Christmas Survey :)

Today is my first day of Christmas vacation! :)  

I am work/school/child free until Jan. 9!!!  

Kristin, at A Teeny Tiny Teacher, posted a survey and I thought, why not?  I love getting these in emails.  So, here goes...

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?Either.  I try to wrap more than I use bags because I think people would rather tear the paper off when opening a gift and I don't want them to be disappointed.  I don't know why I think that though because I'm not disappointed when I get a gift in a bag.  Hmm...

2. Real tree or artificial?
Artificial.  We always had one when I was growing up and I've just continued the tradition.  However, now my parents always get a real tree.  Go figure.

3. When do you put up the tree?

Usually around December 1.  We were late this year though.  I think we finally got it put up on the 10th.  Now it feels like the month has flown by. :(


4. When do you take the tree down?
No set date, but always after the new year.

5. Do you like eggnog?
No.
6. Favorite gift received as a child?
Is it bad that I don't know this?  I have a very bad memory...

 7. Do you have a nativity scene?
Yes, I actually got my first "nice" nativity this year!


8. Hardest person to buy for?My husband's youngest brother.  Ugh.

9. Easiest person to buy for?
Probably my husband.  But he does make a list.
10. Mail or email Christmas cards?
Mail.  But I didn't mail an this year.  Remember how I said this month has flown by?

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
I can't think of a particular gift, but one year {I think I was 13 or 14} every.single.gift I got from my parents...I didn't like!  I tried to act like I did, but they could tell.  I felt so bad!  They had bought me lots of clothes and I didn't like any of them!  We returned everything. :(

12. Favorite Christmas movie?

It's a Wonderful Life, The Santa Claus, & A Christmas Story

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
The week before.  I still have a few more things to buy.

14. Ever recycled a present?
Yes.  I already have this year.  Don't judge.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
Sausage balls, cheese straws, and dressing.

16. Clear lights or colored lights on a tree?

I like both. :)

17. Favorite Christmas song?
Baby, It's Cold Outside and The Christmas Song

18. Travel at Christmas or stay at home?
Travel.   Always.  The hubs and I have Christmas at home.  Then we go to my parents' house for breakfast and gifts with them.  Then we either travel out of town to my Grandmother's house or his Grandmother's house.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer?
Yes.

20. Angel or star on top of the tree?
Neither!  This year I found a snowman head tree topper half price at Big Lots.  It's silly, but I think it's cute! :)

21. Open the presents on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning?When I was little my parents always let me open one gift on Christmas Eve.  Now, me AND the hubs get to open one. :)  Plus, my parents buy something for our dogs!   So, they get their treats then, too.  Then we do everything else on Christmas morning.
22. Most annoying thing about this time of year?
Other people.  As in, people I don't know.  Ugh.

23. Favorite ornament, theme, or color?

I have a lot of favorite ornaments!  My mom let me have most of my childhood ornaments when I moved out, so they are all special.

24. What do you want for Christmas?
I want to win the lottery.  Safe travels.  Good health.  Happiness.

Currently...in December!

It's that time!  Head over to Oh' Boy 4th Grade and link up!  

What are YOU currently up to?

Make sure you check out A Cupcake for the Teacher!  Lots of great ideas. :)  I can't wait to try out her "ringing in the new year" activity!

Fill in the Blank Friday

Emily, at Playground Duty, posted a little "fill in the blanks" game.  

I thought I'd join in the fun. :)

1.   My most favorite "little thing" is  my new Peppermint & Vanilla hand soap and hand lotion from Avon!  I've never been a fan of lotion, but I absolutely love this scent.

2.   I'd give anything to get rid of this headache.  Ugh.  It's been a looong week.

3.  I can't believe  my Christmas break hasn't started.  For the first time, we have to go to school next Monday and Tuesday.  Bummer!  But this makes up for it:  We don't come back to school until January 9!

4. The one thing I'd like to achieve today is  ..... Well, the day is pretty much over.  Not much else on the agenda besides SLEEP!

5.  The last thing I want to do today is  go to sleep! :) {Did I mention I need some sleep?}

6.  If I were writing my own blank today, it would say: "The craziest thing that happened at school today...

7.  My favorite candle scent is  sugar cookie or baked apple pie.

Happy Weekend! :)

I'm a guest blogger today! Come on over!

Hey, everyone!  Hope you're having a wonderful Wednesday so far!


I'm blogging over at Cachey Mama's Classroom today for Wish List Wednesday.  


Come on over and check out what I'm wishing for!

Antonyms & Synonyms {FREE Quizzes!}

Here are a couple of little quizzes I made to help assess antonyms and synonyms.  

Hope you can use them!

Click HERE to download!

Click HERE to download!

6 more school days for me! :)

Sunshine Award :)

I've been given the Sunshine Award!  

Thanks, Andi!

Check out her fabulous blog at Pencils, Glue, & Tying Shoes!

I'm trying to do better about blogging more often, but as y'all know this time of year is CRAZY! :)

The award responsibilities:

1. Thank the person who gave this award and write a post about it.

2. Answer the following questions below.

3. Pass the award to 10-12 fabulous bloggers, link their blogs, and let them know you awarded them.

Q and A:

1. Favorite Color?

{Hot pink!}

2. Favorite Animal?

{Dogs.  I have two and they are the best pups ever. :) }

3. Favorite Number?

{16.  Why, you ask?  I have NO idea!}

4. Favorite drink?

{Do I have to choose just one?  I love me some Coke Zero, sweeeet tea, and Caramel Frappes.}

5. Facebook or Twitter?

{I have a Facebook, but I'm getting tired of it.  I deleted about 15 "friends" last night.  My husband asked why I was deleting people.  "Ummm...because I really don't care about what they're doing all day!"  Right???  I mean who really cares that you went to Olive Garden for dinner or just finished cleaning your house.  Okay.  Next.}

6. Passion?

{Reading.  No contest.   I just finished the Twilight series.  Loved it!}

7. Giving or Getting Presents?

{Giving!}

8. Favorite Day?

{Saturday! :) }

Now, I'm passing this award on to the following blogs:

A Teacher's Touch
Hopping into First Grade
Tales of a K-1 Classroom
The Sharpened Pencil
Welcome to Room 36!
The Teacher's Lane
Swimming Into Second
Sassy in Second
Mrs. Wheeler's First Grade Tidbits
Life in First Grade


Happy Sunday!

Winter Adjectives FREEBIE!

I can't believe it is already December!

I enjoyed a loooong Thanksgiving vacation.  A whole week!

And if that wasn't wonderful enough....we get two and half weeks at Christmas!

{Don't hate.}

Anyway...

Our technology teacher asked that each student bring 10 words that describe winter to class next week.  So.....

We'll have an impromptu lesson tomorrow on adjectives. :)

I found this activity on the SMART Exchange website (for Smartboard users!) that well do first. 

Then we'll just brainstorm more words to add to a chart.  Then the kiddos will pick the 10 words they like best.

I created this little recording sheet for them to list their words to take to the lab.

Hope you can use it!  Click HERE for the recording sheet!

Happy Friday! :)

Check out this Gobble Gobble Giveaway!

Kreative in Kinder has teamed up with six awesome bloggers to host a Gobble Gobble Giveaway!

There are seven ways to enter and TWO winners will be chosen!

Go check it out!  The giveaway ends tonight!

Happy Sunday!

Currently...in November!

I'm linking up with Oh' Boy 4th Grade and sharing what I'm currently doing.  

Come join the fun!

Happy Friday! :)

AR Test Log {FREEBIE}

My school really *encourages* AR {Accelerated Reader}.  We have been taking 1 - 2 tests per week.  Now that they've pretty much mastered how to log in and take the test by themselves, I think it's time for them to start recording their tests and scores.  I have been working on getting their AR folders ready.  

The folder isn't anything fancy.  I just fold a piece of construction paper in half and staple a few sheets of paper to the right side.  This is the AR Book Log.  On the left side, I staple the AR Test Log.

{Click HERE to download!}

I don't really *love* the idea of offering the kiddos a prize.  But otherwise, some students will never want to take an AR test.  And like I said earlier, my admin strongly encourages ALL students to test.

Also, the AR program accepts a score of 60% as passing, but I encourage the students to score 80% or 100%.  They can only record those scores on their test log.

***This Test Log is NOT my original idea.  I found and printed a similar one a few years ago.  I most likely found it on ProTeacher.  Anywho, I didn't have it saved on my computer and I couldn't find my original, so I decided to recreate it.  If you know who originally had this idea, please let me know and I will give them credit.***

Hope you can use the test log!  Have a great Sunday and a wonderful week!

{It's a four-day week for us, yippee!} :)

Just a few Dollar Tree finds!

So, I haven't been to Dollar Tree in a WHILE.  After this looooong week, I thought I deserved a little fun. :)

Exhibit A: pumpkin ice trays = fun addition to Math Tubs

Exhibit B: word wall spinners = good way to spice up practicing those word wall words

(P.S. Sorry about the glare!)

Exhibit C: 38 pages of subtraction practice = nice follow up to the 38 pages of addition practice I found on my last trip - HAHA!

Happy Friday everyone!

Principal's Pick, Whales, & Sequencing

Does anyone else do this?  

Each month our principal chooses a book, well, this year two books (fiction and nonfiction).  Each teacher then reads the books to her class and completes a reading/writing activity.

  September's nonfiction pick is Big Blue Whale by Nicola Davies.  I must say, I really enjoyed reading this book to my class!  And they loved it too. :)  

In fact, all of the nonfiction picks for this year are by Nicola Davies.  I read her book, One Tiny Turtle, last year and it was a great read.  I can't wait to read the others!

Before reading the book, we did some wondering.  What do you wonder about whales?

They really thought of some good questions!

Then we wrote one thing we learned about whales.

Hehe. :)

If you've never read any of Nicola Davies' books, I suggest you check them out!

In other news, we've also been practicing sequencing and writing stories.

My teammate shared an idea.  She photocopied some sequencing puzzles and had her class use them for writing.  

We tried it and the kids loved it!

I had a couple of volunteers come up and put the pictures in order and tell the story.  Then the class helped me write my sentences and spell some of the harder words. ;)

(Side note:  Please excuse my handwriting...)

Here are a couple of samples.  The kids didn't write as much as I'd hoped, but it was our first time doing this activity.  Hopefully next time they will add more details. :)

The cut the pictures out, glued them in order, and then wrote sentences to match.

"She gets the popcorn seeds and eats."

"The boy got paint.  And he painted his dogs house."

Happy Hump Day!

Apple FREEBIES!

We will be celebrating Johnny Appleseed's birthday and learning about apples this week.  I have found tons of great activities out there, thanks to all you wonderful bloggers. :)

I decided to share a few apple themed items I created.  Hope you like them and can use them in your classroom this week!

Cut this apart and use in a pocket chart to create a class graph.

Click HERE to download!

Here is a recording sheet for students to complete after creating the class graph.

Click HERE to download!

Here is a poem I found and just made it "cute". :)

Click HERE to download!

Happy fall, y'all! :)

What's In My Bag? {A Linky Party}

Abby, at The Inspired Apple, is hosting a School Bag Linky Party!

How fun! :)

Here's my school bag.  I got it FREE from Vistaprint.

I'm starting to wish I had a different bag.  This one has a problem...it's floppy.  I think I need one of those big, sturdy ones from 31 (that I've been seeing on other teachers blogs)! :)

Here's a top shot.  Yep, it's slam full of stuff!  I usually squeeze my laptop in here, too.  No wonder my shoulder hurts...

Now what is all that stuff?  My cute, matching organizational items. :)  I use the file holder to keep student papers organized, or small items I cut out and need to laminate.  The spiral notebook has about six pages that have pockets on each side.  I labeled each pocket by subject and put papers in those pockets that need to be copied.  Lastly, my planner helps me keep track of all those wonderful meetings and due dates.

 Here are a stack of state standards that I'll need to have displayed this week, markers for various activities, my grade book, and a nursery rhyme CD I "won" at our last faculty meeting.  

My parent-teacher conference notebook.  I've been *trying* to get these done over the past 2 weeks.  So far, I've had 5 out of 19 conferences.  Does anyone else find it difficult to get parents to come in???

Some Really Good Stuff magazines.  I like looking at these and figuring out what I can make myself!  Also, my umbrella and some cough drops.  Not sure why those are still in there since I'm pretty much over my sinus infection.

My super cute pencil bag.  I really LOVE owls!

Inside the owl bag: note pads, pens, pencils, a highlighter, and a stapler.

That's it!  What's in your bag?

Have a happy Sunday and a great week at school!

What I'm Loving Wednesday!

Here's what I'm loving this Wednesday...

{1}

I'm loving that I baked and iced this little cake all by myself. :)  Yep, I even made the icing.

{2}

I'm loving that my kiddos reached our Read to Self goal today! 20 minutes = :)

(I snapped this pic early...should have got it when it said 20!)

{3}

I'm loving writing workshop!  We made our heart maps Monday and the kids really enjoyed using them today!  This was an idea we had at a professional development last year.  However, I totally copied Ms. Carroll's (from The First Grade Parade) cute way of designing hers!  Check hers out HERE!

{4}

I'm loving that fall is almost here!  Can't wait to start some Halloween crafts like the ones below.  Pinterest inspired ;)

{5}

I'm loving that it's almost the weekend again!  

Happy Wednesday!