Perfect Picture Book Friday- Groundhog's Special Secret

What a crazy week this has been! We started out the week with the Chinese New Year! Then yesterday, we celebrated the 100th day of school. And I was sick. As. A. Dog!!!! Oh my goodness you guys, I had the most terrible sore throat on Wednesday night. I had a hunch I shouldn't go to school yesterday so I quick emailed my bestie at school with sub plans.

What would one do without a best friend at school, right?
Are ya with me???

Luckily, my usual suspect of a substitute was available and willing to tackle the 100th day of school with my little firstie buzzers. I had this cute shirt all planned out and then, bam! sore throat hit. Also luckily, I was able to get in to my doctor right away at 8:00am yesterday and she told me I had something bacterial going on. A something closely related to strep, so she put me on a kick bootie antibiotic and I'm feelin' like a champ today!!! Good thing, because I did a LOT of managing these 27 little ones today....

Well, let's get to the perfect picture book, shall we....???

Groundhog's Special Secret
Written by: Iris Hiskey Arno
Illustrated by: Renee Graef
Scholastic Incorporated, 2003, Fiction
Suitable For: ages 5 and up
Themes/Topics: Groundhog's Day, Seasons, being a good friend
Opening: "Lila twirled around and around in the candlelit den. On the wall, her shadow spun like a whirling top.
"Time for all groundhogs to be in bed!" Papa called.
"But I'm not tired!" Lila cried. "I can't possibly sleep all the way until spring!"
"Now, Lila," Mama said, "everyone else is in bed and Uncle Wilbur is about to head for his den."

Brief Synopsis: Lila doesn't want to go to sleep because she is not tired. Uncle Wilbur challenges her to be the first one awake, but when she does wake, Uncle Wilbur tells her to go back to sleep for a few minutes. But instead, Lila goes above ground!

Links to Resources: There are some WAY cute craftivities out in bloggy world right now having to do with Groundhog's Day! Check out this burrowing activity, craft and writing from Cara at The First Grade Parade. I love the Smartboard lesson to introduce it. I'm so doing this on Tuesday or Wednesday next week!
There's also these way cute activities from Mrs. Cupcake over at A Cupcake for the Teacher. I can't wait to share in the fun with my little buzzers next week, too! I know there are MANY more on TPT or TN so go check that out, too! Oh! And don't forget to show your kiddos LIVE footage of the groundhog actually seeing or not seeing his shadow next Thursday, too. They LOVE that!

Why I Like This Book: I love this book because it is a fun way to introduce Groundhog's Day to those little ones that HAVE NEVER heard of it, or so they say. :) It's a cute little tale that kids can relate to--the-not-wanting-to-go-to-bed-and-the-waking-up-early-with-excitement thing of course.

For more perfect picture books with resources, or join in the fun, please click here!

Have a GRRREAT weekend!
Marcy

Perfect Picture Book Friday- Deep Snow

I cannot believe I have been missing out on this linky party! Where have I been?? Oh well, I'm excited to start in this Friday book talk!

Not the best picture...sorry I couldn't find a better one!

Deep Snow
Written By: Robert Munsch
Illustrated By: Michael Martchenko
Scholastic Inc., 2006, Fiction
Suitable For: ages 5 and up
Themes: Snow, Winter, Seasonal Actvities

Opening:
"Way out in the middle of nowhere, Ali suddenly yelled, "STOP!"
"What's the matter?" said her father.
"I want to jump in the snow," said Ali.
"No," said her sister Kate, "that is deep, deep, deeeeeeeep snow!"
"I still want to jump in it," said Ali.
"This is not a good idea," said Kate."

Brief Synopsis: I hate to give it away so if you don't want the surprise ruined, read on.
They have to get something out of the snow. I hope I haven't said too much.

Links to Resources: I haven't found any yet....so if you find some, post a comment below and I'll get them added!

Why I Like This Book: Because it's by Robert Munsch, duh! :)
I love the voice in his books. He adds humor in his books which kids "get" and understand. I love using Robert Munsch books to teach how to use voice in kids' writing! I loved using this book today after the 6 inches of snow we received early this morning.....

Favorite Thanksgiving Book(s) Linky Party!

I have so many favorite Thanksgiving books that I love to read to my students! I am so excited to share them with each of you and with Teaching Blog Addict's Linky Party!

I LOVE Fancy Nancy. In the Spring, we do a whole unit on Jane O'Connor and the Fancy Nancy books. I cannot wait. I love the vocabulary, the interactions with Fancy Nancy's extended family, the teaching of the manners. I love it all.

The next is I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie. Hilarious. Not only because I love pumpkin pie, but because of what happens at the end. I'd hate to spoil it for you if you haven't read it, but all my kids then write about their favorite float the following Monday. I hope that wasn't too much information....

The Littlest Pilgrim is another favorite because the poor main character is too small to help on the plantation. It is great for little ones who always want to help, but are "too little". We brainstorm ways and write about how they can help at this years Thanksgiving feast at their house.

I just came across this next book at the Scholastic Book Fair this fall. I love the illustrations and the point of view from the mouse. After reading it, all my sweet little buzzers started writing stories, "If I were a mouse...". It was a great writing workshop mentor text!

And last but certainly not least, my favorite informational text. Pilgrims of Plymouth has real photographs from the National Geographic Society. It allows the kiddos to see exactly how the Pilgrims and Wampanoags dressed for that first feast and in their daily lives. We compare and contrast their lives with ours after reading this. My sweet little buzzers also love seeing how the kids dressed and played!

That's it for now! I hope you had a great Tuesday!!
If you do not have a blog yet, please share some of your favorite Thanksgiving books in the comments section! I LOVE comments!!!

Marcy

Inside My School Bag Linky Party!

My favorite Abby, over at The Inspired Apple, is hosting an Inside My School Bag Linky Party! And if you know me, I LOVE a good party! :)
Here goes:

My bag, as of now. I received this with some cute little numbers at my bachelorette party last summer. ;)

Cold Sore Gel...left in there from early in the year. Too much stress causes this girl a cold sore.

Also, my Victoria's Secret Mint Box to keep the Ibuprofen in!

My favorite colored pens go with me everywhere!

Hobby Lobby gift card from one of my sweet little buzzers! Can't wait to go spend that!!

Postcards that have been in my school bag all week waiting for me to put names on them...

Prescription sunglasses. Guard those bad boys with my life!!! Can't go to recess without them!

Camera charger. Also, goes with me everywhere!

I LOVE these binding clip thingys.

A candy bar...just received this morning from one of my sweet little buzzers!

D.D.P. Can't get through a day without it.

A jump drive, zip drive, whatever you call it. I could leave this at school since I don't have a computer at home anymore!!

There you have it. A look inside this girl's school bag. I hope you enjoyed every minute of it. And every picture. Since apparently I can't take one picture of everything. That would be WAY too easy.

OOOOOH, and stop by tomorrow...one of my fellow 1st grade teachers is turning 40 tomorrow. We're going to get her good...my kids made the cutest little animals to surprise her with. 40 of them, of course. :)
AND we're going to the apple orchard for a field trip, too! YIPPEE!!!!

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!

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!

100th Day Celebration & Linky Party!

Teaching Blog Addict is celebrating being in the blogosphere for 100 days with a celebration/ Linky party about how classrooms celebrate the 100th day of school!

Well....without any pictures to share, :( here's how we celebrate in 1st grade at my school!

We all dress up like we would when we are 100 years old. We invite the kids to dress up, too! It's so stinkin' cute! I think this year I will bring in nursing home food. You know, jello, mashed potatoes, tic tac "pills", cranberry juice, etc. I can see that being super fun.
Then, we also draw our school picture of when we are 100 years old. These are CLASSIC!!! The kids then write about what they would do when they are 100. I should mention, we brainstorm a list of things first, such as, play rummy, play with my grandchildren, go fishing, wear dentures, etc. These stories are HILARIOUS! Usually the 100th day coincides with our parent/teacher/student conferences so I have them hanging in the hallway and parents love reading them!

There's what we do on the 100th day of school...what do YOU do??? [=

Linky Party: "Welcome Students" Letters/Notes

I don't for see this happening again, but 2 posts in 1 day for me....HOT DOG!!!!! (hot dogs, another favorite food of mine!)



I couldn't resist joining First Grade Frame of Mind's Linky party because this will be the first year I send out a letter to my new students! I'm getting picky about school supplies, so I thought I'd send this letter out the first week in August so that will hopefully give my families some time to get their supplies before Open House on Aug. 16th!

So, here is my first rough draft of my letter to my new families. I have no idea how to put it in google docs, so here goes the longest post EVER!!!!!!!

To the soon-to-be Busy Bees and their families-
I hope you all had a relaxing and fun summer! Full of memories, love and laughter!
I am so excited to get our school year started! I have been thinking about you since we met on the last day of kindergarten!
I have included a few things for you to bring to Open House on Tuesday, August 16. Please be sure to follow the enclosed list for buying school supplies as I am a bit partial to specific items not on the district list.
Please email me if you have any questions or concerns. I can't wait to see you and meet your family on Tuesday, August 16 at our school Open House!

Again, this is totally a rough draft so it may change in the next week or so. I'm not sure if I should include a bio of me or not yet...I don't want to be braggy, but I am a pretty big deal! ;)

Blog Mixer Linky Party

Let's hope I can link this up right!


Denise at Yearn to Learn has started a Mixer Linky Party! To join this linky party, check out the "Yearn to Learn" blog and link up!



Here's my post about it:

1. A blogger who is a New Kid on the Block:
I liked reading posts from Lauren at http://2ndgradesweeties.blogspot.com/. It's been awhile since she's posted so I hope everything is okay with her! I look forward to seeing more out of her and hopefully this will give her the boost she needs. Head over and give her some hugs!

2. Post a blogger who is in the same grade level as you:
I enjoy reading "Fun in First with Mrs. Ward" at http://wardswayofteaching.blogspot.com/ She has some cute ideas and you definitely can tell she loooooves her kiddos!

3. A blog from a different grade level:
I love Deanna Jump's blog at http://mrsjumpsclass.blogspot.com/ because she has so many stinkin' cute ideas!



4. Find a super cute button!!!
I love http://mrskincaid.blogspot.com/'s button because it has a super cute elephant and they are my ultimate favorite animal! [=