Update on Last Post

If you read the post below,

we've updated the link to the storage boxes.

It looks like the company that we bought our storage boxes from doesn't carry the size we bought, they just carry the smaller size. {HERE} is an actual link to the product that we have. We've seen this exact size at Fred Meyer (if you have one near you) and bought some recently at Target. Other big stores might carry them as well.

We'll be back tomorrow with an April word sort.

Enjoy your Saturday!

Spring Cleaning

Hope you are all having a great week! We've been so busy with our families, but its been so nice to have the week off and actually RELAX!

Our first graders just LOVE math and literacy games and storage and organization have been an ongoing issue for us, until recently. Its taken a few months, but after some spring cleaning and organizing, we FINALLY feel that we are organized and have a system that works for our game storage.

We store all of our games in labels storage boxes. Our seasonal math and literacy game packs and our other math and literacy packs can be found in our TpT store.

We found some great storage boxes that hold our games perfectly. We've organized our games by month and have them

easily accessible with our other manipulatives.

We print our games on 8 1/2 X 11 cardstock and tuck the game boards and playing cards right inside storage baggies.

The little ones pieces that came with our place value manipulatives

work perfectly for playing pieces.

Our daily lessons in our new math program pretty much follow the same format everyday. After our students finish the "on my own" pieces, they can choose a math game, math flash cards, or go to a laptop and play one of the math games (our new math program has a FANTASTIC online component with games and virtual manipulatives).

If our first graders choose to

play a math game when they are done, they grab a game

(out if the choices that we've provided) off of the table along with a bowl of cubes. Then they find a place to play their game

with 2-3 others.

They take the cubes out of the bowls

and place the playing cards inside the bowls,

then grab a card (or 2 cards depending on the game)

from the bowl.

This routine works well for us and also allows us time to meet with small groups of students for extra math practice if needed.

Our first graders play our literacy games during Daily 5 as part of word work. The games are placed with our other word work materials and our kiddos can easily access them as well.

We just love how these games fit so nicely with all of our other

tubs & totes!

These labels that we've sized and outlined

to fit these boxes can be found {HERE}

Our April math journal prompts are up in our TpT store! Just click the picture below if you'd like to check them out!

We'll be back in a few days with an April word sort freebie!

Have a great rest of your week!

Clipart courtesy of Scrappin' Doodles

Winners & a Few Freebies

Thanks so much for all of the helpful comments about using a Smart Board in the classroom. We saved all of your comments and we feel so fortunate to have such great advice.

Thank You, thank you, thank you!

Zputty, Kate, & Whining & Dining you are the winners of our giveaway! Congratulations! Please email us and let us know which item you would like from our Teachers Pay Teachers Store.

We are on spring break and REALLY enjoying spending time with our families. It's great to know that we can relax today and not have to worry about the week ahead! We've got a few new products in the works that we'll be working on during our break and we hope to have them up in a few days, but until then we have a few freebies that we'd love to share with you all. Weather is our current topic in science and will continue through the second week in April.

Here are some weather vocabulary cards that we display in our science area in our classrooms.

Our students consistently refer to these cards and always enjoy when we add new cards to the wall.

If you'd like this set, just click the picture above. We made a few different versions. Cloud/cloudy, rain/rainy, etc...We also created a set in illustrations too!

It's time again to give out math homework awards to our kiddos who consistently bring back their math homework. With our new math program our students have math homework every day. Here's the award we're giving away when we return from spring break.

Just click the picture above if you'd like a copy. If you'd like to see the last award we gave to our first graders, you can find it in {THIS} post.

We hope you all have a fabulous week & we'll be back in a few days!

Clipart courtesy of Scrappin' Doodles and Dennis Graphic Design

Weather, Smart Boards & Giveaway

I wanted to title this post "Smart Board Giveaway" but didn't want to get your hopes up. We realize that we've been a little bit MIA lately, but it's been a crazy few weeks. After conferences we've been trying to get back in the swing of things, and trying to get ready for spring break at the same time. So we apologize, but promise to be back in full swing after Spring Break. We've got lots in the works, so make sure to stay tuned!

This last week we've begun our weather science unit with our firsties. This is such a fun topic for our kids, and with the crazy weather that we've had, it fits right in. We will have much more later, but here is a little reminder of some weather freebies we did last year.

Cloud Activity
Evaporation Lab
Rainbow Fact Families
Weather Vocab
Weather ABC Sort
Most of these are from our very first week on our blog, and it's so fun to see how our work has grown! :)




Onto our HUGE news that we received on Friday. Our PTC (parent teacher club) recently decided that they would be purchasing 4 Smart Boards for classrooms in our school. Rather than pick recipients randomly, anyone interested submitted a little "application" of why you wanted one, and what you would do with it. The big news... BOTH of us were chosen to get Smart Boards, something we've been seriously coveting, and pushing for. They will be purchased this spring, and we be installed this summer. Yayyyyy!! We are beyond excited for the new challenge of using this tool in our classrooms. Our district has also adopted new reading and math curriculum, both from McGraw-Hill and both with INCREDIBLE websites. We can't wait to dig right in! So, that's where you come in. We'd love any tips or advice about our Smart Boards, or anything that might help us out. So, leave us a comment with anything we need or should know, and we will pick 3 lucky winners to pick anything from our TpT Store. So don't forget to leave your comment by Saturday at 8:00pm pst, and we will announce the winners on Sunday. Have a great week!

Last Minute St. Patty's Day

Hope you all are having a fantastic week.

It's almost Friday (just a few more house for us)!

Since St. Patty's Day is just around the corner, we thought we'd share a few last minute St. Patrick's Day activities with you all. This week has been crazy busy for us. Having a snow day on Tuesday really made us make some adjustments in our schedule,

but we were still able to plan several activities from our

St. Patricks's Day Pack O'Fun and plan on incorporating several more next week!

If you're interested in checking out our St. Patricks's Day Pack O'Fun,

it's on sale now through Sunday for 20% off!

A few activities included in our pack can be used with

Leprechaun on the Loose.

Leprechaun on the Loose By: Marcia Thornton Jones

There are a few places in this story that are great for having students make predictions. One place would be right as Sydney is going into the classroom and heading to the art area. This is a great spot to ask your students to predict what they think Sydney is going to do next.

Another great stopping place for making predictions is when Sydney is faced with the challenge of letting the leprechaun loose or keeping him trapped.

Below, is a generic St. Patrick's themed prediction page that will work great with this story, or another St. Patrick's Day story that you might have.

Just click the picture of the clovers if you'd like a copy!

Here's a mosaic leprechaun we'll be making tomorrow with our kiddos:

These always turn out so cute every year!

You can find the directions by clicking on the picture below.

You can get the pattern {HERE}

We hope all of you have a fabulous Friday!

We'll be back in a few days with some water cycle & weather resources that we just love!

St. Patty's Day Unit & Some Freebies

Well we're done with conferences and boy are we tired. Two 12 hour days can really leave you EXHAUSTED!!! And that's just about how we're both feeling right now.

We're done with our assessments, ready to start the next trimester,

and looking forward to two full weeks with our students before spring break!

One of the units we will be incorporating throughout the next few week is our

St. Patrick's Pack O'Fun.

We've just updated it and added a few new literacy activities. So if you've already purchased it, just re-download to get our update!

Click {HERE} to stop by our store and check out our newest addition!

Here's a peek at what's inside this unit:

This unit is full of St. Patrick's Day themed math and literacy activities. Several activities go along with the following books:

Looking For Leprechauns By: Shelia Keenan

Leprechaun on the Loose By: Marcia Thornton Jones

There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Clover

By: Lucille Colandro

And now for a few freebies!

Here are some cute St. Patty's Day bag toppers.

Simply cut on the dotted lines, fold, and staple over treat bags!

Click {HERE} for bag toppers

And here are some St. Patrick's Day circle tags. These cute little tags can be cut with a 2in. circle or scalloped punch.

Click {HERE} for circle tags

Enjoy the weekend!

Stay tuned next week for updates and ideas

surrounding our newest science focus this month!

Thing 1 & Thing 2

Erin and Leslie

Erin's Little Things

This week is conference week, so you may not hear much from us. We hope you all have a great week! Our St. Patrick's Day unit is going up tonight!

PS. If you haven't see The Lorax, GO SEE IT!!! It is such a sweet movie, with an amazing message. LOVED it!