April 2012 - Queen of the First Grade Jungle
My unit is posted! I actually just finished printing them and I can't wait to get them ready for the end of this week! I hope you will go check them out in my TPT store for only $3.50- I will put them on sale for TONIGHT only for 10% off.


The Winners are...Heather, Ashley Thurston, and Andrea. I will email you the unit now!
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Derby Mini-Unit

GIVEAWAY CLOSED!!!!


I just finished my mini-unit---all 60 pages of goodness! Yay! I have lost all feeling in my right arm having been on the computer all.darn.day.   :) 
Here is a sneak peek!





And much more!  I will give away 3 (my lucky number) units tomorrow at 5:00 p.m.  To join the giveaway:
1. Like my new FB page.
2. Follow my TPT store.
Queen TPT Button
3. Follow my blog or add my button.

Don't forget to leave a comment for each entry! I will have the Mini-Unit posted to TPT tonight when I am POSITIVE I have all my typos out :)

p.s. I can't wait to show you all my hat for my Derby party... it is just so southern!



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Saturday update

 I just shared this picture on my NEW facebook page (check it out *HERE*), but I thought that you all would get a kick out of it too.  When I asked little man about his author page, he said "yeah, First Grade is hard stuff." HA
 Friday was full of craziness! We had our testing rally (next week is full of MAP testing for my kids and the KPREP for the big kids!).  Here are two of kiddies in a Minute to Win It game.  They loooved it.
And last but not least, here are two girls playing my NEW multiplication game.  This is a great stepping stone for those kids that are ready to start looking at this new skill.  There are game boards for facts 1-10 and the game could not be simplier to explain! They knocked it out of the park!!! If you would like to check out the game click on the picture below!
Today is all about cleaning house booooooo!
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Climb to the Top!

 I know some of you are going to think I am crazy. I am okay with that. Many of you will probably say- no biggie. I am okay with that too. I have some kids that are chomping at the bit to start multiplication. Actually, many of them began it with their parents at home-- awhile back-- to be honest. Soooo, I came up with this partner game for these smart kiddos!

I will be posting it on TPT tonight (for a whopping $1.50), but I will send it to the first 10 people who hop over to Facebook and start following my page there (send me an email or comment please!)

Follow me on Facebook
p.s. 3 weeks from TODAY is the last day of school!

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*Poultry Heaven*

A few years ago we had this big discussion (kind of like *The Great Recess Debate* that Kristin talked about --except my meetings never sound as funny as Kristin makes hers out to be... apparently K, 1, and 2 were all teaching the frog life cycle.  Yup- 3 straight years :)  We came to an agreement- 2nd got frogs, we got chickens, and K got butterflies.  I personally thought we got the short end of the deal- I loved teaching about frogs! That is until- I dove into the world of chickens. NOW- I know- we were lucky!  Hatching eggs is one of my absolute favorite things we do in first grade (in fact I know some 4th grade teachers who are quite envious- don't touch our life cycle though).
Here are some book suggestions (both fiction and nonfiction) for a chicken unit!

I LOVE hatching them.

I LOVE watching them ---and ohhh-ing and ahhh-ing over how cute they are!
 And then I LOVE sending them on their way about a week after hatching!  Our babies this year are still on day 14 in the incubator and we HOPE they will make their debut next Tuesday or Wednesday. 

If you are looking for a unit to supplement an existing unit on chickens or looking for a starting off point- check out Christie's unit...it's adorable! And puuuurfect for how I teach chickens!

In other news- I started a FB page.  I thought it would be a great way to connect to readers, run sales, and link to other bloggers. Click on the pic below to check it out!
Follow me on Facebook

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Quick Funny

I don't know about you all, but it is enough to get through my regularly scheduled day... let alone blog!  Today was a frustrating day... but one of my students unintentionally made me laugh with this answer-

HA! Don't worry I   laughed       ran next door to show my teaching partner   made her "figer" it out!
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Horses, Plants, and a Sale

The kids and I were able to enjoy an absolutely gorgeous day at Keeneland! If you haven't ever been to this little piece of Heaven you are missing out.

Our day trip totally got me in Derby mode. We go to my grandparent's sleepy little town for Derby where they through a fantastic party full of big hats, great food, and the occasional bet ;).

This gorgeous weather also made me realize how close to Summer we are... 24 school days to be exact. Please don't hate me if you have a lot of days left.

We have been working hard studying plants in First Grade.  We have been using Christie's fantastic plant unit to help fill in some gaps that I had in Literacy Centers.  She also has great printables to record observations during Science class.

Here is some literature that we are using to make cross-curricular connections!



And last but not least, there are gobs of great sales going on tonight- so I jumped on the bandwagon. If you have had your eye on something- now is the chance!

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More Two Digit Addition Freebies for West Coast Buddies

Tomorrow is Friday! Wahoo! This week has flown by!  My fantastic teaching partner Cathy came up with this little game to finish up our whole group teaching of Two Digit addition with regrouping.  
She sent it to me so I could make a cover page with a border "From the Pond." So Cute!!
 Graphics for Teachers
This would also make a great Math Work Station.

I didn't mean to upset my West Coast friends by taking down my Math Center so quickly last night!
Here is another go at getting one part of My New Math Centers for free.
I just ask that if you download it to pllllllease leave me some feedback. My new Common Core Math Work Stations are selling fairly well, but are still without feedback! If you have purchased my centers, please take a minute to rate them for me!

Happy Almost Friday! Yippee!

OH- I almost forgot- The babies have arrived!


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Two Digit Addition with regrouping and Limited Time Freebie

So I have to admit that I was SUPER nervous about starting Two-Digit Addition with regrouping.  We tackled regular two-digit addition before Spring Break and the kids had no problem. 
 Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy! 
We used a couple of activities from my Spring Packet for Math Work Stations. 

I had started regrouping in small group, but I just imagined that my lower kids would struggle with it. You would think after six years, I would learn to stop doubting them :)

To start with on Monday, we spent a lot of time with tens and ones. 
We played Race to 100 with tens and ones. We usually play the game with a Hundred's chart, but I wanted to reinforce the idea of exchanging ten ones for a ten.  The smarties were making connections to pennies and dimes as well! 

After the game we went on to some guided practice. We used this template (click to download) that I made really quickly to practice. There is also a exit slip on the first page of the document.

I printed a class set on colored paper and then put them in sheet protectors. We used Dry erase markers and socks for lots of practice!

Today- I felt much better about our regrouping abilities- so I let them go- just a little bit :).  We used cards from my math game Tennis Top-it.  Students used the template again for more independent practice!

I am putting this game on TPT for free until I go to bed tonight (and I am warning you I am super tired friends)- then I will charge just a very tiny fee for it after that! If you want to check out the whole set, it is available below.
I am very impressed with how we are tackling the hard task right now, but we will continue to drill this skill home through May 17th (I promise I am not counting).

Off to Church to be with my precious little four-year-old class!

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Happy Easter from the Kings

Happy Easter from my little family!
(Yes, you see my sweet princess in her cowgirl boots- she changed into them immediately after church)
 The weekend was full of relaxing with friends and family...
 and fishing...
 I couldn't resist- he was scared to touch the fish :)
 The cowgirl even caught a few...until she was sent home for being too wild and disturbing the fish

and egghunting.... (this is the same egghunt my family has attended for close to 40 years and Lordy it starts at 7 am friends! Yes, you heard me correctly!)
 And then church of course!

Now, off to get ready for the week ahead! Happy Easter!

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Easter Giveaway!

Don't forget to go enter Christie and I's giveaway! 
Click on the picture below!
AND go check out my new unit on TPT!
Click on the Picture Below!
Happy Easter!

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Common Core- Sporty Kids Math Work Stations

I am SO happy with these fun centers! The winners of this unit are....

Sorry it took me a couple days longer, but I really wanted to make sure they were PERFECT for you all!
I added a Table of Contents page that shows how each center aligns to the Common Core in First or Second Grade
If you would like to make my Easter Weekend and purchase them... click on the picture below. They are on Sale for 10% off today only!!!

P.S. If you LOVE giveaways like me, Christie from First Grade Fever and I got together so you could win 2 of our Units over on her blog!!! Click below...
And if you just LOVE good blogging... come back tomorrow for a guest post from Katie at Two Can Do It!
Yes... I do believe I have gone a little chevron-happy lately- sorry ladies! Happy Easter and God Bless!
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