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Merry Christmas from our family to yours! … [Read more...] about Merry Christmas!

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...] about Blessed.

    … [Read more...] about Silence for Sandy Hook Elementary

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...] about RACK 2012 & A DIY Advent Calendar

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...] about Break is Over!

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...] about Thank You.

So, lately my kids have been making some really great observations about numbers.  They’ve been noticing patterns in our hundreds chart and they’re pros at skip counting {by 5’s & 10’s, anyway ;)}  I really want to start adding the concept of odd & even numbers to our calendar routine, but before I started with that, I really wanted my babies to understand WHY numbers are odd &/or even.  I came across this little book in my math book stash the other day… I got to thinking that it would be pretty awesome for the kids to practice making even and odd numbers with…my personal favorite….FOOD!  Shocker, I know … [Read more...] about Odd Todd & Even Steven

Okay, so I meant to post this earlier this evening, but I’ve been glued to the TV watching the footage from Sandy’s path of destruction!  To all my East Coast friends…I’m praying for you!!!!  PLEASE be safe!!!!!!!  ************************************************************************************************ Just wanted to quickly share a fun little activity we did after reading the book, The Littlest Pumpkin by R.A. Herman.  This is one of my favorite seasonal stories!  There is SO much you can do with it!!!  This year, I decided to use this story to reinforce the concept of making text-to-self … [Read more...] about The Littlest Pumpkin

Let me just tell y’all…last weekend *might* have been the most fun I’ve had in a LONG while.  I *finally* got to put voices to these sweet faces that I’ve been chit- chatting with for months now!!  Cheryl from Primary Graffiti Abby from The Inspired Apple Rachelle from What the Teacher Wants Kim Adsit from The Kinder Gals Lindsey from the Teacher Wife Deedee from Mrs. Wills Kindergarten Kathleen from Growing Kinders Michelle from Fabulous in First Sarah from First Grader... At Last! Deanna from Mrs. Jump's Class Amy from Step Into Second Grade Hope from Second Grade Shenanigans Erica from Erica Bohrer's First Grade … [Read more...] about Taking Chicago By Storm

Last year I saw the cutest labeling lesson from sweet Julie Lee.  I had already introduced the concept when I saw it, so I tucked away the idea and knew I’d use it in the future.  I pulled it out today and the kids had a BLAST!  We’ve seen lots of labels in our guided readers, print, and around the classroom, so the kids are used to hearing the word.  Today we actually put a little meaning behind it.  I created this little chart with pre-labeled stickies.  When I introduced it, I told the kids that we were going to have a special visitor that didn’t know ANYTHING about people, but he knew how to read.  … [Read more...] about Labeling the Teacher & Some Syllable Fun

I think y’all have heard me say it before, but just incase you haven’t, I LOVE Christmas.  Sure, I love it for all the traditions & *fun stuff*, but I absolutely LOVE the true meaning behind it the most.  While I LOVE our yearly visits from Santa, I want my boys to understand WHY we celebrate.  One of our favorite Christmas traditions is waking up on Christmas morning and eating birthday cake for breakfast right after we sing “Happy Birthday!” to Jesus.  A few years ago, we started my MOST favorite tradition…our nightly, family Christmas devotional.  My boys LOVE it!!! Here’s how it works… A Meaningful … [Read more...] about Christmas in September?!?!