Centers, Songs and a WINNER!

We survived the week after Spring Break!  Whew, it was close!

Here are some pictures from a few of our Reading Centers this week. These are 1st and 2nd grade centers.

I have everything color coded.  First grade is always yellow and second grade is always red.  (From center tubs to spelling test pages to their Reading Counts password cards to the clips around our working with words cards!)  This helps keep me organized as well as the students.

Word Work:

1st Graders read Froggy's First Sleepover and completed Thinking Maps about the characters.
The Thinking Maps came from Jennifer at First Grade Blue Skies!

2nd Graders did the Bunny Hop Syllable Sort from Jessica at Teacherista Tales!

Listening:

Skills:

1st Graders had a Following Written Directions activity.  They created a cloud and kite.  (We read The Kite the week before!)

2nd Graders did a Cause and Effect sort.  This can be found in my Going Camping with Cause and Effect packet at my TPT store.

Jack Hartman Concert!!  The kids had so much fun!  Head over to my classroom blog to see more pictures and video.  Miss Gilbert's Monkey Business

And now for the WINNER of the Pencil Sharpener!

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Congratulation Wendy from 1st Grade Fireworks!  Check your email.  I need some information from you.

Have a great weekend.
Meredith

Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!

Last chance to win this AMAZING pencil sharpener!

Giveaway ends at midnight.  I will announce the winner tomorrow and share some pictures from our Jack Hartman concert.  (Wouldn't winning this be an awesome end to your week?!?!?)

Enter the Rafflecopter below!

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Have a fantastic Friday!
Meredith

Giveaway Reminder and a Sweet Story

Only 2 days left to win this AWESOME pencil sharpener!

(We had a long discussion about it by the teacher mailboxes this morning.  I now have colleagues coming by my classroom to check it out!)  Enter the Rafflecopter below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

And now for a super sweet story I just have to share!  Tomorrow Jack Hartman is coming to my school to put on a concert for our Kindergartners and Firsties!  (Yes, the for real, actual Jack Hartman.....Live.....In Person....at my little school!)  Be jealous....it is his 2nd year in a row!

I have been encouraging my kiddos to bring in their permission slips and $4 for a few weeks now.  $4 is a LOT for some of my families.  I just keep encouraging and saying, "Bring in what you can."  Yesterday my most enthusiastic little boy came bouncing in (literally bouncing, like I said, most enthusiastic).  He was sooooo excited to tell me he had his permission slip signed and that he had his $4.  I gave the expected excited response and had him write his name on the door.  (Which is a GREAT way to get things returned....kids love getting to add their name to any kinds of list, especially if they get to use a marker and it is on the door for EVERYONE to see.)  Then this super sweet enthusiastic boy continued his story.   "The Easter Bunny gave me $5.  I get to use $4 of it to pay for the concert."  I almost started crying right then and there.  I wanted to give it back and pay for him myself.  However, he was genuinely excited that he got to use his very own money for something he was really looking forward to.  Today when I was walking him to the bus he was holding my hand, bouncing up and down and talking a mile a minute about how much he was looking forward to the concert tomorrow and how glad he was that the Easter Bunny left him money.   He didn't complain about having to use his "own" money.  He was just focused on the fact that he gets to see a concert!

Moments like this are priceless and are what make teaching the best job in the world. They can even make those ridiculously stressful moments of being a teacher worth it;-).   If everyone could approach each day as excited and as positive as our students, think about how different life would be.

Tomorrow is going to be a great day!  I cannot wait for the concert and plan on enjoying every minute of it with as much excitement as my students.

Meredith

Looking Ahead to Summer {and a giveaway}

I just typed a really long, funny, clever post.

Then something happened.  It just went away.  

Since I only have 12 hours of Spring Break left, I am not retyping and you are just going to get the highlights!

• New Unit Posted in my TPT store 
• 5 Reading Centers and 4 Math Stations with SUPER CUTE sea life clip art
• It is 95 pages!!!
• All easy to set up and easy for the kids to play
• On sale until midnight
• Click the picture below to check it out

Also, don't forget to enter my giveaway for the AMAZING pencil sharpener!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Meredith

Skittles, a Sale and a Sharpener

{Freebie and Giveaway Alert}

Here are a few pictures of my class using my Taste the Rainbow activity.  We did it right before St. Patrick's Day, but it can be used ANYtime!  The math talk I heard while they were working blew me away!  (I randomly put 20 skittles in each bag.  It was funny how some of the numbers worked out!)

She was so excited that her numbers decreased by one!  

He noticed that his numbers increased, then decreased, increased, then decreased!

*** I have updated the activity on TPT so the skittles on the Pictograph would fit better! 

Click the pic below to grab this activity for free or to update yours!

While you are there, check out my sale!  20% off everything!

I saved the best for last!  Want to win one of these?  

Enter Rafflecopter below. {It is easy!}

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Well, I am off to enjoy the last 2 days of my Spring Break (sniff, sniff).
Meredith

Pencil Sharpener Giveaway

Least favorite teacher task?

SHARPENING PENCILS

I HATE the noise of a pencil sharpener so I don't let the kids use it.
One electric sharpener uses up my entire budget for the year, so I don't trust the little ones not to break it!
I try to recruit helpers (teacher's kids who love to help me after school) to sharpen, but they get bored after about 10 pencils.
So........I get stuck with this horrible, awful, no good job.

Then 2 weeks ago.....MY LIFE CHANGED!  {Insert angels singing here} Okay, so maybe it isn't that life changing, but it is pretty close!
I won this:

It is a little tricky to use at first, but once I figured it out it was AMAZING.  {Angels singing again}  My teammates have already borrowed it and are placing orders of their own!

And guess what?  The amazing people at Classroom Friendly Supplies are letting ME give one away!  Check out their website {here}.  All you have to do is enter the Rafflecopter below!   (I made it easy!)

The giveaway will run until next Friday.  You can enter daily!  Good Luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Meredith

Dr. Seuss Activities

Here are a few pictures from our Dr. Seuss activities last week!
We made Cat in the Hats (idea from Jennifer at FirstGradeBlueSkies)

I didn't give them any tracers.  They just rounded the corners.  I was very impressed with how they turned out.......Well, most of them!

I seriously debated posting this picture, but I know you all can relate! Oiy.  When he was done, he said, "Aw, man, part of his eye is covered up."  Bless his heart!

We used the writing prompt from Simply Sprout and attached them on the back.

We did this activity the morning our guest reader came for Read Across America Day.  Our scheduled guest reader got tied up so we had an extra special guest reader step in.....one of our Kindergarten teachers!  The kids were super excited.  They thought she was better than a celebrity!

Next up...Yertle the Turtle! I think these turned out super cute!

I gave each student a piece of tissue paper.  They cut out the rectangles/squares themselves and then put diluted glue on the plate with paint brushes.  We had a LONG talk about not touching the tissue paper with our fingers after it had been stuck on.  We did not need to look like Smurfs!

Next week we are doing Horton Hatches the Egg.  That is my FAVORITE Dr. Seuss book and I always read it around Easter.

Meredith