There's no one like Mom

Although I haven't blogged lately (not sure if anyone's out there!!), our classroom has been ablaze with activity! We reviewed, tested, and conquered! I'm so proud of my little ones, they worked very hard and so now the FUN begins! We are going to wrap up the year with our unit on Australia, sprinkled with other activities. Our most recent art adventure was our present to our moms for Mother's Day. It took me awhile to figure out what kind of project we were going to do, so I piggy-backed off our Earth Day theme. My kids were really into reusing every-day items for other purposes, so we collected water bottles to use as flower vases. Then I thought we could actually make our own flowers, rather than buying them, so I played around with some tissue paper until I found an easy way for firsties to make roses. They LOVED making their flowers for their moms. It took a couple of sit-downs to finish, but we looked at it like a knitting project, or puzzle that takes time to complete. They were so meticulous with their design, it was endearing to watch! We put them on some pipe cleaners, and decorated our bottles with glitter glue (not a lot would stick on the plastic). I put beans at the bottom to weigh down the bottle, and they actually looked like little rocks! We then wrote a letter to our moms expressing how much they mean to us. I think their moms will be very happy and will keep these reused gems forever!

Books, Books, Books!

Since the first day of first grade, my students have known reading is muy importante!! They have to read everything they get their hands on; books, signs, notes, cereal boxes, anything! To honor said focus, this week we became Book Reviewers! As a class we discussed why we should review books. We came up with several reasons, but the most important was to help other first graders choose books they would probably like. My kiddos are just too smart :) The end result was fabulous! I hung them in our library so that students could read about books their peers reviwqa (all of them gave stellar reviews). Any way to motivate these little ones to read is extremely valuable! It's been a great week, but I'm looking forward to catch up on some house cleaning this weekend... not. However, I am excited for next week! We will be working on everything Earth Day! One of my favorite units, yay!

Honeymoonin'

We just got back from our trip to Mexico and it was a-ma-zing! We had SUCH a wonderful time relaxing by the beach/pool, and it was delightful to sit and do absolutely nothing all day! Although, Mr. E and I did take quite a liking to the Hunger Games books and pretty much sat in silence as we devoured them (romantic eh?). Needless to say, it was a fabulous time.

As we finished up our Moon Study in class, I told my kiddies to look at the moon over the break. We then discussed how we would all be looking at the same moon and we would somehow be connected while we were away. I tried taking a picture of the moon to show them, but to no avail. It was beautiful, however, a perfectly visible waxing gibbous. On the plane ride home, it was simply stunning as we were flying the red eye home. It did make me feel closer to my firsties, as I hoped they were looking at the same image wherever they were. What a great honeyMOON!!!

P.S. Here's a great Moon Study Kit by Babbling Abby. I wish I would've discovered this earlier! Too fun!

Welcome to the jungle!

This week we have been studying animals/non-fiction literature. Therefore, students did a report on an animal of their choice. They turned out amazing! I'm so proud of their hard work; their reports are wonderful! We started with a brainstorm KWL graph (what I know, what I want to know, what I learned), then composed a first draft with a topic sentence, and finally wrote our report after a self-edit, peer-edit, teacher-edit. In other words, it was a great week for writing! Off to eat pizza and watch 30 Rock with the hubby. T.G.I.F!

New to Blog Town!

I've finally jumped on the Blog Wagon! I've been pouring over teaching blogs/Pinterest, and decided I wanted to do it for myself. Where to begin... well, I absolutely LOVE teaching! I live, breath, eat, drink.. you get the picture. I currently teach first grade, and truly adore what I do. My kiddos are the reason I get out of bed in the morning, and I am blessed to teach at the school I do. I just got married (YEAH!) to thee single most amazing man on this planet. I couldn't have asked for a better husband; he is my soul mate! He is so supportive of my job, another hubby-quality I love. At least once a week he is helping me glue together projects, cut out shapes, color, set up science experiments, etc. I fully take advantage when he actually comes into my classroom! "Can you fix this blind?", "Oh, that shelf is a bit wobbly", "Can you hang these windmills?". Basically he is the ultimate handy man, and a behind-the-scenes necessity for my classroom.

I also work with the most amazing team! They are my home away from home, and I've learned so much from them. I can't wait to share their ideas along with some of my own :). Off to bed! It's the Friday before Spring Break, and I'm so excited for our honeymoon to Mexico, but I will miss my Firstie babies!

-Mrs. T