Merry Christmas

From our home to yours...
Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!

Silence for Sandy Hook Elementary

November Currently and Centers

November is here!  I'm so excited!  It is going to be such a short month!  I'm loving that we don't have  a full week of school the whole month!  Last week we missed two days due to Sandy.  We were all VERY lucky around here and didn't have any damage (some folks had temporary power outages).  Next week we have four days as we have Election Day off (they use the schools for voting) and it's my fiance's birthday!  The following week we have Veteran's Day off and then we have two days the week after so that gives us  FIVE days off for Thanksgiving!  Wahoo!  I'm linking up with Farley from Oh Boy 4th Grade for November's Currently...

This past week we were finally able to fit in the AWESOME Fall Math Work centers from Kimberly at Funky First Grade Fun.

We had SO MUCH FUN!  These work stations include: telling time to the hour and half hour, clothespin addition, clothespin subtraction, addtion +1, subtraction -1 and place value match!  My first graders LOVED the addition +1 game!  My third graders loved the telling time and place value match games and begged to play again and again!  This week I am going to let my firsties play the telling time game (with just the hour cards as we just introduced it to them on Wednesday).  I highly recommend these work stations!  Your kiddos will LOVE them!  Pick up a copy for next year (just click on the picture above to go directly to Kimberly's TpT store)!

As I mentioned in my last post, I've been working on labeling with my firsties and they are starting to get very good at it.  Labeling has been wonderful for improving their vocabulary, language, and reading skills.  This month I'm going to try to work on their writing skills.  I thought I'd share another labeling freebie with you.  If you'd like a copy, just click on the picture below.

Have a great rest of the weekend!  One EXTRA hour of sleep tonight!  I LOVE it!

State Testing and a Freebie!

So we have been completing our state tests for three weeks now.  Okay, not EVERYONE has been testing for three weeks, each grade level has completed their test over the period of a week.  Fifth grade was first, then fourth grade and finally third grade this week.  It has been CHAOS people!  The first two weeks meant that I had to relocate to other locations around the school with my kiddos so my roomie could test her students in our room.  Sounds simple right?  Mmmm yeah, not so much when every other special education teacher, reading specialist and other various interventionists have to do the same thing!  We didn't thrive...but we survived!  Now it's my turn to test one of my students in our room and the poor kiddo has just been in tears because it's the reading portion of the assessment and he's currently reading on a first grade level (he's in third grade).  I felt so,so bad!  He wanted help so badly but my hands were tied...absolutely no help or the test is invalid.  Ohhh and did I tell you the very humorous (perhaps more like ironic), name of our state tests?  They are called the NECAPs!  Yeah like you've been hit in the kneecap and are now incapacitated!  Does anyone at the state level EVER put any thought into the names of these tests?  I'm so happy that we will be finishing up the reading portion tomorrow and moving on to the first math section which my kiddo should do okay with {fingers crossed}.

With all this testing I have missed seeing some of my students.  Boo!  So I am trying to squeeze in as much as possible when I do have them (okay I ALWAYS try to squeeze in WAY to much)!  I have been working in a little labeling practice for my firsties because they need it for the language and reading skills that it provides (not to mention cutting and gluing practice).  I have started to make my own labeling sheets and have one to share with  you today!  Just click on the picture below to download this from Google docs.   I hope your kids enjoy it!

I'll be back soon {hopefully} to review this Fall unit from Kimberly at Funky First Grade Fun.

Check out the fantastic giveaways Tessa is having at her blog by clicking on her button!

October Currently & What's In The Works

It is October 3rd and that means that it is time to link up with Farley at 

for the October Currently!  Yahoo!  I {big puffy heart} LOVE Currently!

I love the Big Pumpkin by Erica Silverman and so do the kids.  It has repetitive text and is so catchy!  We do lots of retelling activities with this book and the students love it.  Check it out...I KNOW you'll love it too!

I know I've been a bad blogger lately but my year has gotten off to such a rough start!  Seriously I have been in TEARS and people I (usually) LOVE my job!  I truly have my work cut out for me this year!  I have students in first, third and fourth grades.  That's a BIG age span!  AND they have a VERY wide range of needs (speech and language disabled, learning disabled, developmentally delayed, vision impaired, multiple handicaps, etc.)!  We are down a special education teacher, a speech and language pathologist and a COTA so we can no longer co-teach like we used to!  It makes me SO sad!  Right now I'm just trying to keep my head above water...but I have a LOT of creations in the works so I hope you'll stay with me!

And there are LOADS of giveaways going on right now!  Go check these out!

Sara is giving away a $25.00 gift certificate to Hobby Lobby in celebration of her birthday!

Amy is having an amazing 100 followers giveaway with a $25.00 Ann Taylor gift card and lots of units up for grabs courtesy of some fabulous bloggers! 

First Grade Common Core

On Monday we had an early release day for professional development.  We spent the afternoon in trainings about the Common Core State Standards for reading and mathematics.  Our training was just an introduction to the CCSS and we were only given copies of the standards for our grade level along with two websites to check out for more information.  As you can see we have a long way to go!  Therefore, we will be spending ALL of our professional development days this year on the Common Core; getting familiar with it and aligning it with our current curriculum.

Last month I found a great resource for teaching the Kindergarten Common Core State Standards and I blogged about that resource.  Well they have a First Grade Common Core workbook too!  The first grade edition has over 550 pages of Common Core Activities and Common Core Worksheets!  There are also assessments and posters (you can download these on the website for free too).  This resource is massive!  If you click on the picture (or on the hyperlink above) it will take you directly to to the book!  Can you believe it's only $39.99 and it is an instant download so there's no waiting for the mail to arrive!  I can't wait to tell my colleagues about this book!

Here are some phenomenal giveaways that you definitely want to check out!  They are giving away MANY units and activities that also correlate directly to the common core state standards!  Just click on the pictures to follow these amazing blogs and enter their giveaways!

Please Check Out..."Teachers for Lane"

Ashley at The School Supply Addict is currently hosting a charity drive to help Lane Goodwin, a thirteen year old boy from Kentucky who has been diagnosed with Alveolar Rhabdomyosarcoma stage IV, a rare form of childhood cancer.  Lane is so courageous and inspiring!

You can read more about Lane's amazing story on Ashley's blog.  If you donate a minimum of $30.00 Ashley will send you a link to a "virtual gift bag" of more than $150.00 worth of  products from generous teachers.  This is such a worthy cause and you get so much for your donation....many, many, goodies, but also the knowledge that you are helping this young, courageous boy and his family!  Please click on Ashley's button below to read more about this great cause and consider a donation AND a prayer too.  Thanks so much!