faulker099

Hello Everyone! I am hoping you all have had a wonderful weekend.  We finally had some time to put up some Christmas decorations at the house.  We are keeping it very simple this year as we focus on the JOY of Christmas rather than the overwhelming commercialism. It feels so good to have made the decision not feel like we have to keep up with the "Grizwalds!" :)  Don't get me wrong, I absolutely loooooove decorating for the holidays, but there are more precious things on which I want to spend my time and resources this year!   Creating "hand to head to heart" activities for my first graders is just one of those things.  We had a blast talking about adjectives last week and using them in our writing.  As a hands on activity, the kids made little Santa's with big, red, cherry noses!  They turned out great! Patterns for these are in my Santa's Stuck unit. You'll find the link to the unit in last week's post! We also added a festive hat to our fun li...

Hello Everyone! I know! You're probably getting tired of seeing posts about this little unit, but each year this little lesson evolves a little bit more!!  I'm talking about "Santa's Stuck." We read this book every year and write about how we would get Santa free from our own chimney if he were to get stuck.  Our brainstorming/anchor chart turned out pretty great this year. The kids wrote their own ideas on little brick shaped pieces of paper and glued them to our chimney.  They had some awesomely creative ideas!! Then the kids got busy and made their own "Santa's Stuck." This year we added a speech bubble coming from the chimney (You have to read the book to get it!)  They turned out so great!! The kids were very proud of their hard work If you don't have it yet, you can get my whole Santa's Stuck unit CLICK HERE!! I also wanted to share an ultra mini unit, if you need something to help you teach about the forms of energy. I put together thi...

Hello Everyone!! Grateful. It is a word that means so much more than thankful.  I believe it reflects a deeper feeling than just thankful. There are things for which we are thankful and then there are things for which we are grateful.  I am so grateful for my faith, my family, and my friends. I am thankful for the good food we had on Thanksgiving.  I am grateful for the opportunities to share my love for providing a hands on learning experience for my students. I'm thankful for the technology with which my creations can evolve. I am grateful for the time to be able to reflect on my teaching through this little blog.  I am thankful for the few extra minutes I've had to relax this past week. Grateful...so much more!! I am both grateful and thankful for these little glimpses into last week. We spent a lot of time discovering the friendships made between the Pilgrims and the native Americans.  We can make friends as well! Making butter! A fun science lesson on matte...