Currently January 2015!

I am linking up with Farley from Oh' Boy Fourth Grade' for the first Currently linky party of 2015.

LISTENING:  Sometimes quiet is good….usually I need some kind of background noise, but not right now.  The house is quiet except for the sniffing of my dog looking for any kind of morsel of a crumb and the coffee brewing in the background.      

LOVING:  I am finally started to feel motivated to get things checked off my list.  Last year took a toll on me.  It was one of the hardest years to get through.  Now that things have started to turn around and I am getting out of my funk, I am actually excited to start getting things done that I have been putting off.

THINKING:  I am thinking about a new student that will start when we return to school.  I want to be prepared so he will be successful.  My para will be student teaching next semester in another building so that will also be a bit of a challenge, too.  It will take a little adjusting on everyones' part, but I am up for the challenge.

WANTING:  I would love nothing more than to get away to somewhere warm!  I always dream about that this time of year.  The shorter days and colder temperatures make me yearn for sunshine and warm weather.

NEEDING:  This is the best feeling in the world because I feel like I need NOTHING!  I feel blessed to have so many blessings in my life.

YES:  I am going to workout more, even if it means just walking my dog.  I am hoping to do more, but I also am realistic.  It's hard to do much after a long day at school……baby steps.  :)

MAYBE:  I will get everything checked off my 'to do' list.  Let's hope my new found motivation continues!

I WISH:  I would win the lottery….who doesn't, right?!?!  It would take a load of worry off my mind.

Check out others and link your own 'Currently' list on Farley's Oh' Boy Fourth Grade blog.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!  May your year be filled with joy and happiness.  :)                                  

Cheers to 2015 Sale!

I am linking up with Molly from Lucky to be in First for a New Year's 2015 sale!

All my products from my TpT store are discounted 20% off.

Some items that may be of interest for January include:

'There Was a Cold Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow' retelling pack,

'Bear Snores On' retelling pack,

'Polar Bear, Polar Bear' math and literacy extension activities

'The Mitten' Retelling Pack

'Tacky the Penguin' Math Extension Activities

and 'Tacky the Penguin' ELA Extension Activities

I finally finished my latest retelling pack.  It's based on the book 'The Snowy Day' by Ezra Jack Keats.  This is one of my all time favorite winter books.  I love all the descriptive language Keats uses to describe Peter playing in the snow.  My retelling pack includes story sequencing, vocabulary words, retelling cards, an emergent reader and essential questions to help your little ones comprehend and retell the story.  I will be posting it soon at my TpT store.  I will also blog about all the activities the pack includes, so check back soon!  

Happy New Year to you!  I hope 2015 treats you well!!!

Thanks for reading.  Have a great day.  :)

A Christmas Conversation!

I am linking up with Abby from The Inspired Apple for a fun little linky called 'A Christmas Conversation.  Be sure to check it out to read about lots of holiday traditions.

Even though the days leading up to Christmas break can be extremely hectic, I hope you're able to take a moment to enjoy!
Thanks for reading!  Have a great day.  :)

Classroom Elf, Old Lady & the Flu!

This month has flown by……

I can't believe it's already the 12th of December.

 I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching to share highlights of the past couple of weeks.

We had an elf come to our class. 

 He was delivered in a box to our school.  We were called to the office where we were given our package.

After reading the letter from Santa and reading the book, we named our elf by voting on our favorite choice of names.

It was official 'Snowball' was the winning name.

Every day Snowball finds a different spot to land after going back to the North Pole and reporting to Santa.  Our little learners have been recording where Snowball lands every morning in their Elf Journals.

We also made these adorable elves with a writing prompt added.

The cold and flu season has started to hit in our classroom.  It was time to teach the littles about germs.  My sweeties are visual learners, especially because of their ages. To make an impact each student was given a squeeze of lotion to rub into their hands.  Glitter was then sprinkled onto the lotion.

The glitter represented the germs.  

We demonstrated sneezing into hands, shaking hands with each other, and touching things that left glitter (germs) behind.  Then we washed our hands with water only.  Guess what?  The germs (glitter ) was still there.  However, when we washed our hands again using soap and singing the ABC song to represent how long tiny hands needs to scrub, the germs disappeared.  

Everyone was amazed.  It definitely made an impact!

We also read 'There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bell'.  I use a puppet to help retell the story.  I also use the retelling activities from my retelling pack.

You can find it HERE on TpT

Hope you had a great week!

Thanks for reading :)

Special Education Bloggers Blog Hop!

Christine Reeves organized this wonderful blog hop to offer tips and tricks for teachers and special education students.  My tip deals with helping students regulate the needs of their bodies {especially useful for sweet ones who have some sensory processing difficulties}.  I don't use this with all my students, just a select few who could benefit from a sensory diet.
The way I use this in my class is on the outside of a file folder I cut and glue the icon 'I need a break'.  on the inside, on one half, I cut and glue the icon 'I need' with up to three empty squares {or just glue the page provided in the freebie}.  I then laminate the file folder as well as the pictures of the activities to choose from.  Cut apart the pictures of the activities and velcro on the other half of the file folder.  Your little sweeties can choose up to three activities needed to help regulate their bodies.

 

Click HERE for your freebie.

Thanks for checking in. For more freebies and tips, continue the trip through the blog hop by checking out Fun in ECSE...just click the button below.

Also, enjoy 20% off all items in my TpT store!

Thanks for reading!  Have a great day.  :)

Thanksgiving, Turkeys, & a Tardy 5!

I am a bit tardy with this Five for Friday linky offered by Doodle Bugs Teaching, but I have good reason!

This is my birthday weekend and I'm spending it in Memphis, Tennessee.  It's been the BEST trip ever.  :)  We went to Graceland, Sun Studios, and the Buford Pusser museum.  All three are a must!

BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!

Leslie:  I figured you would like this post since I am not with Paul anymore.

At school this week, we did lots of activities to strengthen our muscles in our little hands.

A favorite always is this turkey 'basting' activity.

It's easy peasy to do.  I cut turkeys out of foam from the Ellison machine.  Little ones used pipettes to transfer water from a small container onto the turkey.

Another great fine motor activity is this Indian corn craft.

First the little sweeties in the morning tore and glued green construction paper for the husk.  Tearing is a very difficult task for preschoolers.

They then scrunched up different color tissue paper and glued it on the corn pattern.

The sweetie pies were so proud of their art!

In the afternoon, they cut out a corn pattern and then added the tissue paper.

I love how they both turned out.

We made these turkeys from a pattern offered by Doodle Bugs Teaching.

 

They crack me up.  I love how each one turns out a little different.  It takes good listening skills to be able to follow teacher given directions.  They did a great job.  I'm so proud of them.

We also did some math at circle time using a turkey theme.

Little learners rolled a die, counted the dots, and added that many feathers to the turkeys.

 It was a great way to talk about greater than/lesser than.  The babes were having fun…..little did they know they were learning a whole bunch!

Hopefully you had a fabulous week, too.  Head over to Doodle Bugs Teaching to tell everyone.

Thanks for reading!  Have a great day.  :)

Ladybugs, Owls, and Birds!

I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday.

This week went by SUPER fast!  Here are a few of the highlights.

We continued our study of trees, this week focusing on 'Who Lives in Trees?'  To go along with our learning we made this ladybug craft.  

First, we cut strips of green paper for grass, we tore brown construction paper for dirt {much harder than it sounds} and then we drew a head, legs, a line down the middle, and spots.

It turned out to be a great multi direction activity with lots of fine motor practice.

These baby birds in their nests turned out adorable as our second learning project.  

This consisted of painting half a paper plate brown, cutting baby birds from construction paper, gluing, adding eyes,beaks, and more cut up strips of construction paper.  

We were cutting machines this week. This littlest sweetie couldn't even hold a pair of scissors in August.

I love seeing all the accomplishments of my learners throughout the year.  It's this kind of gratification that makes my job so very special.

Of course, we have to talk about owls as we discuss animals who live in trees.  We made this little fun owl craft to add to our display.

Another satisfying aspect of my job is seeing all the cooperative play that begins to take place throughout the year.  I just had to snap a shot of my afternoon boys playing firefighters.  They remember the visit from the firefighters a few weeks back.  

Our journal writing and drawing is also blossoming.  This little learner was so proud of his drawing.  Love it!

We are learning about the concept of greater than and less than.  I have some craft sticks that we use to make alligator mouths to demonstrate the greater than sign, so I was thrilled when I ran across this baby at the Lakeshore store.  My sweeties love this game and I love that they are learning so much.  

Head over to Doodle Bugs Teaching to link up your week or just discover some really great blogs.

Thanks for reading!  Have a great day.  :)