Teaching First: January 2012

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Tag! You're It!

I've been Tagged by Miss Holly over at Criss Cross Applesauce! Man, these short legs of mine just couldn't run fast enough to get away! Holly is a cutie-patutie that I've known since she first started blogging and I just love her to pieces! If you haven't checked out her blog, you must! She's a keeper!!

So, here are the rules that were sent to me:
1. You must post the rules.
2. Post 12 fun facts about yourself on the blog post.
3. Answer the questions the "Tagger" sent you in their post, then create 12 new questions for the people you tag.
4. Tag 12 people and link them on your post.
5. Let them know they've been tagged!

12 Fun Facts:
1. Stupid Human Trick: I can drink a glass of water, (and yes, even milk) through my nose!
2. I have auburn hair and I color it blonde. I keep thinking about going back to auburn...but dang that gray hair!

Then..... Now....

3. I usually have the local KSL news station on in the car.
4. I love Silpada jewelry.

5. I love dogs, big and small.
6. I love jeans with holes in the knees and wearing my hair in a ponytail under a baseball hat.
7. I am a HUGE Pittsburg Steelers fan!! Go Steeler Nation!!

8. I struggle with organization. My favorite way to organize is to throw it away or give it away.
9. My favorite perfume is Sarah Jessica Parker's "Lovely".

10. I live 2200 miles away from my nearest family members and hate that!

11. I am the "Favorite Aunt" and wear my title proudly!
12. I love thin crust pepperoni and pineapple pizza cut in squares (Chicago Style!) but since I'm avoiding eating wheat, I haven't had it in awhile.

Answer 12 Questions:
1. What is your favorite candy? KitKat bars smeared or dipped in peanut butter.
2. What is something you are really uptight about? People being negative...people judging others
3. Is your car clean this very minute? Yes! I even took it through the car wash again this week.
4. What's your favorite household chore? Hmmm...none of them! ha ha! I don't like doing laundry, vacuuming or dusting...maybe it is washing dishes! I have a dishwasher but I prefer to wash the dishes by hand.
5. Do you miss Oprah? Not really. I'm hooked on Ellen! ;)
6. Do you play an instrument? Yes, the flute, piccolo, a little piano and violin
7. What's your favorite piece of technology? My new iPhone I finally broke down and bought this month. Don't know why I waited so long!
8. Do you have a social life? Umm, sure! I hang with my teacher friends and with my pet dogs! Ok, so no. Not much of one! ha ha!
9. Are you a phone talker? Sort of. Not much though, as AT&T told me I could cut my minutes down to 400 and still not go over! ha ha!
10. Do you text? Yeppers! ;)
11. What's your favorite piece of furniture in your house? My bed. It rocks! Super comfy!
12. Does anything make you squeamish? Yes, snakes, blood, vomit, spit noises and anything coming out of a nose.

Tag Twelve People:
1. Barbara - Grade Wonderful
2. Jennifer - Herding Kats In Kindergarten
3. Kristy - Teachin' First
4. Miss S. - Just Teaching Kindergarten
5. Tammy - Klinger Cafe'
6. Rachel - Ms. Rachel's Room
7. Julia - Loving and Learning in Pre-K
8. Christina - Mrs. Bainbridge's Class
9. Staci - Going Nutty! In Miss Squirrel's First Grade
10. Jaime - What's the Buzz In First
11. Jenn - Finally In First
12. Tami - Forever In First

Here are my questions for those tagged:
1. What is your favorite t.v. show?
2. What was your favorite food as a child?
3. What is one of your favorite quotes?
4. What is your favorite season of the year?
5. If you could have any technology in your classroom, what would you ask for?
6. If you could ask a person from history about a past event who would it be and what event would it be?
7. What is your favorite dessert?
8. What is your best quality as a teacher?
9. If you had one piece of advice you could have give a new blogger what would it be?
10. What time do you usually get up for work?
11. Where would your dream vacation be?
12. What is the last book you read?

Whew! That's a lot, I know! I look forward to reading your posts!
Hugs,
Rebecca

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Freebies, 100s Day, Awards!

Wowie! I feel like it has been forever since I posted on my blog!! How is everyone?? This last week we've been doing district quarterly testing along with getting report cards ready for conferences. That pretty much has been consuming me at work. We have parent teacher conferences next week where we have to tell the parents whether or not their child is on grade level. The good thing is, all of my cuties are making great strides, and even those who came in way below grade level are catching up.

I want to give a huge THANK YOU to everyone who entered Julia's giveaway this last week! We had so many wonderful comments on her blog about what everyone does for Valentine's Day. Go check out the comments on her giveaway post if you haven't already.

I also want to thank Barbara from Grade Wonderful, for the super sweet "My Favorite Follower Award". I thought it was so sweet to be selected as someone's favorite follower! Thank you so very much, Barbara! I want to thank everyone who follows me and leaves sweet comments on my blog! But, to keep with the rules, I am passing this on to Holly at Criss Cross Applesauce, for all her support and sweet comments!

This past week was kind of C-R-A-Z-Y at work. We had our Science Fair and three of my little Firsties entered. I was so proud of them! They each ended up getting a trophy and winning 1st, 2nd and 3rd place out of all the First Graders.

We've also been doing a project in KidPix on shapes. We are making a book of shapes. Here are just a few photos of some of the project. I will have to post photos of the finished project this week.

We celebrated the 100th Day of School on Friday. Thank you to Erica Bohrer for her super cute sorting mat! My students LOVED making their mats and sorting their 100 items they brought from home.

We hopped 100 times, walked 100 steps, skip counted to 100 by 2, 5 and 10, and ate 100 scoops of ice cream! We also ate an edible 100 made from cookies! We worked on a 100's day packet where we put 100 spots on a dog, and wrote our numbers to 100. We made 100's Day hats and put 100 tally marks on the band of the hat. It was such a fun day!!

Click here for your Friday Freebie 100's Day hat topper:

Here is another Friday Freebie that I prepared for you yesterday but didn't get it posted!

This is a Valentine Money Center. If you'd like the entire money game using nickels, dimes, and quarters as well as pennies, please follow this link to purchase.

Click on the pictures below to get your freebie!

As always, if you like your freebie, I'd love to hear back from you! Please leave me a little note below!

Thanks so much!

There is Only Love,

Rebecca

Monday, January 23, 2012

Julia's 100+ Followers Giveaway!!

My friend Julia just reached 100+ followers and invited me to join in her giveaway celebration! You need to go check our her blog, Loving and Learning in Pre-K! There are some AMAZING bloggers giving away some GREAT stuff!
Here's a look at what you can win:

I am giving away this brand new packet!

Alessia from Mrs's Albanese's Kindergarten Class is giving away a wonderful Valentine's Day pack.

Jennifer from First Grade Blue Skies is giving away her oh-so-cute Seuss-tastic Literacy and Math Pack.

Erin from Creating and Teaching is giving away her phenomenal Lots of Love Valentine's Day pack.

The oh-so-sweet Cheryl from Crayons & Curls is giving the lucky winner a $10 gift certificate to TPT!

I will be giving away my Valentine's Day pack!

There are lots of awesome prizes here!! :)

Here is how you can enter:
{mandatory entry}
1. Follow all of our blogs and leave a comment on Julia's blog saying that you do.

{Additional entries}
1. Share this giveaway on Facebook, Twitter, your blog, etc. and leave a comment on Julia's blog saying that you do.
2. Tell us your favorite Valentine's Day activities to do with your kiddos and leave a comment on Julia's blog. We love new ideas! :)

Please leave us your email, too. :)

This giveaway will end on January 27th at 9pm Central time. The lucky winner will be announced on Saturday. Good luck, sweet friends!

Thanks for joining in the fun!
There is only Love,
Rebecca

Saturday, January 21, 2012

And the Winners Are....

Congratulations to our wonderful winners!! Our three lucky winners are Julia, Tricia, and Laura! Thank you to everyone for joining in celebrating my 200+ followers giveaway! Make sure you visit yesterday's post and pick up your Friday Freebie as a huge THANK YOU for your support!

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend!

Remember to choose Love,

Rebecca

Friday, January 20, 2012

Friday Freebie and Last Day of Big Giveaway!

It is the last day of our BIG GIVEAWAY and I am so excited to find out who our 3 big winners will be tomorrow! I know how busy everyone is, so I want to send out a HUGE thank you to everyone for supporting all of us by leaving your comments on our giveaway post! If you haven't had a chance to enter your comments for our giveaway, hurry and comment tonight!

I always feel badly that we can't give away our packets free to everyone! So, here is a fabulous Friday Freebie to give all of you a HUGE virtual "THANK YOU!!" for entering our giveaway! This Winter Odd and Even Numbers Center is part of my Winter Wonderland Centers for Math and Literacy. I hope you enjoy!

(Click on any of the images below to download your FREE copy!)

Happy Friday!! Stay tuned tomorrow to see our 3 wonderful winners!
There is only Love,
Rebecca

Monday, January 16, 2012

9 Packet-Give Away 200+ Followers Celebration

You all are sooo wonderful!! In celebration of reaching 200+ followers this month, I've rounded up some fabulous bloggers to help me celebrate with a huge give away!! You won't want to miss out on this one! We are giving away 9 packets to 3 lucky winners! We tried to make entering as simple as possible!

The winners will be drawn by Random Generator and posted on Saturday, January 21st!

TO ENTER:

(Please leave all comments, with your email contact information, on my blog down below.)

1st ENTRY: Follow all five of us on our blogs (see links below) and leave ONE comment below saying you follow all five of us.

2nd ENTRY: Follow all five of our TpT or Notebook Stores and leave ONE comment below saying you follow all five of us.

BONUS ENTRIES:

Blog about this on your blog and leave us a link in the comments on my page. (1 entry)

Yvonne