Valentine's Day Picture Book Linky Party (& a class book freebie)

Happy Valentine's Day (in advance)!

Looking at my books Friday afternoon made me think it was time for this linky party. Please join up! I enjoy the books I have, but I know you have some fabulous ones too and it's always fun to buy new books!!

Just copy this image to your blog, share some of your favorite books, and link up below.

Perhaps my personal Valentine favorite is this book

 It's such a sweet story about caring for other people. Here is the Amazon.com description:

"One wintry day, a postman delivers a mysterious package with a big pink bow to a lonely man named Mr. Hatch.
"Somebody loves you," the note says.
"Somebody loves me!" Mr. Hatch sings as he dusts his living room. "Somebody loves me!" Mr. Hatch whistles as he does his errands in town. "But who," Mr. Hatch wonders, "could that somebody be?"
After some time, Mr. Hatch discovers just who his secret admirer is and, in doing so, enjoys the biggest surprise of his life!"

 And I can't resist Diane DeGroat's books. My students get excited when they see Gilbert!
 Here's the Amazon.com description:
"When Gilbert writes two not-so-nice valentines to his classmates, his prank quickly turns into pandemonium. But there's always time for a change of heart on Valentine's Day." I love the rhymes. It would be fun to have older students write rhymes for their valentine's.

This book is nice, short read about giving valentines. I use it to introduce Valentine's Day and the idea of passing out valentines. Years ago another teacher gave me the idea to have my little firsties address their valentines by just wrtiting who the card is from, not who it is for. That way the kids can easily walk around and drop their valentines into whatever containers we've made.

Of course there's always Splat!

 

And I just bought a craftivity from Teri at A Cupcake for the Teacher that I can't wait to use!

I thought I'd share a class book idea with you too. It's fun and simple but makes a cute bulletin board until I take it down and bind it into a book.The book is called "First It Was a Heart, Then It Was a _____." You can grab this freebie by clicking on the picture.

cute background papers are from Barbara @ rubyslippersblogdesigns.blogspot.com

Here are some of the pages my students created today. 

The cover and two different pages you can use are here as a freebie. Just click on the pic and leave me a sweet comment and it's all yours! I created each page version with the heart upside down and right side up so your students could use them either way.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I look forward to reading about your favorite Valentine's Day books!

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Word Work Freebies

It's 2013! And since I chose "creative" as my one little word, here's the first step toward that goal. These are 5 short vowel word work sheets. I call them Write, Read, Draw. First students write the beginning sound, read the word, and then draw a picture of the word.

I first posted one of these last February for long e. You can get it {HERE}. In December I posted another one on long A and you can get that {HERE}. That one's actually my second most-viewed post. So it's probably about time I finish up some more of these.

This is the short vowel pack. Just click on the picture and leave a comment, please, if you download it.  I hope you find it useful. I used it as review for my students and they really enjoyed it. Some of the words are a little tricky to draw pictures of, but 13 of my 21 students are EL kiddos and with some thought, they figured out a picture they could draw. If I see a picture and I can't tell how it shows the word, I'll ask them. Usually they reach for the eraser immediately (and I try to ask questions of their correct answers too, really I do!). I have to assure them that I just want to hear how they think their picture shows the word. It's fun to listen to their reasons for some of the pictures! They almost always make sense with the word.

Before I go, here's a picture of our little Stevie. He went back to the vet for a steroid shot today to hopefully, hopefully, stop this allergic reaction he's having. He says "thanks" for wishing him well.

Have a wonderful day!

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Dinosaurs Part II and T-Rex freebies

Today was so much fun! Even with a class as ready for summer as this one. Our class theme yesterday and today was dinosaurs. Today we talked about Tyrannosaurus Rex.
First I showed the kids a T-Rex footprint I'd made from butcher paper. They traced their feet and them we taped them onto my footprint to see how many "first grade feet" fit inside one T-Rex foot. I wasn't sure how many would fit so I had each child trace one foot. Hint for next time: have them trace and cut out both feet. It took almost thirty feet to cover the T-Rex footprint. I took a quick picture of some kids pretending to put up their feet. These two thought it was hilarious to "pretend." First graders are so easily amused sometimes, aren't they?

The next activity was to find out how long the stride of a Tyrannosaurus was and how many steps a first grader would have to take to equal the same distance. A T-Rex's stride is 12-15 feet. Did you know that? I didn't know that until I looked it up. Can you imagine? I'm glad there's nothing around like that today. I started by showing the kids how long 15 feet is using my tape measure. They had to estimate the number of steps it would take them to go 15 feet and record it on their paper. Then went outside to find out exactly how many steps were needed. My class had a great time! I hope your will too if you try it. Just click on the picture to grab this freebie!

Aren't the little T-rex so cute? They're from Kirsten at KPM Doodles. I love her stuff! And I adore these Scrappin Doodles borders.

If school's already over for you, I hope you're enjoying some sun and extra blogging time. If you're still in school like me, well then, I hope you're class isn't toooooo crazy! Have a great end of the year!
 Chrissy

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I'm so nervous... with a freebie and a "shout-out"! (update)

I'm so nervous. I've got butterflies in my stomach. How will I make it until 2:30 tomorrow afternoon? I have an interview at another school in our district for a potential transfer opportunity. And I'm actually kind of scared. I haven't interviewed since 1999 and I want this so much. The school I'm interviewing at has a positive atmosphere and the teachers I know really enjoy their jobs. There isn't the same drama as at my school and I'm ready to be without drama. For the last few years I've felt that my school has gone downhill. There just isn't much excitement about teaching anymore or teachers spending extra time.We've gone through a few principals and the school has just stayed "blah." And we're getting a new principal next year who I'm not sure is really great. So I'm really ready for a change.  I'm just so nervous..... If you don't mind, could you cross your fingers for me?
To take my mind off it I made this quick worksheet for math. My students had a hard time putting 3 numbers in order from least to greatest, so I thought this might help them. Feel free to grab it if you want to.

 Off I go to make some notes and try to organize my thoughts for tomorrow.  Wish me luck!

I also have to add that Barbara over at GradeOnederful is starting her own blog design business. If you've seen her blog, or Kimberely's design at First in Maine, then you know that she does beautiful work. Her new business is

and she's having a giveaway you won't want to miss so pop on over there and check it out!
Have a great Tuesday!
 Chrissy

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Tag, You're It! and a freebie

Tag isn't allowed on the playground at my school, but I always liked it. I liked tagging people. But this kind of being tagged is great! I've been tagged by Miss Squirrels over at Going Nutty! Thank, Miss Squirrels.

In getting tagged, you're supposed to
1. post  the rules (here they are)
2. post 12 facts about yourself
3. answer the questions posed by the person who tagged you, and create 12 new questions for those you're tagging
4. tag 12 people and link them in your post
5. let those people know you tagged them

So, here it goes, 12 interesting (maybe) things about myself:

1.  I am the shortest person in my immediate family (and I'm 5' 7")- no, I'm not in a family of giants but everyone is a few inches taller than me.

2.  I am not a homebody! My husband and I love going places, even just for day trips.

3. Cleaning is a four letter word. I'll do it, but I don't like it.

4.  I just love Texas/Americana/Red Dirt music. Cross Canadian Ragweed is my favorite band. I was at their very first California show.

5.  I'm the only one in my family who doesn't like seafood. I'll eat just about anything as long as it didn't come from the ocean.

6.  I'm also the only non-football fan in my family.

7.  Mexican food is my favorite kind of food.

8.  I was in 4-H from 5th grade until I was 19. I just loved it! Raising rabbits was my favorite and only continuous project.

9.  I was a substitute teacher for a year before I started teaching.

10.  If I had my way, school would start at 9 and end about 3 or 4:00. I'm not a morning person.

11.  I love going to quilt shows with my mom and car shows with my husband.

12.  One Saturday I called my husband from school (he was at work). He said there was someone who wanted to talk to me and handed the phone over to someone. After I got off the phone, I ran all the way back to my classroom where my mom was helping me with some bulletin boards. She was instantly freaked out because I could barely talk. The person my husband handed the phone to was Kenny Rogers and he sang part of "Lady" to me over the phone. I still can hardly believe it.

Now to answer the questions from Miss Squirrels at Going Nutty!

1. When was the last time you talked to your high school sweetheart?

     Just a few minutes ago. I'm married to him.

2. What is the most important quality in your lovey- dovey?

     That's a hard question to answer. There are so many things. But the first to come to mind is he is such a positive, unselfish person.

3. Do you believe in love at first sight? Has it ever happened to you?

     I know it happens but I'm not sure that was us. We didn't date until a year or so later, but he was easy to be friends with. I do know of a couple that met on  a Saturday and were engaged Sunday and have been married over 35 years, so that must be what happened for them.

4. Where is the most romantic place you have gone for a date?

     We booked an amazing hotel in San Francisco where you could see a 180 degree view of the city from our room. I just sat by the window for a quite a while enjoying the view. It was beautiful.

5. Does your sweetie support you in the blogging world?

    Oh yes. We are good support for each other.

6. If you could plan a getaway with your honey, where would you go?

    We want to go to an all-inclusive resort in the Carribean. No money, no driving, just time relaxing.

7. What is one word that best describes you both as a couple?

    adventurous

8. How long have you been with your honey-bunny?

    We met in 1987 but have been together continuously for 21 years and been married for 16 years.

9. What is the best present you have ever received for Valentine's Day?

     Flowers and a wonderful dinner out. Our anniversary is in January, so we usually are low key for Valentine's Day.

10. What is best present you have given to someone for Valentine's Day?

     When my husband went to the Daytona 500 over Valentine's weekend a few years ago, many people told me they wouldn't have liked that at all. When my husband told me he wanted to go I thought it was a great opportunity. So I guess the gift was not being upset but being happy for him that he got to go.

11. Where was your first date?

    Oh man, this is dating myself. Maybe I shouldn't say...  to the movies. We saw Good Morning, Vietnam. Do you remember that movie with Robin Williams? Aaahhh, this is me hiding my head. Not exactly the romantic first film, but we liked it. Oh my gosh, I can't believe I wrote that. I don't think I've told anyone that. Don't know that many people have asked, actually. 

The 12 bloggers (who hopefully haven't been tagged already) I'm tagging are

Bishop's Blackboard

Mrs. Wheeler's First Grade Tidbits 

Primary Perspective

The Caffeinated Teacher

I can't wait to get to know you all better. Here are some questions for you:
1. How did you come up with the name of your blog?
2. How and why did you get into blogging?
3. What is your favorite hobby?
4. If you hadn't become a teacher, what would you be doing now?
5. Do you have any pets?
6. If you could travel anywhere, where would you go?
7. What is one thing your teaching credential program didn't teach you?
8. What is your favorite "teacher movie"?
9. What is your favorite TV show?
10. What are some of your favorite lunches to take to school?
11. What time does school start and end for you, and what time does it start and end for your students?
12. What is your favorite subject to teach and why?

Thanks for popping by my little blog. Here's a story sequencing freebie for you. Just click on the pic to grab it. 

Also, I'm really hoping to get to 100 followers by Friday, my 100th day of school. So if you're here, maybe you can help me out.  Give-away to follow. Thanks! Happy blogging!
 Chrissy

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