whoa!

So I'm normally pretty conscientious about not texting while driving, but sometimes I just get the urge and feel the need to text right at that moment! So I pull my phone out of my purse to text my friend about something that doesn't even need to be asked right then and hear this booming "We would appreciate it if you didn't text while you drive" coming from the car next to me. My heart literally skipped 5 beats! I look up and it's some hoodlum teenagers, apparently bored with their lives, and trying to be funny! It definitely scared the crap out of me and reinforced the reason why I don't like to text and drive! Thanks crazy teenagers ;)

Ok, this is even better!

HAHA!

New button :)

I'm starting to get crafty on the computer! Go me!

Sew Long Ago

Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

Thanks everyone for participating in my first giveaway! The winner of the hand crafted apron is...

#8 Abby Farnham!

Congrats Abby! Send me your info so I can mail you the gingham apron!

hadarmaor{at}hotmail{dot}com

LAST DAY!!!

TO ENTER MY GIVEAWAY! HURRY, HURRY!

Too much fun with the glue gun!

I think it's safe to say that I'm pretty much obsessed with the glue gun! {I've been typing the word obsessed a lot, and after many trials, I can finally spell it correctly the first time!} Anyway...I got the super cute and cheap wood cut outs at Michaels that lots of people have been posting about and super glued them onto clothespins. Then I glued the clothespins onto push pins! Now I have really cute animals holding up my papers in my classroom!

Remember when Ms. M posted these really cute pointers!? Well I happened to stumble across these little cut-outs that we used to decorate the table for my sister-in-laws bridal shower. I glued them onto colored popsicle sticks for a little more pizazz. We study ocean animals toward the end of the year, so they will be perfect for that unit!

This week I introduced Flashlight Writing to my reading groups. I saw this idea on Miss Parten's 2nd in 1st and could not wait to try it with my kids! I got the flashlights {and batteries!} at the dollar tree for, you guessed it, $1! SO awesome! This theme we are practicing short i words, so I incorporated that into the center. I had my students choose a word family card, write one word at a time on the whiteboard and then "trace" it with the light from the flashlight. My kids are so funny; every time I introduce a new activity they ALWAYS ask "can we take these home!?" Every time!

Here are the word cards I created:
Short i words

Giveaway Time!!!

Hi everyone! Thanks for all of your sweet comments and support; I feel so loved! And to show my appreciation, I am hosting a giveaway!

As some of you know from a previous post, my mom is my inspiration. She is just so darn creative! Well after I saw all of her adorable aprons piling up, I told her about opening a Etsy shop and she agreed to let me help her!! She also agreed to let me give one of her aprons away to my readers {which is a big step for her! you should see our living room...}

I thought these aprons would be perfect for a Valentine's Day surprise for your hunny. What's more enjoyable than walking into the kitchen seeing your wife/girlfriend baking in a cute apron?! Exactly...

Here's how to enter:
1. Visit my mom's Etsy shop and leave me a comment about which apron you would like to win.
2. For another entry, follow my blog and tell me about it.
3. For a third entry, post this giveaway on your blog and leave the link in my comments.

Good Luck Friends! The giveaway will end on Friday January 28th at 8:00pm PST to give enough time to receive the apron for V-day!

WHOOPS!

I definitely just realized that the link I posted for the scholastic orders sends you to my school email login page...that's not going to work! Let's try again:

 Scholastic Dollar Days

Also, I found out the website for the star wand!

Star Wand

Sorry 'bout that...

Lifted Spirits

Today was a pretty tough day for me emotionally. I did a lot of thinking and reflecting, but can't shed this horrible feeling. So when I signed on to blogger to read all of the wonderful blogs I follow, I had my spirits lifted a bit. Thanks Ms. M for sharing my ideas; it really makes me feel good. :) And check out how cute her little pointer sticks are! Can't wait to make some :)

Word Families

I saw this super cute idea for reinforcing word families in the Lakeshore catalog, but wanted to adapt it to meet my students' needs. We've been working on short a words and they were having a tough time differentiating between "an" and "at" while reading. So I made this really fun word family activity! It took me a long time, but totally worth it!

I had my parent helper run this center today so that my kids were clear on what to do, but they can totally do this as an independent center now! I also would change some things for the next time I do this....Even though I put all the picture and letter cut outs in separate containers, they still somehow managed to get all jumbled together! I would definitely make each set on different colored paper next time, for my own sanity!

Okay, so bear with me as I figure out how to make a google document so you can download it! Let's hope this works!

Click Here for Word Family Houses!

Directions

Record Sheet

New Management!

cHave you seen Rick Morris present?? He is AWESOME! My school got to see him present at our staff development meeting today. He has such great ideas and is so inspiring and funny! We also got $15 to spend on the items he showed us {how awesome is that!?}. I got this digital timer:

It's magnetic so I can put it on the whiteboard and the numbers are large enough so my students can see how much time they have left to work! I am so excited to use it! He has so many other great products on his website, check it out!


New Management

I also got an idea for a grant that I want to write! My district is offering grants so I went to talk to Rick after to tell him about my idea and he offered to help! Can't wait to see how that goes!

What a great day! :)

Thoughts of the Day

• It's Tuesday evening and I'm at home eating a delicious turkey sandwich and blueberries, not sitting in a 4 and a half hour class!!!!!!!!!!!!! Love, love, love this! These next 8 weeks are going to be pure bliss!

• I also love that it was a nice 75 degrees today and I wore a skirt to work :D

• I spent a good portion of my night last night choosing the perfect font for a new word family activity that I created and emailed it to my school computer to make a PDF file, only to not have that font on my school computer! Bah-hambug!

• People keep telling me "You're so organized!"                                                                                       My thought: "Isn't everyone like this!?" How do people function without organization in their lives!

• I can't wait to catch up on all the good TV I have recorded! See ya in a couple hours...

Picture Update

I am very proud of myself for remembering to take pictures! And I realized that I should have been doing this all along! So my new goal is to take pictures of all the activities we do.

Word Detective:
Here are the pictures from the word detective center I told you guys about...

Detective kit

Big books

Recording chart

 Break Apart Sticks:

The kids absolutely loved this! I can't tell you how many of them asked if they could take the wand home. Maybe I'll make them as Valentine's day gifts?

January Hand Art:
Each month, our class does a hand art activity. This is January's

Each project incorporates their hands in some way. At the end of the year, we put together a book of each month's art. It's fun to see their progress over the year :)

a BIG thank you!

At my BTSA meeting in December, the presenter gave us a graph like this, showing the phases of a first year teacher:

 

I think it was safe to say that I definitely was here:

and I had NO idea how, or if, I would ever make it back up the ladder! And then I started reading teacher blogs. You guys have no idea how you have changed my life! I was seriously considering quitting my job; not finding it rewarding or worth it anymore.  But now I have a new outlook. I love reading all about the things you do in your classrooms, and all the fun activities you share. I love getting new organziation techniques, and reason to get up in the morning!

So THANK YOU! I know I would not be feeling this way if it hadn't been for you!

Fill in the Blank Friday!

Hi everyone! I am currently ignoring the fact that I have 2 reflections due today and a paper due tomorrow and pretending like my weekend is actually here! And a 3-day weekend at that!! {why does it feel like winter break was so long ago!?} So I'm linking up with Lauren for...

WOOHOO!

1. I feel happy when...I see all of my hard work paying off!

2. I get silly when...I drink too much wine! {that being said, I will get silly tonight ;)}

3. Something that makes me sad is...watching people struggle and there is no way I can help them :(

4. Something that makes me annoyed is...when people smack their gum reallllly loudly in my ear! {girl sitting in class next to me on Tues! knock it off!}

5. A time that I was truly surprised was....when I got an email to audition for Wheel of Fortune!!

6. I am so thankful for...WEEKENDS!!! my life would be craaaazy without them!

7. I feel loved when...my boyfriend brings me lunch at school :D he is the bestest!

So I actually took pictures of the activities in my classroom and will post them soon! But right now I am going to go watch TV and then wine tasting with my sister. Happy Weekend!!

Radio Reading

Before I started my student teaching, I completed my fieldwork hours observing my FAVORITE teacher ever. She was my second grade teacher and was the reason why I wanted to be a teacher; I absolutely loved her. When I went back to observe her I picked up so many great teaching ideas and strategies. One thing that I wanted to remember to do with my kids when I finally got a job was Radio Reading. During small group guided reading lessons, Mrs. Kormos had the students hold a marker up and pretend that they were broadcasting for a radio show. There enthusiasm was undeniable, so a few years back when I saw a play Hannah Montana microphone at an after-Halloween sale, I knew exactly what I needed it for! I bring to you: Radio Reading!




*Notice the highlighter sticks! They loved them!

I also introduced word detective in one of my literacy centers. The students had a detective "kit" with a pencil, post-its and a magnifying glass inside. They were searching through Big Books for words they could read, wrote them on a post-it and posted the words on a "Words We Know" chart.
Word Detective:

Detective kit

Big books

Recording chart

Highlighter Sticks

I fell in love with these highlighter sticks that I saw on Mrs. Lee's Kindergarten blog...so adorable! So I went to Target to look for some colored transparencies. While in the dollar section, the lady walking in front of me was holding colored file dividers. Then she put them down. SCORE! {I may or may not have stalked her until she put them down.} Anyway, here is how I made them.

$1 for five dividers...can't go wrong!

Cut the dividers into 1 inch squares. I chose yellow, but all of the colors are transparent enough to work.

Glue them onto Popsicle sticks. I tried tacky glue, didn't work too well. Stick with the hot glue gun!

Use to highlight "brain" words, or words that are repeated a lot in the story.

Can't wait to try these with my kiddos! I'm thinking I might also make skinny ones in a different color to highlight the shorter words.

Wonderful Wednesday

*What I'm Loving Wednesday*

I'm loving that my first day back from winter break was so great :)

I'm loving my Target boots and that they were super comfortable today!

I'm loving that I got my booty up and went to Body Works even though all I really wanted to do was sit in front of the TV and eat coffee ice cream...

I'm loving that I now can sit in front of the TV and watch jeopardy in my jammies while eating coffee ice cream! :D




So I cheated and skipped yesterday because I couldn't think of anything that I make with leftovers and my brain hurt.

Day 5: Places you hope to go this year

*Las Vegas! and that's it...really, that's a huge improvement from last year!

Today I am grateful for hot showers. So nice and refreshing :)

Concern of the day: How on earth do you have a job and a blog at the same time?!!

“No one else knows what is appropriate for you—but you”

Me Again!

I forgot to add THREE things to my blog! Whoops!

What I'm grateful for today: Today I am grateful that I appreciate my life again!

Trying something new: Today at Trader Joes, I walked by the fruit chews, like I always do and reached for the strawberry. I stopped myself in mid-reach and said hey! try something new! So I picked up the apricot instead :D

And finally, quote of the day: "

“…you understand that there is no reason for them to end up in your pie unless you put them in it.”

Most of my favorite quotes are from the book Ask and It is Given by Esther and Jerry Hicks. It's really inspiring!