Monday Made It with Wipe Off Morning Work

It's Monday Made It time!! I *barely* made it :)  Big thanks to Tara at 4th Grade Frolics for this awesome linkup.

Last year I used some awesome morning work I purchased off of TPT.  It covered everything and I loved it.  But with my class coming in this year, I just KNOW it won't work.  My upcoming class has so many different learning abilities that my lovely morning work packs would take forever to finish.


So I started to think of some ways to get quick review, independent work, and cheap materials all rolled into one.  Here's what I came up with:

On my Daily Focus Wall I will have our sight words of the day, focus words (vocab), and number of the day.  The last page is just a 'helper' page.  I printed off the worksheets, glued them to one manila file folder (the kind u can find a ton of at school!) and laminated, so PRESTO its dry erase!!

I plan on creating a new pack every month, so that the skills vary.  I'm excited to have something quick and independent for my little ones :)  Have a great week!!

Sparkling Desk Awards for your neat and tidy kiddos!

Last year I had a super tiny class and I mean *tiny* as in 7 kids!!  Four more transferred in, but 11 to end the year is stillllll tiny!!  Out of my 11, I had three very neat and tidy students.  Their desks were organized and spotless, a beautiful sight to see.  I know y'all have kiddos like this and they need some recognition!






Last year our class mascot was Baby Dolphin, a small stuffed dolphin that matched our ocean classroom theme perfectly.  This year I've moved rooms and added more colors to my underwater oasis, so we will introduce some new mascots.  I purchased Pout Pout Fish and his Octopus friend at Kohls when the books were on sale.  I think it was last year sometime.  I love the check-out aisle at Kohls!  You cannot beat $5 books + characters to match!!  So after lunch or specials, the tidy students would return to find Baby Dolphin and some smarties on their desk. Their faces were always a riot!  They played along so well, thanking Baby Dolphin and the other non-tidy kids, well, you could tell they were contemplating their messy situations.  :)  It's a super fun and easy way to recognize and encourage kids to keep a clean desk.

 Here are some pics of my new mascots for this year PLUS a FREEBIE I whipped up.  Print these Sparkling Desk Awards out on cardstock and laminate to use over and over again!!

Wordless Wednesday + *late* Monday Made It!!

Happy happy Wednesday everyone!  I have a houseful of girls (two are mine, two look like me but aren't mine) and clothes, makeup, accessories, My Little Ponies are flying everywhere!  Now is the time for a blog post, right?

Let's link up with Wordless Wednesday and Monday Made It!!

 

My Monday Made It is dedicated to my dear eldest bro, he just turned the big 4-0!  Our big family celebrated his bday (along with my other brother and father) in Branson, MO.  I took his love of Jack Daniels and with the help of my sister-in-law and twin sis, we created a JD masterpiece!!

The bucket is from Hobby Lobby for $5.99 and it even has a cool chalkboard stripe around the middle!  I created the JD look alike stickers with chalkboard frames from the lovely Krista Wallden and chalkboard flourishes from Pink Pueblo.  The goodies are mini liquor bottles, lottery tickets, cigars, and stuff my brother will need while he gets older :) good ol' beano, denture whitener, etc.  It was one fun weekend!





Next up, Wordless Wednesday!!!  Does anyone else feel like my Claire Bear here?

This is my girl on the last day of swimming.  Love those floaties :)  Enjoy your sweet summer everyone!!

Wordless Wednesday with Sugar and Spice!!

 



Happy Wednesday everyone!  Summer is flying by, but I can't complain because my girls and I are having lots of fun.  Here's a few pics of the projects I've gotten myself into this summer.  The first one is......JAMBERRY NAILS!!  I just put these on this morning and have fallen in love!  So fun, so funky!  Lily, my to-be seven year old, wants a spa party for her bday and guess what we will be doing? Jamberry nails baby!  The kids versions are adorable.

Number two is a banner to go with my awesome new writing center from Seusstastic  The Ultimate Writing Station 

Pardon my half painted hutch, I'm testing out chalk paint!!  I need another coat, distress the edges, and wax it.  I will share when its done!   


What are your summer projects??

Two Great Books, One Back to School Pack, and a FREEBIE!

Happy Tuesday everyone!  It's July 1st and I'm not sweating my booty off outside???  I can't complain with this Kansas weather!  I'm so excited to join the famous Mrs. Jump's Class with Book Talk Tuesday.  My love for children's literature grows and grows and each year my sweet daughters get older, we discover new treasures to read.

 
My first book is an oldie but goodie.  First Grade, at last!  by Barbara Park was the first chapter book I read to my firsties last year and I'm so thankful I made that choice.



EVERYONE loves Junie B.!  I loved the fact that she needed glasses and felt self-conscious about them.  I had more than one kiddo in my class that could relate to that situation.  We discussed it as a class, and it was heartwarming to hear another student say "Well, I love your glasses!"  Talk about sweet kids!!

If you have a class full of first graders, then check out my newest unit, Meet The Firsties!  This adorable pack includes a sweet banner to hang in or outside your classroom, banner pieces for the kiddos to personalize, interviews to build a relationships between partners, use the graph and tally chart to get to know each other, and best of all, it includes printables to fill out as a class on how to be a great FIRSTIE friend!  Grab it while it's on sale until July 4th!!




My second book is a favorite of mine at home.  This book is so worn and tattered from reading it a hundred times to my sweethearts.  I have to be very gentle....and the girls do too!  It's called "Mommy Mine" by Jane Chapman.

This story has sweet rhyming words and such detailed pictures!  It goes through families of all kinds of animals, from penguins to hippos.  If you have a chance to check it out, read it to your babies, at school and at home!


If you save this for Mother's Day next year, then check out my FREE Mother's Day pack.  It includes an original poem, word work activities, and a mini book!  




 



Happy Reading!!