Flat Stanley, Blog Award, and Advice Needed!

It gets harder and harder for me to post on here as we get closer and closer to the end of the year!  Phew!!  

My to-do list is becoming a never-gonna-end list!  :)

If you have followed my blog for awhile you will have heard me talk about Flat Stanley before!  For the last couple of years we have read about Flat Stanley and then enjoyed mailing our Flat First Grade Friends across the country.  

I (meaning my wonderful aide) have recently hung up our Flat Stanley map in the hallway outside our classroom tracking where our Flat First Graders have traveled this year.  My kiddos LOVE hearing about all the adventures our friends go on.  

I really wanted to take more pics today, but my camera battery died.  And then the back-up battery died so I will post more pics later.  

This Flat First Grader traveled to visit her grandparents in Florida.  She brought back a binder full of goodies!  She also brought back a magnet with an alligator on it and a bag of sand!  I was hoping she would send back the entire beach! :)  You can see my cute little flat first grader in the first picture in the upper left corner. 

This Flat First Grader traveled to another first grade class in Virginia.  They have been learning about Flat Stanley this year too and having their own adventures!  They take Flat Stanley home each weekend and record their adventures in their journals.  They even have a Flat Stanley wall!!  This Flat First Grader brought back pencils for our entire class and my kiddos were so excited to get a gift!  

You can have your own Flat Stanley and Flat First Grader adventures next year too!  I have everything you need in my Flat Stanley Pack which you can find in my TpT store.  

I also need to share how excited I am that I was chosen as one of the Top 25 Elementary School Teacher Blogs of 2012!  I know I'm so late with this news, but it's totally worth sharing!!  I have no idea how I got nominated, but I appreciate the recognition.  

And since all 25 blogs are listed in alphabetical order I'm #2!  Woohoo!  :)  

I know...I'm a dork....but, hey- it's the little things, right?!?!  

Now, I need some advice....

We are officially moved into our new house so now the remodeling begins.  We are going to be getting our kitchen done soon.  I have always wanted granite counter tops, but now I'm not so sure.  I didn't realize they had to be sealed every year.  I'm more into the no maintenance counter tops!  

If you have granite counter tops (and you have read this far) can you let me know what your opinion of them is?  I would love to hear!  I've heard quartz is much less maintenance so now I'm kind of leaning that way.  

If you have any expertise in this area, please share!!  :)

Whatever we choose, we need to choose soon!  

Have a great week!  I hope you're all sailing smoothly through these last few weeks!  :)

Countdown to Summer...with Good Behavior!

I don't know how your kiddos are doing, but mine are definitely feeling the nearness of summer!!

I honestly can't blame them though, because I am too!  

I am going to share my secret with you to encourage good behavior despite the end of the year craziness!  

It's my *STAR* activities and you can find them in my May Activity Pack and End of Year Countdown to Summer!!  This pack includes a countdown to summer with fabulous, but cheap *star* activities.  

Your kiddos who are responsible and shine like stars during the day get to enjoy a fabulous star activity at the end of the day.  Your kiddos who don't follow, or have a temporary memory loss and forget the rules don't get to participate.  

All day long you can walk by our room and hear me say, you better show me 'green' behavior or you won't get to do our star activity at the end of the day!  It's also a great way to reward your kiddos who do try hard everyday to be responsible!  

Here are some pictures of my stars!  

They just hang up on a bulletin board.  We started on day 22 this year.  Sorry it's hard to see the top stars.  The glare was terrible...as is my camera! 

Here's a close up of the stars we haven't turned over yet. 

Here is one of our star activities we have already done.  They LOVE taking their shoes off and it's FREE!  Woohoo!  :)

I had leftover sidewalk chalk from last year so we went outside last week.  It was such a hit that I picked up some more!  

You can click here to go to my TpT store and pick up these star activities.  

The best part is that it's on sale right now too!  Teachers Pay Teachers is showing their appreciation for teachers this week by having a huge sale today and tomorrow!  

Just make sure you type in the code TAD13 when you check out to save up to 28% off!  

Here's wishing you some wonderful *star* behavior in these last few weeks of school!  :)

I'm Back...with Pictures! :)

Oh my goodness....it has been over 3 weeks since I last blogged!  Busy, busy, busy is all I can say!  

Hubby and I are moving this weekend and we are sooo *excited* but have been so busy cleaning, organizing, packing, and soon to be remodeling!  

I wanted to post some pictures of our weather experiment at the end of our weather unit.  We actually did this a couple weeks ago, but I'm just now getting to posting them....oops!  

We made it rain and my kiddos thought it was the coolest thing ever!  Thank you to Pinterest for the idea!  

Once our experiment was over we had some extra shaving cream so I did what any good teacher would do.  I put some shaving cream on everyone's desk so we could play in it practice spelling our Fundations words!  

After we practiced a few words we started practicing some other important first grade words like....(sorry they're all sorts of crooked)

Mrs. Seymour - Mrs. really is a Fundations words so this was good practice!  :)

Rock Star- that's our class theme

First grade is awesome - now that's just true!  

So this was the end of our weather unit.  My kiddos loved it.  We'll be bringing back the shaving cream again for sure.  It makes the room smell great and helps clean their desks...that's a double win!  

We've started using my May Activity Pack and End of Year Countdown to Summer this week.  We're counting down the days to summer with some fun activities each day to encourage good behavior!  

I'll be back to blog more about this with pictures this week.  At least I'm really going to try...if I can find my laptop in all the boxes!  

I *Heart* Pinterest Videos and Freebies

I want to share some wonderful things I have found on Pinterest lately!  

I really *heart* Pinterest and it has saved me sooo many times!  :)

This is what we will be doing next week in science for our weather unit.  My kiddos will LOVE it!  :)

Look how adorable this bulletin board is?!?!  We will be recreating this too!  

I have already started using this app for my classroom library.  I have some helpers that visit each week that have enjoyed using my iPhone for this.  It will make looking for books in my classroom library so much easier!  

This has saved me this year.  I have an Autistic kiddo that needed a safe space in our room so now we have 'Alaska'.  It's a place where he can 'hide', play with sensory toys, and chill out for a few minutes.  It has worked wonderfully.  

This video was our introduction to pronouns this past week and now my kiddos ask for it every day....even one of my boys who really struggles with paying attention asks for it and told me he has taught it to his dad!  How cool is that?!  

We sang this to help us with our doubles.  We then extended our doubles facts up to 10...and of course we created motions to go with it.  

You can find any of these wonderful Pinterest finds on my boards.  I hope you can use something here!  

Now I'm off to enjoy this sunny day!  Woohoo for spring!  :)

April Fool's Joke and April Currently

Happy April Fool's Day!

I'm not an 'April Fool's Day' kinda gal, but today we had so much fun!  I got my kids soooo good!  

We have special right away in the morning and we always use the restroom on our way back to the classroom.  Well today after gym, I told them we weren't stopping to use the restroom.  Instead we went straight back to our classroom and I told them to put their heads down. 

I have never told them to do that so they were totally in shock!  I then 'reprimanded' them for not behaving this morning while waiting to come in the building.  We did a quick review of school rules and I gave them the "Did we forget how to behave over Spring Break?!?!" speech until I couldn't keep a straight face anymore.  

Then, I shouted April Fool's!!  

They started to get up so I had to say put your heads back down.  I told them the real reason they had to keep their heads down was because I had hidden Easter eggs in the room and I didn't want any peeking.  They were so excited!!  

They had to answer a first grade review question in order to find an egg.  It was a huge success...especially after the April Fool's joke!  

Now, on to Farley's April Currently!  

I loved hearing the birds this morning!  Spring is here!!  

We are the last nine weeks of school.  Woohoo!  :)

See joke above!  

I really need to get my report cards done...they're due Wednesday.  

I soooo need a pedicure so my toes look cute for my summer flip flops.  

Advice: Let the little things go...I need to work on this.  Some days are better than others.  I worry about too many things so I'm trying to let the little things go!

Now go link up with Farley and don't forget the rule of 3!!  

Let's Get Acquainted Linky Party and TpT Sale

I'm linking up with Latoya again today!  Click the above picture to go to her blog and link up too!  

This week is our Favorites Survey:

Favorite Place to Shop:

I LOVE Macy's!  They have a huge selection and I am always getting coupons from them in the mail.  Who doesn't love to use a good coupon?!  I have found great items on clearance too.  

Favorite TV Show:

I really don't watch too much TV, but I love Criminal Minds.  It scares me sometimes, but they always solve the murders!  They're amazing!  :)

Favorite Sweet Treat:

I love a good doughnut.  Put a little cream inside and I'm in love.  :)

Favorite Food:

I know it's not good for me, but I'm a pasta girl!  I love spaghetti, lasagna, and ziti.  

Favorite Restaurant:

There is no doubt about it.  Cheesecake Factory is my favorite restaurant!  Mmmmm!  

Now, go to Latoya's blog and link up!

My TpT store is on sale today!  20% off everything!  

Happy Easter!!

Spring Cleaning Sale

I have been on Spring Break this week and I have enjoyed it so much!!  

I've been cleaning, organizing, and moving all week.  Now I'm going to do some Spring Cleaning in my TpT store and have a sale!  

 

Here are some of my favorite items in my TpT store:

If your kiddos are struggling with number sense, this pack would be a great help!  

These are story problems with double digit addition and subtraction as well as adding three numbers.  

This is a fun Economics Unit that would be a great unit to cover as we get close to the end of the year!  My kiddos LOVE these activities!  :)

This is my Easter April Activity Pack and I will be adding to it.  I'm almost done....it's been a busy week!  :)

Hope you get some spring cleaning done and empty your wishlists!  

Happy Easter!  :)