Class Connect

You guys! Have you heard about Class Connect yet? Or am I in the stone age? I am so excited about this for project-based learning!!!!

Kleinspiration introduced me through this post. I was enticed by the giveaway, but after watching and reading about Class Connect, I might have another new addiction I don't have time for.

First, you need to go here to check out Class Connect.

Then, you need to go here to enter Erin's giveaway at Kleinspiration!!!

Hope your Wednesday was nothing short of awesome!! I have my 1st scratchy/sore throat of the year on day 8. I skipped the run I should have taken and am lying on the couch relaxing!!

Happy Monday!

Happy Monday to all of you! I hope your day went better than mine! Meetings about definitely-abled students are always touchy, aren't they?? Goodness...I haven't cried so much about school in my life.

Today I think I will share with you our Writing Connection Notebooks. One of my 1st grade besties (the teacher next door) has been doing these notebooks for awhile. This is totally not my idea, I give her all the credit!

We just take a plain jane folder and put a label in the upper right corner. Fancy, huh?

On the inside, are about 40 pages of handwriting paper in a letter format.

 Each Friday, we summarize our week and the kids write a letter to their family about what we learned that week. Over the weekend, the parents right a letter back to their child on the reverse side. This continues all school year. I LOVE the conversation that takes place about their learning with their parents. Last year I had parents write the sweetest comments back to their child. These smartypants parents would also write facts about what we were learning about, so we shared that with the whole class. It's like each child is blogging with their parents and practicing handwriting at the same time. GENIUS!!!

Then, every Monday morning, the kids are so excited to show them to us because it's a letter back from their parents about something we learned. I train my buzzers to bring their Writing Connection Notebook to their desk and I walk around during their journaling time and check out everyone's letter. Nosy? I'd say so, but I love reading the sweet comments back and forth. If they keep one thing from their 1st grade year, I hope and pray that this Connection Notebook is it!

Well, I'm off...this has been one long and stressful day. I'd say a Diet Dr. Pepper is in my near future! Have a great night!!!

Marcy

Three for Thursday!

I am lovin' Blog Hoppin' and Teacher Week! It is so much fun to creep check out everyone's classrooms and ideas! My classroom will be way more exciting when I have time to stop pinning and get to making all these great things!
Today's party is here to entertain you with THREE favorites...your favorite font, favorite blog, and favorite online resource. And I have to agree that there are so many favorites so it's hard to pick one for each category!

My Favorite Font

I can honestly say I haven't got much into the fonts. I don't have a computer at home so everything would need to be done at school and I guess that's where I can seperate school from home! I just use the boring good ol' fonts on Microsoft Word at school, so I guess my favorite would be Kirsten ITC. Nothing too fancy here. 

My Favorite Blog

I LOVE blog stalking. It's true. I can't honestly say that I have ONE favorite. I do really enjoy The First Grade Parade. I love her classroom. SO cute. I wish mine looked like that...wanna come help me Cara? I love her math tubs. I just love it all. I wish I was in her classroom! So if you haven't already, go check her out.

My Favorite Online Resource

I guess I don't know if I'd call it a resource, but during these first week(s) of school, I cannot live without http://www.brainpopjr.com/ and http://www.learn360.com/. They have awesome videos that relate to standards, especially the listening and viewing standards. LOVE the Auto B. Good videos! They each summarize the lesson at the end, too.  

And now, to survive another day without getting too exhausted...even though I am already hittin' up the Diet Soda Pop. :) Have a GREAT day!!!

Marcy



Where It All Goes Down Wednesday!

Hey all!
This is my 3rd attempt at posting these pictures, so ENJOY!!! Obviously I need help in the blogging department.  I am just going to post them...if you have questions about what each picture is, feel free to ask in the comment section. Haha...I'll laugh since in the time it took me to do this, I was supposed to be running. Oh well, I ate light today, so hopefully my marathon training can wait another day. :)

Just inside the right side of the classroom door. Lunch cards and math manipulatives.

A close up of the math manipulatives. Wish I had more room for a larger shelf to house all the games/activities for math stations!

Student lockers and my messy storage area above. Don't worry- I know where everything is. :)

Looking in through the front door. I love those little curtains.

A view from the door.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE these magnets. They came with our Treasures reading curriculum. I have the kids write their name on them the 1st day of school and we use them for graphing all year.

My "I can..." board. We are supposed to post our standards here. We'll see if I can keep up with that! :)

Our meeting area. It's tight with 27 little buzzers around this rug...actually, we make an oval spanning from the kidney bean shaped table all the way to where I am standing taking this picture.

The calendar/ schedule bulletin board. (We did create rules today...finally!) I am going to attempt to do calendar on the SmartBoard this year so this will just be for the C.E.O. to update every morning.

My space. Pretty clean right now actually! Notice the Apology of Action and teacher language reminder above! We are a Responsive Classroom school.

Close up of some of the Responsive Clasrsoom stuff.

BEE-utiful writing! LOVE this already! If the buzzers write an awesome story we are going to post it here. Just like at home when you post awesome work on the fridge. The kids are SO excited about this. It's also my way of keeping writing samples...we'll just post one on top of the next!

CAFE board...nothing fancy.

This is my non-fiction table. Every couple weeks it will change and we will learn about something else through project-based learning. I haven't started this yet, but I am so excited to delve into this when we get our routine going! I'll post more about this later when we really get into the heart of things!

Library and Rockin' Bear Chair.

Cupboard space and Math Strategies board. We post all our math strategies on this cupboard, since there is no more bulletin board space!

I hope you have enjoyed a tour of my classroom!!! Have a great night!

Marcy

Fifty's Nifty Winner!!!

Good morning!!! Are you ready for another WONDERFUL day?! I am! Wearin' a sunshiney yellow shirt for our 92 degree weather today...

I picked a winner in my Fifty's Nifty Project Popperz Giveaway!

Jennifer! Congrats and email me within 24 hours with your snail mail address so I can get your Project Popperz mailed to you! busybeesandcupcakes (at) gmail (dot) com

Thank you to everyone who entered and follows my blog! I will be posting more soon!

Marcy

Meet the Teacher Monday!

So excited today! It's my 1st day of school! And I'm so excited to be joining Blog Hoppin' for Meet the Teacher Monday! Go on over and check it out...super fun activities all week!

Tell us a little something about you...
I'm Marcy and I blog on this sweet little blog! I LOVE cupcakes, especially from my favorite local shop, Oh My Cupcakes!

How long have you been teaching?
I have been teaching for hard to believe five years! It flies by, holy cow! I taught kindergarten for three years and I am in my second year of 1st grade and absolutely LOOOOOOVE it! I LOVE teaching reading! I LOVE teaching through project-based learning! I LOVE using my SmartBoard and I LOVE teaching individualized spelling!

You might not know...
I have always wanted to be a teacher. I knew it was my calling since I came out of the womb! Teaching runs in the family blood! I cherished every summer I got to spend in my aunt's classroom(s), helping them put their classrooms together and spending the week in Minneapolis with them.

What are you looking most forward to this school year?
I am looking forward to teaching 27 little ones how to read, write and do math. :)
I am completing more training on project-based learning and I am super excited about that. I also have a little one with severe autism, so I am looking forward to watching him blossom, along with the others of course, too!

What do you need to improve?
I need to improve my math instruction. I would LOVE to implement the Daily 5 Math but I don't want to over-extend myself either. I do math stations on Friday and those could use some work, too!

What teaching supplies can you *not* live without?

* BIC Mark-It Permanent Markers
* Project Popperz Markers
* Diet Dr. Pepper
* My iPad to tell me where I need to be and when
* My clipboard with my lesson plans on it!

I hope you have enjoyed getting to learn more about me! I can't wait to read all of your posts, too! Stay tuned for more from Teacher Week 2011!!!

Marcy

P.S. You have a little more time to enter into my Project Popperz giveaway for 50 followers!! I will be closing it at 4:00pm CST and drawing later tonight!

Fabulous Fifty Giveaway!!!

HELLO!!! I have missed y'all so much!!! Oh my word, have I been busy workin' in this classroom and it looks BEEautiful!!! I will post pictures later...I can't wait for you to see it!

So, last week this good ol' blog reached 50 followers! I can't believe it myself! SO it's time for a GIVEAWAY!!!!! I LOVE these Project Poppers markers, so I am giving them away! Well, actually I'm giving away a brand spankin' new package, so you don't have to use my half empty ones. =]

How do you enter you ask? Well, here are ya 4 chances:
1. Follow (or already are) Buzzin' on Cupcakes in 1st Grade!
2. Blog about this fabulous giveaway on your blog!
3. Add my button to your blog!
4. Add Buzzin' on Cupcakes in 1st Grade! to your blog list/roll!

Don't forget to leave a comment for each thing! I will be choosing a winner on MONDAY, Aug. 22...my 1st day of school!!! So, you have until 4:00pm (CST) and I will pick a winner then! GOOD LUCK and LOTS of love as you start (or have already started) your school year!!

Marcy

C.E.O. and Fifty's Nifty!!!!

I hope y'all are doing well workin' in your classrooms. Some of you in the heat yet!? Oh my word. I couldn't do it...I guess there's one good thing that came out of the mold: they turned the air on at my school!

Today I wanted to share with you what I do for a classroom helper in my room. I cannot keep up with having 10 different jobs in the classroom like some of you. You know, 1 kiddie gets to be the line leader, 1 kiddie gets to be door holder, 1 kiddie is the plant feeder. Yeah, I can't keep track of that. So my bestie, who now stays home and comes up with great ideas for me to try (LOVE!!!), always had a C.E.O.- Chief Example for Others. I guess I loved it enough to continue the tradition. Since I have the bee theme going in my classroom, I decided to make a sign that says, "BEE a C.E.O." so that it has more of a connection to our theme. Here's the sign:

I give my C.E.O. a seperate working area for the week. They LOVE this because it's like their own little teacher desk almost. This is why I choose carefully those very first times! I let mine be the C.E.O. for the whole week so they really become attached to their personal work area!

Here's a picture of the C.E.O. desk this year:

And yes, those flowers are cute little pens!

And the C.E.O. wouldn't be complete without a brief case to carry their goodies around in all week, right? So, here's an old briefcase of my sweet hubbies that he lets me use because he doesn't need it anymore. Love that guy.

In the past, on Fridays, I would draw a name out of a fancy little box to be the new C.E.O. for the next week. They would take the briefcase home and fill it with 5 of their favorite things and bring it back on Monday to share with the class. The remainder of the days, they would be just my go-to guy/gal when I needed something. This year, thanks to this awesome post from What the Teacher Wants, I am going to do something every day of the week for them! I love that!

Here's what I plan on doing for my C.E.O.:

Monday- Share their 5 things from the C.E.O. bag

Tuesday- Read their favorite book either from home or school

Wednesday- Read aloud their parent letter

Thursday- Share their C.E.O. questionairre (pictured below)

Friday- Lunch with their parent (hopefully, if their parent came come! if not, maybe their reading buddy or sit by their bff)

And that's my C.E.O.!

And FIFTY followers? Who'd a thought? THANK YOU for stickin' around! Be watching for a way cool giveaway later on in the week...my mind has been on auto-ponder about somethin' REAL good for you guys. After all, it takes a lot to put up with my mumbo jumbo!! :)

Have a great Tuesday!!!

Marcy





Top 10 Reasons I Know I Am Heading Back To School

This party is so much fun...I love reading everyone else's Top Ten Reasons...I laugh every time and my sweet hubby looks at me like I'm crazy. Reagan over at Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits is hosting...she has a way cute blog with many awesome ideas! If you haven't checked her out yet, get going!! With no further adieu, here is my Top Ten list:

10. I can't sleep at night. It's either a restless night because I have too much on my mind or I'm having the dreaded teaching nightmares.

9. My office/craft room has been converted into "DANGER: Back to School Zone". But hey, I guess it's out of the way.

8. My kitchen smells like burnt plastic. Not from the turkey that didn't survive for Thanksgiving last year, but because my little laminator from Target is workin' like craaaaaaazy!!

7. My house needs to be cleaned. Badly. But there just are not enough hours in a day.

6. I'm blog stalking all of you, trying to pin, write down and/or email ideas to myself more than normal. I'm thankful my sweet hubby is just as addicted to his iPad right now too (only he's looking at houses, campers and motorcycles....)

5. My sweet hubby called me his "Susie Homemaker" the other night and I gushed. It's been my dream for him to call me that and I'll my hours crafting for this bee themed classroom finally paid off! :)

4. I have no idea what is going on in the newsworthy world, because I have been "stuck" in my classroom or office/craft room completing projects for school.

3. I have been drinking way more Diet Dr. Pepper and Diet Pepsi to keep my creative juices flowing!

2. I'm realizing I only have 1 week left of freedom before I start in-servicing and open house (ours is Aug. 16) and I want to spend every last second at the waterpark, basking in the sun. So if I become MIA this week, you know where to find me.


And the number one reason I know I'm heading back to school...

1. My printer at home ran out of colored ink. :(

This has been so fun! I bet I could come up with at least 10 more ideas! Thank you Reagan for hosting...this was a great idea!

Marcy

P.S. If you haven't responded about the pencil situation your classroom, please do so in my last post! I love reading about all. Your classrooms!

Pencils!!! Help!!!!

Hey y'all!

How in the world do you manage pencils???

I never had a problem with pencils in kindergarten, mainly because I had tables and I kept the big fat kind of pencils in a basket in the middle of the table. I loved those big fat pencils because they only had to sharpened once a year month or so.
This past year in 1st grade, the kids had desks and brought their own cutesy dutesy pencils and I feel my educational assistant or I were sharpening all the time. I can't do that again, especially with 27 little buzzers or more that are currently on my list!

So, help a sista out and tell me how to run my pencil system this year and every year after!!

Thank you!!!
Marcy

New Button!

Hey bloggie friends! Happy Friday night to you! I'm at school workin' since my sweet hubby is workin' late! Might as well be productive!
So, in all my Friday night fun, I made a button! Yes, I did it myself thanks to Cindy at Fun in Fourth Grade and Jackie at 3rd Grade's A Charm.

We'll see if it works....whatda' think??? =]

Marcy

Advice to New Teachers

Hey beauties! How are you tonight? I'm feeling tired...my sweet hubby plays softball Wednesday nights during the summer and it gets to be late before we get home and settled in! Then, to wake up early for tutoring my little summer darlings and a run and I'm spent!!!!

Anywho, after this quick little post, its off to bed for me! I have an 18 mile run to wake up to tomorrow before I hit up some garage sales and crafting! [= (I'm taking tomorrow off from school adventures I think!)

So, Cindy over at Fun in Fourth Grade is hosting her very first Linky Party! What advice do you have for new teachers? Go on over and check her out here:


So, since I'm a 4-year teaching veteran, I would not consider myself a wise ol' owl type but here goes:
1. Find a {new} teacher friend to mentor you. Someone who willingly shares ideas, lessons, and thoughts with you about not only classroom stuff, but life in general. I would not have survived my first year without my mentor. I've switched grade levels and moved down the hall, but I'm still asking for more. Latch on!!!!
2. Stalk blogs...especially this one! [=
3. Ask a million questions!!! Remember that ol' saying, "No question is a dumb question unless it goes unasked."
4. Go out and explore the world or at least your town/city. There are so many great community and business partners that would LOVE to come into your classroom and enrich the learning in your classroom. Plus, share what you do outside of school with your kiddies...they love hearing that you have a real life and learn so much in the meantime.
5. Don't be afraid to ask your classroom parents to help out with ANYTHING!

There you have it. I'm sure I could go on forever! Haha...

Have a BEEutiful night!
Marcy

Open House

Wowsers! I can't believe how fast this week is going. That means only one week left of "freedom"- oh wait, I spend my days at school anyway!
I have been SO busy today! I tutored two sweet little ones this morning- one is moving so we snuck and got a cupcake from my absolute favorite gourmet cupcake shop in my town! That little one LOVED the surprise of a cupcake on her last day in South Dakota!
After tutoring, I came right to school. I wanted to get some things made for the hallway, more on that laaaater! I did work on some Open House things, even though our Open House is not until August 16th! Marlene over at I Heart Teaching Elementary is having a linky party about Meet the Teacher nights! And you know me, I'm impulsive!
So, hopefully I can figure out Google Docs because I have some documents to show you!

I have my parents fill out this Information Sheet because it helps so much with knowing where my little 1st grade buzzers go when school is dismissed. To be completely honest, I did not do this last year as these kiddies are first graders, they should know where to go and I was totally lost! Back to my kindergarten teacher ways...

This little idea I borrowed from one of my teaching besties! She has decided to move across the state and stay home with her little monster and has another one due in November! She showed this to me and I loved it last year! I have all the parents fill out this Information Card at Open House night. Then, if a problem arises, I can whip the card out of a trusty cheap recipe box and their contact information is right there!

I also have the kids do this Scavenger Hunt for fun and to make sure I get all the necessary paperwork. Otherwise, I enjoy talk to the families and answer any questions they have! It's a crazy night, but since it's an Open House format, that is to be expected. Our school tried the formal sit down, teacher presentation one year and that didn't go over well either!

 Does anyone LOVE their Meet the Teacher Night? I'd like to hear about it if you do! =]

Have a BEEutiful day!
Marcy

P.S. I need help with Google Docs apparently...my documents are way cuter than they appear! =]

Currently I am...Linky Party!

I just love a good Linky Party!! This one is kinda so fun and I couldn't resist joining! I am at home, hence the not-so-cuteness! It is thrown by Oh Boy Fourth Grade and Farley has some very cute ideas!!!


So, here's what you do...
Write down what you are currently
listening
loving
thinking
wanting
needing
&
stalking (include 3 Blogs one has to be non teacher)

And so here is mine...
LISTENING to the faint sound of the air conditioner and Sports Center.
LOVING every single one of YOU, my sweet readers!
THINKING there are not enough hours in a day to get everything at school done AND all my crafting projects at home!
WANTING to go for a run but it's now dark outside and I'm too scared to go running alone in the dark.
NEEDING to clean my house!
and...
STALKING
The Sister Teachers
I Heart Teaching Elementary
Craftiness is not Optional


So...I hope you enjoyed my currently's and I hope y'all can link up, too! Some people are so funny!

I'm back!!

Hello! Did ya miss me?
Wow, it has been a long time since I posted. I've had some issues with posting from home on a wonderful iPad! We also spent a long weekend in the beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota for our first anniversary!

Here's my handsome hubby and I at Mt. Rushmore!

 And here we are four-wheeling through the Black Hills near Deadwood!

And, here we are after I finished my first ever half marathon through GORGEOUS Spearfish Canyon! 

Anyway, I'm back at school. Lucky enough to have my computer up and running, so here I am! I have been workin' hard in this classroom of mine!

I have spent so much time setting up our classroom library. I went through each book and labeled them according to theme and put them in a corresponding basket. Hopefully the little buzzers will have no problem figuring out which basket their tub goes in, riiiight??? Here's what it looks like so far: 

And then, after looking at that cozy rocking chair with the bears on it, I thought it needed something more. Last year, my speech kids had a hard time saying rockING and just called it the rockin' chair. So this summer I came up with this: 

I am planning on doing read alouds and reading lessons at this chair, since it's in our classroom library. So, whatdya think?

Thank you for reading and I will post more about this year's classroom another time! Happy day to you...it's a whoppin' 95 degrees in South Dakota today!

Marcy