Science is SUPER groovy!!

We really are enjoying Science! My little friends get very excited when they see me put on my Rainbow LAB coat. It is almost like a signal to them that something cool is going to happen!

This past week we created Mini Explosions of colour! 

You should have heard their "oohs and ahhs" and "this is so cool!" 

They also look super cute in their science goggles. 

It was so quiet while they were working! It was AMAZING how engaged they were! 

Eagle Eye!

Here is the little eagle eye that we made to remind us to use our Eagle EYES when we are reading. Look for clues in the pictures and Look at the words! 
I think he turned out so cute! 
The original idea came from The Moffatt Girls Eagle craft from teachers pay teachers. I bought their package about Eagles, took the craft and modified it! I shrunk it down on the copier and then had the kids glue it to a paper lunch bag. The kids LOVED it and so did I! They were CUTE! 

This is an adorable new book I found! It is so funny! Some of the humour only Adults will understand, but kids will still really like the story! 

These are the Elmer the Elephant Paintings we worked on. I plan on adding in a writing element too! 

It has been a very busy but fun week! Looking forward to the days and months ahead! 

This little class group has so many funny kids! They say the cutest things! 

They make me smile everyday! 

New Year and New Friends...and FUN!

                                 School is now in full swing! 
I am excited to be working with some wonderful people this year! I have two wonderful educational assistants and a teaching partner next door who is so fun. I love having a teaching buddy to share the workload with and to bounce ideas around. She's great! 

My class is a busy little bunch! They are excited about learning and we do ALOT everyday! I am usually worn out by days end. Can you say NAP? I come home and need one! Hopefully as the year moves on I will build up my stamina again and so will my little people. It's tough to go from going to school every second day when they were in Kindergarten to summer where there is no school, to going to school everyday! Big change and transition! 

We have been in ABC boot camp this week! We are reviewing one letter and sound per day! I am also doing beginning reading strategies with my kids. 

This week we worked on Eagle Eye! We made a very cute puppet. 
I am attempting to upload a photo but for some reason my computer is not in the mood! I will have to try again later. Perhaps it will adjust it's attitude! 

School starts tomorrow!!

Tomorrow is the first day of school! I am excited to meet my new class of little people! I am also excited to be working with an educational assistant this year! Yay! An extra set of hands (eyes, ears and other parts) is always welcome.
I have been working in my classroom since mid-August; setting up and copying and decorating. Now I am into shoving and hiding things away! The first day crept up way too fast!!
Oh well...Good-Bye summer, I will think of you fondly!
Hello fall and back to school! Hello new friends and old.
It's goning to be an AWESOME year!!

Dollar Tree and Michael's crafts!

I admit it...I am a Shop-a-holic! I love me some shopping! It's the thrill of the hunt and the satisfaction of the cool find! I could shop for hours! 
I also love to make things for my classroom. (I think I said that in my last post!) Well the creating continues! 

I went to Michael's craft store. Just inside the door, there was a clearance table. Clearance tables have a way of calling to me! I found some bottles of coloured sand! Yay!

I know you are thinking...What? why would anyone get excited about jars of coloured sand? 
Well let me tell you! 

I instantly thought, "Hey, this would be cool with SIGHT words inside!" So that's what I will be doing! I will place sight words inside the jars. Then the kids can turn the bottles and find the sight words and then write them on a sheet, and for a challenge they can write a sentence with the words! One centre- four kids, done!

Then I had some plastic bugs, from Dollar Tree. (Love Dollar Tree!!) I wrote sight words on the bugs. The bugs have between 1 and 4 words on them. I put the bugs in a plastic tub and covered them with the sand. Then to use the centre the kids can dig into the sand and find the bugs and pull them out and then write the words they find on the bugs. 
I think it will be fun!

It is funny because one of the blogs that I love to read had some of the same ideas as me! I even emailed her and told her that I think we share a brain or we are somehow on the same wave length! She emailed back and said that we should go "Dollar-treeing" together sometime! Her blog is fabulous and she has been doing it a bit longer than I have. She even has her own Teacher's Pay Teacher's store. Her blog is called     firstgradeandfabulous.blogspot.ca
I love her idea for pool noodles! Check it out! I am making that one too! 


Her pool noodle idea, sparked my own pool noodle ideas!

 I went to Dollar tree (again!) and bought some paper towel holders and pool noodles. I even found STAR shaped pool noodles! I bought them! Then I cut the pool noodles into little donuts or little flat stars with a hole in the middle! The kids can use them to build PATTERNS! Yay! Pattern centre activity! I can also add a worksheet to it where kids can show on paper the patterns they created. 

Making things for my classroom is so fun! I'm already thinking ...Hmmm...What's next? 

Making things!

I love making things for my classroom! Summer is the perfect time to do it because I actually have the time! 

Ahhh, time...so precious and lovely! In summer, I can actually afford to "waste" some time! This summer I have been a little self indulgent! I have been going to yoga, playing in my art room and playing on Pinterest! AND the best part...I can eat when I want to and go to the bathroom when I need to! Things I rarely get to do during the school year. 
I remember someone saying to me when I first started teaching, that is what summers were for...going to the bathroom! Who would have thought going to the washroom would be such a luxury! 

Sorry...every once and a while...SQUIRREL! (I can get easily distracted!) 
Anyway...

Back to the Making things for my classroom! 

SO... Cruising around Pinterest, sparked the idea for these little "Pattern-a-pillars" made with wooden spoons. I already had the spoons in my art room "stash" and when I was at Michael's craft store I found these little foamy ring things on clearance. They came in a bag full of different colours, perfect! 

I think she turned out kinda cute! I ended up making 4 of them, so two sets of kids partnered up, can visit this centre activity. I will also create an accountability worksheet to go with the hands on activity of this centre. I think the kids will like it! I know I liked playing with it! 

I found these "monsters" at Wal-Mart and I think I squealed, because I remember people looking at me wondering what was my problem? I just smiled and grabbed two of them and quickly left the aisle! 

Anyway, on to what I want to do with them...

I was thinking they would make really cute "Math Monsters" and I will put them into a centre tub with flash cards and some math manipulatives. The kids can have the monsters "EAT" the cards they figure out correctly by unzipping the zipper and tucking them inside. 

I think they are funny and cute! 

I also found these french fry containers and thought of a fun game to make to put in them.  So I took some wooden tongue depressor sized craft sticks and put the pre-primer Dolch sight words on them. They will be the "fries"! On the ends of some of the fries, I coloured them red. If you pull out a "red" fry, you have to put back ALL your collected fries and start over. 

I called the game, FRY FRENZY! 

I actually made one for EACH child in my class, to put in their "literacy kits"...

more about those later!! 

I also made WORD WALLETS from plastic folders, that I found at Staples for ten cents!

I cut the folders and taped them with fancy duct tape. Then on the inside I wrote the word, YES on one pocket and NOT YET on the other pocket. Then I put sight word cards inside the wallets. Each child will receive one of these in their literacy kits.

So as you can see...I've been busy! 

I will share more about the literacy kits that I am making up for each child in my class!

I am hoping to give the literacy kits to the families at Meet the Teacher night!

My intent is to make sure the families have some things to help their child to become a reader! 

Plus, then there are no excuses! LOL! 

Summer! I love summer!

Ahh! Summer! I love summer! I love being able to stay up late and watch movies. I also love sleeping in when I can. Although this summer sleeping in usually means I'm up by 7:30 at the latest. Lots of times, I'm up with my hubby at 5:30am, as he gets ready for work. I am finding I can get so much done when I get up earlier.

I'm back from my Vegas trip and it was fun! I met lots of interesting people and spent way too much money on more stuff for my classroom. I met some of my favourite bloggers and I must say two of them really stood out! Their sessions were fabulous and they were so funny! I did get to meet Todd Parr and he did not disappoint! He is so sweet! I chatted with him and he even gave me an autographed poster! I was so thrilled to meet him!
Here is the picture of me and my best friend and Todd Parr.

I did so much shopping for my classroom! Here is a picture of the "pile". It was super fun! I am a shopaholic at heart! 

This is me and my bestie waiting for the show to start

This was the show we saw. It was so fun! Everyone was singing all the 80's hits! It was a blast! 

There was a photo booth at the conference and they took my picture. There were props you could choose from and different signs. It was lots of silly fun!

Target!! We took a cab to the closest Target store and it was great! Made me miss the Target stores here in Canada. I wish they were still open, but the American version of Target is so much better! 

All in all it was a very fun few days! 

I learned lots, made some new friends and shopped!!