Straight hair, don't care

Yikes! Where the hey has the time gone! Sorry I've been MIA lately. School has been quite busy with end of the year testing, professional development classes, and never ending to-do lists. Also, I've been suffering from horrid allergies over the past couple of days and have been feeling (and looking) like a hot mess! Hopefully I can get some new fashion posts up real soon!

Oh yeah..great, great news...I just found out that I will be moving on up to teach SECOND GRADE next year! Whoohoo! FUN stuff, huh? I am up for the challenge and excited for all that is to come! Change is good.

a week of instagram

...Brooklyn loving up the Sunday sunshine...

...The Mr. working hard outside...

...Mint nails & long pony...

...Golden Top-Siders...

...Skinny Taste Chicken Piccata...

...My first grade class getting down & dirty, finger painting...

(Yes, all 17 of them...at the same time...)

...Finger painted spring flowers...

...Neat & tidy classroom all ready for open house...

Now on to another busy week

5 days until spring vacation...ready, set, go!

Grade 1 LOVES to read!

My school has been studying the author Kate DiCamillo as part of our author study/reading incentive program for the month of March. My grade 1 class was assigned the book Bink & Gollie. Saying that they have greatly enjoyed it is an understatement...they have LOVED each and every minute spent with this charming story. I highly recommend it to any teacher out there ranging from grades K-2. I used it along with my Inferring Unit in Readers Workshop and it worked out perfectly.

We have celebrated this author with many fun events around our school...a kick off pep rally, advisory meetings with different grade levels, a movie night, dress like your favorite character day, a door/bulletin board decorating contest (still waiting for the results...cross your fingers and toes for us) AND get this...we even danced and sang "Gotta Keep Reading" AKA The Black Eyed Peas...I Gotta Feeling ;) Guess who was in charge of teaching the entire school and staff the moves...uh huh, this girl right here! So so fun and also a great opportunity for me to share my love of theater and dance with my teacher friends! Being new to the school this year, I am happy to have the chance to share a bit of myself with them. We will be video taping our school jammin' out at some point this week! Hopefully I'll be able to share it on here with all of you!

Above are a couple of the pictures of our decorated door and bulletin board. The board is divided up by each chapter in the book. Each child researched pictures in magazines, old books, and/or the internet to make one GIANT Bink & Gollie picture research collage! I am still blown away by the amazing images they found and the personal connections they have made along the way. 

I am so pleased with the hard work and effort that the students have put in! Proud of them BIG time!

Grade 1 Anchor Charts

All of my amazing teacher friends will appreciate this post...Here are some of the anchor charts I have hanging in and around my first grade classroom at the moment. Some of the ideas came from Pinterest and a bunch of other great teacher sites out there in lala land. Enjoy & recreate! xo

One Hundred Days

Fruit Loop Necklaces
Check out their shirts!

100th Day Hats

Sorting Fruit Loops by color in groups of 10 to 100

Almost done!

Today was our 100th day of school in my first grade classroom. All in all, I have to say, it was a perfect day filled with lots of paint, hat making, fruit loop necklaces, a Hershey kiss scavenger hunt and ice cream sundaes with colorful sprinkles. (Sorry for the so-so pictures...my camera had no battery power and for some reason the iPhone just wasn't doing the trick!) I enjoyed it and I hope my class did, too.
Happy 100th Day, friends. On to the next 80...I think we can handle it.

Game Time

During our Math Workshop today in first grade I overheard a huddle conversation between two students while playing a measurement game together. It went a little like this...

"Come on dude, focus! Calm down and get your head in the game!"

Priceless moments all while learning about centimeters and inches. Gatta love it. Wish I had a cute, little friend who would pump me up whenever I was slackin'. ;)

Happy Weekend

To My Lovelies: Happy Weekend

Laying pretty low for the next couple of days. No big plans and I'm pretty excited about it. First week back with my students since Christmas break and I'm quite sleepy.  I do have to be honest here...it was all in all a terrific week. It felt really good to be back at school with my co-workers and my 'littles'...they were picture perfect. I left school today with a sense of calm satisfaction, happiness and fulfillment. I am just in awe of the academic progression that has been made thus far. Many teachers find that January is such a turning point (especially in the younger grades) and this year, I also believe that to be true. I am so so proud of them.

Ohhhh, those kiddos...rewarding I tell ya...rewarding.

Have a great weekend, friends. Snuggle, eat some yummy food, bake something sweet, enjoy each other, stay safe, be happy and have fun.

Char xo



Holiday Costume Fun

Yep. These are just SOME of the costumes I wore this week for my littles. They sure got a kick out of it! 1 more day until Christmas break...I think I can make it until 3:00pm tomorrow afternoon!?