This week I was really trying to challenge the kids this week.

We have been focusing on reading harder words and working on harder math problems.

Things come so easily to this class, so I wanted to challenge them to see what they did.

They never seize to surprise me!  

They are all so smart and really try their hardest to learn.

I love this age because they still love learning.

I love watching them throughout the day to see how eager they are to learn.

I wish we were all like that all the way through college...

And I sure hope these kids stay like that!

They are all SO ambitious, creative, and they all have so much potential.

After our math lesson on Friday, I split them into teams, and they had to put the numbers 1-100 in order.

The first group to finish first got a prize. 

 Everyone actually got a prize because everyone is a winner in my class.

But it was really fun to watch them interact with one another.

They all figured out different ways to get it done the quickest.

It was really neat to watch them work in groups.

Especially since we don't do it as much as I wish we could...

We just have lots of very talkative students in our classroom.

But I think I would rather them all be friends, than enemies, so I don't mind it so much.

 Last week we learned about the rainforest.

I LOVE teaching/learning about the rainforest.

I would love to visit a rainforest one day.

We didn't have time to do this activity last week, so I made time this week!

They had to put the different layers of the rainforest on the paper, then put the animals where they should go.

They all turned out very unique.  They are all so creative!

It was a fun week, but not too eventful.

It is fun watching them grow.  

Next week is Dr.Seuss's Birthday!

Another day that I LOVE!

Dr.Seuss is definitely my favorite author, so I can't wait!

Thank you parents for all that you do!

I don't know about everyone else, but I had SUCH a fun week at school! 

I think this has been the busiest week so far...but that's just me.

The biggest day this week was Valentines Day.  

The thing that I like most about Valentine's Day, is it doesn't really have to take up most of our normal daily routines for the entire day.  

For the most part, things stayed the same and we still learned some really great things!  

I also have to say...this projector is one of my favorite parts of the classroom (that and my microphone).

The paper doesn't have to be clear like an overhead projector.  

And it can hook up to the computer, so they can see the computer screen from the projector.

It is SO cool!  And soon we will be having even more technology added to the classroom.

When I can take pictures of that, it will be easier to understand.

Until then, I will just enjoy the ELMO and the functions it has!

Here is what we did on Valentines Day:

We have been learning about doubles plus one facts, so this worksheet really helped the students to review those facts and other facts that we have learned.

 Another math concept that we have been working on is making bar graphs.

I gave each of them two bags of the heart candies and the had to put them into groups according to color.

First they had to count them and write the number on the appropriate color word.

 Then on the back they had to make a bar graph!  

It was fun and I think everyone enjoyed it.

 We also made hearts, and then drew pictures about things that we love.  

I love the kids faces in this picture...the recess bell rang and they really wanted to go outside.  :)

I took a picture of mine, so that you could see what they should look like.

These are the things that I love!

Nature (mountains and rivers especially), the sun, Texas, football, volleyball, teaching, my husband, my family, reading, dolphins (don't judge...I'm not very good at drawing animals), and the Cowboys.  I do have to say though...I don't LOVE the cowboys.  By default I root for them...but I should have put Tebow on there or one of the Manning brothers (or the 49ers for my husband).  But a star was the easiest to draw.

Anyway, you get the point.

 Here is the fun pass out Valentine event!  

It is the event they look forward to for weeks...then it's over in a matter of seconds.

Well...it was still fun!

 I forgot to take a picture of the present that I gave them for Valentines Day, so I had one of the students hold it for me so I could take a picture of it.  I had TONS of extra crayons (mostly ones that I've found) and decided to make crayon hearts.  They turned out SO cute and I had enough for everyone to get a few.  Plus some left over for me  :)  I like to color some times too...

We always have such wonderful moms come in to help for parties and such.  

I really appreciate all of the work you moms and dads put into it!

For their Valentines Party, they made a fun little craft with foam pictures and hearts.

 And they played a music game where they walked in a circle, then when the music stopped they sat down, the mom asked some questions (I loved listening to the answers) and then she drew a number from a basket.  Whoever was sitting on that number got a prize.  It was a fun little game and took up time.  It was PERFECT!

Now that Valentines Day is over...it's time to celebrate Dr.Seuss.  

His birthday isn't until March 2nd, but if I don't start decorating now it will NEVER happen.

This bulletin board is in the hall by the gym.

I have been hesitant to use it all year because I didn't know what it was for.

Well, nobody has used it so I asked another teacher and this is what became of that bulletin board:

 I'll admit it...I'm pretty proud of this bulletin board.  It turned out even cuter than I was expecting.  I made that cat and the hat!  Well, I didn't free draw it, but I traced it and colored it and cut it out.  It turned out SO cute and took up plenty of space on that huge bulletin board!  I am in love with this idea and love how it turned out.  SO happy!  :)  I gave each student a hat to color their own.  They had to write 2 rhyming words on the hat, just like Dr.Seuss does in his books.  I gave each student a Dr.Seuss book and they had to find some rhyming words that way.  I decided that would be easier and funner than everyone putting spelling words; day, way, may, say, etc.  That just gets boring.  ;)

It was a fun week and we learned a LOT, but we also had to say good bye to another student this week.

It is never fun saying good bye.  And we are now down to 17 students in the classroom.  It just feels empty without everyone there, especially in our circle that we make at the end of the day for our good bye song.

But everything is turning out like it should, so that is good!

I hope everyone enjoyed their long weekend!

Thank you parents for all that you do!

It was a busy busy week this week!  And next week is going to be ANOTHER busy week!  I have a feeling isn't going to slow down from here.  This week we learned about long e and vowel pairs.  We learned earlier this year that when two vowels go walkin', the first one does the talkin'.  So that part was pretty easy.

To help understand it better, we did a few different activities.

One of them was the tree wheel.  The first sound would change when they turned the wheel, but the end would stay the same.

 We also made a cherry tree!  I loved the creativity for this special tree, so I decided to take a picture of it.  They had 8 different cherrys, and had to decide which ones had a long e.  The long e would go on the tree.

The best part about this week...we celebrated the 100th day of school!

I can't believe it is already here!

I have to say...I don't remember celebrating the 100th day of school at all when I was in school, so I wanted to do some fun things to make it special.  So I hope that 20 years later, they might be able to remember their 100th day of school in 1st grade.

To start off our activities, we read this wonderful book:

It was such a good book!  It was my first time reading it because I just got it and I am so glad that I got it!

Such a cute story with lots of fun ideas for the 100th day of school that I might have to try next year.  :)

During centers, we did a fun search to help us add to 100.  They had to find the different objects in the number 100, color them different colors, count them, then add them together.

We also made this fun 100th day packet.  It was our writing center for the day, but I thought it was just a fun activity for the most part.

This was the favorite part of the afternoon!  We made some trail mix!  I brought 10 different food items, and they had to go around and pick 10 pieces from each item.  (10 pretzels, 10 chocolate chips, 10 animal crackers, etc.)  In math we have been practicing tally marks and grouping items by 10s.  As they went around and put their items in the bags, they had to tally mark in groups of 10 to add to 100!  It was TONS of fun, and they were SO good during it!  I was really nervous that it was going to be a bit chaotic, but they were SO good!  They all worked really hard to make sure they got the right amount.  I may have had the most fun.  :)

Tuesday is Valentines Day!

To help us get ready for the day, we made heart people!  

They turned out SO cute, and so different from one another!

Side note...I hate that there are wires and a TV blocking our art bulletin board...it drives me crazy.

Ready or not, Valentines Day is almost here!   :)

Another thing to celebrate...1 year ago this week I started teaching in St Anthony as a first grade teacher.

I think first grade is where I am meant to be.  :)

It is crazy to think that I am no longer (officially) a first year teacher!

I couldn't be happier where I am and I love my job!

Thank you parents for all you do!

What a fun, crazy, busy week!
  I almost can't remember what all we did this week.

But I know we had fun!  :)  Really though, we did a lot of learning this week.

We learned about long u and long o, learned how to add doubles plus 1 (5+4, 2+3, 6+7, etc).

I can't believe it is already February.  My days seem to be going so quickly.

On Wednesday, we made our February calendar.

 We learned about how February has only 29 days this year, because it is leap year.

Here are the poems for Long u and Long o:

 And since it is now February, I decided I needed to decorate for Valentines Day right away.

Before I know, Valentines Day is going to be here.  Only a week and a half and it's Valentine's Day.

So, our door was heart attacked!  :)

Friday was a really fun day.  

In the morning we took our tests and got those out of the way.  

They did a great job on the tests.  

Just when I think they aren't paying attention, they prove me wrong!  :)

For math of Friday, we had some fun.

Who is excited for the super bowl?

Well, I would be more excited if it was a team I actually liked...but why not.

So I made up a story problem.

First I explained what the super bowl is, what the NFL is (from what I hear, lots of you dads watch the NFL), what a quarterback does, and how many points a touchdown is.

Eli Manning threw 3 touch downs, Tom Brady threw 1 touch down but they missed the extra point (if I have to choose, I am rooting for the Gaints).

How many points do the Giants have?  

How many points do the Patriots have?  

Now how many points are the Gaints winning by?

Anyway, you get the point.  The boys were SO excited.

My favorite part was when one of them said, "I really hope Boise State wins!"

I couldn't help but chuckle.  I still laugh about that.

They figured it all out by using their hands and their heads.

Then, I let the students be teachers.  I sat at their desks and pretended like I was them.

They LOVED that and it was a fun way to learn!

I always say the best way to learn something is to teach it.

Friday was also kind of a sad day.  

We ended up saying goodbye to two of our classmates.

They will have a wonderful time at their new school, but we will all miss them.

Thank you parents for all that you do.  :)