Checking Back In!

Hello everyone!

Wow, I just realized that I have not posted anything 

since August after I got my combination classroom assignment!

This "blended" classroom of 10 kindergartners and 15 first graders (and a few rowdy first grade boys doesn't help!) is really keeping me busy! The first week of school was very challenging...on the second day of school, during recess I shut the door, sat at my desk, buried my head in a pillow and just cried. 

It has been 3 months and I have been getting the hang of it, however it is still not easy. 

God always gives us things that we can handle and I am trying my best!

Everyday is a new day and a new learning experience.

Here are some things that I have done with my kiddos since school has started:

I made a 1st Day of School Frame

In September I made applesauce for the first time & it was a success!

I decided to make some crayon art and it turned out amazing!

We had a great time with our pumpkin investigations in October!

In November we made turkeys in disguise and they turned out really cute!

In December we had a lot of fun with our classroom elf Jack, but poor thing got sick a couple of times because some friends didn't follow the rules and touched him! 

To end the year I did a whole gingerbread unit where we read many gingerbread stories and compared/contrasted them, made a paper gingerbread, had a gingerbread science experiment, and ended it with making gingerbread houses on the last day before winter break. 

What a year 2013 has been! 

Looking forward to 2014!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from my family to yours!

Combo Class

Hello all!

My summer has finally come to an end as school starts next week! To be honest, I am ready to go back to school! Summer vacation is always nice, but I am excited to get back into my classroom!

I was going to teach first grade again this year, but I was recently told by my principal that I will be teaching a combo class of kinder and first...I don't know how I am going to do it! I have been looking online for help, but there is not much information on kinder/first. 

Have any of you taught combo classes? Any advice?

Thanks!

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Mrs. Wheeler's Linky

I am so excited to be linking up with Mrs. Wheeler's First Grade! 

First of all I cannot believe how fast this summer went. 

This will be my second year teaching and I cannot wait to embark on another adventure!

Last year I did a superhero theme, however there were not many superhero things like there is now. 

But I wanted to change it and do a chevron theme.

I saw these beautiful chevron borders on Creative Teaching Press, however I also found them at Lakeshore. I can't wait to put them up, but I am still thinking on what color I can use as the background...any ideas? 

Continuing on my chevron theme, I searched all over Teachers Pay Teachers, and I LOVED the chevron products made by A Cupcake For The Teacher. Here is my favorite product that I purchased from A Cupcake For The Teacher's Teachers Pay Teachers site:

Can't wait to get into my classroom to put all of my chevron things up!

Sweet Summer

I can't believe it is already the middle of July... this summer is flying by!

Since the last day of school, I went back to school at San Diego State University to do the second part of my masters program. I am enrolled in a 3 summer Masters of Education in Reading program. I have been busy with that (even though I procrastinated like crazy!), but now I can finally relax and do things for my classroom. But I am excited that next summer I will be getting my masters! Woo hoo!

I know my Rocky has been happy that I am on summer vacation!

I am so happy we adopted him, because he is always there to keep me company and put a smile on my face.

Slowly I have been going Back To School shopping.

On Instagram I follow a lot of amazing teachers, and one of them said they buy their library book bins at Big Lots. So I went down to my local Big Lots and I was so excited to see them there! These bins are big and sturdy, so I had to get them. Plus they come in great colors! I think the colors I am going to be using will be blue, pink, green. And I am going to do a chevron theme as well. 

I have seen this frame all over Pinterest and I wanted to make one, so I finally got the things and did it! I went to Michael's and bought a foam board, cut out the middle, and taped the ends with a bulletin board boarder (which I also found at Michael's). The words I got from Teachers Pay Teachers. 

It turned out super cute! I can't wait to take pictures of my kiddos with this.  

Wisdom Wednesday Linky Party

Hello!

I am excited to participate in One Fab Teacher's Wisdom Wednesday Linky Party!

I love quotes! 

I remember I really got into quotes and that was in high school. I would write quotes all over my notebooks or make them out of art with them out of collages. The following two quotes are my all time favorite quotes (and these quotes just so happen to be two of the ones I wrote all of the time when I was in high school).

This quote always makes me think how short life is and we must make the most of everyday :)

This quote is self explanatory and straight to the point! 

If you want something you need to go out and do it!

I hope you enjoyed them!

End of the School Year

I DID IT!! 

I survived and completed my first year as a teacher! 

I am filled with so many different emotions but this feels so bittersweet! I have gone through so many ups and downs this year and it has finally come to an end. I will never forget this group of kids as they were my first group of first graders. They each have a special place in my heart, and it was so hard to say goodbye to them without getting teary eyed. 

I tried to find as many fun activities as possible for our last week together. 

I found an idea off of Pinterest (my FAVORITE website ever!) to have a countdown using balloons. 

Inside of the balloons I put an activity that we were going to do that day. 

They were SO excited and reminded me countless times in the morning to pop the balloon for the day. 

On our last Monday we had Awards Day. 

I purchased the Dollar Store Superlatives from Michelle from Fabulous in First. 

It was so easy to get the supplies from the dollar store. The kids LOVED this!

My goodbye gift to them was also inspired from Pinterest. They also loved it!

I am so ready to relax and not worry about planning for the next day!

I did begin my master's program for the summer so I will be busy with that, but at least I can sleep in :)

Linky Party

Hello!

I am happy to be participating in Finding JOY in 6th Grade's Linky Party!

This linky party is: What will you do differently?

Even though the school year isn't over, I have been thinking about all of the things I want to do next year that is different from this year. This school year was my first year as a teacher, so therefore there are so many things that I want to do differently.

I need to be more organized! 

I catch myself just making piles and putting things in baskets for me to organize later. 

I need to find ways to organize my files especially. I don't have a storage room, but I do have a 2 drawer filling cabinet. In my garage at home I keep monthly bins where I put things as well, however it is a pain to bring things back and forth.

If you have any suggestions on organization I am all ears! :)

Like I said, as a new teacher I have learned a lot and will be making lots of changes.

I need and want to incorporate more writing, math centers, religion (since we are a religious school) etc. 

I especially want to re-vamp what I have been doing during guided reading.

12 more days left...can't wait!! 

Update

And we finally have butterflies!

Other than having Jimmy the Elf in our classroom this is the next best thing I have done this year!

We will be releasing them on Wednesday.

However the one caterpillar that I had to lay on the bottom of the net, formed into a butterfly, but it formed on its back and its wings didn't form properly... Poor thing can't fly :/ So when we release them we will have to put it on a flower.

I was so excited for my new planner! 

I heard so many good things about Erin Condren's planners, so I had to get one myself.

This year (my first year ever) I began using a lakeshore planner, but then switched to a Microsoft word template. So I will see which I like better next school year. But this planner has so many amazing things inside! And it came nicely wrapped. 

This is a card I made the other day for a teacher friend who will be leaving our school.

I am obsessed with the rose stamp set, The Sweet Life from Paper Trey Ink. 

Let's Get Acquainted Linky Party

I am excited to once again participate in a linky party!

This week's linky party is to meet 2 of my bloggy friends. 

1. Jessica from Aestheically Alluring Beauty Blog

Jessica so happens to be my sister. She is a cosmetology student and is doing very well!

She created a great beauty blog and I am so excited for her!

2. Erica from Erica Bohrer's First Grade

This is my all time favorite teaching blog. I love all of her ideas and products. I just bought her brand new spelling centers book from Scholastic and it is amazing! 

Caterpillars

Summer fever is in full swing!

And because of this, I have been thinking about changing things up in the classroom.

I had asked a first grade teacher at another catholic school about what she does during this time, as ALL of my kids have ants in their pants. She says she still keeps everything the same, but she orders caterpillars and that seems to get them excited and their behavior calms down a bit. 

So I decided to do the same!

I am so excited to introduce you to my new little pets!

(I feel like that I am as excited [possibly more] as my are kids about these little guys)

There are 5 of them and we named them:

Mrs. Silva (after me)

Mr. Silva (after my hubby [who had 1 more vote than me...])

Rocky (after my doggie)

Spiky (because they look spiky)

I can't remember the last one's name...

It has now been about two weeks since we have had them. They are much bigger than they were originally. And today when I came into the classroom they are all hanging in J shapes which means they soon will be creating their chrysalis! I am worried about the one in the middle though...as you can see it is not on the lid where it needs to be. It is hanging on a web that the caterpillars had created...I hope he doesn't fall!

A couple of days ago, we also created the life cycle of butterflies using pasta.

I found this idea off of the amazing pinterest!

Thats all for now!

Earth Day Activitie & The Bookman

We had our Spring Festival this past weekend and as a result we had Monday off.

So on Monday I went to this place called The Bookman. It is located in a wear house is full of donated books, run by volunteers and FREE for teachers! I went for the first time and left with a bag full of books, some big books, and even some donuts that the volunteer gave me! The only thing that is not good is their hours, because they are from Monday--Friday from 7:30am--11:30am, so only on days off or during summer vacation is it possible to go. I will for sure be going back during summer vacation!

I was so excited to do this sweet earth day craft from Miss Kindergarten with my kiddos!

They turned out wonderful!

I should have taken pictures of them before I put them up to show their writing, but I'll have to do that when I take them down.

Another fun earth day activity we did was bring in recyclable items and turn them into litterbugs!

I got this activity from a wonderful packet from First Grader...at Last!. 

My kids had a great time using their imaginations to create bugs out of trash.

And here is a picture of me taking  quick break during recess. 

My grandmother gave me this gorgeous necklace for my wedding anniversary, so sweet! 

Let's Get Acquainted!

Hello!

Flying into First Grade is doing a Let's Get Aquatinted Blog Linky Party 

and I am so excited to participate!

This is my first year teaching ever and I had a little less than a week to set up my classroom in the beginning of the year which was overwhelming and even more so as it was filled with stuff! I cannot wait for next year because I plan on doing more to it.

My first favorite place of my classroom is my calendar area. I love having my kids run our calendar and weather time in our morning meeting. 

My second favorite place of my classroom is my kidney table. I have been noticing that this is a table where I put too many things on...I need to try and leave it clean for small groups. (Before this picture it was a big mess!)

My third favorite place in my classroom is my board where I put up work. It is a chalkboard and I covered it with butcher paper. I plan on turing the chalkboard into a cork board where it will be much easier to hang things up. 

Hope you enjoyed seeing my three favorite parets of my classroom! :)

Rocky & 1st Anniversary

Hello!

It's amazing how my first year teaching is flying by! 

I cannot believe that I have less than 2 months until the end of the school year. 

My husband and I adopted a dog from the San Diego Humaine Society and we are in love! Our dog, who we re-named Rocky (because he is a fighter as he fought for his life), was found as a stray and needed to have surgery as he was badly injured. If it was not for the Humaine Society he would have been euthanized by the shelter. Thank God they performed surgry, because he is such a wonderful dog! He had surgery on his pelvis as it was fractured and he shattered his ankle. He has recovery well, and this past Saturday he no longer needed a wrap on his leg. Now he needs to get more strength in his leg, but still no excessive exercise.

The first day with Rocky.

My boys <3

 Being lazy during Spring Break.

 No more bandage! :)

And I cannot believe that this Sunday makes it one year that I have been married!! 

Our first year of marriage really fly by and I can't wait for the next years to come!!