My Teacher is having a baby!

Now don’t get all excited. I am not having a baby.  But a teacher at my school is.  I sent an envelope around to my grade level, and this is what we did!!!!You can buy a lot of little sundresses for $80 bucks.  $80 bucks???? Now we are not rich…. we have a HUGE grade level (seven plus our librarian).
I purchased a laundry line at Walmart for $2.99 and used little alligator clips.  Clothes pins and I are not friends. Each of us signed a ray on the sun, and it was done! Cute simple and fun. She loved it.
The idea can be applied to any occasion really.  Once I did this for a bachelorette party. (We all brought in panties. It was very fun and blush worthy)
How darling would this be for a room mom to do for their child’s teacher?   Here are some simple letters that just need some easy info filled in.  Enjoy!

.99 cent heaven!

“Teacher, I can’t find my eraser.”

{Did you cringe just now?  Maybe you only rolled your eyes.}

Well people, I can’t take it anymore. I am sick of eraser drama, and I just purchased the solution!!! {cue angles singing} Those are giant 12 inch erasers people.  3 per pack for 99 cents.  I am doing a happy dance because THEY work.  They really erase!  It’s chancy when you buy from the 99 cent store.  But these work!!! Plus, they stand up in our pencil containers! No more digging for an eraser at the bottom of the box.  Heaven! I am in heaven! It’s Eraser Nirvana really….


What’s the deal with the number flags??? Well three things…

1. The flags keep them from rolling away {and getting lost}

2. It identifies the owner who left it on the floor during buddy work. {keeping it from being lost}

3. There is no confusion as to who is the owner.  {Stealing, swiping, or permanently borrowing is avoided… keeping me from losing my mind!}

Now, "aint nobody got time" for a first grader with a 12 inch eraser.  They would sword fight, whip each other, and God only know what. So I took a moment to cut them in half which worked out just fine! Now it's big but not silly! 

 There you have it.  99 cent heaven!

Are you ready for Monster Truck Mania ! ? !

Let me hear you scream !

Are you ready for a Monster Truck Rally?

Are you ready for a Demolition Derby???

Yes, my friends, that is how I started math this week.  My students have been losing their minds and begging to do math.  But get this... they are begging to do HOMEWORK! Can we do monster truck homework too !?!
So, what is all this excitement about? This unit! 

10 days of fabulous double digit addition practice. As you can see this unit is mixed with and without regrouping/ carrying.

Just in case you think your girls might not dig this… I give you “ladybug truck”. They get 2 minutes to decorate their truck before beginning. All pages come in full color seen above and black line master seen below.

The flag a SUPER helpful as math training wheels. They divide the ones and tens place, and provide a visual cue on where to carry. The flags are only provided at the beginning of the unit and must be written in by the child.

    

After 6 days of practice we move on to the “DEMOLITION DERBY”.

If you have never been to a derby it is really fun ( in a smash a beer with your forehead  kind of way) . But every summer my dad took me to a derby so I have fond memories. This is what a derby looks like. The last car standing wins money and hopefully avoids an ambulance ride.

In class I set up our board to look like this.   The kids are already deciding who they think will win!

The kids solve and circle if they regroup.  The car's side with the most regrouping wins and gets the “current winner” cup.  The losing car gets pulled off the whiteboard and put into the auto body shop.

     

This has my kids engaged, excited, and happy these last few weeks!

Cue the angels singing! Wait until I tell them that they get to design their own truck and make a HUGE Demolition Derby Bulletin Board!!! Their little eyes might pop out of their heads! You have to come back tomorrow to see the finished board!

 

Want to win one? First to comment wins and two rafflecopter winners as well.  You must be a follower to win.  If you are the first to comment, leave your email :0)

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Screaming in the bathroom & You heard it here {last}

I know you read on everyone’s blog, and now you have heard it here {last}. There is a BIG BIG BIG sale on the 7th and 8th.  Yippee.  You know I’m in, because I am always in. I appreciate you!



So load up on the goodies that you need to get through the end of the year… I still have 7 weeks of school.

seven

whole

weeks

wahhhhh

But we are having the blast these last 7 weeks.  I will be releasing a new item tomorrow. It’s math… It’s double digits, and my kids have been begging to do math. BEGGING!!!!!!!!!! It’s a perfect way to end your school year!

Here is a “Sneak Peek”! My boys are beyond thrilled and my girls {who love anything I put in front of them} are just going nuts for decorating their truck everyday! This is making daily double digits a delight! (alliteration… I can’t help myself)



Screaming in the bathroom was the highlight of today’s indoor all day- no recess due to rain- kind of day.  Oh yes, it rained for 10 whole minutes today, and so we were in ALL DAY.  In one of our whole class bathroom breaks my boys came running out, hands over ear,s and screaming.

Boys: [screaming] THERE IS A KID IN THE BATHROOM SCREAMING!

ME: [ elevated voice level ] STOP SCREAMING!

BOYS: [still hands over ears and screaming] “WE”RE NOT SCREAMING, HE’S SCREAMING]

ME: [plugging my own ears blowing whistle into vicinity of the boys bathroom] [ out marches the tiniest kid I have ever seen.  How he made that much noise, I don’t know.] 

STILL ME: Why are you screaming? Are you hurt?

KID: [with a big pleased smile] It’s really loud in the bathroom! It’s fun to scream. Then the other boys scream too. 

That my friends is life in first grade.  I could not punish him beyond a talking to. He was so proud of himself.  He got all the other boys to scream. What an accomplishment! This is a really cute kid. I am glad I am not his teacher, but a cute kid none the less.

Life is better with Friends the May Edition

This is for the birds! Common phrase, that sends chills down my spine. I am TERRIFIED of birds. Freaked.  This is because a student and I were attacked by a pair of emus and lived to tell about it. I know! Scary for me and horrifying for the second grader that got attacked right alongside me. It was a sneak attack.... we never saw it coming!

Do you see those cute little emus on the cover of those books??????? Yeah, real cute.... Here's what happened.  For years a petting zoo came to my old school without incident.  But one year in particular, a student and I were in the pen, petting goats, laughing, and having fun...

7 year old: "Let's go pet the big birds." (The Emus)

Me:  No way! Have you lost your mind little girl? Birds are unpredictable. You can't tell if they like you or want to peck out your eyes!  

Me: Sure {inner freak out and deep breathing}

7 year old: Let's hug the emus! My mom will take a picture!

Me: Crap Sure!

As I barely hug the emu, it looks at me intently and seems to love my jacket.  His head seems to bob and weave with my every move. Now, I am afraid of birds, so I was trying not to be paranoid.  I was pretty sure I was seeing things.  This bird is not checking out my rack? Right?

7 year old begins to laugh and shake her hair around. {The hair shaking is important.} She has her hair in about a million braids with bright colorful beads at the end of each braid. Both birds look at each other. Then they both look at us.  

That is when it happened!

They attacked us! 

My bird began pecking at the buttons on my jacket like he had a minute to win it.  Her bird went after the beads.  There was screaming, flapping, crying, wailing, and the little girl was even worse than me.

I don't really remember anything that after the  "Birds Gone Wild" incident. I think I remember the petting zoo people pulling the birds off of us, and I think I remember teaching math later that day. 

I am pretty sure the mom complained because that petting zoo never came back . Fine by me for sure!

Tell me I am not alone. Birds freak you out too... right????

You know after a story like that, I had to do something with birds!  We are doing life cycles right now. We are also reading the stories Butterfly and  The Surprise Family  so I cooked this up for our class tree. 

Click the picture below and watch something MAGICAL happen!!!!

This is a freebie, and it is waiting for you at TpT! Help yourself if you need a little somethin' somethin' to help you teach about the birds and the bees.... wait wrong lesson... birds, life cycles, and nouns. 

Life is so so so much better with friends! These friends to be exact! We are up too late (for our own goods) chatting and creating classroom materials to make your life easier.  This month's giveaway is fabulous! 

Click each pic, follow, and comment for a chance to win. Oh, and did you see those cute birds in the graphic?  We seem to have a bird theme with today's post. Let me tell you each of us has a "bird" story to share. Oh yes, that's right a bird story.... Don't we all have a bird story? This group of friends either loves them, are freaked by them, or have had an encounter worth reading about! Click a pick to head on over. 

 

 

I got my "Baby Fix" with my niece!

Bugging out! I am not a real fan of bugs either... but I have never been attacked by a ladybug, so I am OK... Here are our Compound Ladybugs. These are super fun, cute, and require no tracing! PTL I hate tracing.

I know the picture is upside down... I can't fix it :0(  But the project looks amazing hanging from a laundry line!

 The back is academic as well! You know I have to make my "art smart"  !

Link back up with Doodle Bugs by clicking her graphic below!

Insta… what?

 

Ok, people. I am in! I started instagram. I have no pictures to show you, but its going to be fun! Click the pic of the camera to go to my account. 

SPOILER WARNING!

There are no pictures there yet… I mean I could run around my house taking pictures of stuff or wait until I take take pictures that matter… like my bribery and corruption drawer, the messiest desk you have ever seen, and the PILE of art I need to hang for open house in a week.   You know you want to see that… so follow and you will.  The art will send a shudder down your spine… it’s a lot.

LOVE ya… click the camera, leave me a comment with your instagram and I will follow you back.

 

Link back up { here }

To read my post about these { click here }

Snuggle Bags

I love Open House once all the work is done and displayed.  But once it’s over and you take it down, how can you get all that work home?



I do these Snuggle Bags as a way of getting all those goodies home without them getting destroyed! My grocery store charged me 5 cents per bag, so it was $1.50 which is pretty good. I like free better, but I only get them for free when I wear a low cut top and ask the box boy.



These bags go home three times a year since I am a year round teacher, and they are a real highlight of the trimester.  I usually get a sweet card from a parent or two in response to the snuggle time they had with their child.  {As a side note- I do send home work daily, but 3 times a year I strip the walls to prepare for the incoming teacher.  So that is a lot to send home at once. As you can see, my classroom was in the process if being torn down at the time of this picture.}



Now, do you cringe at the idea of having to hand out a stack of papers and art?  Try this idea.  Circle them up. Like a big circle…. big…. with bags next to them or behind them.  Then start calling out names and tossing the art in the center of the circle.  I try to have my boys sit right and my girls sit left.  When I toss, I toss center left or center right.  It takes me almost NO time time to hand out a ton a of work. 


I feel like these snuggle bags really help connect my families to our classroom.  How do you help families and school come together? Or if you are not a teacher, what did your teachers do that was so memorable? I am always looking for ways to make deeper connections. 

The snuggle bag note is waiting for you on Google docs as a little freebie.  I hope you enjoy.

Now, speaking of things to make a deep and long lasting connection with, I have a love affair with Target. I go in to buy tape, leave with 15 bags of who knows what, and I am happy.  Do you feel the same way?  Sometimes I am not happy though when it hits me that I spent $275 when I went in to buy tape. Then the wave of guilt hits, and I plan to return "most" of it.  Does this ever happen to you??? The guilt too??? Are you addicted to the dollar bin as well? I'm not alone??? Thank God! 

Well, to help ease any guilt and keep the "Target Joy" coming My Hubby and I are giving away a Target card. Let the shopping begin! US Residents only - Rafflecoper joy. Ready Set Enter!

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Remember to enter the giveaway for the mystery box! The box is chock full of teacher goodies and comes with a digital file of our great units. The box is over $60 in value, and will arrive on your doorstep!!! How great is that? You have to live in the United States though.  I hope you win :0)

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