Yet Another Resolution Linky Party!

With the new year quickly approaching, I decided it was time to create yet another resolution.  This time the resolution will fall into the fitness area of life.  I am linking up with Mrs. Wills Kindergarten for this one.

So here it goes...

Before I had my wonderful son two years ago, I was super into walking.  I don't just mean a walk around the block or power walk through the mall, but I mean put on the headphones and hustle for an hour at a time.  I was doing this pretty much every day and I cannot even begin to tell you how wonderful I felt.  It was the first time that I was sticking to the weight I wanted to be at and I was managing my stress levels really well.  Nothing beats a stressful day like a good walk! :)  With that said, I really want to get back in that groove again.  Don't get me wrong, I get plenty of exercise chasing around a two year old, but that is part of being a mom.  I want to do this walk part because it is something for me.  To kind of reclaim a bit of "me" back since I don't come first anymore.


~Erin

New Year Linky Party!

Jen over at The Teacher's Cauldron is having a linky party all about new year resolutions.  Seeing as I am new to this teacher blogging world, I decided this would be a wonderful opportunity to take and to really test my blogging capabilities.  :)  She is asking that we post one personal and one blog resolution.  So here I go...

Personal Resolution

* To get my house more organized and looking the way I want it!

We moved into our house two and half years ago and have done very little to make the house really ours.  The house was in great shape, which was a huge selling point since we were expecting our son in October that same year.  Now that he is here and is already 2, I really would like to see us spending a little time on making this "our" house.

Blog Resolution

* To keep this blog up and running.  I had been hesitant about starting a blog because I seem to always put more on my plate than I can handle and then stress sets in and you get the idea. 

So hop on over to The Teacher's Cauldron and see what others are resolving to do in the new year!

~Erin

Creative Juices are Flowing!

I will be honest, I have been working on school "stuff" on and off since we started our winter break.  I wanted to try to get ahead of myself a little bit before I got back into the normal routine of juggling school and family.  So as my little man was playing with all his Christmas toys and I mean ALL of his Christmas toys.  It seriously looked like a hurricane of toys had blown through our living room!  I was watching him and mentally preparing a to do list of different skills I wanted to review/focus on when we returned.  We had just started really getting into composing/decomposing numbers before break and the kids were really getting into it.  I made those baggies divided by duct tape that are floating around pinterest and the blogging world.  My kiddos loved it!  Even my ones who are a little more reluctant about math, dove right in.  Keeping that in mind, I knew I wanted to continue down this path of excitement.  I ran to Wal-mart today, picked up some inexpensive 10X13 frames, grabbed Super Mario duct tape at Target, and pulled out the ever growing supply of felt that I have.  With these wonderful pieces and the baggie inspiration, I came up with this....

I ended up making 3 of them today.  They are super quick to put together and I figured they would be super fun in a work station after some small group use.  My favorite part of this is that you can use a dry erase marker right on it!  I wrote the number under the pom poms on each side and where the tape is wrote an addition sign.  Doing a little equation writing!  I haven't decided if I want to make a recording sheet to go with or just to have the kiddos manipulate and write on it for the time being.  Thoughts?

~Erin

Holly Bloggy Gift Exchange!

I am sorry that this post is a bit delayed.  My little man thought running a fever and getting a terrible cough and runny nose on Christmas Eve was a great idea!  When I say running a fever, I mean 103.9 spike on the drive to the doctor's office!  We have since managed to get the fever under control, found out he just has a nasty cold, and it just has to run its course.  I hate seeing him so under the weather and hearing "OUCHIE" every single time he coughs or sneezes.  Anyways, to the real reason for this post...


I decided this year to participate in the Holly Bloggy Gift Exchange.  I'm new to the teacher blogger world and what better way to kick off this adventure than being part of a gift exchange with fellow bloggers.  Let me tell you, IT WAS A BLAST!  I'm already looking forward to the next one.  :) 

I had the pleasure of sharing a "few of my favorite things" with Michelle King at Miss King's Enchanted Kingdom.  Let me be honest for a second here, I wasn't entirely sure what I was going to get a fellow teacher that she wouldn't already have.  After much brainstorming, I came up with a few things that I had a feeling she would love. 

In the above picture, you will see a wooden letter K (for King) that I painted in blue, which is one of her favorite colors and accented with a green polka dotted ribbon.  I have become addicted to polka dot ribbon this year so I figured it was a nice touch.  If you haven't noticed, I LOVE owls, so I had to throw in a holiday owl decoration.  The little reindeer bag is filled with flat stones, which I use for sounding out words.  Best things EVER!!!

I, unfortunately, did not take a picture of the wonderful gifts that I received from Tamera Wilson at My Heart Belongs in First Grade.  She sent me an owl cup, some delicious peppermint white chocolate, a Christmas cd, some super comfy socks, and my kiddos favorite part,
                                                       
Make sure to check out these two wonderful girls' blogs.  They have some super awesome ideas!

Thanks for reading through this long post,
Erin

Happy Holidays!

I just wanted to take a quick minute to wish everyone, "Happy Holidays!"  I hope that you enjoy your time with family and friends.  Also that you get some time to relax, seeing as we all need some of that!

Measuring-Gingerbread Style!

Sorry it has been some time since my last posting.  I finally caught the flu bug that was going around my classroom!  AAAAHHHHH!  I have found myself playing catch up ever since.  I absolutely hate being sick!  

Anyways, we have been working on some wonderful gingerbread themed activities the past couple of weeks.  My kiddos are having a blast with these adorable little guys.  I have found great activities for this theme and have been using bits and pieces of what I have purchased or collected over the past year.  I love how it is all working together thus far.  However, I did run into a small bump in the road with math.  My kids have just begun exploring the concept of measuring with nonstandard units.  I began with the good old build the cube train to see how long an object is.  Well I wanted to let them continue to practice this in an independent workstation so I put together a little gingerbread measuring activity.  The kids are eating it up!  They look forward to that workstation and are so quiet and productive.  It is so fun watching them!

Here's a peek at what the activity looks like!