Up Up Up and Away

Today was an exciting day for my first graders! A. Few weeks ago we received our caterpillars

They grew larger and larger as we eagerly waited for them to inch their way up the cup to form their chrysalis and finally all five made it!

One day during our Read Aloud time, one of the butterflies pushed out of the chrysalis...right before our eyes! It was amazing. Unfortunately I was too excited and forgot to grab my Ipad and take a picture, but I'm sure the kids will remember the birth of butterfly number one. They chose the name, Baby Cake Pop. Baby McKenna, Joe, Burrito and Baby James were to follow. Baby James had a broken wing, but we loved him just as much (Just as GOD loves all his children no matter how "imperfect"...great lesson to insert there!)

After watching them fly around and drink their sugar water, it was time to set them free...and TODAY was that day! We made butterfly crowns and butterfly wings to celebrate.

Then off we marched to the back playground to set them free. It was exciting to see them take flight out of their habitat. We even got to follow a few around.

I would definitely recommend purchasing the Live Butterfly Garden. It is an exciting way to watch nature happen at your fingertips...literally :)

Hall Bulletin Board

This post isn't specific to my actual classroom but I thought I would post about it anyway. Every year each of the teachers are assigned to do the main hallway bulletin board. Somewhere I have pictures of the previous boards I did, just can't locate them, so I will share this years...September. Of course I got the idea off of Pinterest (book and butterflies from Kale) and just tweaked and added. Here is the whole board:

I had Staples print out a picture of an open book and then I cut it out. I sketched butterflies onto scrapbook paper and used edged scissors to cut them out. There are two taped together with the top one folded up a bit to give it dimension.

I wrote the names of all my students under a butterfly.

Lastly I just came up with a saying (that has probably been said by a million people), traced letter cutouts onto scrapbook paper and cut them out.

I got this idea from hand-made.au or something like that from a Google search.

Mr. Special Sound Muncher

This week we met a new friend...Mr. Special Sound Muncher.

He is in our classroom to help us learn our Special Sounds.

We use the Abeka curriculum and have several charts full of "special sounds". A.K.A...words that refuse to follow the rules of "One vowel words say their short sound and when there are two vowels, the first one does the talking and the second one does the walking (SILENTLY)." So glad I was born speaking English, I hear it is pretty tough learning as a second language. :) Well today my kids got to feed Mr. Special Sound Muncher! "He" sent home a note last night with the special sound he was hungry for..ck in duck. They are able to bring in pictures they draw or find or words they write or find that use that special sound. This morning they excitedly fished in their backpacks for their meal and fed it to him.

Mr. Special Sound Muncher was definitely full!

This Years Decor!

I finally get to share with you my classroom for this year. My theme was...school. Imagine that! Actually it is suppose to be Old/Vintage School Style. The neat part about this room is that it was converted over from what looks like an utility room that was made into a weight room. Here are the before pictures (after everything was cleared out):

Pretty uninspiring :) Here is what we made it into: Our "one room" school house

My one bulletin board (that's all I have room for). My father-in-law made it for me with palette wood.

Our First grade banner. I did a rough copy of a special lady's HOME banner (thank you Sis Lauren).

My chalkboard wall constructed to hide the air conditioning unit. Thank you Tim, Dakota and Bro Zach. I love it because we have our Calendar center there. Yep...I drew the pig. :)

Birthday/ Class Rules/ Reading Area. I don't have a picture, but that electrical box now has a black curtain over it. I hang their artwork on it. FUNNY STORY...a couple men came in to fix some of the gym lights. First off they couldn't find the light switch because I have it hidden behind the flowers in my flower box by the door, THEN they had to follow the pipes in the ceiling to find the electrical box. Oh well, what a woman and teacher won't do to bring a little beauty into a room. :)

Finally, my desk and filing area. I was lucky to have a little alcove to tuck everything into. The ice machine had to stay but it holds my cursive and job chart well. I do have to squeeze between the ice machine and chalkboard wall on the left to turn the air on and off...BUT I am so happy to have my own temperature control :).

More Classroom Themes

Well I'm trying again to upload my previous years classroom decor pictures. Thankfully it seems a lot easier to come up with ideas and decorate than it seems to load the pictures to this blog! Year Two: Come one come all te the greatest first grade of all! Circus Theme

Year Three: What's Cooking in First Grade

Decor Through the Years

Well look at me...two blogs! One for me to share my home, family and personal entries and now this one to share ALL my first grade creations and activities. I want to start by sharing my classroom decor from the past three years. This year won't be done until next month. Creating your classroom is so exciting! It's like getting a new house every year that you can decorate anyway you want. I love searching online for new and exciting ideas. Sometimes I think my mind has me more creative than what my body actually is...but I do try. I will start with my first year of teaching. The theme idea was actually from the teacher who I was taking over for. Then between my good friend (Sis. Pace) and I we made it come to life. Welcome to Candy Land!

I'm having trouble uploading my other pictures...aargh...stay tuned for year 2: Circus and Year 3: Cooking.