Must Have Picture Books Linky

Four posts in four days now!  I just have too much I want to share!  Am I the only one that gets REALLY excited when they see a linky party?  Maybe it's just because I'm a newbie, I don't know.  Once I see one, I have to stop what I'm doing and get started on joining in!

I found this link over at First Grade Blues Skies, and The Teacher Wife is the one hosting!

Ok, so what are 5 of my favorite picture books?

Miss Brooks Loves Books! (and I don't) is a super cute book!  It's about a librarian who shares her love and excitement for books.  And the little girl struggles with finding the right kind of book that gets her excited about reading.  I usually read this at the beginning of the year!

I love Kevin Henkes books!  I'm sure many of you know about Wemberly Worried.  It's about a mouse who is worried about EVERYTHING!  This is also a great book for the beginning of the year!

The Giving Tree is always a favorite.  I usually do a big unit/author study with Shel Silverstein.

I usually read The Gardener when teaching about Inferring.  It's a story about a girl who goes to live with her uncle who never smiles.  The girl creates a surprise for him at the end of the story.

The Story of Ferdinand.  I never actually read this story until I saw it in the movie "The Blind Side" (GREAT move, right?)  Then my hubby bought it for me to read to my class.  I love this book!

Want to share your top 5 must have picture books?  Link up with The Teacher Wife!  Or just head over there to check out everyone's favorites!

ALSO... I really wanted to have something cool to share for 4th Grade Frolics' Monday Made It, but nothing share-worthy yet.  Maybe next week?  Either way, go over there to check out all the cool projects everyone's been working on!

Summer Shopping

I know, I know,  three posts in three days..... can you say obsessed?!  I find myself working on school stuff and blog stalking ALL day!  I just can't help but share some things I recently bought.  I've seen some Summer Finds linky parties going around but now I can't find any that are still open, so oh well, I want to share anyway!

I went to Michaels last night, wanting to pick up ONE item and of course I came home with two bags full!  Isn't that how it always goes!?  Look at all the goodies I got!

Some of the stuff was really cheap, too!  AND teachers get 15% off!  Did you know that?  I'm sure you all did!  Here's some close ups of the items and what I intend to use them for!

Border...duh! I have a lot of green in my room!

Book displays for our classroom library!

Maybe to print my Meet the Teacher letter on?

For the 100th day of school... only $1!

A crown to wear during guided reading groups so other
students don't bug interrupt me and our group!

Foam stick-on letters!  Love!  I've already been going crazy with these!

Frames for students to decorate on the first day of school!

Glow bracelets!  Maybe for Valentine's Day again (Pinterest idea) or
something else.  Not sure yet, there are 15 in each tube, $1 each!

Ribbon, for anything!

My first glue gun! I know that's probably a teacher
sin that I don't already have one!

Cute chalkboard - to leave notes or where our
class is when not in the room, I don't know yet!

How freaking ADORABLE are these?  Hopefully these
signs will inspire my students to imagine, dream, and create!

I can't really get into my classroom yet because my room is getting new carpet (yay!), but I'm really excited to get back in there and start putting my room together!  I'll probably regret saying that though when school starts and I'm begging for it to be Summer again!  I better start really enjoying Summer!

Birthday Bags

So... I was going to post about this yesterday but then Mr. B decided to have a cool linky party that I just had to be a part of, so I'm posting about Birthdays today!

Since I have always taught first grade, I know it's important to make somewhat of a big deal about student birthdays.  But I also don't want it to become a huge ordeal and distraction!  I just know that when you're six and seven, birthdays are a pretty big deal!

I've always made birthday bags for student birthdays, but this year, I'm making them a little differently.  Here's what they look like so far:

items inside

The bag includes:

1. "It's my birthday!" sticker to wear for the day

2. Eraser

3. Bouncy ball

4. "Happy Birthday" pencil

5. Birthday stickers

6. Three small suckers

7. A spinning top

The white bags were donated by a parent last year and I purchased most of the goodies inside at the dollar store.  I got the green ribbon from Michaels.  My frugal self cut the ribbon down the middle to make it thinner and save on ribbon.

I will also be attaching the Happy Birthday label below, but I'm waiting to get my students' names in August so I can personalize them!

I have birthday crowns that I give to the birthday student.  They're from Carson-Dellosa and they look like this:

I eat lunch with each student and a friend of their choice on their birthday.

I also want to do something new this year and put something special on their seats the day of their birthday.  This is my inspiration from Mrs. Bond's Fantastic First Grade:

Source

I'm still working on the chair cover, we'll see how it turns out!

Well, now that I wrote out everything I do for student birthdays, it does seem like a lot!  Oh well!  I know there are a lot of great student birthday ideas out there, I've seen a lot on Pinterest!

If you want the Happy Birthday labels I'll be attaching to the birthday bags, I can send them to you... BUT you have to do me a favor!  Follow my blog, then write a comment below and be sure to include your email address.  I'm email them right to you!  Simple enough, right?

Inky Linky Party

Yay! This is the first linky party I am participating in, and.... it's not a traditional one!  Mr. B at Mr. B's Beach Brains is hosting a linky party that asks you to share any tattoos that you may have as a teacher.  I love this idea because it is summer after all, and we don't have to have school on the brain EVERY day!  Here are his rules:

1. Please use good judgement when posting pictures of your tattoo.  If it's in a place where we have no business looking at it, then please don't.  If it contains profanity or other vulgarities, please do not post it.

2. Please DO share your pic and story as to why you got it and what it symbolizes.

I have one tattoo.  It's a butterfly on my hip, it's not in an inappropriate place but I guess it could be questionable to some so I'm not going to take a picture.  It's small, and has blue and white in it. My story is not anything special.  I got my tattoo when I was 20 and in college.  I really wanted one and I loved butterflies so I went for it!  I don't regret it at all.  It actually probably means more to me now.  My husband and I got married last September (so excited for our 1 year anniversary coming up!) at a place in St. Louis called the Butterfly House.  Butterflies were a big thing in our wedding.  Below is a picture of one of our centerpieces.

see the butterfly?

I do want to get another tattoo, it's actually on my Summer Bucket List, so we'll see!

I do have to twist the rules a little and share someone else's tattoo... my husband's!  He's not a teacher but he got a tattoo last month and I have to share!  He NEVER wears his wedding ring.  He's not a jewelry kinda guy and once he got home, he would take it right off.  He would always forget it when we went to dinner.  I joked with him about people thinking we were having an affair because I always wore my ring and he would never wear his!  Anyway, he decided to get a ring tattoo so we don't have to worry about him never wearing his actual ring.  Here it is!

I'm excited to read about all the other teacher tattoos over at Mr. B's!

Find Someone Who Activity

Here's a great activity that you may have heard of... Find Someone Who!  It's a great activity to do with your students at the beginning of the school year.  Last year, I did this with my class on the first day of school.  It gets the kids up and talking to other students in the class.  It's especially great for students that are kind of shy and kids who are new in the class.  For those that may not know what a Find Someone Who activity is, it's where students have to find another student who fits each description on their FSW page.

Click here to download!

I'm still kind of new to uploading documents and such, so hopefully I'm doing it right!  If you try to download the document and can't, let me know!  I can always send it via email too!