Thursday, September 13, 2012

Terrific Thursday!

I hope everyone is having a great week! I just wanted to write a quick post about how much I LOVE Scholastic! As a young teacher my classroom library is, well, the pits! I am only in my fourth year of teaching and only second year in first grade, and I DESPERATELY need a classroom library. Last year around Christmas time I started using Scholastic Book Clubs to help build my classroom library, and my kids were always so excited when that red box showed up! (Me too1) By the end of the school year this is what I had accumulated for our classroom library through both Scholastic Book Clubs and other shopping adventures.


So last week I sent home the first Scholastic book order for the year. It totaled at around $70.00, and I am so excited to share that with bonus points and extra Scholastic offers I was able to order 23 new books for our classroom library!!!! WOW!!! It felt like Christmas today when this red box arrived!



Needless to say today was a terrific Thursday! Not only is Scholastic a great company that supports teachers and classrooms, but it also offers books at GREAT PRICES for parents. It is so important for teachers and parents to work together to encourage a love for reading at such a young age that will hopefully stick with the kids for years to come!

If you are a teacher and would like to sign up for Scholastic Books Clubs click here.

If you are a parent and would like to search for your child's teacher to order books online click here.


I hope you have a Fabulous Friday!

Thursday, September 6, 2012

M&M Addition

We are back in full swing after Hurricane Isaac! This week has almost felt like the start of school again since we have missed 3 day since last Tuesday. I have to admit I am always happy to get in a routine. :)

In math we are learning addition strategies 0-5. Oh so fun! We started the week off learning how to add using Touch Math. The kids blew me away by how quickly they caught on! They impress me more and more each day! I saw this great idea on Pinterest to create a list of all the addition strategies as you teach each one. I think this is a great way to help the kids remember and review each way to add. Of course my chart paper is not as cute as the one on Pinterest, but I can't find extra time in my day to make it cute! (Maybe one day :) We will fill in the chart as we learn new addition strategies.


To introduce using pictures to add, we read M&M Counting by Barbara McGrath. We also used some paper M&M's with our pocket chart to practice.




After the lesson and picture practice, we decorated our M&M Addition sheets and glued down our M&M's. Today we did the math once the candy was good'n'stuck!




If you would like to download this free addition freebie click here.

For more tasty addition visit my TPT or TN store. Have a FABULOUS FRIDAY!




Saturday, September 1, 2012

Hurricane Isaac




So much for school! We spent 2 1/2 days at home last week due to Hurricane Isaac. Seven years ago we endured Katrina, which was the worst thing ever! After Katrina we went without water for 14 days and power for 7 days. Talk about hot and nasty! Needless to say, everyone around here went into PANIC mode last weekend preparing for another hurricane. We were so fortunate in our part of the state. Katrina brought strong winds and tornados, but Isaac mainly dumped a LOT of rain! And when I say a lot, what I really mean is I couldn't remember what the sun looked like! :)

Here are some clouds during a slight rain break.

Here is a close up of my hometown of Laurel, MS. We are the blue dot.

Roxy was LAZY all through the rain. Here she is resting at the back door while the rain pours.


Randy and I were stir crazy after 2 days at home. So we rode around town to look at more rain. We picked up a raincoat for Jack. :)



Our power only went out Wednesday night and praise the Lord the water never stopped flowing! We were very fortunate.


I am so thankful that Isaac was not another Katrina for us; however, there are many on the gulf coast who were not as fortunate. Praying for those down south!


Have a great LONG Labor Day weekend!
(Here is a view of my hurricane free sky!)