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!

A look at our centers this week!

3 down - 2 to go!  Then it's SpRiNg BrEaK!!!!!!!  Wow, this week has flown!  Tomorrow night is our play that we perform for our parents - "Thidwick, the Big-Hearted Moose."  It's been a lot of fun but I'm ready for it to be over.  It has taken a lot of my precious teaching time away!  We are all tired and ready for a break though.

Here's a few of our centers for the week:

My firsites are loving Teach with Laughter's - I Spy St. Patrick's Day Words.

 Jennifer Bates has a really cute - Lucky ABC order: 

 We are LOVING Reagan's Hands on Common Core Math Centers!  Here is "Spinning Bears" 

and "Fractions Fun"!

Here's all of "Ted's" books we've been reading for 2 weeks!  They love EVERY one of them!

 

 and I LOVE watching and listening to them read!

 We are working hard on "Math Facts in a Flash" too!  Look how much this smart firstie has accomplished!

Have a great Thursday!

Bulletin Boards, Wright Brothers and Winners!

Whew!  Our first graders are doing their "Thidwick - the Big Hearted Moose" plays this week.  There are 6 first grade classrooms and 2 classes are performing together at a time.  Two classes tonight and 4 on Thursday night!  Each of our first grade teachers created a Bulletin Board for our parents to see while they are in our building.  This is a peek at mine -

My firsties absolutely LoVeD making truffala trees!

This is my teacher across the hall -  

Isn't that adorable!

We have had so much fun with all of our "celebrate reading" activities!  We've stretched them out for about 2 weeks now but it doesn't bother me one bit because they can't get enough of "Ted's" books!  BRING IT ON!

On to inventors!  I threw a little giveaway for my first blogging milestone - 25 followers. I had 3 very special people show interest so I am gladly giving all 3 my Wright Brothers Unit.  Thanks guys!

*Tammy

*Jennifer

*Delighted

If you missed out on the giveaway, you can still check out my unit!

While you're there - take a peek at my two newest units!  They are both "Shared Research and Writing Units".  Make sure to download the preview so you can see examples of one animal in each.

      

Have a great Wednesday!

Safari Animals Shared Research & Giveaway!

Oh my!  I'm so excited I finally finished my Safari Animals Shared Research and Writing Project Unit.  This unit has the same format as my Woodland Animals.  

There are 8 animals featured:  giraffe, elephant, monkey, zebra, lion, tiger, hippo and rhino.

Here are some of the pages included:

*Common Core Reading and Writing Standards Met

*Pages included 

*cover sheet

*story for each animal

*fill in the blanks

*color and black and white poster for each animal

*circle map

*bubble map

*can have are chart

*Writing page

*informative/explanatory sheet for facts

*writing pages

My new Safari Animals matches my Woodland Animals Shared Research and Writing Project below.

The pages are virtually the same but these animals include: bear, fox, raccoon, deer, moose, squirrel, owl and skunk.

Don't forget to download the preview for each to take a closer look!

25 FOLLOWER GIVEAWAY!

Don't forget about my 25 follower giveaway.  I know many of you are beginning your inventors units and I would love to give my Wright Brothers Informative/Explanatory Integrated Unit away!  

2 simple rules:

*follow my blog

*comment below -

and let me know you follow and tell me about the inventors you teach in your classroom.

Tomorrow begins a full 5 day week before SpRiNg BrEaK!  I'm very excited!  We all need a break so we can come back strong for the rest of the school year.  Have a great week everyone!

Inventors....25 followers....and my first giveaway!

Oh my word!  I am super psyched about 25 followers!  I just started this little blog in October and have already been amazed how much fun I've had.  I have learned so much and been able to share lots of things with others.  

It's that time of year for Inventor studies!  I wanted to show you my Wright Brothers Informational Writing Unit.  I took the Wright Brothers straight from First Grade Common Core Standards.  Take a look:

Be sure and download the preview to take a closer look!

To celebrate 25 followers 

I would LOVE to give one away!

All you have to do is:

 *be a follower and 

*leave me a comment -

 Tell me you are a follower and tell me about the inventors you teach your little ones. 

Don't forget to add your email address! 

I will choose a winner Monday night - March 11th.

Please also check out my latest unit - Woodland Animals Shared Research and Writing.  I am so proud of this unit and know you will love researching these precious animals with your littles!

Have a great weekend! (and Spring Break for some of you!)

Celebrating Reading! ...and Woodland Animals

We have already had so much fun this week celebrating reading.  We are really into our author friend - Ted's - work! (You know who I'm talking about!)  Anyway, we have a fun-filled week of reading his books and doing many different activities.  We are making a big Bulletin Board with our friend who "speaks for the trees".  We made "staches" today and took pictures.  I think they turned out SUPER cute!  Here are a few examples:

We are also going to be making trees to add to it.  More pics to come later!

We also wrote about Silly Sights today.  Thank you Cara Carroll!  Here are a few examples that will be in our class book:

"The Lorax and his friends are silly about nature"

"Dr. Seuss has a bowl on his head."

"I see a silly girl that has a mustache."

"I see thing 1 and thing 2."

"Pop tart bird."

"The name is Fly Unicorn."

This last one was added especially for Reagan!  I just read your post about unicorns this morning so when this little firstie wrote about a unicorn I just had to add it for you!  

Don't forget to check out my latest Shared Writing and Research Unit!  (You can see my last post about it here.)  It is 145 pages chock-full of the cutest little woodland animals.  It covers about a bajillion common core standards!  :)  

Check it out by clicking on the pic above.  Make sure you download the preview and see all of the pages for the bear.  It's on sale right now!  

Well, I'm off to grade a MOUNTAIN of papers and hopefully still have time to cuddle with my girlies!  Have a great rest of the week!