Inspiration Monday Linky

We all need inspiration. Having an Inspiration Monday Linky is perfect. I'm linking up with Dana from Fun in 1st Grade for her first linky party. 

This saying is close to my heart. I love it because it's true. I love my students, and they know it. 

Also, I'm part of an A.M.A.Z.I.N.G Giveaway. Ciera Harris of Adventures of Room 129 has reached 600 followers, and her number is steadily growing. Y'all, she has the cutest twins!! Go check it out. 

Reptiles-A Science Unit for Little Learners

Last week, we started studying reptiles. I went to our school library and checked out 19 books on reptiles to go along with the few books I have in my personal library. Most of the books were nonfiction. I introduced reptiles to my kiddos, and it was on from there! Once they saw all the real pictures in the nonfiction books, they were hooked. I couldn't have been happier with their reactions.

We started with a reptile chart that I traced using the cover of the unit I created. Somehow, my "turtle" looks more like an "alien". Thankfully, my kiddos didn't mind. :) We filled out the chart throughout the week as we learned more. We actually aren't done with it. We will finish it next week along with Read Across America activities. 

After the introduction of reptiles, I let my kiddos go with the books I borrowed from the library. They got to choose a reptile to create a report. After choosing their reptile and finding a book, off they went to get comfortable and read. I think this was my favorite part. Total engagement in reading. They read these books all throughout the week every chance they got. It makes my heart so happy. 

After reading their book on their chosen reptile, I had my kids go back and fill out their reptile fact page. I told them to think about what they thought was interesting. Things they would want a friend to know about their chosen reptile. 

Then it was time to transfer the facts onto a writing page, draw a picture of their reptile, and glue it to a piece of construction paper. I'm sad that I was out of the large green construction paper, so we had to improvise. That was a quick life lesson (use what you have and make it work).

A little funny piece added to a nonfiction unit...I made 3 funny journal prompts for this reptile unit. For one, we wrote about a reptile coming to dinner. I laughed and laughed and laughed when I read what they came up with. Let me tell you, first graders have great imaginations. They were all funny!

This is what this child wrote: 

A reptile came to dinner. It was a salamander. We ate chicken noodle soup. We played dominoes. The salamander slept with me. We ate waffles in the morning. Then we went to school. 

You can check this unit out on 

Teachers pay Teachers

or 

Teachers Notebook

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Oh Me Lucky Leprechaun

Bring on the Luck O' the Irish!! 

People, I rarely win anything. Yesterday, A Cupcake for the Teacher was giving away her newest craftivity-Catch a Leprechaun {a writing craftivity}. I left a blog comment, and I WON it!! Golly Gee!!! I can't wait to use it. 

Click on the picture to check it out. 

Valentine's Day

We all survived a crazy, busy, fun week!! Toot! Toot! After the Valentine's Day Party yesterday, I'm not at all ashamed to say that I was in bed at 8:00!!! 

We started our Valentine's Day off just like normal. Morning work, AR Tests, Reading (2 tests just like every Thursday), Recess, Intervention, then lunch. After lunch, we were all things cute, fun, and valentinesy (I made that work up..haha)

During math, we estimated, sorted, and graphed candy hearts. This activity came from the super talented Khrys from Keepin' It Kool in Kinderland. My little first graders still had the hardest time estimating. They were trying to peek through the back of the bag and count. 

 I was so very proud of their hard work. Maybe they were working hard because they knew they could eat the candy hearts when they had their work complete correctly, but I'll take it! :)

P.E. after math. 

PARTY after P.E. 

First, we ate. We had pizza, cheetos, a valentine snack cake, and a juice. Next, they opened all their goodies. They loved seeing everything they got. I personally think I got enough chocolate to last for a few months. Then, we played 'Don't Eat Pete (V-Day Style)' from The Teacher Wife. It was a HIT!! Oh my gracious! We will definitely have to play that again. I have pictures, but I would have to blur all of their faces out. It kind of defeats the purpose of posting it. Maybe one day I will send home a sheet and get permission to post photos. Last, we had to do the unthinkable and clean everything up. 

When it was time to go home, they got a BAG FULL of goodies to take with them. Some bags were busting because they were so full. I think we will need bigger bags next year. 

:)

Love Monsters

Don't children need the chance to be creative? The kind of creativity where the rules are limited. I think so. So often, we tell children what to do and how to do it. I let my kiddos make love monsters. The only rules were to make a body, arms, legs, and eyes. I didn't give any numbers for anything. Their creativity was shining. I love it!!! 

This is what their desks looked like. Many colors of construction paper. I made big piles of all different colors. They got to use what they wanted.

They had several options to punch out shapes if they chose to use them. I bought those cutters at Michaels. I bought them while they were on sale, plus I used the 15% teacher discount to score them for a great price. 

 This love monster looks like a jellyfish with three flower eyes. She has a little hairbow. My girly-girls are precious!

 Look at this love monster!! She's holding a toothbrush. We studied dental health last week!! :)

 Heart shaped love monster with heart eyes..way about her head. Too cute!

 This little fella must have great eye sight with all of those eyes!!!

They had the best time making these little monsters. 

On Monday, school dismissed at 11:30 due to all the rain we've had. There was so much rain that I had to move my car. There was about another inch or two, and the rain water would have flooded my car. After the tire issue and the rock busting my windshield, I didn't want to flooded, too! haha

Today, we finished making our Valentine bags. I can't wait to party on Thursday!!!!

:)

I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day! 

I am linking up with Farley from Oh' Boy 4th Grade for 

February's Currently. <3

Listening

The T.V. is always on, but I rarely actually watch it. 

Loving

Hip-Hip-Horray! Good-bye 3G! Hello 4G LTE! Out with the OLD DROID X!!! My poor old phone had a 15 second delay. I would start typing a text message, and it would show up 15 seconds later. It cut off all the time. Man, I hated it. When I went to get my new phone, I thought I wanted the IPhone 5. The salesman showed me the Samsung Galaxy S3. After 3 trips (yes 3--I'm very indecisive) 

to the store, I made my decision, and went with the Samsung Galaxy S3. 

Thinking

I love Valentine's Day. We started Valentine crafts today. There are so many to do, so we're starting early! All the pink makes me happy. 

Wanting

I go to sleep at night, but I wake up several times. I want to sleep for a good 8 hours straight. Or 9. Or 10. You know?

Needing

After my car incident over the weekend, I need to get my car fixed.

Pet Peeves

I despise to see people smacking or chewing with their mouth open. Gross!!!!!

Dawn :)

Did you enter?

Have you seen the giveaways for...

Irene from Learning with Mrs. Leeby and Kimberly Ann from Live, Laugh, I LOVE Kindergarten are both having a giveaway. 

 Click on the pictures to go enter both giveaways!!

Dawn :)

My weekend, a sale, and a giveaway

Oh my heavens at the weekend I've had!! What happens when you can't log on to Google Reader? Do you you have a ton of unread blog posts waiting on you? I do, and I want to read each one of them. Maybe I will get through most of them today.

Let's do a quick (I'll try to keep it quick. I tend to talk type too much) overview of my weekend. After school on Friday, my son had a school dance to attend that didn't end until 9:30. Since we live an hour away from our schools, my daughters and I stayed at a friend's house while our older children danced away. Her daughter was going to the dance, too. We ate. We talked. We were lazy! It was good quality friend time outside of the school walls. 

My friend's daughter and my son at their school dance.
They are both great looking, well-rounded children. She is
in 6th grade, and he is in 7th grade. 

On the hour long drive home, a metal piece got stuck in the side of my tire. Whatever it was scraped all the way around the tire. My poor car. I'm so sad and yet so thankful we weren't hurt. When it happened, I was slowing down at a red light. I thought my tire shredded. Nope...

I think it looks even worse than in the pictures. :(

My sweet husband left work and drove to us to change my tire. He's funny about me having to do that kind of stuff. We didn't get home until around 11:30. That's late for this ol' moma!

On Saturday morning, we had to drive back to where we work/go to school (an hour away) because my girls cheer for basketball every Saturday. We had to be there at 10:30 to take pictures then they cheered. Well, Nicholas' 13th birthday is tomorrow, so we went shopping to find the shoes he wants. He found some he liked that we bought. They were very bright yellow. That would be okay except they will get dirty very easily. After we left and got to looking around some more, he changed his mind. He didn't want those shoes anymore. I didn't know boys could change their minds like that. Haha. After going to about 4 or 5 more shoe stores, they didn't have anything he liked in his size. One pair he picked out only had ONE shoe in a size 11. That's a problem since he has TWO feet. So, he had a backup pair in mind. They didn't have an 11 at all. By this point, I could have screamed. It was time to leave the mall. We are going to buy them online. 

We ate at Buffalo Wild Wings for his birthday. It's what he wanted. I love wings, so I wasn't arguing! I think that was the best part of the day. Maybe it's because I like to eat. 

I wake up this morning to find out that I'm out.of.coffee. How does that happen?? No coffee? Can't have that. We ended up making a quick trip to the dollar store down the road. 

After all that, I just want to remain friends with the couch all day! :)

On a school note...We are going to start working on Valentine's Day stuff next week. I can't wait. I love Valentine's Day. There are so many crafts I want to get done. I think I'm going to use my CAMEO to cut out a bunch of hearts. 

We will be using the things from my Valentine's Fun Pack. We'll make some of the crafts I've seen on Pinterest.  

I have it in my TpT store. It's on sale today and tomorrow. 

So much for making it quick. Sorry folks. 

I will give my Valentine's Fun Pack away to one person who leaves their email address. I will pick a winner tonight before bedtime. 

:)