Almost February

Can you believe that it's almost February?! This school year is flying by! This week we'll be learning about Mr. Groundhog with my groundhog unit.  My packet includes a read the room activity for reading comprehension. There is one reading group that I know will love that! Groundhog Day is Saturday so we've got all week to do our activities!



My students love roll and color activities in their math stations so I have created a groundhog freebie for you to add to your math stations. Just click on the picture to download. I would love for you to leave a me a comment if you choose to download!


Well, you know pink is my favorite color. My kiddos know pink is my favorite color too. So I hope they don't think I went too pink-crazy making my math and literacy stations for February! It's 65 pages of graphs, addition and subtraction, place value, punctuation, sentence writing, and how to writing. I included three sets of task cards to keep my kids on their toes!


I'll give away a copy of my Lovin' February Centers to the first five people who leave a comment with their email address!



Mousetronauts?

This week in our Journeys series we learned about the moon. We learned that the moon has craters and is covered in dust. We learned that space suits protect us from the sun and the cold while we are on the moon too. It's one of my favorite stories in our journeys series because the photos used in the story are incredible!

There is a super cute book written by Mark Kelly, a retired astronaut, called 


It's about a mouse that gets to go up into space with astronauts. He is the smallest of the mice, but also the hardest worker. But he wonders how he can help the astronauts on their mission. I won't spoil the story but it's very cute and my students just loved it. The illustrations are wonderful too!

I also added an app to my iPads at school for the kids to mess with called Astro App. Students can read about different astronauts and missions. They can also take a picture of themselves and suit up into a space suit. BIG HIT!



NASA has a Kids Club site complete with games and videos for kids too. *It requires some higher reading skills* for reading instructions.



more National Pie Day stuff

Yesterday I posted about January 23rd being National Pie Day. I thought it was too funny so I've decided to do a whole pie themed day. We're going to create a pie recipe, read the book Enemy Pie, and discuss why writers write. 

I apologize for posting these additional ideas so late in the evening, but I'm not feeling well and spent most of the afternoon sleeping on the couch! We've been working a lot on planning our writing before we write so I created the planning page below. Click to grab your copy


On the National Pie Day website you can find pie making tips. I thought it would be fun to see what the kids tips are!

I searched the Guiness Book of World Records for largest pie and found that 

We'll be measuring just how big that is!

Have a Happy National Pie Day! 



National Pie Day

Can there REALLY be a National Pie Day? Why, yes, of course! I stumbled upon this by accident and thought it was too funny. National Pie Day is January 23rd. There is even a pie council!

(I love pie. Cherry pie is my absolute favorite and if you live anywhere near Marble Falls, Texas then you've had the AMAZING pies at the Bluebonnet Cafe!)

Well- why not incorporate some pie things into our Wednesday? I thought we could write our own pie recipes and share with the class. I have two different titles for our recipes.


Click on the pics above to download

I also thought we would read Enemy Pie written by Derek Munson. The author has a website here dedicated to this book.


If you aren't familiar with this book it's about a boy who is having trouble getting along with the new boy in the neighborhood. His father suggests making Enemy Pie. It's great for teaching ways to make new friends and get along with others.  If you have a subscription to Tumblebooks it's also read aloud on their site.

I'm still brainstorming and I hope to post more ideas tomorrow! 

Have a great National Pie Day Eve! 


Check me out!

Good morning! I'm guest posting for my lovely friend Stacy at Funky Fresh Firsties! Sending her bloggy love as I send on my post! 

Go check out my post on a new app that I'm so excited to use in class!



Holy Groundhog Batman!

Whew! For real y'all- I've been working on Groundhog Day activities for what seems like forever. 
 I have a special place in my heart for Punxsutawney Phil because Groundhog's Day is my mothers favorite holiday!


Yes, really! It's a big deal too. Her friends all send her cards, relatives call, and we have chocolate cake. We try to keep things interesting in my family!

And is it Groundhog Day or Groundhog's Day? Who knows. I say both. I've seen both.  While creating this packet of goodies I did find out the Phil is 125 years old. He drinks magic juice at the Groundhog Picnic each summer and it adds years to his life. Time to share Phil- especially if it gets rid of wrinkles and gray hair! (Of course I don't have any gray hair, and I'm sure you don't either)

The packet includes a few writing activities and a read the room comprehension activity for your very high first grade readers or for your second grade readers. I used the fabulous Ashley Hughes clip art for all of my groundhogs. HOLLA! Loved it!

(Apparently I also love me some "explanation points" too! It's all the assessing we're doing! I see the end in sight and I can't help myself!)




It's available in my TPT store- just click on the picture!
Have a great day!




Tell Me Something Good

This was my first week back after winter break. Why do the short weeks always seem so long? We spent the week inside while it was raining (Thank goodness! We need it!), reviewing what an "inside voice" is, and testing. Testing, testing, and more testing. I'm done with my DIBELS testing. Now on to DRA's.

Actually, my kids did very well. I don't know about y'all but I am really honest with my kids and we have very frank conversations. I told them I had to test everyone on several tests and that even though I knew it would be hard that if they could work quietly we could get through the tests faster. They helped me come up with a goal of when to finish each test. We decided DIBELS could be done Friday and if I can get through 4 or 5 DRA's each day next week that all of those would be done. I just love this group!

*SHOUT OUT! * We worked on writing with items from Susan Moran's Writing through Winter pack. Click on the picture to head to her Teachers Pay Teachers store.


I was so impressed to see how much of the Phonics Dance hunks and chunks my kids were using in their writing. They were also so kind to each other. Several of my firsties read each others papers and pointed out errors- in a NICE way! "Kate, you have a capital letter at the beginning of the word snow and it's not a proper noun." "Oops, thanks Andy." I was amazed. No one got upset. Everyone helped each other. They really are sweet!

But it was still a LOOOOONG week. So I thought this would be the perfect time for a little Tell Me Something Good. Tell me something good that's going on at school and something good that's going on in your home life.


Something Good from School: One of my first graders broke her arm! Yikes. She's got a cast all the way up past her elbow. Thankfully, the cast in NOT on the hand that she writes with! Hallelujah!

Something Good from Home: We have decided to go to Seattle for Spring Break! It's my happy place!

I would love for you to link up and share some of the positive things going on in your life!

A Math App You've Got to Have

Wow- this whole getting back to work business is exhausting isn't it? If you saw my FB post yesterday you saw that I said I hoped I would have my blog mojo back today.

After writing that last night I got to thinking.....I joined Weight Watchers on Sunday. I haven't had a glass of wine all week.....COULD WINE BE MY MOJO?!

Ha ha....I kid of course...I think. 

I have high expectations for apps. I want them to be fun and educational. I don't want them to be too easy, but not so difficult that you get frustrated after five minutes. I HATE ads, but I'm willing to try the free lite version to see if I like it. I don't like complicated instructions because....seriously, who has time for that? And I like creativity! C'mon- we all do! 
Well I found one app that I LOVE.

Drumroll please for my new favorite.....


This app is AWESOME! There are three different games in Math Doodles


All three games are great for developing number sense. Sums stacker gives students three numbers and several die. Students have to move the die around until they create the correct sum. Connect Sums is similar but students have to connect die that have the add up to the correct sum. *Unknown Square is tough!* 

So I did a quick google search on the author and he has a website and another app called 


Amazing for understanding key vocabulary like slide/translation, flip/reflection, turn/rotation and, of course, symmetry. It's a challenge! 
The Carsten Studios website has demos of each app and sneak peaks of upcoming apps too!
The apps are $1.99 each, but worth every penny!







New Years Resolutions!

I'm linking up with Jennifer from The Teachers Cauldron for a New Year Resolution par-tay! It's super simple. List one personal resolution and one resolution for your blog.


My PERSONAL resolution: get healthy again. I know, I know, EVERYONE says that. But really this year and last year have been challenging for my husband and I. Both are jobs have been stressful, we sold our house, etc. We both basically stopped working out altogether. I'll be good for three weeks then poop out again. We've put on weight and we're out of shape. It's time for us to get back to our healthy habits again!

My BLOG resolution: take more pictures of things I've done in my classroom and post about them! My hubby got me a new *PINK* camera that takes amazing pictures so now I have no excuse!
I hope the new year is off to a great start for everyone!