Some (much needed) Goals for the Year

Jul 31, 2013


School is coming up quickly.  Spent some time this morning going through the calendar to make sure I have daycare in "the know" of when the girls will start back, that I have a sitter for some upcoming PD, etc. etc.  I came to realize...I have very few "fun" days left with my girls.  It is time to head back in and get organized!  So I sat down to write a blog post about math and all the great posts I am reading about math and the materials I have made for my groups this year.  But realized...this post will need to happen on a different day.  Today I need to focus on my goals.  I'm linkin' up with  I {heart} Recess



Personal: A few posts back I explained that I have been working out with Gabbyand Laird.com.  There are 90 free workouts on their website (his and her versions).  So I have been doing this with my Ben (husband).  We completed workout 21 today.  To be honest...I am NOT a workout girl.  I never ever ever have been.  I don't like to sweat, or be in any type of pain.  But for some reason this workout is working for me.  I really want to stick with it.  I actually feel....good.

Organization:   My goal is to keep up with the housework throughout the week, instead of putting everything off until Saturday.  It really doesn't make for a fun weekend.

Planning: I want to make sure my planning really matches the instructional level of my students.  This may sound silly because....of course it should!!!  But I can sometimes get ahead of myself.  I want to make sure that the sight words I am teaching really match what they don't know yet and the story problems challenge them in just the right way.  I have created some assessments this summer that I think will help me meet this goal.

Professional: Every year I have a focus.  One year it was phonemic awareness, another year it was phonics taught through interactive Powerpoints.  But this year....it is math groups and number sense.  I really want to work on that this year!!

Students: This goal is typically always the same for me.  I want our firsties to just love to come to school.  I want them to know they are loved and I want them to WANT to learn.  I do my best to help them feel this way.

Motto: "Be Kind to Yourself"  I find it very hard to balance everything in life.  Two girls, full time teacher, wife, sister, daughter, friend, exercise partner, blogger, TPT seller, maid, cook, and more.  I find myself getting upset because I don't feel I am giving enough of myself to someone or something.  My Ben always reminds me to be kind to myself.  So I think that is a good motto for me.

What are your goals?

Monday FREEBIES!

Jul 28, 2013

Excited to be linking up with a FREEBIE today!  I sure do love a good deal :)


 So I have found that I have become just A LOT obsessed with Donna Boucher from math coach's corner!  After reading, reading, and reading her new posts, old posts, and in between posts, I have realized how much MORE I need to do with our firsties in math.  Natalie and I have decided to spend about 2 weeks this year just building our hundreds chart with our firsties to really help build that number sense.  Anyways...all of my reading has led me to this FREEBIE!  It is a Number of the Day math sheet.  Students have to find the number, make/color the number, circle the number with tens frames, make equations for the number, and more!!  Just click on the image to grab a copy.  I included an example page in the freebie.
There are many more math posts to come...here is a little sneak peek (based on some more Math Coach suggestions).

hhmmmm.....what could they be up to?

BTW...just found this Facebook page.  Filled with freebies...if you need some more :)



Paper, Meet-Up, App, and some Random!

I am feeling that this post is pretty random.  So why not link up....right!?


I wanted to share with everyone that I drove up to Toledo, Ohio (first timer there) for an Ohio Blogger meet-up!  It's about 3 hours from Cincy.  So my little family made it a fun day trip.



I was so lucky to meet all of these wonderful ladies! We enjoyed a nice lunch, good conversation, and shared some great teaching tips! (thanks to Kate for the picture).  We'll start from the left:
Alyce from Mrs. Bartel's School Family
Me :)
Julie from First Grade Critter Cafe (thanks for setting this up!)
Jessica from Tales of a Teacherista
Kate from EduKate and Inspire
Brittany from The SuperHERO Teacher

It was a week of "meet-ups" for me.  I got to hang out with my Curious Firsties gang this week too (except Karen, who was at the beach!!)  I did not get a group shot of my teaching pals.  But we got some cute pics of our girls all dressed up!

Natalie and I got together the next morning and started planning our year of math.  And I have to say...WOW!  That will have to be a whole other post.

Nothing to do with school... yet. :)

Jul 27, 2013

I know every teacher is feeling how I'm feeling right  now.  Like... the walls are closing in around us and it's getting harder and harder to breathe.  Well.... for the last week I've been having A LOT of girl time!!! My Mr. E. has been working nights this past week, so I've been in charge of our girls ALL.DAY.LONG!  Barely a break.  Unless you call nap/rest time a break when I'm in their room about 5 times before they actually fall asleep because someone needs to go potty, needs another kiss, or just "needs me".  Sometimes I just say, "What does that mean?"  Does anyone know what that means??????
Anyhoo.... I thought I'd overload you with pictures of our week.  :) 

Trying on sunglasses at Gabe's! Em's favorite store!!!!

Not afraid to bribe with Icee's to get my shopping done at Sam's! :)

Playground fun!

Choosing our prizes at the library! (This took like.... FOREVER!)

Yummy UDF!!!!  Vanilla, Zebra, and Paintball (which tasted like cake batter....weird!) Of course, I had my favorite... PEACH! mmmm.......

The Zoo with our cousin!

Cheetah Run!  So AWESOME!  These cheetahs are so majestic.  Now I know why my oldest wants to be nothing but a Cheetah keeper.  :)

Our oldest was chosen to try to jump as high as a serval. 

Mustaches and America's Got Talent catch up.  :)  I mean.. what do you do on your Friday night? 



Sorry about the no shirt.  I don't know what to say about these girls.  hahaha
 
Anyway... that's our week.  Girls, girls, and more girls. 

200 Follower Giveaway Winners!

Jul 26, 2013


Our giveaway has come to an end!  Thank you to everyone that participated.  We are so excited to announce 14 winners!! Wow!!

And here are our winners:
Cherie O.
Jenny R.
Jay P.
Cheryl M.
Wendy M.
Lori A.
Kelly A.
Kelly B.
Susan F.
Kristi H.
Crystal S.
Cindy C.
Rachael W.
Doreen B.
Each person won a piece of this giveaway!! All the emails have been sent out so be on the look-out for your winnings!!

We can't thank all of our bloggy friends enough for their support and all of their donations.  It is a great community to be a part of!


Letters, Words, and Sentences....Oh My!

Jul 24, 2013


Last year we found that our firsties really needed to practice the difference between a letter, word, and sentence.  Some of them just did not quite know the difference.  So I made up a Powerpoint to help them along and after a little bit of good (Maria) teaching, they had it!  I was looking back at that Powerpoint (almost a year later now) and realized...oh my!...it is ugly.  So I spruced it up and...voila!



So...of course...that led to more.  I decided a sort would go so well with this Powerpoint.  I created a letter, word, and sentence sort to correspond to this Powerpoint (or could be used alone).
 I am super excited about the way that both of these products look.  I can't wait to see them in action. If you would like them, just click on the images above.  BUT...I will give them to the first two people that comment on this post.

Oh!  And don't forget our 14 winner giveaway ends tomorrow night!!! Click below if you have not entered yet.


My Favorite (Math) Pins Friday (Saturday)

Jul 20, 2013


Just here to do a little linking up with First Grade Parade.  But before I do that...just a reminder about our 200 follower giveaway.  Click here to enter!
 Now on to the linky-pinning party!
I was all about the math pins this week.  Here are a few that I would like to do some more reading about and then of course...trying out!

This comes from the Math Coach's Corner.  I read her whole post about decomposing numbers.  Oh my!  Natalie and I have been texting away about this.  We  really want to order some of her packets to help us with this!

And another one from the Math Coach!  I don't know what to say. I am becoming obsessed with reading her blog.  I have a lot to learn.


Mrs. Jones's Kindergarten blog showed how to make shapes out of yarn.  What a cool way to do some team building at the beginning of first grade!  Right!
Then Mrs. Lee's Kindergarten blog showed this table.  Natalie and I do math groups.  We thought this would be a great way to reinforce skills.  We could use shapes, fractions, equations, or other symbols at the table spots.
Does anyone else have any good math pins to share with me!?


FREEBIES To Get You Started!

Jul 18, 2013



I am on a calendar roll today! I don't know why.  There are so many other things to do...make curtains, organize photo albums, professional reading.  But what am I doing instead? Making calendars and binder dividers for the year.  I just thought I would pass them along.  And let you know that TOMORROW is our BIG  HUGE  GINORMOUS 200 follower giveaway.  We will have 14 different rafflecopters of goodies!

Anyways...here are my "makings" today.  Click on them to grab them, if you would like :)

Two different calendars.  Both start on Monday and go til July 2014.


These are sheets to go in your teacher binder.  If you want them to say something different, just email me.


Hope these help to get your year started with some color!