Takin’ A Break From Teachin’

HOWDY folks! It’s been a long, long, long time since I’ve written a post on my blog….who knows maybe no one even noticed I hadn’t posted in a while.

 Anyhow, total sadsville that I won’t be sharin’ any 2013/2014 classroom tour or a caaaute and fun craftivity and great parties in the classroom this school year with y’all.

I decided to take a break from teachin’ this year to take on a new opportunity in the “SALES” world (Telecom/Wireless Industry).

It’s been a rollercoaster thus far. I’m not going to lie and say I don’t miss TEACHIN’….because I DO… something terrible!

BUT I also LOVE my new position and I’m settling into my role as an Account Executive. I do travel a bit and do lots of entertaining.

I love meeting new people and making new friendships is a skill that comes easy to me.

Thank you Jesus!

I have to admit I was crazy emotional at the beginning of the school year! It was really difficult not being in my classroom and gettin’ things organized and ready for the up and coming dual firsties.

It’s also HARD to not have the inside scoop of who your child’s teacher will be.

Thank goodness my children started the school year in an exceptional school for our transition. They still wish for me to go back to teachin!

Well I don’t blame them….life is good when you’re a teacher’s kid. I miss that too!

I miss the goodies in the break room, the smiling children roaming the halls and it’s weird that
I miss that “SCHOOL SMELL”! HA!

 I miss my school babies shouting “Mrs. Hubble”! I miss the billion hugs I received daily from the students that I had the honor of being a part of their
education journey!

Not all is lost at Glitzy In 1^st Grade…I still plan to share activities I do with my own kiddos at home.

I can’t seem to shake out the TEACHER within me…sigh...my poor babies!

This isn’t goodbye…it’s more like a “To Be Continued”…I still don’t know how this chapter will end or what I want to be when I grow up.

 All I know is that I have followed the path the good Lord has set before me and I don’t question his WILL!

He knows what’s BEST for me….I trust that with all my HEART! I am THANKFUL for all my BLESSINGS!

I have a quick Homework Activity share:

Jaxzers is a 1^st grader this year. We do a Word HUNT (In honor of hunting season) game and I extend this activitiy with a Tree Map.

Word HUNT:
1.He looks for the 8 blue cards around the house
2. Collects them & reads them to me (if he can't read them, I hide them again)

3. He sorts them on a Tree Map by vowel sounds or word families (my table from my classroom)

4. Last he writes his words NEATLY!!!

He struggles with writing so we focus a lot on formation.

On Thursday he has to come up with his own words for each vowel sound and classify them in his tree map he started at the beginning of the week.

Each day he has a new set of 8 words to HUNT in order to be exposed to more than just his suggested word list…I throw in blends too!

So there you have it...

   BAM: I hit reading, phonics and writing in one activity. It takes all of 10 minutes to get this done.

He spends the longest time with writing because he doesn’t like to write neat.

BUT he’s figured out how to please this mama and he gets it done the first time around.

 Or no extra computer time, or hangin’ out watchin’ football with dad!

Here is a picture of my three youngest on their

First Day Of School...it's hard to believe I have one in college now...time flies!

Cherish every moment with your babies!

PROUD moments!

Love that she drives me around now...the GOOD life!

Wishin' y'all a FANTASTIC 2013-2014 school year!

Get your TEACH ON!!!

Showin’ Some Love

Howdy sweet folks. I finally made some time to get a quick post in. I admire those who can keep up with bloggin’. It's been an epic fail for me. I made a promise to my family we would spend way more quality time together...so any spare time I have is spent with them. It's still a win for me!

We finally moved into our new home... gettin' organized has been top priority! We couldn't be more thrilled to be in our home. Now the fun part starts...DECORATING! Now on to our school happenings!

We started this week with "How do we write a friendly letter". I had my firsties do a Brace Map (it shows "Whole to Part" relationship). 

We did a "Parts of A Letter" brace map activity. I love how they turned out! I used Ms. Stanford's freebie "Learing to Love Letters" because it worked perfect for this activity! My firsties are "Thinking Map Pros" now!

 

Last week we worked on contractions...I thought I would share our love contractions with y'all! 

For math we did a little Valentine box of chocolates word problems and graphing to stay in the theme of things!

I get really stressed out when it comes to class parties (havin' to top legendary parties from the past)! Over the years... I have become known to the school as the BEST party planner. HA! 

I have felt my parties have been a little cray, cray in the past so this year I wanted to have a little bit more control over what my firsties would be doing durin' party time. 

So I went on a hunt for new ideas. 

I have never done stations because I felt that was way to much work for an hour long party. Sooooo this year I tried it...I found this really fun packet on TPT by Sarah Cooley and I heart it so much! 

I have to say I really enjoyed havin' stations and I felt I had more control over what my sweethearts would be doing during the party! 

We had...

1. Creation Station: Love Bugs, "Looking for Love" Heart Glasses, and

Bling Rings (Pipe Cleaner Creations)

2. Win It In A Minute: Games from Sarah's packet

3. Love Letters: Word Scramble and Search Activities(Packet) 

4. Showin' Some Love & Stuck on Sweets Station:Taste Testing Graphing and passing out your Valentines(Packet)

5. Love Potion Floats

It worked out really great and they had TONS of FUN! 

Jaxzers came down to my class to show me his Olivia Party goodies...his teacher (Ms. Sarah Haynes) did a cute Olivia themed party for her 

kinder dual group!

I LOVE how our dual kinder team incorporates literacy/book characters into their parties for those sweet kiddos to make connections! 

How AWESOME is that! Check out her fun creations! 

I just love this character board! I adore the idea of some learning still going on BUT it's a celebration too!

I got to spend Valentine's Day with my BESTIE... we surprised our hubbies with a "Fly Fishin' Trip" for Valentine's Day!

My oldest is a senior this year it's hard to believe that she was once Jax's age...last week was her Operation Graduation Themed dinner! It hit me like a ton of bricks that she is graduating soon! I wish I had a magic wand to freeze time...I know selfish of me BUT it's hard to let go!

I love you Savannah... I am VERY PROUD of you and your decisions! 

 Our HOME sweet HOME!

So there you have it...  the happenins' over at Glitzy In 1st Grade!

Sayin' Goodbye to 2012

Ending of a Year... 2012

It has been one cray-cray end to a busy GLORIOUS year! 

Seriously!

It’s been a while since my last post…I have no idea where the time 

has gone!

It’s crazy to think that half the school year is over with... total SADSVILLE!

I so HEART this group of FIRSTIES! Well every group for that matter... they are all very unique!

We have been very blessed in 2012... so here’s to many more blessings in 2013!

Some of my blessings came in the form of discovering many AMAZING educational blogs and PINTEREST!

I have learned more about being an EXCEPTIONAL teacher through the sharing and valuable resources, experiences and ideas from YOUR teaching blogs!

So with a very GRATEFUL heart I want to THANK teachers who take the time to create and share their

many talents!

Your gifts are a blessing beyond measure!

Total inspiration from very gifted teachers... loved that I also found Teachers Pay Teachers! WOWZER... made my life LOTS easier!

So I took all my new wealth of ideas and lessons and put them to work.

 I would like to share a little of what I remembered to capture and share how our projects turned out. 

Let's start with Fairy Tales and Patterns... 

There are so many great ideas out there! 

I took a little of what I found and put it together to fit the needs of my Firsties...seeing how I have 16 boys and 6 girls, my boys wouldn't be diggin' 

all the girly stuff! 

We brainstormed using a Circle Map, different wishes.

Then I made available 2 different options for their writing craftivity. 

Boys chose the wand... girls the sparkly slippers! Big Surprise...HA! 

The adorable "Sparkly Slippers" craftivity were borrowed from Ms. Leslie Ann over at Life In First Grade...LOVE her!

So be sure to check out many of her FAB ideas and lessons! 

Amanda over at Mrs.Terhune's First Grade Site has a super cute FREE 

"Fairy Tale Unit" that I downloaded and used.

It has super great activities for many different common fairy tales! 

I did a quick mini assessment on patterns in small groups when we worked on this skill... I love how they turned out for being an assessment! 

My bilingual pairs did a super great job...love how mini foam shapes and stickers inspire them!

We also worked on 2D & 3D shapes this 9 weeks. I came across (some where on PINTEREST) a cute activity on 2D shapes that I just had to share their creativity!

Prompt: "At first it was a _______. Now it is a _______."

 I can't seem to locate the original source for this activity so if it's your cutsie idea please let me know so I can give you your well 

deserved credit! 

I did a Tree Map assessment on 3D shapes.

I handed 3D shape cards to each student and depending on what they were given...they had to draw a real object that resembled the 3D shape and glue it in the correct category on the Tree Map!

Gingerbread Unit...workin' on fables!

 Loved this year's unit...we focused more on different points of view in Fairy Tales & Fables! My Firsties loved seeing things from different POV from main characters in each story...who knew!

I read different versions of the Gingerbread Boy and Girl...many FAB stories out there...I went crazy on Amazon and the book stores! HA! 

Love me some Gingerbread anything stories! I adore this cute little unit that I found on Teachers Pay Teachers by Linda Kamp! 

You have to check it out...you can get your copy here!

 My FIRSTIES have a thing for mustaches...but like who doesn't have a thing for mustaches! 

I was over the moon HAPPY when I came across Cara's Mooseltoe Unit! 

Super duper cute and FUN activities..but I didn't expect anything less from her! So here is how their craftivities turned out...LOVE them!

I have to say my sweeties have learned a thing or two from their teacher about decorating and details...MELTS.MY.HEART!!! 

Well folks that's all I have to share with y'all from my IPhone...sorry about the quality....I know it isn't ideal! 

Wishin' y'all a Happy New Year! Looking forward to posting in 2013!

Christmas

Wishin’ y’all a …

Can't STUFF This!!!

A Quick Thanksgiving Share:

Here's a little of what we've been workin' on for this year’s Thanksgiving season.

First off a throwback to the 90’s with some M.C. Hammer remix…with “You Can’t STUFF THIS”! Hahaha

I have to admit there is a video out there of me bustin’ some moves with my adorable lil' FIRTIES!!! 

Ok, so now on to my picture share...

I will post later in detail about our craftivities

Wishin' y'all a HAPPY THANKSGIVING and many blessings!