Great Ideas for Teaching in January

 Well, it is true, a 4 day weekend stands between me and my new job as a first grade teacher. 

Overwhelmed? Check! 

Nervous? Check! 

Excited? Check! 

Prepared? Not quite! But working on it!

First of all, I just want to say a huge THANK YOU to my sweet blogging friends! I have gotten the sweetest emails, gifts and support from you. It is so sweet I could cry! But I won't...not until Tuesday anyway ;) Thank you Kristen, Ms. M, Kristin, Jennifer, Erin, Tamara and Alisha. Seriously, sweetest ladies in the world!

And these lovely ladies for humoring me and meeting up with me on Wednesday!
{secretly it was my half birthday celebration}

Love you girls!

OH AND STOP THE WORLD {Abby style}, KRISTIN HAS REACHED 1000 FOLLOWERS!!! Well, 1001 to be exact. I might be happier than she is. To celebrate, I will be sending my Snow Unit to everyone who left a comment on my previous post after begging suggesting that you follow my dear friend Kristin! So thanks guys!! Check your emails!

Okay, I'll stop jabbering. On to the real reason of this post! I wanted to share all of these fabulous resources that I have found and plan to use with my kiddos in January.

New Year ideas:

Source: acupcakefortheteacher.blogspot.com via Hadar on Pinterest

Source: teacherspayteachers.com via Hadar on Pinterest

Source: cooperativelearning365.com via Hadar on Pinterest

Source: thefirstgradeparade.blogspot.com via Hadar on Pinterest

Penguin Crafts:

Source: dragonfliesinfirst.blogspot.com via Hadar on Pinterest

Source: acupcakefortheteacher.blogspot.com via Hadar on Pinterest

Source: firstgradeblueskies.blogspot.com via Hadar on Pinterest

Games and Centers:

Source: thebubblyblondeteacher.blogspot.com via Hadar on Pinterest

Source: firstgradeblueskies.blogspot.com via Hadar on Pinterest

As you can see, I have a thing for penguins, First Grade Blue Skies and Mrs. Cupcake! Hopefully you can use some of these ideas too!

11 in '11 Linky Party!

<center><a href="http://misskindergartenlove.blogspot.com/2011/12/11-in-11-linky-party.html"><img border="0" src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v447/darlingstar/Publication1.png"/></a></center>

Well, 2011 is almost over! Wow! That went fast! As a fun way to commemorate {is that even an appropriate word?! I don't know, it sounded good} 2011, Kristin and I are throwing a part-ay! All you have to do is think back at your favorites in 2011 and add a few pictures. What a fun way to remember the year, huh!? You can use these prompts if you'd like, or just type up your 11 favorite things! 

11. Favorite movie you watched:

10. Favorite TV series:

9. Favorite restaurant:

8. Favorite new thing you tried:

7. Favorite gift you got:

6. Favorite thing you pinned:

5. Favorite blog post:

4. Best accomplishment:

3. Favorite picture:

2. Favorite memory:

1. Goal for 2012:

How to link up:

Create a blog post sharing your favorite 11 things in 2011. Add the button to your post using the code from above. Then link up below, making sure to link directly to your post, not just your blog.

My 11 in '11

11. Favorite movie you watched: 

This year was very unusual for me as I watched a lot, and enjoyed a lot of movies! But I would say my all time favorite movie was Horrible Bosses. It was hilarious!!

10. Favorite TV series:

Arrested Development. It's old, but hands down, the funniest TV show! And I love that it takes place in Orange County. My boyfriend and I watch it religiously on Netflix, we're already on Season 3 and we started in late October!

9. Favorite restaurant:
Bamboo Bistro. Amazing Vietnamese/Thai food!

8. Favorite new thing you tried:
hmmm...why did I make these questions so hard?! I guess I would say making activities for my students and selling them online! I was so nervous to try it, but once I did I absolutely loved it!

7. Favorite gift you got:
A free trip to Israel from Birthright! Best gift of my life!
A 10-day guided trip and 5 days with my grandma and aunt. Loved it!

6. Favorite thing you pinned:
I love, love, love, love, love, love Pinterest, so it's super hard to limit it down to one! But if I had to choose, I would say this:

Source: ohcrafts.net via Hadar on Pinterest

5. Favorite blog post:
My jar over at TBA-

4. Best accomplishment:
Surviving my first year teaching!!! Didn't think I was going to make it at several points throughout the year! If it wasn't for blogging I honestly don't think I would have!

3. Favorite picture:
 My cute kitty playing with my nephew's presents! LOVE this picture!

2. Favorite memory:
"Shower Curtain!" 
So let me just tell you, the showers in Israel are a joke! Maybe they're like that in other countries? I don't know because I don't travel EVER except when I went to Israel haha, but the showers are pretty much a drain in the bathroom floor and a shower curtain that hangs from the ceiling. Every time we showered, we'd flood the entire bathroom and the shower curtain would stick to us because there was nothing to hold it back! Also, my sister and I suffer from extreme inability to stop laughing when we are together, so anytime anyone would say anything about the showers, we would die laughing. Pretty soon, all people would have to say was "shower curtain" and we'd go nuts. Best memory ever :)

1. Goal for 2012:
Laugh a lot, learn a lot and live life to the fullest! That pretty much sums it up!

I've loved sharing 2011 with all you guys, here's to a terrific 2012!!

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Can't Stay Away!

Seriously, I'm having blog posting withdrawals!  I have SO much to post and so little time!! 

So in the meantime I'll leave you with this fun little linky party that Fern is throwing!

My 2011's Top Three Most Viewed Blog Post!

{I could probably do this from memory based on how many times I check my stats on a daily basis...haha!}

#3  My Turkey Family {5,157 views}

#2 Number Recognition Practice {5,496 views}

and coming in at the #1 most viewed blog post:

Tabletop Organizer {59,191 views}

...seriously!? Thank you Pinterest!

Stay tuned for a fun linky party my BBFF/IRLBFF and I will be throwing, my holly bloggy Christmas gift, my obsession with sticky notes and some of my great Target finds on My Fabulous Finds {while you're there, be sure to enter my giveaway!}

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It's Snow Secret...Learning is Fun!

 I can't believe Winter Break is finally here!!! The last week went by soooo slowly, and Friday was just mass chaos! One of the kindergarten parents decided it would be fun to have a popsicle party to celebrate the last day...

We are in California, but come one people, the winter season starts in 4 days! So needless to say, we were all freezing our buns off eating popsicles in the 40 mph winds and things were flying all over the place! Thank goodness that's over!

I also had a teary day, saying good bye to all my students and the wonderful teachers I have worked with for the past 4 months. But bigger and better things are on their way! I finally finished my new winter activity pack and I'm so excited to use it with my new firsties!! Woohoo!!

This packet includes:
Snowman Family & How to Draw a Snowman

Snowy Scene Subtraction

If I Were a Snowflake- Writing

Snow Search: How Many Words Start with Snow?

Snowflake Adjectives

Winter Words Cards & Write the Room

In The Winter Big Book, Mini Book, and craft cover!

Catch a Snowflake- addition game

Snowflake Fact Families

Pine Tree Place Value

Snowball Counting & Making Ten

Both of my Winter Packs are on sale for $5.00 until Wednesday!

                        

 Here's a little freebie for your students to practice place value using base-ten blocks:

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A Post Full of Random Things!

 1. As I was looking through my Lettering Delights collection {which is rather large, thankyouverymuch!}, I found this super cute winter clip art that I just had to make into something. I decided to make gift tags and then made cutie-patootie place tags while I was at it!

{Kasey, even with instragram I am bad at taking pictures!!}

You can get your own copy by clicking on the images below!

Gift Tags

They may print on Avery labels...who knows though, I didn't have any labels to try it on!

Place Tags

2. I had a request to make an 11-20 game for my Popsicle Party counting game. Why had I never thought of that?!?! Seriously...

Anyway, it's only $1 on TpT and TN now if you'd like a copy!

3. Speaking of TpT, I won a $10 giftcard from sweet Molly at Classroom Confetti! Perfect timing as my new adventure in 1st grade begins!!

4. One of my BBFFs Erin over at Creating and Teaching is giving away Freebies like they're free! ;)

Head on over and check them out! While you're at, follow her so I can try to win her giveaway when she reaches 400 followers!

5. Another of my BBFFs, who will soon be my IRLBff {because when I meet her in real life, I'm going to force her to be my best friend!}, is trying to get to 1,000 followers because she has self esteem issues wants to share her amazing blog with you all!! {JK Kristin, you know I love you!!}

So, I'm going to help her out! If you don't already follow her at A Teeny Tiny Teacher, what is wrong with you!?!? But seriously, if you don't follow her, you have to! She's great! So go over to her blog, click the follow button, and head back over here to let me know that you did! When she reaches 1000 followers, I will give away my new snow packet to one lucky winner!

6. My mom added two new children's aprons to our Etsy Shop! Perfect for V-day!

7. Lastly, I have a fun, kind of new, vowel song! Last week when I was working with my group of kinders, I realized that they didn't know their vowels! I immediately thought of the vowel song that was linked to my classroom songs linky party, but couldn't remember what it was exactly. So I looked it up when I got home and low-and-behold, guess who linked it up!? Yup, my soul-mate, Kristin. {told you we're going to be Bffs}

So I made up the next 3 verses in the shower, where all my best singing occurs!, and dressed it up with a cute font! Click the image to grab it if you'd like!

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Have You Seen This!!??

If you love Ladybug's Teacher Files as much as I do {and that's a lot!!!} you have to go vote for her for BEST INDIVIDUAL BLOG!!! Go, go, go!!!

And while you're at it, Teaching Blog Addict has been nominated for BEST GROUP BLOG {woohoo! go me! yeah, yeah, yeah...let me take a little credit!}

And Erin Klein for BEST NEW BLOG!

How fun would it be if people we know win!

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Cute and FREE borders!

 Need some cute and free borders?! Go check out Frog Spot now!! She claims she's trying to kick her border making addiction. Maybe if we all beg she won't do it??!!

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