Look at me! I'm a Lego

I went into school today for the first times since saying goodbye for break. I tried to give myself all of June without doing school things--and I succeeded. Unless of course you count Pinterest...but I don't.

Well now it's July....well over a week into July and I feel like I've dropped the ball. I went in today and unboxed some things but really I wanted to execute this bulletin board idea I had in my head. :D

Introducing Lego Miss Cosby

I used the ceiling projector and varied images to create her. 

weird panorama

slightly less skewed view

If you'd like to have the letters and a writing freebie head over to my blog to check it out. (Right now the lettering only specifies 1st-5th grades--but you can still use "EVERYTHING IS AWESOME")

writing prompt to accompany bulletin board (also available in b&w)

I plan on completing the above writing prompt and coloring a large lego figure (included in packet) on the first day of school to complete my jazzy awesome bulletin board. 

click here to get your freebie!

November Writing & December Preview

I'm loving my November centers. The kiddos are liking them, too. Which is always a plus.

Here are two writing samples from my November Writing & Reading packet.

Yes, the secret ingredient is LOVE. lol

With some tweaks (definitely the time and temp) this could be good. Right?

And a preview of some Christmas crafts I've done (and will do again!) Click the picture to make it larger.

Hint...I kinda love gingerbread men....

This was my favorite bulletin board I've ever made!

The kiddos were so creative. I do show them an example and send a note home to talk about the different unique types of materials they can use. When they bring it back on Monday they do a quick show-and-tell and get a candy cane.

These smell cinnamony for years to come. Here is a link of one of the recipes I've used. It's trial and error sometimes. 

The type of paint I use for the ornaments.

Permission to Pin!
I have a few my craftivities from last year that I'll be sharing between now and December. (Teachers have to plan in advance!!)

*Insert witty title here...I'm too tired*

I've been in school for 13 days and I am so flippin' tired. I really thought about just posting a bunch of pictures and asking you to picture read them ;)

I didn't do the link up with pictures from my room because there is still so much I'd like to do. Especially after looking at all of those awesome photos. This was my welcoming bulletin board. I thought it was cute and funny if you get the reference. The tweet birds are from Digital Bakeshop and came in so many cool colors.

I need to preface this with saying I know I am not an artist but I love me some stick figures, lol. We took our first test in first grade this week (a math test for chapter 1) and I wanted to go over my expectations of a good test taker. Testing Timothy was born. We talked about good behaviors and choices we saw and now have an anchor chart to refer to.

Chapter 2 in math is Number Bonds. We learn about two numbers making a larger number. I had the kiddos make number bonds out of colored paper and I broke out the unifix cubes. This year I had magnetic ones for me to use to model composing and decomposing numbers. #PartPartWhole

"Show me two numbers that make a 7."
And when I'd call on the kids they were really using math language. I head "3 and 4 make 7." "1 plus  6 is 7."

A good kinesthetic activity.

Okay, that's all for now. I'm going to finish watching my DVR'ed Big Brother (what a stinkin' flip in the game!!)

Just Pinning It...

Happy Friday! Here is my weekly "Just Pinning It"

1. Anecdotal Note Taking
Clip a sheet of address labels to a clipboard and write notes throughout the day on the labels. At the end of the day add the label to a students anecdotal notes folder/index card/record etc. This is awesome because I reallllllly try to remember these things but never remember them all at the end of the day. You can date them or color code them and save them for their records or for parent conference. 

2. Bulletin Board Background
This year I was going to switch to fabric for a bulletin board of mine. Some of it is kinda costly. I saw this nifty pin about using a cheap flat bed sheet. I plan on making a trip to Walmart and scoping out the color selection!

3.Slap It! Word Game
Use Word Wall Words (or spelling or vocab words or dolch words or fry words). Have kids cut them out and put them on their desks. The teacher calls out a word and the first kiddo to slap it gets that word. Good word work practice.

4.Word Work Freebie (original pin)
These are "I can" cards for word work. Cute. Free. Printable
(original source found here)

5.Tagxedo
www.tagxedo.com

Similar to Wordle but way more options! I think it'd be neat to type in my class list and make one with my kiddos' names