Manic Monday Gingerbread FREEBIE!

I had such a wonderful Monday today! I finally took a personal day {I have SO many I haven't used} and finished almost all of my Christmas shopping! Woohoo! Another teacher friend of mine took a personal day as well and went with me. It was fantastic! The Outlet Mall was almost deserted and almost everything was 50% off! I believe the rest of my shopping can be done on Amazon and thank goodness I have Prime so it will be shipped in time!

Well ~ here is my Gingerbread Math Freebie that wouldn't load the other day!

There are 6 game boards in all. 1, 2, and 3 dice games in boy gingerbread and girl gingerbread. I'm no sexist! haha!

To get the Gingerbread FREEBIE click here.

I am also linking up with Manic Monday at Classroom Freebies here.

Hope y'all have a simply fantastic week!

SNOWMAN and FAIRYTALES!

Well, it is definitely NOT beginning to look like Christmas in my room! Our district came down hard this year saying absolutely NO Christmas stuff! We can't put up little trees in our room, we cannot make ornaments to send home, none, zip, zilch, nada! I have been seeing all these amazing freebies out in blogland and get so sad because the majority of them are Christmas related. So, I instead of getting depressed I thought of fun winter'ish things that I could still do! Gingerbread, snowmen, snowflakes, etcetera! I had to decorate my door of course! Meet Sid the Snowman...

Isn't he cute?

For Language Arts we are doing a genre study of fairytales, folktales, and fables until break. I am so excited! I love fairytales! Last year I made three different anchor charts but this year our district specified that in first grade we don't need to get that specific. So my anchor chart is a combo of the three.

Such fun!


I can't seem to upload my gingerbread freebie so I will try to post it tomorrow!

Ta for now!

Berry Pie and a Liebster Award - oh my!

I made it to the weekend! Seriously this week seemed so long after the Thanksgiving Break! I had a simply fabulous break so it was hard to come back for work. My sister came over with her family {they made the LONG drive to Texas from Arizona, bless her!} and helped me make a delicious meal! The biggest hit? Berry Pie! Her kiddos couldn't get enough! We had so much fun!

When I got back to class one of my little sweeties told me she missed me over the break and that made the transition back to work easier! Love those firsties!

Over the weekend I was nominated for a Liebster Award and isn't that the coolest?

 By two different ladies no less! I will try to answer the questions as best as I can!! So here are the rules:
 

- You must post 11 random things about yourself.

- Answer the questions the nominator has set for you.

- Create 11 questions for the people you nominate.

- Choose 11 blogs you love (with 200 followers or less) and link them in your post.

- No Tag back (But please leave me a comment on this post with the URL to your Liebster post so I can learn more about you)

11 Random Things

1. I am a beauty product junkie. Seriously - I can't get enough of Ulta or Sephora. Thank goodness for Ulta coupons in the mail! I am on the eternal quest for the perfect lipgloss, eyeshadow, mineral powder, and so on!
2. I have just about the most eclectic taste in music...ever. I love anything from Broadway Music to Black-Eyed Peas!
3. I have a hard time saying no to people! I hope that doesn't make me an enabler!
4. I love action movies! James Bond anyone? Die Hard? Love them all! Isn't my hubs a lucky guy?
5. I love decorating and decorating mags. The hubs always complain about my magazine stash and why can't I throw some out?
6. I also love documentaries, especially about animals. I always wind up crying like a baby during them!
7. Another latest beauty obsession I have is gel nails! I finally broke down and forked out the cash to buy an LED lamp ($50 at Ulta). I am in love! You will never go back to regular nail polish again! I brought all my gel nail stuff to work and my team had a gel nail party! One of my team members has already bought her own lamp to get started.
8. I am a Dr. Pepper addict. No hope of recovery.
9. I love me some Amazon. The one-click ordering is a blessing and a curse for me!
10. I lived in Hawaii for a semester (my hubs was doing his undergrad there at the time) and got engaged there. There is simply no place like Hawaii! LOVE it!
11. My undergrad is in Elementary Education from Arizona State and my graduate degree is in Special Education from Lubbock Christian University. There is definitely a special place in my heart for autistic kiddos!

So here are the question for me...

1) How did you pick your blog name?
I love rhyming and alliteration and I thought "crusade" seems very fitting when it comes to education!

2) What made you start writing a blog?
I decided to join in the blogging world instead of being a passive blog stalker!

3) What is your favorite thing to do with your family?
I love doing outdoor activities like just going for a nature walk, kayaking or canoeing. Austin is such a great place for outdoor enthusiasts! I also LOVE movies!

4) Coke or Pepsi?
Dr. Pepper!

5) Who is your favorite music group?
That is like picking a favorite star! However I really enjoy Mumford and Sons. They're both  folksy and soulful=)

6) What would you purchase if you had an unlimited budget?
I am a nester so I would just create one heck'uva cozy home for me and my family.

7) What is your favorite book to share with your students?
I love it when we do our genre study of Fairytales! I can't pick just one, I love them all!

8) What household chore do you like the least?
Toilet scrubbing. Does it get any worse?

9) What professional book or conference changed something about how you teach?
Probably the Daily Five. You have to practice behaviors again and again. I am a firm believer in routines.

10) What is your favorite color?
blues, greens, greys- earthy tones.

11) If you could eat lunch with a famous person, who would it be?
Hugh Jackman 

Now here are my questions...

1. What made you decided to be a teacher?
2. If you could be any animal what would it be and why?
3. What is your favorite movie?
4. What is your dream vacation?
5. What is your favorite book?
6. What is your favorite subject to teach?
7. Where did you graduate from college?
8. What has been your favorite place you've lived?
9. Night on the town or yoga pants and a movie?
10. Who are you dying to see in concert?
11. Who is the person who most inspires you?

Here are my nominees...

1. The Artistry of Education
2. Learning is for Superstars
3. The Teacher in Me
4. HoJo's Teaching Adventures
5. Realistic Teacher
6. The Groovy Teacher
7. Kindergarten Faith
8. Growing in Pre K
9. Reading and Writing Redhead
10. Live, Laugh, I love Kindergarten
11. Teaching with TLC

Have a fantastic weekend!

The Lorax craftivity

Wow! Times has gone by so fast! Is it really Thanksgiving this week? I have only two days of school. I am kind of dreading it since I know the kids are going to be wired! I plan on having a lot of activities that will keep them busy busy busy!

This week we had a blast! I am at an IB school (International Baccalaureate) and our current unit is about how Conflict causes Change. Sometime good can come from something bad and vice versa. We read the Lorax and then did a reader response craftivity. The kids LOVED it and we had a blast. I love the conversation we had going after the book. The kiddos are so insightful!

Aren't they so cute? I drew the mustache and traced them. Then the kiddos cut them out. So fun!

Wish me luck for the next two days!

Post Halloween

Whew! I made it! I have to admit, after Halloween was worse than Halloween day! Must have been the sugar crash! Friday was TOUGH! I left school feeling so frustrated and vented a lot to my dear teaching friends. Then when I got home I watched the news and WOW! Watching the devastation of Hurricane Sandy really made me feel like a jerk. Talk about putting things in perspective! And here I was complaining about my hopped up on sugar kiddos when people have lost their homes. So I decided to stop whining!

We had such a blast on Halloween! Our district doesn’t allow any dressing up or any parties so I to figure out what type of “Fun” activity I could do that would still apply to what we are learning that also seemed “Halloweenish”. I saw the most adorable spiders on Pinterest and decided it would fit in with my curriculum perfectly! In reading we are working on expository text and for writing we are doing research. So I read the kiddos a book on spiders and then for our writing research we wrote down spider facts on the legs.

The kids LOVED it! They had a blast and wore their spider hats with relish! Here is one of my cuties in her spider hat.

We are definitely doing this next year!

I also started to gear up for Thanksgiving! It is my favorite holiday! I LOVE it! I can't wait to get started on our Thanksgiving history lessons! I am in the process of creating a Thanksgiving count and color too! I'll post it next Friday. Here is my Thanksgiving themed decorated door!

I might have put it up too soon after Halloween because my kids thought it was a witch! LOL! I informed them it was a pilgrim. They still seemed a little confused! Guess what my read alouds will be this upcoming week? Yep. Pilgrims galore!

Talking about Thanksgiving makes me hungry- so I'm off to eat!

Interactive Bulletin Board

Well it has been a while since I posted. Last week I got sick. I knew it was too good to last! I completely lost my voice. When I went to the doctor he told me I had a cold. What kind of cold makes you lose your voice completely? I asked. Well apparently there is some weird strain going around. I took Friday off and didn't speak for three days. I told my friends that this was my version of hell ~ losing my voice cause I love to talk! They completely agreed with me. I'm not sure if that is a compliment or if I should take offense=)

I'm finally getting my voice back {though I still can't sing at the top of my lungs with the radio, which I am fond of doing} so I could catch up on some work that we missed from my sick day. I am sure every teacher out there knows what I am talking about when I say taking a sick day is more of a pain than going in. And I even have a sub tub prepared!

We have been working on graphing for the last couple of weeks in math. The kids really seem to like graphing. Now when it comes to using that information they still have to be guided by me but at least they are enthusiastic about it!

We did a monster graph craftivity which they loved! Here is an example...

Does anyone else feel like their word walls, anchor charts, vocabulary, etc. is just wallpaper? The students just don't seem to be utilizing the information that I have posted around the room. I don't know how many kids ask me how to help them spell words that are right on the word wall! They also have a laminated word wall I let them keep in their desks. Kind of driving me crazy.

Anyhoo- I decided to try to make my boards my interactive. I decided to start with my math wall. To start off I'll just have a basic addition number sentence with pictures.

It's just a small section on my math board but I am hoping that it will get the kids to notice the information up there. I used poster putty for the fruit and number. That way it is easily removed. I also think I will change it up with different holiday's, seasons and such.

I'll let y'all know how it goes and post about it next week!

Doozy of a week and a FREEBIE!

Wow! Am I glad this week is over! Let me just say it has been a doozy of a week. Was it something in the air? Were the stars aligned just so? I have no idea. I had kids biting, licking {yes, licking}, and peeing in the pants {3 times}, and an angry parent. To top it off - I had staff development today. Yep on a Saturday. True story. I am utterly exhausted. Yep- I'll say it again, glad it's over!

I had planned on working on my numerical fluency packet but just couldn't seem to muster the energy. However- I did get enough energy to create a math game. You might have noticed that I am a bit obsessed with math games. I just love them cause my kiddos get such a kick out of playing them! This weeks game is a Star Wars themed ODD and EVEN math game. The kids loved it...especially the boys! Here are some pics of the kiddos playing the ODD and EVEN game and last week's Halloween Count and Cover.

I re-discovered the amazing Mathwire website. I found the wonderful idea of laminating 100 charts and cutting them up. Whenever the kiddos are finished early they just grab a puzzle. This has quickly become one of their favorite past times!

If you want a copy of the Star Wars ODD and EVEN game click HERE.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that next week will be better. Much better! Have a great weekend y'all!