the week before the week before Christmas Break...

Just a quick post about what we did this week in first grade! As I said in my last post I was gone for 3 days last week so it was kind of nice to get back to my first grade home away from home. :) As I suspected, the kiddos had some fun while I was gone, but I quickly got them back to rights. Or as much as possible since it's, ya know, just a few weeks before the jolly man shows up bearing presents.

So what did we do this week? Well, we continued our work with Christmas Around the World, which is turning out to be SO much fun! I'll have to remember to snap some pictures next week of their little suitcases with their minibooks and maps. I am surprised at how many connections this group has been able to make about the similarities and differences across countries-they're a bunch of smart cookies!

In math, we're tackling our fractions standard. I am SO not a fan of our math curriculum's way of teaching fractions so I'm pulling in a lot of stuff that I've made. I created some supplemental resources last year and that's been the big focus of my math block this week. It's got cut and paste activities for equal parts and halves/fourths, a vocabulary journal, anchor chart pieces, and some more engaging math tasks related to cookies, candy bars, and Play-Doh. If you want to take a peek you can find it here!

At the end of the week I was able to squeeze in a little bit of holiday crafting fun.

We made these stockings (thanks to A Cupcake for the Teacher for the freebie!) and they turned out so cute. On the back the kids wrote what they wanted their stockings to be stuffed with. Their responses cracked me up. One of my kiddoes said she wanted her stocking to be full of "perfume." Another one said "candy and DVDs" (hey, I wouldn't mind my stocking being stuffed with those things, either!).  We will be doing a lot more crafting next week and I can't wait!

while you were out...

I will be the first one to admit that I HATE being out. HATE it. Every teacher knows that it's double work to be out since you have to write sub plans and then play catch-up when you get back. It's the worst!

This past week I was gone for three whole days to a literacy research conference. It was a great experience and I learned a lot...but tomorrow it is BACK to reality. A little birdie (AKA my principal) gave me a heads-up that my sweet little angels were a hyper and rowdy bunch last week and there may have even been a trip to the principal's office involved for a couple of them. (This is a first for this group.) Tomorrow I will be very busy getting them back in line so we can have a productive last couple of weeks before the break. I thought I'd pop in to share a quick freebie about something I do when I return back after being out...I present to you my "Tattle to the Teacher" form! (I don't really call it that in front of the kids, but it's catchy, you gotta admit.)
Here's what it looks like:

And it's super easy to do. On the day I get back, I leave this on their desks for Morning Work. I tell them that if there's anything they think I should know about anything that happened while I was out, they can draw and write about it on their paper. I don't let them tell me anything verbally. The papers I get back are usually a HOOT. (I will say...although it's a little mortifying when they cut up like crazy, I can't take it too seriously...I mean, no one else can be ME and run my classroom quite like I can, you know?) I am very interested to see what all my sweeties have to tell me about last week's shenanigans!

If you want your copy, just click the pic!