Great teacher moment and a winner!

Congrats to Jessica McCarty who won a copy of my Love Monster Read the Room center activity!

I had one of those great teacher moments today. I was telling a guided reading group that after they finished reading the book I wanted them to write all the rhyming words on their whiteboard. One of my cuties immediately piped up, "I know, we should make a bridge map!" And they did. All by themselves. And that same cutie leaned over to a friend and said, "Don't forget to write "as" under the triangle." If you don't use thinking maps this won't make sense or seem too exciting but I thrilled!

Do you think said cutie got a Kiss Your Brain? You Betcha!

Read the Room and Valentine's freebies

We will be working on the "oo" vowel digraph this week. HM says we should only talk about "oo" as in book this week and then next week they lump "oo" like moon in with ew, ue, ou, u, u_e.  I understand why they presented it this way but I don't think that is very helpful for students. The reality is, when students look at the word stood, they don't know which sound it is until they try it. SO, I teach both sounds the same week and we practice our strategy of flipping the sounds.

This poster is part of my best selling Decoding Strategies pack.

My students LOVE Read the Room so I made a Valentine's version to practice this skill. There is something about getting to use clipboards and walk around that grabs their attention.

If you grab it during today's TpT sale it will only cost $1.

I will also give a copy away to a loyal follower. All you have to do is enter via the Rafflecopter below.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

 I also have a Valentine's ABC order FREEBIE at TpT if you haven't grabbed it yet.

Okay, back to watching the Super Bowl. Really, I don't watch the football as much as the commercials. I think the one with the boy who gets punched out a prom was pretty funny.
Do you have a favorite?

This zombie is alive!

Sorry for the long absence but I caught the dreaded flu and missed an entire week of school. That is more sick days than I have used in my career combined. My cold also went to my chest so I am now taking two asthma medications and have been coughing badly for 2 weeks straight. I cracked two ribs a few years ago from severe coughing when I had pneumonia so I have been nervous it will happen again. Let me tell you, that experience was right up there with childbirth pain. This week I have been playing catch up and felt zombie like by evening so no energy to blog. Honestly, my posts would have been pretty close to last year about MLK and Tacky.

Luckily I was back for the 100th day. The 100 year old art project is my absolute favorite thing we do all year so I couldn't miss it. Of course, the kids said I was THE BEST TEACHER EVER because we made fruit loop necklaces!

This is less than half my class. I am super envious of those who can get all their kids in one shot.

I got an email saying my groundhog pattern I posted last year using Scribd was giving people trouble so I uploaded it to Google Docs for you. Click here for the FREE pattern. You can read my post about the books we read, our writing, etc from last year here. Today we wrote our prediction if the groundhog would see his shadow or not. Since it is on Saturday I told the kids to watch the news and come ready Monday to say if their prediction was correct or not.

The paper is from Teacher Bits and Bobs

I wanted to make something to use those cute dice I found in the Target $1 bins so I made a Valentine's version of Roll Say Keep. We will use our sight word cards from my Sight Word Superstars program so each student is working on their own color goal (you can read more about that here if you are interested,) I included blank cards (not yellow) in the download so you could use your own sight words or add a different skill. I also included directions in case you aren't familiar with this game. Click HERE to download for free.

I'm joining in the TpT Super Sale on Sunday if you'd like to get 28% off Sight Word Superstars or one of my 40 other products. I'll be cheering on the 49ers while I am transferring items off my wishlist into my cart! Click on the pic below to visit my store and don't forget to enter the promo code: SUPER.

Thanks to the First Grade Fanatics for sharing this cute banner!

Freebies, Sweetness, and a Funny

FREEBIES

I am trying to keep a little more balance in my life; hence blogging a little less often. I forgot to take pics of our New Year's Resolutions but they were similar to last year.  We practiced inferring again with The Snowy Day. I used the same project as last year but we are so short on time now I put all the supplies in a bin and had the students complete it independently during Work on Writing. I did make a few new things for The Sleeping Pig last week.

I am not following HM since I am the Common Core guinea pig but I had my students read the story during Read to Someone. Then they worked together to fill out the story map and noun search. I also included the puppets from last year to have the partners practice retelling. I had the writing prompt as a choice for Work on Writing. If you'd like a FREE copy just click HERE to download. If you want the puppets for EEK! There's a Mouse in the House you can get those by clicking on the word puppets.







Place-Value I Have, Who Has was a big hit this week. The first time we played our time was 8 minutes 37 seconds and after a few times our time is now 3 minutes 35 seconds. We are swapping times with a class down the hall, trying to out do each other! Click on the pic to go see it in my store.

SWEETNESS

I had a student miss two weeks just before the holiday break so her family could spend 4 weeks in Hawaii like they do every year.  (Can you say jealous? In my next life I want to manage a life like that.) This girl is one of my favorites (I know, I know, I'm not supposed to have favorites but she is one of those super sweeties who is ALWAYS with me and gives me a smile just when I am asking myself why I corral educate today's youth for a living.  I asked her to write me a letter from Hawaii telling me about her trip as part of her work packet. Not only did she write me an adorable letter but she included a bracelet and a menu from the restaurant she was describing!

Notice the sushi drawing.

Like how she starred her recommendations?

I covered up her return address but how sweet is that? I missed her, too.

 

 

Do you have PESTS at your school? No, I don't mean the kind that require spraying. Ours are like a Secret Santa that lasts the whole school year. The PTA organizes it and I have been lucky to get some wonderful moms in the past. This year my PEST is terrific. I got a present every day the two weeks before the holiday break. Carmel corn, a Starbucks card, movie coupons, etc. All beautifully wrapped by a crafty gal. I am going to have to start taking pics before I unwrap. Today this was in my mailbox. It was filled with Ghirardelli Caramel Squares (my faves) and I am now enjoying my tea in it! I have to say, we have many wonderful parents.

 FUNNY

My class has been talkative lately in line. After waiting for a while for them to quiet down I let a few quiet kids start walking to lunch without us. That got the rest of them in gear as they enviously watched their peers get ahead of them.
As the rest of us were following a few yards behind, a student next to me said, "What if they run?"
"I can see them, " I answered.
"What if they are way up there?" the student continued.
"My eyes can see very far, " I replied.
"You are just like Santa then," the boy replied with a grin.
I am pretty sure he was referring to my skill of watching behavior from afar and not my bowl full of jelly but I didn't ask.
Little moments like that are why I love teaching first grade.

Place-value freebie and game winners

 I made this bridge map to use on Monday. Click {HERE} to download it. A friend told me today that she had her students make a human bridge map and verbally say the answers. Good idea, thanks Suzanne!

Congrats to the following winners of my place-value giveaways!

Jessica Berger won Prehistoric Place-Value.

Click on the picture to go check it out.

Melanie won Place-Value I Have, Who Has.

Click on the picture to go check it out.

Lisa Burnett won Place-Value Go Fish.

Click on the picture to go check it out.

Gotta run my boys to scouts. I hope you all had  a good week back.