'Twas the Night Before Vacation

We are almost there. It has been a crazy week! We had (1) Quarterly assessment tests for our FIRST graders (don't even get me started),  (2) the craziest sickness running crazy through our building where up to seven kids can be gone in one room,  (3) a blizzard on Wednesday that started right when school was starting and ending early enough that we didn't get dismissed early but kept the kids inside ALL day and hyped up, and (4) the vacation is just looming at the end of the week. I am wiped! However, the kids are so darn cute. I wanted to get their attention today so instead of saying the normal cue words I started singing "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" and all the kids joined in. They were giggling and laughing. So fun!

I got all the gifts to my students wrapped and candy canes are just waiting to be taped on when I put them on their desks. I have some fun stuff planned for tomorrow and I just hope that I get half of it done. Ok, let's be honest, I just hope I can keep my kids under control tomorrow!

'Twas the night before vacation
and all through the school
Not a teacher was sleeping
No, that was against the rules

One day to go!

Prayers for all...

Shapes, TpT, and Assessments...

Isn't it supposed to be about the elves, reindeer, and Santa right now? Ok, yes, go look outside my classroom and you will find activities for the holiday stuff, but it is more about the quarterly assessments and essential learning targets (elt's) right now. I love the crafty stuff and desperately try to find ways to intergrate fun creative cute engaging activities into my elt lessons. How many of you have the same dillema? Oh well, today was an AH-HA day.

We are learning about shapes. Square, triangle, rectangle, rhombus, circle, hexagon, pentagon, ... It is fun. It is hands-on. Even my kiddos that have a hard time with number recognition, addition, subtraction, etc. seem to excel with shapes. Hip Hip Hooray! So I make a shape hand-out. All the shapes with different sizes. First the kiddos name all the shapes to a partner. Next I give only one direction. The only direction is that they must create a picture with only the shapes. They can glue the shapes on the piece of construction paper and color the shapes however they see fit but no coloring on the construction paper. Was that a pin drop? Wait, I can hear the calm music I play! Did I just take a deep breath? The students were so engaged that they ran out of time. Yes, it was fun! Yes, it was creative! And, YES, the creation pictures were so CUTE! WooHoo!

TpT is more than addictive. I am so obsessed I almost need to just walk away but I can't! I made another product today. I teach first grade but I have a very advanced group of reading students. All of my reading class has passed the high frequency words we have for first grade. So, for intervention time, I wanted to go on to the second grade list of high frequency words. It has flashcards, game ideas, spinners, and more! Check it out HERE if you are interested. Thanks to all those that check it out! I also have a new Penguin theme unit. Here is a preview of it!

Assessments! Next Monday and Tuesday we have to give our quarterly assessments. No, these are not the same as the Aims Math test, the DIBELS nonsense word or oral fluency test, the ReadWell test, ... that we already give. Nope! This is just another test. I love data. Let me re-state that. I love data. I love seeing growth. I love seeing a plateau so I know how to help a child. I love having facts to talk to parents about. However, it is so hard to advocate for testing all the time when I feel that I keep losing teaching time. We have more criteria to teach but less time to do it because of testing days/times. I'll stop there. No more! Only positive here... Yup, we are getting ready for the tests and my students are going to rock it!

6 days until vacation! We can do it!

Ok, I admit it! I have become addictied to Teachers Pay Teachers (TpT for those of you that understand this obsession!). I finally uploaded my first product a few weeks ago and now I am thinking daily about what I could make. It has actually made me more organized. Whew - I can actually say that I am becoming more organized! YAY! Would you like to take a look at my store? Go HERE and you can let me know what you think. I would love more advice and feedback.

My kiddos (that is my loving word for my students) were so excited today because we played "Make My Shape". Talk about an easy and fun way to get my kids excited about learning shapes. I cut different one-inch width strips of multi-colored paper. Then, all I did was give clue about to which shape I wanted my kiddos to make. For example:

Me: I am thinking of a shape with four sides.

Kids: (They are busy grabbing paper strips and making rectangles, sqaures, rhombii, parallelograms, etc.) Ooooh, I know this one!

Me: All sides are equal length.

Kids: (Some don't change anything and others are scrambling to find new strips) Yes! I knew I was right! I told you I knew it! Oh, I got this one.

Me: It is not a square.

Kids: (More scrambling for more strips of paper to make their shapes work) I was right!

Me: What is my mystery shape?

Kids: Rhombus!

Sure, I have some that didn't have it right. That is when we talked about each clue and how it kept narrowing our choices until all we had left was to pick the correct shape.

I did this in small groups. Yes, I teach in small groups. It is fabulous. I have about 6 - 7 kids in a group. The other two groups are busy in the room. One group is either working on an independent seatwork activity or group/partner game while the second group is at math centers around the room. Math centers (did you hear the music?) are my favorite! I will post a blog soon about to how they work and how they are the BEST THING EVER. My kiddos actually get sad when we don't do math centers.

Two weeks until vacation. Two weeks... I think I can. I think I can. I think I can. Besides the teachers kiddos just plain excited for break, the "crud" has hit our school. On Friday, I had 8 students, EIGHT, gone from my class. Talk about a quiet yet crazy day. Today, most were back but not all. These poor kiddos!

So, I finally had to jump into the TpT circle. Yes, I created by first (ok I got addicted and now have ten) products! Go check it out!
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Amy-Padgett-150

It's Sunday! Yes! The smell of cookies in the air, the Denver Broncos are playing right now, and my lesson plans still need to be finished. Yep, definitely how my Sundays go. I have been having a great weekend adding to my TpT account! Ok, STARTING my Tpt account. It is so much fun getting to post activities I have done. Besides posting them, I love that they are now cuter and more fun. Plus, they are DONE for me now! YAY! If you would like to check them out, go HERE!

I hoep you are all having a great weekend.