Groundhog Day

Is it just me or are groundhogs stinkin' adorable?? I am having so much fun teaching about them this week! Here's what we've done so far {and are planning to do!}

On Monday, we read My Shadow by Susan Winter, and talked about what a shadow is.

 First graders are so sweet, they have the best discussions!

Then we brainstormed some things that we can do with our shadows and did a mini writing activity.

After we wrote about what we like to do with our shadow, we did a super fun art activity! I got this idea from the first grade teachers I'm working with, so cute!!

I gave the kiddos a white piece of construction paper stapled onto a black piece of construction paper and had them draw at least three objects.

After they finished drawing, they very carefully cut out each object, making sure to cut the black paper at the same time. They completed this task surprisingly better than I had anticipated! Go first graders!

Then, they flipped the black paper upside down and glued it directly under their objects.

Finally, they added details to the background. I love how they turned out!

 {ugh, blogger!!}

On Thursday, we're going to make these cutie groundhogs.

You can download the template {here} or {here}.
I shrank the ears down a little on the template because it was looking too much like a mouse to me!

We'll read this adorable book that Kathleen at Growing Kinders made and write the interesting facts we learned for our groundhog to hold.

We're also going to draw our groundhog family in a math center!

 I haven't decided how I'm going to teach them to draw groundhogs just yet...but I think I will base them off the little groundhog template above.

And we'll tell about Mr. Groundhog's day using this adorable mini book that Christie at First Grade Fever created.

I'm loving Groundhog's Day!

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February Goodies Winner & a Freebie!

 Karyn from A is for Apple, B is for Blog {adorable blog name!}

Wow Karyn!

Just in the nick of time!

 Thanks to everyone who entered! As a consolation prize, I'm taking it upon myself to share this adorable freebie with you. Be sure to head over to Frog Spot and download these adorable Fancy Hearts Line Art for FREE! Make sure you follow Melanie's blog and leave her a comment saying thanks! We LOVE her!!

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Wow! and a SALE!

The expo this morning was so much fun!! What a wonderful event to be a part of! And thank goodness it was a virtual presentation, because singing in front of the computer was definitely way less intimidating than singing in front of over 700 people!!!!!  Thanks for those of you who said you enjoyed my singing! Haha! You hold a special place in my heart! And hopefully my book of songs will be useful for you as well!

In other news, I finally finished my February Games and Centers activities!

{Just in time because I'm giving it away come Monday!}

For those of you who can't wait til Monday, you can purchase it at Teachers Notebook for only $4.00! All of my products will be discounted 20% through Tuesday!

Ooh! My other exciting news for the day! I went to lunch with my family this afternoon {before my 2 hour nap!} and got 10 craft idea books for 5 cents a piece at a thrift store!! I was SO excited, I couldn't stop smiling! It's the little things :)

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Virtual Teaching Expo Question and Answer

Thanks to everyone who attended the Virtual Teaching Expo this morning! You can still purchase a ticket and view it at your own convenience by signing up through this link. I recommend doing it before Jan 30th so you can access the free goodie bag! 

If you have any questions specifically about my presentation, songs or classroom management please feel free to ask! I will answer them as quickly as possible! Trouble downloading my digital download? Send an email to Support@VirtualTeachingExpo.com

Here is a link to my classroom management posts.

I am also offering a 20% discount off all of my products (even the $1 items!) on my Teachers Notebook store this weekend! If you're interested in seeing any of my products in action, you can view them {here}.

Thanks!

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February Goodies Giveaway!

Preparing for February? Wouldn't you love to get all these great activities for free!?

I am hosting a giveaway with these awesome teacher bloggers!

Check out what you can win!

from

 

 Visit Mrs. Tunstall's TpT store and TN store

 from

Visit Mrs. Cupcake's TpT store and TN store

from



Visit First Grade Blue Skies's TpT store and TN store

from

Visit The Bubbly Blonde's TpT store and TN store

from

Visit Miss Kindergarten's TpT store and TN store

There are 4 ways to enter!
1. Follow all of our blogs and leave one comment on this blog
2. Follow all of our TpT stores and leave one comment on this blog
3. Follow all of our TN stores and leave one comment on this blog
4. Blog about this giveaway and leave the link in the comment on this blog

Giveaway will go until Monday, Jan 30th and one winner will be announced shortly after.

Good Luck!

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My Craft Corner

I absolutely fell in love with Kelley's crafting organization when she posted about it a few weeks ago.

I couldn't wait to make my own! Before this, my craft supplies were strewn around my little apartment and all over my parents' garage. I've never had my own "space" before so this was really exciting! I was super giddy driving home from Michaels with these:

I wanted mine to look exactly like Kelley's because I loved it so much and she was so sweet sharing where she found everything! But, I couldn't find it all so I decided I had to be flexible and use what I could find!

Here's my final product!

I love it! I literally can sit and stare at it for hours!

It wasn't expensive either! Each little cube was on sale for 50% off and with my 15% teacher discount they came out to less than $20 a piece! I also found the little gray trays in the Target dollar spot to hold my printer paper and my cardstock. The little gray felt organizers hold my paintbrushes and pens. And my personal scotch laminator fits perfectly on top!

I printed the labels on a gray polka dot background using the adorable font Kelley suggested. It's from Kevin & Amanda called Pea Jo.

I am so proud of myself!

Check out my Etsy Shop to see what kind of things I create!

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I am SO excited for this!

 Check out my newest addition to TBA!

All the blog giveaways in one place! Go check it out! If you're currently hosting a giveaway be sure to link it up!

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Teaching Volume Levels

Last year, I introduced volume levels to my class and had a really positive response. It not only helped in managing students as a whole group, but was really helpful in teaching individual students appropriate volume levels throughout the day. So when I started with my new class this year, I knew I wanted to teach them about volume levels.

{someone made me this adorable chart, but I can't link back to where I got it! This was BP (before Pinterest) so if it's yours please leave a comment!  Jessica from Under the Alphabet Tree made this for me! Also, Katie at Little Warriors has a bunch of great volume charts!}

I recently attended a professional development workshop put on by some wonderful professors from the college I attended and learned some great ideas on how to actively engage my students during a lesson. I knew I wanted to engage them in this volume levels lesson for two reasons...one, I wanted them to be engaged because this is important! and two, I knew that would learn a lot more from it if I had them actively participating than if I just sat there and lectured at them.

{Side note: If you're interested in some new ways to actively engage your students I highly recommend this book!}

Anyway, I prepped the lesson by printing out several volume level charts {I selected "2 to a page" before printing} and several daily schedule cards that I purchased from Mrs. Bainbridge {I selected "4 to a page" for these cards and they were the perfect size for their little hands}and then cut them into strips. I put all 5 volume level cards and about 8 schedule cards into an envelope.

I started the lesson by introducing the volume levels chart and explaining the meaning of each number. We briefly talked about where it would be okay to use a level 5 outdoor voice, and when we would want to use a level 1 no talking voice. Then I split the kids up into groups of 4 using their desk letters, so that A's worked together, B's worked together and so on.

{they're working on place value using Cara's adorable snowman spinners!}

Here they are sorting their cards under the volume numbers:

I gave them about 5 minutes to sort their cards and loved listening to them working together to figure out where each activity belongs. Their dialogue was amazing!

We ended the lesson with sorting the larger cards on the board and sharing where we thought each activity card should go. This part was great because the groups where able to move their cards around after hearing a few examples up on the board. The students were so engaged!

{we decided that spelling referred to a spelling test which is why it's under no talking :)}

The kiddos did a great job with this activity and I think they totally left with the knowledge of appropriate volume levels. We constantly review this throughout the day too. When I hear them working to loud I say "volume check" and they chorally {well, for the most part!} respond with the correct level and adjust their volume. It's awesome!

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My New Clip Chart

When I started a new grade level, I knew I wanted a new clip chart too. I've been using a clip chart in my classroom since I've attended Rick Morris' classroom management trainings. He is a classroom management guru! I got some great ideas thanks to my facebook friends and Pinterest, and finally came up with something that fit all of my requirements!

My main inspiration was Denise's adorable pin chart that she shared on her blog over the summer.

Source: sunnydaysinsecondgrade.blogspot.com via Hadar on Pinterest

I found those adorable polka dot headers on clearance at Michaels, but being the go-getter that I am, I laminated them before I even had any idea of what I wanted to do with them! When I saw Denise post this I was SO excited!

When I was searching for some clip chart ideas, I came across these and really loved the wording!

Source: dreamplanteach.blogspot.com via Hadar on Pinterest

Source: teach-a-roo.blogspot.com via Hadar on Pinterest

I made the titles using one of my favorite Lettering Delights alphabets. It's polka dotted! How cute is that!? {Is anyone interested in a tutorial on using Lettering Delights alphabets? Leave me a comment if you'd like me to make one!}
When I went to put it together, I hit a speedbump! Like I mentioned before, my cute polka dot headers were already laminated!!! What was I to do!? I didn't want to risk laminating lamin, so I decided to print the titles on card stock and attached them with my scrapbooking tape, then attached  the headers onto ribbon. I tried my trusty old mod podge first, but the lamin didn't stick to it well and the headers just peeled right off. After much googling, I tried double sided tape...worked like a charm! I absolutely love the way it turned out!

Onto my search for clothespins! I couldn't find any regular sized pins, so I sucked it up and bought the tiny ones. I actually decided that I like the tiny ones more. They complement the cute polka dots.

Then, my mission was to figure out how to document their behavior everyday. At first I thought of little business sized cards for the kids to fill out where they were for the day, but I knew I would never see the cards again once they were sent home, and that seemed like a waste of a lot of paper! I finally decided on a monthly calendar for my students to use daily. At the end of the day they color the box to show their behavior for the day. They take them home everyday and bring them back everyday. {The power of classroom money!}

I thought I'd share these calendars if anyone else would like to use them!
These calendars are in pdf form and are not editable. You will have to write the numbers in by hand. The fonts I used are from DJ Inkers and Lettering Delights.

I also got some really great ideas from Mrs. Bainbridge's blog.
When a student clips up to role model, they get a little certificate. {I realized that I should have copied it on purple after I made all the copies on pink...haha}

And just in case someone has to clip all the way down to red, they fill out a behavior reflection that is sent home and signed by parents.

I sent a note home to parents explaining the new chart and the calendar that goes home everyday. So far, the parents are very pleased and I've gotten some great feedback!

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Currently...

Go link up with Farley if you want to play along!!

P.S. My digital sticky notes have grown exponentially since this post! There's never any time...why is there never any time!?!

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Just a Thought...

Source: eighteen25.blogspot.com via Hadar on Pinterest

{plus}

Source: deceptivelyeducational.blogspot.com via Hadar on Pinterest

{equals}

A "wheelie" cute Valentine's Day card! Ready, go!

P.S. Does anybody have a cookie stamp that they no longer want/use?? Okay...apparently I need to be more clear! A rubber stamp that has the shape of a cookie. So that when I use it as a stamp, a cookie picture shows. Make more sense?? Anyway, I am am dire need and I can't find one anywhere. Email me if you have one, I will pay you!!

misskindergarten{at}hotmail{dot}com

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Do You Use Sticky Notes?

Hi, I'm Hadar, and I'm addicted to Sticky Notes.

{Similar to my addiction to fonts haha!}

I love writing myself lists. I have been known to write the same list 3 times in 3 different places. I also used to have 3 calendars until I went to see "someone" about anxiety and was instructed to get rid of 2 calendars ;) Anyway, I learned about sticky notes a few months ago and it has changed my life! Image having your lists in constant view, never losing a note, keeping your desk clean and organizing your lists all at the same time! Amazing!

Sticky Notes let's you save post-its right on your desktop! You can change the color of your post-its to organize them. You can change the size of your post-its so everything fits clearly. You can also use bullet points and cross things out when you've done them!!! Click {here} to learn how.

{Clearly, I did not meet any of my Winter Break goals!}

This feature is available for Windows 7 or higher. Not sure if it's availbe on a Mac. {Ladybug? Lemons? I would ask Erica but she's pretending like she's not tech-savvy ;)}

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