Contraction Caterpillars

 My class made these Pinterest inspired  (SHOCKER, I know) "Contraction Caterpillars"  to display before parent teacher conferences.  They were a huge hit and looked SO darn cute on our wall.  I love how one is standing up and looks like the little caterpillar from "A Bugs Life"!  Funny story, one my sweeties went home and told his parent he had made contraptions during grammar that day!  Anywho these were super easy, just a oval for the face and each contraction and then two trapezoid shaped legs with root words for each contraction.  Easy Peasy, soo darn cute, and a great reference to remind students= winning!   

He's HERE!!!

 My class elf Jingles is back for the holidays.  I think I love this little guy as much if not more than the children do.  If you don't have an Elf on the Shelf at home or in your classroom, trust me you need to get one.  There is no better and faster way to improve behavior than to tell a believer that their elf is watching and will report to Santa what they see.  I can't wait to see what type of hiding spots dear Jingles finds this year.  :)

I'm Thankful!

I have been super busy and away from my computer in the past two months and thought maybe this Linky Party hosted by Rachelle at What the Teacher Wants would be just the thing to get me going again!    


1.  What are you thankful for in your classroom?
Umm lets see...  

• This year I am super thankful for my Elmo document camera, LOVE LOVE LOVE it!  I this is our second year with them but I just love it more this year.  
• As far as non material things I am definitely thankful for my students!  They are an awesome group somehow each one seems to give me exactly what I need when I needed it!  

2. What person are you most thankful for?  Gosh just one person is hard!  I am thankful for my family as a whole that's for sure!  I can't pick just one my heart won't let me so I am picking my 3 kids and will have to be okay with cheating.  My 3 are what keep me going and without them I would be nothing.  I am thankful to God for giving me such wonderful kids that make me a better person.  

3. What 3 blogs are you most thankful for?

Again another hard one!!  Picking just three is really difficult!  

1. What the Teacher Wants is definitely a must!  I must have all of Rachelle's TPT units they are just SO AWESOME!  I love all the ideas these ladies share and am amazed with how generous they are!
2. Cara at The First Grade Parade is another.  I love all her ideas and am so jealous of her artistic abilities!  I mean really she must be one of the most fun cutest teachers ever!
3. Last but not least I love me some Babbling Abby from The Inspired Apple.  I swear she was the first teaching blog I found and I am SO THANKFUL because through her and all her blogging friends (see above) I have become a better teacher!

4. What guilty pleasure are you most thankful for?

No shocker here but PINTEREST!  Hands down the biggest time vacuum in my life today.  I no longer watch TV, or play online games, which my husband is super thankful for by the way, but I can not give up Pinterest.  I must say though I am not sure it really qualifies as a guilty pleasure?  I mean I have been able to make and create some really cool things all because of Pinterest!  

5. What are you most thankful for?

This year I have to say I am most thankful for my faith, without it I would not be where I am today.  Being Catholic and my belief in Christ has allowed to be get through a lot and also given me the best job at the best school I know.  I am also extremely thankful for my friends and coworkers!  Some of which serve double duty are are both.  I work with an awesome group of women, am blessed to have a wonderful boss and am supported in my day to day life with two amazing best friends!  (Who I need to say ASAP and more often as shown by the fact I have no recent pictures of us!!!) 

HR Presents-- A Bad Case of Stripes

This year in prepartion for Open House and Parent Teacher conferences my hall used A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon to demonstrate story elements.  Every student from grades 1-5 made a picture and or wrote a sentence for their grades given section.  I think it was so cool to look down the hall and see the story progress.  Every grade had some great artwork!    I am already thinking up next years story... 

A Little Bit of Sunshine for the Teachers

I'm not sure every school has a Sunshine Club but I think they should.  One of our kindergarten teachers a few years back in hopes of reminding us to have fun teaching and build camaraderie.  At our school we collect "dues" at the beginning of the year and then use the money to purchase gifts for our awesome support staff and principal but also do bring cheer during in each month.  I have been the Sunshine person since last year and I can I tell you it is a lot of fun trying to find ways to make the other teachers smile.  Of course Pinterest has helped A LOT!  I ended last year by giving each teacher a Chocolate Chip Stuffed Oreo Cookie, they were a hit.  This year in September we had bagels at the end of the first full week of school.  During October I had the teachers boo-ing each other.  "Boo-ing" was SO fun.  First I went to the grocery store and bought a whole bunch of treats and goodies along with some Halloween goodie bags.  I then premade some bags and had children deliver them to a few teachers.  Each bag had a clue attached to it that once solved would tell the teacher who they had to Boo.  Those teachers then had to come to my room and put together a bag for person and come up with a new clue.  It was fun to read all the clues they came up with.  The funniest thing was having the kids ask when they were going to get "Boo-ed" and getting so excited to deliver treat bags.  Now that November is pretty much half way over I am trying to figure out what to do next.  My brain is trying to find a way to "RACK" our faculty and get them "RACKing" in December (if you don't know about RACKing check out Cara's post on how her family is doing it) and I guess that has taken over and is not letting me think of what to do for November.  If anyone reads this blog and has suggestions please let me know!