Last Day of Firsts

I'm not sure what the bigger milestone of June 4, 2015 was-- my 19 sweet babies finishing their journey as 1st graders or me finishing my journey as a 1st year teacher... Sorry itty bits, but I think Miss Riley wins this one. ;)

To celebrate all 20 of our milestone accomplishments, we turned our last day of school in to one big festival of fun! I wish I could take credit for at least some of the awesome creativity that fueled the activities of our last day, but I can't. Everything we did was found in this amazing blog post by the fabulous Reagan Tunstall. After all, the best teachers steal from the best and learn from the rest, right?! ;) 

The majority of our day was spent playing 7 different Minute to Win It games. SO MUCH FUN!! 

For games 1-4 & 6, I had four students play at a time while the rest of the students watched and cheered them on. After all the students had a chance to play, the winner from each group went against each other in a final "championship round". 

Game 1: Go Fishing

They had to use a paper plate to move a tissue paper fish from one side of the room to the other. 

Game 2: There She Blows

Starting at one end of a desk/table, they have to blow a plastic cup off the opposite end of the desk/table using a straw. 

Game 3: Nose Diving 

The kiddos had to move three cotton balls from one plate to another using their noses! (Noses which were covered in petroleum jelly, that is.) 

 Game 4: Bean There Done That
For this game, they had to move five [uncooked] pinto beans from a paper plate into a plastic cup using a straw. 

 Game 5: Breakfast Scrambler 
I emailed my parents asking for empty cereal boxes two days beforehand and still got WAY more than we needed! This game had two rounds. All of the students played this game at the same time. In the first round, students worked with a partner to put together the cereal box puzzle. The first two groups who won got to go to round two (the "championship" round) where they had to put a different cereal box puzzle together by themselves. 

Game 6: Noodling Around
Okay, this game was SUPER hard for every last one of my students! The goal of the game was to get 3 noodles onto a stick of spaghetti without using your hands (they had to hold the spaghetti stick in their mouth). My students struggled to even get one noodle on the spaghetti stick (because of its length) and the few who did manage to get a noodle ended up dropping it as soon as they went for the second noodle because they couldn't figure out how to pick up the noodles without tilting their heads down, which made the stick of spaghetti slant down, causing the noodle to slip right off. Even with me modeling, they still couldn't get it. I ended up going with Reagan's modified suggestion and broke the spaghetti sticks in half and only made them pick up 2 noodles instead of 3... Even with this modification, only 4 of my 19 kiddos were able to do it! It was a major challenge! 

Game 7: Face the Cookie

For our final game, the student's had to move a Nalla Wafer from their forehead to their mouth using nothing but their facial expressions-- so funny to watch!! I did not break the kids up in to small groups for this one, they all found a seat and did it at the same time. Like game 6, this is another challenging game- only two of my kiddos were successfully able to make the cookie into their mouth! 

I had to apologize to my neighboring teachers because it got pretty wild, crazy, and loud in our classroom with all of these fun games! ;) 

After we congratulated all of our Minute to Win It winners, we took a deep breath, calmed down, and rolled out the 'red carpet' (butcher paper). Each student got 15 seconds of fame to strut their stuff down the red carpet with a Candy Award  that matched their individual personalities perfectly! This was SUCH a fun treat for them. The funny thing is, all of the students were able to guess who was getting what award just by the description of it-- I LOVE that they all have such unique and charming little personalities. This will definitely be a last day tradition in my class! [Next year I plan to actually make a cute "Goodbye 1st Grade, Hello 2nd Grade!" poster... instead of just writing it on the white board. ;)]

SO sad to see this sweet group of kiddos go, but cannot wait to see what next year has in store for me and my classroom. BRING IT ON, YEAR TWO! ;) 

TPT Seller Challenge: Dare to Dream!

I guess I jumped the gun last week by using week one's challenge as an excuse to start a blog. ;) But, it gave me a good head start on this weeks challenge! Week Two's challenge is to BLOG about what dreams we have that TpT can help us with. Talk about a challenge that is right up my alley! If there is one thing I am good at doing, it's dreaming of all the things I hope to accomplish... Scratch that-- it's dreaming of all the things I WILL accomplish. Anyone who knows me can attest to the fact that once I get an idea/dream in my head, I do everything it takes to turn the idea/dream into reality... No matter what or how long it takes me.

This weeks challenge is so exciting to me because it gave me a chance to sit down and think about what I hope to get out of being a TpT seller and how being a TpT seller can help me accomplish many of my pre-existing dreams. To be completely honest, I never really thought about how my little TpT store could tie into my dreams or, better yet, how it could help me reach them. Up until this challenge, I only ever thought of my TpT earnings as a means to fund my TpT purchases and buy stuff for my students/classroom.

How cool of a thought it is that, as a TpT seller, I have the potential to earn leaps and bounds beyond that. This challenge has given me the motivation and drive to turn a thought that had never before occurred to me into a reality. So, without further adieu, here is my list of things I Dare to Dream:

Inspire: Before I start rambling off about what I hope to achieve with my little TpT store, I think it is important for me to explain why I have it in the first place. I think it is very easy for teachers to get stuck in old ways. It is easy for teachers to pull from a filing cabinet and stick to doing what they have done in years past because it is just that-- easy. One of the most aggravating statements teachers make all too often is, "this is what we've always done." If there is one thing I took away from college that I intend to forever apply in my classroom, it is that education is always changing. There will always be new teaching concepts as well as new (and often, better) ideas on ways to teach existing concepts. The day I no longer want to adapt and change with it, is the same day I will find a new profession. Second on that list of aggravating statements is, "[you think that/ you say that/ you do that] because you're young/new." The latter half of that statement is 105% accurate. I am very young and I am very new and I know VERY little. I went through my first year of teaching basically knowing nothing and, the little I did know, I struggled to know how to successfully implement. I found myself CONSTANTLY turning to older, wiser, and more experienced teachers for help, advice, and guidance. But, sometimes, I didn't agree with them and I found myself right back at my lost starting point. After a while, I learned I could listen to all of the advice everyone had to give me, without taking it all. Here's the main piece of advice I would give to all new teachers: just because you know nothing, doesn't mean other teachers know everything. I found myself doing two main things: 1. I reached out to and picked the brains of the teachers on my campus (and teacher's I knew from other campuses) who not only seemed to know what they were doing in the classroom, but who seemed to have a true passion for what they were doing; the teachers who truly seemed to want the best output for their students, regardless of what that meant their input needed to be. And, 2. I started following the blogs and Instagram accounts of as many teachers as I could find. I read about how they planned their lessons, how they taught their lessons, how the interacted with their students and their student's parents... Above all else, I stole their ideas, I built upon their existing ideas, and I used them as encouragement to come up with my own ideas. Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits, Schroeder Shenanigans in 2nd, The Teacher Talk, Amy Groesbeck, First Grade Wow... and those are just to name a few of the amazing teachers I have been lucky enough to discover and learn from. What do all of the teachers have in common-- both the teachers I know first hand and the teachers I only know through social media platforms? Each and every one of them has inspired me in one way or another. Some of these teachers have inspired me to be more patient, caring, understanding, and encouraging of all my students- no matter what. Others have inspired me to keep a positive attitude- no matter what. Others have inspired me to constantly seek new ways to engage, motivate, and reward my students. Others have inspired me to start creating, start blogging, and start sharing my own ideas. In sum, all of these amazing teachers have inspired me to be the best teacher I can be for my students. I will forever be inspired by these teachers and, as the years go on, I will meet and discover new teachers who will inspire me. My #1 dream, through blogging and my TpT store, is to become one of those teachers who others come to for inspiration and guidance. 

Pay off loans: As I mentioned above, I am a new teacher. I am fresh out of college and I have a lot of student debt to show for it. Debt that keeps me from doing a lot of things I would love to do- such as travel more, invest in buying a house, buy a new car, etc. One thing I take pride in- and something I can thank my mother for- is my savings account. I like to think, for being in my early 20's, I have fairly wise spending and saving habits. My hopes for my TpT store is to use my earnings to continue building upon my savings account and hopefully save up enough to pay off my student loans, in whole, within the next two years.

Buy a house: Okay, this one is a big one but it is the first thing I want to do once I am student debt free! I want a garage and a backyard and a fireplace and a guest bedroom and an office. I want real neighbors, not people who live below and above me. I want to be able to hang Christmas lights on my roof and have a cute little garden. I want to have space for my family when they come to visit me so they don't have to stay at a hotel... or, what happens more often, steal my bed and kick me out onto my couch. ;) I want a cute little first home that is completely and totally mine.

Travel: "I always wonder why birds choose to stay in the same place when they can fly anywhere on the earth, then I ask myself the same question.”-Harun Yahya; I LOVE to travel. I love going new places. I love discovering new things. I would be perfectly content living out of suitcases the rest of my life if it meant I got to explore the world. I have made it my goal to travel to at least two places each year. This year my fabulous travel buddy, Katie (aka: Miss Madrid's Market), and I went to San Diego and Vegas. On next years list, I have New York and Colorado. But, I want to take it a step further than that. I want to take it international. France. Italy. Ireland. Australia. Iceland. Japan. On top of my existing two yearly out-of-state trips, I want to go to one international destination every 1-2 years. That's a BIG dream, I know! And, it might take me a few years to make it a reality, but I am determined to make it just that- a reality!

It feels so good to see these goals typed out- it makes them seem that much more attainable! :) 

TPT Seller Challenge: Makeover Madness!

I am SO STINKIN' excited to be taking part in the TPT Seller Challenge! Don't know what I'm talking about? Click here for more info! 

I only just finished my first year of teaching, so this challenge is perfect for me! Other than being on Teachers Pay Teachers and having a Professional Instagram Account, I have not yet stretched out across all social media platforms. As you can see, my beginning stats are pretty embarrassing: 

On top of the weekly challenges, I have taken this challenge as an opportunity to convert my Pinterest account to a business account, set up a professional Facebook & Twitter Account and, what I am most excited about, start blogging! Now, I know my blog currently looks pretty rough, but bare with me, I promise that is soon to change! I have already contacted the fabulous Designs by Tenille and am hoping to have my blog design completed and ready to go within the next month or so- EEK, I CANNOT WAIT!!! :)
 

Now, back to the weekly challenges. The first challenge, "Makeover Madness," gave us a week to makeover one of our products. I automatically knew which product I was going to revamp-- below is one of the very first products I ever made & posted on TPT:

 

YIKES!!! Right?! 

As you can obviously see, it was pretty pathetic. But, thanks to this weeks Makeover Madness Challenge, it got the much needed facelift it deserved. The challenge stated that our makeover could be something as simple as changing the cover of our product, so that's where I started. Here's the new cover: 

WOAH! Now we're talkin'! 

It's pretty amazing how big of a difference simply spicing up the cover page can make on the overall perception of a product. Because, let's be honest, we all judge products based on their cover, at least a little bit. ;) BUT, I didn't stop there! No, no, no. While I have loved the teaching idea behind this product since I first made it, my graphics and overall presentation were highly mediocre-- and, if there is one thing I am not, it is mediocre. So, I used some of Melonheadz' fabulous clip art to spice up the entire product! Here was the end result: 

MUCH BETTER!!! 

Other than adding a few new "tools" (aka: reading and writing strategies), the only thing I changed about my product was the clip art, but what a HUGE difference that simple change made! 

The writing and/or reading “toolbox” is a simple, fun, and engaging way to teach students how to become good writers and readers. Just cut out the tools (13 different "tools" [aka: strategies] offered in both color and black & white), laminate them, and place them in a crayon box (“toolbox”) labeled “My Writing Toolbox”/ “My Reading Toolbox”/ “My Writing AND Reading Toolbox”... What ever you wish to use them for! 

At the beginning of the year, introduce the writing toolbox by telling the students that this toolbox contains all of the “tools” we need to be good writers. Explain how each tool helps us/why each tool is important. As the year goes on, select one or two of the tools per week for students to focus on while they are writing. Hang the selected tools on the board as a quick visual reminder for the students. Most of these tools could also be used as reading strategies. The same concept would apply- these are the "tools" we need to become good readers!
 

This product is 50% off until Sunday- go grab it while it's on sale! (Click the picture below to go to my TPT store.)
 

I am seriously beyond thrilled about this challenge! What a great way to get teachers inspired and motivated! I cannot wait for next weeks challenge!! :)