Thanksgiving Freebie!

I hope you had a restful Thanksgiving Vacation!  Mine was GREAT!  We went to the mountains with family and stayed in a friend's cabin. We had a great time playing games, relaxing, talking and reconnecting with cousins, aunts and uncles.  We also enjoyed the mountain air.  

I live in Chico, California near Paradise, California where the Camp Fire consumed the entire community.   The air quality has been horrible!  You may have seen pictures or news stories about the impact this fire has had on the community of Paradise.  It's truly devastating. 

We haven't had school since November 8 when the fire started. I did a meet up at the library to see my students and enjoy each other's company. I really just want to see my students and reconnect! 

I have a freebie you may be interested in using when you see your students this week!  Last year my students were so eager to share about their vacations! 

First, we enjoyed sharing our adventures for the first half hour!  I love mingling to music and sharing our news with each other! Then we got down to businesss writing about our break!  

Please click on either image above to download this FREE resource from my TpT Store!   I've also placed my entire store on sale for the TpT Cyber Sale!  Be sure and enter the promo code Cyber18! 

You may be interested in these resources for the weeks leading up to the Winter Break!  My students love these coloring sheets!  I've created them for math and sight words.  These are great for math tubs, word work, stations and early finishers!  The math coloring sheets are differentiated so you can decide which addition and subtraction strategies you want your students to practice!

These are also available in a holiday bundle!  The bundle is also on sale during the Cyber Sale!

Thanks for stopping by my little blog!  

Back to School Time

Ready or not, it's almost that time! I can't believe some teachers across the country are already back in your classrooms!   I start back to school on August 13th and that seems early!  Oh well, it is what it is.  I really am excited to see my new group of first graders.  I'm just not excited to let go of the lazy days of summer!

I went into the classroom today and dropped off all of my summer purchases from the dollar spot, dollar store, Michael's, etc.  Why do I do that?  I'm sure I didn't "need" any of it!  But from the looks of IG, I'm not alone!  LOL!

I'm going through my Back to School Resources and printing and laminating from home!  I want to get ahead of the game, so I can focus on my classroom when I get back.

My school is implementing a new ELA curriculum so I'm focusing mainly on supplementing my math program.   These are some of my favorites for the first few months of the school year.

              



 I like introducing some games and coloring sheets while I'm teaching procedures and assessing my new students!  If any of the resources look like they might help you get ready for your new class, just click on the picture to see a complete description.

Thanks for stopping by!

The End is Near!

Hello!

I don’t know about you, but I’m in disbelief that I only have two weeks of summer left! Where did it go?

On the last day of school, I packed up my classroom, filled up my teacher bag with all the things I wanted to work on during the summer and left for summer break! This was the first time in my 22 years of teaching that I left my classroom on the last day of school!

The only school related thing I’ve done was a professional development in Vegas! My school is adopting the Expeditionary Learning Education curriculum

Well, best laid plans...I haven’t worked on anything that was in that teacher bag! LOL!

I decided to embrace summer for the first time in 22 years! I have read numerous books and vacationed with my family...without my computer!

We took lots of fun pictures! Can you guess where we traveled?

Now, with only 2 weeks left, I am feeling a sense of urgency in the pit of my stomach! I have begun the inevitable...making name tags, class decor, class lists, you name it! Here’s what my living room looks like….YIKES!

The piles from Summer shopping are out of control!  

I’m also am changing the color scheme in my room this year. It’s been a little bit of a hodge podge the last few years, so I looked for something pleasing to MY eye! I love the farmhouse / rustic look, but I need a little color. Imagine my excitement when I discovered Hollie Griffith's Farmhouse Flair Collection! OMG! It's perfect!

So now I'm printing, laminating and cutting like crazy!  

I'm also creating math resources for my new group of firsties!  I'll have to post pictures as soon as I've finished.  Right now, I'm focusing on those beginning of the year skills my new students will need to practice (subitizing, number identification, ten frames, beginning addition and subtraction)!  Until it's finished...here's a sneak peek!

  

These will be great for teaching those beginning of the year procedures: using scissors, glue sponges or glue sticks, subitizing, number identification!  I'm working on a back to school theme!  My plan is to have the skills increase while keeping the directions / activity the same.   

Leave a comment if you have other skills you would like to see!  

Hello Again!

If you’re reading this, then you’ve found my little piece of the internet!  I started this blog years ago to share the happenings in my first grade classroom...but clearly, I haven’t kept up with it!  Truthfully, I’ve had a couple of tough years and really needed to focus on school, my classroom and my students!

Let me re-introduce myself!  I am a first grade teacher of 20-22 little humans depending on the year! I teach at a charter school in Northern California and  I absolutely love my job! I am also a wife and mother to 4 beautiful, wonderful daughters, and one elderly chihuahua/terrier! I’m also a bit of a Disney enthusiast!

Soap Box: Just to clarify, charter schools are PUBLIC schools, and depend on taxpayer money to operate! I add that clarification because of our current political climate!  I believe as educators, we all need to support each other! So whether you teach in a public school, charter school, private school or homeschool, WELCOME to my blog!

Summer Reading

As teachers we are always encouraging a reading culture in our classrooms! I started the summer re-reading Donalyn Miller’s The Book Whisper.

 I was once again inspired by her “book a day” challenge/movement.  I’ve invited my classroom families to follow along on my IG this summer as I read and post my books of the day.

Click the picture to follow along on Instagram!

Of course, I hope to encourage my current and former students to join in and read everyday this summer!  I’m also meeting my students at the library this summer. What do you do to keep your kiddos reading?