Monday, September 26, 2011

So, Let's Ketchup

Hahahahaha...sometimes I'm just too much!
  I've taken the WHOLE day off to go to the dentist.  So far this morning, I've let the boys sleep in a little (since we didn't have to catch the bus), made breakfast (nothing fancy, just cinnamon toast, by request), dropped the boys off, had a cup of coffee and caught up on facebook, the dentist, now blogging.  I LOVE days off! :)

Well it has been MUCH too long blogging buddies.  So...Let's Ketchup! (Yep, I still giggle a little.)

I believe we're in our 7th exhausting week of school.  Some say it's flying by...I'm not sure I agree with that!  Anywho, I currently have 20 lil' love muffins in my room.  I've already had one leave and then come back the next week, two move in, and one is leaving at the end of this week... CcrAzY!  We are having a great time learning to recognize and write letters and numbers, letter sounds, reading sight words (a, I, the, it, is, can) and rules and routines.  It has been a whirlwind, but we're getting in the groove.  On Thursday, our Mid-Quarter Reports went home and we are making progress! :0)

Class Pets
I broke down and purchased a classroom pet. I'm going to be honest, I looked kinda bad because the other kindergarten AND first grade teachers all have guinea pigs...YES, ALL of them. To top that off, I "heard" that one of my new lil' love muffins didn't like me (kinda harsh, she hadn't even met me yet) because I was the only teacher w/out a classroom pet. So I was kinda feeling guilty. Now, don't just assume I purchased one of those furry critters. Nope, not me. BEEN THERE, TRIED THAT, HATED IT (of course this was at home). I just couldn't get past the whole rodent-y thing. I know, I know I'm a bit of a sissy. Anywho...without further ado...CRUD, I just realized I didn't take a picture of them! Oh well. We now have 2 hermit crabs, Crystal and Tallulah, in our classroom.  There were 3 but one drowned.  It was really pretty sad.  R.I.P. Crabby
 **I also found out last week that I received a Pet Co. grant so I'm awaiting my packet.  I can't wait to "pimp" my crab habitat and pick up a few more friends!**
To honor our pets we read A House for Hermit Crab.  Then had too much fun fingerpainting "houses" for our own hermit crabs.  They turned out pretty cute!

one of the crustacean creations


Color Weeks
We've also been learning about the colors.  During this particular week, our focus was on red.  On Friday of each week we have a color celebration (well at least that is what we call it).  We wear the color, do a color craft, and eat a snack of that color.  For red weel we had a red snack...watermelon and strawberries! They were Yum-O (yes, I love Rachel Ray)!!  Nothing too special, but we always have fun!  On red day, we read a few Clifford books and make red dog ears. 
Aren't we cute???

Letter Exchange
We've also been getting mail!  This, "M" is the first letter we received from a letter exchange (our letter is F) we are participating in.  By the end of September we should have all of the letters of the alphabet.  We have received two other letters, but of course, I don't have pictures of them.


Grandparent's Day
And we celebrated Grandparent's Day!  We put on a short performance that included our rendition of Pete the Cat I Love My White Shoes (we are LOVING Pete) as well as a few songs "This is How We Rock," "Months of the Year Macarana", and "Five Little Monkeys."  Of course, our grandparents LOVED it!  We also colored, read books, visitied the book fair, got to show off our classroom, AND had cookies and milk with them (thank you Neriman).  A good time was had by ALL!  Here is one of my lil' muffins enjoying cookies and milk with his grandparents.

I still feel like there is so much to share!  But this is what's been going on "in a nutshell".  I have every intention of returning to my lil' blog within the week to give some specifics on these activities and others we have been doing.  But for now...Happy Blogging Buddies!!!

Versatile Blogger...Me...Really?!?!


Well...thank you ladies! Tara and Nicole also have GREAT and very VERSATILE blogs.  If you've never checked them out, you need to do so ASA(blogging)P!!!! 


First Grade O.W.L.s

It feels very nice to be given the Versatile Blogger Award, being as I have soooo neglected my poor, little blog since school started. I always have intentions of sharing the great (well, I think they're great) going on in my classroom things (I even take pictures) but blogging (don't get me wrong I'm still stalking y'all) gets swept under the rug at the end of the day. :( Again, thank you Tara and Nicole!
Anywho, on to seven things about me...hmmmm...let's see...
1. I was introduced to blogging late last school year and fell in LOVE with blogging this summer. I have a couple blogs that I MUST stalk visit daily!
2. I LOVE Zumba and LOVE to share it with others!!!  If you haven't tried it...you should!
3. I enjoy spending time on the river with my men (big and little) and SHORT camping trips (3 night max.)!
4. I LOVE using elipses...when I write...type...blog...and even text!
5. I'm pretty opinionated, animated, and at times emotional...which I'm not sure are very good qualities in combination.
6. I love DIY (most of the time). In addition to painting and decorating the boys' rooms, I'm currently making the cutsie clipboards and working on cleaning up two old barn windows to turn into picture frames.
7. I'm a horrible driver...not bragging...just a fact!

Well, since I'm a little late (better late than never) to this party, finding 15 "Versatile" Blogs that haven't already received this award is taking a while...so I'm handing out 3 awards to the following bloggers:
1. Mrs. Johnson's First Grade
2. Here We Go Loopty Loo
3. Kreative in Kinder

If you haven't checked them out, you really should.  I enjoy stalking them when I can!
Happy Blogging Y'all!

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Just "JING" It

Have you ever heard of JING?

 
If not, you're really missing out and ought to check it out!  It is a FREE download and does tons of stuff.  I use it mainly to
but it can do SOOOO much more!  

IF you haven't tried, I suggest you head on over and give it a try!  There is even a learning center with tutorial videos (and of course you can find plenty of Jing tutorials on YouTube).

Well...that's all I've got for you all (I mean I have a TON of classroom stuff to share, but at this point I have no clue where to begin and am still having trouble getting my pics to load onto my computer, yada yada yada).  I hope you all at least give Jing a try!  I LOVE it! 
**And if you're wondering, all of my clips were "Jing'ed"!**

  I hope to get this school year under control so I can give my blog some much needed LOVE!
Happy Thursday Blogging Buddies!