Hello, Anyone There?

Hey! I'm back! You're probably wondering where I've been?! Well, life gets crazy and time can get away from you. Ok, about a year got away from me (maybe more). I've had a few people asking about my blog...so I thought I'd get back on it!

I started working at a new school this year. It's been amazing! I can't possibly blog about all of the awesome things we've done this year, so I thought I'd just pick up right where we are! I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching to share my Five for Friday!

Do you know Brooke Brown, the teacher behind Teach outside the Box? She's amazing and so are her products! If you've never visited her store or read her blog, you need to! Her STEM challenges are the best! Take a look at these rainbow bridges! The kids LOVED them!

Who loves Pete the Cat?! We do! I think we have about 15 Pete the Cat books in our classroom library now. Any-hoo, I decided to create this adorable lil' Pete and some comprehension graphic organizers to go with the book! Hands down, this activity was a winner with the kiddos!

Ok, do I even need to say anything? How stinkin' cute are these?! Grab yours here for free.

If you're anything like me, you are always looking for ways to improve your students' writing. We are now in the second half of the year and I challenge my students to write "stronger" sentences. I created a pack that has several activities (including this cute lil' book) that focus on parts of speech and developing those "strong" sentences. If you're interested, take a look here. 

I heard it was National Puppy day yesterday. So, you're welcome. I know, he's adorable!

Thanks for stopping by!

Pumpkins, Costumes, Turkeys {and a FREEBIE}!

Good morning! Happy Saturday! It's been a while since I've shared the happenings in room 16 with you! I'll be honest, it's been a very busy and challenging couple of weeks! October is such a busy month! I also have a couple of kiddos that are going to make me an even better teacher this year:). If you're a teacher, you understand. 

Here is my Five for Friday {on Saturday}!

First up...pumpkin week! I absolutely LOVE pumpkin week! There are so many fun things you can do to integrate math, science, writing, reading, and art! Here is a little snapshot of our pumpkin investigations! We spent the afternoon as scientists; and in groups, the kiddos investigated their pumpkins.

The kids also created these pumpkin lifecycle displays!

And....it wouldn't be pumpkin week without roasted pumpkin seeds! It always surprises me that the kids have never had roasted pumpkin seeds! Of course, I had to bring the seeds from my pumpkin! In case you're wondering, here's my pumpkin that I carved:).

Isn't it cute?:) I'm a little partial to the "old school" pumpkins. I'm not really into the kits with the elaborate designs.

Ok, back to pumpkin seeds. 

The kids loved them...and asked for more!

I'm sure you're just dying to know what I dressed up as for Halloween, at school, right?!

...and yes, I went through the drive-thru at Starbucks as Waldo:). Every teacher needs caffeine on a dress up day, the day before Halloween:).

I also dressed up my lil' fur-babies! Aren't they adorable?

Gobble gobble! Our room is starting to look like Thanksgiving! I can't believe it's almost Thanksgiving!



 

This fun lil' craft is a Freebie in my TPT store!

I also created a Wild Turkey {informational text} mini pack that you can find in my store as well!

Wheeewww, I think that was at least five things! Happy Saturday!:)

Fall is Finally Here!

Happy Saturday!

This post is going to be short and sweet...and everything fall! The weather is finally starting to cool down here in California (insert happy dance)! As the weather changes, so is our classroom! Take a look at some of our fall fun!

Last week, we created these adorable scarecrows! The kiddos wrote about what they would do if they were a scarecrow and created these fun lil' scarecrows to go with it!

Aren't they just the cutest?! I'm sorry I don't have a template for you...I just drew the pieces out and cut it all out!

Things got a little "batty" this week! We started our study on bats this week! Teacher confession: I was really off my picture taking game this week! Shocking, I know! I only got pictures of our Friday craft and writing. Sad face. I made a really cute anchor chart for the kids (in the shape of a bat)-but no picture for you all.

 

Any-hoo...here is our bat craft and writing!

 

Happy Saturday!

Five For Friday!

I have two words for this week. Full moon. I never really believed in the superstitions...until I became a teacher:). We also had a rainy day schedule and some cooler weather this week (which I'm very grateful for). Any-hoo...we did get a lot done this week and had some fun while we were at it! Here is my Five For Friday!

We finished up our apple unit this week! We started the week off by making fresh squeezed apple juice! This was something none of my students had tried before! I don't think they had previously made the connection that the apple juice they buy in the store actually comes from apples!

The kiddos also discovered The little red house, with no windows, no doors, and a star inside this week! A big thank you to Teacher to the Core for creating this cute story! We did some apple stamping so they could take their stars home and tell their parents about it!

Last week, we made homemade applesauce...this week we wrote about it!

October is officially here! I couldn't wait to get my favorite bulletin board up! We had a rainy day on Thursday...I decided to embrace the rain with an afternoon craft! 

 

LOVE LOVE LOVE our lil' pumpkin patch!

Last up, inflatable microphones! I'm sure you're wondering what we are using these for?! I've started using them as part of a Kagan structure-interview pair share. I thought I'd jazz it up a bit with these microphones. You can purchase these on Amazon for $6.00 for a set of 12! 

Stay tuned the next few weeks for all things pumpkins, bats, and everything October!

Happy Saturday!

Apples are Everywhere!

Fall is in the air! Ok, maybe just inside room 16 where the air conditioner is running and apple decor is hanging all over the walls. Yes, it is still in the upper 90's here! Thankfully, I think it's supposed to cool down a little bit next week.

We have spent the last couple of weeks on our apple unit. This is one of my many favorite units of the year! We started off with an apple taste test, which helped us with our opinion writing. 

The kids decided which color apple was their favorite and then we graphed our results on our tree using apples. 

Next up, apple painting. I attempted my first directed drawing of the year, with my firsties. I LOVE directed drawings and use them throughout the year...so I thought we'd start with something simple. This activity really lets the students practice following directions:).

Poetry reading has become a fun time of the day for the kids (especially when they get to lead the class with the pointer)! I LOVE LOVE LOVE the poetry pack by Aly, over at Just a Primary Girl! 

This week, we moved on to Johnny Appleseed! I didn't get to take quite as many pictures as I would have liked...but I have a few to share.

Writing at the beginning of the year is a bit of a challenge in first grade...but we are getting there! I focus on one sentence a day with the kids, and by Friday, we have all of our sentences finished. This week the kids wrote informational pieces on Johnny Appleseed.

We turned our writing into this cute craftivity!

Finally, the highlight of the week, applesauce making! The kids had so much fun with this!! Not to mention, the classroom smelled a-m-a-z-i-n-g on Friday! Of course we had to make Johnny Appleseed hats, too!

Mashing the apples!

Yummmmm!

We have a few more apple activities coming next week...stay tuned! 

Last up...we got our second ipad from Donors Choose! The kids are loving it! Hopefully I can blog about the awesome things we are doing with our iPads, soon!

Happy Saturday!