Our Valentine Exchange!

My students continue to be excited as valentines roll in from all around the US and Canada!

First we made valentines to send to the other schools. They included a pop up heart valentine and a card with some information about us.


Next, I made a bulletin board with a map of the U.S. - and Canada. As we get cards, we put them up on the bulletin board. It is so exciting to see all of the places that the cards are coming from. The students are always excited to receive a valentine from another state.

My bulletin board is getting very crowded. I will try to post a more current picture soon.

Mend the Broken Hearts

I can't claim this idea 100%. It actually came from my wonderful mother. She is a speech and language pathologist for a nearby school corp.

The idea is that the bulletin board is interactive. Each week you can change the task. This week, we are doing rhyming review. For next week, I already have tens and ones matching pre-made. This bulletin board can be guided or independent. I usually have small groups work on it during our Dialy 5 Work with Words time. I sometimes use recording sheets for students to keep track of their matches. I don't have those here at home, but will try to post them sometime this week.

Stay tuned. I also have an interactive St. Patrick's Day bulletin board for March. "Find the Pot of Gold".

In other news, I am so stinkin' excited to show you all what we have been working on for the Valentine Exchange set up by Mrs. Perry over at Primary Perspective. I want to keep our actual valentines a secret for now - just in case any teachers who follow this blog are going to be receiving one. My kids want it to be a surprise. We have an amazing art teacher who came up with an incredible design for our cupcake valentines. Sometime next week I hope to post some pictures of our valentines, our U.S. / Canada map that shows where we received valentines from, and other Valentine's Day festivities!

Go win an apron.

So, through this awesome "linky party" thrown by Cara Carrol over at The First Grade Parade, I met Miss Knight at Miss Knight's Khronicles. Not only are the aprons she is giving away amazing, she has some pretty great ideas for the classroom too! Go check her out!

A totally un-school related post!

So, here in Indiana we missed the last two days of school. Many schools are on to their third snow day this week. (My school was on a two hour delay, but I am home with an ear infection) Here is a picture of my car from yesterday. I should say that this was AFTER my wonderful husband went and picked away at the windows. Check out that ice on the doors! It was THICK!!

100th Day of School

Well, last week we celebrated the 100th day of school. It hardly seems possible that we have already had 100 days (today is actually 103)!

After cracking up at the kindergarten teachers all dressed up like they were 100 years old, we got down to business.

We wrote about what we would do with 100 dollars. Wow! They had some great ideas. I hate that I sent the work home without taking pictures, but I did have two favorites.

1) "If I had $100.00 I would pay someone to do whatever I say." Oh MY!
2) "If I had $100.00 I would give clothes and stuff to the fire department.

Next, we drew a picture of what we would look like at 100. I am seriously kicking myself for not taking pictures, because the wheelchairs that my kiddos dreamed up were incredible!

I had each student bring in 100 of something for show and tell. One boy brought in 100 fire hats (dad is a fireman), a girl brought 100 empty toilet paper rolls (I have been requesting them for an upcoming activity), and one boy created that amazing lego sculpture above!

We finished up the day by writing 100 words to earn a gold medal and making 100s day trail mix.

It was such a fun day!

Snowman estimation

Deanna Jump had a wonderful snowman estimation idea. We used it in class with our very own snowballs (cotton balls)!

Snow, snow, snow!

After two snow days, I think I am ready to post some pictures of the awesome things we did with snow as a theme. I purchased Deanna Jump's snow math and literacy packet on TPT - and I am so glad I did!


I am so glad that we did this activity. The kids loved it and they are putting it to use when solving new words in Guided Reading!