EDUCENTS LAUNCH

I am so excited to be a part of a new market place for teaching resources. Have you heard of it yet? Educents is its name! To help celebrate the launch of this amazing new site, Educents is offering $50 to spend on tons of awesome resources offered on their site. Numerous teacher authors have opened stores so you are sure to find the products you love and need at a great price!

Be sure to enter the giveaway below! To help with the celebration grab my Earth Day freebie over at my new store on Educents! Just click on the pic below to head on over to my new store! You will need to scroll down to the picture below once there in order to grab your freebie! 

Educents Marketplace $50 in Edubucks Giveaway #2 - First Grade Stores

An InLinkz Link-up

Happy April Fool's Day!

Inspired by the post from this website http://www.favecrafts.com/blog/fc/april-fools-pranks-for-kids/ - 

I quickly whipped up some brownies for my firsties today for April Fool's Day! So much fun! 

Of course, I didn't have the time to bake homemade brownies AND my brownies NEVER come out of the pan nicely! So I ran to the supermarket on my prep and had my good friend Debbie help me out! 

Here are the two trays of brownies side by side! I covered both with aluminum foil and had my lovelies work hard all day to earn them! Of course, I played it up and I picked a volunteer to pass out a napkin to everyone. They quickly unfolded their napkins and were smacking their lips for the delicious brownies. I played it up even more by washing my hands before I touched the treat! 

The look on the boys and girls faces when I passed out the BROWN Es was priceless! Sooo funny! They had no idea what I was up to until I yelled "APRIL FOOL'S!" I still had to help them understand it! They were so cute when they figured it out and had a good laugh! Then of course I passed out their real brownies cause I'm nice like that LOL!  

I WILL BE DOING THIS EVERY APRIL FOOLS DAY FOREVER! SO EASY AND FUN! 

HAPPY APRIL FOOL'S DAY EVERYONE!

Spring in Our Step Linky and Giveaway

I can’t wait for Easter! A true spring celebration! Each year, I make the peep cake above! That is a picture of the one I made last year! My girls and I love to search for all the different colored peeps! This year, we got white - the mystery flavor - ohh ahhh! This cake is super easy to make (ala Betty Crocker) and super fun to decorate!

Check out the first day of spring in my town! Yup! It snowed! One week later, and they are predicting snow again! Will spring every get here? Spring, please find your way to New York!

I love this time of year in my classroom! It is when the children are really starting to “get it”. They are growing up. They are becoming more mature. They are blossoming both academically and socially just like the season itself!

Check out the great spring products below. Click below to head over see all my spring related products on TpT!

And finally, a freebie for Earth Day! Enjoy!

You’ve made it this far! Don’t forget to enter below for a chance to win a FABULOUS prize! Check out the links below to other great blog friends who what to share their Spring in Our Step post with you! 

HAPPY SPRING!!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

An InLinkz Link-up

iTeach First Collaborative Blog and a Giveaway!!

Friends,

I have a very exciting announcement to make! 

I have decided to team up with some of my very best first grade buddies to write for a collaborative blog! 

That means ONE blog with TONS of great ideas from several super awesome First Grade teachers!

One thing I L-O-V-E about this blog, is you will know exactly what to expect each day of the week.  For every day, there is a blogging theme.  Check them out! 

I'm SO excited to get started on this new adventure, and am thrilled to invite you along for the ride.  Let's celebrate with a little giveaway!  

You can win my Spring Print and Go Pack! It is full of awesome spring themed and math printables. Perfect for center time, classwork, or homework! Click on the pic below to read the description over at TpT :)

All you have to do to enter is follow us over at iTeachFirst then follow the instructions

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Can't wait to get started sharing some great First Grade ideas with you! 

Check out all the great iTeach bloggers and enter their giveaways below!

An InLinkz Link-up

Clipart Credit: Melonheadz Illustrating, Creative Clips, Sonya DeHart Design

Pick 3 - March :)

I love this leprechaun! I have actually made him for many years now. The kiddos love making his beard by snipping with a scissor!

Again, I have made this many many times with my K students. In first grade, I have to hold up a sample of the one I made while teaching K b/c we never have enough time to make them! The kiddos are so sad and WANT to make them! We concentrate more on the poem in first :)

This little gem is a new find! Who would have thought! I love this idea! I am going to pass it onto my wonderful art teacher just in case I can’t squeeze it in!

Check out more awesome MARCH ideas below! Thank you for stopping by :)

An InLinkz Link-up

Teachers are Heroes Sale - What’s In My Cart?

It is finally here! The BIG TPT sale! This is the day that I’ve been waiting for! I have a HUGE wish list! Oh course, there is a lot of clipart on it - so I can make new and fabulous products. But there is also things that I LOVE, that I WANT, and that I MUST HAVE for my first graders! 

Here they are: 

I love this set from the Moffit Girls! The writing checklist on the side - adore it. The cues on the bottom of the paper - love it! This would be perfect for our writing center during guided reading time. It can be done independently and fits the needs of all learners! If there was an April, May, and June one out, I’d buy them too! Just $4 but during the sale, LESS, a true bargain!

Next purchase, this Nonfiction Easy Reader from Tara West. I am always in search of new guided reading books to keep my kiddos interest. These seem perfect. There are 3 levels to meet the needs of all of my readers and a fact sheet for them to read and record their own fact at the end. I hope they print out ok in black and white :) The pictures are beautiful!

And yes, I do use Reading A-Z for some of my guided reading readers. I have been making my own follow up activities for them (usually in the wee hours of the morning). Umm, what was I thinking? Of course this has been done for me. Right into the cart!

Are you curious as to what others may be purchasing? Check out the bloggers below who are also getting their shop on for the Teachers Pay Teachers sale this Wednesday 2/25/15!

An InLinkz Link-up

1,000 Follower Celebration!

Hello sweet friends! Guess what? Today has been an awesome day! As I was making and printing out literacy stations for my kiddos early this morning (as my family soundly slept all nestled in their beds), my good friend Shanon over at OCD in First sent me a Facebook message. Do you know what it said? 

YOU ARE IN THE TPT NEWSLETTER!!!

I had to read it 3x because I have been trying to get into the newsletter for a LONG LONG LONG time! So long, that I stopped checking each week to see if I made it! So it was cool that Shanon was the one to tell me! So thank you Shanon for a very exciting day!

AND GUESS WHAT ELSE????

I reached 1,000 TpT followers today!

So to celebrate this

AWESOME

AMAZING

UNBELIEVABLE 

DAY

I am giving away a $25 TpT gift certificate! 
Just enter the rafflecopter below!

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February Pick 3

It it time for the February Pick 3! I have linked up with other great blogging buddies to bring you 3 of my favorite pinterest pins for February! And here they are :)

CLICK ON IMAGE ABOVE FOR ORIGINAL PIN

I love Heidi from Heidi Songs! She is a true genius when it comes to getting children to learn their sight words. I have been using her videos for about 4 years now with amazing success! My students LOVE her and LOVE the songs she uses to remember each sight word! Check out her website here http://www.heidisongs.com. 

I LOVE LOVE LOVE her secret sight word surprise activity! Perfect for centers! You just need to use a white crayon to write the sight word. Children then use watercolors to reveal the word! This is always a very popular and fun center! Heidi offers these sheets for FREE FREE FREE and them for many holidays.

CLICK ON IMAGE TO LINK TO ORIGINAL PIN

I love this Abraham Lincoln from A Day in First Grade. I have dreamed about making him! About getting the white paper from the huge roll in our art room. Measuring carefully a full 6 feet 4inches (which is 76 inches or 2 yard sticks long with 4 additional inches). Rolling it up oh so gingerly and bringing it home. Then unrolling it on my kitchen floor as I chase my dog and little ones off of it. I know I can draw him free hand from just this pic! I know I can! So, I am going to do it! I can’t wait to display him outside my classroom door once my firsties measure up against him! I am so excited to see their faces. To see them “get it” with an awesome visual! Thank you A Day in First Grade for the inspiration :)

CLICK ON IMAGE ABOVE FOR ORIGINAL PIN

Since I am already making Abe, why not make this as well? LOVE this! So doing it! So hanging them from my classroom ceiling! So going to try to save them for next year!

Thanks for checking in with me for February’s Pick 3! Check out some more fabulous picks below!

An InLinkz Link-up