It's time for a Cyber SALE at TPT!  Stop by my little shop and get 28% off everything!  Get your wishlist ready! 

Woohoo! Sale time!!

Don't miss the TpT Back to School Sale!  I hope you'll stop by my store and do a little shopping!  See you there!  

Don't forget to use the promo code!

Wonder Bugs  is having a giveaway!  Make sure you stop by and enter!  

Art, Art, and More Art!

We finished a couple of summer school projects today.  First, I read "Ira Sleeps Over".  Such a cute story and I love bears so it's perfecto!  The story also allowed kiddos to discuss how Ira was feeling and most could totally empathize with the little guy.  Of course, we had to draw a teddy for this one!  

I also read "Owl Moon".  We live in Southern California so I had to do a lot of front loading about snow, cold, wearing scarves, etc.  The story inspired this winter scene using torn paper.

)

Just 6 more days of summer school to go!  (Not that I'm counting)

Congratulations Carla from Comprehension Connection!

Carla from Comprehension Connection is hosting a giveaway to celebrate her 300th follower!  Wow!!  Head over and visit her blog and join the fun.  I'll be giving away my Apples! Apples! Apples! unit.  Who couldn't use more apple stuff??  Good luck!!

Gettin' Artsy in Summer School)

Just finished the 3rd week of summer school!  Two weeks (8 days) to go to my official summer break!  Here's a few of the projects my kiddos did this week.  I hope you like:-)

We read "A Kiss Goodbye" by Audrey Penn.  It's one of the cute Chester books.  I found a chalk drawing on Pinterest and simplified it a bit.  Here's a Kinder sample.

Check out Marymaking at:  http://marymaking.blogspot.com/2013/04/raccoon-portraits.html

We also read "The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear" by Don and Audrey Wood.  Holy Cow that little mouse is cute!  For the art project we used primary colors to paint a strawberry.  Kids had to mix blue and yellow to make green for the strawberry top.  We used blue to shade one side of the berry and yellow to brighten the other side.  

Next, on to "Surfer Chick" by Kristy Dempsey.  I just discovered this book and it is adorable!  Loved explaining that  the term "chick" can refer to girls and baby chickens.  I also read "Pig Kahuna" by Jennifer Sattler. Both books talk about kids overcoming fears.  Here's a hibiscus flower we did after reading.

And finally, I read a book about a garden (I can't remember what it's called).  Then we did this hyacinth flower project I also found on Pinterest ( I love you Pinterest)!

Gotta love a project with fingerprints! This idea came from 

http://dalimoustache.blogspot.com/2012/04/hyacinths.html.  Again, I simplified it bunches:-).  

Have a fantastic weekend!  Stay cool!

Summer School is Cool!

I am in summer school mode!  I'm teaching a literature/art class.  I only have two periods so I am done by 10:30 every day!  Yahoo!  My first period is Kinders and my second period is 1-3 graders.  I'm pretty much able to do the same projects with each group but the second period is by far more independent and does a little more detail.  They all seem to like the projects no matter how old they are!  One of the projects we did last week went with the book "The View At the Zoo" by Kathleen Bostrom.  Super cute book that I just got at the end of the school year.  Here's the cutie giraffe we made after reading the book.

I think these were both done by Kinders.  We used a chalk stain to color them.  I loved to hear their squeals of delight when I showed them how to do that.  They were Amaaaaazed:-)

I got the giraffe idea from http://josettebrouwer.edublogs.org/2011/01/15/second-grade-giraffes/.  Thank you so much for sharing such a cute idea!

On Monday we'll be doing a strawberry draw/paint project using primary colors and reading the story "The Big Hungry Bear and the Red Ripe Strawberry".  Check back!

Catching Up to Do!

Holy Cow!  Where have I been???  Let's just say I've been livin' life!  My daughter got engaged about a month ago.  Whoopy!!!  The wedding is August 2nd.  Yes...August 2nd as in three months from now!  AAAAAAAaaa!  We are busy girls getting this blessed matrimony together.  It is a blast!  My family loves our future son-in-law to pieces so we are very lucky.  

So way back in April, I was doing some CGI from my spring CGI packet and I was rejoicing at the fabulous, awesome, amazing brilliance of my little guys.  Here's a pic of one of the problems and how my sweet guy figured out the answer.

I just introduced multiplication a few weeks before and obviously this guy has it down!  I think it is so cute that he drew little circles at the top of each column to represent each bag.  Sometimes when we do CGI I just want to dance down the aisles! 

Last week was Teacher Appreciation Week!  I don't know who the brain was behind creating a week for teachers but I'm sure happy about it!  Our awesome PTA provided treats in the lounge every day.  Not just a bagel...it was a massive snackfest!  I'm a little scared to get on the scale at Weight Watchers tomorrow!  One of my parents decorated our classroom door.  It was a definite home run!  That's my kiddos little faces on the baseballs.  

On one of the days, our Principal and AP visited each classroom with a coffee cart and served us!  That was awesome!  I had hot chocolate and a donut hole thank you:-).  My kiddos were a little jealous so I told them after they go to college for 6+ years and become a teacher they can have hot chocolate in front of their class too!

Oops!  I'm out of order.  Oh well.  Here's a little Earth Day activity we did in addition to my Earth Day packet.  Each kiddo created an Earth Day poster as a part of their homework for the week.  I broke them up into small group using the Rick Morris cards, and they shared within their groups.  I loved seeing the pride they showed in their work and the thoughtful remarks they had for each other.  Here's a pic.

This little missy is totally pointing out everything on her poster and explaining what she did.  She is VERY  verbal (which comes in handy when sharing but not at other times).

I almost forgot to share this fab giveaway!  Wendy from First Grade Fireworks is having a celebration for her 50th bday!  Happy Birthday to Wendy!  Head over to her blog and enter the giveaway. I donated my Hawaiian Luau packet.

My hubby is vacuuming right now;-)  Life is good!

Lucky me!  I'm so excited to be the featured teacher/author spotlight on John Hughes' blog Educatorslife!  He is so dedicated to helping us all share our ideas and products.  Thanks so much, John!  Please stop by his blog and leave a comment:-).

One more week til Spring Break!!  Wahoo!!

Word Problems

The CC Math Standards state that first graders represent and solve problems involving addition and subtraction.  That's what's happening in my classroom with my themed word problem units and I LOVE it!  Here's a peek at a couple of the pages we worked on for February...

I was lucky enough to get CGI Math training from my district.  I am sooooo glad and so are my kiddos!  I am amazed every time we do it!  Here's why:

1.  Kids are totally engaged

2. Kids interact

3. Higher level thinking  (yes!)

4. My kids learn to explain their thinking and share their ideas in front of the class using the doc. cam and microphone.  Cute as can be!!

5. If someone is stuck, they get up and walk around to see what others are doing

6.  It's magical to watch them manipulate math tools

I had some math manipulatives but I wrote a grant to purchase more.  Each table gets to choose from a variety of tools to use to solve problems.

You can check out my February word problem packet at my tpt store.

Tell Me Something Good!

Happy three day weekend!  Whoot!  Whoot!  
I'm joining Jennifer's linky!  Head over to Rowdy in First Grade and join the fun:-)
Here's the scoop...you have to tell something good that's happening at school and at home.  So, at school I'm thrilled getting really excited about the Common Core Standards.  Is that weird??  We are a little behind but we're getting there:-).  Higher level thinking???  YES!!  Can't wait to check out the new testing that will be coming down the road.
What's good at home???  Gotta say...EVERYTHING!  I'm a happy camper these days.  I got to SKYP with my son tonight so that was the BIGGEST thrill of the day.  Also saw the movie "Silver Linings Playbook".  And I have the day off tomorrow!  I'm going to try one of those burlap painting crafty thingys.  I'll post a pic if it turns out presentable:-).

Gotta Luv Target!

My hubby always drops me off at the door in front of Target and goes to park the car.  It's a routine:-).  He knows where to find me when he comes in....THE DOLLAR BINS!  There's always something I need in there!  Luckily, hubby has stopped asking for explanations of my purchases. It's cheap entertainment after all, right?  Here's my goodies from last weekend..

Of course a polka-dot magazine holder is a MUST!  Check out the cutie post-its!  Where else can you get 100 Day certificates for $1??  Nowhere!!  

Take a break from football to go shopping and you don't even have to leave the house!!  Check out the TPT Super Sunday Sale!  My store is 28% off!  Stop by and have a look!  Don't forget to use the code "SUPER" at checkout to get your discount.

Stop by Jason's Online Classroom for a great linky with lots of stores having SUPER sales!

New Sub Product

I have had such luck with my first grade sub tub packet that I decided to make one for second grade teachers too!  One recent reviewer of the first grade product said "My sub said I had the best sub folder she's ever seen".  I love that it's helping other busy teachers!  Check it out by clicking on the pic.

A Little This...A Little That

We are heading into the end of January!  WHAT!!  How is that possible!

I sent Progress Reports home last week.  I got all of my DIBELS assessments done!!  Can I get a whoop-whoop!!

It's all about penguins in my class this week.  Wednesday is Tacky Day!  WHAAAAAAT'S HAPPENING!  Ha!  I love that penguin!!  I'm so sad that I have to go to a CCSS training that day and have to miss the FUN with my kiddos:-(.  Pity party.  Boohoo!

I do artsy crafty things on Thursday afternoon and Thursday at lunch I was still thinking about what I wanted to do.  Then I remembered the totally cute symmetry penguin I saw on Pinterest a couple of nights before.  OH YEAH!  I whipped out the black and orange paint, cut some paper and we were in business.  I simplified the process and the look a bit from what I saw on Pinterest.  Here's some samples of these little cuties.

Little Dudes

Little Gals

And for the creative ones...Macaroni Penguins!

Click here to see the original article about these little cuties


I watched Mary Poppins with my little girl (she's 22) today!  OMG...such a great movie!  I may have to show it to my class the next time they earn a popcorn party!  BTW...to earn a popcorn party my kiddos have to build two Mr. Potato Heads.  They earn parts by getting good reports from their pullout classes (PE, computers, library, lunch).  My class LOVES this!  At our Winter holiday party some little siblings came into our class and without knowing the importance of Mr. Potato Head, they started playing with him.  Holy Cow!!!  It was just disastrous!  I had to reassure the class that we would put all of the pieces back on the potato and I wouldn't make them start over!  Hahahaha!  I forgot all about it but when I came in to school the next morning, I noticed that Mr. Potato Head had been put back just as he had been before all the terror the day before!  Hilarious!  Kids take these reward things very seriously!!

I got this idea from 2nd Grade Rocks on Pinterest <3.
Click here to see the original post

Off to work on some new products for TPT!  Hope you will stop by my little store and have a look:-)

Time for a Linky!!

Richi over at Ribbons, Recipes and Rhymes is having a linky.  She created some cutie pie penguin clip art and shared it so we could create some penguin products.  I'm linking up to my new Writing Silly Penguin Sentences packet.  Check it out:-)  Oh...I forgot to tell you, it's a freebie!!

Make sure you check out Richi's blog:-)

Happy New Year blog friends! I'm having such a great break that I haven't taken the time to do any blogging.  I didn't work on any new products until yesterday:-)  But now...I'm on a roll!  I finished my January Spectacular Sentences, and redid my Washington/Lincoln Expository Writing packet as well as the Valentine stuff I made last year.  Check them out!  

This first little sweetie will get your students to write sentences that dazzle!  The packet I made for December asked students to add "where" to their sentences.  This packet asks students to add adjectives!  That what makes the difference between good writing and great writing in my book!  

And moving right along...here's the link up to my "Mad About Math" Valentines Day packet. Woohoo!

Whaaaat you say???  There's more???

Yes indeedy!  Language Arts Valentines Day packet<3

And did I mention I revamped my Expository Writing with Lincoln and Washington Writing Activity Pack? 

I gotta go back to work and get some rest!  But first, I need to finish my January Word Problems packet.  I'll get it up later today or tomorrow.  It's awesome for CGI!  My class loves doing these fun word problems.  Just before the break I gave them a tough division word problem from my December packet and one of my kiddos got out of his seat and came up to me and said, "Mrs. Thelen, that was really fun!  I had to think a lot!" Learning, being challenged, and having fun...what a concept!