Valentine Gifts

Each year we like to do gifts for the parents from their children.  We like to make handmade/ sentimental things that the parents will have as keepsakes for years to come.  Anything with a handprint is precious!!  This one doesn't have handprints.... it has tiny fingerprints!

 This is a tile where kids use their fingerprints to fill in the heart.  We saw something similar on (go figure) Pinterest, and we decided to tweak it to fit what we had in mind.  This ends up being an inexpensive, but very special craft.  The tiles come from Home Depot and are SUPER cheap (like 16 cents a piece or something!!).

To make this gift:  Get some white tiles, fine tip permanent marker, pink and red accrylic paint, ribbon, hot glue, and clear acrylic spray.

Trace the heart onto the tile- if you mess up, it's okay because it rubs off!

Have the kids make pink and red finger prints inside their heart.

Once they are dry, have them write their name with the marker, and then spray them with the acrylic sealer.

You may have to touch up any part of the heart outline that has rubbed off accidentally.

Hot glue a ribbon on the back and you're done!  You have an inexpensive, simple, ADORABLE keepsake for parents.  :)

  -Amanda and Jessica

Behavior Management Strategy- Valentine's Day Style!

Here's a little idea that came out of the Target Dollar Spot {gotta love it!!}  During special occasions sometimes it's fun to pass around something throughout the day to good listeners.  In October it was a pumpkin, December it was a gingerbread man, so when we saw this cutie pie mailbox!!  A teammate shared an idea from a blog- not sure which one, but this person passed something around with a prize inside.  We decided to try this with the mailbox.  We made a cute little label to put on the front, and each day a small prize will be hidden inside.  {It could be an eraser, special sticker, coupon reward, or anything that will fit!!}  You gotta keep things exciting and fresh to help motivate the kiddos... that's why it's fun to change things up around the seasons, and the kids LOVE it!

If you'd like the label click HERE for the free google doc PDF.

Another idea for whole class behavior idea... "Sweet Behavior"!  Here's a little poster of a valentine box.  The class works to fill up the box with ten chocolates to earn a special reward!  Like we said, you gotta keep things fresh!!  Simple idea, but adding a cute little picture/ theme looks like something novel to the kiddos!

If you'd like a copy click HERE for the free google doc pdf.  :)

-Amanda and Jessica

Better late than never?!?!

We had plans to post about December, but it seriously flew by so fast!  It was gone before we knew it.  Since Thanksgiving was so late, we had so much to cram in before winter break!  Here are a few snapshots of our weeks before winter break....

How to catch a gingerbread man projects:

Love how unique each one turns out with the yarn and paper plates!  

Graphing... Which part did you bite first?

Each kid got a little gingerbread cookie and everyone took one bite.  Since we were working on graphing we made a class graph and they tore off the part they bit off first.  This was fun!

Read and Write The Room...

These felt cuties were purchased on clearance from Michaels, and are perfect to hide around the room for the kiddos to practice sight words.  This one is hiding behind the calendar!  The words were taped on to allow for changing them up if needed.

Speaking of "Read and Write the Room"  Which is one of our favorite literacy stations, we have this pack that includes seasonal cards and recording sheets to last throughout the year!

Click on the picture to check it out on TPT!

Another game we made is "Crunch Crunch".  It is similar to "Bang" where they pull out a card, and if they can read it they keep it, but if they pull a gingerbread "Crunch Crunch" card, they lose all of their cards!  This is a hit with the kiddos and they love playing it.  It's a great way to practice sight words.  It has all of the Pre-primer, Primer, First Grade, and Second Grade Dolch words.  Click on the picture to check it out- it's just a buck!  We also have one for Thanksgiving (Gobble Gobble) and Valentine's Day (Love Bug).  It's simple, but changing it up for different seasons keeps the kids engaged!!

Hopefully we'll be able to be better about posting and sharing ideas, that is after all why we decided to do this!  New Years Resolution?!?!

-Amanda & Jessica

Presenting... the "Story Stick"!

What is a story stick you ask?  Well, we saw this idea {somewhere on Pinterest} of using pictures to retell a story and attaching them to a rule or paint stirrer.  We've always done retelling pieces using pictures from a story at our drama station, but this was new and exciting- not to mention that it was a good way to keep track of the pieces!  We've been using plastic rulers (they're a few for a buck at Dollar Tree) and then attaching a strip of velcro on one side.  We then put little pieces of velcro on the back of each picture.  As the kids retell the story, they place one picture at a time on the story stick.  By the end they've sequenced all of the pictures to account for all of the events.  It's pretty simple, but it's an easy way to spice up the drama station!  This week we're using I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie with the story stick.  There's a link on the picture to check it out!

 I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie retelling pieces on a story stick!  You can check it out here!

Here's a way that we've found to be useful to keep pieces organized.  We use the small envelopes and laminate them with the title of the activity and place all of the pieces inside.  It stays nicer than a bag, and stores flat!  

 Laminated envelopes used to store small pieces.

How do you keep your small pieces organized?

-Amanda and Jessica

Turkey Time!

As we wrap up the first quarter we have been BUSY with report cards, conferences, and planning!  Our district switched around our math pacing guide and we're now teaching time in November, so we couldn't pass up the opportunity to make a turkey clock!!  Jessica made this ADORABLE creation-isn't he a cutie??  

If you're interested in trying it out you can download the template on the google doc HERE.  We recommend sticking the pieces together with liquid glue, so they stay put.  :)

-Jessica and Amanda

Halloween!

It's fast approaching... are you ready?  This week is going to be CRAZY.  It's our last week of the quarter, and we know all the kids will have on their minds is candy!  Hopefully we'll be able to be productive and finish assessments for report cards!

We LOVE holidays and incorporating them into our learning- it just makes it more fun, right?  Since Thursday is Halloween, we wanted to post a few of our halloween favorites.  Here are some things that we've done in the past or that we're planning to do...

Goofy Pumpkins!  We've been doing this project for a few years.  We originally found the idea from an awesome art teacher's Flickr page. We decided to turn it into a mini writing unit.  It makes an adorable hallway display!

Favorite Reads!  Here are some of our favorite stories for this time of year.  What are your favorite Halloween read alouds??

Retelling Pieces!  This is a little drama station that we made to go with There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat.  Click picture below to get your FREEBIE!!

Oreo Spider!  Who doesn't love yummy treats??  Here's a fun following directions activity that's also delicious...

Pumpkin Sight Word Game!  This is great to use to review sight words.  You can use fun halloween erasers for markers!  Click the picture for your freebie.

Literacy Stations!  Click the picture to download from our TPT store.  :)  The Frank's Sight Words is a freebie!

Poems!  Click the poem titles to download the PDF for each!  Each PDF has two poems per page, perfect for shared reading journals!

Pumpkin Picking and Five Little Pumpkins

Happy Halloween!  :)

Welcome!

Welcome!

Thank you for stopping by.  We have been contemplating starting a blog for a while, and we've finally decided to jump on board!

A little about ourselves... we are two friends from Virginia (born and raised!) who have known each other for almost 15 years (wow- time flies!!!!)  Throughout high school we knew we both wanted to teach little ones.  We worked at a daycare together, did a teacher cadet program senior year, and then went into teaching in college.  We both ended up getting our masters degrees at UVA and moving back home to teach.  We both teach first grade at different schools in the county and LOVE it!

We spend a lot of time together brainstorming teaching ideas, coming up with activities, and sharing school stories.  We love checking out what other teachers do on other blogs, and we hope we can share some ideas with other fellow teachers.  Thanks for stopping by.  Check back for more posts.  We're excited about the upcoming holidays and will be posting some of our favorite activities!

If you'd like to check out our TPT shop click HERE!  Thanks :)

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