I Have A Confession.... This is My Obsession

Before I get to this fantastic linky party... I have to tell you what happened at the end of the day...

During our father's day activity, the kiddos were thinking of adjectives to describe their dads and one darling said her dad was famous.

Naturally, I asked, "Oh yeah? famous for what?" and she responded, "he's a film director."

I probed a little more, "Wowwww, that is so cool...what films has he made?" 

"He made some cat woman movie.... but it wasn't the real cat woman... I don't really know"

*Ms. Moran is a little intrigued... and does some googling... during class... (SHH!)*

My work computer comes up with nothing. Wheels still turning, I use my handy dandy iphone...

and       there       it          is.

He is a famous film director...

of PORN!!!

Yikes!..... only in Vegas right?!?! I couldn't believe it!!

And his little sweetie has no idea! Welp, everyone's gotta make a livin'

Now, back to business...

 There have been lots of linky parties lately... but this one is pure fun!

Click on the button above to join Living a Wonderful Life's linky :)


These are my current obsessions:

1. A grande iced caramel macchiato with soy milk. 
This is heaven in a cup. I spend wayyy too much money on these (according to the fiance at least), but it is SO worth it.


2. All Boston sports!  
I was born and raised in Salem, MA and I am a huge, huge, huge Patriots, Red Sox, Celtics, & Bruins fan! I miss being there :(
 

3. The Bachelorette & Reality Steve
I am sorry if you have never heard of Reality Steve before but essentially he knows the ins and outs of all the bachelor seasons and usually has the winner and episodes laid out before the season even starts. I have not looked yet for Emily's season but I know I will... I actually enjoy knowing the winner from the beginning and watching their journey together throughout the season. Don't worry I won't give anyyyy spoilers!!

4. Summer sun & lazing by the pool (with a drink in hand)
Summer hasn't officially started, but I live in Las Vegas and the temperature reached 100 well over a month ago. Therefore every Saturday and Sunday is spent like this...

Yah... I have no kids yet. Therefore, weekends are ALL mine.

5. My new car!!!
I have lived in Vegas for 2 years now and I have had a car without a working A/C the whole time. Miserable... and did I mention my fiance and I share the one car.... the one without the A/C... Yeah. Well, Monday I decided I didn't want to have that car anymore. So we still share but we bought this sweet, new(er) car - with a nice cool A/C! Yay for us!


 Have a great night!

Susan
 

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Art & Academic Night & A Math FREEBIE!

Our Art & Academic Night was last Thursday night and we had so much fun!

Here's a little peak into our night:

A few months ago I found these adorable little owls on pinterest and since our school mascot is the owl I couldn't resist doing them with my students!! It is funny to see each of their personalities in this lil craftivity.

We displayed our poetry books on our desk (from Natalie Kay's poetry pack here) and our non-fiction books we created (from my All About Book templates). 

On our board I kept our poe-tree anchor chart which I stole(borrowed?) from Cara Carroll and my inspector fix-it who helps us with all sorts of grammatical errors! 

There is also our pasta butterfly life cycles I posted about here.

I meant to take a lot more pictures but I was running all over the place like a crazy person before the parents came... whoops!

Last week we also worked on this Balancing Equations freebie I made.

After our testing (why did I notice this AFTER and not before?!?!) I realized my students had a very difficult time solving equations like this:

4 + 7 = 5 + ____

So I pulled out the balances and some cubes and we practiced, practiced, practiced, until their light bulbs turned on! [*We used this term all year & the students loved helping their classmates turn their light bulbs on... it is kinda adorable!]

 Click on any of the worksheet examples below to download my freebie!

Now I must go eat breakfast and lay by the pool for the rest of this lazy day :)

Have a great SHORT week!

Susan

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Can't Live Without - Linky Party & a sale!

I'm joining up with Kelley at Teacher Idea Factory to let you know my top 5 resources I can't live without!

#1: Teachers Pay Teachers: I know it seems obvious but it is so true... 

I find everything here...whether it is a great freebie or an adorable, creative unit I spent money on.. I use this site EVERY week!

#2: Ticket to Read: I am lucky enough to work at a school whose PTO pays for this awesome resource. Our students use this both in school and at home. We have Ticket to Read contests and everything! My kids love, love, love it!

#3: Brain Pop Jr.: I pay for this one myself :/ but I think it is so worth it. My kids love the videos and activities. I also find that since I have such little time to teach Science that I can show the videos earlier in the day as a little teaser for the experiment that will come later!

#4: Spelling City: so easy, so FREE! I upload my weekly spelling lists each week and the students practice their spelling words with all sorts of games online! My students' parents love this site too :)

#5: Sum Dog: again... easy and free! You can upload your class onto this site and your students can play tons of fun math games. This site has games for all sorts of math skills from number recognition to division and algebra. My kids love it and they play it during their computer center.

Those are my top 5!!

Link up with Kelley to share what resources you can't live without :)

(click on the pic to head to my TpT store)

I also linked up with Teri @ A Cupcake for the Teacher and some other bloggers
for a 20% off sale at my TpT store!!

Have a fun & family-filled holiday weekend!

Susan

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The end is near!

Tomorrow marks the TEN day countdown...

TEN more days...

I can't quite believe it!

My kids are going wild, I am still finishing testing, and tomorrow is our Art & Academic Night (lots of pictures to come)!

Sometimes the only way to make it through is to laugh, so here are just a few funny things that have happened recently:

A couple ridiculous shirts:

If only you knew these students..... it makes it that much funnier!

And a few funny quotes:

#1

When working in a small group...

Female student A: "Hey Ms. Moran, you kinda have a little mustache."

Female student B: "Oh no, that's fine, my mom says that its okay for girls to have a few whiskers!"

{Ms. Moran is now embarrassed... for the first time ever in front of 6 year olds... and bought a cream bleach immediately after school... no more whiskers :) }

#2
During a read-aloud about sea turtles laying eggs...
Female student C:  After being called upon, student C stands up in front of the class and proceeds to tell me, "Ms. Moran, now that you are engaged you are going to have your own babies - just like the turtle! Except that they will come out of... ya know.... there...[student is point at my lady parts in large circular motions]"
{Ms. Moran is now embarrassed... for the SECOND time in front of 6 year olds and awkwardly tries to change the subject back to turtles.}

and as of today during our school-wide volunteer reception...
#3
After our principal graciously thanks our president of the parent committee...
Male student D: clearly confused, yells out,"Wait what?!? That's not our president... our president is some black dude!"
{Ms. Moran closes eyes, shakes head, and tries to remember that there are only 10 more days.}

Welp, the things kids will say!
Have a great night :)

Susan

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Narratives & a FREEBIE!

Soo... as the year comes to an end I am in the process of identifying what struggles I had as a teacher and how I can fix them for next year!

One was very easy to identify... writing narratives.

My students became PROS at writing constructed responses, opinion pieces, and non-fiction books... but when it came to writing a personal narrative, yikes they... I... WE failed!

Around February of this year I started making a packet that has a lot more guidance and structure to teaching narratives. I tried it out last month, made a few changes, and their narratives came out WAY better and WAY cuter! I am very excited to post my new packet on TpT:

Click on the picture to go to my TpT store & check it out!

If you pick it up for next year, please let me know what you think! I am ALWAYS open to suggestions to better my teaching :)

And as my title mentioned... a FREEBIE!!

This week my kiddos are reviewing contractions, and I don't know about you, but my kids are obsessed with any BUMP game so I thought I would make one for contractions.

Go ahead and click on any of the pics to download!

 

Happy Sunday!

Susan

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Froot Loop Graphing & An Award!

Yesterday was a HOT, windy, and wild field day with the kids!

Unfortunately I do not have any pictures because it was just a lil crazy all morning running around, but when we got back we had some fun with our 5th grade buddies.

 

This activity is from my Swimming into Summer packet that I made a few weeks ago. We pretend the Froot Loops are life tubes and they pour a handful in the pool, sort by color, graph & answer questions! Since we just finished our fraction unit, we had the buddies write the fraction for each color on the back of their packet too. They had tons of fun working together and of course eating their Froot Loops!

 

 I ended up with an extra box of Froot Loops to bring home - the fiance was just as excited as my 6 year olds when he saw me come home with those!

I was also so lucky that the LOVELY Kelley Dolling at Teacher Idea Factory gave me the sweetest award:

Thanks so much Kelley!! And now I would like to pass it along to some of my favorite blogs out there:

1. Run! Miss Nelson's Got the Camera

2. Mrs. Stanford's Class

3. Forever in First

4. The Caffeinated Classroom

5. Fun in 1st Grade

6. Surfin' Through Second

7. First Grade Delight

Check 'em out and have a great weekend :)

Susan

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Our Penny Pockets - Classroom Management

Even though TECHNICALLY money is not a 1st grade common core standard, my kiddos still need to know about it right?!?

Right.

So, I have this behavior management tool called, "Our Penny Pockets" which allows me to teach and review coins and currency all year long!

Essentially, students earn pennies for their good behavior throughout the day and every Friday they can buy something from my store. There is one big, big rule though... by Friday, when it is time to cash in, students must've made all the proper exchanges. Everyday after lunch students have the opportunity to trade in 5 pennies for a nickel, or 2 nickels for a dime, etc. You better believe if a student comes to me on Friday with 12 pennies, they will be told to come back to the store next Friday with the proper coins!

The kids love it and they also get the opportunity to save for bigger cash items like lunch with me or no shoes for a day or any other fun incentives you have!

By the end of the year my kiddos are pros with their money! They want to earn their prizes :)

In my Penny Pockets Packet, you can print out the coins back-to-back and laminate them for long term use. It takes some prep to get everything ready but it is so worth it once you're finished. I also included some sales slips for the students to fill out before they cash in! 

If you like it let me know with a comment here or feedback on my TpT page!

<3 Susan

P.S. - I made my pockets from cheapo felt I bought at the local craft store, sewed them together, and stapled them to the wall. They lasted the whole year and the kids will bring them home with their foam hand at the end of the year.

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2 cute fraction freebies!

In between AIMSweb testing, DRAs, and our 3rd interim assessments, we have found some time for some fraction fun!

I had been searching the blogs and TpT for some cute fraction activities and I found 2 adorable freebies I had to share!

Fraction Freebie Find #1

The 1st one is from Michelle's blog, Our Sweet Success, and it is called Mama Mia's Pizza.

 I told the kids that the pizza delivery kids lost their pizzas and they had to help them find the right one before delivery time (aka lunchtime for us!).

You can download her freebie here: Mama Mia's Pizza! It also comes with a great checklist to assess students throughout your fraction unit!

Fraction Freebie Find #2

The 2nd adorable freebie I found is from The Teacher's Cauldron, and I am doing this activity tomorrow morning:

 

(image from: http://theteacherscauldron.blogspot.com/2012/04/inspiration-leads-to-fraction-freebie.html)

 You can download this freebie here: Duckling Fractions.

I just love TpT and its wonderful sellers for making my job so much easier :)

Now.... I am finishing up a spectacular 2 hour long Glee episode and hittin' the sac.

Happy Hump Day!

Susan

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Happy Mother's Day and Giveaway Winner!

First things first....

Happy Mother's Day to all the beautiful mamas and grandmas out there!!!!

Here is what we did in our class for our moms:

Sorry for the last minute, horrible, iphone pic, but it was a bit hectic this week! 

This was my free download, Mother's Day Recipe. On the back of the little recipe card is the recipe for the yummy sugar cookies we had. I made one for each student and one for them to bring home to their momma! The kids came up with some pretty adorable recipes!

We also made this little craftivity:

On the back, I we did a Mother's Day Survey which are always a bit hit with the moms. I favorite is... "My mom weighs about _____ pounds" 

Man, oh man, we had quite the variety of answers!! The mom's took them home at the end of the day and they were loving the answers their kids came up with :) 

It was so sweet!

And now the winner.... 

my first ever giveaway for my addition with 3 addends packet...

Drum roll please....

The random number generator picked...

Lucky Comment #4 --->>  Kelly Dolling at Teacher Idea Factory!!

Congrats!! Check your e-mail because I am sending it over now!

Thanks to everyone that entered :)

If you still would like to get my 3 addends packet, it is only $2 in my TpT store! 

You can get it, here!

Happy Sunday and have a great week!

Susan

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Summer Bucket List Linky & Giveaway!

I linked up with A Cupcake for the Teacher to let you know what I plan on doing this summer - and its lots! I have been so inspired this year from the blogging world that I can't wait to get organized and start a fresh new year of fun in first!

(1)

I love these numbered bags I found on Mrs. Terhune's First Grade Site. I plan on using them as weekly reading book bags for the kids to bring home on Monday and return on Friday with their books and phonics/reading comprehension activities.

(2)

 

I plan to buy some beads and chains to make these reading incentive necklaces from The Teacher Wife! I loved this when I first saw it and it such a good visual for the students all year long!

(3)

Fast finisher cards from Rachelle's What the Teacher Wants. As of recent I had been out of ideas for early finishers and fell into a bit of a "just read a book on the rug" slump... whoops :( This is such an easy way to let the kids know what to do when they finish early! All I have to do is print, laminate, add magnet and pick the one I want for each lesson!

There are so many other things I need/want to do this summer... including making many trips to The Container Store which is opening this weekend here in Vegas - SO excited!!

Also, if you haven't seen my giveaway for my addition with 3 addends packet, go ahead and enter it!! Not many people have.... so you have a good chance of winning ;)

 

Happy Friday!!

Susan

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My first ever giveaway!!!

After this weekend's sale I noticed that my addition with 3 addends packet was selling more than in the past.... and it needed a major update!! I spent the past few days giving it a face lift and adding a few more things to the packet.

Ta da!

So now, I am going to try my first giveaway to see what y'all think of my addition with three addends packet. In order to enter all you have to do is:

1. Follow my blog

2. Follow my TpT store!

and leave a comment for each one!

I will pick a winner on Sunday :)

Good luck!!

Here is a preview of my unit:

 

Time for me to get to bed - hump day is over!!

Night!

Susan

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Last day of the sale!

Today is the last day of the TpT teacher appreciation sale and I finally emptied my wishlist and shopping cart!

I linked up with Erica Bohrer's First Grade to show you a look at what I bought:

(1) Cara Carroll's Place Value Packet of Fun!

So many fun place value activities! I cannot wait to do these next year!

(2) Michelle Oakes' Punctuation People

This packet is so cute and my kids NEED it this year - my only wish is that I got is sooner!!!

and lastly, (3) Natalie Kay's Poetry Pack

I have already started an end-of-the-year poetry book with my students and this is the perfect supplement to their book and my kids love the examples that are given in this cute pack!

I can't wait to use all these, but I only have a few weeks left!! So much to do, so little time, ahh!

Here is my TpT store, if you want to take a look! Maybe you'll find something you like ;)

Have a happy Tuesday!

Susan

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Teacher Appreciation Sale!

Hey everybody!

I linked up with A Cupcake for the Teacher and even though I didn't reach my 25 followers yet, I decided to throw a teacher appreciation sale! Everything in my TpT store is 20% off from May 6th  to May 8th! Here are a few of my best sellers:

My all about book ( it is only a $1!), my long vowel game pack,  and some spring math games and centers!

There is also my new end of year packet that I just posted last week:

 

Get them all here starting tomorrow: TpT store! 

That is all I have for today :) 

My family is still visiting and we went to Red Rock Canyon to hike this morning. Here is a lil pic of the fiance and I on top of one of the boulders.

 

Yikes, my legs hurt!

Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone :) Enjoy!

Susan

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