Five for Friday...April 4

1. We preformed surgery today in Room 105. Contraction Surgery! Dr. Apostrophe came to visit and helped us combine two words to make a contraction. 

2. 67 days till the Philippines!

3. We are studying plants next week and we are going to try to recreate these fun Science Writing activities about the life cycle of plants. 

4. I'm headed to ATL tomorrow for the cutest little niece's baptism. 

5. We started playing domino train this week in math for extra practice seeing number patterns. My kids are loving this fun addition to our math rotations. 

Five for Friday 4.3

Good morning to all!

I am relaxing this morning from my lovely couch as our school is out today for our Weather Day! I skipped last week but I am back for a 2 week edition of FIVE FOR FRIDAY!! Thanks to Kacey for this great adventure.

 1. Last weekend my Sunday school class had a fun get together full of great food and fun games. While I stayed away from the ping pong tournament, we did end the night playing Apples to Apples and little ole me WON! It was a great way to end a long school week.

2 & 3. Last week was teacher appreciation week so I am loaded up on all of my favorite things. I will be eating candy for a while before this stash diminishes and my house now is home to about 4 bouquets of flowers. Seeing that I don't have a green thumb I am proud to announce that they are still blooming strong. Don't you wish every week was teacher appreciation week! It's like Christmas in the Spring.

4. Yesterday we took our first grade field trip. It was a beautiful day(unlike today's pouring rain) and we got to visit CiCi's pizza, the fire station, library and ended our day with lunch in the park. At Cici's we got to tour the restaurant and then make our own pizzas! It was a huge hit! The kids had a great time and I can't wait to see if they are still talking about it on Monday!

4.5 We ended our time unit and jumped right into graphing in math. We had a blast collecting data and then compiled it all into a big graphing poster. We used the long sheets of construction paper to display our data, tally charts, pictographs, and bar graphs. We called it 'bookless' math because we didn't open our book all week! In my opinion that is always the best math! 

We took our test this Monday and I loved seeing their Performance Task answers. They had to create 2 graphs and formulate a question. Who is your favorite singer was a popular one, which was surprising because we didn't use that one during the week! 'Talor' Swift was much more popular than Justin 'Beber' winning 9-1. My favorite was when I was a choice. I sing all the time in the classroom but I will be honest I am not good ha! However, to this precious one I could beat out Taylor Swift! Another one of mine listed 'uncle cracker' as an option. I really wanted to ask "How do you even know who he is??" 

5. I made a string art cross and few weeks back and decided to create some other fun things this past week. This time I made the state of Alabama with a heart over Auburn! War Eagle! The string is orange which is even more fitting. I can make any state with a heart over any place so check them out on my Etsy shop!

Happy Weekend!

Rachel 

Five for Friday 4.1

Happy Friday and Happy April!

Can you believe that we only have 33 days left of school?? It is crazy how the time flies!

I'm happy to be back from a restful Spring Break linking up with Kacey from

1. Last week, I took the week off to truly focus on relaxing during Spring Break. My mom and I did visit the teacher store but it was a blast and I was able to pick some things up for our time unit and some great books so we can start our author series.

 2. I was home for Easter and it was a great day to celebrate our RISEN SAVIOR and spend time with family. Here is the brother and me. We were missing the sister and bro-in-law but happy they got to celebrate with their church in ATL.

3.We finished up our flower unit with a fun craftivity, that I am sure I found on Pinterest at some point last year. It is a great labeling activity. We used cupcake liners for the petals, pipe cleaners, sunflower seeds and then colored the rest.

 4. We started our time unit this week and fell in love with this HUMAN CLOCK! All I had to do was draw up some numbers and the kids did all the rest. By the end of the week, they were begging to play and could even set up the game without my help. I gave them 'time cards' (which were just index cards) and had them write down at least 5 times using phrasing like 'half past 4:00 and 2 o'clock" and then they got to create their time. Their hands were the hour hand and their legs were the minute hands! Even though it's not a first grade standard, by the end of the week we were making time to the 5 and 15 minute marks.

5. My week has been non-stop this week because last week I started my Masters program! I have spent most of my free time reading these fun books. Who knew going back to school would be so hard! Happy Friday!

Rachel

              

Five for Friday 3.3

It's finally SPRING BREAK for this 1st grade teacher!

1. We are on chapter 9 of Go-Math which is all about Measurement and my kids have LOVED it. I made them each a measurement bag (10 cm cubes, 10 paperclips, 15 unifix cubes) that they use during the day and take home to complete homework. We measured everything in our room from the length of our desk to the height of our loft and the width of our room. Here are some friends using their tools. 

2. As mentioned last week, I went to Nashville over the weekend and had a great time with great friends celebrating St. Patty's day. 

 3. I LOVE 1st grade! I came back in on Tuesday only to find 20 amazing notes about how much I was missed. I felt like a celebrity when my kids came in as well because they acted like they had not seen me in years!

4. I forgot to mention this last week but if you remember my funny story about buying 6 boxes of Lucky Charms you will be happy to know that we used them! We graphed the marshmallows last Friday and then got to eat them during our Friday movie time! We loved "tasting the rainbow"

5. This week we studied flowers and so we watched how colored water moved through celery like it moves through flower stems and made these fun label projects. 

After Spring Break we are making "bunny contractions" and band-aids for our "ow" words. 

Well I am off to my long, much needed break! Happy Friday!

~Rachel 

Five for Friday 3.2

Welcome back and happy weekend!

It's Five for Friday time!

1. We spent the beginning of the week writing our first book report on our favorite Dr. Seuss book. They did pretty well and our computer teacher let us type them up and add pictures today! We ended our Dr. Seuss unit with making Thing 1 word families.

2. On Wednesday we got to pick any object in our room to describe using adjectives: size, shape, color, number, what kind. They were so cute while they observed their object. The loft was a HUGE hit!

3. We finished Chapter 8 in our math series and spent the last two days reviewing with this unit. Find it here. 

4. My mom and I are booking our flight back to Manila, PI this weekend! I am super excited to see what the Lord has in store for us this summer!

5. I tutor some of our ESL students two days after school and on Thursday I had a fabulous conversation with one of them about the Lord. I asked her if she needed to do her 20 minutes of reading, and she said that she does that at home when she reads the Bible. She was currently reading Psalms, Proverbs, & Luke. WOW! This young girl(5th grade) then told me about how her mother took them to church and how she loved it, but how they only could go to church on the weekends her father went away golfing. She told me that she heard her parents fight because her mother wanted the kids to know about the Lord. She was worried for her grandmothers too because "they believe Buddha" as she said. I told her that I would pray for her dad and family with a hope that they accept the Lord's love for them soon. Please pray with me for this sweet young girl's family. 

Happy Friday!

~Rachel 

2-digit addition St. Patty's Day Stations

So I was thinking...

I got a great deal on Lucky Charms this weekend at the grocery store. Two large boxes for $5.00! So I grabbed some for some teachers I know! We will be graphing them next Friday for our St. Patrick's Day celebration.

My school adopted the Go-Math series this year, and I am really liking the material. Chapter 8 is a tough one though. Two-digit addition and subtraction! We finished up the chapter today but we are going to spend the next couple of days playing with our Math tubs to review all of the skills. I created these cards and forms to help us review.

There are four games included:

1. 2-digit addition story problems

2. Adding & Subtracting tens

3. 2-digit addition using a 120 chart

4. 2-digit addition(focusing on place value & making a ten)

You can find it here on TPT! Also, the first person to comment with their favorite St. Patrick's Day book with get a free copy!

Happy Tuesday,
Rachel

Starting February off right!

So I was thinking... 

that I am ready to start February with a new enthusiasm in my classroom. I think I mentioned last week that January was really hard for me in my classroom.

I have a student having some trouble making appropriate decisions and it has been very taxing on me and my precious firsties. January has been our hardest month with her behavior choices in 108 days.

We have struggled all year but I spent January trying to keep my head above the water; scheduling conferences, having to go back and forth to the office to fill out behavior referrals, and trying to show her as much love as I could.

I hope I'm not alone when I say that it is hard to always be at your best when you have one student who is constantly pulling the classroom environment down; but I am bound and determined to get back to being the best 1st grade teacher for my other 19 kiddos.

I spent all weekend at the school getting ready for this upcoming week and I thought I would share. I love reading other teachers' blogs, but I have realized that I always find the best ideas after I have already taught the skills. I thought sharing ahead of time would help me be accountable for being prepared for the week and maybe help some others out!

Here's what our week will look like.

Reading: er, ir, and ur. (Why couldn't that sound just be spelled one way!)
I found a great idea online and tried to download the game but it didn't download correctly so I opened the 'ole Microsoft word and recreated it! It's called "Call the Nurse!" and is a great word reading game. You can find my copy of it here.

Math: We are learning to compare numbers. This chapter in Go-Math is a short one so we are focusing on number sense, place value, and reviewing addition skills in preparation of Chapter 8. I found this review on the free download of Teachers Pay Teachers today! It's called Frigid Digits. We will also be making some cute alligators this week with Popsicle sticks and white foam teeth to help us use the Greater than Less than concept.

Language Arts: Contractions again! I love getting to review contractions because that means Dr. Apostrophe comes to town! I found this adorable idea from Cara last year and was excited to pull him out for this upcoming week. Find more about this fun activity here.

Valentine's is coming up quickly check out my Valentine crayon hearts here!

Happy Super Bowl Sunday!
~Rachel

Five for Friday 1.4

I love getting to spend my Fridays reviewing the week with this fun linky party! Here is my week in review! 

1. The week started off very relaxing with a day off on Monday. I spent my weekend doing absolutely nothing but catching up on some much needed rest and some movies! RedBox is the best invention for movie lovers everywhere!

2. I got an order for 2 of my crosses for a lady who is having twin girls this week! Twice the fun! Here is the beginning stages of one of them. You can check out my other crosses here!

3. My week started off nice and relaxing but honestly after Monday it was a long and stressful week with a few frustrations. So I took out my frustrations with crafting, baking, and the gym. Here are the yummy cupcakes I made for the 100th day of school! Someone asked me if I put 100 sprinkles on each one, and boy do I wish I would have thought about that; however, I resorted to the simple task for just rolling the cupcake in a bowl of sprinkles! 

4. Have I mentioned that I LOVE teaching math? because it's my favorite. On Wednesday, we made these fun counting mats for counting our 100 things. My kids brought in some interesting things for the 100th day. We had marshmallows, lemon drops, pasta shells, gum balls, and silly bands! However, the most popular counter choice was pennies! The 100th day was fun, we took 100 steps, and counted 100 things, then we rolled dice to 100 and ended it with graphing 100 things!

5. In February I am working on a Christian retreat for young adult girls and the workers give out agape to the girls so this week I decided to make some. Agape means love and there is nothing better than God's love for us. I found a great deal on highlighters from Office Max and thought they were a great reminder of how God is the HIGHLIGHT of our day! 

"You are my lamp, O Lord; the Lord turns 

my darkness into light." 

2 Samuel 22:29

~ Rachel 

Five for Friday 1.3

Happy Friday to all! We are back again for another addition of Kacey's Five for Friday. 

1. The week started with my Sunday School class going out to eat at a fun local restaurant. After lunch, a group of us played a game of Ultimate Frisbee which I don't think I have played since high school. I spent the next two days paying for it with sore legs and ankles but it was such a fun way to hang out with friends. I am currently working on learning to catch the frisbee, let's just say I was a much better defensive player.

2. On Monday, I trekked through the rain to see David Platt at Lakeview. He is amazing,  so challenging and inspiring. I loved his book Radical and I'm excited to read his new one coming out soon! I first read Radical before traveling abroad and this quote held true when I returned from the Philippines. 

"Orphans are easier to ignore before you know their names. They are easier to ignore before you see their faces. It is easier to pretend they’re not real before you hold them in your arms. But once you do, everything changes…” 

If you are looking for a great cause, let me know! I know 36 precious children that changed my life.

3. We are learning place value and making numbers using tens and ones this week in Math. I have all these great tens and ones cubes but no great games to play with them so I decided to put on my own thinking cap and come up with a game during the five minutes I have for lunch. Teaching on the fly as I call it. 

 How to play: we used our AMSTI investigation cards and split the deck in half. Turn over one of each card and create the number shown. Above is 86: 8 tens and 6 ones
Below: 102, 10 tens and 2 ones. My kids loved this game and get excited every time I give it as a game option.

4. I love my nativity that I got in Manila and a few weeks ago I found this great stable to go with it! Best part: it was 75% off!!! Music to my ears. It is made of drift wood and fits perfectly with my other pieces. I very sadly took all of my Christmas decorations down the first week of January but decided not to take this great nativity down. I believe nativities should be left up all year long! What a great reminder each morning to live for Christ. 

5. We have also been talking about Martin Luther King this week since we will be out of school on Monday. I love teaching first grade because they are so loving and innocent. I began reading a great book I got in a Scholastic book pack and my kids stopped me half way through and asked " Why were they doing that, that's rude." 

I hope everyone has a great weekend! 

~Rachel