Laugh Love Learn: May 2014

Friday, May 30, 2014

Rockin' In First Grade!

Happy Friday! Wow, I feel like I haven't blogged in forever! Ok, it's actually only been two or three weeks. This month has flown by so fast! It's been a busy month. Would you believe me if I told you I have even forgotten to take pictures of the kiddos and all their work this month?! Okay, I may have snuck in a few pics...two projects to be exact! So, unfortunately, I don't have a "Five for Friday" to share with you...but two cutesy writing projects.

The first project was an opinion piece on the kids favorite flavor of ice-cream. I was really surprised on the variety of flavors the kids chose! We had everything from mango ice-cream to the basic vanilla. My sweet friend, Jessica, created this cute ice-cream template!

I am in LOVE with this bulletin board! I just love all the bright colors!

This week, we rocked our classroom with these awesome guitars! The kids wrote about all the things that rocked in first grade...and gave some advice to the new incoming first graders! I won't mention how many firsties wrote about how much their teacher likes things clean. There's nothing wrong with a little organization, right?!:)

{you can pick up this awesome template in Hope King's TPT store}

First grade rocks!

Happy Friday!

Saturday, May 10, 2014

Sombreros, Pictures, & Ice-Cream Cones!

It has been a busy week with the kiddos! Which means I am one tired teacher! Here is my Five For Friday-on Saturday, because I was too tired to finish this post last night:).

We started Monday off with Cinco de Mayo! What a fun way to start the week. We used several activities from my Cinco de Mayo pack to celebrate!

We learned about the history of Cinco de Mayo, wrote a mini report, and had a few craftivities. Here's a picture walk of our celebration!

Aren't these flowers awesome?! I finally learned how to make tissue paper flowers!

Mother's Day is coming up this weekend...which calls for some gift making in room 16!

We started off by taking some pictures to use for our gifts. I asked each student to stand up with their arms in the air while I snapped the pictures! I promised them that we wouldn't just be giving their moms a picture of them with their arms up in the air:). They all snickered and laughed as I took their pictures. They couldn't quite figure out what they would be using the picture for.

We created our picture backgrounds by "glue painting" tissue paper to a piece of cardstock to create a collage effect.

Once the tissue was dry, we glued on their pictures with a giant heart. Pretty cute, right?! The kiddos were so excited about their gifts and couldn't wait to take them home!

We needed a cutesy card to go with our gifts, so I created this ice-cream cone card! It's pretty sweet:). The kids loved it! You can grab it for free, here.

I am on The Young Authors' Faire committee this year. Wednesday evening was the big Fresno County Young Authors' Faire! There were so many awesome books on display! We have some great writers. Here are a few pictures from the event.

Here is my latest mini pack that I finally finished up. Feel free to check it out in my TPT store!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Memorial-Day-1229762

Happy Saturday!

Saturday, May 3, 2014

Zoo Trip!

Happy Saturday! We only have 24 more schools days left...it's kind of hard to believe! I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs teaching to share my Five For Friday, on Saturday. I was just waaayyyyyy tooooo exhausted to blog yesterday. It has been a long week.

I didn't spend this past Monday in the classroom. I was in Albuquerque, New Mexico for my brother's graduation from Physician Assistant school! We are all so proud of him!

Oh, and did I mention the weather is CRAZY in Albuquerque?! 65 mph winds! Here's a picture of me that will probably make you laugh!

Tuesday, we had our grade level field trip to the zoo! My little firsties were so excited! Several of them had never been to the zoo before...so this was an experience!

I'll take a moment for a little teacher confession. I was absolutely terrified that I was going to lose a student inside the zoo! Keeping an entire class of first graders together, by yourself, can be a challenging task. So, I made these tags for each of my kids to wear. I also stuck a fruit snack in the back because I knew they'd get hungry:).

In case you're wondering...nobody got lost:).

I took a bazillion pictures of our trip to the zoo! I'll spare you, and not share them all:).

We learned a lot about animals this week! I purchased this awesome pack on TPT to go along with our animal unit! It's so nice when I find an awesome product and don't have to create it myself:)!

The kids hard at work:). Isn't that drawing just the cutest?!

I am loving these water-color paintings! My kiddos are becoming quite the little artists! I love directed drawings; the kids are getting much better at following step by step instructions.

It's time for a giveaway! Enter to win one of my packs along with many other AMAZING products!

We recently achieved a major milestone for our little ol' blog . . . . over 1,000 followers on Instagram!! A-MAZING!!!! So that means it's giveaway time!!!

Who doesn't love a good giveaway? Well, you are in luck! We are having FIVE (yes I said 5) giveaways!! I am overwhelmed by the generosity of our blogging/IG friends and am super excited to share these fabulous products with you all!!

So let's get started.

Click on each picture or the caption below it to see what each item is.