Learning Fun with Food

        There has been lots of learning (and eating :)) going on in room 107! My favorite appetizing activity we have done lately was at the end of our plant unit and I call it "Sorting Salad." It took very little prep and the kids loved it! I started by dividing paper plates into 6 sections and making a big salad for each table group.
I labeled the plate in the picture but had the students label their own plates.

Then the students began sorting their salads by plant parts.  

            

Of course some of them wouldn't eat anything without a little ranch dressing, so everyone got a squirt in the middle at the end.  Before they could eat I walked around and snapped a picture of everyone's plate for assessment.  

A few weeks ago we ended our fraction unit with a mouth-watering math lesson.   It only took a box of graham crackers, a pack of Chips Ahoy, and a container of cake frosting.  Each student got 2 cracker sleeves, 1 cookie, and about 1/2 tablespoon of icing.  I instructed the kiddos to break both crackers into 4 equal parts.  On the first cracker, I told them to spread icing on 1 out of 4 crackers.  We did the same with the second cracker, only this time we spread icing on 2 out of 4 crackers.  Then we placed the crackers back together to see that 2 out of 4 is equal to 1/2.  The cookie was the best though.  To put icing on one-third of their cookie, I had students make a capital Y covering their cookie.  Then they were to fill in the top of the Y.  It worked out pretty well!

The last tasty treat was the easiest Dr. Seuss Snack I have ever "made," and I use made loosely.  I did green eggs and ham with jello last year.   Well this year, the big man's birthday snuck up on me.  So I ran to the grocery store, got vanilla pudding, green food coloring, Cool Whip, and graham crackers.  Voila!   New and improved Green Eggs and Ham!

What are your favorite food activities for the classroom?!?

Monday Made It!

Hello long lost friends!  I've missed you!  Well I have had some life changes this past year.  I have left the district I was at for 6 years and will now be teaching 1st grade in my hometown.  I am super excited about this change.  More about that at a later time.  Maybe when I reveal my new classroom!  Today, however, is devoted to Monday Made It with 4th Grade Frolics!

A portion of my made it's are of the digital kind.

Oh, and I am going to try to leave out parts of the pictures that show too much of my room.  I want to save that for my classroom reveal post.  I'm sure you will be able to figure out the theme I have going on though. :)

First up we have new United States and Texas Pledges...

You can download these for free from my TPT store.  Just follow the links:

 United States Pledge Poster

Texas Pledge Poster

Next, is my classroom door display:

My new school is NEW.  We cannot decorate the walls in the hallway but we can minimally decorate our doors.  Our school's theme for this year TEAM- Together Everyone Achieves More.  Most people went with some type of sportsy decorations, but the former cheerleader in me just couldn't resist going for the peppier side of sports.   I am so happy with the way my door turned out.  It is not completely done, but I can't finish it until I get pictures of my students.  (I'll do an update later. :))  The pennants are border from Teacher Created Resources. 

You can get your own copy of the TEAM and CHEER poster at my TPT store for free right {HERE}.

The next Monday Made It is probably my favorite.  It is a super easy way to display anchor charts.  

I just cut wrapping paper a little longer than the size of my average anchor chart paper, hot glued some scrap material to some clothes pins, then hot glued the clothes pins to the wrapping paper.  On the clothes pins you could glitter them up, dye them, or use ribbon.  I  just used what I had. :)   For you East Texas people, the wrapping paper I used is the good, thick, Canton wrapping paper.

I take it back.  This next one is my favorite.  I love the way my chair turned out.  Now, I must tell you that I am not a follow instructions type of person.  I will see something and think 'Oh I can do that.' Then I just {try} to do it.  So with all that said, I got into this project and the next and did not take any step by step pictures. Anyway, here's the chair: 

Amazing what a can of spray paint, $3 worth of material, and a staple gun can do.  

I looked for a tutorial that would show you how I did it. This is the closest I found on a super cute blog:   A Modern Couple- Chair Cover Tutorial.

Last but not least are my crate seats for my library center. Leveled readers will be stored in these crates for read to self time.  

Again, sorry for no step by step pictures, but these things are HOT on Pinterest.  Here are super, awesome teacher blogs with super, awesome tutorials for crate seating.  

Teaching with Style

Watering the Kindergarten

What the Teacher Wants

Ms. Fultz's Corner

Now head head back over to Tara's wonderful blog and tell her how much you appreciate her hosting Monday Made It!!! 

I'm Back For Teacher Appreciation!

This has been a busy year for me!  If it were not for Katie King and her Busy Teacher units, I don't know how I would have made it. :)  Anyway, I got a great response from my teacher appreciation gifts last year, so I though "Hey! I'll do some more!"

So here is what my fabulous first grade team members will be getting this year:

Number one is a bit of a joke.  One of my team members needs new Expo Markers EVERY WEEK!  So I decided to give 2 Expo Markers and a Mr. Clean Dry Eraser (They are the perfect white board eraser!)  The card says, " I wouldn't erase my time with you for anything!"

Number 2 is actually a notepad in the shape of a cupcake, but you could totally do a really cupcake.  The Card says "You take the cake!"

Number 3 is my favorite!  Cookies!  YUM!  The card says, "I love teaching with a smart cookie like you!"

Number 4 was easy peasy.  I poured a cup of Dr. Teal's Lavender bath salt into a small plastic bag.  The card says," Relax!  You deserve it."

So there it is!  You can get the tag downloads by clicking the picture below.

I hope you enjoy!  I have missed everyone.  I will be back in a few days with a BIG OLE POETRY unit I have been working on.  So stay tuned and Happy Teacher Appreciation week!

Winners of the BIG OLE GIVEAWAY!

Rafflecopter is so cool y'all!  I highly recommend it for any giveaways or contest you may have.  Here is a little screenshot (fancied up by The Digital Bake Shop) of how I saw the winner's names as they popped up.

Congrats ladies!!!

I just went in the order Rafflecopter gave me and put a name to each prize in the graphics from the original post. 

Congrats again ladies! Check your emails!!

Also, big, huge thanks to the wonderful ladies who helped with the giveaway!  You are all the best EVER!

  Links to the blogs that belong to the best ladies ever :)

Teacher Idea Factory  

Sarah's First Grade Snippets

 Fun in 1st Grade

 The Digital Bake Shop 

 Teaching in High Heels 

 Eberhart's Explorers

 Queen of the First Grade Jungle

 First Grade Fever

In other news, the sweet and fabulous Lori at Little Priorities has a brand new look.  Go check her out!!

I probably won't talk to y'all until Monday when I post Monday Made It.  Man I love that!  :)

Monday Made It! {Happy Teacher Box}

I am so stinking excited to link up with Tara for my very first Monday Made It!!! Yay!!!

 So, here is what I made:

A Happy Teacher Box

 I was inspired by something I found on Pinterest from Bee in Our Bonnet and they were inspired from something they saw on U-Create.

Here is all the stuff you will need: 

I used a large craft box (about 6 inches by 11 inches).  It came from Hobby Lobby and was 50% off $1.99.  Yup, a dollar!  The rest of the stuff is small pink, red, black, and white, office supplies from Target. I got some candy in pink wrappers (Dove Dark Chocolate with Raspberry Swirl.  That mess is sooooo flippin' good!).  The Starburst are some FaveRed edition I had never seen before.  They are all a shade of pink or red.

I also got  little hand sanitizers from the Dollar Spot and decorative tape and stickers from the scrapbook section.  I peeled the labels off and added the scrapbook stuff to spruce it up a little.

 I put everything in the plastic box.

I still have enough stuff to fill up the other 2 boxes I will do. 

 Then I made these in Photoshop using elements from Class Act Scrap Kit from Just So Scrappy Too and a frame from the Digital Bake Shop:

 

You can use these if you want to make a different sized box.  If you would like to make the same size I did, you can download the file by clicking{here}.

 I cut it out and glued it to the top of the box. 

 

Finally, I tied a bow around it and signed the tag.  It took longer to type this post than it did to make the Happy Teacher Box!

That's it!  Before you go check out all the awesome stuff at Monday Made It, don't forget to enter
my BIG OLE GIVEAWAY!!!   Only a few hours left!

One more thing!  Last night when I was spreadin' blog love, I left some one out!  Jaime from Bright Concepts 4 Teachers gave me a Versatile Blogger award.  Thanks girl!!!!

Now get over to 4th Grade Frolics and look at all the craftiness!!!!!

Spreadin' Blog Love with a Freebie

You've heard of romance.
You've heard of bromance.
I now introduce to you... blogmance.

You know what I'm talking about.  Some people may call them BBFF's (Bloggy Best Friends Forever), but they are the bloggers that you just love!  You've formed a little relationship with them.  You go to them for help with giveaways or linky parties.  You share products and get them to help you proof them.  They are like a friend you've had forever, except you may have never met them in person or talked to them on the phone. You get my drift.

I'm sending my first dose of blog love out to Kelley of Teacher Idea Factory.




 I blogged about loving Ron Brown and using his music in the classroom when I linked up with Teaching Maddeness for her Turn Up the Music Linky Party. Kelley is Ron Brown's daughter. After reading that post she sent me a ton of his Language Arts CD's!!!  One of the songs, on one of the wonderful CD's inspired the freebie you will get in just a minute.  Don't scroll down yet.  Keep reading.   Y'all, Kelley is so AWESOME!  I just love this girl.  You have got to check out her new Pen Pal packet.  I cannot wait to find me a Pen Pal classroom. {Hint, Hint, to anyone reading.:)}

 Second helping of blog love goes to Sarah of Sarah's First Grade Snippets.

Sarah was a winner of my super short Teacher Appreciation Giveaway.  Since then, I have been lucky enough to receive several of her Monthly Literacy Menus for her TPT store.  They are all AMAZING!  They have everything.  Her September Menu is crazy packed with perfect reading activities for back to school.  Sarah is so super sweet, so go by and check out her stuff.  You will be glad you did.
   

A little blog love goes to Crystal at Ms. Jones' Junction.

 She is brand new to blogging!  Click on over and welcome her to blog land.

I've been totally behind on blog awards,  so next blog love goes out to the wonderful ladies who said I was a Versatile Blogger and/or have One Lovely Blog. :)  Thanks ladies!!!

Tarita at Paper, Pencils, and Books, Oh my!

Heather at The Busy, Busy Hive

Ashlee at Sweet Seconds 

Kate at Fresh and Fun First Grade

Jess at From Blood to Books

Emily at Tangled with Teaching

Deb at Fabulously First

Kristy at Teachin First

Kim at Adventures of a K-1 Teacher

My last bit of blog love goes out to those of you who are still reading :)!  One of the CD's Kelley sent was "Word Mechanics."  I love the song "Three Kinds of Sentences" on there and was inspired to make a little activity to go with it.  Click the pic to get your copy.

Don't forget to join my Big Ole Giveaway!!!!!
Have a great week!

Time 4 a Big Ole Giveaway!

It has been almost a year since I had a big ole giveaway on this little ole blog. I recently reached a new follower milestone, so I figure it's time for another giveaway!

That's 5 winners total and you can have up to 9 entries. 

Here is what you do to enter: 
1. Follow my blog and TPT store.
2. Follow Teacher Idea Factory and Kelley's TPT store.
3. Follow Sarah's First Grade Snippets and Sarah's TPT store.
4. Follow Fun in 1st Grade and Dana's TPT store.
5. Follow The Digital Bake Shop and Jaime's Etsy and TPT store.
6. Follow Teaching in High Heels and Gladys' TPT store.
7. Follow Eberhart's Explorers and Erin's TPT store. 
8. Follow Queen of the First Grade Jungle and Katie's TPT store.
9. Follow First Grade Fever and Christie's TPT store.

 Sign into Rafflecopter below and you get an entry for each of the above things you do.   I will announce the winners next Tuesday  (July 10th).

A BIG OLE THANK YOU to these AMAZING bloggy friends who are helping me out with this giveaway and to my wonderful followers.  I LOVE YOU ALL! :)

 a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Turn the Music Up! ~ Linky Party

I am linking up with Amanda from Teaching Maddeness for her Turn Up the Music Linky Party!

First up, I love Ron Brown of Intelli-tunes!  I went to a workshop he did at the big Texas Summer Math Conference a few years ago and fell in love with his songs.  I think I bought almost ever math CD that he had with him.  Click the image below to check out his math CD's, but explore the site because there are a ton of great thing, including freebies! :)

Source: http://www.intelli-tunes.com/

As a side note, it is such a small world.  Ron's daughter has become a bloggy friend of mine.  She is having a big ole giveaway right now! Her giveaway pushed me right over into a follower milestone, so be looking for a giveaway from me as soon as her's ends. Click the image to check out her fabulous giveaway.



 

Now, back to the music!  

Second, I love using Lucas Miller.  He is a singing zoologist.  His songs are fun, upbeat, and the kids love him! Some are super silly, but they are still educational.  Here is a video for his Metamorphosis Song about the a tadpole changing into a frog.  

Check out a sample of his music by clicking {here}. 

Next, Dr. Jean probably has a song for almost anything you might want to sing about in the classroom. She is so much fun!  Here is a link to her blog: Dr. Jean and Friends.  She also has a website with great resources, but while typing this post it was temporarily unavailable. It is www.drjean.org.  Hopefully, it will be back up soon and I will update this post! :)  For now, check out her blog and this video of birthday ideas and songs.

Finally, what primary classroom is not complete without Greg & Steve?  They are super fun and great for energizers or indoor recess. 

Now click on over to Teaching Maddeness to check out the rest of the great classroom music that is out there!

BLOGS Gone Wild

Blogs, Blogs, everywhere there's blogs. 

Fillin' up my Reader, makin' my eyes start to fog. 

Click this, click that, can't I read all these blogs?!?

This post has three sections containing some really important stuff about blogs.  Well, it's not really important, but  will be really happy if you read it anyway. :)

 First section of this post: 

Seriously folks, there are so many GREAT teacher blogs out there!  I have so many that I follow, it is hard to keep up.  During this school year, I had to take a little break from blogging and blog hopping due to lack of time for anything ever. HA!  When I got back, I was amazed at the number of new blogs I found.
The whole point of this section of the post is this:

How do you keep up with all the great blogs out there?

Please comment and let me know! Once upon a time, I was a big commenter.  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE leaving comments, but I have so many blogs to visit that sometimes I forget and get sucked into this blog hopping vortex.  I feel sad just thinking about it. :( I want to know how Jennifer and Gladys do it! They always leave sweet comments. :)

I often find myself going to my go to blogs, stalking certain blogs for a period of time, or checking pinterest and going to the blog from there.  Does anyone else do this?

Second Section of this Post:

I have been working like a mad woman to get some blogs designs done!If you do not have a bazillion blogs that you are following like I do, here are some more for you to check out.  Even if you do follow a bazillion blogs, you should still check these ladies out.  They are great.  Click each button to visit the blog.



I have been finished with Sarah's Blog for a little while now, but it is so cute and she has so many great things, I've just got to share it!  Sarah always has awesome freebies and units.  For each month she does a Literacy Menu Packet.  They are AMAZING.  She covers so many skills.  I love them!  You can check the latest one out on TPT by clicking {here}.

At Home in First is a brand new blog.  However, she came up with such a cute name and had such a clear vision for her blog, that I know she will have great things to post. So, just go on and follow her anyway!  :)

 Dana is funny and totally sweet!  She has a ton of great ideas.  I love her blog's bright colors, and I got to use graphics from one of my favorite places, The Digital Bake Shop. I am totally obsessed with Jaime's stuff! Her blog can be found {here}.








 Stacy was great to work with!  She is wonderful   Her blog will definitely leave you seeing stars. :)   Check out the way she has her students pose for pictures.  I absolutely love it.

Third Section of this Post:

 My friend Sam and I started a new blog!  Yeah, we did. We love to read and would like to get some advanced reader copies of our favorite series.  We thought, what a better way than to blog about them! I am still working on the design of the site.So, don't hate on it or I will get all sad again! :)   We have much more to come. There will be a section for children's books and books we use in our classroom along with the books that are sitting on our night stand.  Please do go visit it and follow if you love to read books too.  You can click the image to get there!

Thanks for sticking with me until the end!  Have a great Sunday Summer Night!

BBQ and Boo-Boo's

Hey everybody!  I've been working on this Backyard Barbeque unit for a while now.  My internet has been going down daily and it has definitely put a kink in my extracurricular  activities. :) Anyway, it is finished now!  Click the image to check it out on TPT. It is on the clearance rack until Friday.

Here's a bit of what is in it.

I am offering this unit along with a basic blog design (header, background, and button) in Katie King's 1000 follower giveaway.  Click the pic to find out how to win.  There are so many fabulous units offered!  I want to win it myself!

Now for the Boo Boo.  Jen from The Teacher's Cauldron very kindly let me know that a blue text box was popping up on some of the pages in the New Grade Advice Writing Paper packets.  Weird because I just duplicated the slides and changed the top and bottom lines.  Anyway, they are fixed now. You can download them {here} for free.

Oh, and P.S.: The first person to comment, telling me their favorite cookout food along with their email address, gets my new unit for free.

Advice from a 1st Grader...for free!

My kiddos have been working on writing some advice for the Kindergartners who will be 1st graders next year. As they finish, they have been presenting to the Kinder classes. They are totally loving it! After presenting, some of them will say "Are there any questions?" It is too stinking cute. Here are a few examples of what they said.

"Do you listen to your teacher now?" :)

"My favorite place to go was school, and you will like it too."

Oh that  second one just melts my heart!

Are those bubble borders not the cutest?! I found those in a set on TPT for $1. Yeah. ONE DOLLAR! They can be found in Ms. Talley's Store.

You can DL the writing papers by clicking the pic below.  They go all the way up to 5th grade because that is what my mom teaches and she wanted to do it too. :)

Hope you like it!

Fascination Nomination!

I was so super excited to get an email saying that my post A Birthday Card for Dr. King! earned me a blog nomination for the Fascination Award: 2012's Most Fascinating Elementary Teacher Blog.  I don't know how these nominations come about, but I am total honored to be in the same category as so many wonderful bloggers!  Thanks to all you great bloggers and readers out there who share ideas and support.  I love you all! :) 

If you would like to vote for my blog click the "Vote for Me" badge above.  Thanks everyone!!!

Winner and a Linky Party!

Congrats Sarah from Sarah's First Grade Snippets!

Now I hope I am not breaking any linky party rules by adding this to my winner announcement, but I am linking up with Hadar, Teri, and April for the Summer Bucket List Linky Party. :)

1. Lose weight and get healthier.  This school year has been a tough one and I am a stress eater. Ahh Lawd... Enough said!

2. After I get my workout on, I am going to relax in my little above ground pool and read lots of books (because I don't have to take any Master's classes :)). 

3.  I have kept a list of units that I've had ideas for throughout the school year but no time to make them. So, I plan on making some units for TPT.

4. I want to make these to hold my jewelery.

from http://www.maillardvillemanor.com

5. Laminate and fix up the literacy centers I have bought and made this school year with my favorite little helper ever: 

Last but not least, I plan on staying up way too late and sleeping in!  Thanks ladies for hosting this fun linky party!!!