Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits

Gone Buggy Unit for Free

2012-03-17T18:30:00.000-05:00

Here's my Gone Buggy Unit to you from me for Free. It was my first unit ever. When I look at it I feel all young and carefree...joking...(it was 7 months ago)
Anyway...It's 65 pages of buggy writing and comparisons.
It's geared toward kindergarten and first grade.

{Click Here} for TpT and {Click Here}for TN.

After you download that unit please come back and check out my Rockin with Rocks Unit! This baby is K-2 and it will challenge your kiddos! I am excited about it!

It is 63 pages total.

Here's an example page from each area studied.

Non-fiction read aloud geared toward K-2 students learning about rocks

Descriptive words writing

Sort by size activity and data collecting

Estimation Activity

Sort by color activity and data collecting

Scratch Test (rock hardness)

My Pet Rock Project

Rock Buddy bulletin board display and culminating writing activity

Click {Here} to check it out on TpT

Click {Here} to check it out on TN

Planning With Ryan

2012-03-16T12:30:00.000-05:00

Ryan and I are spending the last week day of our time off gathering all the great curriculum we are going to use in the next couple/few weeks. He loves my PJs, bed head, and coffee breath...just in case you were wondering. He's so sweet. Don't worry he loves yours too. He is just a fooool for a teacher...

Ryan and I plan to rock out the next week/couple weeks by starting these:

Farley's Class Pet Pack will be used during Math, Science, and Writing! It has fabulous math story problems, data collecting, living things connections for science, and writing activities.

Cara's new Camping Capers will help me with word work, writing, and more living things for science...as well as some really cute art projects tied to writing!

This is my newest unit! Read & Write Comprehension Pack. These generic (but cute!) reading response graphic organizers go with ANY guided reading story, reading series story, or classroom read aloud! We call it reader's workshop time. Or you can use these to make your own book study baby!

Our next book study in my classroom is on the ever loved book, Elmer by David McKee. This book study has 5 activities for the book.

My new writing unit is going to help me see the growth I am longing for with my budding authors. I am so excited to use these newly made rubrics for their writing. They LOVE to work toward the top score so I am taking advantage of it! Looking forward to showing them how to improve everyday in our writer's workshop! This unit has a rubric for each of the 6 traits of writing as well as lesson ideas/key words to teach each one. For the first time ever I have rubrics I WANT to use!

I hope you find some treasures that you and Ryan will adore for the remainder of the school year!

TGIF!

no worries we are just pals...I am happily married!

Bloggers GONE WILD--Spring Break Meet Up!

2012-03-15T09:00:00.000-05:00

What a blast! Here's who was there...

This picture is me with Jennifer!

Farley (Oh Boy Fourth Grade) was there with her lashes and her lava lamp fingernails. It was like old times! She is so hilarious...I learned a lot more about her! That girl is incredible. She FO SHO a trend setter. (remember the giraffe scarf incident?) She just makes you want to buy stuff. Her bangs are SUPER cute too!

Swersty (my librarian) from Swersty's Swap Shop and I showed up second and we did the 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon thingy and found out she and Farley knew a person who knew each other. Swersty is fully inaugurated into blogland now with her 2 posts! :) She is excited to start making some freebies. She has 20,000 books at her fingertips, give or take a few, and her lessons are picture worthy! She is So creative!

Then Barbara came. (not pictured) She doesn't have a blog but she reads them and she was a RIOT! Love her... (!!) Hope you made it home eventually Barbara! It can be tricky getting out of the Forum...maybe you'll just find another man on the street to call ya baby and head you in the right direction!

Next came Kristina and Becca. Fabulous first grade teachers and sisters too! Could they be more adorable?! No! Kristina taught across the hall from me two years ago and then abandoned me to live closer to her home. (not bitter-so happy for her!) I now teach in the classroom that was hers. (You know those cute seat sacks, curtains, and lamps in my room? They were hers!) I only taught with her one year, but that girl is amazing and she had the most positive influence on me. I absolutely adore her. Kristina's sister lives in Corpus. She is just as cute as Kristina and we were all jealous of her new purple streak in her hair! How adventurous! They are just precious and I am SO glad they came! They aren't bloggers yet, but Kristina will be guest blogging soon! And I have a feeling Becca will too!

Then, Patty arrived. She teaches across the hall from Farley and her blog is called A Series of Third Grade Events. I didn't get a chance to talk with her too much, but I did hear some funny stories about a particular student she and Farley are familiar with. (was that vague and general enough?)

Next was Jennifer from Rowdy in First Grade and she came bearing gifts to help me sell my house!!! We can totally relate on the stress of trying to move. She is absolutely sweet as can be and thankfully for us she is not yet moving to Seattle. Jobs are keeping them here...at least for now!!! Boo for her though because she is done with the Texas heat! One of the topics that came up was that the architects and builders don't actually consider teaching when they build...She told us she has an EXIT sign in the middle of her bulletin board...So we asked the obvious question if the whiteboard was magical and we could exit through it....apparently not....That got us going on a whole slew of other odd builder's choice options for schools. Farley gave us all the solution...sweet talking the workers and giving them cookies. Farley and her team got their boards moved and hung the very next day when they saw that things were not going to be teacher friendly. I am telling you that Farley has some serious influence.

Finally, Jessica from Glitzy in 1st Grade made it through rush hour traffic and arrived in style. She is gorgeous and teaches dual language first grade in my district. She has breakfast in her classroom too. Moment of silence for us and all the messy sticky desks we get to clean every morning... I almost had it out with the server (no not really) when I graciously reminded her that Jessica had not ordered...she responded, "I know." Theriously?! All of us teachers were quick to remind her (behind her back) that the correct response would be, Yes, Ma'am. (it is Texas and we do say that here) Or at least, I am happy to help you right away etc...insert kind remark here...ok I am going to let it go....now. Jessica has a crazy schedule but she is very dedicated to her students. She is so fun and cute and her classroom pictures are over the top!!! You should peek! Jessica also has 4 kids of her own from age 4 to 16 so she is AMAZING! (We were all shocked too.) I am starting my diet today thanks to seeing her rocking bod 4 kids later!

The evening was so very fun and full of hilarious stories. It was trivia night but we could not stop ourselves from gabbing to hear the trivia at all! What a fantastic evening! Dress code was a BIG topic, so were crazy parents, hilarious students, school building design, our own kids, potty training, chaffing at 6 flags while trying to act sophisticated, more dress code woes, neon colors being very IN, crazy principals of the past, present, and future, our undying passion for teaching and blogging, oh....and hair and nails of course.

We are counting the weeks to the end of year and I am totally going to have to PUNCH my kids the last two weeks of school like Farley and Patty do. Punch their cards that is! What a great idea!

It was a WONDERFUL night!!
-----------------------------
Also during the blogger's gone wild get together Holly from Crisscross Applesauce in First Grade got a blog makeover! And to celebrate she is having a giveaway! I am part of it (yay-she asked me!!) so PLEASE go give her some love and see her new design!

Morning Work Freebie and a Linky Party!

2012-03-14T15:16:00.004-05:00

I am linking up with Heidi from Swamp Frog First Graders to share what I do for morning work!
These are my daily warm ups! I have both a math and a language set. I run them back to back now, but at first we just did one or the other. Want a free trial?! scroll down!

These are the second set of daily warm ups that I have made.
Here's a freebie from both the language and the math set. They share the pet theme that I am obsessed with right now. Just click the picture for your own set!

If you like it I have a robot version as well! They have similar concepts but I also change it up for variety.

Click on the store buttons to check it out. :)

In a couple hours I am meeting up with some blog readers and some fabulous bloggers and I could not be more excited!!!

Bloggers Gone Wild!!!
Spring Break 2012!
more to come on that......

Elmer and A Sale!

2012-03-12T20:50:00.002-05:00

Hi Friends!
I know some of you are deep into the Bachelor Finale right now so I will make this post quick! Does anyone else think the end of Bachelor is going to be a train wreck?

I am throwing a Spring Break Sale in both my stores starting now until tomorrow night. I have added my absolute favorite book study of the year to my shops! (I think I always say that, but when I pulled it out to take pictures, my 10 year old son said, "Awww, I remember Elmer!") It's just a sweet memorable story about an elephant that discovers being different is a GREAT thing! It's also great to teach it when you are doing your math lessons on shapes and geometry, but it can be done ANYTIME of year! We are doing it when we come back from Spring Break.

Here's a peek at the book study and craftivity!

My new teaching writing unit is on sale too! Just click the buttons to check things out and hopefully pick something up for yourself on sale!

G'nite Friends!

Teaching Writing and Life Lessons

2012-03-11T16:57:00.000-05:00

As teachers we teach EVERYTHING.

How to properly wipe up your accidentally exploded sneeze.

The proper technique of de-papering a band aid so it doesn't immediately stick to itself.

The correct amount of glue per any given cutting and pasting assignment and YES there is a difference.

The heartbreaking lesson of 3 pennies in your pocket do not equal an ice cream from the cafeteria.

Why it isn't the best idea to put that furry sillyband you found in the corner into your mouth.

How to tie those brand new shoes with triple knots because the fact that they are covered in glitter, light up, and play music isn't enough distraction...they also won't stay tied.

How to make and keep a friend.

How to walk in a line, sit in a chair, sit on a rug, and act at an assembly....

and let's face it, sometimes we teach what feels like all the WRONG things trying to get to what we SHOULD be teaching.

One of those subjects that can cause some anxiety is teaching writing.

ahem...sorry just thought I would get your attention.

So I have been working on something MAJOR to me. It's my favorite subject to teach when I am not fixing a fallen ponytail, or looking at loose teeth and bleeding gums. But it has a lot to do with those little moments in life! WRITING!

All those little moments and happenings in our lives give us the basis of what we can write about! I have compiled key lessons, that I teach throughout the year. Clear and easy to understand rubrics (rubric isn't a bad word like you think it is...these are good rubrics!) to see where your students are working and how to move them to a new level of writing, and class charts to help you teach writing the entire year.

Click the picture above and check it out! I also have it at TN so you can check there too.

Let me get your attention again...

Why the libary reference? Well MY LIBRARIAN MADE A BLOG!!!!!
You must RUN not walk over to her blog and say hello for me. PLEASE! You will not be disappointed in what she shares. I assure you! She is brilliant! She is brand spanking new to blogging so please give her a little love! Reagan's Librarian's Blog Link. :)

BLOGGER MEET UP!!!

If you plan to come to the San Antonio blogger meet up please comment or email me and let me know. The world famous Jennifer from Rowdy in First Grade is coming! Farley and I are hoping you will come too!

It's this Wednesday at 5:30 (or come when you can) at The Lion and Rose restaurant at The Forum shopping center in San Antonio.

I Think I Can! I Think I Can!

2012-03-06T19:34:00.000-06:00

We are culminating our penguin studies, preparing for our Math Benchmark, and Testing for Report Cards!
It's all so exciting. We are SO SMART!
I am pretty sure I am the last teacher on Earth studying penguins, but maybe this will help you prepare for next year?! :)
Today we made these Emperor Penguins!

The Emperor's come from this:

We also wrapped up our book study on THE EMPEROR'S EGG!

They KNOCKED my socks off with their learning!!!

We also read TONS of favorite penguin books (Tacky included of course!) and used these penguin themed reading responses!

We are preparing for our Math Benchmark. We feel prepared to take THE BIG TEST! It's fun when we get to prepare with Math Centers! Our benchmark test is Thursday! One more day of practice before...It's ON!

counting and comparing coins

counting and coloring how much we spend!

Skip counting and filling in the missing numbers!

Race to 100!

4-leaf clover measuring

Finally...I want to invite you to a Spring Break Blogger Get Together! Farley from Oh Boy Fourth Grade and I are hosting a get together at The Lion and Rose in San Antonio on Wednesday March 14th at 5:30. We had such fun last time and hope a few more friends will come out! Here's the website link to the restaurant. (I am the body double for the girl lying across the bar---kidding!)
http://www.thelionandrose.com/index.php
We are going to be out on the patio so we can gab and eat and GAB!!! CAN'T WAIT!
Please let one of us know if you can come! We already heard from Jennifer at Rowdy in First Grade! She is going to try to come! Fingers crossed- I adore her!
Finally....I am ready to link up with Farley for March Currently! (but now I just realized how L-O-N-G this post has gotten..I hope you are still reading this!)
Here Goes.....

Reference Wall Freebies

2012-03-04T20:59:00.000-06:00

This post is going to be a bit all over the place!
First of all I have some freebies to share....
I stayed at my mom's house ALL LAST WEEK! (I'll get to why in a minute)
So I didn't have access to the mothership (aka: my blogging computer)
Long story short, promises were made to share things and I haven't done it.

First, my reference wall!
Visual Below to help you set it up:

Click the following links to get them all for free from TpT:
Reference Wall Titles
Shapes
Chunks Board
Reading Strategies

Next, we are culminating our penguin unit on Friday with a Penguin Day. It is SO MUCH FUN every year. I plan to blog about it when it is all said and done, but for now I want to share a board game I made for Friday. It is called Penguin Beach. I made it because my students are crazy for board games, penguins, and penguin videos with predators lurking.
Click the picture below to download. Put the two pages side by side and laminate! Use anything for student game pieces and one die to move.

Now why did I stay at mom's all week you ask? (pretend you asked) Well my daughter (6th grader) tried out for the dance team last week. She had after school practice for 2 hours and then a second optional night practice for another hour. I live 40 minutes from my daughter's school. We commute. But my mom lives near the schools so it was easier to just stay with her. And boy was it! I came home to my favorite childhood dinners cooked and ready, She made my lunch and my kid's lunches each day, and she did all my laundry the night before we left for home. I may have thrown a tantrum before having to go back home and resume all responsibilities as mom again...I can't help but revert to childhood. Want to know the best news of all????!!!
My daughter made the DANCE TEAM!!! She is very shy. VERY SHY. (THO THY) So this was incredible to watch. She just came out of herself and was full of confidence. I was beaming all week with pride regardless if she made it or not...Here's a picture after we got home from the try outs!

I will be driving hours and hours starting now and next school year for this little lady and her dance commitment! Or bunking with my mom...It's a win win really. :)
Back to teachery things...sorry about that!

Next, I want to invite bloggy friends to come to San Antonio on Wednesday March 14th. Farley and I are planning a cozy dinner meet up! Please save the date if you possibly can. (We hope it is your Spring Break too!) We are thinking of a 5:30 start time but anytime you can come even if it is later is fine! Last time we didn't want it to end!
Hope you are fighting off those Sunday Night Blues Friends!

No More Word Verification!

2012-03-03T17:16:00.001-06:00

I have finally conquered the word verification monster! I had my settings all set to "anyone" and "no moderation", but friends were still complaining about having to type in 2 words. ~~I won't name any names or anything but~~ Kristin, Hadar, and Tara threw some fits.

I decided to contact blogger and get some answers because going in and changing my settings was NOT working.
Here is the answer I recieved----It works!

To remove it at this time you have to revert to the old interface.

Click the gear icon at the top right of the dashboard an then old interface in the menu.

Go to settings--comments-- and answer no to the word verification question.

Save changes.

You can return to the new interface with the link at the top.

Okay...there! Monster slain! Bye Vagishwari...it's the last time we will be forced to type your name and your son ghutheriyle's name too. Good riddance!!!

(now please leave me a comment and test it out) :)

Lenny the Leprechaun

2012-03-02T15:02:00.004-06:00

We couldn't find the leprechaun yesterday on our hunt. (you can see that post HERE)
So today we made our own leprechauns!

Looking for a Leprechaun Activity Pack

I would love to say something witty and hilarious here but it's the end of a week! I am spent!

TGIF!!! Happy Weekend!

We Looked for A Leprechaun!

2012-03-01T16:28:00.000-06:00

Today after our specials time, the students came back to a room full of footprints, coins, glitter, and leprechaun work books! What a blast!
We hunted all over the school searching but ended up finding a pot of treasures for us instead! Here's a HOJILLION pictures of it!

...it was so crazy and fun! Tomorrow we are making the leprechaun craft! If you want the Looking for a Leprechaun Lessons just click HERE!

And I also have to show you what happened to me today. I will confess I am a Seuss "grinch". I have never celebrated Dr. Seuss or really gotten into his books at all UNTIL TODAY.... (due to my occupation I have always stuffed this guilt down deep. This blog post is setting me free ya'll. Free from Seuss Guilt.

We went to our library lesson and it was Seuss-TASTIC. I may be first in line to see The Lorax tomorrow because I have total Seuss fever now. I finally get it. Plus our librarian can get you excited about anything...I mean ANYTHING. If she did library lessons on bikini waxes and mammograms then I would be first in line to do those things too. Maybe she should do library lessons on making dinners with a good attitude. Putting the dishes away and folding the laundry. She is just incredible. So here's a few pictures taken today during my Seuss life changing moment.

Write on the Money?

2012-02-28T16:40:00.000-06:00

If I had to say two standards that are the most difficult for young children (I am generalizing of course) I would have to say writing and money! Over the last few weeks (ok the entire year) I have really tried to amp up my teaching of these two things.

But when my kiddos are shouting out across the room that they got a match and counting their coins I am pretty excited!!! Check these cuties out.

Also having a coin reference spot in the room is really helping. I will put my reference wall out as a freebie soon. I am not on the computer that has that file or I would do it now!!

They use it CONSTANTLY. They still need to check themselves on quarters and nickels the most.
Right now I am somewhere between phasing out February Math Tubs and beginning March Math Tubs....I took some pictures today.

Writing:
We are in the midst of a Book Study on The Emperor's Egg. They ROCKED their penguin fact writing today!!! They love knowing there is a rubric and they can earn the TOP score. I may have heard...is this a 4? about 50 times as I circled around taking pictures!

Maybe I need to make a rubric for their daily writing. Does anyone have a daily writing rubric? Do they stay motivated? I guess that's why I love book studies so much. It's an elevated writer's workshop to me. Thoughts? Opinions?....I really am curious! I have to break up our regular writer's workshop with my book studies. About one a month. Then we go back to our regularly scheduled writer's workshop time! It seems to be working.

Do you hoard their writing? Do you make a portfolio? I would love to get ideas for end of year...yes I just typed end of year!!! Mine is a compilation of the year's writing and art projects. When I put it together, I will do a post about it and show what I do to put it together.

Let me know what you do!

Feels Like a Monday!---and a freebie!

2012-02-27T15:30:00.000-06:00

How do you know it's a Monday?

A student comes in tardy at 9:00 (we have a 7:30 start time) carrying a McDonald's breakfast.
That resulted in a grape jelly clean up around 9:20.

My stomach was growling at 10 for lunch because I ate so much over the weekend. (plus the McDonalds aroma entered my room)

Students are a little too quiet during their morning work...they might be asleep.

I keep having that urge to check my blog and email because I am still on weekend mode.

I am ready to watch The Bachelor!!!

One of my firsties actually asked Mr. Marc (on Adventure to fitness) why we had to go into fast mode...In a whiny voice....expecting an answer...And I secretly thanked Mr. Marc for not answering her...then I gave him a wink as he outran the crocodiles, or the greek gods, or Mr. Laze...Oh, I guess THAT WAS WHY why we were in FAST mode huh?!
(Rainy Monday=Adventure to Fitness)

................... back to the reason for this post!!!

Thanks for being such great friends and followers! The TpT link up is fantastic and still going!!!
Now we all have our very own TPT catalog!
I have loaded my cart up for Wednesday and I just keep adding!
There are so many amazing new bloggers and store owners that I didn't know about! Doing a happy dance but only with my arms since I am tired from my Monday...the diet coke has worn off...

This March number word freebie is for you! You don't even have to wait till Wednesday!

Click HERE to check it out and print yours!

Here's some other products I am teaching this week/month: (shameless plug for the sale)

You can find all these things {and more} at my store {see the button below to get there} and remember the leap year sale at TpT is tomorrow so load up your cart now and wait for Wednesday to get it all 28% off! Use the code l2p9y.

Click the TpT linky party HERE and add your shop...then shop till you drop!

Giant TPT LINKY PARTY!

2012-02-26T11:41:00.000-06:00

HERE is a linky party
so everyone holding a LEAP YEAR.... Leapy Sale
on TpT can advertise their fabulous creations...
when you link up
follow these simple rules...
1- link to your TpT STORE PAGE (not your blog please... just your TpT store)
2- under your pic write how much your sale is... 10% 20% what ev... and put your name... you have 75 characters so it should be enough :)
2- spread the word using.... the fab poster below....use both if you want :)
the more people that know about the party
the more links we will have
and the more chances you will sell something---plus it's fun to shop and it is an easy way to find great stores!

you can use this to spread the word...

and this party is being hosted by a few of my blogger friends... so you might see this on other blogs too....
ONLY NEED TO link up once :)

Looking For A Leprechaun

2012-02-25T14:04:00.001-06:00

For the last 13 years I have done a Looking for a Leprechaun Activity during March!

I plan to do this Thursday to kick off March but sometimes I wait for a week of read alouds about tricky leprechauns!! When the students enter they will see that someone has messed up our room leaving their footprints and magical green dust and coins in a trail! I make the footprints go up walls...loop de loop on the board, my chair, some student desks, the math tubs, and everywhere else I can make them go. The footprints finally end where the first clue is hung. Directions, clues, footprints, activities and the leprechaun craft are all included!!! ($3) I get the coins and treasures at the dollar store and I use my Halloween pot. :) They never know!

At the end the students do not catch the leprechaun so they make the one included!!! For all their hard work and clue following, the leprechaun has left them a pot o' treasures!

this year's pot thank you dollar store

It's a memory maker!!!

Good luck hunting for your Leprechaun!!!!

Today I Celebrate Being in Remission!!!

2012-02-25T08:52:00.000-06:00

It has been 14 years since I was diagnosed with Myasthenia Gravis. My symptoms started my first year of teaching. I had always been an athlete and thought I was out of shape at first. 4 months later in February, I was diagnosed with Myasthenia Gravis (MG). If you are unfamiliar with MG it is a disease where your voluntary muscles do not receive the messages from the brain that they need to function properly. It can look very different from person to person, but for me I had trouble walking properly. It felt like I was walking through cement. Getting dressed, brushing my hair, speaking, chewing, using my limbs was difficult. I had to take muscle stimulants every three hours. They would wear off. I taught from a chair and had to take breaks. My eyelids drooped and my speech would slur if not on meds. Resting helped so I would sleep when I got home. Trying to put a pan on the stove from the cupboard was a monumental task. Holding a diet coke would result in a spill...and then tears and frustration. I am SO lucky that it was only about a year of living that way before surgery. I had a thymectomy (removal of my thymus gland) in June when my first year of teaching ended...5 months later I was off of my muscle stimulants and symptom free. Now I am left with a 7 inch scar on my chest. (not pretty-not done very well) I hide it with necklaces, scarves (one that has giraffes!), and sometimes I don't even hide it at all. It's just a part of me. So I celebrate not being sick and not having symptoms every February! Some people live with it and surgery does not help. Thankfully for many surgery does help. It sure did for me. So today is a celebration day for me!

**School Related Part of my Post!!!!
We had take your family to school day yesterday and let me tell you it was a LONG day but I had the most fun after school at our first ever indoors winter carnival. (fund raiser) The parents came during school for a magic show (about character) then an hour classroom visit, and finally a picnic lunch outside! It was COLD and WINDY for our picnic, and there were lots of tears shed for parents not able to make it. That part was NOT my favorite.

But the after school carnival turned out wonderfully! We were dog tired but the kids were so excited to be back at school and playing games. They spent tons of money, the turn out was amazing, the kids were ecstatic so it all ended wonderfully. I did come home from school 13 hours after I left for school in the morning so you can imagine that I was in bed shortly after. The only draw back was that my own personal kids "won" goldfish. In.A.Cup. So when we got home from our 13plus hours day, we had to set up fish tanks. My son kept saying his goldfish was his best friend.

Well...his goldfish did not make it through the night ya'll. We had a funeral this morning and will be heading to walmart to buy some new best friends. Happy Weekend!

Were You Lucky?--Winner!...and more.

2012-02-22T18:37:00.001-06:00

Congratulations Staci from Let's Teach Something! She is the LUCKY winner! I am so happy to have hosted this giveaway and that so many lovely friends entered!

Today is also genius son's 10th birthday! Pretty Epic day as he would say. Here's a look at my 10 year old baby boy.

We told him he could eat at any restaurant and he chose my cooking at home. My eggs and bacon. So we just had breakfast for dinner. He doesn't like cake so vanilla ice cream is for dessert. (I may have gotten myself a gallon of Bluebell Mint Chocolate Chip---oh with thin mints too...yes happy birthday my sweet boy) His gifts...computer related. Boy that was easy. Click---birthday is done. Low maintenance kiddo!!!!

My unscheduled 45 minute observation walked in and sat down this morning! I am so relieved to have it done! I used my acting and drama and got a few chuckles....and a couple crickets. We are doing short and long I this week so I pretended to take a phone call on an ipod touch in the middle of class. I kept using a really loud voice and saying "I KNOW....I KNOW while slapping my knee. (I was using my long I sound people.) Then I said...Oh I gotta go my principal is in here and I am teaching. I hung up the ipod touch (which doesn't actually make calls) and then started my LONG I lesson with a smartboard activity modeled after the Iphone that takes LONG I apps. It was really fun! A bazillion thanks to The Lesson Plan Diva for the idea!!! I think it went over well. I saw smiles cracked.

I ended my day with our February Quilt. There was almost an uprising since I usually make the quilt the first week of the new month. Here we are on the 22nd.

You can find the year's worth of quilts {here} and thanks again for playing the lucky giveaway!!!!

Feeling Super Presidential!

2012-02-21T17:41:00.000-06:00

Today we did the George Washington from my Winter Art and Writing Pack but with it I used Cara's Pint Sized Presidential Fun to make this Bulletin Board.

Here's how it went down ya'll....
There was a discussion about Presidents Day. When I asked them to tell me about the first president they said it was Washington. Then I said what do you know about Washington...They said he was black and that he lied about a cherry tree....and that "Obama was wrecking this town".
So I quickly turned the mood with a question.... Why Would You Be A Good President? (Thanks Cara!)
Most stated that there should be more recess, time off, and even weeks off. One said we should take holidays off because that is why they are called holidays. (Couldn't have said it better in my opinion) Then we had the preventative thinkers that wanted to stop bullying, bad guys, robbers, stealers, and littering. Here's an example of the writing that went with the craft. (the craft is from my unit and the writing paper is from Cara's unit)

Next we made ourselves into presidents.

Later, I introduced the class to Super Eeeeeeeee! (You have to go ALL OUT)

I just got this yesterday from The Teacher Wife and my class is SO in love. They already knew the "magic E" rule as we call it, but for those struggling kiddos...this was HUGE! I am so excited about this packet! All the kids got so into it. It didn't matter if they already knew what to do. It just made doing it much more exciting.

Tonight I am picking the winners of the LUCKY giveaway so it's your last chance to get entered.

I have to watch dance moms tonight so you have until that wretched show ends Central time. :) Can't. Look. Away.

I think I am global.

2012-02-20T19:28:00.002-06:00

So I woke (for work---insert feeling sorry for me here) and I found that I had a message at my teachers notebook store. I always freak when I get those because my first thought is that something is messed up in one of my lessons or units. Well I was surprised to find this amazing note waiting for me! (She said I could share it)

"Thank you so much for all of the wonderful items in your shop! You truly are a teacher's life saver. Last week my school announced that they would be closing for two weeks due to a bombing ......that occurred here and we needed to send home work with our students for those two weeks. Although I was shook to the core from the bombs (one of them was down the street), I had to put my mind to work on the packets. So, I quickly bought your Pet Pack bundle and March centers so that I could send home the daily language and math papers from the bundle and begin preparing for March with your math centers. Some of my students saw the different papers in your bundle (the ones with the cats and dogs for writing) and asked if they could have those in their "school at home" packet. I had to tell them "No, we need some lovely things to do when we return." So I know that they are waiting for those papers. :) Once again, thank you for sharing your creativity and love of teaching with all of us, you always brighten my day with your stories."

We continued to talk and it turns out she teaches in Syria. Ya'll that's incredible. Amazing. Unreal to me. A teacher in Syria is teaching my stuff. And your stuff. And I could not love this blogging community anymore. I hope you will pray with me for this teacher (originally from Ohio) and her students and all of their families. I have already sent her some more stuff. I will keep you up to date on her if I hear more info.

So here is a pic I snapped tonight. It's a typical school night here....Check out my laminating! With all the cutting I will be doing, it's gonna be hard to concentrate on the terrible outfits Ben wears tonight....I shall overcome.

laminated march centers, Baby girl doing homework, genius son on computer...

Also I just wanted to let ya know you can enter the giveaway for one more day. Tomorrow at bedtime I am going to pull the plug on this baby. A lot of you are feeling lucky!!! yay! Also Hadar told me no one would ~~love me~~ enter my giveaway if I didn't take off the word verification thingy. But I have always had it off. And I double checked and it is still set to anyone...So I am not sure what is going on?!!! Tho Thorry!

Do You Feel Lucky?

2012-02-19T13:59:00.002-06:00

Check out this LUCKY giveaway that I am hosting with some of my wonderful blog buds!
Here's the loot you can win!:
Alisha is giving away her March Math and Literacy Centers!

Teacher's Notebook

TeachersPayTeachers

_________________________________________________
Jen is giving away her Circus themed math and literacy centers!

TeachersPayTeachers

____________________________________________

Farley is giving away any 3 (her favorite number) things from her teacher's notebook store!
_________________________________________________

Tara is giving away 2 Items from her teacher's notebook store!
________________________________________________
I am giving away my March Math Centers and my Looking for a Leprechaun Craftivity!

teacherspayteachers

teachers notebook
_____________________________________________

Top Ten Reasons You Should Enter This Giveaway:

10. It's the closest thing to gambling you can do with a clear conscious aside from a Bunco and other assorted group games, but you get to stay home in your PJs and no one can see you eating all the desserts!

9. These are really cool people (like you---you rock star blogger) and following them is a no brainer. (you probably already do!)

8. You can't win if you don't enter!

7. You are already following the dress code of PJ's and desserts...and possibly a little more dessert cuz NO ONE is looking.

6. You get to see me use my redneck screen capture technique as I have yet to figure out how to get the random number generator to cooperate.

5. Farley made the CUTEST giveaway button!!!

4. If you don't enter you will be THO THAD.

3. It's the first time to host a giveaway that involves more than my own self and I am nervous and vulnerable.

2. I will read and stalk everyone that enters. Seriously. I am sick. I need to set the computer down and walk away....but. I. Cant.

1. I am singing...Bette Midler's Wind Beneath My Wings at full tilt for you every time you enter!

Enter Three Ways!
Follow the stores. 1 comment
Follow the blogs. 1 comment
Blog about the giveaway and use Farley's cute button. 1 comment
This giveaway ends on Tuesday night before I go to bed! Roughly 10pm Texas Time!

Rowing my Boat. Keeping Afloat.

2012-02-18T19:32:00.002-06:00

Have you ever felt the world spinning while you just sat and stared? (like that student that finds staring at the wall all day long more interesting than working?) But in the midst of that fog you still did all your normal 10,000 jobs as mom and teacher?

I had a LOT going on at school {You know what I am talking about: Valentine's Day, staff meetings, parent conferences, progress reports, Excel spreadsheets filled with data and TEENY TINY boxes to fill for each student, doctor's appointments, house showings, my own sick kid, sub plans, son's almost birthday, and rainy day inside recess}

In all that craziness of last week, I realized that I missed out on the blog world almost completely. I felt a void that I tried to fill with chocolate and Valentine's cookies. It didn't work. So I kept trying the chocolate but alas...the only thing that worked was sleep and a Saturday. God's provision can be as simple as sleep and Saturday.

After having to make sub plans and feeling frustrated to have to leave a sub some lessons that I want ~~control over~~ to teach to my students ~~my way~~. I decided to make a printables packet that focuses on the skills in language arts that my students can never get enough practice with! Now whenever I need some seat work or some homework or some time filling while I give assessments, I have something to pull from. I am really happy about this printables packet.

Also on the planning side of things, I have seen some teachers do some cool things with calendars and lesson plans all mapped out by the week. We do ours weekly too of course, but I realized that I like to make things for the entire month. So here's what my March looks like

click my store links on the left side of the blog to check out any of these items. They are at both stores.

It kind of cracks me up the way I just threw them on there. Spring Break is in there somewhere!!! It won't be forgotten! I don't usually do any Seuss stuff. There I admitted it. Total teacher sacrilege I fear, but I didn't even know it was that big of a deal before blogging. I don't think I can possibly cram it in at this point. We are up to our beaks in penguins and math. This week we have take your family to school week so there will be a lot of goings on! I hope I can keep afloat!

I wanted to link up to the how I met my hubs linky, but all my scrapbooks and pictures are packed up and taped up in the garage. insert longing sigh... I am visual person, so I hate to tell you this very short story without pictures, but I can at least tell you I met hubs the Summer before my junior year of college. I was a 7th Grade Camp Counselor at a Summer Camp in Northern California. He was too. He put a frog on my head as his introduction...should have known...but alas...we are married with a daughter that will be a 7th grader this Summer...so full circle!!! There ya have it. 18 years later! (oh and an almost 10 year old son!)

To anyone else that is barely making it by! I am in your boat. It's full of chocolate and diet coke. It only has one oar...

Happy Valentine's Day! Freebie

2012-02-14T05:56:00.002-06:00

Be my Valentine!

Click to print!
Hope your day is filled with love, little hugs, and lots of chocolate!

March Math Centers!

2012-02-11T20:13:00.000-06:00

I know we are gearing up for Valentine's Day so forgive my pre-holiday post...but I like having time for printing, laminating and cutting before I have to use my math centers. Here's what I am doing for my math centers in March! (I made sure to make them extra easy to prep!)

contains the following 9 centers (see below)

Money match game like concentration

Game board with two versions: Adding doubles and numbers up to 20

Measure around the room using clover strips.

Students compare money cards then spin to see which wins...Less or More?

Money game board. The person who spent less money is the winner!

Spinner game where students color in the amount they spin racing to color the entire chart.

Fact family match and record

Skip counting fill in sheets. I laminate and let students write on the clovers with dry erase.

Place value building numbers: Ones, tens, hundreds

click the button of the store you like to check these out! You get 9 math centers for $6.
{That's the price of 2 regular math centers}!!!

I will give the first three commenters the file for FREE! {leave me your email please}
Luck o' the Irish To Ya!

Shock and Awe

2012-02-09T20:04:00.000-06:00

I get a kick out of a big reaction with my firsties. I think I am so witty in class and it is total crickets in there....I sometimes say..."Is this thing on?" chirp chirp......nothing.

But if I drop a paper or marker or trip over something you can bet it is HIGHLY HYSTERICAL.
Today though...I got just as much reaction out of our lesson as they did! It was a blast.
Here's what we did...
Today we tackled the question...How do penguins stay warm?

I apologize that Walrus came out to play as he is not part of the Antarctic gang...please forgive me!

I brought some of the Southern Ocean to class today. And couldn't resist a few little friends as well!

That's really cold water!!!

Students put one hand in the water and one hand in the blubber bag! There is a clean bag inside of a bag of crisco. They just slipped their hand in and out of the clean bag.

I died over their reactions!!

Best reaction!

We also filled out a Blubber Glove worksheet from The First Grade Jungle! It was perfect!
Later we did more about temperature. We felt the different between our ocean water temperature and the penguin's ocean water temperature. We learned how to make the temperature drop or get higher by adding ice or warm water....It was epic. seriously. Such a good time.
TGIF!!!

Penguins and Polka Dots

2012-02-08T21:43:00.000-06:00

It's been a long day but I wanted to try out my new blog on a quick post! Thanks to Polka Dot Dandy I have a fresh new look. :) Fun!
Here's our penguiny day.
We read our second Tacky book today and responded! They are getting so much better at it now! I am so thrilled! We've responded to two Tacky books using my Tacky {Penguin Themed} reading response pack.

Then in the afternoon during our science block, we used our knowledge of telling sentences to write what we know about Penguins.

I made this penguin chart inspired by Cara, who got it from Abby, inspired by Deana Jump....
But I changed it up and let the kids write the post its on their own. Some of them were able to write two and some were able to write one, but everyone added to the chart!

The students wrote their telling sentences on purple post-its for our schema.

Then asking sentences on yellow post its around the penguins.

How do penguins stay warm?

Can penguins hear from far away?

We will answer our asking questions and add to our new knowledge section of our penguin. We only had one misconception so far and it was "Penguins are mammals". I was just excited that they were thinking like scientists and remembering vocabulary. HOLLA!

Giraffes in Antarctica!

2012-02-07T20:59:00.002-06:00

Hey Friends!!!
Let's get to the scarf first then we can go to Antarctica!
If you didn't read my last post with the story of this scarf you can do that HERE
Farley and I are totally and completely IN LOVE with this scarf with GIRAFFES on it.
So here's our photo shoot!

I think Farley and Dori wear it SO dang well I almost didn't post my pics. When my dogs saw her dog they were smitten and HAD to get one too.
Have I told ya'll how much I ADORE Farley????!!!!

I will also post a tiny bit here about teaching because I also really love that too!!!
Today we created our Penguin Unit Folders and made our passports. We weighed and measured ourselves {data to be used later when we see how much those penguins weigh and measure!}

Then we packed our suitcase for Antarctica as first grade scientists heading on an expedition. We read poems about Antarctica and watched 2 videos about how to travel there. The pictures were breathtaking and we actually felt like we had made the LONG voyage by boat. When the boat started cracking through the ice the students actually gasped and squealed. {me too!} When we saw the first penguin on the ice they all screamed, "A PENGUIN". It was SUCH a fun afternoon!

{notice they wanted to pack scarves!!!}

So are ya heading to target for a scarf?????

Currently Contemplating...

2012-02-05T22:23:00.000-06:00

My Local Blog Buddy Farley is having her Currently Party so I urge you to
join because it is kind of a HUGE event. Don't Blanic--it's still early in the month, but click her button at the bottom of this post and link up!

I am having commenting issues!!! On at least half or more of the blogs I read this weekend I could not comment! I don't know what is wrong, but I want you to know that I want to comment all the time and I can't!!! So if you are thinking...where did Reagan go? I am here and I am reading your blog posts! REALLY! I am hoping my blog change up will fix it...

Also my polka dotted makeover is experiencing technical difficulties and is now scheduled for Wed. I guess I keep adding more stuff or something. I am not doing it myself. I am not that talented. See my current blog? That's a do it yourselfer...I am ready for the real deal. I love all the cute blogs I see. I stumbled upon the blog template the day after I ordered it and got really bummed that someone else has it. But so far I have only seen one of it. Mine will still be a little different then the one I saw. So I am ok with it. sort. of.

February is a tough month for me in general. It's burn out time. What are you doing to help get through the winter blahs? I got myself a scarf and a sweater this weekend. :) I am excited to have something new to wear to school.

It's THE SCARF...the one I keep referring to. Here's the story...{Since it is a Farley party I think it is the perfect time to share}
Farley and I decided to buy door prizes for the bloggy meet up we had last month. I was at Target and picked up a pink scarf with gray giraffes on it. We gave our prizes out and Farley had a major connection with the scarf that Kristina won. I told her I got it at Target so she sent her hubby on a giraffe scarf hunt. He went to 3 different targets in San Antonio and could not find it!!!
Then a week later Farley sent me a picture mail with a big smile on her face and the scarf around her neck!!! Just seeing her in that scarf made me HAVE TO HAVE ONE too. So this weekend I was at Target and I saw THE SCARF. I now have it too!
When I wear it this week I will take a picture of it and post it. I am sure you can't wait. I mean really. It's got giraffes on it.

Ok I think it is time to let the weekend go now and tuck myself into bed. Do you ever feel like you can't go to bed or the weekend will officially be over?
After you comment {{If you can--mine is broken half the time--still bitter}} then head to Farley's ~~house~~ blog and link up! I would love to know what you are doing...if I don't comment please know that I read it!!!

My February Lesson Plans and Winners!

2012-02-05T09:00:00.000-06:00

SO about the winner number generator...I can't get my computer to capture the image, copy the image, or even print the dang screen...so...genius son and I decided to not let the computer win...(although I highly suspect user error) We took pictures of the random generators with an actual camera pointing at my computer screen! (and died laughing at our redneck screen capture technique)
Here are the winners!

I didn't include number 1 or 2 in the generator since they won the instant prize.

Need a little retail therapy to help ease the pain of not winning? (just play along with me I am excited)
I made a new pet pack with three pet peek overs! a cat, a chihuahua, and a puppy. My students will write for art so that's what we do!

But because I am a bit obsessed with these pets from scrappindoodles.com and have created 4 different units for my students using the pet theme and graphics, I decided to bundle them into a

buy three units get one free deal!!!

You can still get all 4 items separately too. Just click the GIGANTIC pictures I posted to check them out. They are at both TPT and TN.
Also since I am shamelessly plugging products on this post, I want to show you what I am teaching over the next three weeks: If I can add about 3 hours to the teaching day I am sure I will fit it all in!!!

We have three projects to go from my winter art and writing project pack. George and Froggy are coming up soon! We do the writing lesson on Thursdays and the art project that accompanies the writing on Fridays.

We spent so long with oceans that we haven't even started penguins!!! My penguin files are BURSTING thanks to all of you so this unit should be a BLAST!!! It's nice to be late to the party sometimes. I feel so prepared!

We study 6 kinds of penguins while comparing and contrasting height weight environment and special characteristics, but the Emperor Penguin is our favorite!!! We study him last using this book study for our language arts portion.

I have blogged this one a couple times before but I wanted to let you know that my students earned back their math tubs!!! I was extra generous but they did make the effort! We all love our tub time.

My Blog Makeover is scheduled for Monday!!! Please don't be alarmed if I look a little polka dotted! ;)
Happy Sunday!

I hope this is Freeze Tag.

2012-02-03T23:48:00.000-06:00

I had the best night reconnecting and making new friends at church! We had a Nights of the Round Table (An excuse to get together, eat, talk, connect, laugh, win prizes, you get the idea) The tables were round and thus the name...The seating was random so you ~~were forced~~ would be able to get to know new ladies. My round table totally rocked! We had 7 ladies ranging in age from early 21 to 85! 5 out of 7 of us were teachers in some way or another! The discussion was absolutely fantastic. I am energized and I feel such a connection. It was so similar to blogging and getting those amazing comments from colleagues that just brighten your whole day! Here's the only picture I took.

These women are in my life group that meets on Sunday nights. I am in the pink scarf. It would be better if it had gray giraffes on it like Kristina and Farley's...but it will do.

I wanted to share that because it just made me want to shout from the ~~rooftops~~ internet about how much having the support of other women, teachers, and friends, can change your perspective and fuel you with the insight and knowledge to get through anything you may be going through...and we are all going through something! So I just want to be sure to let you all know how much I appreciate every comment, follower, and blogger that I get the privilege to know...or virtually know...!!! I also appreciate when some of you email me with questions! I love getting to know you!

Also I got tagged and I think I was playing FREEZE TAG because I didn't respond very quickly and now I feel a little overwhelmed. So most importantly I want to thank these ladies for wanting to play tag with me!

Chrissy at Buzzing with Ms. B
Kara at Treadwells Math Adventures
Staci at Let's Teach Something
Jennifer at Herding Kats in Kindergarten
Anita At Mrs. Bremer's Kindergarten
Katie at Adventures of a 6th Grade Teacher

I am going to pull a Hadar (Miss Kindergarten) here and post a video instead of answering questions. Mostly because I don't have it in me to answer 12 X 6 questions...sorry I teach first grade...I don't know my 12s anymore. So please do the math yourself. It's the weekend...so if you don't want to do the math I grant you a math pass.
I am also posting this because my teacher singing video was brought up tonight at our ladies night at church. A third grade teacher at my table said they played it during a staff development thing for her district and she recognized it as me. I can't even believe that. I had a small movie star name in lights moment but...then I remembered how I sang on that.... and that brought me right back down to reality. But terrible singing or not...I did it for teachers because I know we can all relate. So I am going to post it here as a tribute to teachers young and old, elementary and secondary.

And you can unfreeze now...because I just tagged you!

Build A Graph Freebie and Celebrating The Non-Fiction Superbowl!

2012-02-02T13:30:00.000-06:00

This is a fun lesson I look forward to at the end of my graphing unit.
Build A Graph!
We start by choosing which question we will ask our friends. They only pick one of these four.

Then We Collect Our Data:
We take our pencil and our slip of paper and we ask 10 friends to give us their answers.

Next we count our results and get the parts of our graphs together.

Finally it is time to build our graphs! Students create their graph in pencil and glue colored one inch squares for each friend's response. Once the penciled graphs are approved by the teacher, students can sharpie their titles.

Finally we display our results for the class to see! On the back each student writes two sentences about their results. For example, More students like ice cream than cookies.

If you want to do a Build a Graph Lesson with your students just click the Question page at the top! It's a freebie!

For our library lesson this week we had a Non-Fiction Superbowl!

It's Non-Fiction Superbowl Time! Our librarian ROCKS!

Red Vs. Blue Non Fiction Game! We are learning how the Dewey Decimal system works for non-fiction.

Students had to find the books with the corresponding number on the football to score yards for their team!

loud cheering and football band music blared in the library! So Fun!

Touchdowns mean cheering and a bonus question!

Some of Team Blue!

Friendly Good Game handshake at the end of the Superbowl. (It was a tie~imagine that!)


This is my lunch. Dove Chocolate and Caffeine!

...Coming soon...a blog make-over and a giveaway!

Grab a snack it's a long post!

2012-01-30T18:34:00.000-06:00

It was a tough few days being separated from sweet little cammy my camera. To be totally honest I was always with a part of her. But never all of her... camera, cord, and charged battery...so today all three of those important parts of her were together and in tact. whew.

Are you ready? Here we go! :)

First, on Sunday I sat in my big brown chair by the fire and made some sweet little hearts to give my family. My plan is to make them for my class or even better to have my class make them. I got the idea from The Moffat Girls HERE. I would do it her way for my class.

Here's what I did in pictures step by step...

First I cut out matching felt hearts.

Then I got out a yarn needle (a dollar at walmart) and some cute heart buttons (also walmart)

I sewed a button on the front of a little heart and then started stitching around the two hearts That's my leg in front of the fire...ahhhh....I loved it there.

Then I stuffed some fiber fill or batting whatever you want to call it. (yup-it's at walmart too)

Here's the finished product! I made four little hearts total for my Sunday family dinner. My daughter loved hers so much that she wanted to make one too. Then she slept with the heart I gave her all tucked in her 11 year old hand. That's a life memory I will keep forever.

I ventured on to a big felt heart pillow made exactly the same way. This is similar to what my students will make for their families.

Here is how it looks stuffed...oh so sweet.

My dog is in heaven here with my lap and the fire. She also decided to lick the pillow a lot. I guess it's the felt??? So strange. Anyway...here's my mom and her hearts and animals sitting in my chair by the fire...

The animals like my mom a lot. She is filled with love and patience. I made her watch dance moms right after this. Poor sweet momma. (she hung in there)

Okay Now for Today!!! At School we had the culmination of our Ocean Unit. Students had to bring in an ocean animal project. We did all the research in class and they were supposed to bring in their ocean animal in any form to present to the class. I never imagined this coming in the door.

This is Carlie and the whale shark...It might possibly be actual size of a real whale shark. It's on the floor of my classroom. Probably scared the pants off our custodian after school!

Maddie brought the coolest jellyfish ever. It lights up and she even brought a tank to submerge it in!!! It was incredible. The jellyfish had gel in the top so it was totally realistic!

too bad you can't hear the ooohs and aaaaaahhhs from the class

Little Robert brought a great white shark display. There's a lego fishing guy on top in a boat. Hilarious!

Each kid presented their knowledge of their ocean animal along with their project. I HAD to say there were also being graded for their listening skills...It's not easy listening to 20 ocean projects...especially when your turn is over.

Here's what my back counter looks like now.

In case you missed the huff and puff bulletin due to the enormous whale shark in front of it here she is in all her glory. Now we are on to the billy goats gruff. :)

Here we are on day one of The Three Billy Goats Gruff. They love the troll but not as much as me!!! And it was perfect for talking about comparing adjectives too.

Hello mini-lesson! big bigger biggest. fat fatter fattest. (it's in the book I know it is a bad word in first grade so we had to just talk about it and why the troll wants the fattest goat) Today we did the story elements cut and paste. It was so much easier now that we have already done one for the Three Pigs.

And finally I am all laminated and ready for my February Math Centers!!! And darn those stinkers for getting their math tub time taken away from them!!! They were all kinds of crazy on Friday last week and I told them we would have a week without math centers...so here they sit ready to go with no one to play them!!! These pictures are just to show you how I organize all my millions of math tubs. These are my February Math Centers. I have zip locs for the entire year in order in two file drawers. In each bag is all the contents.

I wore chucks to school on a Monday

each baggie has the contents...just throw in the tub!

Click the picture above to check out Feb. Math Centers...12 centers for $6.

Now I just need to catch my class being really good and then reward them with getting their math tubs back!!!!!! (for my sake!)

Daily Language Work

2012-01-29T20:41:00.000-06:00

Hey Friends!!!
I am sad to say goodbye to this lovely weekend, but there's nothing like celebrating the 100th day on a Monday...My teacher bag (yellow bird) is about to explode, she's so full...

Anyway, I am halfway through my robot daily language and math review packets. I know a lot of you are using them so I wanted to be ready for you when you get to the end of those daily review packs!

Here's the next set!

I only have the language set done so far, but now I am working on math. I hope to have it done by next weekend! I didn't want you to feel like you were left hanging!

Click the store buttons to check out the language warm-ups pet edition.

Goats, Trolls, and a FREEBIE!

2012-01-29T07:30:00.000-06:00

Last week we read 354 versions of the Three Little Pigs and had a blast with my mini-unit. My students said reading all the versions of the Three Little Pigs was a lot like reading all the versions of The Gingerbread Man. (I screamed and stared at them with my mouth open for a little too long and let it get a little awkward until I said..."Kiss your brains and hug yourselves-You are knocking my socks off!"){{although I tend to be a tad bit sarcastic by nature I actually do talk to my class like this}}

I also really wanted to share the piggies and wolf bulletin board that we made on Friday. As I was putting it up it was getting compliments. Oh Yea! I was excited until I realized my camera was absent.

<Insert complete and total meltdown with flailing limbs, wailing "WHY ME?-IT'S NOT FAIR!", blowing snot, long pauses of no breathing while building up to more wails, and finally my legs running in a circle while lying flat on my stomach-you get the idea>

Here's what we are doing next week!!! I am {like totally} doing an 80's happy dance to Hey Mickey right now over it!

I owe the creative genius of melonheadz illustrating a GIANT smooch on the forehead for making me these graphics! I adore her so much! If you have something in mind for graphics she is awesome about making it for you!

Part of this mini-unit includes making a troll and doing a little reflective writing about when they act like a troll themselves! ha! I can't wait!

Fran suggested making a double bubble of my problem characters!! Brilliant! I made it and now it is a freebie! {just click the picture above} Don't worry! I added it to the pack so you can get everything with one purchase!
Click the Billy Goats Gruff Preview to head to TPT and check it out yourself. It is also at my TN store
too! It's $5.

Do You Speak Blog?

2012-01-27T19:46:00.001-06:00

Today I had a Near Blog on Collision due to my camtastrophe which sent me spinning into an emotional blogdown. I am feeling more blogfidance now because I have so many other things to focus on and I may be able to avoid a blime machine! I adore you blogger friends! Happy Friday Night!!!!

Mid-Week Pick Me Up

2012-01-25T15:37:00.000-06:00

I am struggling a bit this week. I adore my students but I am being real and letting you know that this week has been R-O-U-G-H!

I think a mid week pick me up is in order.

Need a little change up for your students or lesson plans? Something to get you through a rough patch?
I am having a sale at TPT and TN!
Here's what you can get ON SALE right now!

There's a Daily Language Pack just like this one too!

For your math centers

A week long book study to get your students writing and responding to an incredible book!

12 Standard Based Math Centers that are really fun and easy to implement!

A fun book study on The Three Little Pigs! This has kept me going this week! It's really fun!

reading response papers with a penguin theme.

This packet has 6 art projects with writing activities included. Cute bulletin boards!

Get all these and MORE on sale right now!!! Click the store button to check these out further!

Everything February!

2012-01-24T06:20:00.003-06:00

Miss Kindergarten (Fabulous Hadar) is hosting a V-day Giveaway!

Here's the product you can get for free!!!

Jennifer at First Grade Blue Skies

The Bubbly Blond

A cupcake for the teacher

Hadar at Miss Kindergarten

Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits

Head over to Miss Kindergarten to enter to win!!!

Dream Squashing In Full Effect!

2012-01-23T17:41:00.006-06:00

Mrs. Tunstall look at my blood. Sticks finger in mouth and pulls it out. No, go sit down please.

Mrs. Tunstall I'm hungry.     Go sit down lunch is in 3.2 hours you'll be fine.

Mrs. Tunstall I have an itch.         Yea...sorry. Go sit down.

Mrs. Tunstall I am gonna pee mah pants (country accent)    Did you use the bathroom signal? Didn't think so....go sit down. (and try again---we don't need accidents)

Mrs. Tunstall I have diarrhea.    Seriously? Did it already happen? oh good...no signal needed. get to the bathroom.

Mrs. Tunstall can you cut my spaghetti?        No just slurp it up. You'll be fine. Use a napkin.

Mrs. Tunstall my hair hurts.    Hair doesn't feel. Go sit down.

Mrs. Tunstall Is it time for recess?        No, sit down, recess is in....never. We only get one and it's over.

Mrs. Tunstall I love you.          Oh sweet baby I love you too. HUGS!!!!!!! with a little tiny back rub!

Pretty much a typical Monday!!!! :)

Hope you didn't have to squash too many dreams today to get your curriculum in!
and just so you don't think I am totally wretched (stop calling CPS)...

Here's a CUTE video of Will-I-Am that we watched today!!!

This Little Piggy

2012-01-22T09:30:00.000-06:00

This week the first grade team at our school is doing our Three Little Pigs book study. We check out every version of The Three Little Pigs that we can get our dark chocolate loving hands on, and then each day we read one or two versions as we complete the activities in the unit. The students LOVE the familiarity of the story (hello schema!) and they get such a kick out of hearing other versions. It is the perfect way to teach perspective as there are many stories out there told from a different perspective than that of the poor innocent piggies. (We all know that those piggies are haters)

I found the most adorable graphics from melonheadz illustrating (see her button below to go check her out) of the piggies so I was inspired to make our mini-unit the way I want it to be! I can't wait to teach this unit this week! My daughter says the wolf I made looks like a cat...let's move on shall we?

The Unit Includes Graphic Organizers and Printables for responding to The Three Little Pigs Stories as well as class charts and discussions.

Topics Include:
The Story Elements- both beginner and independent learners versions (I will do both)
Story Sequence-They can never get enough practice on this one!
Character Analysis (big bad wolf) How they felt about the wolf before they knew the REAL STORY
Building Basic Sentences Can-Have-Are
Chart Labels
& an Art Project

Once the students finish their work for the week we will make either the wolf (cat) or the pig to hold their best reading response and put it on our bulletin board! It will be my new Friday Fix! {Hollla!}

Be sure to check out melonheadzillustrating!

You will LOVE it! She is very teacher friendly too!

Here's a freebie from my unit!!! {click the pic}

Students just cut out the pictures along the bottom of this printable and place them where they

belong after you make an uber cute class chart about the story elements! There are two wolves because he is a main character as well as the problem of the story. Also the setting is the woods and the solution is the brick house. I probably didn't need to tell you that, but being a first grade teacher, I just can't help myself. I am pretty sure you understand... ;)

San Antonio Texas Blogger Meet Up!

2012-01-21T21:21:00.003-06:00

Farley beat me to the blog! So if you haven't heard I will give you the run down!

Table for 7

4 people showed up:

Farley-(yes ya'll! I was sitting next to the "Currently" Genius! among a million other things...)
Kristina-Teacher friend and blog stalker that I can tell anything too so we had to catch up on new things and old things as well as all things! Be watching for her to guest blog! (she isn't a blogger yet but it is a matter of time!)
Katie-ABSOLUTELY precious new friend and rocking blogger for middle school teachers! The Adventures of A Sixth Grade Teacher. She may be the sweetest person I have met in FOREVER. She drove far to meet us! I heart her!

Farley, Kristina, Reagan, Katie

Farley and I got there early and I think we talked NONstop for 30 minutes. It was like a whirlwind and I knew her as soon as I saw her. Not even a hint of awkwardness. Old buddies instantly!

So here's the rest of the night:
Quite a few laughs, nodding heads, slapping hands on table in agreement, chips and salsa, more laughs, nodding heads, where are the rest of them? Is that one? She could be a blogger...oh no...not sitting at our table...
more laughing, constant chatter of all things teaching and other. Begging of Kristina to be a blogger.
Where are they? What time is it? She could be a blogger...oh...no guess not...
Let's go ahead and order I think we got stood up!

Insert food
...hours passing...As we practically interrupt each other to talk (ok that was just me)

To see the complete list of topics please visit Farley's Post.
We are going to see when Kristin from Teeny Tiny Teacher is coming to Texas to visit her twin who knows a thing or two about living in a great place called Texas!!! Then we are going to plan a Summer meet up! Stay tuned for my hair color and Farley sporting a scarf with giraffes on it.

Anyway, whether you are Texan or not you are always welcome to San Antonio to come talk about ~~opposums, hooker boots at school, and EA kids talking smack~~ the importance of blogging!

Daily Warm Ups for Math and Language!

2012-01-16T14:30:00.002-06:00

I gave out a New Year's Freebie sample of both the language and math daily warm ups and since then have had requests to make more! So....here they are! I can't wait to add them to our day. It will be much needed skills practice!

The skills on these sheets include:
sight words
handwriting
editing simple sentences
days of the week
months of the year
ABC order of simple sight words
word families
rhyming

The skills on these sheets include:
coin names
coin value
shape names
counting sides of shapes
telling time to the hour and half hour
skip by counting
number line
measurement
addition to 20
subtraction to 20
number bonds
story problems

They can be used as a morning warm up, an extension activity, homework, or seat work.
These sheets can also be projected on an elmo or smartboard and reviewed whole class.

Now that I have lived a day in a lot of your shoes, I am wondering what you did on your day off?

I woke up early and ran 7 miles! I was totally feeling my music and just kept going. I ended up running to the town water tower and back. It's hilly and it was misting. It was gorgeous except for the scattering deer and squirrels that did not appreciate my elephant hooves pounding the pavement and my off key singing and heavy breathing. What music do you run to? Today I had Gavin, Justin Timberlake, Cake, Kings of Leon, U2, Kesha, Mary J Blige, and Lady Antebellum...among others...It took me an hour and a half! blah.

Also I want you do meet a new blogger! She teaches in my district and we are planning to meet up on Friday night for dinner! Please visit her and give her love on her brand new blog! It's called Glitzy in First Grade! Thanks to those of you that already made your way there to say hi yesterday when I facebooked about her! wow!! I was so happy to see you there!

And then after my run and shower I looked around at the GIANT MESS we have created this weekend doing absolutely nothing (how does that happen?) and decided to shrug it off and blogstalk...but my cell phone rang to let me know that a house showing was scheduled. The four of us started cleaning and running around. There may be some things stashed in places that will NEVER be found again. We mopped, lit candles, vaccumed, made beds, hid stuff, shoved stuff, scrubbed, shined and jumped in the car only to hide out about two houses down. The showing went really well. We are top of the list according to my agent!!! We have had many many many showings and with all the stress of getting it perfect it is such a let down when you get no feedback. This is a great milestone for us to know that our efforts mattered!

Fingers crossed, we can relax now and enjoy the rest of this day off. I am thankful for a sparkly house...at one point my husband asked if I sometimes just say we have a showing to get everyone off their buns and cleaning...(what a great idea!!!)

I am really excited about my daily language and math and hope you are too. The first three bloggers that comment will get either the language or the math for free. Be sure to leave me your email and which one you would like!

Much love friends!!! I am going to go play with my hair and then cut out my February Centers!

Math Centers!

2012-01-15T08:44:00.001-06:00

I am so excited to share this February Math Centers Unit with you! I have scoured the math standards and created 12 math centers (I call 'em tubs) for February. I seriously want to start now but I will patiently wait!!! (ok not patiently...but I will wait) Here's a big peek!

ordering numbers, counting to 100, doubles and neighbors strategies for mental math, counting pennies, nickels and dimes!

place value ones and tens, counting pennies, nickels and dimes, measuring using non standard units, comparing length of two or more objects

ordering numbers to 99, add and subtract to 20 (heart manipulatives included if needed) skip by counting and repeating patterns even, odd, 5s and 10s.

This February math unit addresses the following standards:

Measuring and length using non standard units of measure. Compare two and three objects by length

Add and subtract within 20

Use strategies for mental math {such as doubles and neighbors}

Understanding place value (ones and tens)

Comparing and ordering numbers up to 99

Read and write numbers to100

Repeating number patterns with even numbers, odd numbers, 5s and 10s

Skip counting with even, odd, 5s and 10s.

click on the store of your liking to download the preview or to get it for yourself!

.....and bloggy friends I can't thank you enough for pushing me into my new hair style and making me feel like a supermodel! I LOVE reading my comments and I think I have read them a 100 times. You are So Wonderful! Be My Valentine!!!!

I'm Baaaaack...{from the salon}

2012-01-14T19:00:00.000-06:00

Here's my Big Reveal! :)

I took a before picture...and although I am being silly in the picture I actually got some serious cold feet!!!

before!

after!

rocking an 80s side pony given to me by my daughter!

I still gasp when I pass a mirror and feel like I should be in the witness protection program. Anyone want to join my band and tour with me and my new life? We could rock some teacher conventions.

Catching Up!

2012-01-13T18:04:00.002-06:00

There's quite a few things on my mind tonight so I am going to prioritize!

First, Dee Dee Wills coordinated a great linky to help out the teachers in MO that were affected by the tornadoes last year. I loaded up an email with items to send to those teachers and I hope you send your amazing creations too! Click the sweet button she made to head over and see what it is all about!

Secondly, today we celebrated MLK. For my Friday Fix we made these cuties! I opted for the directed draw because I was already on my way to work when I realized I left their printed heads at home! I am SO glad I was forgetful because we had the best time with the directed draw! I gushed at the cuteness as they finished creating. We turned LOTS of heads at school with our project!

One of my students brought his up to me and asked me to read his dream. I always get a little nervous when they say that because of their phonetic spelling, but with 14 years under my belt I am pretty well equipped to sound out most of their words. So I proudly read, "My dream is to be the unibomber." Then I gasped and said...really? He replied, "No Mrs. Tunstall, it says animal doctor." I just added, "Of course it says that!"

The students wrote about MLK's Dream on the left side of the tie, and then their own dreams on the right side of the tie

This is in my winter art and writing pack. There's 6 total projects if you are looking for a way to spruce up your bulletin boards!

Third,
This week was a little rough around the edges with the full moon, cedar allergies, cold front, Math Benchmark, report card and RTI data due, and let's just throw in Friday the 13th for a little more fun... I am ever so grateful for a three day weekend...you'll find me on the couch reunited with my pajama pants.

Fourth,
Over the last three weeks, I have been scouring the math standards for the rest of the year, and I have just finished a 12 center Math Pack that I will be posting very shortly. More to come on that but a giveaway is in the works!

And Lastly,
my hair appt. is tomorrow at 1pm! I warned my students that I would look different on Tuesday!
I will post befores and afters...and possibly durings...

Currently, MLK, and Other Assorted Topics (HAIR)

2012-01-10T18:43:00.000-06:00

I had to link up with Farley My Sweetie Pie Neighbor!!!
I am a little late on this but I finally figured out my darn word.
So here goes...

So my word is dig...No not in the dirt...however...maybe my house would sell if I did get into the weeds and dirt some...anyway...I just really need to dig deeper in every area of my life. I want to dig deeper into my relationship with God, my family, myself, my dedication to school paperwork and documentation, and the people in my life whether they are in the forefront or not.

I am one of those big picture people. I like to be into everything but usually on the surface. I want this year to be a year of DIGGING into my life!!! yippee I am excited now that I finally have a focus. Thanks a trillion Farley!!! Better late than never for me.

and I did see the typo in my currently where I used the word Hit's the spot instead of Hits the spot. Gosh darn it's killing me but it isn't an easy fix so I am going to dig deep and let it go..ugh. I hope. I. Can.

So...I need to dish on bachelor, but I am politely waiting on my Cali girls to show up in the blog roll. I hope they made it through full moon Tuesday.

And thanks SO SO much for all the hair advice. Who knew teachers were all about hair!!! I LOVED it!!! I am pretty sure my bleach blonde (with an e) will be changing to dark brown or some shade between caramel and black coffee!!! YIKES...I need to remember to warn the kids and tell them not to hurt my feelings on Monday because we all know that kids will say whatever they think. Their fashion sense however is not always accurate. I mean really little sweetie in the purple and pink leggings, green skirt, and pink and yellow shirt? You are going to call my hair messy (I tried to scrunch and go today and it didn't quite turn into the Jessica Simpson rolling locks I had envisioned) Maybe I should put a donation button on my blog for extensions. Maybe my OLW should be hair...why can't I move on?

DIG...

Ok back to school...
Here's what I am going to do on Friday for MLK...My bulletin board will change from our new year's self portraits to these cuties.

This comes from my winter art and writing pack. I am going to use their cute ~~little~~ giant heads to look like they are wearing MLK's suit. But in year's past when I didn't have any access to cheap printer ink, I would do a directed draw.

P.S. here's your cheap printer ink tip: Go to amazon, put in the type of printer you have and search for ink cartridges...scroll down to the shady stuff...I get a box of 15 color and black cartridges for 9 bucks. Did you hear me? 9 bucks. The trick is to make sure they have good reviews. I did it for my mom's printer too and hers worked just as well as mine. Hope this helps someone stop having ~~marital issues~~ printer ink issues.

Alright ladies, I am off to watch biggest loser. Not nearly as dramatic, eye rolling, or catty as Bachelor, but SO inspirational!!!
Love ya'll so much and thanks again for all your bloggy hair tips!!!

Writing and Centers

2012-01-09T19:58:00.000-06:00

I just woke up from a 2 hour nap. Something hit me during our staff meeting after school today and on my 30 minute drive home I almost had to pull over. It was bad! I got home and collapsed on the couch. Next thing I know it's 7pm.

Thank goodness hubs skipped his workout and was on his way home when I was. He handled dinner, playtime (soft frisbee in the house-it's a ritual-we have an elaborate point system.) and thankfully there was no homework to deal with.

So before that all happened here is what we did today in class. I have been focusing on writing this year. My writer's workshop has been going strong in all different shapes and sizes this year. I restocked my writing center with fresh new paper from my Writer's Worskshop Pet Edition. It was a great fit. Some students went right for the pet themed paper and started creating terrariums and aquariums. There was a mermaid story happening in one of the aquariums. So cute.Others went for the plain and book writing paper to tell their stories. Then we did our author's stage. I let three author's share a day. They hit the stage and captivate their attentive audience. They all get sad that it is just three a day, but I keep it in rotation so they all get to share pretty often.

author 1

author 2

author 3

Next, we did some benchmark testing practice. Just learning how to work quietly in an office is going to be a challenge this year. It didn't go perfectly, but I guess that's why we are practicing!!!


Then we headed up the green mile to specials...This is that LONG hallway that can be quite a challenge for my firsties.

At the end of the day today I let my students have two rotations of centers. I have taken them away since we have been doing so much work on our standards and preparing for the end of the quarter, but today it was just the perfect way to end our day. I do daily 5 in the morning, but at the end of the LONG day I let them have a 15 minute center. Here's what they get to do:

ipod touch apps

creation station--this week it is an circular underwater puzzle that is reversible.

smartboard

science center

letter/handwriting practice

big books

math game

writing center

read in the book barn...notice the broken down left hand side...my class this year is nuts!

word work

Well I am off to dent my couch and watch the ultra long Bachelor! Since I napped I bet I can make it through the entire thing! It's been recording since 7.

Sunday Night Browns...

2012-01-08T19:59:00.000-06:00

Please forgive me because I won't be throwing 2984 pictures at you in this post. Turn on the mental images and let's go... * oh and it isn't about teaching so I will probably get cold feet and delete this post if I don't get some fast feedback! I feel vulnerable.

So here's the deal. I have been a fake blonde for EVER. In high school when my hair began to darken from blonde to light brown, I was a diver. Since I was in the chlorine daily and out in the sun daily my hair naturally started bleaching itself. (if bleaching itself and naturally can be used together in a sentence)

Anyway, I am Italian. My brother, mother, father, and grandparents have dark brown hair. I have dark eye brows...you get the picture...but I have kept my hair blond all my life. I let the brown show underneath because I am cool like that, but I have been a slave to the hairdresser for almost 20 years. (please don't do the math=I am oldish)

Well I last had my hair done before Thanksgiving so you can imagine the 3 inch dark roots I have going on right now. My daughter keeps staring and then telling me how brown it is etc. I sing black and yellow to myself in the mirror. I hate getting ready in the morning. I finally broke down and texted my hairdresser...but I really really want to tell her to make it dark brown. Not light brown. I want to go dark. I have been asking friends and cooworkers, check out ladies, drive thru people, and random strangers in the hair dye box aisle. (not kidding)

EVERYONE says keep it blond. WTH?!

I am afraid that I can't be right if so many people don't want the change. I know you don't know me and can't see me very well, but I don't know what to do...I need bloggy friend help. Ok I guess I am going to put a picture in here so you can see what it currently looks like. Then I will add a picture of what crazy thoughts I think I could look like with brown hair. Please tell me the TRUTH. Don't tell me to go brown if it isn't a good idea. But if it is a good idea then feel free to tell me I am right.

Is it spelled blond or blonde....my spell checker likes both and I may actually be blonde for not knowing.

me currently...bleh...feeling vulnerable.

me when I walk out of the salon...I have green eyes...it could happen p.s. I want extensions but they aren't in the budget

ok friends. Please advise...

Jack and Jill Frost

2012-01-07T19:02:00.000-06:00

I made two snowpeeps today!

snowman containers for "snow words" (long O)

I am adding my snow people to this little area below. I hope putting the words in a snowman container helps the students to remember to use the LONG O sound while they figure out each word. I'll just call them SNOWMAN WORDS to help the students remember!

word work area of my classroom

Click {HERE} for the freebie on TPT

and {HERE} for the freebie on teachers notebook

example of the freebie word sort

Here's how I made Jack and Jill Frost:
I used 2 crystal light containers (that happened to be white under the label)

the one pictured here was clear so it got rejected...

Then I just added a bow for one and blue duct tape for the other. (thanks to having a craft cupboard to pull from) I put a dot of hot glue under the ribbon to keep it in it's spot. The rest is just sharpie. I put hats on the lids so I can gently remind the students that the snowman always need to keep their hats on their heads. Or I may just shout PUT A LID ON IT! like I usually do... um...let's go with the first scenario...oh and I want to mention that I am going to have this activity going as well as Kristin's Snowball Freebie. So hook yourself up with both!

I almost forgot to share the pictures of my torn paper snowman craft from my winter art pack!

Here's the cuteness! It was great and we did torn paper art without tears! yippee! It was touch and go for a few minutes but we made it!

My Friday Fix!!

2012-01-06T05:30:00.000-06:00

My Friday Fix (art and writing) is what gets me through the week!!! Here's what we are doing today! I can't wait!
Torn Paper Snowman!

I pulled together 6 of my favorite winter Friday Fixes in this Winter Art and Writing Pack! Down at the bottom of this post you can find the link to buy it.

Here's what's included:

Tacky Templates and a main character writing page for students to fill out after your Tacky the Penguin book of choice!

There's a writing activity with every art/craft as well as read alouds that I like to use when introducing the craft


I also went into February with the writing and crafts. Every craft has templates for making with ease!

Let's Get Crafty! You get 6 different art and writing projects!

What to Do with Ten Extra Minutes...and more

2012-01-05T19:30:00.000-06:00

A teacher friend of mine taught me the game of countdown and I have been forever grateful! It teaches students count bys, they think it is a fun game, and it fills those awkward 10 minutes that sometimes present themselves!

The basic idea is to give your students a count by rule (like count by 5s) and an ending number. (end on 45) It ensures that everyone is engaged and it is so repetitive that they can't help but learn their count bys! I start on the first day of school with just counting up or back by 1s...Here's our game of countdown today.

Back to Science and Oceans...

Shark week continues and we made a Venn comparing sharks to fish.

this is the venn

It goes on the second layer of doors in our GIGANTIC ocean foldable.

Here's another angle. It's hard to understand it the way it is pictured here.

This is how it started

before students...

The coolest part is that it has a pocket built in....sigh...it's the little things in life that make me happy

Anyway...now that I have been reunited with my camera cord I can show you the January Quilt Lesson we did too!

January Quilt Patches

Everyone at Table 3 Working on the Quilt

Two folds corner to corner to make the small triangle out of the large square

almost done!

As we finish we build it on the rug...we have to keep the pattern going!

Wall O' Quilts

I just finished PiYo (pilates yoga) in the gym. About 12 of us pay a trainer to come to our school on Tues. and Thurs. and ~~beat the crap out of us~~ work us out. We look something like this

except we are on the dirty school gym floor, with skinny mats, non-coordinated workout clothes and no mirrors. (thank goodness) We have been doing this for two years and are able to do some really tough positions and circuits! It's an hour long and let me tell you I feel stretched and relaxed. But it's not an easy workout. It makes you sweat and curse and wish that it would end the whole time!

But that's ok because it's date night for hubs and me! Nana has the kids for the entire night!!! We are going out to Mexican food! TGIF Ya'll!!!!

Geometric Quilting Update

2012-01-04T18:24:00.001-06:00

If you have purchased this Geometric Quilts Through the Year Unit, I have added all the die cut shapes you need for the year. Some teachers don't have access to a die cut machine so I hope this makes life easier for you! Please re--download the unit for free!
We did our January quilt today, but I left my camera cord at school so I don't have a cute picture to show you! The students had to ask why there was a mitten on it. It was in the 70's today here in Texas. :) I can't complain!
Click the store that you purchased the quilts at to download it again for free! Or to check it out if you haven't seen it!

Highlights of the Last 2 Days!

2012-01-03T19:25:00.000-06:00

2 Days into January! We have been working our fingers to the bone and thanks to my blog friends I have enjoyed some fun lessons! Here's the highlights.

We kicked off the year with Robot Morning Work while eating waffles of course. {The cool part is they almost forgot to eat because they were so excited about the silly robots!} {{yes we have breakfast in the classroom every.single.day...sigh...}}

Breakfast and Morning Work

Then we had a class meeting and I asked them to finish the sentence "First Graders..." It was the perfect way to remind them of all our class expectations. The best part is that they came up with it all themselves. Now they know- I know- they know...the rules...ya know?

Since we spent time talking about the New Year, I had each of them each write a goal for the new year on a whiteboard, then we edited those goals and they made a self portrait for a cute New Year's Bulletin Board. I saw this a few places over vacation, but Cara from The First Grade Parade was referenced more than once, so I believe the original idea was hers! {Here}

Their goals were so cute!

I will stop leaving my room a mess

I will be nice to my brother

I will clean my room forever

I will work on going to bed earlier

Next, we traveled down to the Southern Ocean to learn about Polar Animals in Antarctica. After reading this book, we filled out a reading response to show what we learned. There's lots of reading responses for any type of book. This came out of my Winter Reading Response pack. {Here}

This reading response is called Book Banner. I like using it for non-fiction

We are winding up our Ocean unit and this week we focus on the open ocean and highlight the shark! Here's a peek at my Science Center.

The activity for shark week is to make a shark rubbing of the different types of sharks. I just cut the shapes out of sandpaper and label them. The students do a crayon rub.

I think I made 7 total sandpaper sharks. I tried to pick sharks with distinct looking bodies.

Here's a student making her rubbings from today

This next activity is something I do for every new science theme. I place laminated pictures of whatever we are studying...insects, penguins, ocean animals, etc. on each table in my room. Then I place 5 markers on each table.

ocean animals

when the kids returned from specials today, this is what they walked in and saw.

I put on music for one minute as they walk around the room and look at all the tables without touching or talking about what they see.

Then the music stops and they can go to any table and write a question or a comment about any of the pictures.

She wrote why is the seahorse spiky?

They can move from table to table and their conversations are so great! I just love listening to what they say. They all try to answer each other's questions.

I also did a couple lessons from Kim Adsit's Snowman Unit {HERE}

My class was in a very literal mood when we made this!

We measured ourselves against this snowman wearing our spirit wear! Then we used post its with our names to graph our results.

What favorite lessons are you doing this week? I would love to hear all about it!

2012 Morning Work Freebie and Another Top Ten!

2012-01-01T12:26:00.001-06:00

Click HERE for the freebies.
The robot graphics come from lettering delights...don't worry I paid the big bucks for the commercial license! (it's legit!)

I go back to work tomorrow with students and morning duty (tho tho sad)
so to salute my last 10 days off of work...

WINTER BREAK TOP TEN!

10. I have become accustomed to the patterns, times, and frequencies of your blogging. It is my new daily routine.

9. Cleaning, laundry, dishes, cooking, lunch making???? What's that?

8. I have no idea what is actually going on in the real world as all my important "news" comes from my blog roll.

7. I had to actually shower and apply make up one day in the last two weeks and my husband and kids didn't recognize me at first. Then they said...what's wrong?

6. I am off caffeine for the day because hopes of falling to sleep at a decent hour tonight are slim to none.

5. I can't start my diet on the day before school so I am forced to eat terribly for one more day because I associate fresh new beginnings with Mondays...

4. There is a well worn path from my bed- to the couch- to the computer- to the pantry/fridge- to the bathroom.

3. I am in the beginning stages of either arthritis or carpel tunnel from blogging for 16 days straight.

2. An unprepared first day back from vacation school nightmare crept into my 10 hour beauty rest and forced me to go put 3 things in my TPT cart...whew...that feels better.

1. My favorite pajama pants have stretched and molded to my body and I am currently experiencing separation anxiety about taking them off in the morning to get ready for school.

I would LOVE to hear your Winter Break Top Ten whether you go back tomorrow (tho thad for us) or a week from tomorrow! It's not official as there are bazillions of linkys out there, but if you make a top ten PLEASE give me a shout out and then let me know so I can keep up with my important news!
oh and my Big Sale is still going on through tonight at midnight! Just click on the freebie at the top and then shop around.

New Year's Sale!

2011-12-31T08:39:00.005-06:00

Everything in my store is on sale today!
Here's a little of what you can find there:

There are loads of other lessons too...
((some are free!!!))
Click the buttons below to travel there and load up your cart!

Build a Pizza Math Center!

2011-12-30T20:47:00.000-06:00

Can you tell we had pizza tonight? {and possibly for lunch?} Hubby and I are going on a low carb diet after New Years together so we are carbo loading today apparently! Y-I-K-E-S!

Anyway...I have been thinking about the standards I need to hit and I decided that building a pizza would be a GREAT way to practice fractions!
Students love to play restaurant! You can even add cheap chef hats and a red checkered table cloth and go all out for fun! Click the picture above to check it out on TPT. It is also at TeachersNotebook. It's only $3! {It is actually 2 math tubs}

***also I have been meaning to tell you that Farley from Oh Boy Fourth Grade and I had to reschedule our San Antonio area bloggy get together! Yea, we were sad too. But hopefully it will be rescheduled very soon!

Blessings on 2012!

We are headed back to Six Flags tomorrow evening to celebrate at their New Year's Celebration!

This is from last week at Six Flags right before Christmas, They made it snow (we are in San Antonio so it was majorly cool for us...pardon the pun!) and I captured genius son's excitement!


We can't wait to see what they do for New Years!

Monster Game Freebies!

2011-12-29T20:19:00.003-06:00

I created the popular sight word game that has been duplicated many times and with many names...I named this one, MONSTER OOPS!
Students pick a monster card, read it, keep it, and then the next person takes a card. If students draw an OOPS card, they have to give all their cards to the student on their left. When the cards are gone, the student with the most cards wins!

The monsters are from lettering delights.
I also have two other freebies I made this summer. They are math tubs. You will recognize the monsters!
Click the pictures download!

making 10 concentration game

making 20 concentration game

Coziness, Confessions, and Lesson Plans!

2011-12-28T20:10:00.002-06:00

I actually made a list of all the things I ~~NEED~~ want to blog about tonight!
First off, I have to be a tad bit NON-teachery because it's almost the end of my vacation (going in to school tomorrow) and I want to savor every minute!

My SIL (sister in law) gave my kids each a blanket for Christmas and as soon as they opened them they freaked and wrapped themselves in it's amazing warmth and coziness. The family members that did not receive one of these blankets started putting their orders in immediately. Seriously! So in case you are in need of one of these incredibly warm and beautiful afghans yourself, I wanted to share my SIL's link to her blog and her etsy! I took these pictures today of my family enjoying their snuggly afghans.

Daugther and Hubby when he came home from work. He picked her up and got under the warm coziness! She didn't mind a bit!


Genius son writing code with his blankie. He LOVES this blanket almost as much as hacking into accounts and fixing HTML. jk he didn't actually do it.

To check out SIL's blog and etsy click HERE!!

Secondly, while I was snuggling up and enjoying what feels like my last day off because you and I know that once you go in to school the mind won't turn it off...(long run on about to get longer) I was catching up on all the posts I hadn't read using my new Christmas present the HP touch pad. Well you have to understand my current technology unlike many of you out there is this thing pictured to your left.

yup I rock a flip phone that is not touch screen. I can't even send pictures, have music or anything cool because we don't pay for internet on our phones. So I have been mortified if my phone rings and I am forced to pull it out of my purse and wait for it...flip it up to talk. I am the only teacher at my school without an iphone or ipad or some sort of fancy android type thingy. ANYWAY...I am thrilled beyond belief to have my new fancy ~~portable blogging device~~ touch pad. BUT I am NOT friends with it yet because when I type using it I get so frustrated. If I want to say that my dog loves dog food. It will decide that what I really wanted to say was ballerinas are bulldozing with machine guns. I don't think it likes me or that we are getting along. I keep trying, but so far I can't even find a rhyme or reason about what words it decides to pick. Does anyone know anything about this? Just know that when I leave a comment in the future, I really don't mean to tell you that birds are dancing in refrigerators. What I mean to say is how much I like your post and you. There...let's just call that a warning for anything I may write to you in the future.

Ok I feel better now...NEXT...

I am slowly gathering some items for January in my cart at TPT, but I want to know what others are picking up too. (!!??) I have the cardstock and full cartridges of ink ready and I am going to school tomorrow so hurry up and tell me what you are using!! I mean I would love to know what you have found to be useful! I am so excited that people are digging my Emperor's Egg Book Study, Winter Reading Response Pages and my Art and Writing Pack for winter! THANK YOU!!! I hope it makes your life much easier!

Here's what I've got so far for next week
Set Expectations ALL OVER AGAIN like it's the first day of school
Have a class meeting and make an I KNOW ALL ABOUT FIRST GRADE Expectations Chart
Introduce a new class incentive for behavior for buy in. Maybe I will make something and post it. Like Penguin Points or get 10 penguin eggs to hatch...I am not sure. but I will keep pondering. and finally, work their little hands to the bone so they have no time to blow it with their behavior. ok there...done.

If I do anything cool in my classroom tomorrow I will take pictures and share. Nana's got the kids so I am totally flying solo and hope to get TONS ~~laminated while no one is looking~~ done! Also a student gave me an office depot gift card for Christmas so I am going to buy paper and smelly markers. Sad that I have to buy my own paper, but if you remember paper is like crack at my school. It's VERY hard to come by, makes you skinny and hyper, and messes up your life bad. ok just the first part.

If you made it to this point, then monkeys are frying artichokes on skates. (just checking to see if you can handle my future blog posts on my touch pad)

11 in 11 Linky FUN

2011-12-27T12:11:00.001-06:00

Since Kristin called me out I am linking up with those cute California girls {Krisin and Hadar} and their 11 in 11 linky! Click the button to link up at the end!

11. Favorite movie you watched
Sadly we save our theatre trips for the kids, but I did see one grown up movie this year RED with Bruce Willis...

Great guy movie that I secretly liked!

Best movie I have laughed out loud at in a VERY long time. The Other Guys.

THE OTHER GUYS...It wasn't from 2011 so I guess that's cheating but I loved it! The kid's movies I was able to tolerate were The Muppets, Chipmunks, Smurfs, Puss in Boots, and Hop. (yup kids are spoiled)

10. Favorite TV series
I love Biggest Loser, Modern Family, Survivor, Toddlers and Tiaras (daughter bonding time), The Bachelor/Bachelorette, Parenthood, I like the Idol auditions and the finale- not so much the inbetween, Community, Big Bang Theory, So You Think You Can Dance, My step sister wants me to watch Homeland (she says she and Ellen are totally addicted) But honestly since blogging my tv viewing has suffered...

9. Favorite restaurant
My favorite restaurant is a steak house called Chama Gaucha. It's amazing!!!! It's really expensive so it is a once a year type of place.

don't worry they won't kill you. It just appears that way. They walk over and slice you a piece of meat as long as you want and as much as you want.

8. Favorite new thing you tried
My HP Touch pad. I am still not so sure about it, but I like it and I am glad I tried it. Hubby got it for me for Christmas.

7. Favorite gift you received
My kids bought me jewelry for Christmas. Don't be jealous. It's priceless to me!

daughter bought this one

son bought this one

6. Favorite thing you pinned

This one cracks me up every time

5. Favorite blog post
My Top Ten Reasons You Know It's Back to School was my favorite because it was the first post I really let my personality take over. and I shared my embarrasing singing video and ya'll still seemed to want to revisit my blog. It was majorly special to me!!!
Discovery Bottles was the Post that sort of put me on the map as a blogger...

4. Favorite accomplishment
Teacher of the Year at my School
and Opening My Teacher Store This Summer!

3. Favorite picture

The family on Easter

The kids on easter in black and white.

2. Favorite memory
Right now it is laughing so hard as a family on our way home from the chipmunk movie. But for the entire year...not really sure. Nothing majorly significant happened that I can remember. Just happy to be healthy and able to pay our bills.

1. Goals for 2012
Get my running back up! set down the fudge and put on the shoes.
Give my students everything I can possibly give them by making the extra time to plan a rigorous rest of the year with fun added in of course!!!
Give my LOVE to my family and make sure they know just how much they mean to me!
Blog blog blog!

That was really fun! Now link up below!

I promise I know how to count...really...Free Reading Logs Updated

2011-12-27T09:30:00.000-06:00

***This is an amended post!***

When I printed my reading logs I realized two of the numbers were in the wrong spot! {{I feel super cool}} I fixed it!!! Please download again so your kids don't count like this...1-2-3-6-5-4-7-8-9-10.

It's free for all. Just click the picture below!

Next, I have been busy creating a new winter art project pack complete with writing activities for January and February! There are read alouds, a corresponding writing lesson, and templates for all 6 adorable art projects:
Tacky the Penguin
Student Personalized Snowman
Emperor Penguins
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
George Washington
Froggy Valentine (From The Froggy Series)

Get your bulletin boards ready! They will be full of great writing and adorable student projects.

Here's a little peek! (sorry didn't show much but there's tons included)

and if you missed it last week I also made

Tacky the Penguin Reading Response Sheets to Fill your month with great ideas to get the students learning to respond to literature in many ways.

And, The Emperor's Egg Book Study

Click on the store of your choice to check them out!

Is anyone going in to school on one of their vacation days? I have to go in at some point this week because I literally walked out the door when the bell rang for winter break. YIKES!

Bulletin Boards for Winter!

2011-12-26T21:00:00.000-06:00

Here's a better look at my upcoming projects! I put my Jan and Feb. bulletin boards into a pack for you! I am excited to have everything all in one place! Everything you need is included for not just an art project, but read alouds and writing lesson!

I compile all these projects into a book for each child at the end of the year. Parents have always gushed over the keepsake so I continue to do it. It also serves well as a writing portfolio since each project I do has a writing lesson with it. Hope this helps make life a little easier and brings fun in learning during the cold months ahead! To go to TPT and check it out, just click the purple winter art and writing page above!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-24T00:28:00.002-06:00

I want to say MERRY CHRISTMAS to you my amazing colleagues! I can not express how much I LOVE blogging with you! The support, amazing ideas, and friendships that I have found with you in the last 6 months has meant more to me than I can really express.

See you in a couple days and I can't wait to share something I have been working on when I get back!

Merry Christmas from the Tunstall Family!

(we took the kids to Six Flags Fiesta Texas tonight. It was so fun!)

Holiday Identity Crisis.

2011-12-22T21:18:00.001-06:00

Many of you know how much I enjoyed teaching all the Christmas related crafts and lessons in December, but when all my bloggy buddies were posting about their Christmas Traditions around the world ---and for some, the LACK of ability to even mention the word Christmas in their classrooms, I began to worry that I was not giving my students enough knowledge of other traditions. As I focused on Santa, reindeer, and all the FUN of a Merry Christmas I avoided my guilt by telling myself that each child in my classroom celebrated Christmas and no one spoke up and told me differently. So there. It was ok to teach them using the fun of the holidays to spark interest and keep their attention... Right? Right...UNTIL.....

One of my boys (we'll call him BOY) asked me (probably during one of my fabulous Christmas lessons), when we would be learning about the Star of David. Then he asked me if I light the candles at my house...SHUT THE FRONT DOOR...I started to panic and asked him in a slightly higher and more shrill voice than normal, if he was celebrating Hanukkah at his house. BOY nodded and said when are we going to learn about it? I started thinking about the fact that the last week before vacation was half over. I had sent home Christmas themed word work, writing, math, science, and holiday traditions for the last two and a half weeks. We were seriously seconds from making our last part of our CHRISTMAS gifts...the Christmas Cards. And now I learn this valuable piece of information? NOW? It's ok...I can handle this. I can handle anything. I have been doing this for 14 years. It's all going to be OK...

So the Poem on the card that the students had to write was:

Roses Are Red

Poinsettias are Too

Merry Christmas

I love you!

I thought quickly and changed his to read:

Roses are Red

Poinsettias are Too

Happy Hanukkah

I love you!

Brilliant right?

How do I come up with this stuff? Must be my liberal studies degree....

Then I switched up my Christmas lesson the next day for a Hanukkah lesson highlighting BOY'S special family traditions. BOY was beaming with pride. I went just a tad overboard (it could have been the teaching guilt) But that boy was celebrated! (at least for one lesson out of 15 days of straight Christmas mayhem)

On Friday when all the students were coming in for our last day and Christmas party, in walked BOY'S mom carrying a platter of cookies and BOY had a gift for me in his hands. I was amazed at their generosity considering all things and I quickly went up and thanked her and then I said, " I had NO IDEA until Wednesday that BOY is Jewish" She looked at me and cocked her head sideways. Then she said, "That's because Boy isn't Jewish." UM...what? "But he asked me about the Star of David." "He said you lit the candles." She said, "We are not Jewish." "None of that is true." Then I blurted out..."Well your Christmas card says Happy Hanukkah!" Then we just looked at each other, looked at BOY, and started laughing. I thanked her again. Stared down BOY as I shook my head and began my Christmas party. (at this point BOY will for certain have total holiday identity crisis for HIS ENTIRE LIFE thanks to me)

Later when school was over I texted BOY'S mom again to thank her for the generous gift and the Christmas cookies. Then I said Happy Hanukkah!...she texted back that it was all they could talk and laugh about at her office all day.

S-H-U-D-D-E-R.....I have relived that whole scenario just a few times over the last few days...just.a.few.

On another note!!! (please, let's change the subject!)

Here's what we did at home yesterday. I made the kids take pictures and then we went down to the Riverwalk for our traditional Christmas picture with the big tree downtown.

Happy Hanukkah and Merry Christmas!

How Do Penguins Drink Their Soda?

2011-12-20T21:10:00.001-06:00

........ON THE ROCKS.......................

It's Almost....TACKY THE PENGUIN TIME!

Here's my reading response sheets for my Tacky the Penguin week. ((sometimes 2 weeks depending how in depth I like to go!))

If you aren't familiar with Tacky The Penguin., the books are SO fun to read! You can really go all out on your dramatic reading. {I tend to use an opera type voice when reading about Goodly Lovely Angel Neatly and Perfect....and I use a brass obnoxious voice when reading the parts about Tacky. {Emmy worthy for sure} I have to keep up with my step sister who actually won an Emmy this year. You can see that post HERE. She's Ellen's makeup artist. She's coming for Christmas this year which doesn't always happen-- so we are happy!
If you want to have a FULL stock of reading response sheets to accompany your emmy award winning read alouds of Tacky the Penguin {or any penguin books!}check it out by clicking the store you like! Only $4!

The Emperor's Egg

2011-12-19T20:26:00.000-06:00

Amidst the Christmas partying, blog linky fun, and catching up on reality TV, I put my favorite book study on TPT and Teacher's Notebook! If you study penguins or you like to read and respond to fantastic books like this one, I hope you'll check out my book study! Here's a sneak peek!

I have 4 responses to the story as well as a non fiction activity for the students to make about Emperor Penguins! They will be experts on Emperors after this book study. I use it for guided reading, reader's/writer's workshop, and the non fiction information about Emperor Penguins can be made into a foldable! Who can resist that?! You can use the PDF on your smartboard and fill the pages out together OR you can make adorable class charts of these for the students to refer to when they work on them.
If you want to check it out click the store of your choice! It's only $4!

My Pastor Ate Baby Jesus

2011-12-18T23:29:00.001-06:00

My husband (the backslash nerd guy) and I host a Sunday night couples group at our house. If you only knew the irony of that situation! :) I said we host but I am pretty sure we get the most out of it out of all the couples! Well tonight was the Christmas party so we had the usual white elephant gift exchange as well as played some couple games. It was really fun and I took a few pictures of the house, the food, and well a controversial appetizer I made...um...It was Baby Jesus...The Appetizer. And we ate it...and we felt weird...then we just kept eating it because it was YUMMY! We decided that it was sort of like communion...BUT TOTALLY NOT. My pastor ate baby Jesus...there I said it.
Should that be my Post Title? I will probably chicken out on that one. It will be something generic like "party time"...I always title my posts at the end...maybe I am weird but a teacher once told me to wait until I finish writing to come up with the title that best fits...It Stuck...Aren't teachers AMAZING?
ok now for the pictures.

notice the round green plate...with only one baby Jesus appetizer left...yup...super yummy and I think the controversy added to the excitement.

Elmo ate Baby Jesus

It's the middle of the night here...ok 11:00pm but I feel this crazy guilt being up right now. I think it's because my school has a start time of 7:30 and my morning duty is 7:00. So I can NOT stay up late without major regrets and repercussions. (for the poor children in my care) But you see the preparing for the Christmas party and then hosting took some of my day and night. And that's usually when I blog or can be found on my computer...day and night. I HAD to blog and I have to watch the survivor finale...so here I am up in the ~~middle~~ beginning of the night. Blogging and watching as a certain someone just got voted off...(no spoiler alert here)
Now, for a moment of silence for those fellow teachers heading to school tomorrow. My school does a moment of silence every morning during morning announcements and I pray for my class every morning. I actually close my eyes and pray. They know I am closing my eyes and it is actually quiet and I don't THINK they are doing anything but I figure I am praying so God will have to take over while I close my eyes...
.................................................ssshhhhhhhhhh........................................
Fellow Teachers heading to work tomorrow, we salute your endurance and we pray for a safe return for both you and the children in your care. God Speed.
Alright time to settle in to this couch and find out who wins survivor!
ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.....snore.....zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Currently... Laughing

2011-12-17T20:32:00.000-06:00

As you may guess the number one reason I married my husband is because he can make me belly laugh daily. We are not in it for the looks, the money (um...teacher), or the high society (cue the banjos)....we are in it for the crazy laughs we can have. So needless to say the family is slightly sarcastic and we bond best when we laugh till we cry.
Today we decided to take the kids to see the new Chipmunk movie. They are 9 and 11. My 9 year old started crying when we announced the family outing at breakfast. Why you ask would a 9 year old boy cry over some family fun? It means that he has to get off his computer. Trust me, I was holding back my tears too. My husband (ultimate computer genius) knew immediately that the child was having computer withdrawals just coming to the table to eat breakfast as a family. So we had a LONG (2 minute) discussion about healthy boys and being addicted to the computer etc.
Well let me introduce you to my computer genius son...

This was 2 years ago

showing his official badge

his 9th birthday cake was his computer game character with a shirt that said I heart nerds.

Needless to say he LOVES all things computers from playing them to fixing them to...well....BLOGGING!!!!
Today he started a new blog about his FAVORITE game EVER. It is called Roblox. Did you hear me? My nine year old woke up and started a blog. {{gush}}
Well on the way home from our movie, my son and I were talking HTML and he was saying the script outloud in the car. It sounded something like this: "Then I type game dot workspace dot Head semicolon parenthesis then another parenthesis remove" While he is saying his HTML code outloud, my husband interrupts and says, "BACKSLASH NERD!"

It fell silent in the car for about 2 LONG seconds then we all burst into hysterics.
Then when we got home he came out to tell me his favorite game in the world gave him a 24 hour ban for directing their traffic to his blog. Amazingly he didn't cry...he was a little too impressed with himself for getting traffic on his blog. (Yup-He's just like me-stat crazy)

just took this one today.

If you want to check out his blog click HERE (He would be CRAZY excited to see his STATS go up-it's genetic apparently.)
I am pretty sure I am breaking the teacher blog rules BIG time by ~~bragging~~ blogging about my son so I am going to blog my December Currently with my buddy Farley at Oh Boy Fourth Grade now!

Link up HERE with Farley for your Currently December too!
also...I made my Top Ten Reasons You know Christmas is Near into an official linky because my bloggy friends were playing along! Check it out and then get your sarcasm on and link up!

Top Ten Reasons I know Christmas is Near...

2011-12-15T18:21:00.000-06:00

You may remember my Back to School Top Ten Linky...
Here's The Top Ten Reasons I know Christmas is Near!

10. I have paper cuts from construction paper, blisters from glue guns, and glitter in places I would rather not mention.

9. I twitch when kids ask me how many days till Christmas...

8. Santa and his naughty list is a daily discussion in my classroom.

7. The teachers on staff no longer have the energy or stamina to talk...we just grunt, eye roll, and sigh as we pass each other in the hall. Nuff said...

6. My trash can, recycle bin, and every inch of my classroom overflows with tiny multi-colored pieces of construction paper scraps, glue stick lids, lidless markers, and broken crayons.

5. Glue sticks are lucky to last a half hour in my classroom. I may be found rocking in the corner saying, "dot, dot not a lot" over and over to myself.

4. Christmas cookies are the new lean cuisine.

3. Outside recess is something we can only dream about from the good 'ole days...

2. Today I almost said, "If you can hear me slap your neighbor"...because no one can hear me and no one is listening.

And the number 1 Reason I know Christmas is Near....

1. After my creamer with coffee this morning, I drank a thermos of diet coke and then refilled it and drank another thermos of diet coke...

Do you have your own Top Ten? LINK UP! (since three blog friends {that I know of} already made a top ten, I HAVE to make it official!!!

Here's what we have done in class to survive...

Christmas Countdown Chain

We are making Santa tomorrow during our party

today we made our pattern trees


busy little hands

If you want any of these crafts click HERE to grab your Christmas Art Pack from TPT.