Birthdays!

This is how I display my birthdays! I was browsing...you guessed it..pinterest..when I came upon this super cute idea that is so much better than the traditional poster with all of your kiddos birthdays on it! I bought the gift bags from the dollar tree, as well as the tissue paper. I then bought some birthday pencils from NAC and some frog pencil toppers from Office Depot randomly!! I wrote the name of every student as well as the day of the month that it was their birthday. I placed the pencil in the bag labeled with their birth month, and stapled the bags to my wall! It is adorable!

First Day of School Idea

So I was thinking of something cute to do for my kiddos on the first day of school to document this great new adventure that was about to happen in their life! :) So I got this super cute idea (from Pinterest) to take a picture of them holding up a picture frame that said My First Day In First Grade! Then at the end of the year, I am going to take another picture of them with a picture frame saying, My Last Day In First Grade! This will let the parents and myself see just how much they grew and changed in the course of one year in First Grade! I am hoping to possibly make a magnet for them to take home on the last day of school with both pictures side by side! HOW ADORABLE RIGHT! Here is an example of what I looked like a couple of days before school started! :)

First Week Jitters!

Well, the first week has come and gone..and I am soo happy I survived! I didn't realize how much paperwork and craziness it was going to be! My kids did awesome though! I implemented my new "whole brain teaching" method into my classroom...and it WORKED WONDERS! My kids were engaged, excited, and learned all of our rules in no time! I strongly suggest you looking into it on YouTube or www.wholebrainteaching.com
  Since Monday was Labor Day, we had a nice long weekend to recuperate from our first week of school!!! I say we, because the kids needed it too!! They were exhausted by Friday!! Poor things! I am super excited about getting into the nitty gritty and bringing out the best in my students! I will post pictures soon of some of the things we are doing in First Grade this year!!

First day of school!!!

Twas the night before school starts....AND I AM SO EXCITED!! I feel like a little kid before Christmas!! This summer was great, but I am so ready to get back in the swing of things and get these kiddos learning! I had meet the teacher on Thursday, and it made me even more excited for this year! My kids were so great! I was able to meet 14 of my 20 students, which I thought was fabulous!! I had one little girl ask me if I was mean!? haha. I told her of course! Just kidding! Oh the thoughts that run through kids heads! This is my first "first day" of school!!! I started in January last year, so this is all brand new to me! Not only have I never taught this part of the year before, but I am implementing a new theory of teaching! It's called Whole Brain Teaching! YOU HAVE TO CHECK IT OUT!! You can see videos of actual teachers teaching in this style on you tube, or check out the website at www.wholebrainteaching.com  The basis behind it is to provide a fun learning experience with the students engaged constantly. Throughout each lesson you are using your body, gestures, and oral responses to learn the topic. IT IS AMAZING! The kids are mirroring you, teaching eachother, and most of all..having fun! I think it will be great...I will let you know tomorrow! HAHA! Well it's about to be 8, and I have an early morning tomorrow!! Here are a few pictures of my classroom this year!

STREP!!

Oh my goodness! This week has been CRAZY! I was feeling a little ill on Sunday, but I didn't think anything of it..(Famous last words!) so I went on with planning my week! Monday was good. I started off good, but then the body aches started!! And instead of going home to rest, we had a staff meeting, and I had to stay late to get all of our end of the year stuff ready! :( Tuesday comes along and I have to be at a training all day. I'm still feeling sick but Advil was my best friend so it helped a little. Well my goodness, Wednesday comes!! OH MY!!! I get to school and right away start feeling like I am going to fall to the floor and pass out! I am also feeling VERY nauseous! I knew that this day was going to be bad! I asked my VP if BY CHANCE I could leave early because the school nurse said my throat looked like strep! I was so relieved when he agreed! Now before I leave, I have to get my kids ready and split them up into the different classrooms. Still feeling ill, I do all of my paper work, and go to pick up my kids from P.E. I get my kiddos, and all of the sudden I feel weak, like I am about to faint, and also like I am about to get rid of my breakfast!! I B-line it straight to my classroom. No stopping in the hallways at all, which is uncalled for any other day!! My kids were so funny because I was ahead of them, walking very quickly, and their poor legs could barely keep up!! I just did NOT want to pass out or vomit in the hallway!! HOW EMBARRASSING! So I finally get to my room, and head straight to my desk. My thinking is that if I sit down, it will all go away! WRONG! I sit down and the kids start piling in. They are being very quiet because they know something is not right! One of my little boys comes over to see if I am ok, and I immediately tell him to grab me the trash can! Not two seconds after he puts it down..the unthinkable happens. Teachers are not supposed to do that..is what my kids are probably thinking!! I probably scarred them for life!! Their reaction was so perfect though! There were a few words said to each other, but other than that, they were silent and ready to help!! I felt so bad, but I think they felt worse!! I love my kids! So I rush my kids out to their other teachers so I can leave and finally get a chance to go to the doctor! The doctor gives me the strep test and says to wait for ten minutes! 3 minutes later...Ms. Matthews, YOU HAVE STREP! UGGHHH!! And apparently it had gotten so bad that the bacteria went into my stomach and made my stomach upset!! Not fun!! I feel soo much better with the medicine that they gave me! Hopefully this next week will be better! I don't think it could be any worse!

Above and Beyond Properties

So today for Science my kids were learning about properties! In order to explain what a property was I told them it is something you see, for instance the color of something, size of something, texture of something, or shape of something. I then proceeded to use myself as the object. I thought this was a fabulous idea. I asked the students to name properties that they see about myself, for instance my size, shape, color, texture, and so on. What was said next made me love my kiddos even more...if that was possible! One student raised their hand oh so nicely and I said.."What property can you name by just looking at me?" Then they said..."Beautiful!" AHHH EXTRA CREDIT! haha. I thought it was so sweet!! I was looking for more words like tall, peach colored..you know the obvious..but no! My kids went above a beyond!! Yet another fabulous day in first grade!

Career Day

So last Friday was career day! It was awesome because we had so many amazing people come and speak to the kiddos! There were firemen, police officers, bus drivers, business men, and a dental assistant! You should have seen the kids oohing and aahing at the sight of them...especially the firemen! It didn't help that they brought the fire truck and extended the ladder for all to see!! I had them prepare for career day by having them write in writing center what they wanted to be when they grew up. I also had cute cut outs of different careers for them to color and paste on their writing! I love themes like that! I wish we had one every week! It just makes it more fun for the kids, and a lot easier to tie in throughout the curriculum! Here are some pics of who we had the pleasure of meeting!