Cara Carroll

The Holidays In Rewind.

I don’t know if it’s just me that feels like time is passing by at warp speed, but this past semester has been INSANE.  I feel like I blinked and it was over. Anyway, since I was TERRIBLE about posting this month, I thought I’d do a quick catch-up…the month in rewind :)  Enjoy! We celebrated Dozen Day on 12-12-12 {aka: “Doomsday”…ha!}  I used my little anchor chart to have the kids fill in the numbers {up to 12} on a number line and we brainstormed things that come in 12 as well as different ways to show 12, too!  FUN!  We were knee deep in all things “twelve” that day and the kids had a blast.     At ... Read More

Blessed.

Like most days, today I’m feeling blessed.  Really, REALLY blessed. Not only am I a mommy to two precious, precious boys, but I’m also a school mommy to 19 precious little souls.  Little babies who wake up each day and come to school with an innate faith that they will be cared for and loved.  Precious little people whose biggest problems are playground woes, runny noses, untied shoes, and lost jackets. Innocent little loves who are BEYOND thrilled to see my reaction when they draw me a picture, pick me a flower, or tell me that they love me.  So very, very innocent. As a mommy to my own two littles, I wake up everyday ... Read More

Math Fun, Grinch Prep, Gingerbread, and I Got My Shop On :)

Does it seem like this year is moving in fast forward and you can’t find the pause button?!  Ummm…hello, Christmas?!?!?!?  ALREADY?!?!?!   INSANITY.  Just like everyone else, we’ve been pretty busy around here. During Thanksgiving break, my boys were BEGGING to go back to school.  They wanted to make pictures for their teachers and couldn’t wait to get back to a routine.  Have I mentioned how much we love their teachers?!  Because we really, REALLY do!!!!  Now, this might be a proud momma moment, but I have to share because I know y’all will appreciate it.  Landon…my little Pre-K man…has a ... Read More

RACK 2012 & A DIY Advent Calendar

I’ve had several messages asking if I would mind sharing my RACK ideas for this holiday season, so I thought I’d share it here incase anyone else is interested.  I surely didn’t invent the idea of Random Acts of Christmas Kindness, but I LOVE it.  I found most of my ideas for this year’s activities from the precious blog, Lil Light O’Mine.  If you want to read more about RACK’ing, you can check out what we did last year. First up, I knew I wanted an advent calendar to keep myself organized this year, so I headed to Hobby Lobby to find some inspiration.  A few tiny little red clothespins and some red & white twine ... Read More

Vocabulary Craftivity with a Holiday Twist

I was reading a book to my sweeties earlier in the week that had the word “overlapped” in it.  One of my littles stopped to ask me what that word meant {I always love it when they stop to ask stuff like that!!!}  Anyway, I tried to explain it as best as I could and then continued reading.  That little momentary pause for explanation got me thinking about making my vocabulary instruction more hands-on.  Now, that wasn’t necessarily a vocabulary word I was trying to teach, but since we discussed it, I figured ‘why not’?!  I’m always trying to find meaningful ways to make instruction more hands-on. That night, I took ... Read More

Break is Over!

Don’tcha just hate it when your break is finally over?!  I could definitely use another week…or three :)  But that’s only because I had so much fun spending time with my sweet boys!!  They’re a trip!  My sweet in-laws came to visit for a few days and it was their first time to see the new house.  We loved showing them around our new city and the boys were in absolute HEAVEN.  They LOVE having Grandma and Grandpa all to themselves!  Thanksgiving was wonderful…as it usually is…and my mom & I rested up on Thursday night so we’d be ready to go on Friday.  Yes…Black Friday shopping is an annual event for ... Read More

Thank You.

Just stopping in for a little bit tonight not to share anything, but to say thank you.  In light of turkey day tomorrow, I just wanted to stop for a minute to thank God for the blessings He has set before me. One of the biggest, most unexpected blessings is this little blog.  Back in 2010, I wanted to share a few ideas and I was on a mad search for lots more.  I just started teaching 1st grade and I wanted to peek inside other classrooms to see what everyone else was doing.  There were only a handful of blogs at the time, but after about a year, there were TONS more.  So many infact that I just couldn’t keep ... Read More

More Even & Odd Fun and The Great Turkey Race

We had some more odd & even fun today…just a little follow-up to yesterday’s Odd Todd & Even Steven lesson.  I drew a few hands under my document camera {don’t worry…they wiped right off!!} and passed out some number cards to the kids.  I called on each of the kids…one at a time…to tell me the number they were holding.  We used snap cubes to count them out and then checked to see if we could split them EVENLY between the two hands.  If we could, they sorted their number in the "even” column, and if we couldn’t, well…the number went to the “odd” column.   They made some GREAT connections to yesterday’s Even ... Read More

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