Easy teacher colleague gifts!

I honestly can't believe I whipped these tags up after today and the crazy week we've been having. I'm sure you understand with various holiday programs, kids hyped up about the holidays, etc. And every year my school gets blessed with gifts for every student thanks to Silverdale (a church and school). It's amazing but definitely a busy day. Tomorrow is a half day and our grade is doing Polar Express which means PJS :) and then some team planning!

So on to what you really came for hah
I made some gift labels to go with some team teacher gifts. I saw a few online but wanted to make some foldables I could use for gift cards as well. So I created these and posted them in my TPT. Hope you can use them to spread some cheer! Click any pic to head to my store.

For a gift card to a food place

For a general gift card or a place with sweets like Dunkin Donuts

(mmm...donuts...lol)

For relaxing gifts (fuzzy socks, bubble bath, etc)!

Sunday Scoop!

It' feels like it has been FOREVER since I've blogged but man grad school + teaching + wedding planning + holidays = crazy tired teacher! I've been thinking about my blog if that counts for anything hah! So let's catch up with the Sunday Scoop

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I am a tad bit unmotivated to do my lesson plans this week. In all reality I want to slap gingerbread stickers on everything and call it done. I know the week will be a test in patience with wacky schedules, holiday performances, gift giving, etc. I would much rather fill the in between time with coloring sheets and movies but life must go on!

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We do Secret Santa in our school every year. A highlight to this crazy upcoming week is receiving a sweet little gift every morning.

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 The last is self explanatory. I need to finish shopping so things can be shipped and make it in time for the holidays! 

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Wedding planning has been fun! We've had our engagement dinner and I found my dress!! Now our next big hurdles are hiring vendors and for me, picking bridesmaid dresses!

(Engagement Dinner)

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In the past I've had a cute craft ready to go for this upcoming week. This year I guess I've been lollygagging! I need to check out a few blogs and see what these great minds are coming up with!

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I have spent wayyyyyy more time on Pintrest looking up any and all things wedding related. Dresses, cakes, shoes, honeymoon ideas..

I must say this is truly an awesome time, sitting around looking at my fiance and this lovely ring :)

I'm really enjoying it! 

So what do you all have coming up? Link up and share! 

And have a fun week! 

Sunday Scoop, Science and a Surprise !

Well if you follow me on any other social media you already know my surprise but....

 I'm Engaged!

My amazing boyfriend is now my fiance!! I'm so excited to be his Mrs. and to plan a wedding but man I am already beginning to see what a task that can be! Any advice appreciated lol

In other news I wanted to do the Sunday Scoop Linky since its been a while.

I promise it seems like I just did laundry and already the basket is filling again. To be honest I don't think we've put all the clean clothes up from a week or two ago...don't judge lol

I'm currently on fall break but it doesn't mean a break from everything. I plan to try and get ahead with that hw so it doesn't sneak up on me. And speaking of school its time to apply for my Spring graduation! :)

So since I'm engaged we’ve been looking at venues in our area. Since I'm off this week I plan to do some calling and researching. Its exciting! And of course I'm trying to sleep in. Even trying to convince the fiance to take a day off with me lol

And I surely don't mind staring at my new accessory all day! I'm still addicted to having such a beauty on my hand each day. And I feel so blessed to have found my person!

And just a little #sciencefun before I sign off 

This week we reviewed matter and did a few more hands on experiments thanks to the influence of my latest TDG Science PD day.

 

We started the week by exploring different materials to determine the properties of solids and liquids.

Later in the week we added solid skittles to liquids like hand sanitizer, mouthwash and water. We predicted what would happen then recorded our results.

Last we explored various solids and changed their shape (broke crayons, popsicle sticks, and Styrofoam cups) to determine if they would remain a solid. Most of them predicted no! Lol good ol first graders

But that's a bit of a catch up for now. Have a great week!

Hello September! Bring on Fall, math centers and freebies!

I can't believe it's already September. I can't wait until it actually begins to feel like Fall. I'm trying to refrain from pulling out all the decor and scented candles! I forget how much time really flies when school is back in session. I'm sooo grateful for this 3 day weekend! But I admit it makes me wish every weekend had that extra day! Lol

So I wanted to link up with the Currently linky but its a tad late for that, I'd be number 3295 hah. I love those linkys but that one tends to fill up so quickly. So I wanted to blog but wasn't sure what to write about until an Instagram buddy gave me inspiration.

I posted this photo and @mirandalarayne (who's an awesome TN teacher BTW, follow her on insta and twitter!) Asked about my math centers. I am still working them in with our new curriculum but they have been going well so far so I'll share what works for me!

*Side note*

This summer I went to ITeach1st and was able to see one of my faves Reagan Tunstall present about her math centers and guided math layout. Although I couldn't implement my math centers in the same exact way her presentation did inspire me to use math centers in my classroom. I've used them in previous years but I'm trying to improve that area this year. Below is a link if you would like to see some of her post about guided math.

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Number talks/ Spiral Review

I I begin my math lesson every day with number talks or a problem of the day. This is a countywide initiative where I teach so number talks and spiral review problems are provided by the county. This takes about 5-10 min. 

These half composition notebooks are where we write our problem of the day. I added labels.

Mini Lesson

Next we begin our lesson. As I said earlier we have a new math curriculum, and I'm definitely still getting used to it. Our lessons seem more broken down with this new program. Because of this latley I have strived to have a 20-30 min mini lesson whole group. This is when we review vocabulary, refer to habits of mind and habits of interaction, try out concepts on whiteboards and engage in discussions or partner talk about our math. It may also be a time to show a video that demonstrates the concept.

Centers

If we have a new center I introduce it before I give the rundown for the day. I demonstrate the activity whole group.

Then I let them know their centers for the day. We use the MATH acronym but I've seen others use BUILD or STACK. I prefer 4 rotations for our time frame. Each center has a basket with the corresponding letter and an activity inside.

M- Math Facts

These are centers like flashcards, number order games, number recognition activities, addition & subtraction Facts

They were playing roll and color. Roll the big foam dice, color the number. First to fill their row wins.

A- At my desk

This is where the student is typically working on something independently. It may be a worksheet or some other type of activity. Last week our activity was filling in blank 120 grids.

T- Teacher's Choice

I use this center flexibly. If it is a newer concept and I want to review with all group members I may have them come to my small group area. If I know of some friends that need reteaching I may call them to my table while the rest of the group practice skills on computers or at a center in the T basket.

H- Hands On

This is where the students do something, usually with manipulatives, that tie into the recent lessons. This may be modeling addition or subtraction problems. playing with a large 120 grid, etc. 

Setting up to play "How Many Am I Hiding?" A game to practice finding missing addends.

Other Details

The length of centers can vary depending on the time remaining in my math block but I usually like at least 10-15 minutes for each. If necessary I could also limit the number of rotations. Two long rotations on day 1 ( ex. 20 minutes) and two long rotations on day 2.

I get the games and activities from a variety of places including the materials my school/ county provides, TPT, pintrest ideas, etc. I store games and centers by standard so its easy to know what games apply to what lesson.

 This year I want to improve by incorporating some reflection and metacognition time at the end of the lesson, I just want to look into how to do so effectively. We have a TDG math lab coming up so that will give me some time to consider it. 

I hope that was helpful to someone! And if you have questions feel free to ask. Since you hung in so long, why not snatch a freebie? Here are some labels to use for math centers. I use a set with magnets on my whiteboard for rotations and a set on the corresponding tub or basket. Maybe I can grab a pic with them Tuesday...anyways

(Click the picture to be taken to the freebie in my TPT store)

Enjoy your weekend!

I've already been enjoying mine!

Back to School!

Well I am pooped!! The beginning of the year always wipes me out but it was definitely worth it. 

Here's a little First Day pic from my 4th year :)

We had a great first few days and I already see a ton of potential with my little learners. 

We played a simple math game where students had to work with a partner to order numbers from 1-20. When they completed the task they had to stand quietly to signal that they were finished. They thought it was a race but in reality it was a perseverance exercise. Every student got a prize for completing the task. We will rely on this perseverance as we work through fun and challenging math problems this year.

Here are a few more pics of us working together in math and students reading around the room during Read to Self. We have been building stamina all week and reached 11 minutes by the end of the week. 

(Stamina chart from Amanda Myers, click for TPT store!)

We also made time Friday afternoon to complete our Back to School bead glyph activity. 

(Freebie in my store, click to check it out)

They loved learning about each other and apparently everyone LOVES math and literacy (either that or students just wanted extra beads, lol hmm...)

Last but not least, this weekend I finally had some time to grab a few items from Dollar tree, Target and Office Depot.

Also, Office Depot cut my composition notebooks in half ( I think it was .75 c for every 2 notebooks)

Now of course mine looked completely different! So I resorted to last year's technique of covering them with duct tape!

This will be our math journals to record our problem of the day. Just gotta print some labels and stick em on! 

Well back to relaxing on the blow up mattress my boyfriend and I pulled out to be lazy in the living room :) haha #backtoschoolmadness

Hope you have a great week!

Five for Friday and classroom pics!

Happy Friday y'all. Hope your week went well. Especially if you've already headed back to school. I've had some PD days but no kiddos yet! Next week we will be back at it!

Anyway linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for the 5 for Friday linky :)

So here's a recap of my week

This week began with the TPT sale which was exciting. I grabbed some goodies of course! But the highlight was waking up one morning not by my alarm but by the little "cha-ching" sound! My sales are always random but that was such a nicely timed coincidence :)

This one is silly but I got pretty decent atntwisting my air and when I took it down it was really pretty! 

My grades came in for the summer term and I got 3 A's!! Woohooooo! These classes kicked my butt, especially school law. And yet everthing turned out well and I'm one step closer to graduation!

I blogged about this earlier this week but I updated a little diy project and the classroom and I was pretty pleased with how it came out. I realize the time for these lil projects is slowly diminishing....sigh

 And last but not least I'm pretty much finished with my classroom! I included some pics below. Its pretty similar to last year but hey if it ain't broke, don't fix it! Lol I like using a theme of stars and not limiting myself to certain colors as you can  probably see. 

These letters are from the pack they gave everyone at the TPT blogger meet up!

(Click for panoramic)

Well that's all for me this week. By next week I'll have met my new kiddos! 

 Hope you have a great weekend! 

Tuesday Made it! lol & a Freebie :)

Hey guys. I have a Tuesday Made it for ya lol I started it yesterday but needed some extra materials so I had to finish it today. Either way I'm sharing it with you and a little freebie at the end if you'd like :)

So my task was to update this guy here..

As you can see one of my yellow labels went missing and I had to improvise. Also my pan was starting to look dingy after 2 years and  I just felt like it could use some improvements.

So I bought a new pan, slightly smaller maybe 9 x 13, and remade some labels with larger print and borders. I actually just recycled that ribbon because it was cuter than any I currently had. I hot glued the ribbon on and placed magnets on the back of the labels to attach. On the back of the cookie sheet I used 3 command strips.

By the way "Brain Boosters" are any pull outs, it can be Special Ed, ESL, Mentors, Interventionists, etc.

(ignore the magnets that need to be remade! That's the next project!)

Looks better to me though! So if you'd like a set of these labels I attached them below as a freebie. Feel free to snag and share. 

Now back to this TPT cart... we are down to hours ladies & gents make sure you take advantage of the awesome sale!

Thanks for stopping by!