The first day of SPRING!!!

Well.... I almost forgot I live in MN! 

The wind chill on March 20th was -12... Thank you MN...

But we brought some sunshine into the classroom anyway!!

I saw this idea on Pinterest and ran with with it!

I took a side picture if each student and I told them to act like they were blowing out a birthday candle.

Next we did an "I WISH" writing activity.

Finally they were able to glue their picture on black construction paper and draw their dandelion with white and green crayons. It turned out SOOO CUTE!! :)

Enjoy!

Happy Tuesday!

Happy Tuesday! 

I hope everyone had a happy and safe St. Patrick's Day weekend!

Yesterday was a great Monday! After having such a great week, the students were excited to be here yesterday and I hope this trend continues! :) 

Our Last Visit From The Leprechaun!

Good Morning! What a great week we've had! 

At  the end of the day yesterday, my students wanted to leave a note for the leprechaun instead of a trap.

Here is the note- verbatim from my first graders!  

Well after much debate- I had to think of something neat for our Leprechaun to do. 

So here is what The Leprechaun had to say back! 

They LOVED the picture! They were so excited! 

Here is where his little footprints went off to...

He left through the crack in the wall!

This is the little treat he left on their desk...

As a little added note- he wrote

P.S. Enjoy The Music

on our chalkboard- and Celtic music was playing! (Using Pandora)

Again, it was a wonderful way to wrap up our little adventure 

and give the students something exciting to stir around in their hearts! 

Enjoy! 

Lucky The Leprechaun!

So after the students left, anxiously waiting to see if we were going to catch The Leprechaun- I had to get to work! This is what our our room looked like this morning!

Random Little Footprints!

The Trap- It says, "Not This Time- hehehe"

The hat was shrunk,

there was gold Rolos under the trap,

 and the letters were gone! 

A new note from the Leprechaun, and new footprints! 

More Footprints! 

I used a dry erase marker and it comes right off the walls!

These are the clues left throughout the day- There is one for each student and they are hidden throughout the classroom. Specifically in places we use throughout the day! This is a backwards note I found from

 http://polkadotbumblebee2.blogspot.com/2010/03/letter-from-lucky-leprechaun.html

and I attached a gold Rolo to each one! They had a BLAST finding these throughout our day!  

We also made a 4 Things That Make Me Lucky Shamrock and hung them above our window! 

This has been a great way to kick that Spring Fever!

I love seeing the students this excited to come to school! 

Lucky Day!

Well- the students couldn't have been more excited about our little visit from The Leprechaun! What a great day! After a few hours of regular instruction I had a student "find" the Little Letter Stationery (Left by The Leprechaun himself!) and we wrote The Leprechaun our letters! Here they are:

They actually spent a good deal of time on these special letters! 

Great way to incorporate the importance of writing! 

I think they turned out fabulous! 

After we were done, my students kept asking if we could set a trap to catch him. ABSOLUTELY! So as a class, at the end of the day, we built the trap. I asked for their ideas and built it solely off what they wanted. Can I just say- what wonderful imaginations children have when you give them the opportunities to use it!! Well I must say I think they nailed it! Here is our wonderful Leprechaun trap! Fully equipped with a rainbow leading the way, a welcome sign so he won't see it coming, gold, a top hat (I am going to shrink the top hat tonight in the oven- another added surprise for tomorrow!), and lastly our wonderful letters to him! 

They are so excited! I will post more tomorrow! Enjoy!  

A Visit From The Leprechaun!

Today I am having my first visit from The Leprechaun! Here is how I introduced him to my class:

The Letter! (With Footprints)

The Legend of the Leprechaun Letter taped on the corner-

 Sarah Cooley @ www.firstgraderatlast.blogspot.com

The Footprints!

 The Learning Dust!

I am going to have the students use a cute "Little Letter Stationery" from Sarah Cooley @ www.firstgraderatlast.blogspot.com, to write their compact letters to The Leprechaun, so he comes back! I will post when the letters are completed! :) Happy Wednesday! 

Happy Monday!

Daylight Saving Time... why does it feel like we lost so much more than an hour?
Well, I have good news- more freebies!!
Check out my freebies page- I am adding a dinosaur literacy circle pack!
Enjoy your Monday!

Back At Last!

Although I heard it was a crazy day yesterday, my room is still in one piece! Missing some things-- but still in one piece! haha
All the smiling faces and happy hugs made returning much easier!
But one student went to extreme lengths to show how much they missed me- they brought me a Dr. Seuss stuffed animal to help make me feel better!!
Adorable! It's good to be feeling better and back at what I love!

Sick Days Are Never Good In A Teacher's World

Even with a snow day yesterday, I wasn't able to shake this flu... Somewhere in between last night and this morning it changed into the ever undesirable stomach flu. I hate missing unplanned days at work. I know it must be complete chaos in my classroom and I cringe at the thought. Although we have a great routine that flows nicely through our day. I have a feeling it isn't being followed at the moment.
2 months into school I took 3 days off to fly across the country and see my brother graduate from B.C.T. in the Army. Although that time was very special. I almost died when I came back and saw my classroom... This is why I am nervous for tomorrow!!
I hope I am pleasantly surprised!! However, being it is the start of March, I feel I shouldn't get my hopes up too much! At least at our school- I've noticed that spring fever is setting in!

I would like to hear from you, any stories you have- good/bad... and any tricks you found make life easier when you're gone? If you do, I would LOVE to hear them!

Bulletin Boards

Here are some bulletin boards I've done in my classrooms. They range from a 1st grade to a 3rd grade classroom. Enjoy! :)

First Real Post...

Good Afternoon! After finding out we had a snow day today and feeling below the weather myself; I decided today was a good day to finally start my blog! (Being I wasn't going to accomplish much else... ) Sooooo after spending way too much time figuring out how to make this page look the way I wanted, I am finally satisfied! Thank you Shabby Blogs! A little background, I am a 1st grade teacher and I have taught both 2nd and 3rd as well. I want to connect with other teachers and post about my classroom experience. However, my blog won't be limited to just teaching... I may throw in random things every now and again too. :)