COOKIES, CURRENTLY and a COLD {bleh}

Happy Labor Day!

Hope everyone is enjoying their holiday.  Me...well, I'm stuck in bed with this terrible cold.  Congestion, runny nose, headache, sore throat....ugh...happens to me at the beginning of the school year ALL - THE - TIME.

Moving on...

I had a GREAT first week with my students!!  I have 20 kids this year...exactly 10 girls and 10 boys...how cool is that?  We spent A LOT of time last week doing relationship building activities and playing getting to know you games.  

I am working on getting the students to address each other by name when talking to each other.  According to one of my kiddos "Yeah, we aren't horse food so we shouldn't call each other Hey!"  (too funny).  We played a fun and simple game to practice each other's names.  All you need are some soft items to toss each other (we used small beanie babies).

Sit in a circle.
The teacher starts off the game by calling out a student's name and tossing the item to the student.
Then, that student calls out another student's name (preferably across the circle from them) and tosses the item to that student.
The game continues until the item makes it back to the teacher.
Now here's the fun part...play the game again (tossing to the same person) and after the fifth student has caught the item, the teacher starts another round by tossing a second item.  The items are tossed in the same order until both end up with the teacher. There will be two items being tossed so the students really have to pay attention!!

The students and I got so good at it, we were able to toss three items!!  Of course, when we were done, we made sure to thank each other by name.

In the midst of all the back to school craziness, I was able to whip up a batch of Very Hungry Caterpillar cookies for a friend's son's first birthday.  Unfortunately, they didn't make it in time for his birthday.  When I was looking into why they were late, I couldn't help but think there was a Very Hungry FedEx Man out there - HA! - but they did get there eventually and my friend ended up using them as Thank You's.

Okay...time to wrap up this loooong post with a Currently linky party by Farley at Oh Boy Fourth Grade.

 It's your turn now! 

Enjoy your holiday folks!!  Until next time!!

DE-STRESSING WITH MINNIE

We were finally able to get in to our classrooms this past Wednesday.  Woo-hoo!  So...I went to bed Tuesday night all gung-ho telling myself I was going to get up early and get in to my classroom as soon as they opened the doors (which was 7:00am).  Umm...yeah right!  Not only did I get there at 9:30, I didn't get anything done!  Oh, you know how it goes...you see your colleagues after three months and you just have to catch up!  I think I spent two hours just walking around and visiting.  Ha!

I went back on Thursday after attending a two hour training and got a little work done.  Yesterday was a little better but they kicked us all out asked us to leave at 3:00pm.  People!  Don't you understand there is just so much to do?  Anyway...having to leave at 3:00 really stressed me out!!  Our official day back to work is on the 16th and I wanted to get my classroom completely organized and decorated before then.  Aargh!!

Well...nothing I could do about it!  So, I went home and started on a cookie project (Yay!  My first post about cookies!)...a Minnie Mouse cookie bouquet for a first birthday party.  I don't know why, but decorating cookies is a real stress reliever for me.

Here's how everything turned out.

Minnie Mouse 

Close-up

H is for Hailey who is turning 1

Close-up of Hs, 1s and flowers

All done!

Arranging cookies into a bouquet is not easy.  I could use some lessons from a florist!

Well...thanks to "Minnie" I was able to de-stress.  I'll be back in my classroom on Monday and will share pictures as soon as it's all done!!

Until next time!

CURRENTLY {MY FIRST LINKY PARTY!}

I've been seeing a lot of these cute linky parties lately so I decided to try and join one.  Remember, new blogger here...hope I did it correctly!!

This is an August Currently Linky Party started by Farley at Oh Boy Fourth Grade.

Here it goes...

Now it's your turn!  Just click on the link above to get started!

Hope you have a great Sunday!! 

Until next time!

CRAFT DAY & BLOG BUTTON

Hi everyone!

Today was a great day!  My cousin ~who also happens to be a first grade teacher~ came by and we hung out pretty much all day.  It's always nice to have family around!!

We started the day off with lunch ~yummy fish tacos~ and then spent the rest of the day putting together birthday straws for her class.  She has a star theme in her classroom so we designed the tags and mounted them on stars that we cut on my Cricut machine.  They turned out SO CUTE!!  I am so jealous!!

My cousin is pretty computer savvy and is always up for a challenge.  When I told her I was having trouble trying to figure out how to create and add a blog button to my blog she was like "Let's do it!"  After a lot of trial and error we finally figured it out.  So...feel free to "Grab my button!"

Well, I hope all of you had a great day too!

Until next time!

QUOTES IN THE CLASSROOM

Hi all!

I just finished putting together the quotes I will be using in my classroom this year!!  I already have a set but I had to make a new one to match my new theme and color scheme.   (You know how that goes!!)

 The school I teach at is a Great Expectations model school.  You can learn about Great Expectations here.   One aspect of GE includes teaching and using quotes in the classroom.  I LOVE doing this with my kids!!

Every Monday, I introduce a quote to my students.  We read the quote together and then I talk to them about the person being quoted.  I ask the students what they think the quote means and then we spend a lot of time talking about situations in which the quote would be used or applied. 

In order to help the kids remember the quotes, we turn them in to call backs.  For example, the quote I always start the year with is "If we don't all row, the boat won't go."  This quote is great to teach at the beginning because it is all about teamwork!  So...what I do is I say the first part of the quote "If we don't all row" and the students respond with "the boat won't go."  It is amazing how quickly the students learn the quotes when you turn them in to call backs!

I put up the quotes as I teach them.  The kids LOVE to practice reading them when they are doing their Read Around the Room station.

You know the students are really learning these quotes when they use it in the classroom or when one of your little boys comes up to you and tells you how he used the quote "All things are difficult before they are easy." when his sister was having trouble learning how to ride her bike. (That sure put a smile on my face!)

Well...hope all of you have a good night!  

Until next time!

{SIMPLE} TREAT BAG

Hi everyone!

I spent the day putting together my Back to School treat bags and wanted to share them with you.

First off...I have to say that this is NOT my original idea.  I got the idea from one of my fellow teachers when I moved to Texas almost 12 years ago.  I think that teacher got it from another teacher and that teacher got it from another and well...you know how it goes.  I wish I could give credit to whoever came up with this idea because it is very simple...and cute!

I printed out two tags.  One with a cute little poem to go on the front of the bag.  The other tag explains what each item is for and goes inside the bag.

These go on the outside

These go in the inside

I bought almost everything at Walmart.  Here is what I used...

lunch bags

bookmarks

stickers

notepads

erasers

cute ribbon

Here's the bag all complete!  

Simple and cute!

If you'd like a copy of the tags I made, leave your email in a comment.  I am still new at this whole blogging thing and haven't figured out how to make documents downloadable (is that even a word?) straight from my posts.  I'll figure it out some day!

BACK TO SCHOOL FEVER

I have to admit it...I have BACK TO SCHOOL FEVER!!

I just can't seem to get school off my mind.  I'm thinking it must be because I've been spending a lot of time on Pinterest.  That site is sooo addicting and "pinspirational!"  I've also been spending lots of time reading teaching blogs.  There are so many awesome teachers with even more awesome ideas out there!!

One corner of my formal dining room is stacked high with things I've been collecting for my classroom.  I've been itching to move everything into my classroom and to start setting up but we just got word that we can't get into the school until the 8th.  BOO!!  

Well, since I can't do anything in my classroom yet, I guess I'll work on more back to school projects.  I'll be sure to post about them!

In the meantime...here are some projects I've already completed.

Binders and containers 

I made my teacher binder and guided reading binder.  Aren't the froggies so cute?  I purchased the graphics from Scrappin Doodles.  The yellow container is supposed to be my Box Tops container.  I just mod podged some scrapbook paper on to it and put a cute ribbon around it.  Can you tell what kind of container that is?  Well...it's a French Fried Onions container.  Umm...big FAIL!  I washed it but still get a whiff of onion every time I open it.  Let's just say making a new Box Tops container is on my to do list.  I'm not quite sure what I'll use the other container for...maybe brain break sticks.

"Hoppy" Birthday!

Here are some "Hoppy" Birthday straws that were inspired by a pin I saw on Pinterest.  I created my own labels and mounted them on flower shapes I cut out using my Cricut.

Well folks, I'm off to work on more projects.  Thanks for stopping by!

What kind of back to school projects are you working on? 

UP AND RUNNING!

Hello!  I am so excited to finally have this blog up and running!!  For a long time now, I have been wanting to share my ideas and experiences in teaching and cookie decorating - two of my absolute favorite things to do!!   Thank you so much for stopping by!