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Saturday, September 27, 2014

Room 16 Has Turned Into An Apple Orchard!

Apples, apples, apples!

My classroom has officially turned into an apple orchard! If that means cooler weather, boots, and leggings...I'm okay with it. Fall is here {well, almost-it's 78 degrees today}! 

We have had so much apple fun the past couple of weeks! Before we could start our very first opinion writing piece of the year, we had to do an apple taste test! How can you really decide without a taste test? Plus, kids LOVE food! Yes, first graders will write for apples:)!
The results are in...
I'm always surprised that green apples are the favorite. I'm partial to red:).
We brainstormed some descriptive words before the kids started writing.

Now that I've prepped you for these awesome opinion pieces...I'm sad to say that I forgot to take pictures of them! Sad, I know. They are cute little apple cut pages with matching apple color construction paper. They look awesome on our writing wall:). 

This week, we spent a lot of time learning about Johnny Appleseed! This meant informational writing, craftivities, and lots of apple food! 

I wanted to start the week off with something "different" to get the kids excited about Johnny Appleseed this week. What could be more exciting to a seven year old than walking in Monday morning and seeing a juicer on the counter!? Okay, maybe they weren't excited until they knew they'd be using this unfamiliar looking machine to make HOMEMADE apple juice! Yes, we juiced apples. A lot of apples. 

Delicious! Better than store bought:)!

We also made mini caramel apples! These were definitely a big hit. Aren't they cute? They'd be perfect for a fall or Halloween party.


Last, but not least...homemade applesauce! This is my favorite! Primarily, because it makes my room smell absolutely delicious:). 
Here we are putting all the ingredients together:).

Here they are mashing the apples {the fun part}!
Look, you can see our opinion writing hanging in the back:).
 Aren't the hats cute? We couldn't make applesauce without hats:).

Okay, we don't just eat food all day. I promise. We were able to work some science in this week (and hopefully a little more next week).


We also squeezed in some time for this cutesy craft from Smitten with First.

Last, but not least, we turned our informational Johnny Appleseed writing into these cute lil' craftivities.

Wheeeeew! That was a lot of apple fun! Stay tuned for more fun next week:)!

Happy Saturday!

Friday, September 12, 2014

Keepin' It Real {trying to, at least}!

This week has been tough. 

I knew there would be tough moments. 

Tough days. 

Tough weeks. 

This was definitely one of those weeks; grieving is not easy. Losing someone you love is really hard. I don't usually blog about non-school related topics-but this is real life. Life is filled with lots of unexpected ups and downs. 

Sometimes we get so caught up in sharing all the highlights of our week...every successful project, some new creation for our classroom, and sweet notes from our kiddos. I think that we tend to over look (or leave out) that lesson gone bad, or that moment when our class was completely out of control, or the fact that sometimes life just happens. I'm guilty of this. I tend to blog mostly about the highlights of my week. I think social media is partially to blame. We are so quick to upload, hashtag, and blog about all the wonderful things that are happening, which is awesome. I'll be the first to admit that I've gotten some amazing ideas from other teachers via Instagram, Facebook, and blogs. I love social media!  But, we all know that every day is not #perfect.

Here's my confession: My week was not perfect. You didn't think every week was perfect, did you:)? Yes, I had a couple of lessons that didn't go as planned-we all have them. There was a point during a lesson this week that I just stopped, took a look around the room, and started laughing! Things were just not going as planned (I'm a planner-in case you forgot). The kids burst out in laughter with me! These moments are so important in a classroom! The kiddos really see that you're human, too. This is how you build positive relationships with your students-and where the real learning begins.

I wish more teachers would blog about some of those "less than perfect" moments. We can all relate. Life (in and out of the classroom) isn't always rainbows and butterflies with cutesy crafts. I have found a blog that I just L-O-V-E! Kristin, over at A Teeny Tiny teacher is amazing-she definitely keeps it real! She blogs about the good, the bad, and all the in between. She's absolutely hilarious, too! 

I've learned that there will be tough days and happy days. But, you can get through it all with a little faith, the help of family, and good friends. Life is short, enjoy the moments-all of them.

Okay... I may do have a few fun things to share with you from our week. You didn't think I went the entire week without some craftiness did you:)?

In remembrance of 9/11 we talked a lot about heroes and what it meant to be a hero. I used this as an opportunity to work on our writing skills, specifically capital letters and ending marks. The kids wrote about what they thought a hero was. Pretty awesome, right?


We also worked on these 9/11 books throughout the week. Each page has a very kid-friendly story about heroism on September 11th. 


Here are our books-not on paper bags:).




Happy Friday!

Friday, September 5, 2014

Number Bond Robots!

Well, here we are again! I can't believe it's already the weekend! Don't you just love a short week?

I have a confession, I hardly took any pictures of our activities this week! Sad, I know. But, with it being a short week and still teaching beginning of the year routines and procedures...there wasn't much camera action in room 16. 

You're probably asking yourself, well, how much time can possibly be spent on rules and procedures? It's a lot. Trust me. We are still learning to walk over nicely to the carpet, without running across the room, and sliding into the carpet as though we are crossing home plate on a baseball field. We are learning how to line up without knocking everyone over like a row of dominos. We are also learning the more basic tasks like raising a quiet hand, how to properly use a glue stick, and scissor etiquette. Yes, first graders enjoy trimming their hair every now and again. Not in room 16, of course:). 

Last week, I promised I'd share more about our number bond activities this week. 

My firsties definitely needed more practice with making number bonds. I created this simple little number bond book to give them some extra practice. To grab a copy, click here.


Next up...number bond robots! Aren't they awesome?!



Unfortunately, I don't have a template to share with you. I just cut everything out by hand. Well, except the mouths. I let the kiddos do that:). 

I started by giving each student a number (between 5-9). Then, the kids had to figure out two more numbers that would correctly complete their number bond. I had an assortment of pre-cut numbers on the back table for them to choose from. Once they had created the number bond, they each wrote out their number sentences. 

I created the robots with the kids step by step.

One piece at a time.

With very specific instructions.

I highly recommend the step by step process with the kiddos:). 


I also finished up my Fall math pack this week! 30 pages of first grade fun! It has tons of number bond practice and is aligned to first grade Common Core standards.
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Fall-Math-First-Grade-Print-Go-1430185

 Happy Friday!