Currently December

Hello out there! I hope you are all enjoying your breaks as I am slaving over report cards, wrapping presents for my kids, and stringing ribbon through 18 ornaments that I immediately regretted doing as soon as I started!!!

Ok...I'm done venting...I am just soooo ready for a break! Can you tell?

So today was pretty much a whirlwind, as all we did was just play catch up on the things we didn't get done yesterday. There are just not enough hours in the day to get everything accomplished!! (Not that I want to add any on or anything, don't get me wrong!)

So tomorrow is our last day and I am super pumped because we have so many fun things planned! In the morning we are having a school wide sing along which is always cute! Then first grade is having a pajama party and watching the Polar Express while drinking hot cocoa, {of course!} In the afternoon we are having our Christmas party and my awesome parent volunteers are coming in to do stations again! This worked out so well with the Halloween party so I am very excited to see what fun activities they have come up with once again! Tomorrow will also be a sad day. One of my firsties is moving back to Mexico so tomorrow is her last day. :( I can't even tell you how sad this makes me because she is the SWEETEST little thing on Earth! So at the end of the day we will have a little send off for her. I had the kids sign a pillowcase for her so she can always have it to remember her first grade family by!

Ok...so enough rambling...on to the real reason for this post!! So pumped I finally figured out how to use one of Farley's templates so I can participate in the linky party!! :) Thanks so much to Jen from The Teacher's Cauldron for teaching me how to do it!!

So head on over to Farley's page and link up!

Stay tuned I will have pictures of our way cute Christmas activities we have planned for tomorrow! :)
Enjoy your breaks, or if you are still in school like me, have a great last day!!

Giveaway winner, Liebster award, and Three days to go!

Here I go, getting behind again!! I have SO much to blog about today so please bear with me as this will most likely be an extremely long post!

So from the looks of it, almost EVERYONE is now out of school this for Christmas break! Not us! We have to go threeeeee stinking days next week! :( This is the longest we've EVER had to go before break! I am however happy that this will give me more time to fit in some fun Christmas activities! We have already done so many fun things, and this past Wednesday was our Christmas program so you know the kiddos were CUH-RAYYYY-ZEEEEE! Today I wanted to share a few things that we have been doing so far. Last week we started our Christmas Countdown Santas. These are a fun craft the kiddos love to do to keep track of how many days we have left of school before break!

I have no idea why my pictures always end up sideways, and of course have no idea how to flip them, so I apologize as you tilt your necks to make sense of this!

This is one of my favorite things to do with my kiddos because not only do they love it, but it also decreases the amount of times a day I have to hear "Miss Sims, is it our last day before break yet???" I actually free handed the template for the hat and the face and just cut them out a few at a time, so I don't have anything to upload. I used manilla drawing paper for the face and just drew a semi-circle. For the hat I used red construction paper and just made the best hat shape I can come up with, but I have to say it turned out looking a little more like an elf's hat than I had anticipated... :/

For the beard I actually used a snowman template that we did last year and cut off the bottom. The circles were already drawn on the snowman and I had the kids fill in the numbers, starting with number 13 and counting down. We added pillow fluff to the top of the hat and for the little puff ball on the tip. I hang them on the chalk ledge in the front of the room for them to look at each day. Every morning I give them a cotton ball and they cover up the next number. We do this every day until the last day and then I let them take them home.

Yesterday one of the 2nd grade teachers and I teamed up for a fun little Christmas stations party with our two classes. This was so much fun and gave the classes a chance to mingle and collaborate. It also allowed the second graders to feel like "big kids" and become role models for my little firsties!

We had three different stations. The first station just consisted of holiday books and cutting out their hands on brown paper for another station. This one they did independently at their seats. I ran the second station where the kiddos got to make a yummy snack! We used upside down ice cream cones and let the kids spread green frosting (white frosting with green food coloring) all around it. When they finished that they got to roll their iced cone in a sprinkle color of their choice. This made a very cute (and very delcious) Christmas tree! Of course, things got crazy/messy with this station so the kiddos had all eaten theirs before I got a chance to snap a photo!

The third station was my favorite. The second grade teacher had the kids use oats and glitter to make "reindeer food". The glitter is so that the reindeer will be able to see it from the sky on Christmas Eve. :) Then they decorated a brown paper bag to look like Rudolf and used their cut out hands as the antlers. They glued the cute little poem in the middle and stapled the bag of reindeer food to the back. I can remember doing this when I was little and absolutely LOVED it! The kiddos were so excited to take it home and sprinkle it on their lawns on Christmas Eve for Rudolf!! :)

I normally punch a hole where that little circle is and tie it from the antlers, but we ran out of time so we just glued it this year! I also normally use red pom poms for the nose, but ran out and didn't realize it until yesterday morning!

Ok so my second order of business is to express how EXCITED I am that I won day 11 of Farley's 12 Days of Christmas Giveaway! Thank you so much to Natale and Rachelle from What the Teacher Wants for giving away two things each from each of their TPT stores!! I am so excited, but of course haven't had a chance to sit down and look through and figure out what I want! Thanks once again to Natale and Rachelle and of course to Farley for hosting the Giveaway!! You guys are AWESOME!!

My final order of business involves thanking another blogger friend of mine! I want to say thanks so much to Lisa from Connecting the Dots for awarding me the Liebster award!

This award is for "new" bloggers, and its goal is to spotlight up-and-coming blogs with less than 200 followers.  If awarded, you must:

Copy and paste the award on your blog

Thank the giver and link back to them

Reveal YOUR top five picks and leave a comment letting them know

 

So here are my five picks for the award!

A Little Kinder Told Me So

Teaching With Love In Heels

Classroom Confetti

Fun-Key Spanish For First Grade

Dual Kinder Teacher

Thanks again to Lisa for the award!

 

Ok so that about does it for today, but I do have ONE more order of business...

As if I am not behind enough on this blog, I have created a new one to post updates about the progress of my wedding! So head on over to Soon to be Mrs. C and check it out!!

I hope everyone is enjoying the start of their Christmas break, pray for me as I stick out these last three days!! AHHH!!! I have soooo many cute things coming up this week so stay tuned and I will {hopefully} post lots of pictures!! :)

Much Love!

Holy Moly!!

Can you believe it?? Two posts in 3 days!! Check me out!! :)

I cannot believe how quickly the holiday season is coming along! I want it to slow down so I can have more fun with my firsties, but at the same time I am SOOOOO ready for Christmas break!! My kiddies have been W-I-L-D this week and to add to the chaos, our power went out yesterday!! We were in the middle of watching Rudolf to follow up with an activity and all of a sudden...BOOM the lights, tv, computers...everything goes blank!! I am sure you can imagine the insanity that broke loose! Thankfully, it was toward the end of the day so I didn't have to calm them down for that long...(not that it would have worked anyway :))

Anyway, my real reason for this post is to promote a giveaway at a new blog, Classroom Confetti. She is a student teacher and new blogger and since I can definitely relate, I thought I would help her out!! So go over and check her blog out and her fantastic giveaway!!




And yes, I have great news! I think I have figured out how to get some of my work on here! Stay tuned this week and hopefully I will have it all up and running! If not, there will definitely be pictures so stay tuned anyway! :)
Have a great rest of the weekend and a fun last few days with your Holiday Crazed kiddies! I know I will! :)

Sunshine Award, and Holiday Excitement!

Ok my posts are getting closer together so that IS a good sign...but I'm still not where I want to be!! I have been learning a little more about uploading everything though so hopefully I will be up and running with fun ideas in NO time! Hopefully before the Christmas season is over because I love love LOVE this time of year and would love to share my cute crafts with all of you!!

I am also SUPER excited about this giveaway Farley at Oh Boy Fourth Grade and all the other FABULOUS bloggers are doing! These ladies are all super amazing and I am so greatful they are going to such great lengths to give away such awesome freebies!! So head on over to Farley's page and check it out because it is TRULY a spectacular giveaway!!



Ok so my next order of business.....The Sunshine Award.

I cannot even belieeeeve I was awarded this because in my opinion my blog is nowhere NEAR worthy of an award. However I am still very very greatful to Andi at Pencils, Glue, and Tying Shoes for awarding me this award. I promise I will make this place much more worthy of it over Christmas break when I have tonnnns of time! :) Thanks again Andi!

Ok so on to my award responsibilities...

1. Thank the person who gave this award and write a post about it.

2. Answer the following questions below.

3. Pass the award to 10-12 fabulous bloggers, link their blogs, and let them know you awarded them

Q and A:

1. Favorite Color?

Pink and Yellow will always have my heart as my fave colors<3

...Buuuut I do love black and gray most when it comes to clothing!

2. Favorite Animal?

I love a lot of different animals, but hands down dogs would have to be my absolute fave!

3. Favorite Number?

5 all the way! Or 55..I'm not picky :)

4. Favorite drink?

Well I am a soft drink fanatic...so pretty much any type of soda, except I'm not such a Mountain Dew or Root Beer fan. I mostly stick to Coke but love all soft drinks. Seriously, I drink Cokes like most people breathe. I have probably at least 4 or 5 a day...which is not something I am proud of but yes, it is definitely a fact!
I also absolutely love love LOVE margaritas. Especially in the summer, but make no mistake, I love them ALL YEAR ROUND!

5. Facebook or Twitter?

Obviously blogger should be an option! I never hopped on the Twitter bandwagon, so I guess I would have to say Facebook. However, I am not Facebooks biggest fan these days either. There are too many changes way too often and I am getting sooooo sick of reading about peoples every moves. Suuuuuper annoying.

6. Passion?

Well teaching is definitely my main passion in life and has been since I was 11. I love everything about it. But I also have a strong strong strong passion for music. I grew up with two music loving parents and relate everything in my life to songs. I love {almost} all types of music. I am always singing or quoting songs in everything I do. I even remember certain years or events by what songs were popular at the time....weird I know, but I think you get the picture...I love music :)

7. Giving or Getting Presents?

Definitely giving. While getting presents is always nice, there is nothing I love more than giving presents to my family and friends. I love Christmas shopping and coming up with ideas to get for everyone. The hardest part is waiting. I always want to give my gifts as soon as I buy them! I love seeing their reactions when they open them! :)

8. Favorite Day?

Well I feel the two most obvious/commn responses are always birthdays and Christmas. While I do love my birthday, it is always a little bit of a downer because it is in late July so that always means summer is coming to an end....Christmas is definitely my favorite time of year, as I love love LOVE the season, decorations,

Ok, so now I'm passing this award on to the following blogs:
Erica Bohrer's First Grade
First Grade O.W.L.S.
The Teacher Wife
Frogs in First
School Girl Style
Castles and Crayons
A Teeny Tiny Teacher
Just Add Clipart
A Teacher's Treasure
Fabulous in First

Stay tuned for more holiday fun ideas once I get everything figured out! Thanks again to Andi for the award! :)

Stressed and Slacking, but Oh So Thankful!

So I know, two weeks have snuck by me AGAIN with no posts. This time, though, it is because of my technological deficiencies! I am usually really good with figuring out technology and things on computers, but I cannot for the life of me figure out how to upload some of my freebies I wanted to share with you! I am hoping this linky party will help get my blog on the map so maybe I can get a blog tutor!! LOL!
Things have been so crazy around here and I am so sorry I keep ignoring my blog responsibilities! I haven't even had time to stalk my favorite blogs!! So of course I was late to the linky party, but I still wanted to link up with Rachelle at What the Teacher Wants to write what I am thankful for! I also just saw Oh Boy Fourth Grade's linky party and wanted to link up with her! So check them both out! :)
 From about October 1-December 25 is my absolute FAVORITE time of year, and I have a LOT to be thankful for! So here goes!

1.  What are you thankful for in your classroom?
I am thankful for my 18 kiddos who make everyday in my classroom exciting, challenging, and fun! They certainly keep me on my toes, but they are so sweet and are the reasons I LOVE my job! :)

2. What person are you most thankful for?
I have so many great people in my life that I am so thankful for {my family, including my gorgeous new nephew, my amazing fiance, my best friends, my coworkers, etc...) But this Thanksgiving the person  I am most thankful for is my little sister Becca. She is home from college for the holidays and I can't tell you how much I have enjoyed having her home! (Yes, I still live with my parents, but not for much longer!) She is my best friend and we are always joking around and acting silly together. This is her first year away at college, and while I knew I would miss her, I never realized it would be this much!! I am very thankful to have such a sweet, fun, and CRAZY sister in my life! :)

 3. What 3 blogs are you most thankful for?
This is a tough one because there are SO many blogs that have helped me out since I joined this world! But I would have to say recently my three would have to be:

The Inspired Apple
I just LOVE looking at at all of Abby's fun new creations, and dreamuing of the day that I could ever make anchor posters like hers (which is never! LOL) She is so creative and comes up with the best ideas! I have also bought so many goodies from her TPT store that have been HUGE life savers! Her Oh So Thankful November Unit got me through the entire month of November (especially this week with only having three days!) My kiddos LOVED all of it and I am so thankful to have found such amazingly creative resources!



What the Teacher Wants
I have gotten so many ideas from this blog and have already put so much of it to good use! These ladies are so talented and always have the cutest clipart on their worksheets, center ideas, etc... Rachelle's TPT store has also been a life saver! I use her Reading Responses like every week in my reading centers!


A Teeny Tiny Teacher
I am absolutely OBSESSED with reading Kristin's blog updates. They are not only helpful and informative, but also SOOOO funny! I have gotten so many cute ideas from here, and just love reading to see what she has to say each day!

4. What guilty pleasure are you most thankful for?

I have to say, I have two. My main guilty (well really, not so guilty) please that I cannot live without would have to be Target. I could spend days upon days in that place. I grew up going with my mom all the tine, but my obsession just fully formed about three years ago. When I was in college, my roommate and I would go three to four times a week, just to walk around and look at ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING! I just love their clothes, accessories, and housewares sections, but we would find ourselves in every single department, looking and stuff we would never need! When I graduated, I moved back to my hometown, which is where I currently teach. Are you ready for this? WE DON'T HAVE A TARGET HERE! I live in a very small town and the closest targets are 45 minutes and an hour away!! I was experiencing major withdrawals when I first moved back, but I go to visit my college friends so much, and 45 minutes really isn't that far when a trip to Target is involved! :)


My other {extremely} guilty pleasure would have to be the show, Pretty Little Liars on ABC Family. I know, I know. I am 24 years old, still watching a show targeted toward 16-17 year olds. I can't help it! From the first episode I was hooked! It has such an interesting mystery involved and I love watching it to try to piece the puzzle together each week! It's currently in between seasons, and comes back in January! I can't wait! I know, I'm ridiculous! :)

5. What are you most thankful for?

 So ordinarily I would say sweater dresses and boots, seeing as how as soon as the weather starts to cool, that is all you will see me in! :) However, this Thanksgiving I am going to talk a little more seriously. Our town has just suffered a huge tradgedy. A 17 year old boy was just killed in a terrible car accident about a week ago. Living in such a small close-knit community, this has affected so many people in such a tragic way. While I did not personally know him, a lot of people I am close with and care about did and are devastated. My heart breaks for them and I have been doing everything I can to be a shoulder to lean on during this difficult time. My thoughts and prayers are forever with his mother, family, and good friends. This has definitely put a lot into perspective for me. The cliche response when someone asks you what you are thankful for is to say "friends, family, life, good health, etc..." However, this year I am TRULY thankful to be so blessed with all of the amazing people in my life, and just thankful that I am alive and well and have such a great life. I am truly counting my blessings this year, because you never know how quickly they can be taken away.

Ok, so enough of my rambling! I really enjoyed reading what everyone is thankful for this year! I hope eveyone enjoys the rest of their weekend, and if anyone could offer assistance to help me get some freebies on here, as well as a TPT store started, I would really appreciate it! :)
Thanks!






 






 



Pumpkin Parade and Seeking Advice

Ok I know this is a day late, but as promised, here are my pictures from our Pumpkin parade! I think this is the absolute cutest project ever and all of my co-workers at my school fell in love with the idea as well! I have to give huge props to the parents who helped make these possible because let me tell you I would NEVER be able to come up with something as cool as some of these!! Anyway, here are a few cuties I thought I would share with you! There is more detailed descrption on Lauren's site Just Add Clipart, along with a parent letter to send home! Thanks again Lauren, and I hope you guys have as much fun looking at these as I did! :)

Being the huge Harry Potter nerd that I am, this was obviously one of my faves :)

See, I told you I would eventually get my life together! Ok, so it's still not quite what I would call "together", but its coming along! :) As if I'm not crazy enough, I am in the process of trying to ghet a TPT store together so once again, I have to cry out, HELP!! How does everyone make all these cute little worksheets and graphic organizers with such great fonts and clipart? Also, how do you get them uploaded? As you can see, my follower list is looking a little slim, so please spread the word! I would absolutely love some advice!! I am definitely hoping to get some of my work on here to share with you all and become an official part of the bloggy community!! Thanks so much and happy Thursday!:)

Slacker!!!!

Holy moly I cannot believe it's been almost 2 weeks since I have posted!! I have been super busy with school, as Halloween festivities came and went, as well as other exciting things going on! We finally booked a venue and date for the wedding, and I will OFFICIALLY be a wife on October 13, 2012! I am so excited! AND, as if that wasn't enough excitement to handle, my first nephew was just born on Friday! He is the sweetest thing I have ever seen and I have been obsessed ever since!! Needless to say, I have been super crazy with everything going on and I am so sorry I have been such a slacker!

Now, back to the real reason for this thing. I hope everyone had a great time with all of their Halloween parties/activities/fun! From the looks of it, there are some incredibly adorable ideas floating around that I can't wait to swipe for next year! :) I had such a great time with my firsties during all of our festivities! Our Halloween party was a success thanks to some super fabulous mom volunteers! We had a great afternoon full of fun activities broken up into stations, super cute costumes, and of COURSE, some yummy treats! We also got a chance to do our Pumpkin Parade on Halloween! I snagged this idea from Lauren over at Just Add Clipart, and just fell in LOVE! My kiddos got SO into this! I will post pictures tomorrow I promise! Thanks to Lauren for such a cute and creative idea! :)

This week we are back in the swing of things and starting in on some of our early November activities. I just bought the Oh So Thankful Actvitiy Pack For November from Abby's TPT store and I am SO excited to start it next week! There are some crazy cute ideas in there and totally worth the money! A big thank you goes out to her! I will definitely post pictures tomorrow, I just wanted to let you guys know that I am alive, and I promise to get this thing into shape! Also, any feedback you can give would still be greatly appreciated, and I am still looking for a creative fix to my chatty/messy children problem, so any advice would be fabulous!! Have a great Tuesday, and I will definitely post pictures tomorrow! :)