Five For Friday!

It's time for another Five For Friday! Five random things from my week:-).

We spent the week learning all about the long O sound! I just love teaching phonics to my little firsties! My favorite part of the morning is when they all practice blending together. Listening to them learning to read is awesome! I think it's one of the perks of being a first grade teacher:). They have come so far since the beginning of the year! To help them remember the long O sound we made these Cheerio bowls! I have a feeling that every time they eat Cheerios they are going to remember the long O. Mission accomplished:)!

Look who made a surprise visit to room 16!! The kids were beyond excited! Candy Cane decided to put on his birthday outfit and make a trip from The North Pole to help celebrate a birthday:). He left a note for the class telling them how much he had missed them. Of course, I forgot to take a picture of it. Sad face.

This Friday, we had Fun Friday! The last Friday of each month is used to reward all the students who have turned in all their homework, been on time for school, and have showed expected behavior in the classroom for the entire month! Sidewalk chalk was our special reward this month. I had NO IDEA how exciting sidewalk chalk is for first graders. Well, until this week:). Look at the smile on her face:)!

Next up...giveaway time! I'm so excited that Kristen, over at Easy Teaching Tools has included me in her giveaway. Several awesome teacher bloggers have donated great February products! If you haven't already...enter now:)

Ok, this has nothing to do with my classroom...or first graders...but I had to show him off:)! My lil' Trooper got his first haircut. Isn't he just adorable?!

That's my Five For Friday! Have an amazing weekend!

Spreading The Love!

I'm so excited to be "spreading the love" with this awesome giveaway that Easy Teaching Tools is hosting! I don't know about you, but I love the idea behind Valentine's Day.  Spreading love, lots of pink {hot pink is the absolute best}, and watching students pass out valentines is the sweetest thing.  Who doesn't want to feel some love?  My bloggy friends and I have teamed up to bring you another wonderful giveaway filled with lots of love...and pink!

We just celebrated the 100th day of school and we had a blast!  This packet was the best because it was engaging, covered ELA and math CCSS {plus a little PE}, and was a great independent activity.

Task cards are the best.  They get kiddos moving around while keeping them engaged.  These cover 2nd grade ELA CCSS.

Jen's amazing task cards are almost zero-prep., which I love.  I can only take so much laminating and cutting. These are great for 2nd and 3rd graders who need as much reinforcement they can get with regrouping. 

 I love all of Jamie's products, and so do my first and second graders.  These Valentine's Day and President's Day themed centers are perfect for any primary class.

 

Heather's products are always great and easy to use.  

Angie, from Lucky Little Learners has another fun activity that's best for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders.

Kelly Anne has the best activities for the big kids.  These look awesome for math centers and early finishers.

How talented are my friends??? Cassandra created an adorable multiplication sort, great to practice math facts.

I can't wait to buy these!

Serena, my most favorite Instagrammer from New Zealand has been making the most adorable clip art the last few months. Grab these for your Valentine's products and activities for you classroom. 

All of her products are engaging and get the kids moving.  Use these for centers or the scoot game.

I've met so many innovative teachers thanks to Instagram.  Jen is a teacher from Alaska, yes, Alaska!  She makes the sweetest clip art that I love using in all of my products.  These lovebots are a favorite of my students.

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Five For Friday!

Happy Friday! Today, I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for a weekly Five for Friday linky party. I will share five random (or maybe not so random this week) facts about my week.

This week my class won the green flag at school!! What's the green flag you ask??! It's a flag that is earned by one class within a grade level each week for showing expected behavior in the cafeteria. The flag hangs outside the classroom door for the entire week! I'm a little embarassed to admit this...but this was the first time our class has won all year. Yes, all year.  It only took us 90 school days:). I almost fell over when I heard over the announcements that my class had won! I have a very chatty class:). I think I've mentioned that before. Here's a picture of our flag! Take a good look...I don't know when we'll see it again lol.

I put my first craftivity in my TPT store this week! I had never really thought about putting my crafts in my store until a couple of my Instagram friends asked about it. Speaking of Instagram, I'm addicted! I have been extremely lucky to connect with so many inspiring teachers! I absolutely love looking at all the amazing classroom ideas in my IG feed. 

 We finished up place value this week! I had my students create their own place value books to show the different ways they learned to represent a number. We also played a few place value games to finish out the week. On a side note, I don't think I could ever teach place value again without my new giant magnetic base ten blocks. The kids loved coming up to the board to manipulate the blocks! You can buy them on Amazon if you're interested:).

I spent a lot of time this week getting February centers ready. Is it really almost February?! Gosh, time goes by so fast! 

Last, but not least...Martin Luther King Jr.! We spent a lot of time learning about Martin Luther King Jr. and equality this week! We finished up by publishing our MLK writing and this craftivity! You know how much I LOVE craftivities:). 

That's all for now! Have a good weekend!

Just Me January Linky

I'm so excited to be linking up with Kinder Sisters for their Just Me January linky party! In fact, this is my first linky party! I'm still sort of a blogger newbie:-).

 

My Name:

Jamie 

 

What is your hometown/state?

Fresno, Ca

 

Are you a morning or night person?

I am definitely a night owl. I need my caffeine and about an hour to myself in the mornings:-).

 

Are you a collector of anything?

My friends would say I collect pictures. I'm that girl that takes pictures everywhere! I like to think of it as collecting memories. I love looking back at old pictures that make me smile.

 

What is the most used app on your phone?

Instagram-I LOVE all the teacher inspiration!

 

What is your favorite cereal?

Fruit Loops, Lucky Charms, & Captain Crunch....yes, I eat cereal like a 5 year old:-).

 

What is the oldest pair of shoes in your closet?

Hmmmm....probably 7 or 8 years.

 

What is your favorite snack?

cheese & crackers

 

City or Country?

Country for sure!

 

What is your favorite thing about teaching?

Where do I start?! Being a teacher is awesome! This is my first year teaching first grade...watching my kids learn to read has been pretty amazing!

 

 

 

 

Gettin' Our Waddle On!

Hello three day weekend! What better way to end the first week back after winter break?! I'm actually more excited that I didn't end up sick this week than I am about the three day weekend. So many of my kiddos were out sick this week. Cough. Sniffle. Sneeze. These were the sounds of room 16 this week. Thank goodness for Emergen-C and my absolute favorite, clementine scented hand sanitizer from Bath and Body Works. 

We finished up our penguin unit this week. The kids loved it! We read lots of cute lil' penguin books this week, wrote a report on penguins, and created a penguin craftivity today. We couldn't end the week without a craftivity:).

You can "waddle" through our week with these pictures:

Researching, brainstorming, and drafting:). If you are interested in this Penguin book or printables, they are available in my TPT store.

Publishing!

Aren't these absolutely adorable?! 

More cuteness!

In case you were wondering...scrapbook paper was used to make the scarves. You can get a pack of the paper in the Target dollar section:). 

This will be the last picture of the craftivity, I promise:). He was so proud of his penguin!

Ok, waddling away from penguins...and on to centers!! I put together about 20+ new centers over winter break. Some I created myself and some of them came from my favorite bloggers/TPT'ers! The kids really enjoyed them! I love that they are learning how to work as a group and stay on task. This was nearly impossible at the beginning of the year! It's not perfect, yet...but we're working on it:).

Here are a couple pictures I took during centers this week:

 

That's all for now! Off to enjoy the start of my three day weekend!