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Thursday, October 2, 2014

October Currently

Things have been so crazy this week I barely had time to notice that yesterday was the first day of October! Which means it is time for Currently with Farley!


Listening: Love me a good thunderstorm. Can I just crawl back into bed now?

Loving: A three day weekend plus a personal day on Friday turns next weekend into a four day weekend for me! My mom's best friend is coming in from Texas so I am going to head home that weekend to spend time with my mom and her friend.

Thinking: One of the other first grade teachers is tying the knot this weekend! I cannot wait to celebrate with everyone.

Wanting: I am loving all these Stitch Fix posts. I want some of the clothes. I filled out a style profile and almost scheduled a fix. But then again - nervous! What if I hate everything? What if nothing fits me right and it's a waste of $20? Should I just put that money towards something I want from another site? Why am I spending so much time thinking about clothes?

Needing: The maintenance light has been on in my car for over a month. Yikes. Why is getting an oil change such a pain in the behind? Probably because there are about a thousand other things I'd rather be doing.

Treats: Please enjoy 15% on my featured products over at my TPT store! Happy fall!

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Wordless Wednesday: First Grade Profanity

This week's picture really speaks for itself. We were responding to The Magic Pot, which is a story about a pot that won't stop spilling syrup all over the place.


Okay, okay - maybe what she really meant to say was "thank you" (in the story, they got the pot to stop by thanking it for the maple syrup). Then again, I might have a few choice words for a pot that spills syrup all over my pristinely clean apartment.

Have you ever had any funny instances of accidental profanity in your classroom?


Now go link up with Christina! Happy hump day!

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Visualizing with Jack Prelutsky

Visualizing is one of my favorite things to teach all year. I love reading to my kids and seeing what kinds of things they are picturing in their minds! While my grade level does use a lot of fabulous mentor texts to teach visualizing, my favorite thing to use are two poems by Jack Prelutsky. My first graders think they are super entertaining and they really get the opportunity to visualize and draw some silly stuff!


The first poem we used was My Neighbor's Dog is Purple. I read it two times through, leaving off the last two lines at first. This way, students saw how their visualizations sometimes change as they continue to read. They also got a huge kick out of the fun twist at the end of the poem!

The following day, we read The Green Giant. Because this poem had plenty of details, it was also a good way to informally assess my students' listening skills!


Both of these activities were super engaging and really gave my kids a good idea of what it means to visualize during a story (especially when we do not have any pictures to look at!) Inspiration for these activities came from Deanna Jump's blog - you can check out her post here.

Monday, September 29, 2014

ME on the Map!

Ay carumba - it's been way too long since I've posted! Things have been pretty busy with the little people in first grade. I had my first evaluation last Tuesday, attended our first PLC meeting of the year, and am working on my two grad classes - whew! Luckily, we are still going strong in Ms. Nordland's classroom!

Our most recent creative activity went along with our unit study on map skills. It was almost disturbing to see how many of my first graders didn't know the difference between their city, state, and country! This mini-project sought to bring a little more clarity to where we are in the world.

My students got a huge kick out of seeing the photo cut-outs of themselves! Especially since I took the pictures about a week in advance - they had forgotten I even took them :) Click here to get the template I used for free!

Friday, September 19, 2014

Five for Friday {September 19th}

I am thrilled to say that this week was our best week yet! Although far from flawless (seriously - any ingenious ideas for this ridiculously chatty class?), I could begin to see some progress in my firsties. Yay!

Now for a super quick Five for Friday before I head off to girls' night! Join the fun over at Doodle Bugs Teaching!

First off, I finally have a new blog look! And the best part is - I designed it and put it together by myself! Definitely not as pretty as those custom blogs out there but I am happy with how it turned out and it didn't cost me a penny! Much needed credit goes out to Wizard of Boz, Ashley Hughes, and KG Fonts for the elements used :)
This week, we started in on text-to-self connections. So far, we've read Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, Ira Sleeps Over, When Sophie Gets Angry, David Gets in Trouble, and I Like Me! I decided to add images of the mentor texts used to teach the strategy to our anchor chart - hopefully this will jog some of the kid's memories if they aren't sure what it means to connect ourselves to the text!

Some love that got me through the week :)

A new tattoo idea I'm "trying out" (spoiler alert: it's just permanent marker right now!) My mom still "owes" me a tattoo for my college graduation present. We are going to get tattoos together in memory of my granny who lived with Alzheimer's for the remaining years of her life. I was never set on our original design idea but fell in love with this never-forgetting elephant. We'll see what we decide!

Last but most certainly not least, I have hit my first big milestone over at my TPT shop! In celebration, I am having a milestone sale - enjoy 15% off every single product in my store all weekend! Thank you for all your support!

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

{Book Talk Tuesday}: Pete the Cat and his Four Groovy Buttons

I think I may have been a cat in another life. What else would explain my love of all things feline and my beloved routine of switching off between sleeping and eating? I clearly have a thing or two in common with Whiskers McMittens and Jingles McFluffington, who, by the way, really wanted to join us for Deanna's book talk link-up.

Look, Ma! We're so studious!

Whether you're a kitty fanatic or prefer other furry friends, it is impossible not to love Pete the Cat. Seriously, how cool is he? A cat who is oh-so-groovy and always manages to shake things off by saying "It's all good!" I think I could learn a thing from Pete the Cat. I also think my students can learn a thing or two from our good friend Pete and his four groovy buttons.

Pete loves his buttons. He loves them so much that he sings a song about his buttons. But apparently Pete is not buying his kitty clothes at a quality store because his buttons keep popping off one-by-one. What happens when the last button comes off? You'll just have to pick up the book to see for yourself!

I especially love this particular Pete the Cat book because it incorporates math. Helloooo, student engagement! My first graders tend to struggle with subtraction so this was a great way to incorporate practice with a cute story and a fun craft. I found the Pete template here, enlarged it, and copied it onto tagboard. 

My first grade friends hard at work!

Some finished products! Love how my one kiddo added the "It's all good" thought bubble.

A couple of unique Petes! One with extremely pointy whiskers and a floating head and one headed off to a drag queen show :)

I am always looking for great books/activities to incorporate into my classroom. If you have any you'd like to share with us, head on over to Deanna's blog and join in the linky fun!

Monday, September 15, 2014

Dear Future Me...

Find the nearest piece of wood and knock on it for me. I don't want to jinx it but as far as Mondays go, today was pretty fantastic! The kids worked hard, we got stuff done, and we even made it through our first day of full-on Reader's Workshop/guided reading without completely falling to pieces!

Today was a really good day to take a step back and realize how far we have come from the beginning of the school year. It is week six and although we are far from perfect, my first graders truly show bits and pieces of improvement each and every day. I think it's kind of like watching a snail race - at first, it doesn't seem like they're going anywhere, but after a longer chunk of time, it is easier to see the progress made. {Confession: I've never actually watched snails race. But you get the point.}

Crystal from Kreative in Kinder came up with a fantastic idea - write a letter to your future self as he/she embarks on the 2015 school year! Here is my letter, written to my future self. Who knows - maybe you can find some words of encouragement in there!


I encourage everyone to head over to Kreative in Kinder to link up with Crystal. What may seem like small words of encouragement can really go a long way with your future self and with others!