick up numbers  1 through 12. It seemed to take FOREVER but they really enjoyed it! In years past, they would only want the eggs they brought from home. Yesterday, they were just glad to find the correct numbers :)

3-We were out today for Good Friday. These boys were pumped to be out of school!

4-I LOVE Easter!

5- Freebie- If you would like to download this, click here or on the pic.  I hope your students enjoy this!

My husband wants his MacBook back so he gave me his ipad. I can not seem to get the hang of Keynote on the ipad. Do any of you use Keynote on ipad? Is it possible??? I'm starting to think it's a dud.

Let's Get Acquainted Linky!

Flying Into First is hosting a "Let's Get Acquainted" Linky Party. I'm a little late on this. I guess it's better late than never... :)
Share 3 things about yourself that you like or like to do using your initials.

C-Christian- I am a follower of Christ! 

P-Philosophy- I love philosophy soap. Amazing Grace is my favorite!!

L-Little House on the Prarie- I loved watching this show when I was a little girl. I still enjoy it! My house watches a lot of older tv shows, except for Duck Dynasty. Gotta love Uncle Si!

My class participated in First Grade Carousel's Winter Exchange. Classrooms from all over the country sent in a craft and letter telling about winters in their area. Since we live in the south, we have rainy winters. My room sent a rain craft. It seemed to rain every other day this winer. Yuck! After receiving our packet, I sent a photo to our local newspaper of my students holding crafts and letters we received. We made front page of the paper yesterday! YAY!! 

Oh my! Only one more day to be lazy then it's back to work I go... I do enjoy those babies but I think I need an extra week to relax!

Five for Friday!

I LOVE seeing Five for Friday posts! ...usually...Not so happy today because it reminds me that my spring break is coming to a close. :(

1-Spring Break!-My family didn't go a vacation. We decided to do nothing at home. Nothing sounds SO good!!!

2-Sam has wanted extra money this week to buy toys, ice cream, or anything to get him out of the house. I told him I would give him money to help clean up his room. He decides to pull two teeth instead. I guess it's easier for the tooth fairy to hook him up! (I'm pretty sure they were loose last week.)

3-I've decided to use this thing again. I feel better already. :)

4-The weather is so nice here today! I got a flower bed cleaned out this morning. I'm not an outside person so this is a big deal for me!

5-Vickie has posted great St. Patrick's Day activities! I am so happy I ran across her blog today!

Happy 1st Blogiversary to my blog! Can't believe it's been a year!

Enjoy your weekend!!

St. Patrick's Day Linky

This weekend went by quickly!.. Last night was our annual Pilot Father/Daughter banquet. It was so sweet watching those little girls drag those daddies around on the dance floor!

Primary Inspired is hosting a St. Patrick's Day Linky. Hop over to her site and link your St. Patrick's Pinterest board to her blog....Here's my Pinterest Link if you need a few St. Patrick's Day ideas.

One more week until spring break! I think we can make it...On Wednesday night, I will be going with a few of my co-workers out of town to a conference. This will be my first night away from my husband and boys. Should be interesting...

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!....Currently directions

 My school began our Dr. Seuss unit yesterday. Before the bell rang to begin school, the principal led everyone into singing "Happy Birthday" to Dr. Seuss. It was sweet! After my kiddos took test, my room was all about Cat in the Hat. We read the book, watched a small video of it, and made a few things...Each grade is having a "Dr. Seuss Door Contest". The winners get an ice cream party. My door matches my neighbor's door. Here's the before pics. We plan on adding a few things to it next week. I will post after pics soon.

Neighbor's door

My door

Between our doors

pinterest inspired  

I added a new item to my TPT store. It has 10 more, 10 less, word problems, and a two digit addition page.  It's $1 if you are interested..

I finally made a Farley's Currently. If you need directions on doing this with a MacBook, here goes.

*Go to Farley's Blog.

*Save blank image into your documents.

*Go to Keynote. 

*Drag pic from documents.

*Use text box to insert words.

*Go to file and click Export.

*There will be PPT, PDF, and images. Choose images.

*Save as-March Currently-pic

*Export

You're done!  You should now be able to insert the image on your blog. This is my first time actually getting this to work. It worked for me. Hope this helps! :)

Famous Americans and Grab A Button

We will be finishing up our famous american unit tomorrow.  I found a really good American Heroes packet on TPT. This packet is full of comprehension, several crafts, timelines, etc.. Check it out by clicking here.  It really has been my "go to" this month! Here's a couple of examples of our work.

Honest Abe!

"I Can Not Tell A Lie"

Importance Of George Washington

Fifth in the Middle has created a state link up. On Diane's blog, each blogger can link up to his/her state. I found a new blogger friend tonight from my state. :) After linking up, grab your button!

I would love to meet a few blogger friends close by and have a "meet up" this summer!

I have a confession. I am not looking forward to Dr. Seuss week! His books give me a headache. I know, it sounds absolutely horrible. I feel bad about it! ..But I will put on my big girl pants and let the kiddos have a great time!! 

I recently added a $1 item on my teacher pay teacher store. All of my other items are free. Anyway, 10 people have purchased it this week! Wow!! 

Hope all of you have a Happy Friday!

Yucky Sunday!..Fun Linky

My family has had a stomach flu this weekend. Yuck! This is bad stuff!! Yesterday, my parents came to check on us. We made them sick. Oops!!

As I was blog hopping today, I saw a fun linky party. Primary Possiblities is having an Alliteration Linky.
This time we want to know.....
1. How do you get your students to LISTEN?  2.  Do you have a secret LOVE?  (make this one fun)  3.  What do you want to LEARN more about?  If you were able to attend any professional development with nomoney limit, what would it be?  What do you want to LEARN?

1-Listening-During assemblies, the principal always raises her hand to get the students attention. The kids must raise their hand too. They respond really well to this. Most teachers have taken it back to their classrooms. It works for me....

2.Love- I love Teen Mom 2! My husband always tells me that I'm probably the only adult in the world watching this show. As I've blog hopped around, I've seen several bloggers talk about loving this show too. It's addictive. 

3. Learn- I want to learn more on Common Core!! On Friday, I attended a workshop. It made me feel better. I enjoy hearing speakers tell all of their ideas about it. I wish I could attend a workshop at least once a month!  Although my school is implementing common core, I don't think we I know as much as I should. I'm working on it though. :) 

Dr. Jean is coming to my area on Friday. Her workshop was filled when I tried to register. :( Maybe next time!

Saturday Sayings and Valentine Wrapped up!

Hello Saturday!!  Valentine week is always hard to deal with. I guess it's that way because the kids are given tons of candy and it's too cold (wet in my region) to go out and run, run, run. On top of the holiday fun, I received a new student. It's fine that he joined us, but that was just another factor to send my kiddos over the edge.  None the less, we made it!  We don't have school on Monday! I will need an extra day to recover.

I am joining Forever In First for Saturday Sayings. Each Saturday, a few bloggers tell their favorite quotes. I always enjoy it!
Several years ago, I worked with a precious lady. She would always say, "Always treat each child the way you would want your child to be treated." When she told me this, I didn't have my own children. It sounded correct but I really didn't understand. But now that I have my own boys, those words hit home each and every day. It somehow has been engraved into my mind. You know those occasional  moments when a child has said or done something that makes you walk out of the room for a deep breath? Yep, you know.. During those times, I can always remember her soft voice reminding me to treat that child as my own.  Here's a pic I found on pinterest that sort of goes along with my quote.

Our homeroom mom made our valentine party healthy. We had string cheese, pretzels, apples, and fruit dip. Of course, she had to add a cupcake. What's a party without cupcakes??
We also copied a few ideas from pinterest. Here's our version.

She forgot to write I Love You. Oops..

Fun, Fun, Fun

Valentine Bingo

At the end of the day, the Good Samaritan gave every lady at our school a dozen of roses. PRECIOUS!!!

Valentine's Fun..help with common core please..

This has been a long weekend! Normally this would be a good thing but this weekend I've been stuck inside with a sick kid :(   This is a weird sickness. Sam has ran fever for three days but feels absolutely fine.  He is laughing and playing as I type this. Hmmm...

I am linking up with Learning in Wonderland. Here's a few valentine's pinterest items I plan on letting my class do.

Click on the pic to go to her blog. You can get this cute printable from her TPT store.

Valentine's day is my least favorite holiday. The valentine party is always the LOUDEST day of the year!! But I promise to give it my all and enjoy it for the kiddos.

What's your favorite common core link? Have you found a website or book that is extremely helpful? Our school has been giving out information and sending speakers to help us with common core. Just wondering what has helped you?? 

Have a great week!!