Peek at My Week: Week 15 2016

Hi Everyone!!

So I can not believe that its been almost two months since I last blogged. Its been a crazy two months, but I am back and so ready to rejoin the blogging, instagram, teacher network world!!

I figured the easiest way to jump back into blogging would be to give you a little glimpse into what will be going on in my classroom this week. We are going to have lots going on.

This week we are finishing up our plant unit. We will be talking about everyday items that come from plants. This will be another activity for their interactive notebooks. I love interactive notebooks!! I am so happy that I decided to do one for science and social studies this year. They have added so much to my lessons. Anyway, we will also be using celery, carnations, water, and food coloring to watch how water travels through a plant. Finally we will take the end of unit test. This unit will be posted in my TpT store by Wednesday. Just need a few pictures to add to the packet to complete it.

We will end the week talking about bears. Our original plan was to take a field trip to watch the premiere of the new Disney Nature Earth Day movie  but it looks like it will not be available this Friday. So, in its place we decided to watch one of the older ones that we had not seen and do a unit of study on that. We will be watching Disney Nature's Bears. The kids will be thrilled and my teaching partner and I will have 1 hour and 30 minutes of grading time. That sounds so selfish, but it is a much needed sanity gaining moment.

We will be diving into 2D and 3D shapes this week. The kids got a little taste of our activities on Friday and they were excited. They will love all the shape building activities we have planned for this week. We will also be continuing our Smart Cookie math time tests. My kids were totally freaked out by these when we first started them, but now most of them get upset when I skip a day. They have done amazing with them. I am so proud of how much they have grown in their confidence and their math skills.

My plans for the week are below and under those are links to all the packets that I am using this week. 

Smart Cookie Math
Thankful Thoughts
Facts About Bears
All About Plants
Second Step

Thanks for reading through my plans for my upcoming week. I hope you all have a wonderful week!!

Ashley

Peek at My Week: Week 8 2016

Hi Everyone!

It has been such a relaxing weekend at our house that I almost forgot about linking up with Mrs. Wills Kindergarten for her Peek at My Week linky. Go check it out and link up with us if you can. I love seeing what different classrooms are working on each week.

This week is a pretty tame week in first grade which I am super excited about. Next week will be completely bonkers so having a calm week before the madness is a nice relief. We will be reading the story Me on the Map and doing some activities that go along with this story. My favorite activity is a circle craft that shows my firsties how where we are is just a small piece of what we are a part of. It is a big project but I love how much learning happens with this story and activity. I included a photo below so you can see what I am trying to explain.

We will also be rocking some place value and time activities this week. My firsties will be so excited when they find out that their math centers will be games this week. They love games so we try to play some as often as possible.


Our Smart Cookie time tests have been going really well so far. The kids like them and I am seeing great results. It is already giving some of my strugglers confidence that they had trouble finding before because they can see they are finishing just like everyone else. We will be continuing on with them through the remainder of the school year.

Links to any packets I am using can be found below my lessons.

 Place Value Packet of Fun
Thankful Thoughts
Smart Cookie Math
Second Step

Have a wonderful Sunday evening!

Ashley

Peek at My Week: Week 7 2016

Good Morning Everyone!

It is so nice to be coming to you on a Monday morning!! I really needed this three day weekend to recoup after the flu bug hit my house and to recharge my teacher battery. Another bonus is that it is a four day week so hopefully I won't wear myself out this week.

Anyway, I am linking up with Mrs. Wills Kindergarten for her Peek at My Week linky to show you what we will be working on during this 4 day week.

This week we will be studying George Washington in social studies. My teaching partner covered Abe Lincoln last week during reading using the story Abe Lincoln's Hat so I will teach George this week. We are keeping things simple with George because of the shortened week and because we have some bigger projects coming up within the next few weeks.

We will also be attempting another STEM activity from the amazing Brooke Brown. It is one I wanted to use the Friday before last but some scheduling conflicts came up and it didn't work out. This week I really want my kids to work on the Air Mail activity from her February activity. I love how engaged they are during these activities and am so excited to see what their young minds come up with during this activity.

My lesson plans for the week are below and links to any products that I will be using this week can be found below that. 

Place Value Mystery Pictures
Smart Cookie Math
George Washington: Our First President
Abe Lincoln's Hat
Thankful Thoughts
STEM for February
 Double Digit Math Packet
Second Step

Have a wonderful 4 day week!

Ashley

Peek at My Week: Week 6

Happy Sunday!

Good Morning! I am coming to you early this morning for a peek at my week because it is Super Bowl Sunday and we will be glued to the TV this afternoon. Go Broncos!! If you are able link up with Mrs. Wills Kindergarten for this awesome Peek at My Week linky.

 This week we have lots of Valentine activities. We are joining our awesome third grade buddies to make a Valentine Monster Glyph. They are so fun and the kids love having "monsters" hanging in our room. We are also working on Valentine's for our parents this week. This is a project that my fabulous teaching partner puts together. I am just there to assist.

For math this week we have all Valentine themed math centers. They will review time to the hour and half hour, double digit addition, and place value using task cards. We will also be working on some new strategies this week.

To go along with our Bible studies we will be making a book about love verses throughout the Bible on Friday. This will be a great reminder for our kiddos about how much God expresses his love for us. We will also end Friday with a Valentine exchange and a small party with just first grade. We didn't want to do anything big this year since we just finished National Lutheran Schools Week and we have Saints week in three weeks. A little calm is good for the time being.

Links to all the packets I am using this week can be found under my plans.

Valentine Math and Literacy Activities
Second Step
Thankful Thoughts
Bible Verses for Valentine's Day
Holiday Worksheet

Have a fun Super Bowl Day and a wonderful week!

Ashley

Peek at My Week: Week 5 2016

Happy Sunday Eve!

Well I am back after a crazy exhausting week. My house spent most of this weekend napping and laying around because of all the crazy adventures from last week. My toddler had her first spirit week and our school had their spirit week as well. My husband was gone the majority of the week with work so....napping was necessary.

To get ready for the week I am linking up with Mrs. Wills Kindergarten for her Peek at My Week linky. A great linky to help ensure that I am completely prepared for my week and that I get some great ideas from other teachers. 

Some of the excitement is carrying over to this week. On Monday we will be making our groundhog predictions. We will write out our predictions and explain why we think it will happen this way. Then we will complete a groundhog craftivity. It is super cute and will look great on our science wall. We will also do a quick study on groundhogs to become more familiar with them.

At the end of the week we will be making another big prediction. This time it will be about who wins the Super Bowl. We will write out our predictions and then make a Super Bowl buddy wearing the colors of the team we believe will win. It is always so fun to read why my firsties think different teams will win and you can definitely tell the ones who have listened to moms or dads become excited during games. They use similar vocabulary.

The rest of our week is blissfully calm after the craziness of special dress days and special events each day of last week.

The links to any packets that I will be getting materials from this week can be found beneath the image of my plans.

Groundhog Craftivity
February STEM
Thankful Thoughts
Football Buddy

Have a wonderful week!!

Ashley

Peek at My Week: Week 4 2016

Hi Everyone!

I am back this beautiful Sunday to give you a glimpse into the absolutely crazy week that I have this week. I am linking up with Mrs. Wills Kindergarten for her Peek at My Week Linky. Join if you can!

Our school participates in national event for Lutheran schools across the country called National Lutheran Schools week. It is a week packed full of all school activities, fun dress days (we are a uniform school), and so many schedule changes that you have to get creative to get any kind of teaching in.

To adapt to the craziness and schedule changes we are having some extra fun with our lessons this week. In math we need to work a little more on subtraction so we will be doing a little bowling. We use 20 cups and nerf balls for this game. We use 10 cups the first day we play and 20 cups the second. This way we can practice subtracting from larger numbers. For the end of the week we will be enjoying some 100 Day math centers and super hero math to go along with our dress like a super hero day on Friday.

Other than the math we have our Bible lessons, a science review and test, and a super hero project. The rest of my teaching time is taken up by our all school events. It will be fun and there will be many pictures to come.

Any packets I use this week can be found by clicking on the links below my plans.

1ooth Day STEM Activities
100th Day of School
Come in From the Cold Math Centers
Up Up and Away Super Hero Math Task Cards
Thankful Thoughts

Have a wonderful week!

Ashley

Peek at My Week: Week 3 2016

Good Morning!

Today I am coming to you with a peek into my upcoming week. I am linking my plans up with Mrs. Wills Kindergarten. I am so excited for the three day weekend and a four day work week. That four day week will be pretty packed though.

This week we are studying the amazing Martin Luther King Jr. in social studies. We started our studies Friday with a super cute project and videos from Reading Rainbow and Kid President. It was a great way to kick off our studies.

At the end of the week we will be using one of Brooke Brown's amazing STEM activities from her January STEM packet. My little firsties will be so excited when they find out we will be starting with the creation of several geysers and moving into some marshmallow tower building. It will definitely be an awesome afternoon.

You can find links to any of the packets I will be using below the image of my plans.

Snowman Math
Thankful Thoughts
January STEM
Martin Luther King Jr. 

Have a wonderful Monday off and a wonderful four day week!

Ashley

Peek at My Week: Week 2 2016

Good Morning!

This morning I am joining Mrs. Wills Kindergarten for her Peek at My Week Linky.

This week our theme is snowmen so our math centers and several projects will be snowman themed. I actually started on Friday of last week with my math classes because I couldn't resist the adorable snowman glyph and the graphing activities that went along with it. My firsties loved it and love that they are now hanging from the ceiling of our classroom.You can find the link to the glyph at the end of this post.

Later in the week we will partner with our third grade classes to make a snowman and watch The Legend of Frosty. The kids will be so excited when they find out they get to end their day with the third graders doing a craft and watching a movie.

Throughout the week we will be working on more on Matter and beginning matter experiments and projects. Our first experiment is oobleck. We will read Bartholomew and the Oobleck and then make oobleck to experiment with. I have an observations sheet that they will fill out for this.

On Friday we end the week with our first Martin Luther King Jr. project. We will bring both first grade classes together for this project. The projects are adorable and also have a great writing component that goes with it. It will look awesome in our hallways too!

My plans for the week are below and links to any products we are using can be found below that.

Snowman Glyph
Thankful Thoughts
MLK Jr. Craft
Make A Snowman Template
Snowmen Math
Snowmen Place Value Puzzles


Have a wonderful week!

Ashley

Peek at My Week - Week 1 2016

Good Evening!

Tonight I am sad and excited. I am sad because vacation is over and I no longer get to spend all day with my sweet girl but I am also excited to return to the classroom. As exhausting, crazy, frustrating, and overwhelming teaching can be, I truly love it and have missed my firsties.

To start the week off I am linking up with Mrs. Wills Kindergarten for her Peek at My Week linky. Check it out and link up if you can. I have come across some great ideas and products from this linky.

 This week we are easing back into things as I am sure their attention spans will be pretty short. We have a New Year's Resolution craftivity that we will be making tomorrow afternoon. I love talking to my firsties about what they want their goals to be for the year. Some of them come up with some pretty good ones and some come up with some unique ones which makes it very entertaining.

My teaching partner will be doing a book study with our firsties on The Hat by Jan Brett so we will be doing a Hedgie Webquest to learn more about hedgehogs. It is such a cute and informative activity. They love it every year.

We will also be starting our unit on Matter this week. I am hoping to find something to spice up this unit a little bit and make it more exciting for the kids. For this week though we are going to cover the reading and do a few simple activities.

So all in all there isn't too much going on this week but it will be a great first week back. A link to any products I am using can be found below my plans. 

Happy New Year (Math and Literacy Activities) by Cara Carroll - freebie on her blog
My New Year's Resolution
Science Key Words
Thankful Thoughts
Second Step - First Grade
Snowman Glyph
The Hat

Have a wonderful week!

Ashley

Peek at my Week: Christmas Week 1

Hello Again!

I can not believe that we just finished celebrating Thanksgiving or that I only have 14 and a half teaching days until Christmas break!! That seems crazy to me!

I do love this time of year though no matter how quickly it seems to come or how crazy it can get. There are just so many fun things to do in the classroom and I absolutely love Christmas and celebrating with Christmas activities. Thankfully may teaching partner and our third grade teacher friends love it just as much as I do because we have teamed up on some awesome activities for this month. To show you what we will be doing I usually link up with Mrs. Wills Kindergarten for her peek at my week linky but it is not happening this week. I am still going to share my plans and some of the fun we are having just because I am so excited.

We begin our festivities tomorrow with Elf on the Shelf. Our Elf Cocoa (we named our elves to save a little sanity this season) will make his appearance somewhere in the room introducing himself with a special note. We will be writing letters to our elves that we will leave out for our elves to take tomorrow night. The kids will have to write the top three things that they want and then the three reasons why they feel they deserve those presents. We will then team up with our third grade friends to make an elf and watch the Elf on the Shelf movie.

On Wednesday we team up with our third grade friends again to begin Christmas Around the World. We will visit 6 countries over the next three week. We have a book, passports, luggage, etc. to make it all as fun and interesting as possible for the kids.

On Thursday we will be reading Mooseltoe and finishing up our Mooseltoe themed math centers. We will also partner with our third grade friends to make Mooseltoe and watch a Christmas classic: Rudolph.

As you can see we have some exciting activities planned and this is only the beginning of the fun that will be coming. My lesson plans are below and any packets that I am using will have links underneath my plans.

Mooseltoe Math and Literacy Activities
The Nativity
Second Step
Christmas Around the World

Have a great week!

Ashley

Peek at my Week: Week 10

Hello Again!

I am returning again to join DeeDee Wills at Mrs. Wills Kindergartern for her Peek at my Week linky. Come join us if you can!

 Last week we ended our pioneer unit and we always end with a Pioneer Day. It was so much fun but it was incredibly exhausting. I wrote a post about it yesterday, feel free to read through that and see the adventures we had.

This week will thankfully be a little calmer than last week. This week we will be studying bats in science. We will be using two different packets to complete that unit. It will be lots of fun. We will also be celebrating our 50th day of school this Friday. Our 50th Day is actually Thursday but we pushed the celebrations to Friday because we were able to get a 50's Dress day approved. I work at a private school where students wear uniforms, so Halloween dress or shirts aren't allowed. Having a 50's Day helps alleviate some of the frustrations over that.

Here are my plans for the week. Links to all the packets you see on the plans are below the image.

Bats: Math and Literacy Activities
Thankful Thoughts
Number Sense to 100
The Pumpkin Prayer
Pioneer Unit
Bat Bits
50's Day: Activities for the 50th Day of School
Candy Corn Mathtivities

Have a wonderful week!

Ashley

Peek at my Week: Week 9

Hello!

Well fall break as come to an end and we are now returning to what I feel is the craziest part of the year. We have 5 weeks until Thanksgiving break and in that time we have our PT conferences, Pioneer Day, book fair and the activities that go with that week, Thanksgiving units, and our 50th day of school celebrations. It is all a lot of fun but it is a little crazy and exhausting as well.

I am excited to be sharing all these things with you this year. I am going to give you a glimpse as I link up with DeeDee Wills at Mrs. Wills Kindergarten for her Peek at my Week linky.

Prior to fall break we had been in our second week of our pioneer unit. We had a lot of fun that week. We started by learning how to Square Dance. They had so much fun! We then talked about the types of homes that Pioneers would build when they got to their new land. We then learned about patterning as we made our quilt squares from different size triangles. Some kids were very serious about their squares. Others were very free in their pattern creations. At the end we made a lumber house and added our own artistic touches to the picture. Those are now hanging on my classroom wall. The kids did a great job with them. Here are a few pics of them in action.

This week will be even bigger though. We are closing our pioneer unit. To close the unit we have a Pioneer Day. This is a day where they come to school dressed as pioneers and we go through centers with pioneer activities: games, crafts, school, and chores/cooking. We also have a first grade only barbecue before the fun begins. The kids love it because it is a special, fun event just for them. Little do they know they are actually learning as they go. Look for a post this Friday with some fun stories and pics about how the day goes.

That is are biggest activity/lessons this week. The rest of our plans are laid out on the plans below. The links to all the files you see can be found below the image.

Number Sense to 100
Pioneer Unit
Thankful Thoughts

Have a wonderful week!!

Ashley

Peek at My Week: Week 8

Good Afternoon!

After a two week break from my blog I am back. It was a crazy two weeks filled with a wedding, a sick toddler, and a sick mommy. Things are settling down now though just in time for our final week before fall break. So excited for a week off!!!!

This beautiful Sunday I am linking up with Mrs. Wills Kindergarten for her Peek at My Week linky. Join us if you can and get some great ideas from some fellow teachers.

This week we are continuing our Pioneer study. I am loving the interactive notebook component I added this year. The kids seem to like it too. We are also setting up all the volunteer information and sign ups this Monday and Tuesday for our Pioneer Day. That will be the week we return but it takes a small army to make the event a success.

We will also be using our reading time and our half day on Friday to study Christopher Columbus. We have a mini book and writing craftivity that they will complete along with some comprehension and vocabulary activities.

Those are our two big things this week.  Everything else is pretty much the same. We don't want to start too much because of Fall Break the following week. Below is a copy of my plans and links to the products that I am using this week. The only link I don't have yet is to my pioneer unit. Hoping to have the finishing touches done tonight and then I will add a link here.

Math Key Words
Number Sense to 100
Columbus Mini Unit
Pioneer Unit

Have a wonderful  week!

Ashley

Peek at My Week: Week 6

Good Morning!

 

I am linking up once again with Mrs. Wills Kindergarten for her Peek at My Week Linky. I love this linky!! It is a real motivator to keep me focused each week and not wait until the last minute to complete my lesson plans. I am also getting so many wonderful ideas from the other teachers who link up. Come join us if you can!

This week is our Apple Week. We are doing all kinds of awesome apple activities in honor of Johnny Appleseed's birthday on September 26. My teaching partner and I have activities in every subject area so its a little crazy but fun.

 Our week also gets crazy at the end when our little firsties go on their first field trip of the year. It is 1-8th grade bowling trip run by our Athletic Director. In Arizona its too hot for outdoor PE the first part of the year so he does an awesome bowling unit with our kids and ends it with this field trip. This will be the first time we all go at the same time though. There will be a lot of children and parents!! Unfortunately I am leaving a sub to handle this for me as I will be in SoCal celebrating my little sister's wedding!! Hopefully the sub will sub for me again after such a crazy day.

We will also begin our Pioneer unit this week. We will only cover the vocabulary so as not to interfere with all the apple awesomeness.

Here are the plans for the week. All product can be found using the links below my plans.

Thankful Thoughts
Johnny Appleseed Math and Literacy
Pioneer Interactive Notebook

Have a wonderful week!!

Ashley

Peek at my Week: Week 5

Hi Everyone!

This morning I am linking up with Mrs. Wills Kindergarten for her Peek at my Week linky.

Last week was a crazy week! So much happened in 4 short days that I am hoping this coming week is a little calmer. I may be asking too much though as we have a crazy theme and a few new things to debut to our firsties.

Our theme for this week is Pirate. We don't do any huge activities for Pirate week. Our second grade does that. We just have pirate themed stories and mini activities. We will be ending the week with another huge project. We will be painting our apples for our Johnny Appleseed week. We are a little nervous about giving our firsties paint again as this past week a kiddo in my class painted another kiddo. We will see what the final decision is Friday morning.

Along with these two things we will be beginning Second Step in our classrooms. I found a wonderful packet on TpT to go along with our lessons that I am excited about using this year. I have included the link below.

Apple Verse Craft
Thankful Thoughts
Second Step Printables
Pirate Activities
Number Sense 100 Numbers
Science Key Words 

Have a wonderful week!!

Ashley

Peek at My Week: Week 4

Hi Everyone!

I am returning again to link up with Mrs. Wills Kindergarten for her Peek at My Week linky. I love this linky. I have only been linking up for the past few weeks and I have already gotten some great ideas from other bloggers and TpT sellers. I encourage you to link up if you have not already.

This is another four day week for us. We attended a conference as a school this past Friday and now we have Monday off for Labor Day. I am definitely not complaining. I feel pretty worn out after the last few weeks. I always forget how crazy exhausting the first few weeks of school are and chasing my sweet little toddler around when I get home takes even more energy away. An extra day of rest is nice!

This is a pretty tame week for us. Friday will be the most exciting. Friday for math I will be introducing math groups for the first time. I will spend the next three weeks working on training them to do groups on their own so that I can meet with different groups of kids during this time. One item that I have students work on for several months is the number packet. This is an at your seat activity that has them look at different ways to show a number. The packer goes from 1-100. A link to the packet can be found below.

Along with introducing math groups both first grade classes will come together to do a special project. We don't talk too much with our kiddos about the events of September 11, but we do focus on the heroes of the day and how we should always let them know that we are thankful for them and that we are praying for them. Each student makes a fireman and a policeman and then they write a thank you note to them. We then have students deliver them personally to the different fire stations and police stations in our city over the weekend. A letter goes home to parents prior to this explaining the activity. We have always had wonderful results with this project and great support from the parents.

Number Sense 100 Numbers
Math Key Words
Fire Safety Kids

Thanks for checking out my week! I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Ashley

Peek at My Week: Week 3

Good Morning!

It is a beautiful Sunday morning and I am actually done with my lesson plans for this next week. I am very excited for this week, not just because it is a 4 day week for us, but because we are starting a Science unit. I love teaching Science and doing experiments with my firsties.

To show you my plans I will be linking up with Mrs. Will's Kindergarten for her Peek at My Week linky. I love this linky! I have already gotten great ideas from others who join the party and it has really forced me to have my lessons done earlier, instead of 10 or 11 Sunday night.

This week I will be starting an Earth Science unit. We will talk about landforms, rocks, and soil this week. We will also be continuing to learn how to use our math interactive notebooks. We began them last week and will add a few more pieces this week. I will also be introducing our math key words wall. I want my students to learn the meanings of all the words that we use in math. I believe that learning the terminology and understanding it is just as important as learning to manipulate numbers in different ways.

Links to all available packets can be found below.

Math Journal Prompts Set 1
My Remarkable Rock Report
Math Key Words
GeoBoard It

Thanks for letting me share my plans for the upcoming week! Have a wonderful Sunday and a wonderful week!

Ashley

Peek at My Week: Week 2

Hello Again!

This morning I am linking up with Mrs. Will's Kindergarten for her Peek at My Week linky. I am loving this linky. It is motivating me to complete lesson plans earlier and provide images of the packets I am pulling things from. This proved very helpful last week when I forgot what packet held what I was looking for.

I am very excited for this week. Last week was the first full week of switching for the different subjects with our little firsties and it went really well. I am loving only having to focus on half of the subjects that I used to teach.

This week our theme is Arizona. We spend a week looking at Arizona symbols and history so that students can become a little more knowledgeable about the state they are growing up in. We will start by reading The Three Little Javelinas and then work through a state symbols book from Melissa Schaper. We will end it by making the Arizona state flag to hang in our room.

I am also introducing number bonds this week. Our school uses Saxon math but I weave as much Singapore math in as I can because I love how much easier it is for students to master things when using those methods. I am using pieces from two packets this week. Both packets are from Brenda Cosby and the links can be found below. 

Math Journal Prompts Set 1
Math Journal Prompts Set 2

Have a wonderful week!

Ashley

Peek at My Week - First Full Week

Hi Everyone!

Well it has been over a month since my last blog post. I have had many adventures with family; some planned and a few unexpected. I ended it all by heading right back to the classroom. Life is finally starting to go back into a routine so with the encouragement of some dear friends I am returning to my blog. For my return I decided to try something new. I am linking up with Mrs. Will's Kindergarten for her Peek at My Week linky.

This will be our first full week of school and we are diving right in. I am excited. This year my teaching partner and I have decided to do the teacher switch, so I am only teaching math, science, social studies, and handwriting. It definitely is making lesson planning a lot easier.

We start off our week with a lesson in Creation. We make a book for the days of creation and then we follow it up with a coloring activity the next day. In previous years we have used the book template that allows for our kiddos to draw the pictures but this year we have less time so we are using the book template that already has pictures for the kiddos to color.

We use Saxon math and it starts off really slow for first grade so we spend several days learning about Mathematicians. We did two activities last week (books about what good mathematicians do and the numbers of me) and we do the parts of a mathematician this week. This helps make the first part of Saxon math a little more exciting as well as the beginning of the year assessments that we have them take.

We also start with a Social studies unit all on routines and rules within the home and school. It is a really short unit and allows us to purposely spend a week reviewing routines and rules while covering needed material within our curriculum.

The Days of Creation and I Am a Mathematician packets can be found in my TPT store if you want to get a glimpse of what we do.

Have a wonderful week everyone!

Ashley