January Writing Freebies

Here are some of my favorite January writing freebies #BlastFromThePast

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Another snowy freebie & a sale

image from What the Teacher Wants

I'm participating in the TpT Teachers are Heroes sale! Check out my store here

click here for your freebie 

Snow Day!

So I thought we were going to go alllll long winter without a snow day. We've had some two-hour delays because of ice or temps but today is my SECOND snow day in a row. I was actually surprised by both of them. I was completely expecting delays but I wasn't let down by having the time off.

I'm thankful to have a job where they do not want kids out in these temps or road conditions. I'm also thankful I get these little gifts, too!

Well last night I was laying in bed, banking on a 2hr delay, and I realized I wanted to do a writing about what the kiddos did on their snow day. I immediately went to Pinterest. I found some cute things but they were based on a book that I don't currently have! So I took this extra time off work to do------well------work! (I even worked on my Journeys packets yesterday)

So here's a Snow Day freebie from me to you!

click here to get your freebie

Read and Recall Update

Hey everyone! I hope you had a great holiday and if you're like me you're definitely enjoying your time off school. Yes I love and miss the kiddos and have seen some updates about them on FB but I've really enjoyed no alarms, comfy clothes, Netflix, organizing my home, and staying up late. The joys of winter break. :)

I've also decided to use this time to update some products and classroom activities I've updated my Read and Recall homework assignment from a few months ago. I've increased the complexity of the questions and I've covered different reading skill to better reflect what I'll be teaching in the second semester. The original is still there if you didn't get a chance to snag it. Oh and it's still FREE. I also plan on adding/updating some Journeys products so keep an eye out if you are also using the Journeys reading series.

Please leave feedback (what you like and what you'd like to see when I create more pages)

FEEL FREE TO PIN!

click here to download from TpT

Sunday Evening Chuckle

Thursday was my last day with the kiddos (field day got rained out?!!?!) and Friday was a teacher work day.

On Thursday I had time to squeeze in one more writing prompt. Here is a gem from one of my favorite kiddos. I will miss him so so much. Please enjoy :D

(I cannot find the source for this writing prompt, but if I do I'll update or if you know please leave a comment, thx)

Journal Template & 6-Traits

Hey everyone! Today (in real life, not blog life) I'm attending my first professional development of the summer. I'll be attending a 3hr pd for using iPads in the classroom for K-1. I really hope I learn some awesome things for my classroom. I only have one iPad right now so it'd be great to learn some new ways to integrate it into my teaching. I'll be sure to share how it goes.


But for today in blogland.....
You can find my journal writing post over at Teaching Blog Roundup today. Head on over to see how I use 6-Traits and to get a free journal template. :D

click here to go read it

End of the Year Craftivity

I know some of you might be out of school already (a teeny tiny bit jealous) but many of us have a few more weeks left. 8 school days for me but who's counting, right?

I'm looking for one final bulletin board craftivity to do with the kiddos. I absolutely love those old suitcases with the stickers of places traveled all over them. That inspired my writing craftivity.

My stickers aren't that great but you get the idea. You can resize them to make them bigger or smaller on your school copier so you can have just a few or TONS. Click on the image to check it out on TpT.

Sick Stories

Not sure about you but the sickness has hit my school. I really thought my class was holding strong....not so much.

Well, with all the coughing, sneezing, and sniffling going on I thought it was the perfect time to hunt through my Pinterest board to follow through on something I pinned months ago. I'm great at pinning but need some encouragement on following through.

I found the idea for 'Sick Stories' on Pinterest and when I followed the pin I landed on the blog "A Teeny Tiny Teacher" (who I was already following but not when this idea was blogged about!) Well, I loved her idea because the kids sure tell me about being sick but I wanted them to put it on paper.

I created a quickie writing template and I sent her a copy just to make sure it was okay to blog about this. (I didn't want to step on any toes and she was super nice about it and had no problems with it.) So, check out her post when you're done here, she has some cute examples.(The link above will take you right there!)

I had the kids freehand their heads and hair and we traced our own hands.

Here are how some of mine turned out...not everyone got to do one....you guessed it....someone was out sick!

I felt like I was going to throw up. I got to watch tv. And I got to sleep on the couch.

I had a really bad cold. I puked a lot. I didn't feel good.

I had strep. I was exhausted and sleepy.

There's a close up of the writing template.

Click this image to go to TpT and snag your freebie!

Letter Writing Freebie

Each December I teach the kiddos how to write a friendly letter. I really make it a big deal because we are going to send these to someone special. SANTA. I swear saying that word to first graders is like yelling "Look, Justin Beiber!" in a crowded mall, lol.

I have them remember the five parts by incorporating touch. 
Heading--Point to our our head
Greeting--Point to our mouth
Body--Point to our bellies
Closing--Snap our legs together like a soldier
Signature--Stick a foot out like you're pointing with your toe

After a few repetitions they start to pick it up.

You'll see in my Santa template page that it's not all about "I want". I encourage them to tell Santa about themselves, whether they've been naughty or nice, and to ask questions. Then, after that they can ask for three (or so) things that they'd like to have.

During morning meeting (calendar time) we add a question to Santa to our chart paper so they get an idea of what to write in their letter. (And it sneaks in teaching/reviewing asking sentences!)

The neatest thing is that once all the letters are 'mailed' I really bring them to the fifth grade teachers. The fifth grade teachers hype up the fifth graders and the fifth graders pretend to be elves and they write my kiddos back. So, about a week passes and I get a beautifully ornate envelope back from...SANTA!! The principal brings it in my classroom like it's urgent business. I read every letter to the firsties. (The fifth graders explain that Santa was busy so an elf wrote them back. They think of the cutest elf names)

Click here to get your freebie

Blogger Guilt

I've completley been a bad blogger. I just haven't had the energy or drive to type and post lately. I've been reading other blogs believe you me. I have a ton of turkey-pilgrim-election-Veterans Day ideas running through my head.

Last year we painted flags to decorate my window. I really like the sun shining through them and it was our first painting activity all year so they were psyched. I'll be doing this on Monday as part of my Veteran's Day lessons.

We talked about Stars and Stripes and what they meant and the number of each. They took artistic liberties, lol. Sorry, I don't have any closer pics. I just posted this one on FB last year to show my friends. This was BB (before blogging)

Thankful for soldiers :) A prime example of invented spelling.

Thankful for toys.

Thankful for food. (No idea what this is a picture of)

In other news:
I've read about Scentos on a dozen other blogs and was intrigued  jealous! I couldn't find them an--y--where! (not here or there, not anywhere!) I did find them online but I didn't really want to order them without trying them in person. Tonight I found them at Target. Who doesn't love walking through Target and stumbling upon things? They had these Christmas themed ones and they had a pack of traditional ones. I decided to give these a try. They were only $3 so I may be going to Target (or a different Target for more scents!) tomorrow.

To get out of my un-blogging funk I'm going to put my nose to the grindstone and work on my November math packet. I've started but it needs a lot more. What do your firsties need practice with this month? I'm also going to complete Set 3 of my math journal prompts. (If you'd like to check out Set 1 or Set 2 click to read about them)


I should also mention that one of my little sweeties said that she was thankful that we didn't have Hurricane Sandy here. I didn't even know if any of my kids knew what was going on on the east coast and then to hear her say that...
If you haven't checked out Erica Bohrer's Hurricane Unit, you should. She lives on the east coast and created this packet to raise money for the people that were effected by the hurricane. She's donating all the proceeds from the sales of this unit.

Currently

Farley is a blogging Rock Star.  I swear every month I wait with anticipation, like the tooth fairy or Easter bunny are on their way, waiting for the Currently!

Listening--> Watching ANTM...okay...Kristin is very pretty....but only on the outside.

Loving-->Teaching about the election. In first grade you get to be one of the first people to expose them to so many things. They're pretty much a blank slate. Love it! I have a committee meeting ALL day on Monday so we talked about it a little bit on Friday but I have some fun stuff lined up for Tuesday!

Thinking-->Speaking of election, lol. I think I'm going to put on 'day pants' (I'm totally in comfy yoga pants right now) and go to my early vote location.

Wanting-->A laundry fairy....know one?

Needing-->There are just a few things I'm not happy with. So, I acknowledge I shouldn't complain about them, I should change them.

Music-->Last month was Kidz Bop Halloween. I am loving this linky because other than seasonal music I play classical music on Pandora during quiet time or writing time. I'd like to see what others use.

Also, please check out, pin, download the preview (with a sorting/venn diagram/anchor chart type freebie included) of my November reading and writing activities.

I used Picasa to create this scattered collage...kinda love it. Click to enlarge.

click here to read my original post about my November packet

Click to go check out Farley's blog and the other awesome Currently posts