Mother's Day Bath Salts & More

1. Happy Mother's Day! This year we decided to honor our moms, or other special lady, with a spa themed gift. The craft seen here is from Fluttering Through First Grade. Isn't this just the most adorable craft you've ever seen? It makes me smile just looking at it!

We also made the coupon book that is included in the packet. Click on the link above and it will take you to the E-SPA-cially for Mom Craft Giftivity. Put it on your wish list for next year.

2. Next we made bath salts for our moms using Epsom Salt, baking soda, soap dye, and lavendar oil. I ordered the soap dye and lavendar oil from Amazon. The kiddos got to choose from one of three colors: peach, lilac, or sea foam green. The craft was fun, but making the salts was the best part! 

While the class worked on the craft, I call one child at a time to the teacher table to scoop and measure the dry ingredients. Then, he/she squeezed four drops of soap dye onto the mixture. I added a drop of lavendar oil and the kiddo stirred until the salts were mixed to his/her satisfaction. My room smelled great too!

3. Are you familar with this web site? If not, you should be. It's free to access many popular fiction and nonfiction books for your class. My student teacher used it in one of her lessons...that's how I learned about it. 

It's where I found this book for science class...

...which was perfect because we are incubating chicken eggs in the science lab and learning about the life cycle of a chicken.

4. I designed this life cycle craft using a paper plate, brad, construction paper, and a life cycle worksheet. I just free handed some wing tracers for the kids to trace on yellow construction paper. I die cut yellow circles for the head and orange hexagons for the beak. I used a paper cutter to cut strips of orange paper for the legs and I just free cut stacks of chicken feet with a large pair of scissors. It was the perfect craftivity for the kids during the last hour of the day after Super Kids Day (field day). I saw a similar style life cycle craft of a lady bug on the second grade hallway that inspired this craft. 

5. And, last...we've been learning how to be researchers. Can you believe the school library had this many grade appropriate books about dogs?

We started with a KWL chart.

Then the children worked in pairs to investigate the breed of dog that they wanted to learn more about. 

Finally, we decided to display what we learned on manila paper. This is my example. I forgot to take pics of the kids' work. 

And that's pretty much what we've been up to lately. 

Less than four weeks to go!!!!!!!

May Currently

We've made it to May! As school years go that's a VERY BIG DEAL. The only thing better than a May Currently is a June Currently :-)

If you have any great gift ideas for a student teacher, please share by leaving a comment below! She wants to teach first grade. 

If you've visited the Grand Canyon, I'd love to here your thoughts on that too. Any recommendations?

Liebster Award

An award? What?! Me? Fun!

Alexis over at Mrs. Hudgeons Hears a Who and Mrs. M at Color Me Kinder nominated me for The Liebster Award. The Liebster Award is an award given to new bloggers (less than 200 followers) who have amazing content to share and link up with other bloggers. 

Here are the questions I was given to answer as part of the award:

1. Why and how long ago did you start blogging?

I started blogging almost two years ago after I accepted a job at an elementary school. After ten years in middle school, I wanted to try something new. I thought blogging would be an excellent way to document my transition from sixth grade to first grade.

2. What one word sums up the heart of your blog and why?

Passion. I'm passionate and excited about what I do. I know my blog really only shows classroom highlights, not the stuff that happens that leaves me scratching my head in bewilderment. But when I look back on it years from now, I want to remember the good stuff! Plus, I like to read blogs that inspire, and that's my goal, to inspire other teachers. 

3. Is there something you learned late in your blog journey that you wish you knew before?

I didn't realize how time consuming it is to keep a blog going. I've done a better job keeping it updated this school year than last school year, but I still pretty much blog "on the fly." My goal for next year is to have a plan and some blogging goals. Fingers crossed. 

4. What is your favorite past time other than blogging?

If you take my children out of the equation, then my favorite past time is planning. Crazy right??? I am a Pinterest-aholic and I have an Amazon Wish List of professional development books like you wouldn't believe! I think I am meant to work in Curriculum & Instruction one day. I'd rather prepare than implement (#teacherproblems). The best thing about summer vacation (other than spending time with my family, sleeping late, and actual vacations) is PLANNING WITHOUT DEADLINES! Planning is so much more fun during the summer than during the school year. Thinking about re-organizing my Pinterest boards this summer makes me smile :-)

5. How many hours per week do you dedicate to your blog?

I have four children, so I don't actually dedicate or designate a certain amount of time to the blog. I just blog when I can. Maybe two or three hours a week. 

6. What category of blog posts do you enjoy the most?

Right now I'm into all things guided math, so I love to read posts about how other teachers implement guided math rotations or what they are using in math tubs. I also like it when teachers share cute craftivities. I just love to be inspired! Last year I was really interested in posts about Daily Five or Whole Brain Teaching. So it just depends on what I'm focused on at the moment.

7. Where does your blog inspiration come from?

My classroom. 

8. Which post that you have written are you most proud of?

Comments make me happy. I feel like if a teacher took the time to comment on a post, there must have been something useful in it! This post about Word Work only got one comment, but that one comment made me feel like the post was helpful for another teacher.

9. Is there a post you have been planning to do, but have been postponing for awhile?
I've been meaning to do a post on positive behavior intervention  and support for months but it just hasn't happened.

10. Which idea from a blog would you like to try for yourself?
Just about anything I see on Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits. Next year I'm going to try a calendar binder inspired by her Rise & Shine binder. You can a little about the binder in this post.

Here are my nominations!

Here are the rules for accepting:

1. In your post link to my blog through my button or a link as a shout out and follow my blog!

2. Answer the questions I answered above.

3. Nominate 5-11 blogs of your choice that have less than 200 followers.

4. Let your nominees know they have been nominated and provide them with a link to your post so they can accept!

5. Last, but not least, comment on my post with a link to your acceptance of the award!

Poetry Picnic, Word Surgery & More!

Dear week,

I am so glad you are over!

Thank you,

Mrs. Elvir

I'm so glad this past week is behind me. Me and my littles spent two days in the PE portable without desks or chairs or specials during state testing. The kiddos didn't seem to mind as much as I did ;-) We made it work, but I was happy to be back at the guided reading table on Thursday! Six weeks to go...

This week we worked on contractions, more poetry, more place value, and life cycles. We threw in some SHARK! activities and some Earth Day fun too. 

To celebrate the end of our poetry unit, we had a poetry picnic...errr...that's poetry writing stations disguised as a picnic just for fun. I covered each group of desks with some ancient gingham fabric that resembled picnic blankets. I made table center pieces out of plastic plates, plate stands, and large fruit cut-outs from Dollar Tree. I also created table cards that contained a short description and an example of the five types of poems we had learned about: rhymes, shape poems, tongue twisters, free verse, haiku, and acrostic poems. I put one card at each "picnic table." You can get them for FREE here.

"Robyn likes robot raccoons running from robot robins. Hunter likes hunting hyenas who have hundreds of pups."

The kids rotated to each picnic table and wrote a short poem in each style. Then, after all the rotations were complete, each child chose his/her favorite poem of the day to share with the class.  Actually, we ran out of time and will need to share on Monday.

I don't know about you guys, but I've been trying to get a little more creative with my classroom management techniques this week. I've got a few kiddos with summer-itis for sure! So, I busted out the 3D movie glasses. You know the ones that usually get recycled? I always keep them. I've collected a class set of glasses (between the 3D glasses and birthday party goodie bag glasses). Anyway, my student teacher passed out the "serious worker" glasses to kiddos who were working calmly and quietly and "seriously" on Thursday morning when we got stuck in 5th gear with our engines revved up.  Worked liked a charm :-) 

We read up on sharks and made a shark acrostic poem from Amy Lemons. I haven't met a first grader yet that isn't intrigued by sharks. And the kids did a great job working cooperatively. 

We made doctor lab coats out of white chart paper and them performed surgery on some words. I checked my charts and read my findings to the class. Some of the letters were sick and needed to be amputated. So the kids performed surgery to remove the sick letter/letters and then bandaged the word up with a band-aid. Good as new - minus a letter or two. 

Today was Fat Friday. About once per month a grade level(s) get together to decorate the teacher's lounge and host a lunch for the staff. This one gets the "most creative" Fat Friday of the Year Award for sure! It was prom themed and teachers brought their old prom pics and dresses for our viewing pleasure :-)

This one was my fave! I believe the owner said it was from 1985.

Every teacher got a "yearbook photo" and a superlative like "Most likely..." or "Best..." Do high schools still do that? My picture said "Most Energetic!" 

I guess all grade levels are going to need to step up their game next year for Fat Fridays. I can't wait to see who tops this!

Just reading about some of the stuff we accomplished this week makes me tired again! Thanks goodness it's Friday.

Don't forget to link up. I'd love to "see" what you were up to this week.

Surviving Until Summer!!!

Happy Friday! This week I'm combining the Surviving until Summer and Five Three for Friday linky parties. I'm short on my Five for Friday because of my horrible picture taking skills.

It's THAT time of year. The time of year when a teacher has to work extra, extra hard to keep students engaged (i.e. to keep them from going craaaazy). We've got a case of  the Talking-More-Focusing-Less-Not-Following-Directions-As-Quickly-Volume-Of-A-Rock-Concert-Blues in first grade. Here are a few things I'm tried out this week to get us through to summer!

This week I flipped our schedule to create some novelty. For the first 140+ days of school we followed this basic schedule:

Reading

Recess

Lunch

Math

Specials

Science/Social Studies

So this week, we did it all in reverse to add a little novelty:

Science/Social Studies

Math

Recess

Lunch

Reading Part 1

Specials

Reading Part 2

The kids think math in the morning is great and so do I. But I figured out that I like any subject in the morning better, because I do NOT prefer reading in the afternoon. I think school should be 8-12. Ha!

This is my second year in first grade, so my math class as been ever evolving. I'm still trying to find a "style" I like. My district got a new math curriculum this year. It is comprised of three main parts:

Short Interactive Video for Whole Group Time

Workbook for Guided Practice, Independent Practice, and Problem Solving

Math Games for extension

Anyway, I've been saying over and over, "I just think this would work so much better IF I interwined this curriculum with guided math and math tub rotations. I think I'll do that next year." On Wednesday I decided not to wait. After all, I've got twenty little scientists/mathemeticians ready and willing to try something new. They were very happy to be part of an "experiment" to see if they liked math this new way:

Short Interactive Video for Whole Group

Five rotations: teacher table, math journal, and three tubs with related games/activities

For now we are working on the workbook at the teacher table instead of as a large group. I like it more. The kids like it more. It's a win-win!

I busted out some "old" math tub games. These have Christmas lights on them, but it saved me some prep time (and sanity). These come from Reagan Tunstall's Big Bundle of Math Centers.

And, I found these old overhead projector place value tens and ones. Recently we've worked with Base Ten blocks A LOT, so this was a change. And the kids thought these flat, neon manipulatives were cool colors. Remember overhead projectors??? 

That's how I survived this week at school. Seven more weeks to go!

Poetry Smoetry

We are smack in the middle of a three week poetry unit. Poetry is sooo much fun in first grade! Here's a peek of a few of the things we've been up to recently.

My student teacher planned a fun lesson on alliteration. She started with an anchor chart that included the defintion of alliteration and some examples. Then, the boys and girls brainstormed words to go with their names on a chart of examples of alliteration. Next, the kiddos tried to expand on their line from the chart to create a silly tongue twister craft.

When we worked on haiku, the class voted on the subject. I have a student who absolutely ADORES his pet hamster and his admiration for the animal has spread to the entire class. Hamster won the vote! We brainstormed describing words and sorted them by number of syllables to help us stick to the 5-7-5 pattern of a haiku. Then we used heart tracers to create a hamster craft to go with our poems. 

When it was time to learn about using our five senses to create imagery in our poems, my student teacher planned a lesson around the Robert Frost poem Stopping By the Woods on a Snowy Evening. Where we live in Texas it NEVER, I mean NEV.ER snows. So the kids could have a sensory experience, my student teacher ordered Inst-Snow Powder from Amazon. This stuff is amazing!!! It would also be great for a winter weather unit, Antarctica unit, and more. 

The next day we tried to use my daughters' toy food to inspire writing with our five senses. Each student chose a food to write about. One of my most reluctant writers compared his mushroom with an umbrella. That's progress, people! 

You can find these ideas and more on my poetry Pinterest board. 

Another Humpday Highlight in the books. 'til next time ;-)