Wahoo!!!!....40 "1st Grade Rocks" Followers... and Counting:) **FREEBIE**

Yay!!! A shout out goes to Krista @ The Second Grade Superkids for being my "40 and Fabulous" Follower:!!!) Go check out her truly ADORABLE Blog!!! I can't wait to see who my "50 and Fantastic" Follower will be...and then, on and on, and on.....ahhhhh....can you tell that I'm excited???  Here's a **FREEBIE** to celebrate!!!!

Winter Weather Words Bank

Winter Weather Words Task Card

Winter Weather Words Product Sheet

Okay....back to blogging;)  We got to celebrate our journal writing by decorating our "Top Secret Personal BEESWAX" Journals today with more stickers.  The kids love these celebration days and it helps keep them motivated to continue with their wonderful writing!!!  Here is some pics of what a couple of them look like....so PROUD of my "Firsties" writing!!! They are getting there!

Also today, we got to watch the webcast in which Tim Tebow helped Pizza Hut and the Book It Program to motivate children to read:) He read Green Eggs And Ham by Dr. Seuss...so good and the "Firsties" LOVED it!!!

Here is the link.... if you want to try it out:)

All in all, it was a pretty good day!!! Got some things done....even though it was an Early Release Day!  I'm still trying to get over my cold...so I was thankful for half-a-day....even though I'll be making up some PD later on this Spring:(  Oh well, feeling a little better tonight after I made my yummy vegetable soup!!! I'll be posting the recipe on My "OLB" Blog soon...., so check it out when you can:)

Hope that everyone had a Wonderful Wednesday!!!!

A Little "Award" Tagging and Valentine's Day Surviving....

Honored, Excited, Elated, Ecstatic, Happy....you get the idea:)  Considering I've been slowly getting more followers to my humble little 1st grade blog....1st GRADE ROCKS, I can honestly say that the words listed above truly described my emotions when I received my 1st "Liebster Blog Award" from Jen at  Hooked on Teaching a couple of months ago!!!  Needless to say, yesterday, when I received the "Liebster Blog Award" again from 

Amy @

  The Crazy Adventures of a University Grad

 and Trish @ 

First Grade Frosting,

 I was Exuberant!!!!! 

Here is my AWESOME Award!!! X's 3!!!!!:)

I am posting the rules for the "Liebster Blog Award" and I hope that the blogs that I will be nominating will feel the same Excitement about being awarded as I did!!!

The "Liebster Blog Award" is for bloggers with fewer than 200 followers. 

Here's the award rules:

Thank the award presenter and post a link back to their blog.....CHECK!

Put the award on your blog.....CHECK!

Pick 5 blogs with less than 200 followers, let them know about the award, and encourage them to pass the award on!....CHECK!

Now....onto my 5 Blog pics:)

Jessica @ Glitzy In First Grade

Today In First Grade

The Bubblegum Tree

Littlest Scholars

Michele @ New Adventures in First Grade

These are AWESOME blogs that you really need to go and check out!!!!

Now, onto a little VALENTINE DAY pics:)  Even though I pretty much have NO voice due to a NASTY cold that had me out last Friday....(and I'm STILL sick with:( )....we had a pretty great day!!! 

PS....I started my day at 5 AM baking these beauties.....

We used them to decorate our very own Valentine Cupcakes during a math activity :) I have to say that my handy, dandy, cute as a bug in a rug cupcake carrier which my Honey "Valentine" bought me last year was a BIG  HUGE hit!!!

Here are a few ways that we celebrated....

We did the Morning Calendar using the smart board and thinking of ways that we could make our Growing Number Day of 110!!!! Here's a pic of their thinking....

Here are a couple of pics of our Interactive Writing Lesson summarizing the book The Day It Rained Hearts.

This is a pic from a Word Study Literacy Station activity that I posted last week!!! Reading the Room with Valentine glasses! They LOVE this for some reason...??? "Firsties":) 

Here are some pics of our cupcake decorating....

I hope that your Valentine's Day was VICTORIOUS....just think, we don't have to worry about it again for another 364 more days:)  I {Puffy HEART} this fact!!!

"Several....What I'm Loving Wednesday's"

So TRUE!!!!! You just DON'T know!!!!!!

Found this jewel for my Dad:)  He'll LOVE it....one of his brother's BIG hits:)

"HAT Day" and sweet friends at school:)

Don't forget to Link Up to Little Daisy May!!!!

What are you loving????

"Love" Linky Party & Valentine's FREEBIE!!

Happy Sunday y'all!!!!  What a "SUPER" day!!! Haha...go Giants!!!!

Okay...so I am joining Funky First Grade Fun's Linky Party!!!

Here is a list of what I LOVE!!!!

 Why don't you consider linking up so we can all read about what you love!  You can either use the document below and add your responses or just type your answers into your own post. 

Can't wait to hear about what you "LOVE"!!!

Don't forget to link up!!! 

In addition, here is a Valentine's Day Center Packet that I am placing in my TpT store as a "FREEBIE"!!!! It has several Word Study activities and some Writing activities!!! Enjoy:)

Come check it out here...TpT!!!

I've Been Cliparting.....:)

 So MUCH FUN!!!!! I'm having a great time learning and being creative:) Check out my clipart in the making.... 

My FAVE!!!

Shy one!

Yummy!

Fast Delivery!

Fave with more color:)

I'm just learning, but it is SO much fun:)  I hope that you find use for these free graphics:) Feel free to use them for your classroom needs!!! Happy Valentine's Day......Enjoy Blogger friends!!!!

Groundhog's Day With the "Firsties"....

So, I survived another Groundhog's Day!!! I have to admit.....I do like this day:)  I like keeping up with "Punxsutawney Phil" every year!!! I got up early to watch it on the news....then once I got to school, I pulled it up to show the Firsties!!! Go HERE to check it out!

We did some Groundhog activities today....a BIG shout out goes to Christie at First Grade Fever for this adorable Groundhog's Day book that my kids REALLY loved today:)  .....GREAT review on our daily timeline also:) 

Then, we read an adorable Groundhog's Day book, Wake Up, Groundhog!!!

They REALLY liked this book!!! So cute:)

We also made use of an old Groundhog Puppet Pattern from a Teacher Created Book that I've had for years....except, this year, I wanted to do something different with it, so I used a NEW, handy little app that I purchased for my iPhone called Turbo Scan!!!  I LOVE this app....used it many times just this week!!!  Once I scanned the Groundhog Pattern, I was able to add Math Facts to it for a more "productive" tool besides working on fine motor skills with coloring and cutting:)  ***Disclaimer...I am not circulating this document...I just used it for my own class!!!  I also made a Math Mat Working Table to go along with it so that my Firsties could show their work.....it also joined the two pieces of the Groundhog Puppet together:)  They looked a little like this.....

Then.....we read another REALLY cute book.....I like that it brought in a little bit of TEXAS with the Armadillo:) The book is titled....Substitute Groundhog!

We played some fun online Groundhog Games that a fabulous blog called Technology Rocks. Seriously. blogged about:)  Thanks for that!!!

We also did a cute writing activity with a template pattern and writing prediction page from First Grade Blue Skies!!!!  Thanks for the great ideas and activities!!!

and a little closer look....

Okay....sorry for the length of this post....but to end it....DON'T laugh my little "crafty" blogger, clipart guru's!!!  I'm learning...OKAY?????  Here is my 1st little product....not much to look at, but I think he's cute:)

Mr. Groundhog by 1stgraderocks.blogspot.com!!!

Leave me a comment if you can.....I would love to hear how your Groundhog Day went!!!

100 days....and counting:) Plus a **FREEBIE**

Here is our 100th Day Door Hanger, which was inspired by a Pinterest Pin of mine:) I thought is was funny that the older kids at our school thought that this was neat!!  They LOVED it:)

Here is another activity that was made possible by a Pinterest Pin!!

I LOVE the creativity that my "Firsties" displayed:) 

Here is a sampling of our 100th Day SNACK Celebration......I had them count 5 groups of 20's and they were AMAZED to see that it equalled 100:)  LIGHT BULBS!!!!  They LOVED it:)

....AND....just to end this post, we took a Field Trip to Junie B. Jones, the Musical from Theatreworks USA last week and it was WOWIE, WOW, WOW!!!!  Here are some writing samples that my "Firsties"did before we left:)

I am sharing the coloring sheet that you can find HERE and my writing journal page HERE which was made possible with the graphic from Random House!!! Enjoy:)

Doin' the "TAG" Swag:).....

I'm super excited to be Doin' the "TAG" Swag.....thanks to Tammy over at First Grade at Klinger Cafe'!!

Now I get to post the rules, follow the guidelines and pass it on to 12 other lucky bloggers! So on with the FUN!

Rules:

1.      You must post the rules.

2. Post 12 fun facts about yourself on the blog post.

3. Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post, and then create 12 new questions for the people you tagged.

4. Tag 12 people and link them on your post.

5. Let them know you've tagged them! 

12 Fun Facts About Me:

1. I am one of four sisters:)

2. I love to cook.....it's a PASSION!!! 

3. My 3 favorite channels are Fox News, Food Network and Bravo!

4. I am a NIKON amateur photographer that loves to edit my pics as much as take them!

5. I love my 1st Grade Team!!!

6. I am OBSESSED with Chocolate and always have been:)

7. My favorite "girlie" place to go is NYC!!! Love it:)

8. This past summer on our cruise, the chef gave me a lesson on making Chocolate Melting Cake:) 

 So fun!!!

9. I am a mother of daughters:)  Two to be exact!

10. I'm a Foodie...for sure!

11. I text more that I talk on the phone!

12. I love teaching!!!

Klinger Cafe's Questions for me:

How long have you been teaching? 10 years

What was your first teaching job? My 1st teaching job was an Accelerated Reader position with Kindergarten.

What made you decide to become a teacher? I wanted to be a teacher since I was in the 1st grade!!! I LOVED my 1st grade teacher, Mrs. Palmer!!! She was my inspiration:)

Do you have a teaching “idol?” Yes, Cay McAninch...I student taught for her and she is/was INCREDIBLE!!!
What is your favorite thing to do in the summer? The freedom to do whatever I want to do:)

Do you get a spring break if so when? Yes, March 10th-8th:)

Do you have extra duties besides teaching that are non paid? Serving on a district planning team. I also am the GT Coordinator at our campus...but I do get a stipend for that.

Who is the “go to” person at your school? Without a doubt, our SECRETARY!!!

What is your greatest dream in the world of teaching? That EVERY DAY I can touch someone's heart and mind to continue in their journey to read and write!!! Writing success is HUGE to me:)

What snack gets you through “those days?” CHOCOLATE!!!!

What would you be doing if you didn’t teach? Probably either be an author, a chef or a photographer.  Those are my three passions besides teaching!!!

Would we be friends if we taught together, why or why not? Yes, for sure!!! I play nice with everyone:) That's just the way I roll!!!

Here are my 12 questions:

Were you excited to be tagged?

What are you doing right now while trying to write this post??? 

What subject do you feel like you ROCK at teaching and why???

What grades have you taught?

Who is the person that you go to for help when you need support at school?

Do you have a lot of after school meetings?

What do you do for reading interventions?

What is your favorite blog post? 

Do you like comments on your blog posts?

Are you a coffee person?

What is your favorite show to watch on television?

What great book have your read lately?

The 12 I am tagging!!!!

A Cupcake for the Teacher

Technology Rocks. Seriously.

Cupcakes and Candy Canes

Oh Boy 4th Grade

Step Into 2nd Grade

Today in 1st Grade

Beg Borrow Steal

A Special Kind of Class

The Polka Dot Patch

Swamp Frog 1st Graders

Dragonflies in 1st

Pencils, Glue & Tying Shoes

SO.....do the "TAG" Swag with me:)  You've been TAGGED!!!!!