Can I get an AMEN?!?!?!?!

Oh my goodness!  You would think that 7 weeks into school things would have slowed done!  I am still crazy busy!  I was thinking about my poor little blog today and how much it has been neglected.  :(  I was trying to think of all the things that have been "getting in the way" and it all boils down to me TEACHING!!!!

Ya'll - I have been teaching HARD!  Everything seems to be fast and furious and I can't get.it.all.in!!!!

Can I get an AMEN?!?!?!

Last week we learned about apples, and the only picture I snapped was this one:

Not the greatest pic but you can at least see some great describing words!  This week we are learning about leaves and maybe I'll try and get some pictures tomorrow.

Before I leave this "quick, short and to the point" post, I wanted to leave you with this:

Isn't this picture precious!  We've been talking about character in Reader's and Writer's Workshop and my firsties had to choose and character and write about them.  She chose Ariel - SUPER cute!

(It says "Ariel is caring for animals.)

Have a great Friday!

The greatest pencil sharpener EVER!

For the longest time I thought I was the only teacher out there that did not have one of these AmAzInG sharpeners, but... Troy, at Classroom Friendly Supplies, was so gracious in sending us one to review!  I fell in love with it the first time I used it (and not just because it was pink!)  The first time my aid used it she almost screamed!  She is an awesome help in my classroom and also takes care of sharpening our pencils.  She about flipped when she realized how easy it was to use and how sharp the pencils are!

Here is one of my precious firsties using it!  She LOVES it.

It's so easy to use, she doesn't even need the clamp!

 I mean...just look at that cheesy smile!

She stays with me after school every day until her mom can come pick her up.  (She teaches at another school in our district.)  EVERY day since I've had it, she grabs as many pencils as she can find just so she can sharpen them!

You have to get one of these sharpeners!  You will LOVE it!

Digraph sh Practice and A Peek at Our Centers this Week!

Working on our digraph for the week - sh.  We had an sh poem today that we put in our notebooks.  We highlighted all the digraphs we could find and then they had to illustrate them.  They LOVED this activity!

Center this week:

Sorting our short a words:

Practicing our sight words:

Domino Addition:

 Recording sheet from amazing Khrys Bosland.  LOVE her stuff!

Read and Write the Room with our short a spelling words this week:

Rocking the "Magic Reading Glasses"!:

 Working on vowel sounds:

(CVC Clippy Cards - Lindsey Levis from Lovin' Kindergarten.)

Roll It, Build It, Color It:

 (free copy of recording sheet - click here)

Here is our anchor chart for reading buddies:

Number Sticks:

(idea from Reagan at Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits - Love her!  One of my faves!)

Making a class book of how we take care of our pets.  LOVE that this firstie is using his finger spaces!!!!

Centers this Week plus 2 freebies!

Here's a quick look at our centers for this week.  This was our first week to do center rotations and we just dove right in!  I was very proud of my little firsties and how well they have stayed on task.  I've got one GREAT group!

Patterns with Mr. Wiggles:

We have been talking about blends so I made this little sort:

 You can get a free copy of this here.

We've also been talking about suffix -s.  I made this picture/word sort for practice:

We are working on number combinations.  Trying to come up with all the different ways to make each number.  I bought this unit from Donna at Math Coach's Corner:

This is a great unit!  We love it!  Check it out!

You can see the rings at the top of the picture and I made these pages to go with it so my kiddos can practice during centers but can wipe them off when they are finished.

We are working with our friends names in our classroom.  This is a unit from the AmAzInG Cara Carroll!

We've been learning about our 5 senses.  I put all the books we've read in a center along with a chart, pictures and word cards for the students to match and write each sense.  I got the idea of the anchor chart here.

I came up with this quick little worksheet.  I called it "Roll It, Build It, Color It".  They have to roll 2 dice then they have to build it with the linking cubes.  Then they write the number and color that many boxes.  They have really enjoyed this one - there's just something about rolling dice!  I swear they could do it ALL DAY LONG! :)

You can get a free copy of this here. (if you download it, please show me some "comment love"!)

Whew!  We've been working SUPER hard and I am so proud of my little firsties!  They are a great bunch of kiddos!  I'm very blessed!

Have a great Friday!

I met Kim Adsit!

I met Kim Adsit!

Like I talked to her one on one and I touched her!  Ha Ha!  No I'm not a crazy person!  I know she is a normal person just like you and I but it almost felt a little like royalty having her at my school!  I was really excited to have her last Monday for a professional development day.  I had seen her before, many moons ago, at a Frog Street Splash conference and loved her then!  She has so many great ideas and she is hilarious!  It was such a cram packed day of knowledge and wisdom!  I was overwhelmed with so many great things that I don't even know where to start and don't know what to try first!

She wrote about our school on her blog too!  Check it out here:

If you ever have the chance to attend a conference or professional development day with her - take it!  You will not be disappointed!  She also has a lot of great ideas and sources on her blog and website.

Have a great week!