Thankful for you! And a Holiday FREEBIE!!

Happy Turkey Day!

I hope you all had a great day and were able to spend the day with your friends and family.  We went to my mom's and it was so nice to be able to spend time with everyone together.  Except of course, when the Little Lady went a little (ALOT) Thanksgiving cray-cray.  With no nap and everyone in the same place at the same time, she was a bit over excited.  Now we are home and relaxing (She was just watching a re-run of the Macy's Parade which she LOVED this year) and I thought I would take a minute to share how thankful I am for all of you - whether you are a regular reader or tonight is your first visit.  This last year has been tough for me in a few respects and this is one place that I have felt at peace and hopeful.  This blog has given me an outlet that I didn't have before and for that I cannot be more thankful!

I have a new FREEBIE up at TPT.  I hope you like it and that you can use it.  It is a bit Christmassy.  I love so many of the Christmas items for sale by my bloggy friends and I wanted to join in.  I'll be honest though, this is not something I will be able to use in my classroom (trust me it's not religious, but it does include Santa and gifts and elves, which won't fly in my district!)

Here's a peek at the free file!

Let me know your thoughts on the FREEBIE and tell me all about your Turkey Day festivities!

Enjoy your day of shopping tomorrow (if you dare).  I will be leisurely sipping coffee for the morning at a coffee shop as the Little Lady heads to an indoor playspace for a Princess Ballet Tea Party - not really sure what she will be doing, but it includes her 3 favorite things, so we signed her up ;)

Take Me Back Tuesday (A Day Late...) and a TURKEY TREAT!

I have been seeing lots of my bloggy friends link up to Hope's Take Me Back Tuesday and I kept thinking that I can't do that, I haven't been blogging long enough.  However, I realized that I dipped my toes in last Turkey Day and have a goodie or two to share.  I also have a newbie turkey day treat (thanks Pinterest!) that my co-workers enjoyed today!

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Wednesday, November 21, 2012

CORNUCOPIAS, THANKFUL FOR KIDDOS (PART 2), AND CUPCAKE TEEPEES (FAIL)

Don't get used to daily posts!  Let's not get too crazy, but I'm into this whole blogging thing now!  I got my first couple of comments on the blog (Please leave a comment at the bottom!).  One of which is another teacher blogger Heather's Hearts.  Check out her site!  I have only had a quick minute to check it out, but at first glance it looks great!  Also, she taught me how to add a way for you to follow my blog!!  I love followers!  The link is at the top of my blog, right under the title.  PLEASE FOLLOW ME!!

Cornucopias

I made these cornucopias for my daughter's teachers at school,  for a few of my favorite ladies at my school, and of course my friendly neighbors!  My husband was very skeptical as we were buying the ingredients!  He was sure this would be a big FAIL!  Shockingly they were a success!!  

Found these on Pinterest too!  The original idea came from Make Life Delicious.  You start with sugar cones and dip the bottoms in hot water.  The original link says warm water, but I found the cones weren't flexible unless the water was H-O-T!  The you nuke the cone for 20-25 secs.  Be careful you don't burn the cone!  Immediately after taking the cone out of the microwave, mold the cone around a pencil and hold for 20-30 seconds!  The let is set for a few minutes and it re-hardens pretty quickly.  I filled them with Christmas M &M's mostly because that's what I could find, but they would have probably looked better just with regular since I made them for Turkey Day.  Finally, I used a FREEBIE (I love FREE!) from Amanda's Parties To Go to make the gift tags.  Easy Peasy!

Thankful for the Kiddos (Part 2)

I had a free minute before the kiddos arrived today and took a quick pic of the project I blogged about yesterday (check it out if you missed it!!).  

The link to the FREEBIE is also on yesterday's blog!  It's not too late to make these for your kiddos.  We can be thankful any time!

Cupcake Teepees

FAIL

Tomorrow we are headed to my mom's for dinner.  Among other goodies, I told her I would bring over a new dessert I found on Pinterest - Cupcake Teepees.  They looked SO CUTE.  The original project can be found a These Are A Few of My Favorite Things.   I had 2 WHOLE hours to myself this afternoon and I decided to try cooking without an almost  year old underfoot!  This would be a breeze right??  WRONG

Promise me you won't judge me for my disaster I'm about to post!  And don't be discouraged from trying it - You are probably better than I!  

Here they are in the oven...

I especially loved the mess of cupcake that ended up on the bottom of my oven- AWESOME!!  

Oh well - We all must fail sometime!  I must feel comfortable with this blogging thing already as I am already sharing a HUGE FAIL in public!  :)

I hope you all enjoyed today's blog.  Comment below and follow me!

Most of all have an amazing Turkey Day with your families and friends.  Remember all that we have and be thankful for it all!  I'm already thankful for you!

Abbey:)

Pilgrims, Turkeys, and Publishing...Just Another Week In First Grade!

HI All!

I have been absent all week from the bloggy world and I am so sorry.  This week was busier than expected and with the Little Lady's Open House on Wednesday, I got totally behind!  I am happy to say though that my little TPT store is growing and we increased our followers in a HUGE way this week - so thanks for the LOVE!  I am back with 2 newbies - one of them is a FREEBIE!!!  Read on to see some of what we were up to this week....

1.  Pilgrims

You all know that I LOVE Teri from Cupcake for the Teacher!  I love making her crafts with my kiddos on Fridays!  Today was no exception.  We made Pilgrims (which I need to talk more about next week, since many kids had NO IDEA what a Pilgrim was).  There were boy and girl Pilgrims and they kids could choose what they wanted to make.  Then the wrote one thing they are thankful for on the writing lines.  You can check out Teri's blog linked above and find the Pilgrim craft HERE on TPT.  

2.  Spelling Fill-Ins

Earlier this year I made spelling lists for each week and word writing practice pages, ABC order sheets, and sentence writing sheets for homework all connected with the Fundations phonics program (but they could be used in any classroom though!)  There was one more set I had wanted to finish for awhile, but I kept getting distracted by everything else.  Anyway...this week I stuck with it and finished the final pack in the set - Fill-In the Blanks.  This pack has already been included in my bundle, so if you already purchased my bundle just re-download it and the fill-ins will be there.  Here's a peek at the pack that you can find HERE.  The bundle can be found HERE!

3.  Noun and Verb FREEBIE!!!

You all have been LONG overdue for a FREEBIE!!  Here it is - Nouns and Verbs sort.  My kiddos have been doing a lot of work with nouns and verbs, but now it's time to mix them up and sort them out.  Here's the perfect activity for you to use in your room!  Find the FREEBIE HERE!

4.  Turkey Dinner Game

I have been using Made for 1st Grade's Turkey Time Math and Literacy Centers.  This week we played the Turkey Dinner Game.  I totally meant to take pictures of the kids playing the game, but I was busy with the little ones and it slipped my mind.  Basically the game asks kids to choose a card from the pile, read the word on the card, and then use the word in a sentence.  If they can do this they can keep the card, if not it goes back into the pile.  There are some "Turkey Dinner" cards mixed in which makes you lose your cards!  Here are some peeks at the game.  

You can find this great game HERE or you could check out Made for 1st Grade's blog HERE!

5.  Personal Narrative Publishing

We are coming to the end of the first Lucy Calking writing unit!  It's time to publish our personal narratives!  We have revised, edited, rewritten, made covers, and an about the author page!  Now all I have to do is put the books together this weekend, so we can have our BIG celebration on Monday!  I plan to decorate the room up a bit for the event, so I will (try to remember) post pictures of the big moment!!  Are you working on this unit too?  Check out all of the supplements I have in my little store!

That's all for now friends!  I hope you all have an AMAZING weekend!  My 15th high school reunion is tomorrow and I'm not sure that I am up for going...Only time will tell!  Do you go to your reunions??  Are they worth it?? 

A Personal Day, A Bundle, and Some Turkey Day FUN!

Hi Again!

I took today off as a personal day so that I could go to the Little Lady's conference!  It was great to be able to drop her off and pick her up!  The conference was nice to - getting to hear all about her day at school and how she is with her friends.  I even got a quick minute to visit with her when she came back from gym (and she was named GYM STAR of the day!).  What a treat!  Even better than that we snuck out for a quick lunch with my dad.  Gotta LOVE special days off!

While the little lady was at school I did manage to finish two products I had hoped to have out before now - Our Phonics BUNDLE (combined set of our first 4 phonics pack at a reduced price) and a set of Thanksgiving Literacy and Math Centers (better late than never - RIGHT???)  Read on to check out what's included and hop over to TPT to purchase!

Phonics Practice Bundle!

So, Mel and I have been really busy setting up our Fundations aligned phonics packs.  We are happy to announce, since we have finished the 4th pack, we bundled the first 4 packs together for a BIG savings!  The first pack focused on CVC words, the second on digraph words, the third on bonus letter words, and the most recent focused on the glued sound - am and -an.  Even though we use Fundations and have connected the packs to the units, they can really be used with any phonics instruction because the packs are skilled based.  You can read more about each pack HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE (these are links to my original blog posts for each of the packs.  You can find the Phonics Practice Bundle HERE in my TPT store.  

Here are some glimpses of what you will find in the bundle.

Thanksgiving Math and Literacy Centers

I wanted to make a set of Halloween math and literacy centers, but time got away and I didn't finish them in time.  I had hoped to get this set out MUCH MUCH sooner than a week before the BIG day, but better late than never.  Plus, maybe you are a planner and would like to purchase these centers for next year ;)  

I have created 4 centers .  Take a look at some of what is included.  You can find it on TPT HERE!

That's all for tonight!  I am going to enjoy my last minutes of my L-O-N-G weekend!  Be sure to check out the new stuff in my store and leave some feedback (you get credits toward future purchases if you leave feedback on TPT!).  I hope to be back later this week with an addition to my spelling packs (It will be included in the BUNDLE for those of you who have already purchased it and a phonics pack focused on the suffix s.  :)

AM and AN Phonics Pack

I hope you are having a nice weekend! There won't be a Five For Friday this week, but I will try for one next Friday.  We had a busy week and we have been creating more and more products for TPT!  I'm back today with the 4th in our phonics packs - focusing on the glued sounds -am and -an (m and n are nasal sounds, so they change the sound of the a in short vowel words).  We should have a bundle (packs matching Fundations Units 2-5) ready for purchase by later tonight - with BIG savings of course!

Here's a sneak peek at the latest pack...

If you like what you see you can find it HERE for only $3 or get the CVC pack, digraph pack, bonus letter pack, and am and an pack for only $9 (a $4 SAVINGS!!)  I should be back tomorrow with a set of Thanksgiving Math and Literacy Centers (better late than never - right?) and a link to the phonics bundle!

Enjoy your Sunday! :)

Bonus Letter Pack and Thanksgiving Sight Words

What a nice L-O-N-G weekend!  The extra day was SO VERY nice to have this week!  We had a pretty typical weekend, so the extra day was great!  (Can I say that enough??)  I worked hard to finish 2 packs this weekend - the fourth in our phonics pack series and the second in my sight word games pack.  Read on to check them out and read to the end to hear about my GIVEAWAY tonight!  

BONUS LETTERS PACK

Here is a great bonus letter practice packet for you to use! All you have to do is print and copy. Short vowel words that end with f, l, s, and sometimes z get a bonus letter at the end - cuff, fuzz. It is closely aligned to CCSC and Wilson's Fundations program (unit 4 - bonus letters and glued sound -all). The pack includes 10 digraph practice sheets (one for each day of the unit) and 8 trick word practice pages (I, they, you, your, was, one, said). 

Here are some pics of the pack, which can be found HERE.

THANKSGIVING SIGHT WORDS PACK 

Here is a GREAT set of sight word games perfect for Kindergarten or first grade. This set of 6 games focuses on 20 common sight words (as, for, yes, has, he, his, big, work, well, be, will, not, red, off, much, said, tell, run, they, but). I have a different set of fall sight words with different words in my store as well.

This game pack includes:
- Bingo
- Memory
- Go-Fish
- UNO
- Chutes and Ladders
- Turkey Time

Find this pack HERE!

Here's a look...

I hope you like our new packs!  Mel and I have been having a great time making them for you!  In honor of being so productive this weekend.  We are throwing a little giveaway.  We will give away either of these 2 packs (sight words or bonus letters) to someone who comments here on the blog on over on our facebook page (make sure you like the FB page too!)  Please leave your email address and which pack you would like to win!  We will choose a winner tomorrow morning at 7 EST!  Good Luck!! :)