"Let's Do the Twist.... 50's day"

We just had 50's day at school and it was absolutely exhausting BUT so much fun! We of course had to use Cara Carroll's 50's day unit. The students loved it and had a blast dressing up. So did the teachers ;) Check out what we did.

 our teachers are ready to go!

 our teachers are ready to go!

 students ready to go

 working on their 50's day book

  working on their 50's day book

  working on their 50's day book

 measuring records with unifix cubes

 making records and putting numbers that were less than and greater than 50

  measuring records with unifix cubes

 matching doubles facts

 playing "Roll a Record"

  playing "Roll a Record"

  comparing and contrasting kids from the 50's and today

 Sock Hop in the gym :) We taught them the pony, the twist, etc. So much fun!

week 6 of learning

Since a few of you were asking why I won't be teaching next year, I thought I would share. We are trying to have a baby :) Now my husband and I are not telling people, but since y'all are my blog friends, that doesn't count ;) Please keep us in your prayers as we start this journey! We have been trying for a few months and nothing yet. Hoping this is our month!

Phew! We are learning so much in first grade this week and having lots of fun with our Wild Walk. The Wild Walk is our school wide fundraiser. The students get pledges for how many laps they can run (or walk) and then there are prizes for who runs the most per grade and class and so on. The kids love it! I ran last year and did 21 laps, this year I walked, only did 10. Here are the kiddos ready to start running!

I also started out my Monday with pulling a tooth. This sucker has been giving us (the owner of the tooth and I) a fit! It just wouldn't come out and then finally today it did! He is the newly snaggle toothed kid! Such a sweet heart. Sent this picture to his mom right after it happened. Let's just say my guided reading group was pretty shot after this event.

In reading we are working on retelling and we are using Cara Carroll's, Follow the Yellow Brick Road. The kids love it! We have done "Bear's Loose Tooth" and "The Rainbow Fish". They are doing so good! We will be practicing writing it down tomorrow along with our verbal talking through.

In science we are working on observable properties. We are using fruits to help us and the kids are "eating" it up, no punt intended ;) Here is the book we use to study different properties of the fruit and also the letter I send home so that I have fruit for the lesson.

Fruits Properties Book

Fruit Letter

In math we are working on patterns and I am using Cara Carroll's patterns activity from Ready, Set, Learn! {Back To School Math & Literacy Activities}We also teach with Investigations and the kids are loving it.

In phonics we are working on ending sounds, nouns, and also we are working in how to write our numbers 0-9. it's amazing how my kiddos decide to write their numbers.

In writing we are working on beginning, middle, and end. We read Stellaluna and are making a bat and writing the beginning, middle, and end. We got the idea from you guessed it, Cara Carroll. Check out her post on BME, HERE! We wrote the beginning, middle, and end and will be making the bat tomorrow.

What are you studying this week?

where did the time go?!

Oh my goodness! I have been neglecting my sweet blog, but for good reason! School has begun and I am super UBER busy! I have 19 (originally 20, but I had a student move to Florida last week) sweet, SWEET lil firsties that I am loving on everyday! This is my FIFTH (can't believe it) year of teaching and I am FINALLY feeling like I know what I'm doing. Granted this is my 3rd year in first so I'm finally getting my bearings on 1st. Which is sad because this also my last year as a teacher. I wonder if anyone can guess why?

We have been covering so much since school has started and there is no way I could cover it in my post so let's do a classroom tour!

This is the entrance to my room. The big cart in the bottom right hand corner is the my math manipulatlves. It faces towards my calendar area.

This is rotated to the left and looking into my room again. Each table has a plastic bin that holds extra supplies, white boards, and clip boards.

This is my computer area and part of my word wall. My students are at the computer center once a week. probably their favorite center.

Here is my writing center. I had a mom buy me the cute bench for teacher appreciation week last year and I love it!!

This is my word work and library area. (I actually moved these two away from each other this week, haven't taken an updated picture). They were just too close and I needed them separated. Had to put up pink duct-tape so the kids would know when there are 3 people in that area, you have to WAIT outside the pink tape before you can go in and trade out your books.

Hope y'alls year is starting out great! Mine definitely is!

Technology Tuesday Where I Work Wednesday

I am so sorry for skipping yesterday! I did not get home until around 9pm. We had our first PTA meeting at school and I am the teacher volunteer who watches the PTA's kids while they are in the reading. Needless to say, the meeting last a BIT long! over 3 hours long. So when I got home it was dinner and bedtime!

Anyways, here is my technology Tuesday. I could not survive without Annie and Moby over at brain pop jr. If you have not heard of Brain pop jr, you are in for a sweet ride!

Annie and Moby teach TONS of things! All you have to do is type it into the search bar and see if they have a video on it! And there is a fun quiz at the end that my students NEVER let me skip! Now, you're school does have to purchase it to use ALL of the videos, BUT there are a few free ones :) So go check out Annie and Moby (and if you teach the upper grades check out Tim and Moby at www.brainpop.com


Now for Where I Work Wednesday. Please come on in and see where I spend most of my life time!
Pictures will be added as soon as I can find them. If I can't find them I will take more pictures tomorrow!

Must Haves Monday

I am linking up with Blog Hoppin' for "Must Haves Monday"!!

As I read through everyone's "Must Haves Monday" posts all I can is laugh because we all are listing the same things! So I'm going to dig deep and try to list something different. My FIRST must have is my DP.

I am not a coffee drinker. I am a Dr. Pepper drinker! Sometimes, I'll have a coke, but normally I reach for a ice, cold DP. Sometimes it's the pick me up I need in the morning!

Must haves for the classroom are as follows. First, my iPhone. I use it to find the weather for our weather graph in calendar, I use it to time students when I'm doing running records. I use it as a timer to keep me on track and make sure I don't do guided reading for too long! It's a necessity!

Next, I LOVE my crayola markers! And I have them in EVERY color. My favorite are my neon colors! My kiddos know not to touch Mrs. Sanderson's markers.

OH! I can't believe I almost forgot my easel! I bought this about 2 years ago, and it has changed my life!! I teach completely from the carpet most of the time and this allows me to do so! If you don't have an easel, get one!

Tomorrow is my first day back and I am very excited to get this year going! I found out my class list today and I can't wait to meet my 20 first graders on Friday! I did find out that I have a severe peanut allergy in my classroom so I made this sign today to hang on my door as a reminder to visitors. 

Click here for the doc googles version. HERE

Or you can head on over to my TpT store to download it too. And I'd love for you to leave some feedback too! Click HERE to do so!

binder covers

With one more day of summer left, I'm trying my best to relax, but I have so many things I want to get done! To show one thing I've been working on click here. I don't know about you, but I have to be organized to stay sane. I have SO many binders and they need to be labeled! Here are ones that I use!

The first 2 people to leave a comment with their email will get them for free!

recess buckets

Here are the fun recess buckets I made for my new team! I included everything you need to survive a hot recess in Texas. And of course I made one for myself too :) Mine is purple!

 First I started with buckets from Hobby Lobby; only $3. Then I wrote their name on the bucket.

 Then I bought these holders from Walmart; only 99 cents. And wrote bandaids on the front and their name on the back.

 And with it being 100+ degrees for the first month or so of our school year we need squirt bottles. The kids love being squirted and it keeps them cooled off and it's so much fun to squirt them :)

 And last but not least, a pen for them to fill out nurses passes if need be!

And one of my jobs is "recess monitor". They get to grab the bucket because you know I won't remember every time! Do you have anything you take out to recess with you when you are on duty?