CGI

Sooooo...when I signed up for four days of CGI training at the end of the last school year it seemed like a great idea.  Now that I'm sitting here realizing that the training starts tomorrow, I'm rethinking my decision!  Haha!  I know a lot of you are heading back to school but I don't have to be back until the end of August.  Woohoo!  That gives me a few weeks to figure out how I'm going to handle book boxes for Daily 5.  The plastic bins are so expensive and here we have 30-32 kiddos.  I sure miss when we had 20:1:(  Having 30 kiddos also means less space for movement around during Daily 5 and less space to store stuff and less carpet space, and less space for centers, and less space for reading areas....  Yikes!  Starting to depress myself!  Actually, my room is bigger than the other two on my team.  They are really tiny.  
I'm trying to get sympathy from the hubby cuz I have to work tomorrow.  Somehow he doesn't feel my pain!  Haha! Must have something to do with the fact that he works every day all year long.  Sounds dreadful!!  One thing I love about our job is we have a beginning and an end.  It's always new every September:-)  
Almost time for Big Brother!  Yep, I'm a sucker for reality TV.  Have a fab week!   

Thank You, Melissa!

Thanks so much to Melissa over at Teacher Treasure Hunter for the Versatile Blog Award!  I appreciate the kudos!  I would like to pass on the honor to a few more goodies out there:

Jackie at Ready Set Read to Me
Sam at Mrs. Kelly's Klass
Melissa at More Time to Teach
Mrs. P at Second Grade Paradise
Meg at Buzz Around in Second Grade

I am supposed to list seven random facts about myself but since I did that already for a linky a couple of days ago you just have to scroll down!  

Thank you to Janis from Grade Three Is The Place For Me! for putting together this hop for newbies.

If you join, make sure you share:

1. What state you are in
2. Your current teaching position
3. Your teaching experience
4. When you started blogging
5. Share a blogging tip / blogging resource



So here's my sharing:-)
1. I live in Southern Ca.
2. I teach first grade.
3. I have been teaching for 20+years!  Gads!
4. I started blogging in February of 2012
5. My blogging tip...hummmmmm...make it cute:-)  

I love my tooth fairy bags!  Boy do kids get excited when they lose a tooth.  If it happens during the school day I might as well forget whatever was planned and take time to let everyone see the disgusting, slobber covered gem!  I started using these tooth fairy bags when a kiddo loses a tooth. I put toothbrushes, books, a "How I Lost My Tooth" journal, stickers, toothpaste, floss, etc. in the bag!  There's even a word search to do that night instead of homework!  Click on the picture if you would like to check out the "I Lost a Tooth" packet at my Tpt store!  It includes the designs for you to make your own iron on patches for your tooth bags!    

Tell Me More Linky Party

What a fun Linky!  Click on the image to join up at Amy's blog!


I wanted to know more about the creative women I stalk on the blogs so I clicked around the links from Amy's blog.  I learned that these blog ladies are waaayyy funny and quirks can be cool!


So, here's a few little facts about meeee:-)  


1. I can't stand it when people lick their fingers!!  EEEwwww!  If someone licks their finger while passing out papers, I will NOT take one of the top pages!  Seriously!  GERMS and slobber...grrrrooooosssss!  I have been know at teacher in-services to point out to my buds that the presenter is a "finger licker"!  
2. Rats should not be pets!  They are totally yucky!  Those beady little eyes are not even close to being warm and friendly!  They can climb up walls and be sneaky.  
3. I have a strong sense of smell (so I'm told).  I always smell things (usually bad things) before anyone else.  Skunks nearby?  I will yell "skunk" and hubby and I can get all of the windows closed before anyone else in the house smells it!
4. My mom has a southern accent but I can't hear it.
5. I love the smell of sunscreen and chlorine!  It means it's summer!!  
6. One of my favorite things in my house is my ice cream scooper.  It was my grandma's.
7. I don't understand why kids think that we don't know that they are picking their nose if they cover it up with their other hand!  Yuuuucky!


Let me know if you join in on the party!  I'd love to check out what makes you tick:-)

Hope over to Amanda's site for a great giveaway!  Congrats on reaching 500 followers!


http://www.teachingmaddeness.com/

Head over to MrsMc's and join in on this giveaway!  It's a biggie!
http://www.buzzthreetimes.blogspot.com/

Fun Stuff!!

I got my crate seats done last night!  Check out the cuteness!  

I love these guys!  I really need to find some yellow crates!  I got these red ones at Wal-Mart for $3.97.  The fabric was about $5/yd and I used 1/4 of a yard for each seat.  The batting was about $5.  Hubby had the wood:-)  Cheap, adorable, useful, colorful addition to my classroom!  


A few days ago I blogged about a contest that Sarah over at http://fcsandthensome.blogspot.com/ was having!  I joined in with her give away and am so happy to announce that the winner of a "Hanging Hero" is Crystal!  Congrats!  I'll be getting her Hero to her this week!  If you want to check out the product click the pic:-)  I'm offering free shipping this week!

Off to make a tooth fairy bag. How pathetic...I should be out by the pool!  

Woohoo for Wal-Mart!

What a successful trip to Wal-Mart!  I found these super cute bookmarks and the little yellow bins (can never have enough) for 88 cents!  Gotta love it!

Another exciting Wal-Mart find (which is why I went in the first place but got distracted by 88 cent school supplies) was red crates.  I'm making the cutie crate chairs that I saw at clutterfreeclassroom:-)  And, how about topping it off with super dooper cute fabric with ladybugs on it!  Doesn't take much to make a teacher excited does it?  I'll post pics of the chairs when they are done.  Hubby doesn't get the urgency of the whole project and hasn't cut the board yet:-(  


I also found canvas bags that I will be using to make my tooth fairy bags!  I was on the prowl for fabric pens when my hubby called the teacher shopping to a halt!  RATS! I'll post a pic of the bags when they are done.  It'll go along with my new Tooth Fairy packet that will be on Tpt soon!  


 

Time for a Freebie!!

Head over to my tpt store to get this class book freebie!

Thank you Kimberly!

Thanks so much to Kimberly over at The Teachers Workspace for the Liebster Blog Nomination!  This award recognizes blogs with under 200 followers:-)  Kimberly's blog is super cute...you gotta check out the owls!  Make sure you stop by her blog for a visit:-)

http://theteachersworkspace.blogspot.com/

Here are my choices for The Liebster Blog award:


Kathy at http://kafysbooks.blogspot.com/

Anna at  http://annabanana1986.blogspot.com/

Jennifer at http://onthe21st.blogspot.com/

Charlotte at  http://cathedralkindergarten.blogspot.com/

Madame Aiello at http://teachingfsl.blogspot.ca/

Stop by their blogs for a visit:-)

And here's what the winners need to do:

1.Copy and paste this award on your blog.

2. Thank the giver and link back to them.

3. Reveal 5 other bloggers and let them know by commenting on their blog.

Alphabet Letter Exchange

So my hubby is outside working on building a new fence around our pool equipment.  I'm inside "working" by blog hopping!  Who is having more fun???

There's fun to be had at First Grade Found Me!  



Chrissy over at First Grade Found Me is doing an adorable letter exchange for some Chicka Chicka Boom Boom fun!  I hope tons of you will visit her and join in on the fun!

Here's how it works:

1. Your class will be assigned a letter of the alphabet and put into a group with 25 other teachers. Each teacher would have their class decorate 26 of that letter. A template like the letter below will be provided. You'll print it on cardstock and have your class decorate it. Decorate it however you like, just have fun and get creative!

2. You'll need to mail 25 of the letters to the members of your group and you'll keep one. Each teacher is responsible for their own postage charges. At the end of the project you should have a complete, unique, student-made alphabet!

3. You could also include a short letter about your class, school, and where you live. This is optional.

Here's the link to Chrissy!  


http://firstgradefoundme.blogspot.com

Apples Galore!

Over a month since I last posted:-(  Oops!  It's summer so not much happening anyway.  I just finished my apple unit and posted it in my Tpt store.  Hooray!  I was a little concerned about doing an apple unit at first because it's totally been done.  Once I started working on it I really got going and I love the final product!  My favorite part is the cute "apple basket" students make to keep all of their apple themed work in.  Fun!
Click on the cover to preview this unit!

A Give Away!

Sarah is having a give-away!  Visit her blog and check it out!
http://fcsandthensome.blogspot.com/