Monday, December 31, 2012

Monday, December 24, 2012

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all of my blogger and teacher friends.

 
And my furry "child"...

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Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Christmas Around the World

During the cyber Monday sale I bought a fanastic unit from Christina Bainbridge on Christmas Around the World.  I used this, partnered with Teachwithmecom's Christmas Around the World Unit to create a mega project for my school's literacy fair.

We used Christina's wonderful powerpoints to gain knowledge about each country and the students worked in pairs to complete a new sheet that I created.  After all of the countries were completed, students made a venn diagram comparing two of the countries together.

When everything was completed, we put the projects into ADORABLE travel suitcase from Teachwithme.com's website.  The suitcase was made from an empty cereal box.


We decorated the front with stickers and decorations from Teachwithme.com.  We added a cute Class 307 tag to the front.


Next, we added file folders to the front to make it look like the suitcase opened.  We added a passport, boarding pass and a map of all the countries we visited through the powerpoints.  (all of these materials and directions are on Teachwithme.com)

The next few pages had the worksheet that we used to write about our countries and how they celebrate Christmas.  Each page asked the students to draw the flag of the country, special facts about their holiday and when it is celebrated. 






The last page had a venn diagram comparing and contrasting two countries to each other.   We learned that some countries used fireworks to celebrate or had special desserts.  Many countries also celebrated the 3 Wise Men.


Hope you enjoyed our project and I highly recommend both of the sites we used to make our project.
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Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Need some gift ideas???

I am linking up with Erica Bohrer's First Grade  and Fabulous in First to give a few ideas for the holidays and a peak into my Christmas bag. 



For my 1 year old who is a daredevil:
Yes, it is a power wheel for 1 year olds, but it only goes 2 mph by pressing a button.  HE WILL LOVE IT!!!
 
 
 
 
My my nephew (1.5 years old) who is obsessed with food:


For my dad (who is also obsessed with food):

For my mom who lost her laundry room and basement in the hurricane and is currently rebuilding:

A new, cute sign from Etsy.




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Monday, December 10, 2012

Tell Me Something Good- linky

Tonight I am joining up with Rowdy in First Grade for a linky party. 

Something good from school:  We have been enjoying our current Storytown passage about Schools Around the World.  We branched out to learn about Holidays Around the World and schools in the past.  I am hoping to find great pen pals for us.  Since we are in NYC, I was hoping to find a school in a rural community to write to us.  If you know of anyone, let me know. 
Something good from home:  I have finally chosen a holiday card!!!  I am still living at my parents house, due to Hurricane Sandy, so I have not had the chance to set up a photo shoot for my baby.  We recently went to the farm to see Santa, and one of the pictures was sooooo cute, that I decided to put it on my card.  Here is a preview of Owen at the farm:


Gifts purchased:  (background) I have a 21 month old nephew that loves to go to Mommy and me.  Each week he (mostly my SIL and he holds the glue stick) creates a craft to bring home.  Recently he made a circus picture, a large dog and a spooky ghost.  Each time you go over to visit him, he runs over to find a craft and runs full speed towards you saying, "OOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHH".  He loves to show off every picture he has.  SOOO, for Christmas I bought him a very cute, personalized art portfolio to put all of his projects in.  He will love it!!





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Friday, December 7, 2012

Loooove our current math unit

My class has been having a blast with our current math unit- multiplication.  I pinterested math word walls and charts and found some great things.   I also purchased Amy Lemon's Multiplication Situations and have used some projects from there. 

Here is a current picture of our Math Word Wall:

Notice the egg carton on the bottom-  one of my students brought it in and was so excited that he found a "real life array".   A lot of the charts on the word wall come from TPT.  The properties charts are freebies and the multiplication charts are from Amy Lemon's unit.  The rounding rollercoaster chart is FREE and from my store and can also be found in my 3rd grade, 1 page assessment pack for all Common Core standards


We have also been having a blast preparing for our MULTIPLICATION PARTY!  Everyday, we have been taking speed tests starting with 0s and 1s.  After mastering that, students moved to 2s, 5s and 10s.  Next, they moved to 3s, 4s and 6s.  Lastly, to move to the party, students mastered 7s, 8s and 9s.  This can be done through memorization, skip counting, groups (circles and stars), breaking apart arrays/friendly facts or drawing arrays.

Here is a picture of our multiplication chart:
 
Each student has their own "star" that moves with them as they master the next level of multiplication facts.  Blue is 0s and 1s, green is 2s, 5s, and 10s,  yellow is 3s, 4s and 6s  and red is 7s, 8s and 9s.  I have become inspired to create a new multiplication unit- coming soon. 
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Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Crazy Christmas Science

Woah! The holidays are hectic! I still cannot return home for another month!!! We are making the best of the holiday time thanks to the best friends and family!!!

My class is also another source of great happiness!!! I made this especially for them because they love science!! Enjoy!

Crazy Christmas Science


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Saturday, December 1, 2012

Blog Hoppin': Purchases

I had a blast participating in the TPT Cyber Monday and Bonus Tuesday sale.  I bought a few products myself that I can't wait to use!!!!

Blog Hoppin'

1.  I LOOOOOVE this purchase.  It might be my favorite of all of my purchases EVER!!!  It is from Ashleigh and it is perfect for my next unit or nonfiction reading and writing.  I DEFINTELY recommend this product

 
2.  I also bought Amy Lemon's multiplication situations unit and already used it for an observation.  It went so well.  The principal absolutely loved her "in each hand" multiplication by 2s project.  The lesson I had was for 2s and 5s, so I used this project along with a project about 5 baskets.  I will post if for free this week. 
 
 
3.  I purchased Christina Bainbridge's Christmas Around the World for additional support on a literacy fair project I was currently working on.  The students LOVED the powerpoints and flippy books.  I paired it with a free unit I found on teachwithme.com and created a VERY CUTE suitcase for our project.  I will be writing a new blog post for this, so look out for it later this week (with pictures)



4.  Lastly, I was looking for cute decorations for Chinese New Year (I know, its early) and came across this really cute lantern project.  It comes with all the paterns you could possible need WITH photos to show you how they come out.  They are from Bernadette Zabrouski, so check them out!!!  The picture is really small, check them out here.


 
AND....I have recently added new holiday products to my store for Hanukkah, New Years, Valentine's Day, Winter (no holidays mentioned), Christmas and Polar Express. 
 
 
 
 
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