Orange 'ya glad it's a Blog Hop?

Hi friends! Happy Saturday and thank you for coming through the blog hop today!!

I am the....

I am super excited to share 2 new products with you today! This first one is my "You Better Splat That!" phonics game! It is super fun and the kiddos love it! Basically I have included a TON of word cards that include: short vowel sound word cards, long vowel sound word cards, word family word cards, and  blend word cards (L,S,R)! You get 4 different word card versions for ALL word cards!

Version A: Full color with words and pictures

Version B: Full color with words only

Version C: Black/White with words and pictures

Version D: Black/White with words only

This is a great game that gets students involved in their reading and learning while being hands on and excited! You can really use the cards in this pack a bazillion different ways but the way I use it goes like this: Let's say you're working on short vowel sounds. Pick out 10 word cards that all have a short vowel sound. Then pick out 3 or 4 long vowel sound word cards and mix them together. Now the students should work in groups of 4 preferably. I use this game with a Splat! flyswatter I found at Walmart for $1 however in case you can't locate that, I gave you the pieces needed to make your own Splat! stick! Once you have a Splat! stick of some kind, the 4 students will decide which two students will be the "splatters" and which 2 will be the readers. They then take the mixed up pile of word cards and the two readers will spread them out on the floor upside down. They will turn them over one at a time and read them. Since they are looking for short vowel sound word cards, they would leave any of those cards there. IF they turn over and read a word with a long vowel sound however, they turn to a splatter and say "You better splat that!" The splatter would splat the card and remove it from the floor. Students keep going until all of the words have been turned over and read, then students switch roles. :) Fun, fun, and more fun!

Click the picture to check it out and purchase it on TpT!

The next product I have for you is a BRAND NEW, HOT OFF THE PRESSES FREEBIE!

Who doesn't love a freebie?!? :)

I made an I Have, Who Has? game using all CVC words. It's in the same rainbow theme as the Splat! game also! I included pictures under the "Who Has" statement to aide students in reading it, and of course because everything looks cuter with pictures! :) There are 32 I Have, Who Has? game cards with easy start and finish cards so that students know who goes first and who ends the game!

Click the picture to head over to my TpT store and download this freebie!

Thank you so much for stopping by today! Please remember that if you are downloading any of the freebies you see on the blog hop today, or purchasing a product, please be sure to follow that person's blog! :) Also, check back here later this weekend for a joint giveaway!

Your next stop is...

Come back again soon! If you need to start back at the beginning of the blog hop,  head back to Mrs. Russell's Room!

The Magical Product Swapping Goodness!

Hey y'all!

 

I am soooo excited to be posting about my first product swap! This awesome opportunity is hosted by Mrs. Stanford! Once you're done here... make sure you check out the other swaps going on!
 

 

Well, for this product swap I partnered up with a very sweet lady named Faith Rucker! Her blog is called Kindergarten Faith! Even though she teachers K and I teach 1st, we were able to find products that would totally work for each of us in our own classes. :)

 

At the end of this post, I will give you links to Faith's blog and TpT store!

 

So, what's the awesome product I got to use? Well, I used Faith's "Large Letter and Sound Flash Cards with Stick Kids"! And let me tell you, they are FAB-U-LOUS!

 

You get 79 pages of flash card greatness! But they aren't your regular tiny, hand held flash cards, they are full sized flashcards, making them a wonderful resource for whole group OR small group lessons! They are brightly colored and very eye catching for the students!

 

The flashcard set includes all of the letters in the alphabet in both UPPERCASE and lowercase. The set also includes some other sounds as well such as ar, oy, oo, digraphs, aw, ew, etc. giving you lots of word building possibilities!

 

As soon as I got the product from Faith, I printed them in COLOR on CARDSTOCK and then LAMINATED them because I wanted to make sure I would have them around for a long time! :)

 

Once they were laminated and ready to use, I told my class that we were going to try something new!

 

I passed out the flashcards to each student until each student had 2. I explained to them that I was going to call out various words to be formed and if they had the letter needed for that word, then they needed to come stand in the front of the room to MAKE the word for the class.

 

I gave them an example of "If I said CAT, students that had the C, A, and T would need to come stand up front" and they said they understood and were ready to go so we just jumped right in!

 

At first I was giving out random words like "go" and it was going great! Then I was like "hold on, wait a minute, we can totally do some letter changing to form new words!"

 

So I started with the word "boat" and the students with those letters came up front... then I said, "now let's change boat to coat" and this made them think...the child holding the "b" realized he needed to go sit down and the child at their desk who had the "c" had to come up front to change the word! The thinking that was taking place was awesome because I could see the wheels turning in EVERY child's head! We continued changing one letter to make new words then I would start over with a new base word and we would start changing that one! We did "bark" to "park" and then I would have them change two letters to change "park" to "tarp" and so on! We even went as challenging as changing "thick" to "quick"! Wow!

 

The students did awesome and had a BLAST! And what teacher doesn't love it when children are having fun WHILE applying and practicing their PHONICS?!?

 

And of course, I took some pictures of our experience! Check them out in all of their "word building" glory!

 

 

 

 So, my advice is, head on over to Faith's TpT store and snatch this great resource up!

Click here to view/purchase the flashcards at Faith's TpT store!

Click the picture below to head over to Faith's blog and see her review of my Short and Long Vowel Sounds Word Hunt Pack and to become her newest follower!!
 



I certainly hope you enjoyed reading about this product swap as much as I enjoyed doing it and blogging about it! I always love getting comments so please feel free to leave some "love and glitter" down below! :)

Five for Friday!

It's that time again! I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching once again for the Five For Friday Linky!

 

This week I thought I would mix up my 5 things with some personal and some school related stuff! Here we go:

 

1. The hubby and I were able to take our daughter to the movie theatre this week to see "The Croods"! It was her very first movie theatre experience and she did awesome! She has been talking about it alllllll week! (We may have created a movie-going monster!)

Arielle and I eating at Bubba Gump's before the movie!

Arielle posing with her "doggie" in front of the movie poster! :)



2. I recently received a few iPads to utilize in my classroom and we finally got to try them out this week! I put the students on Scholastic's "Sushi Monster" app and they loved it! If you haven't tried out that app, it's awesome for addition practice! A monster pops up in the middle with a number on his neck... students then have to choose the sushi plates to ADD UP to that number in order to feed him! If they get it right, he gobbles up the sushi... if it's wrong, he throws the plates back onto the serving line LOL! What fun! :)

 

 3. During math centers this week, we were working through my "Down in the Deep Blue Sea" centers which are Battleship/fish themed! (A big hit with the boys) The centers focus on several different Common Core standards and the kids really seem to enjoy them! Check them out:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

Click the picture to check them out on TpT!

 

4. I've been working super hard this week on my new phonics game! My goal is to have it posted this weekend! Here's a preview:

 

5. I am participating in my very first product swap hosted by Mrs. Stanford!  I swapped with super sweet Faith from Kindergarten Faith and I'm so excited to share the AWESOME resource I tried out with my class! Be sure to come back at 7 PM Eastern tomorrow (Saturday) to check out the awesome-y goodness! 

 

 Click on the picture to head over to Faith's blog! :)

 

  

 I look forward to "seeing" you guys tomorrow! :)

 

  

 

Let's Get Acquainted Linky: Skittles Game!

So sorry for my absence! I have been battling sickness bugs left and right the last two weeks! I am soooo over it!

 

Anyways, on to something fun! I am linking up with Mrs. Reed from Flying into First Grade again for her linky party!

 



This week's topic is a Skittles Game! Fun, fun, fun!

 

TOPIC - Skittles Game

Here is the code:

Red- Favorite Ice Cream Flavor

Orange- Favorite Memory from College

Yellow- Favorite Sports Team

Green- Favorite Fast Food Place

Purple- Wild Card(Tell anything about yourself)

 

Red

My favorite ice cream flavor has always been ROCKY ROAD!!! Yummmmy!

 

 

Orange

Hmmm, I have a lot of awesome memories from college but one that ranks at the top of my list has to be my Halloween party that my roomie and I threw one year! We had sooo many friends show up, dressed and ready to party! I even dyed my own hair red to go with my costume! Check out this pic of me as Jessica Rabbit:

 

Yellow

This one is easy! I was born and raised in TX and will ALWAYS be a Texas girl at heart! I grew up on the outskirts of Dallas therefore my favorite sports team is of course.... The Dallas Cowboys! :) Yes, even with all of the interceptions that Romo throws.. I'm still a fan! Hehe!

 

 

Green

Another toughie... because I HATE to cook which means I'm a fast food kinda gal! Although, I am trying to eat healthier lately! :) My favorite fast food place has to be....Wendy's! I just feel that of all the fast food places... they have the "best quality" of food!

 

 

Purple

Let's see...anything about myself?? Wow, there's a lot that could go here! I'll share that I LOVE going on cruises! They are by FAR my favorite types of vacations to take! They're cost effective, offer lots of activities, and the FOOD is endless!!! What more can you ask for?!? Up to this date, I have been on 17 cruises! :) I have been able to visit a lot of awesome places because of cruising and I'm counting down the days til I can book another one! :)

 

Thanks for stopping by guys! :)



Five for Friday!



Hey there friends! Happy Friday! I'm linking up Doodle Bugs Teaching once again for her Five for Friday linky!

 

Alright, here goes:

 

1. Wednesday was my 4 year anniversary with my hubby! He surprised me with this adorable cookie bouquet! Yummmy!

 

 



2. I found these AWESOME fly swatters at Wal-Mart for only $1 each! What a score! I have a game in mind that I want to make to go with them.... so I will post on that as soon as I create it!

 



3. I was at Target getting some cardstock and I turned around and saw this new Scotch tape dispenser! I already have the BLACK high-heel shoe one... but now there's THIS new one! AHHHH! I'm going to have to go back and get it so I can have both of them...geeze, I have a problem LOL!

 



 

4. This week at school, we have been doing our new reading textbook adoption. I have no words for how painful of a process this has been this week! If any of you have a reading series that you think is aligned well with CCSS.. I would love for you to leave me a comment and let me know what it is!

 

 

5. As the last couple of weeks have gone by and all of the end of year activities are approaching, I'm realizing how much I am going to miss my class! I mean, I have loved them ALL year long and always knew I would miss them.. but I guess it's sinking in that my time left with them is so limited and they are SUCH a wonderful group! I am certainly not looking forward to the last day of school. I am horrible at holding in my emotions with things like that. Ugh.

 

 





Well friends, that's all I got for this post! Thanks so much for reading and stopping by!

 Have a wonderful weekend!

We Have a Winner!

Please join me in congratulating Angie H.!

 

Angie, you should already have an email from me! :)

 

 

Thanks so much to EVERYONE who entered! More giveaways to come! :)



Five for Friday on an Early Sunday Morning!

Hi friends!

 

So sorry I've been out of touch since earlier this week! It was a crazy week and to top it off I got sick with some crazy stomach bug yesterday and have had it ever since! This stomach bug is NO JOKE! I actually lost 7 pounds in a 24 hour period from it! I mean, I love to lose weight, but not like that!

 

Anyways, I wanted to link up for my Five for Friday with Doodle Bugs Teaching and I apologize for it's lateness! :(

 

 

#1. On my team at school, we all fill out this Birthday info sheet at the beginning of the year, then we draw names. Each teacher is responsible for the birthday of another teacher on that same team. We had my birthday celebration yesterday during lunch because my birthday is tomorrow! Well, my teammate who had me did an AWESOME job! She got me this gorgeous zebra cake! Ya'll know I love sticky notes and glitter but my OTHER TWO THREE obsessions are zebra stripes, shoes and HOT PINK! The inside was chocolate and peanut butter! :)

 

 

2. I finally got my new printer!!!! Woo! I haven't been able to set it up yet but can't wait til I do!

 

 

3. While I was at Staples getting the printer, I found this pack on sale for only $2.00! 600 sticky notes for $2.00?!? Yes please!

 

4. We finalized our writing for a Lirpaloof Day activity! I made a super cute craft to go with it and made it into a craftivity! If you haven't seen my post about the Lirpaloof, go check it out here!

 

 

5. Tomorrow is my birthday and the hubby and I are off to the movies! We're going to have a movie marathon followed by dinner! I can't wait!

 

Hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend and don't forget to enter my giveaway if you haven't already! Time is running out!

 

 



Bloggy Launch Giveaway!

April 2nd has arrived which means it's time for my very first giveaway!

 

Here's a look at what ONE lucky winner will get! Be sure to enter using the Rafflecopter below!
And a HUGE thank you to these wonderful ladies for being a part of my giveaway! I am so honored! :)

 



                                 

 

 

 

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Lirpaloof Day! Say What?

 

You're probably asking yourself.. what on earth is her title of this post all about? Well, let me tell you!

 

I need to give a HUGE, HUGE, HUGE shout out to Denise over at Sunny Days In Second Grade!

 Be sure to click here, follow her blog and go snag this freebie for next year!

 



She created this fabulous Lirpaloof bird freebie to have a little fun with your kiddos on April Fool's Day!

 

 

Now that you know where to get it, let me tell you how this went down in my classroom with my firsties today! By the way, we also did this activity with Mrs. Russell from Mrs. Russell's Room! (We just so happen to be co-planning/teaching/facebooking-at-all-hours-of-the-night buddies!)

First, we started out reading through the story about the Lirpaloof. We then did the bottom part that says "Do This" which involves coloring the bird to match the description from the story and underlining the meaning of ELUSIVE with a crayon in the text. Then students had to figure out from the passage the three different things that the Lirpaloof eats and draw a picture of those three things. Once we had done all of those steps, I told them that after lunch, we would go outside and try to find the Lirpaloof. I didn't have time to go to the store for carrots ahead of time, so I told the kiddos that if there were carrots at lunch...perhaps they would want to hold on to them!

Pause story - insert funny quote from sweet child on the way to lunch - "Mrs. Roberts, for Easter yesterday, one of my chocolate candies was that kind of bird, it was a Lirpaloof!" Hehehe, too cute! Of course I just went right along with that...

Well, sure enough at lunch, we were blessed with carrots to choose from today! The stars aligned just for us today! So as you can imagine, I had 16 first graders all with little baggies of carrots on their trays anxious for lunch to be over! I even made a trip over to speak with the lady who monitors my class during lunch giving her the "low-down" on our plans so that she would understand why NONE of my children wanted to actually EAT their carrots LOL!

Of course, firsties being firsties, they had a TON of questions for me.. Do you think we'll see it? Do we have enough carrots? What song do we sing to get it? What if it's not in these trees that we're standing by.. it won't be able to hear us? How big is it? What does it sound like?

You get the picture! :)

So after lunch, we gathered our carrots and headed out to the recess field...

 

Here are two of Mrs. Russell's sweet boys singing the very special song they created! "Oh Lirpaloof, Oh Lirpaloooooof, I have a carrot for you.... Oh Lirpaloof, Oh lirpaloooooof....." Totally ADORABLE!

Here we are... readying our carrots HIGH up in the sky and starting to sing!

 

 We looked WAY up in the trees... searching, searching, searching....





THEN.... Mrs. Russell and I called for everyone's attention and on the count of 3 said "April Fool's!" This photo captures their "awmantheytotallygotus" faces! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!

 

It was SUCH a fun time had by all! So again, Denise, thanks SO much for the wonderful resource that was not only A BLAST but was also educational because we had to use the passage to support our answers and drawings!