Sunshine On My Shoulder. . .

Makes Me Happy!

I was quite amazed to find that the Sunshine Award has been passed to me by not one, or two or three teachers, but four!  Thank you to Liz at Stickers, Scissors and Smiles, Barbara at Grade ONEderful, Kimberley at First in Maine, and Tina at Quench Your First.  I'm both honored and very touched, and I look forward to passing on the glorious golden rays of the sun to others.

To shine the rays, I must now thank the bloggers who gave this award to me and write a post about it, answer a few questions, and then pass the award on to 10-12 fabulous bloggers, letting them know I awarded them.

Ok, here goes!

The Questions

• Favorite color:  green, the deep color of the forest
• Favorite animal:  dog, of course  
• Favorite number:  7 - My dad was the last born son of the last born son, seven times and the line stopped with him.
• Favorite drink:  white hot chocolate
• Facebook or Twitter:  neither!  I am proudly a Facebook holdout.
• Passions:  Learning new things and living simply
• Giving or getting presents:  both, yeah!
• Favorite day:  Friday
• Favorite flowers:  red roses

The Sunny Blogs

Buzzin on Cupcakes in 1st Grade
Crayon Bits - a first grade blog
Doodle Bugs Teaching
Circus of Learning
The Polka Dot Owl
Ms. Preppy
Hopping Into First Grade
Teacher Tam's Educational Adventures
First Grade Exploration
Teaching with TLC Blog
Mrs. Saylor's Log
Primary Practice

Best wishes to you all!  Let's move into the Holiday Season with renewed smiles and sunshine.

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Give Thanks!

Thanksgiving is a very special time when we get to reflect on the blessings in our lives.  With that in mind, I'm very excited to link up with the teachers at What a Teacher Wants and their Thankful Linky Party.

1.  What are you thankful for in your classroom?
This year I'm thankful for a new LCD projector, thanks to a mini grant from our PTC!  The projector has enabled us to use the Scholastic News Interactive site, which is chock full of activities and helpful supplemental material.  When I project onto my white board, it's almost as good as a smart board because the children can highlight, underline, and circle specific words or text features, and then just erase it away.  I love it!

2.  What person are you most thankful for?
It has to be my mom, who is 85 years young.  She is a brick, and has always been there for me with the most practical advice.

3.  What 3 blogs are you most thankful for?
This is a hard one.  I'm really thankful for just about every one.  I learn something new with each blog I read.  However, having to pick three, I'd say I'm thankful for GradeONEderful, Ladybug's Teacher Files, and the Clutter-Free Classroom.

4.  What guilty pleasure are you most thankful for?
Oh my, I love candy.  Just love it, especially if it's combined with chocolate.

5.  What am I most thankful for?
My family and friends, hands down.  I love them all!

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Reading and Language Arts Links

Are you looking for great websites for your students?  I've listed many on my classroom blog that are really terrific.  Click here or on my button below to head over to that blog to check them out.  I'm hoping to add math websites soon.

If you come across any other cool websites that I haven't listed, please let me know so that I can add them to the page.

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Word of the Day (Week)

In order to increase vocabulary development, I've been using a word strategy that was demonstrated by Ms. Noonan on the Teaching Channel.  Ms. Noonan has to be my all time favorite there!

If you're interested, you can read all about the Word of the Day (Week) on my classroom blog.  Just click here.


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November Book Picks

I'm linking up again with Learning with Mrs. Parker to share my November book picks. It's pretty obvious what we will be learning about! Enjoy the month everyone! What will you be reading?





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Currently . . .

Farley at Oh Boy Fourth Grade is again hosting her Currently Linky Party.  This is a first for me, and I have really enjoyed learning how to download the template and add my own thoughts to it.  (See below for tips with a Mac.)  I just can't believe it is already November!  If there is any one thing I've learned in my life, it's that the days just keep on coming.  There is no stopping the passage of time.  And, so . . .

Here are the links to the two blogs listed above. 

Grade ONEderful has a great blog, with lots of free downloads and super ideas.

Astrobites is a daily journal written by astronomy grad students to present current research in an accessible format for undergrad students.


If you have a Mac, just drag the template to your desktop and open it with Pages.  Then follow the directions at A Teacher's Treasure to add your own thoughts.

Welcome November!

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List Making and a Freebie

We have been learning to make lists in various ways in the past couple of weeks.  Last week, we made a list called Spider's Things to Do, after reading the Itsy Bitsy Spider.

This week we've been reading One Gorilla, which is essentially a list of favorite animals. 

And, so in writer's workshop, we are now learning to make a list of ideas for writing.  Below is the barebones list form that I use.  It's free to download!  Please let me know if you experience any difficulty with the download.

Happy List Making to You All!

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