Remodeling and Research!

Remember this?

Not the prettiest of kitchens - right?

It's taken 2 1/2 months...

Gone from this...

to this...

to THIS!!!!!!!

(not the greatest of pics)

We don't have all of the things back on our walls yet, but we LOVE how it turned out!

A HUGE sigh of relief that it's done! (and yes, we did everything but the countertops!)

Here's a bit of wisdom for the rest of you - DON"T EVER do a kitchen remodel during the last semester of grad school, and the end of the school year.  Yes, I know - we are the only people crazy enough to try this!

On to research...

Working on our Bubble Maps:

  

and our Circle Maps:

We worked on our Can/Have/Are charts this morning and will finish our cover sheets tomorrow.  

We plan on starting the "actual" writing portion the end of this week and continuing throughout next week.  Our First Grade Writing Project Open House is the 14th.  

(more pics to come later!)

These pages and ideas came from my Woodland Animals Shared Research and Writing Project.  You can check it out by clicking on the picture below.

Have a great rest of the week!

Still Here, Centers this Week.....and a freebie!

Oh my word!  I am almost ashamed that it has been so long since my last post.  My absence was called..... SpRiNg BrEaK!  It was a much needed break and we had a lot of fun!  We went camping for a couple of days and then came home and worked on this:

Yes, that's right folks - KITCHEN REMODEL!!!!!!

Here's a before - ugly right!

Our stove is under the carport and sink is in the backyard.  Only thing we have left in working condition is our microwave and fridge.  We have been "at it" for 3 weeks now.  I think my daughters are having withdrawals from Mac and Cheese!  We're so ready to have our stove back!!!!

Here's a little peek of the new stain.  Going with Dark Walnut.  We painted the insides of the cabinets already and I have stained all the cabinets and put 3 coats of polyurethane on.  They already look beautiful!  

Can't wait to show you pictures when we are completely finished!

Now, onto school matters!  Today was our first day back.  We dove head first into Easter centers.

Here is our Ten / Twenty Frames.

I got this idea from the AmAzInG Reagan!  She blogged about her Walmart findings and I ran right out and snagged some myself!  I made some number cards and a few recording sheets to go along with it.  Click here to grab you a copy!

(If you download this little freebie - please leave me some feedback! :) )

Here's all of our Easter Egg centers.  These were inspired by Anna Brantley.  Click here to see her post.

Hundreds, Tens, and Ones

 Egg Endings - Suffix -s, -ed, and -ing

Egg Number Match

This is our Read and Write the room center this week.  Our spelling words are -igh words.  I snagged this a couple of years ago and I LOVE it!  I use it every year!  Thanks you Ms. Arnold!

Light up the Night

 My firsties loved this one today.  It came from The Happy Teacher - check it out here.

Wacky Fact Family

A big thanks to The Bubbly Blonde for this one!  It is an awesome way to practice Fact Families!

 I also bought some Easter cookie cutters for tracing.  I put them in the art center for the kiddos to make Easter pictures.  They had a lot of fun with this.  (and it was simple and inexpensive!)

Whew!  That was a lot! (and it's only Monday!)  What are some centers your littles are working on?

Have a great rest of the week!