Motivational Monday: September 12 and Anyone Can Be an Artist!

Happy Tuesday! For a little bit longer anyway. It's a good thing we don't need a whole lot of sleep anymore.

So, as it was for most of you, yesterday was a rough day for us. We remembered back to where we were on September 11th, and mourned for our country all over again. But then today, we woke up, and everything was still ok. It's much like what kids went through ten years ago. Only a handful of our students knew much about September 11th, and of course they are too young to really comprehend it. So today in class we talked about what happened in first grade terms. Then we read this WONDERFUL book written by a class of first graders after September 11th.

Not only is this a great tool to use to talk about what happened with our kids, but it's also a great example to show our first graders kids really are authors. So we read this book, and really talked about who the true heroes of the day were. We talked about fireman, policeman, and all of the rescue workers who gave their lives to help save others. So we decided that this would be a good time to thank our own community fire fighters who help keep us safe everyday. The kids were of course more able to relate to this, than anything else. So we used this template to write thank you notes to our firemen, which we will put in the mail tomorrow.

Get your copy of our Fireman Thank You HERE.

How precious are these?

Now for some motivation for all ya'll! We fell in LOVE with these posters from First Grade Parade and The Inspired Apple. But, like many of you I'm sure, we have no amazing drawing talent. We are both quite crafty, and can definitely hold our own in that department, but darn it, we just can't draw. But those posters are absolutely to die for! We loved the why writers write, and what they can write about. We also really fell in love with Cara's Peacemakers and Peacebreakers activity, and just had to incorporate those into our rooms. But again, can't draw worth beans. So, here's what we did!


We just got out our trusty MacBooks, and went to work. We were quite happy with how cute our posters turned out! So you see, even if you don't have great artistic talent, we do have computers and clipart! It's {almost} just as good! We figure that we spend enough time in our classrooms, we'd like to like the way our anchor charts look. And the kids really had a great time helping us out! We first did our rough draft with our students, printed everything out, and then came back together to make our final drafts to hang up. What a fun lesson!

Update: You asked, and we answered! Our clipart and words are now on TpT so you can make your own charts. Check it out HERE!


Now for these posters, we not only had to print out the words, but had to figure out the pictures of David. So we just printed out a cover of the book covers, and then cut them out. To make the final drafts for these posters, we did a sorting activity of all of the different behaviors. We figured out which they belonged with, Peacemakers or Peacebreakers. The we wrapped our discussion with talking about who we want to be.
If you'd like a copy of these words, grab it HERE.
And thanks a bunch to Mrs. Lee's Kindergarten for her idea on Peacemakers and Peacebrakers. Hope this motivates you to make your own cute posters! And really Cara and Abby, if you'd like to come to our classes and make our anchor charts for us, we'd love it!!! :)
Have a great week!

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Motivational Monday Vol. 8

Happy Monday! Sorry it's so late tonight, but I had to watch Dancing With the Stars! I'm still trying to figure out how to become a star, just so I can go on that show! Who do you think is going to win? I'm up in the air still...

So, we've just finished another game unit for our TPT store. We don't know about ya'll but we are loving games lately to really keep the kiddos reviewing what we've learned this year. And who can't get enough ways to practice addition and subtraction? This Summer Fun Activity Pack includes 4 game boards that you can use interchangeably with any of our activity cards. Cards focus on addition, subtraction, first and second grade sight word, and include phrase cards as well. We use these both for fluency practice, and for sentence builders. And as usual, we've included activity card masters for you to create your own. This is a great activity pack for centers, or to send home for summer practice. Here's a preview of what you'll get:

So head on over to our teachers pay teachers store and check it out!

To begin my summer vacation I'm taking my own babies to spend three weeks at my parents house. If you are the first person to guess which state they live in, you'll get your own free copy of our Summer Fun Activity Pack. Good luck!

Motivational Monday Vol. 7

Motivation for today, we have less than 1 month of school to go until summer! YIKES!!! As excited as I am to be a stay at home mama for the summer, I'm a bit nervous about all that we have yet to cover. Well get it done though, we always do!

We have a little unit on TPT called Creepy Crawlers I wanted to remind you about. May is such a fun time to learn about bugs, and this unit is packed! It's full of math, literacy, science, art, you name it! Head on over to our store to take a look! As a little incentive, here's an activity I did today with my reading group. Keep in mind these kiddos are all reading above grade level, so it's more difficult than I would do with my class. I also enlarge this on the copy machine 130%, which puts it on a 11x17 piece of paper, which gives them enough room to write. The Very Greedy Bee is a sweet little book, with a great message as well. Click on the picture for you very own copy. :)


We will also be sharing a memory book with you this week, so make sure to watch for it. It's one that we do every year with our first graders, and we are just putting the finishing touches on it so that we can share it. We will be uploading it to TPT in PowerPoint form, so that you are able to change things to make it fit your class, and school and such. Keep your eye out for it because it will be here this week. And don't miss the give away that will go along with it...

Happy Monday!

We're Having A Sale/Motivational Monday Vol. 6

Teaching is the profession that teaches all the other professions. ~Author Unknown

Happy Teacher Appreciation Day! In honor of all of you fabulous teachers we are having a 20% off sale at our entire Teachers Pay Teachers Store tomorrow only, plus Teachers Pay Teachers is also offering 20% off, so that is a total of 40% OFF!!!!. See below for details.

1. Visit our store and receive 20% off everything including our newest addition

2. Enter TAD11 at checkout for an additional 20% off


And just in time for our Teacher Appreciation sale, we have a new unit up on Teachers Pay Teachers! Meet our Word Wiz Kids! These kiddos are great for introducing and teaching all sorts of different words, including antonyms, synonyms, homographs, homophones, verbs, adjectives, and nouns! These posters help remind our students about the different kinds of words, and the word work activities help to reinforce ideas. We've also included worksheets for you to use. So head on over to Teachers Pay Teachers and check it out!

Motivational Monday Vol. 5

Hello Friends! I have to admit, I'm not feeling all that motivating this evening. We hope everyone had a wonderful Easter weekend! It may take me days to catch up, after the business and bustle of 3 small children, so bear with me. :)

This is a quote that I came across, and it made me think. I know that today, I may have just been a good teacher, but hopefully, more often than not, I'm better than that.

"The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires."
-- William Arthur Ward

For putting up with me tonight, I thought I'd share a math game with you all! We are really working on reviewing all of the skills we've learned so far in first grade, with enormous hopes that maybe it will stick. :) This is a game, very similar to go fish, that works on addition. Hope you enjoy! Click on the picture for your own copy.


Make sure to check out our Race Car Math Game on TPT!

Motivational Monday Vol. 4

As often as we can, we like to connect children's literature to a variety of content areas. Click HERE to download a list of great read alouds related to math.

Motivational Monday Vol. 3

"The best teacher is the one who suggests rather than dogmatizes, and inspires his listener with the wish to teach himself." - Edward Bulwer-Lytton

Happy Monday blogger friends! Hope you all have a great week! :)

Motivational Monday Vol. 2

"For me it is about the children. Let know child live in poverty. Let know child go hungry. Let no child live without shelter. Let no child be abused. Let know child remain ill. Let no child be uneducated. Let know child be oppressed. Let know child be unloved.

Children did not ask to come here. They are innocent, and they are helpless. It is our moral obligation to help them whether they are ours or not. Only we can save them...and only they can save the world."

-Stanley Tucci (actor)

Don't forget to enter our Earth Day Unit Give Away. Hurry the give away ends Wednesday at 4:00 pm PST, and there are three ways you can enter!

Motivational Monday

For us, Monday's are a killer, especially after Spring Break and being at home with our kiddos. So we're going to try to give everyone a little motivation to help you get through your week, in a little piece we like to call, "Motivational Monday."

What do Teachers Make?
By: Taylor Mali

The dinner guests were sitting around the table discussing life. One ma, a CEO, decided to explain the problem with education.

He argued, "What's a kid going to learn from someone who decided his best option in life was to become a teacher?"

He reminded the other dinner guests what they say about teachers: 'Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach.'

To emphasize his point he said to another guest; 'You're a teacher, Bonnie. Be honest, what do you make?'
(She paused for a second, then began...)

"Well, I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could.

I make a C+ feel like the Congressional Medal of Honor.

I make kids sit through 40 minutes of class time when their parents can't make them sit for 5 without an IPod, Game Cube, or movie rental.

You want to know what I make?" (She paused again and looked at each person at the table.)

"I make kids wonder.

I make them question.

I make them apologize and mean it.

I make them have respect and take responsibility for their actions.

I teach them to write and them I make them write... Keyboarding isn't everything.

I make them read, read, read.

I make them show all their work in math. They use their God-given brain, not the man-made calculator.

I make my students from other countries learn everything they need to know in English while preserving their unique cultural identity.

I make my classroom a place where all my students feel safe.

I make my students stand, placing their hand over their heart to say the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag, One Nation Under God, because we live in the United States of America.

I make them understand that if they use the gives they were given, work hard, and follow their hearts, they can succeed in life."

(Bonnie paused one last time, then continued.)

"Then, when people try to judge me by what I make, with me knowing money isn't everything, I can hold my head up high and pay no attention because they are ignorant... You want to know what I make?

I MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

What do you make Mr. CEO?"

His jaw dropped, and he went silent.



Thank you to all of you amazing teachers who make a difference! Happy Monday!