Lovely Blogs!

I am excited to announce that my blog won the loveliest blog award from “Primary Possibilities” and “Coco Goes to First!” Now it is my turn to find other lovely blogs and spread the love!



Once you receive the award, you must follow 3 rules:
1. Follow the person that gave you the award
2. Link back to the person that gave you the award
3. Pass the award on to 15 new bloggers

Crysanthemum and Freebie

Hi everyone, Liv here!

I hope your summers are going well!  I'm in Florida, which is currently the "not so sunny" sunshine state!  Being stuck inside is not all bad though, it has given me time to make a few new things for my class next year. 

One thing I made was a Crysanthemum mini-unit ($3.55).  Although after I had the idea for the unit I realized I couldn't find any clipart that worked. I decided this would be the perfect opportunity to try and make one myself.  I used the bamboo tablet I recieved for my birthday and much to my surprise, my little mouse ended up being sort of cute!  :-)   Super exciting!

Another piece of exciting news is that my TPT now has 100 followers!  To celebrate I turned one of my priced items into a freebie.  The item is a SmartBoard Word Sort/Pocket Chart activity.  It has 32 different sounds to practice.  If you have a SmartBoard or know someone who does, feel free to go download it!!!  (And maybe rate the item or follow my store if you like it?! You're the best!)

Bricks 4 Kidz

Hi everyone, Liv here!

For the last several months I have been working for a company called Bricks 4 Kidz (in addition to teaching first grade). It is fantastic! They use “Legos” to teach the kids various elements of science.

Today I had two birthday parties (1 for an 8 year old and 1 for a 9 year old). In the first party I taught the kids all about the catapult. They learned how it is a simple machine, what it was used for in medieval times, and how we still use them today. Next the kids worked together, following a model plan, to build a working catapult and then they built a goal post and had fun catapulting plastic footballs through their goals. It is so fun---and educational!

The second birthday party I taught the kids about the centrifuge. They learned about centripetal force, G-force, and how/why fighter pilots need to use the centrifuge in their training. Next they built a working centrifuge and sent their “mini figures” on a ride. This group also got to build a spin-art machine to reinforce the concept of centripetal force and they used it to create wonderful works of art!

Best part of all, I get to spend portions of my summer vacation, educating kids and watching them LOVE learning!

Two kids after they built the "Paper Crinkler" (after a lesson on time saving inventions, motors, & gear ratio)

The Orbitor (after a lesson on satellites.)

End of the Year

Hi Everyone, Liv here!

Wow. What a week! School has officially come to an end and post planning is technically over now.  

My team and I spent the last week of school having fun with our kids. All 5 of us decided to each do a different special activity in our classrooms and let all 90 first graders wander around from room to room. It was a success! One room offered x-box Kinect, one had art projects, another had a movie/popcorn, and my room had 8 different types of building blocks/construction type activities. I know what you are thinking---that is only 4 rooms....well, the 5th room was time-out (just in case things got a bit crazy!). Thankfully very few kids had to visit this room and fun was able to be had by everyone! It was a great way to end the year, and it gave the kids the chance to interact with students that they might be in class with next year!

Post-planning was yesterday and today, but I actually didn't spend more than 5 minutes in my room.  My kids did such a great job of helping me get things done the last week of school that it really freed me up to help my team, which was perfect!  We accomplished so much!  I helped our new teammate move from her 5^th grade room into her new 1^st grade room, helped repaint a gigantic 24 cubby shelf, helped prepared 6 bulletin boards, and went very “pinterest” on an old filing cabinet and manipulative table.  So fun! 

 Here are some pictures of our hard work:

After!

Before!

So, are you finished with school?  What fun activities did your kids do the last week?  What did you do during post-planning??