Back to Work & Read Across America Day

Happy Sunday folks!  Lindsay here . . .

I know some of you probably just fell out of your chairs.  Lindsay? Blogging?  It can't possibly be!!

But it's true.  I'm baaaaaaaaaack!

After taking a long teaching (and, apparently, blogging) hiatus after Baby Charlie was born back in November, I returned to work just in time for the 100th Day of School AND Valentine's Day all in one week.  It was pure craziness and sugar.

Here are some shots of my first week back:

One of my favorite 100th Day centers - 100th Day Gumball machines!!

 
Idea courtesy of A Cupcake For The Teacher . . .

 
Then we used Kerri's fabulous 100 Days of Fun packet and did all sorts of activities . . . like writing our numbers to 100!!  Yes, I had some students who were SO SURE they would never survive physically writing all of those numbers . . . but of course they did and it was fabulous!  They were SO, SO proud of themselves!!

 
For Valentine's Day we made "I love you to pieces" pictures for the kiddos' parents.  Painting + gluing puzzle pieces = fun in Kindergartenland.  (Hot gluing 300 popsicle sticks does NOT = fun for poor Mr. Messyhair at home!  Thanks babe for all your help!!)

 
We even did special Valentine's themed sticker stories in our journals!  My kidlets thought their little valentine pooches were just so funny!

 
And one of my sweet (and oh-so-talented) moms made me this delicious Welcome Back cake to enjoy with my lil kidlets!  (Yes, she made all of those little pieces with fondant!)

 

 

This week our district has Ski Week (really a week off for President's Day) so I am trying to get organized for all of the fun stuff that is coming up in March . . .

 

One of my favorite celebrations of the year is Read Across America Day, which in my classroom really gets turned into a weeklong celebration of all things literary and Seussical!! 

 

You can check out my whole Read Across America unit in my TPT store (just click the image below):

 

 
Your kiddos will love celebrating ready and Dr. Seuss with activities such as:

*Read Across America ABC order
*Real vs. Nonsenssical Words (CVC word practice)
*Rhyme Time (identifying and recording rhyming pairs using literature)
*Cats in Top Hats Sentence Scramble
*Write the Room: Read Across American Edition
*Read Across America: Write, Cut & Glue
*Favorite Nonsenssical Book writing paper

 

 

 

In addition, I am sharing my Dr. Seuss favorite book graph FREEBIE for y'all to enjoy!!

 

Well, that's about it for now!  I'm off to go spend some time with my crazy boys . . . Being back at work always makes our Sunday afternoons together seem so much more precious!

 

Hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend too! 

Lindsay

Nonsenssical Goodness With Dr. Seuss

Howdy folks! Lindsay here . . .


Well, as Kerri mentioned before, we are on a weeklong break from school here - our "Ski Week" as they call it.


(For the record, I have never actually gone skiing during Ski Week break. Or any other time in fact. Quite honestly, they should call this break "Sleep-in-and-eat-too-many-Girl-Scout-cookies Week" . . . but I guess it doesn't have quite the same ring to it.)


But I digress.


In between boxes of Thin Mints I actually have been finding SOME time to be productive here at home. (Thank you Baby Jack for those nice long naps this weekend!)


In preparing for Dr. Seuss's birthday next week and Read Across America Day I created a new TPT pack called Read Across America {Celebrating with books, birthdays and bunches of fun}. Check it out . . . 

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”

Truer words were never spoken – and that is exactly why every year on Dr. Seuss’s birthday we celebrate Read Across America Day! Help your students celebrate reading this year with books, birthdays and bunches of fun! This pack includes many “nonsenssical” and fun activities, such as:

*Read Across America ABC order
*Real vs. Nonsenssical Words (CVC word practice)
*Rhyme Time (identifying and recording rhyming pairs using literature)
*Cats in Top Hats Sentence Scramble
*Write the Room: Read Across American Edition
*Read Across America: Write, Cut & Glue
*Favorite Nonsenssical Book writing paper

Your kids will fall in love with reading and their favorite silly and “nonsenssical” author all over again! Get your Celebrating Read Across America pack today!


(Sidenote: Yes, I did invent the word "nonsenssical", but isn't just perfectly perfect for Dr. Seuss? I thought so.)

Also in the spirit of all things Seuss-related, I am relinking my Dr. Seuss Favorite Book Graph from last year that is no longer up on TPT. (Click on the reading kiddos below to find it on Google Docs.)

Well that's about it for now! I am off to grade some papers and catch up on The Bachelor (I am WAAAAY behind!) with a glass of wine.

That's right. Living it up Ski Week-style! :)

Have a great night folks!

Lindsay

P.S. Okay . . . feeling like y'all might have the impression that I really am just eating Girl Scout cookies all vacation long! Here's what I'm spending MOST of my day doing!! Yes, kissing those cheekers . . . or chasing Jack around trying to wipe his nose, put his clothes back on, take away sharp objects, etc. You get the idea. :)



Okay. Goodnight for real this time! :)

Dr. Seuss FREEBIES, George Art, and Thank you!!

Happy Thursday, Peeps!! Kerri here...


First off, a big GINORMOUS THANK YOU to all of you who purchased something from Lindsay or I during yesterday's MEGA TPT sale! Was it AMAZING or what?? I bought a few goodies myself and I can't wait to use them!


Dr. Suess Day...is that REALLY tomorrow?? I feel a little behind the times since I was off last week. For goodness sake, I am still teaching about George Washington this week! I know, I know! But, with one week gone in February due to my break, what's a girl to do?? Here is our direct draw art for good ole GW, which we will be gluing next to Abe Lincoln for our First Grade Adventure books. 
He came out pretty funny...

This one is my FAVE! He is squashed!

I know, it looks like he is wearing SUSPENDERS!! Those were SUPPOSED to be his General uniform stripes (Whatever...) but they totally look like darn suspenders! Sigh...


I have also made an executive decision that Dr. Seuss week will trickle into next week because there is just too much good fun that is funny that I need to do! Today, in reading groups, I had my kidlets partner read different Dr. Seuss books that I have multiple copies of (Cat in the Hat, Hop on Pop, Green Eggs and Ham, There's a Wocket in my Pocket) that are also at their reading level more or less, and then go on a rhyme hunt through the book. They LOVED it big time. Here is a copy of the paper if you would like to spread the rhyming goodness in your classroom...click below.

I saw this ADORBS idea on Michelle Oakes' blog Fabulous in First (LOVE IT!), so I thought I would make them for my daughter's class and for my own class as well. Edible truffula trees!! Oh, such cuteness!!
 MY kiddos have to take the STAR reading test again tomorrow (GAG!) which they DETEST taking, so I thought a little bribe would help them through their misery!

Modeling shot courtesy of Miss Katie B!

I also uploaded a pretty fun FREEBIE to TPT this morning- a Cat in a Hat Sentence Scramble with recording sheets as a HUGE thank you for all of your support of our blog and TPT stores! You can click below to go get your copy from my store...

You can also pick up this little number while you're there! My kids did this one today in centers and they love love loved it!

Hope your Friday is wicked awesome and you all can enjoy your weekend!!
XOXO Kerri

Dr. Seuss Graph Freebie and TPT Store Opening!

Hey there my bloggerific peeps!  Lindsay here . . .

As Kerri mentioned earlier, our district gets this WHOLE week off from school.  Sounds nice, right?  Well, I have come to discover that that are quite a few things that can take the joy right out of a week off from work . . . like getting sick perhaps.  Or a teething baby. Or maybe a funeral. Or online traffic school.  Ooooh, or if you are REALLY lucky like me, maybe you will get all that in one week.  Don't be jealous people. Don't be jealous. ;)

Okay, I really didn't get on here to tell you about my pathetically non-relaxing vacation week.  I DID come here to tell you that I love Dr. Seuss.  Like SO much.  In fact, this week I have planning and preparing for Read Across America and Dr. Seuss's birthday next week, and I kept coming across these GREAT quotes from all of his books that I just had to share . . . So, may I present the Top 11 Dr. Seuss Quotes of ALL TIME!!  (There were just too many to only do a Top 10.)

Drumroll please . . .

11. And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.  

10.  I meant what I said, and I said what I meant. An elepahnt's faithful, one hundred percent. 

9. From there to here, from here to there. Funny things are everywhere.

8. A person's a person, no matter how small.

7. Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not.

6. Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one.

5. You're off to Great Places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting, so . . . get on your way!

4. You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose.

3. Today you are you. That is truer than true. There is no one alive who is youer than you.

2. The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go!

1. Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the think you can think up if only you try!

Yep, he was a pretty amazing guy.  I plan to celebrate him all next week with my kidlets with some fun activities, centers, etc. AND most of all by enjoying as many of his books as we can possibly squeeze into one week! 

At the end of the week, we will be tallying up our class's favorite Dr. Seuss book.  I have posted a Dr. Seuss Graph freebie for you to download at Teachers Pay Teachers.  (Click the image below to access this freebie.)

Be sure to keep your eyes open . . . there will be more to come soon in my brand-new TPT store!

Well, I am off to bed, seeing as how I will be up at 5:00 a.m. with my precious little teething munchkin.  Tootles!

Lindsay