FREEBIE!

New Freebie Posted on TPT and TN!

Whew!  I'm so glad it's Friday!  This week seemed to fly by and my "to do" list grew daily!

We are in the middle of Parent Teacher Conferences at our school right now and are trying a different schedule.  We are doing all of our conferences on two days...Wednesday this week and Wednesday next week.  Why Wednesday?  Well, we have several families that like to take "long weekends" when we used to have conferences on Friday or the days prior to Thanksgiving.  Hoping to discourage this we did the "middle of the week" conference time.  So far, so good!  All of my parents have signed up to conference and all of my meetings this week went very well.  I really enjoy meeting with the parents and discussing students' progress, but it is EXHAUSTING at the same time!

One thing that always comes up during conferences is reading!  I start to really encourage the parents to support and encourage their CHILDREN to do the reading.  I have a great group of parents who do lots of read alouds, but it's time to build the independent reading risk takers!  So that got me to thinking about reading logs.  They are usually not very independent.  If we require first graders to  write the title, author, pages read, etc... we are making reading a chore or it becomes the parents who do the recording!  

Earlier this year, my teaching partners and myself came up with a better way! I've adapted our idea and created 3 holiday themed reading logs that encourage independence in a fun way.  The student reads 10 minutes and colors in a picture!  When they fill up the reading log, they can get a new one!  So far, my students love it and beg for more.  

I stayed after school until about 5:00 today and prepped for next week when our classroom elf will arrive!   Can't wait to see the excitement in my little "Froggies'" eyes!  Have I mentioned how much I love my class!  They are the sweetest group of six and seven year olds.

So since I'm a really happy teacher I made YOU some freebies!  Please leave comment and let me know what you think.

 I'm making more thematic reading logs for all the months and would love your feedback!

You can download my FREEBIE at Teachers Notebook or Teachers Pay Teachers  !  

Enjoy!

TPT Sale is extended thru Tuesday November 27th! Woohoo!

Click the picture to go to my store at TPT!

Christmas Vocabulary Cards are posted!

I've just uploaded my Christmas Vocabulary / Flashcards to TPT and Teachers Notebook!  Please check them out!  They are so cute!  I know my little firsties will use these to help with their Christmas / Holiday stories!

I don't know about you, but I'm hitting the TPT and Teachers Notebook sales so I can get ready for the next few weeks!  I've enjoyed my Thanksgiving break so much, I kinda forgot I needed to get ready to go back to school tomorrow!  Oops!  I better get laminating!

I love this clip art! She is having a sale now too!

Winter Words for Writers

I just uploaded my Winter Words for Writers on Teachers Notebook and  TPT!  Check it out!

Thanks for checking in!  

Happy Thanksgiving!

Check out my "I'm Thankful Sale!" on TPT and Teachers Notebook!

Sales at both 

Teacher's Notebook and TPT!

Teacher's notebook is having a sale.  Click below to see my products that are on sale!

Teachers Pay Teachers       Teacher's Notebook

Please take a look at the new math sheets I've uploaded!

My students forget they are practicing math when they complete these sheets!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am enjoying my break from school this week.  Our district gets this entire week off, which is really a treat!  My sister and brother in law visited from Houston and we sort of celebrated Thanksgiving early! I had big plans to prepare a pre-Thanksgiving meal and share that together (I miss my Texas Family and will not see them until Christmas), but my plans turned into some pizza and dining out!

My oldest plays Volleyball and her team qualified for a spot in the playoffs which just happened to be held 4 hours from our hometown!  Crazy!  Well, it just gave us the excuse we needed to give my sister and her hubby an impromptu tour of Northern California.  We spent yesterday in the car traveling to and from the game, which lasted for 3 sets, or 1 hour!  We played a fantastic team, but my girl got 3 ACES and had some great sets! (Can you tell I'm proud?)

I haven't had as much time as I'd like to create new games and activities for my classroom and yours, but I'm enjoying my time with my daughters and now it's time to prepare for our Thanksgiving here at home!

Happy Thanksgiving!

New Product on TPT

I just uploaded another version of UNO!  This time it includes lists 5 and 6 of the Dolch sight word lists.  My students really enjoyed playing Thanksgiving Uno, so I promised I would make a holiday version over the break.  Now there are two "Christmas" versions.   The first one is "Holiday Jingle Uno" and practices lists 3 and 4!  The second one posted today is "Ornament Uno" practicing lists 5 and 6!  I hope you will give either or both a try!  Your students will enjoy the games!

Also available on Teacher's Notebook!  Click here!

New Freebie Posted on TPT!

I have a new freebie posted on TPT and Teacher's Notebook!  Please check it out!

Turkey Trouble

We have so much to be thankful for in First Grade!  Friday, my little First Grade Froggies brainstormed their ideas and then created three feathers for our class turkey!  They wrote reasons they are thankful on two feathers and decorated the third with "random" crafty things for a cute collage feather.

Isn't it beautiful!  I'm so thankful for such an easy, attractive display to get us through this week of holiday festivities and end of the trimester assessments!

Today we read, Turkey Trouble, by Wendy Silvano and completed Deanna Jump's fun freebie you can find here!  My students had so much fun with this activity!


I love my group of First Graders and am very thankful for each and everyone of them!

First item is posted on TPT and Teacher's Notebook!

Welcome to my blog!  I am so excited to begin this new adventure!

Please check out and enjoy my first upload to TPT and Teacher's Notebook!  This is a great game to help students practice sight words!  Look for more to come soon!

Find it here on TPT and here on Teacher's Notebook!

November 10, 2012

I am so excited to begin this new adventure of blogging!  I am inspired by those teachers that I have been learning from for so many years just by following their blogs!  I have had many questions answered and many ideas shared!  I like how as a profession, teachers are so willing to share with each other and help problem solve.  After all, it's for the children, right?

So, ready, set go!  A little about me...

First and foremost, I'm a busy mother to my 4 daughters.  My oldest is a senior this year and keeping me quite busy.  She is involved with Student Government and plays on the Varsity Volleyball team.  They are headed to Section Playoffs in a week!  We are also in the midst of college applications.  My youngest three are triplets and are in 7th grade this year.  Just the fact that they are the same age has its challenges and advantages! They also keep me quite busy.  We are at tutoring twice a week for A, gymnastics for C, and the bookstore for E.  I put quite a few miles on the car for living in a small community! I'm fortunate to work at a K-8 Charter school, so I get to have my girls with me for one more year after this.

I have been teaching First Grade at my current school for the last 13 years!  I love where I work, the students and families I  get to know and the people I work with.  My teaching partners in First Grade are amazing and we have a very cohesive working relationship which often overflows into our lives outside of school. It is these wonderful women that inspire me everyday!

So there you have it.   My first blog post.

Please check out my first freebie I've posted on TPT and Teacher's Notebook!