Guided Reading

I need your help! Can you suggest some books that are good for 3rd grade reading groups/ guided reading? Our school raised some money for a leveled library and I am drawing a blank on what I want! Please comment with your suggestions!

I will be back later with how we are integrating technology with these books!

Sale

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I even hope you were able to find some great black Friday deals. I did! I wanted to let you know that you can visit my store Monday and Tuesday on Teachers Pay Teachers for the big sale! My store link is here!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you all are enjoying this fun time right before Thanksgiving and before the craziness of the holidays start. Today I wanted to share with you what we are now doing for homework. All of my kids are taking their ipads home now and I think that it makes sense to have them use them for school while they are there. I came up with a new homework idea. Each night there will be a spelling and math app assigned then the parents have to sign that it was completed. Here is an example:

I think it should go over well with the students and I hope it will go well with the parents too!

I also just listed a Colorado Freebie to go with my Colorado unit. You can get that here: Landform 
Powerpoint. Happy Thanksgiving!

Elections

As I sit here and watch the debate I thought it would be fun to talk about teaching about the election. I really have enjoyed educating my students about this important current event. It really has been fun to have discussions with my students about this. I even remember way back to the Clinton/ Bush election when I was their age and I loved the school wide election we did. Now one of our standards is civics and government so I have been doing a bunch of teaching about this subject as I mentioned in my last post.  Here are some resources for you about the election:

Scholastic

School House Rock Electoral College

If you have a Discovery Education membership they have a wonderful series about the election. Just search election 2012.

I am currently building voting booths in my room for our class election then for our mock presidential election. I did create a few fun election day or election week activities and you can find those here.

What are you doing to teach about the election? Do you have some great sites to share? Please comment below!

Government

I have been gone for a while! I have been super busy and tired since the babies are coming! One of the things I have been working on is this new unit! It is in my tpt store and integrates all sorts of technology! Please check it out here!

itunes U

This year the majority of my courses are on iTunes U. I really like the program but it is a bunch of work.  My teammate and I share the responsibility and both plan different subject areas. I do reading and social studies.

If you are interested in seeing what we are doing you can check out my courses. You will need itunes U in order to open it. It will open on an iPad, iPod, or iPhone (if you have the iphone 5 I am jealous!)

Reading
Social Studies

If you have any questions about using this at your school or would like more info let me know!

Lets Talk About iCloud

So my computer crashed and I lost everything!!!!!!!! (If you wanted my freebie sorry its gone!) I  was optimistic enough that I thought macs didn't crash. THEY DO!!!! I am cranky about it! I don't back up stuff. I know that I should but I don't. Now they have this great thing called icloud. If you haven't synced to the cloud you should. I put like five things on the cloud and guess what they are still there! GET THE CLOUD and back up. My sad sad lesson learned!

I will rise above and I will give away freebies again soon. I might even remake the other one. Other projects I was working and mentioned are you guessed it ....gone! I am currently working on a government unit. Yup government exciting stuff! If you have a fun idea about teaching government I would love to hear it! Comment below we will be working on it until the election.

Happy Sunday!

In between my pinterest addiction and watching football I thought I should check in! I am working on a prefix and suffix chart for my classroom and my teammates classroom. I will be putting it on tpt soon but I haven't given anything away in awhile so I thought I would offer it up. If you are interested in a freebie comment below with your email! I will give it out all week. The one pictured is my teammates and I made a football one for me. If you would rather have the football one let me know.

Happy New School Year!

I hope you are enjoying your new class as much as I do! I love, love, love my 3rd graders. I have 24 of them which knock on wood is my smallest class in the last five years. We are doing exciting things this year and I am really enjoying the technology once again. I will share more with you soon about what we are doing with itunes u because it is really cool. But I thought I would get back with you all because I have been gone forever! I AM ALIVE AND WELL!

I went out of town the end of July and beginning of August it lasted for 20 days. Then the very next day school started. I got wrapped into the crazy beginning of school stuff that I know you all understand. Plus I am pregnant with twins! BIG exciting news! To be honest when I get home from school and have time to sit and blog I usually fall asleep or puke and sometimes both!

Now some tech talk. I have got a few emails about where to find quality apps. I research my apps it takes forever. I download lite versions, play them and read reviews. Its pretty time consuming but I know I end up with quality apps that I like and are good for my classroom. You can check out my app lists in other posts or even more in depth on TpT. If you want help I can standard map and do more and we can work something out. However I know lots of you just want some foundations. Well turn to the ever amazing Pinterest! There are some great list of educational apps out there. Search ipads in the classroom or educational apps. There are great lists on there with quality apps.

A new fun app for your classroom or fun depending on how you want to use it. Its ifunface! It is $.99 and you can have kids create reports, read self works, find a historical picture and report its biography. Just some ideas for you. I recommend it! Plus if you aren't sure there is a lite version!

So I am back! I promise to be better they say that 2nd trimester is way easier!

New Blog Name!

Hi all! I hope summer is going well and I still hope to have you sweet followers as I move on up! I finally changed my blog name since I won't be in first anymore! I will have the same layout and features as before! I hope to continue to collaborate and learn from you all and I hope you will be able to find me still!!! If you know some teachers that might be interested in a little bit of an older grade blog send them over!  Most importantly its still me just with a new name!

Get ready for some football!

Happy 4th of July! I hope you are doing something fun today and get to see a bunch of fireworks. Due to the current conditions in Colorado we will not be enjoying fireworks. I did download a firework app though!

I have started work on my classroom like I mentioned in an earlier post. I am so thrilled with it! Check out my football mega pack here! I got some more done in my classroom too!

Now I am working on some more classroom signs to go with the theme! Here is a snapshot of the latest project.

Let me know what you think of these new items! Enjoy the holiday and your summer!

A New Seller!

One of my good friends just started selling on TpT!!! I am so excited she is going to be sharing her great ideas with others. She has experience teaching 2nd and 3rd grade but now she will be an elementary tech teacher. She just received her masters degree in tech ed! Check out her free item and she will be uploading more great things throughout the summer! View her store here!

Football Freebie!

Hello bloggy friends! I know I have been quiet for awhile (its summer) however I am back today with a freebie! I am working on changing my room theme to Denver Broncos. I will be using Whole Brain Teaching in my class again this year. If you don't know about Whole Brain Teaching you should check it out this summer. You can find information about it here. Anyways I had to make my rules match my theme and I didn't feel like I could charge for it since its not my own program. So if you want to check it out you can download it here! Let me know what you think! I am currently working on getting the theme underway and I will have the whole classroom set available soon.

I even went in today and started decorating my classroom. I found some great football stuff in the party section at dollar tree and I feel like it was the best deal ever! Here is a picture of what I started today! I didn't get much done but hey its summer!

I will be back soon with more football pictures! 

If you are interested in items for a Smart Cookie classroom theme let me know I have a bunch and we could work out a deal! I even have t-shirts and pencils to go with it!

Also I was wondering if there is away to change my blogs name with out having to start from scratch! I don't want to lose my content and followers! Is there a way? Let me know!!! PLEASE! 

Happy Summer!

Summer Summer Summer Time

I hope that you all are in your last few days or already on break. I have been on break for a few weeks now and I am enjoying it. I have worked on my golf game and spent time with my mom. It always amazes me how busy the summer can be. I have been doing some school related things as well. I am moving grades as I mentioned before and I will be changing themes. My new theme you ask? FOOTBALL with blue and orange accents.  I am working on that for my classroom and will have it up to TpT soon.

How are your summers? What are you working on?

PLEASE Vote

Its the last week of school! I am counting down the days! It really has been a great year and I am looking forward to next year even more.  Through this little blog, that I started in the end of January, I have had the chance to get to know some great teacher and collaborate on wonderful ideas. 

I am super excited about my nomination for Most Interesting Blog in the Elementary Teacher Category. Please vote by clicking on the vote for me button on the side bar! Tell your friends too! If they haven't joined I would love to have them as a follower! 

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Vote for me! ------>

Great FREE technology!!!

We can all feel it when spring is in the air. Our kiddos sure do! Well I have a technology based solution for spring fever! Its called Class Dojo! This is a completely free technology based management system and its easy too! Now I love my WTB but this seems to completely motivate the kiddos in the tricky last days.

Its easy to get started login to www.classdojo.com. Then it takes you through the simple steps to set up your classroom. It took me about 5 minutes to get it set up. Each kid gets an avatar and then they receive points or they can lose them. They LOVE it. My principal talks about how society is shifting to a gamer mindset. I totally see that in how the students react to this.


The kids love it and are so receptive. They love the ding and are rewarded by this instead of something tangible. It took very little time to get my class on board! I recommend it!

Now for a really cool app:

Apps Gone Free is a FREE app that tells you daily apps that are temporarily free. Its simple, easy, free and it gives you access to more free! My teammate recommended it and I have downloaded a bunch of great free stuff!

I hope you find these tech tips handy! I sure have! 

Please vote!

I was nominated for the most interesting blog award! Please vote for my blog through the button on my side bar. Send your friends over to vote to! Voting starts 5/14 and ends 5/21! Thank you!

SALE!!!

I wanted to let you know I am having a big sale in my Teachers Pay Teachers store. I am doing it along with lots of other great teachers for the teacher appreciation sale. You can get 28% off in my store if you use the promo code! Check out my store here! 

Happy Teacher Appreciation! I appreciate all of you bloggy friends! 

Drum roll please...

Wow! I have two weeks left and I have five weeks left of things to do! Plus I am going to be busy this summer. We were approved to develop our courses through itunesU. Pretty soon you will be able to search and download my lessons. But for now we are learning the ropes before we make them public. I can also author through ibooks! Such a cool thing to be apart of and I will do it all in a THIRD GRADE CLASSROOM!!!!

Thats my big announcement. It is everything thing that I could hope for and where my heart truly is in education. Plus third grades think I am funny and laugh at my jokes while first grades stare at me blankly.

I will continue to blog on here and follow my favorite first grade blogs but now I am going to add some 3rd grade teachers to my favorites. I can't wait! Maybe sometime in August I will come up with a 3rd grade blog and I hope I can continue to have you as a bloggy friend over there!

I could not be more excited and I had to wait for the official word, but I really wanted to share it with you!

I would love to hear about some of the cute activities you are doing to wrap up your year. Comment below!

Spring Fever!

Do you have it? I do! Probably the worse case of Spring Fever I have ever had! I can't explain it but I am ready for summer. Three weeks I can do it!

We have so many fun things planned. I just finished my career unit (which you can get here) and now we are going to be doing a classroom economy activity to really understand goods, services, wants and needs ( you can find that here.)

After that we are studying Mexico! I am so excited for this. Since it is the end of the year I am going to spend a little extra time on the fun stuff. I have felt so blessed this school year because of all the wonderful  parents I have this year. This time I have a family that is only in America this year because they are Mexican missionaries. The mom came in and mapped out an authentic Mexican week long unit of study. She helped me so much I can't wait for next week! We are doing this all right in time for Cinco de Mayo even though I know it is not really a big deal in Mexico.

Alright I am going to get back to the NFL draft. I have to see what my Broncos are going to do.....

Cross your fingers for me! I am hoping for some really good news tomorrow!

App Time

Last week I featured Run Pee which is a great app to take to the movies. This had nothing to do with education. This week I am mixing business and pleasure with the Kindle App. Now it took me awhile to get on board with this app because I love books! I love to hold them in my hand and turn the pages. I love the way they smell and crispy new pages, but even more... I love to read!!!! Now the Kindle app is linked to amazon and it works just like a kindle on your iPad or iPhone. I have it on my phone and I love it! I always have my book with me now! I have read around 15 books on the app and I am hooked on the fact I can constantly buy and read books (you just buy with one click.) I don't even have to leave the house and that gives me time to read more! What I like even more is that I can download a sample of a book to see if I will even like it.

In the classroom......... this is a great place to store books and I have heard of whole school libraries switching to digital books. The books on the Kindle are cheaper most of the time too.

 Now I am very selective about what is on my home screen on my phone. I have most of my apps in folders but the kindle app is right on the home screen of my phone. If you love to read or were wondering which e reader to get just grab the kindle app and its FREE!!!!

Rocks!

I completed my rock unit! I was a blast in class! I loved all of the hands on projects and I was even able to save a little face on the mold growing sugar crystals by picking up some on sale Easter candy. If you are interested in checking it out, you can here. I used my favorite teaching tool of the moment QR codes and I even listed and linked some apps!

You may have been wondering where I have been lately.... well I am a huge bookworm and I got sucked into the Uglies series! I need a new round of books to read! Any suggestions?

I have also been working on my golf game! I am not great but it is so much fun!

I will share my news with you all later this week!

The Best Thing I Have Ever Done

As we near the end of the school year it is always good to reflect and see what we can improve on for the next year. I thought this would be a great opportunity to reflect. Teaching blogs have opened a whole new world for me! I have not been to a professional development or done an observation for a while but with teacher blogs we have the opportunity to constantly do them. I wanted to reflect/ share the best things I have ever done as a teacher (not a pat on the back but more the most helpful thing I have found.)

The best things I have ever done as a teacher ( besides finding teacher blogs):

1. This was advice from a teammate- have your students mail all of the valentines first thing when they come in the morning. It eliminates some of that anticipation and allows you to get through the day unit the party. Its simple and IT WORKS!!!

2.  I stumbled upon Whole Brain Teaching. This is one form of classroom management that I fully believe in all of the aspects of it. IT WORKS!!! I thank teacher blogs and youtube for this. If you are searching for something new I just think this might be it. You can basically watch every video and read the website and know how to use it for FREE!!! I love free.

3. Creating a class website. I posted homework, class and school policies. I even linked it to our grade book so parents could access them. Everyone was on the same page. There was not excuses for lost or late assignments. This kept me, my students and their parents accountable. I recommend this in older grades for sure!

Now I am sure there are other smart things I have done as a teacher but these are ones that anyone can use. Share your ideas! What are some of the smartest things you have done as a teacher? What tips do have to share with us?

Following Up

I blogged before about my science experiment and how I had a back up going on here at home. Well here is the latest:

My class salt crystals are growing beautifully.

My class sugar crystals are growing mold and not much else.

My home sugar crystals grew and crystalized in the bottoms of the cup. HA! The back up didn't even work....

This is why I am a teacher and not a scientist. Anyone else have this happen to them?

Next week we are making volcanoes so I am crossing my fingers that those go just fine!

On to other news I just ( well yesterday)  had a talk with my principal (who is wonderful BTW) about what is going on at our school next year and I haven't stopped smiling since! I will share my news once it is completely official but I AM SO EXCITED! It is wonderful to love your job like all of it! In the past I have loved parts, the teaching part and the kids part but not the rest of it! Now I have it all!

Catching Up

Every year I forget how busy it is this time of year! I haven't even had time to blink plus these little firsties are determined to keep me sick! I have never been as sick as I have been this school year. If you have a health tip comment below!

Now I haven't mentioned an app lately so I am about due. However I have not been blown away by any educational apps lately. More recently I have been finding web based games and creating a QR code for my kiddos to get to the site. There are pros and cons to this. They are free but they also get the kids on the web.

With all that being said I wanted to share with you my personal favorite app at the minute. It has nothing to do with education but it is totally worth sharing! My friend shared it with me!

Now if you are like me and always drink your entire large ICEE during the previews and first few minutes of the movie then you spend the rest of the time dreading leaving the movie but your bladder is ready to burst! Install this app! It is FREE and you choose your movie and it sets a timer then it notifies you at the right times to pee! Its genius! My friends and I used it at Hunger Games! 

Okay I promise I will be better about checking back in! 

Science and Money

When you teach older kids and a project doesn't work exactly right they are okay with it and sometimes determined to completed it at home. When you teach younger kids and the project doesn't work out they are devastated. This mainly applies to science.  I have learned this through the course of this school year. Now anytime we do an experiment I create a back up.  We recently studied US symbols and we turned pennies green. Well many of my kiddos didn't bring in pre 1981 pennies so they wouldn't work. Instead after school I was digging through a pile of pennies to find the ones that would turn green. Before school started I switched out the pennies.

Now we are trying to grow crystals which is a part of our Rock and Earth Layers Unit. We are growing sugar or salt crystals, I let the kids choose. We have a bunch growing in the classroom right now:

But just incase they don't work I have the same experiment going on here at home.

Now I will have some extras if they are needed and if not I will have plenty of rock candy! 

I will list this unit in TpT after it has been classroom tested and approved ( by 29, 6 and 7 year-old, critics.) I will send you some activities that are included in it to the first 3 people who comment that they are interested. Include your email. I will let this go until Thursday night 4/5

I also just posted my money unit I called it Dollars and Sense - a unit about money sense. I felt that it was really clever :).  I feel like this unit is my masterpiece thus far! I worked my little tail off creating this unit because our curriculum (Saxon) doesn't include much more than counting pennies. I added some QR codes, made posters etc. etc.  I am feeling pretty generous tonight (maybe because I have a bunch of rock candy in my future.) so if you are interested I will give one away to the first person that comments and tells me they would like it. If you would like to check it out it is right here! 

Today I was a little naughty... I also made a trip to a teacher store. I gave up shopping for lent which I have mentioned in a previous post. I figured that if it wasn't for me it was okay though. I am so excited about what I got! What is it you ask? Well I got some rocks and some resources to help finish out the year. I will share what I got later because right now its hidden in the car so I won't feel so guilty! I would feel better but anything you get at a teacher store is so expensive! I mean I could have bought something fancy for myself like these:

I really want these!

 I guess right now I can really appreciate TpT but there are somethings you can't get on there and sometimes school supplies just sit there tempting me saying you need me!

And the winner is...............

Thank you to all of you who have recently joined my blog! I am really enjoying finding new blogs, ideas and bloggy friends!

Now it is time to get down to business with the giveaway.

My page is Blue and Orange because of my Denver Broncos! I love them!

Now the winner is: (I used Random Number Generator)

Number 1 Lisa AKA Mrs. Richling!!!! Congrats! I will be emailing you shortly!

Thank you to everyone who has been following my blog! If you didn't win this time its just a matter of time before another giveaway..... Spread the word and it will be even sooner!

Now I ended up having a pretty great spring break! It was like a vacation right here in Denver! I shopped, I played golf, I was a lady who lunched, I read (Matched and Crossed) my husband and I even won a gold and silver for our Green Chile! It was wonderful!

Now it is back to business for six more weeks! I cannot believe this year is almost done! I can make it six weeks!

How do you wrap up your school year? I like to have my kiddos save up all of their behavior money and then have a " yard sale" each student brings in items that they would like to get rid of from home and price them. Then the students can spend their money on the items. It is so cute and a bunch of fun. We are also challenging the kiddos to read 1500 minutes this month for the chance for a gold medal and dinner with yours truly! We have a couple of reading groups gearing up for some reader's theater plays as well. I am going to blink and we are going to be done!

 Comment below with some fun end of the year activities! 


Now I am also the student council sponsor at my school and we are hosting talent tryouts and I am trying to squeeze in some conferences for those parents who couldn't/didn't make them.  So I may not be able to get back here this week but I really will try! If you miss me you can check out my guest blogger post over at Teaching in High Heels. I will be there Friday 4/6! I am pretty excited about it!

50 Followers Giveaway Yippee!

Lets see I am officially on Spring Break and loving it. But I know that I will be venturing into my classroom before the end of the week to get ready for the rest of the year. I cannot believe this year has gone so quickly. It has be a whirl wind of new colleagues, curriculum, technology and a whole new grade level. It was also the year I discovered teaching blogs and now here I am at my 50 follower giveaway! I am so excited! Here is how it will work:

With each comment make sure to leave your email address!

Follow me and comment that you do. If you already follow me please comment as well. 

Follow my Teachers Pay Teachers Store. ( I am having a sale to celebrate!) Comment that you follow me!

Now for bonus entries!

Comment twice with the web address if you blog about my giveaway. Make sure to link back!

Comment twice if you Facebook about my giveaway! Make sure to link back!

If you don't have Facebook or a blog ( and even if you do) answer the bonus question for an extra entry
Why is my profile blue and orange?

I will announce the winner the evening of April 2nd lets say 8:00 PMish!

Now for the prize!!!! A cute little 31 bag stuffed with fun stuff for you and your classroom.

So Close Yet So Far

I am so close to Spring Break! I can't wait!!!! I love my kiddos and my job but I am ready for a break. The only thing between me and my break is conferences. Now I realize the importance of parent communication! However I feel like doing it all together is stressful!!!! Plus I always get sick so sitting and talking for hours and hours and hours never helps that!!!! Who has a conference tip to share with us to make them less shall we say painful????

 Maybe I am just cranky because of the Tebow trade or maybe I am just mad I am not going to be laying on a beach for my spring break. I think instead I will be spending time on the couch blogging and TpTing! I will also make a point to go see the Hunger Games! I am a huge book worm and loved that trilogy.

Now I am really close to a 50 follower giveaway! I mentioned before it will be a gift basket filled with goodies for you and for your classroom so please spread the word! I need four more members!!!!

I am sure I will be seeing you all again really soon! You may even get sick of me over Spring Break. Plus I am going to be a guest blogger soon too!

A Whole Bunch Of Stuff!!!!

Hope you had a great weekend! I have lots and lots to say! Here it goes: I have been blessed with some fun side work through Teachers Pay Teachers. I have been doing a lot of app searching, curriculum mapping, and iPad teaching even more than normal. I have posted my first one based on 4th grade Common Core in my TpT store here! I also am working on a primary math app list . If you are interested in those the first three people that comment and are interested you can leave your email and which one you want and I will send it to you. Also if you are interested in having me do this for you or your school please let me know!

My new favorite app is Rainbow Sentences! Now its a pricey one at $7.99 but it is such a good one. It definitely can be used with grades 1-3 and maybe kinder and 4th. It helps kiddos build quality sentences with all of the correct aspects of a good sentence!  

A big thanks to Barb at Its About Time Teachers for the Lovely Blog Award!

The rules for this award are to:

1. Link back to the blogger who gave you the award.
2. Pass the award on to 15 other lovely bloggers.
3. Follow the person who sent it to you

Heather at Heather's Heart

Rebecca At Mrs. Crook's Whole Brain Teaching

Nancy At Mrs. Stoltenberg's Second Grade

Mrs.Dwyer's A Plus Firsties

Michelle At Our Sweet Success

Miss J at Smiles Crayons and Endless Stories

Ashley at Teaching Happily Ever After

Jillian at Just Tinkerin' Around

Mrs. Wade at 2nd Grade with Mrs. Wade

Ms. Jessica At A Turn to Learn

Becky at Teaching Learning Loving

Mrs. Hodson at Today in First Grade

Roxi at Whole Brain With Roxi Shayne

Mrs. Tompkins at Wild About First Grade

Teresa at 2nd Grade Pig Pin

Please check out all of these blogs! 

Feel Free to stop reading the following rant is completely not education related I just needed to share with anyone who would listen/read! 

Now on to my Denver Broncos!!!! I love LOVE Tim Tebow! I love what he does on and off the field. He isn't so bad on the eyes etc, etc. Now they tell me that Peyton Manning is the best thing that can happen to my Denver Broncos. I am not completely convinced! John Elway do not get rid of Tim!!! I feel like this born an raised die hard Bronco fan is not sure about Peyton being "the best that ever played the game." Not when he is old and injured! I will still be at every home game and still cheer in head to toe blue and orange regardless but at this point I am not convinced! I also will not forget the hope and the fun that Tebow brought to Mile High! Any other football fans feel free to weigh in! Only time will tell and win me over! 

My Husband and I Tebowing after a BIG Tebow win!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

Leprechaun Traps hanging from my ceiling. 

I love St. Patrick's Day. It is a fun holiday that isn't too much pressure. My mom always made it really fun growing up too. Just like all of the other holidays it is so much fun with the first graders. Today we planned, wrote about and created our leprechaun traps. This was hilarious! The kiddos were so into it. We had so many crazy creations that they worked so hard on! The end of the day came and they didn't want to leave they were just so determined to catch that leprechaun.

I put foot prints all over the classroom and threw glitter everywhere. 

Then I filled my pot of gold for the kids which is really my Halloween witches caldron with treat bags for the kids. I love target dollar section it seems to just get better and better every time I look. Anyways I bought necklaces, rainbow candy and chocolate coins. Here is a link to the FREE leprechaun note.  

They are going to love it! I plan on showing Holiday Facts and Fun from Discovery Education and completing the rest of my St. Patrick's Day activities. 

In honor of this fun holiday I am having a sale in my TpT store. 10% off until Sunday! Have a great St. Patrick's Day!

WOW What A Week and a Freebie!

Oh how I have missed you bloggy friends! I have been sooooo busy! We have had state standardized testing and you know how that goes. Everyone has to give a little (or a lot!) I can just say I am so glad that it is almost over and life will get almost back to normal. Almost because conferences are next week! Anyways in my very limited free time I have been preparing for St. Patrick's Day in my classroom and I created a little freebie for you! It is a note from the leprechaun.  You can can download it here.

We wrote a letter to the leprechaun today to ask him to come a day early! I just think he might wink, wink! This was my cute teammates idea. The kids loved it! We are also including a fun St. Patrick's Day fact every day this week because we are in charge of the morning announcements. I love St. Patrick's Day since I am legitimately Irish my mom always made a big fuss of it when I was growing up. To get a peek at what we will be doing you can check out my activities here.

Read Across America!

What a fun day we had March 2nd! I have to say Dr. Seuss Day is probably the best day we have in first grade so far! We had a wonderful day here is how it went:

We started with a parents cooking Green Eggs and Ham. We ate those with Red Fish Blue Fish Punch. With that we watched Tim Tebow read Green Eggs and Ham. (Mainly because I LOVE Tim Tebow!)

The punch is Sprite, Blue Hawaiian Punch and Swedish Fish. The Eggs were cooked on a griddle in the room with cubed ham.

Then we graphed what we thought about the green eggs and ham. 

The two that didn't like it wouldn't try it! 

Next we had a very special guest! One of my super cute room moms had a Cat in The Hat costume. She wore and came in. She read the Cat in the Hat and acted it out! She came up with that part on her own. She even used a special voice! It was amazing! Then we made Cat in the Hat Cookies. 

We made Oobleck which was a blast! The last thing we did was make truffala trees after reading the Lorax. We cut out trunks and then made pom poms for the tops. 

Read Across America was a BLAST!!! You can find all of these activities and more here.

On another note..... my followers are growing! Thanks everyone! I know it has something to do with my exciting blog weekend! Now please spread the word bloggy friends! I CANNOT wait until 50 followers! I am getting soooooo ready for a really (I MEAN REALLY) good give away! So spread the word and send your teacher friends on over!

Top Ten Blog!!!

Wowie Wow WOW!!! What a great weekend for my little blog! I love it and I am loving meeting all you bloggy friends along the way.  So yesterday I was honored with the Liebster Award and today the Top Ten Blog Award!!! A big thank you to Kelly at All That Glitters in First Grade!

Okay so this award was created to honor and encourage a new blogger! I am nominating:

Gina at A Chocoholic Teacher she has great ideas and freebies!

Rebecca at Darlin in First  super cute blog with wonderful ideas and adorable freebies!

Melissa at Dilly Dabbles she has wonderful ideas to share with primary teachers!

Melanie at First Grade Brain Sprinkles head on over to see some cute ideas!

Carly at First Grade Fabulosity great ideas and freebies. I like what she did with patterns and all the pictures she shared for inspiration!

Tammy at Forever In 1st She has wonderful ideas! I love the America Project. I will be doing the white house in my room!

Michelle at Our Sweet Success Amazing freebies! I really recommend stopping by her site and then following her TpT store too!

Lauryn at Paste and Pearls Another great teacher blog with a super cute name! I have to admit I checked out for the first time because of that cute name!

Allyson at Stickers and Stars Check out how she does her Daily Five and some other great ideas!

Teaching 4 Real She shares tons of practical and helpful ideas!

Thank you ladies and all the others out there in teaching blog land for sharing all of your ideas!


Head on over to Teaching Blog Addict for the details on the Top Ten Blog!!!

Liebster Award!

YIPPEE!!! I was awarded the Leibster Award! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU Danielle over at Twirly Bird Teaching! Stop by and check out her blog!

I am awarding it to:

All That Glitters in First Grade Lots of great Ideas and very cute lessons! 

Confessions of a New Teacher  Read through the life and ideas of a teacher to be! 

First Grade Magic Great ideas and she just reached 100 followers! Head on over to her site for her give away! 

Life With Mrs. L  Really cute site! Cute ideas!

Glitter and Glue Check out the CUTE valentine boxes her kiddos made! 

I thought you all deserved an award!!! Thanks for sharing your ideas with us! 

The Liebster Award is awarded to blogs with less than 200 followers, that you think deserve recognition! The award is passed along from blogger to blogger and highlights up and coming blogs. Liebe is the word for love in Germany, which is where the award originated!

A Great Giveaway!

I so don't want to tell you about this because I want to win!!!! Anyways I found a great giveaway and great blog through pinterest. Head on over to Swimming Into Second and check out her 600 member giveaway! I can't wait until I am at 600 WOW!!! Anyways check it out!

Did you get anything good?

I did take advantage of the TpT sale and I am thrilled will my purchases! Did you get anything good? I also loved all my sales WHOOHOO!!!


Now its time for some Dr. Seuss!!!!!! I am gathering supplies and preparing for this big day. I can't wait! I always love celebrating with my kiddos! Its one of the biggest joys of being a first grade teacher they just get so excited about everything and almost everything is new!

I am going to do my app for the week right now! I have lots of great dinner plans coming up with Denver restaurant week starting tomorrow so I won't be back for a few days and I will miss you all! Now the app drum rolls if you will.......................


Bluster!













This little grammar app is awesome. Its starts at second grade and reinforces grammar skills through individual games or timed competition. Pick the skill and practice away! Guess WHAT??? Its FREE!!!!









Tomorrow will be an interesting day for my class. They took all of our iPads to sync them! I won't have them for at least a day. No apple TV only computer projection? Yes I have become really spoiled. I may apple TV with my phone but I haven't figured it out yet. I may out of necessity. I know I sound ridiculous to some of you out there. Comment   and tell me what teaching tool can you not live without?

Grab Your Wallet and Get Ready

Have you heard? TpT is having a big ole Leap Year Sale! I am having a sale in my little store too!

My TpT Store

I can't wait to going shopping! I love to shop, shop, shop. (I actually gave it up for Lent!) 

Okay I feel like I have been part of the blog world long enough to say that I love it. Now even more I love YOU the people that have ideas and share them but also YOU that read my blog! I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!! I am super filled with love tonight apparently but honestly. I want to accomplish two things from this blogpost and I need you to HELP.

1.  I would like to get more connected! - Please tell my your blog. If you are following me then I want to make sure I am visiting yours. If you don't have one then tell me your favorite! COMMENT!!! With your links. Maybe you can gain more followers from it win/ win!

2. I want to learn from you!!!! I would really like to hear some tech tips from you all! Do you have any suggestions? Do you have an awesome app I haven't seen? TELL ME!!!! 

Okay now I am going to go ahead and say it. I am itching for a giveaway on my little blog. I love to give presents! I spend lots of time to pick out each gift I give. (It's the perfect excuse to shop!) I especially love to make gift baskets. Okay you need to help me out blog friends!!!! (I know I am demanding tonight!) I would like to have 50 followers in order to do this give away. I will make a gift basket for you!!! I promise you will love it! 

Sooo PLEASE pretty PLEASE spread the word about my little blog and I will be counting my followers!  Then this give away will happen! I can't wait! 

Here is a clue about what will be included in the giveaway ----31----

Also PLEASE PIN!!! You have my permission! If you like my stuff enough to pin it, I would be honored if you do!

Permission To Pin!

Another Snow Day

Yup you read that right! I am sitting here on another snow day! I woke up ready to go to work at 5:30 and the phone call came at 5:40! I couldn't go back to sleep. I wanted to be productive but I got hooked on teacher blogs! I have to say that I just found A Teeny Tiny Teacher and I couldn't stop reading/ laughing! I grabbed her button and I added it to my page! 


It occurred to me today as I couldn't sleep in on a free day off.... that I have a bunch of free time on my hands these days! I do!!!! I couldn't think why! Then I remembered I switched schools and grade levels. Its a whole different ball game now my friends! I hesitate to say this because it may sound like BRAGGING... but I have a LIFE. My life now includes time for:


Cooking--- My favorite hobby ( You create something wonderful, you get to share it and EAT it! 


Pinterest--- Did the world turn before this great invention? If you are interested in what makes me tick you can follow my boards! 


Teacher Blog Reading/ Blogging-- What did I do with my nosey self before I could invite myself into other peoples classrooms??? Comment PLEASE if you have a blog I should check out! 


The Gym--- Now I don't absolutely love the fact I have time for this.... But I am hoping I love the results in time for a busy summer including my 10 year reunion! 


Church--- I have time to get involved with my church! 


MY HUSBAND--- I actually get to see the guy and I kinda like it! 


Did I mention I love my job???? Plus blogging and Pinterest makes me a better teacher right????




Okay back to the purpose of my blog...


One of my new favorite apps is Rover!

Rover is a free  app! It is linked to games and Discovery Education ( a tool I couldn't live without!) Your class will love it. We had a teacher work day on Friday. Our principal taught us how to blog (little did he know). Anyways my teammate and I featured Rover and Discovery in our blog post and made a little video about it. Stroll down the red carpet for the video release!

Enjoy! 

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

I love the idea of linky parties! I found this one just in time for Read Across America! Its creeping up on us! Can you believe it is almost March?!!!

Head on over to Little Blog Fish  to see more ideas for this fun day! I love celebrating these ideas with first graders! They love it!!!! 

You can check out my unit as well!

Read Across America