Making progress

A few weeks ago I posted this picture of our backyard:

Very sad and not a place to spend time in the summer. Well, after a long day of working and 3 trips to Home Depot, here's what We've got going on now:

We still have some work to do, but it's coming along. Need to add some plants and things, put the table together, and fix the vent for the dryer (in the second pic, the metal thing), but we're getting there!

I'm heading down to the garage to stain a barrel/planter. I'll post pics when I'm finished!

What did you do on your Saturday??

The Sky Fell and Some Awards

What a day! First, I arrived to school and found this waiting for me in my room:

Apparently, the team working on the roof forgot to cover it with a tarp and it poured. So I've spent the morning going through and checking out to see if anything was ruined. Thanksfully nothing in my room was damaged.

Good news for the day was I found our new materials for Reading:

I am so excited to get my new Reading program today. We are using the SuperKids Reading Program which is awesome! Do any of you use it? We are using it in conjunction with the American Reading Company, another program that I am really excited about.

If you use either program, let me know what you think or if you have any suggestions. I'd love to hear it!!!

Next, I was so excited to have received some awards yesterday from Michelle @ Smitten With First for the Versatile Blogger Award and the One Lovely Blog award!

The rules for this award are: 1. Thank the blogger who nominated you. 2. Include a link to their site. 3. Include the award image in your post. 4. Give 7 random facts about yourself. 5. Nominate 15 other bloggers for the award. 6. When nominating, include a link to their site. 7. Let other bloggers know they’ve been nominated.

This meant so much to me to receive these awards!

Once you receive the Lovely Blog Award, you must follow 3 rules: 1. Follow the person that gave you the award. 2. Link back to the person that gave you the award. 3. Pass the award on to 15 bloggers.

I am passing these two awards onto..

1. First Grade Fabulosity 2. A Teacher's Touch 3. A Year of Many Firsts 4. A Place Called Kindergarten 5. 1st Grade With Miss Snowden 6. Bainbridge's Class 7. A Teeny Tiny Teacher 8. 123teachwithme 9All That Glitters in First Grade.      10. Buggy About Learning in Kindergarten  11.    Darlin in First 12.   First Grade and Fancy Free  13.  First Grade Fabulous Fish  14.  First Grade Fresh 15. Fun in First Grade

 

Here are my 7 random facts about me from the Versatile Blogger award:

1. I have a bit of an obessession with all things Disney and have been to WDW over 50 times. I honestly think Walt Disney is one of the most interesting people ever.

2. I attended Iona College on a softball scholarship. I really miss playing softball as it was such a big part of my life for so long.

3. Singin' in the Rain is  my all time favorite movie and I have a massive crush on Gene Kelly.

4. My BF and I have started to take over and remodel the house I grew up in. It's been a crazy process, but I'm really excited about it.

5.  I am a trivia master and have won tons of trivia contests!

6. I buy WAY too much makeup, but I can't help it. I'm a glamour girl... :)

7. I love going to Yankee Stadium with my BF, but I really love following the team across the country and seeing them play on the road. We've already seen them play in Anaheim, Oakland, and Baltimore.  

Phew!

50 Follower Giveaway!!!!

I am so excited to have 50 followers that it's time for a giveaway!!!

The winner will receive all of the products currently for sale in my TPT store, plus a BRAND NEW item before anyone else lays their eyes on it! Remember, you gotta be in it to win it, so get moving and Good Luck!!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Guest blogging for Falling Into First

Today I had the pleasure of guest blogging for Stephanie at Falling Into First.

Make sure you head on over HERE and check it out!

The Sky is Falling!!!

I pulled into the parking lot of school this morning and this is what I saw:

Then when I walked upstairs to my classroom this is what I saw in the hallway:

Apparently this summer they are repairing the leaky roof and have already started. It's super loud and dusty. Plus, we are only allowed in the room for a few hours a day now. So, looks like I'm bringing some stuff home.

Speaking of, here's a project I have lined up for the summer. My first year teaching I purchased these organizers for my construction paper. They look kinda plain like this:

It's a really great way to keep everything neat and organized. However, I have been inspired by Pinterest to take it up a notch with labels and some creative scrapbooking to look something more like this:

I'll be sure to show you how it turns out!! Now, I'm going to attempt to run into my room and pack stuff because I think the construction crew is at lunch!!! Have a great day!

Exit Ticket

I don't know about you, but just about every professional development workshop I attend mentions using exit tickets to assess your students. They are just a quick and easy way to find out if you kids "get it." Well the problem I had was that a.) I always forgot to make the exit tickets, b). the copy machine was always broken when I wanted to make some, and c.) even when I did have them or used post its, I felt like it wasn't exactly "going green."

So, I created my exit question recording system.

Here's how it works. Each day as my kids line up to head to lunch, I write a question on a small dry erase board that I have posted at the door. (Mine is from dollar tree...$1 woohoo!) As the students exit the classroom, they must read the question and then tell me the answer. Here are a few examples of the questions I ask the kiddos:

 Now, of course I taught my students that they need to leave the classroom one at a time with space between each other AND they need to whisper the answer to me so that other students don't hear their response. Once they give me their response, I record it on my sheet. I usually keep my recording sheet just above the dry erase board on a clip board for easy access. I have found that this is a quick and easy way to find out if the kids understood the material and to determine who needs to review it after lunch.

Guess what?! You can get a copy of my exit question recording sheet for FREE at my TPT store right now!There are 2 versions available: the first is for a class of 20 over the course of 15 days. The second is for a class of 20 over 5 days. I can adjust the class size to meet your needs, so please let me know.

Just click here to pick it up. If you use it let me know. I love to hear feedback!

Celebrate Good Times

The last day has finally come and I've already cried twice. I'm really going to miss this class. They were just an amazing mix of kids. Anyway, to celebrate the last day I'm giving you all a little freebie love.

(Hmm....don't know why this pic is fuzzy....errr)

I've created a project on TPT containing all the classroom celebrations we do in our classroom. Tons of co-workers and visitors to our school have asked me to write these down, so here they are.

Oh, and here are some pictures of a few of them...I'm a visual learner and thought maybe some of you are too!

The T-Rex:

 Clam Clap:

 Hi Five:

 Micro wave...get it?!

If you need help with any of the other celebrations let me know. Or, if you have any new ones that you want me to add, leave me a comment!