January Currently

What a better way to wrap up the blog for 2014 than with Currently with Farley! Here is what I am up to.

Listening: I love relaxing and watching Girl Code whenever I can! Such a good way to laugh and I catch myself relating to it all the time.

Loving: If you haven't heard of Norwex yet, you need to check it out! Even though I hate cleaning, I was immediately sucked into their products and love how easy they make things. I got the mop for Christmas and just tried it out - it was awesome! Or at least as awesome as cleaning my floors can be...

Thinking: I'll be heading over to a friend's house soon to participate in some new year festivities. I am excited for a fun night and for a fresh year.

Wanting: I've been putting together some book studies to go along with the Magic Treehouse series. I am really excited to finish them up and try them out with my higher reading groups.

Needing: Came back from my mom's house, threw all my crap in the middle of the room. Still there. I should maybe get going on that.

Yes: I joined a gym back in October. But do I actually go to the gym? I should probably start going to the gym.  

Maybe: It's been a while since I've gone a trip with friends. I think it would be fun to put something together for this summer that I can look forward to!

I Wish: My Masters will be finished in 2016. One more year!

Cheers to 2015!

One Word Resolution

Resolutions are tricky. If they weren't, I feel like there wouldn't be as many people that are anti-resolution. For me, I think that it shouldn't matter what time of year it is - there's no time like the present to set a positive goal for yourself and to try and reach it. But I understand there is something almost magical about starting a new year. Which is why I am linking up with the gals at Primary Powers to bring you my one word resolution. A word that encompasses many different aspects of my life and something I strive to achieve each and every day - in 2014, 2015, and beyond.

Love unconditionally those who I am closest to.
Love my profession, despite the roller coaster ride of ups and downs.
Love the child who can sometimes be hard to love.
Love the opportunities that have been presented to me, although they keep me busy.
Love the challenges that keep me on my toes.
Love myself, despite my imperfections.

Here's to hoping this year is full of opportunities to love!

Top 10 InstaPics {2014}

Happy we're-not-at-school Monday! Today I am joining Natalie from Teachery Tidbits to share my Top 10 "liked" Instagram photos from 2014. Here we go!

Happy Franken-pudidng day! #teacherlife

Franken-Pudding day was a huge hit in my first grade classroom! This past October was the first time I had tried something like this and it is definitely something I will do again and again over the years. You can read my original blog post about it here.

Nordland family Christmas picture. Happy Thanksgiving!

This Thanksgiving we took our family Christmas card picture at my grandparents' house. It was one of our last times at my dad's childhood home before my grandparents move into a retirement community this spring.

Kitty cuddles #catsofinstagram

I don't think I could ever beat this photo of Whiskey and Jingles! It is the background on my computer at school.

The feels. There will always be a special place in my heart for my first class! #teacherlife

I absolutely love that my kids did one of these for me last year. As the caption says, I do not think I will ever forget the roller coaster ride that was my first year of teaching. This picture hangs in the living room of my apartment.

Introducing: Jingles McFluffington #catsofinstagram

I took this picture the very first day I brought Jingles home last June. What a little peanut!

Nailed it. #dzsistas #homecoming

October was my college's homecoming and my first time returning for the celebration since I graduated in 2013. It was nice to see some old friends!

So this is a thing the first grade team decided to do for the first day of school. #teacherlife

Although they shrunk like crazy, I love our first grade team shirts!

It's finally here! #teacherlife #erincondren

My Erin Condren planner for this school year. Guilty teacher-pleasure? Check!

First grade math homework: A cry of desperation #teacherlife

This student's response to a question on the math homework had me laughing out loud. 

Someone's getting an A! #teacherlife

And most recently, we watched a clip from Frozen in class and discussed what it meant when Olaf said that "Some people are worth melting for." My kids each did a small writing piece on who they would melt for, and I think this one just about melted my heart!

My Instagram is private, as it is my personal account. Send me a request @p.nords :) Wishing everybody a fantastic new year!

"Four Things" Friday?

Watch out, world - I'm blogging three times in one week! As the quarter winds down, I am thankfully finding some time to relax and get back to doing some of the things I love to do (besides teaching, of course). It's been another great week in first grade, so despite the holiday Five for Friday hiatus, I am going to share some great things about the week with you all!

Today was one of those days where I felt under-planned. We are wrapping up so many different things from the quarter and it does not make sense to start something completely new three and a half days before the kids run off for winter break. Thankfully, I found this adorable freebie from First Grade Schoolhouse. My students were so excited to hear that they would be "creating" a pet reindeer of their very own. After lunch, I put on the Christmas music and let them go to town.

This week, I took a day off to progress monitor my kids. I found this cute activity to leave for my sub to do with my students during writing time. I love how it turned out! And I've gotta say, their responses were just about spot-on!

Our new principal this year is trying to incorporate more fun activities for the staff to participate in (and is doing a fabulous job!) Monday we had a cookie exchange and up until break we are all exchanging cards with one another. The kitten card was one I received from another staff member and the two top cards are ones I still need to send.

And finally - can I just fangirl for a moment? I linked up with Abby last night and she not only read my post but left me a sweet comment! 

Happy Friday and one-week-until-break, everyone! Hang in there :)

Christmas Conversations Link-Up

I cannot get enough of the Christmas season. While I am sitting here counting down the days until winter vacation, I also cannot help but think about how fast the holidays seem to pass by each year. Today I am linking up with The Inspired Apple to share some of my favorite Christmas things. I swear Abby could create a link-up about doing laundry and I would still participate. If you haven't checked out her blog lately, you are seriously missing out!

But anyways...here is my Christmas Conversation.

Seems pretty self-explanatory. I love, love, love the Christmas season and am so ready to be home for the holidays.

Monday Made It & Fa La La La Link Up

Happy Monday, teacher friends! Today I am linking up with Tara at 4th Grade Frolics for Monday Made It. This is one of my favorite link ups that I have really been slacking on lately! Need a cute Christmas-y craft and/or writing project? Read on!

It wouldn't be the Christmas season without the Grinch. The original Grinch, of course. Because no matter how much I secretly love the Jim Carrey version, the cartoon movie I once owned on VHS will always have a special place in my heart. As will this book (my copy is so old it is falling apart!)

This quarter, my students worked on procedural writing. We spent a lot of time writing about things we know how to do - making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, building a block tower, playing with a cat...you get the picture.

As a fun way to wrap up our procedural writing unit (and to keep us just a bit more sane as the holidays approach), I decided to incorporate our friend the Grinch into a fun writing craftivity. We began by reading How the Grinch Stole Christmas. We discussed the Grinch's character traits, evidence, and how he changed from beginning to end.

We decided that the Grinch from the beginning of our story was not a nice guy. Stealing presents and stockings and lying to a little girl? Not the best character, my friends. So we began to brainstorm ways to cheer him up. To make his heart grow a little bit bigger. After sharing a few examples as a class, my kids were ready to run wild with their planning sheets.

We worked on coming up with introductory and concluding sentences, as well as using our transition words when writing. I love how this friend wants to invite the Grinch over to make cookies! I got a real kick out of reading what my first graders came up with.

Finally, we tied everything together with a grinch-y craft!

Now for the fun part - your freebie! Click the image below to start spreading some Christmas cheer.

Happy Holidays! Head over to Primary Powers to see what other holiday freebies you can grab!

December Currently & A Flash Freebie!

Happy December, everybody! It's time to turn up the Michael Bublé holiday music, spread the holiday cheer, and all that other good stuff! (Although I've obviously been listening to Christmas music since after Halloween...)

Listening: I was enjoying the silence until my cats got all excited. They are tearing through my bedroom and chasing each other all over the place!

Loving: I was nervous about how my students would be today, but as far as Mondays go, this one was productive and relatively problem-free!

Thinking: The only negative to my day was finding out a student of mine suddenly moved away. She was one of the sweetest, most kind-hearted students and I will miss her terribly!

Wanting: I think this is pretty self-explanatory...

Needing: See above. My cabinets are so empty I think you can hear an echo if you shout into them.

Giving: For today and tomorrow only, please enjoy my Christmas-themed adjective write the room for free! Happy Holidays!

A big shout-out to Farley for hosting "Currently" - it is definitely something I look forward to each month!