Writer's Workshop

I must admit that when I was moved to First Grade three days before school started this year, I was a little nervous and really had no idea of what to expect and what expectations were going to be placed on me and my new group of kiddos.  I have embraced first grade and LOVE IT... however, have slacked on my writer's workshop!  B-U-T thanks to Erica Bohrer and her amazing unit Writer's Workshop (available at her TPT store) I have begun to create some awesome little author's!

While searching for a book on Amazon to introduce letter writing to my sweet firsties (surprisingly, I could not find a decent enough book in my school library...shocking!) I stumbled across some awesome books:

These two stories are ADORABLE and my kiddos were glued to the text and illustrations.  Just like Erica does in her writer's workshop, we spent a lot of time prior to and after reading discussing the story and the elements of the story, as well as the elements in how to the characters wrote the poem and story.  It was such a great way to introduce them to writing topics.  Much better than I could!!! :)

Happy Hump-Day!

Been a long time...

It has been a ridiculously long time since I have had the chance to post  some "good" stuff!

My camera was stolen by one of my firsties the week prior to our spring break (which was the week of March 21...yeah, long time) and was returned to me last week, however life set it (I just finished my MASTER'S!!)

Here is what we've been up to the past month! :)

 We began at the end of March learning about plants.  {I love doing this unit with the kiddos}

 After learning all about sunflowers...and Van Gogh... we made these gorgeous paintings!

 I created this four week plant growth project that was set up much like Cara's Groudhog project.  

 We conducted several experiements with seeds and flowers prior to beginning this project and made predictions before we "planted" our seeds.  I just used a lima bean seed, cleaned them, and then wrapped them with a damp paper towel and placed them inside plastic ziploc "greenhouses."

 We observed and measured our seed daily and at the end of each week wrote about our observations.

 These are our cute little greenhouse where we grew our seeds!

On another note.... I usually give my kids morning work with they first come in (stuff to do while we wait for the tardy bell to ring, me to take attendence, and for our school news to be done).  I have used squiggle writing ever since I interned and LOVE the kids creativity.  I saw a freebie on someone's blog {sorry... I have forgotten who} that had a download of a TON of squiggle writing papers.  I, surprisingly, already had the same ones in my filling cabinet that were there when I took over the classroom three years ago!  I L-O-V-E these and so do my first graders.  Here are two samples of what two of my creative girls came up with when given a "squiggle" of a less than symbol!!!

Sorry for being MIA!!  Loving all of the creative ideas out there these past couple weeks.  This really is a network of AMAZING men and women!!!  Maybe we should show our blogs to some of those 'important' people who are lowering the bar for educators :(

And the winner is....

.........

True Random Number GeneratorMin: Max: Result:20Powered by RANDOM.ORG

Congratulations to LeAnn Cooper who said.....

I'm a follower!

www.hangingwithmrscooper.com

Please email me your info at kellymchaffie@hotmail.com! :)  So excited to see what you will create with these blocks!!!

Thank you to everyone who has been so supportive of my fun little teacher blog.  I promise to get more involved.  I graduate with my masters in TWO weeks!  WOO HOO!!!

Now time to go watch Teen Mom! haha...guilty pleasures!


FYI:  Not sure why the generator number keeps switching to max. 100... it was set at 36.  WEIRD!

OH MY 100!!!!

Never thought it would happen.  Never expected it to. But I logged on today and suddenly noticed I had 100 followers!  I am amazed that 100 people would want to hear what I have to say or would be interested in my daily {teaching} life!  I feel somewhat humbled, and somewhat like a slacker.  I am not like many of the other bloggers.  I have yet to figure out how to get my documents to convert to a PDF properly, or how to add all these cute buttons and such.  I often feel as though I neglect the blog world do to my overfilling my "plate" with so many other tasks, events, and such.  I even lost my camera last week :(  

Life has been a mess, but I'm so glad to be a part of the blogging world, where I can vent, create, beg, borrow, and steal with fellow teachers!  Thank you for showing an interest in ME! :)

To show my appreciate I am going to be giving away a set of these awesome picture blocks:

I first saw them on Kindergarten Crayons, ordered them immediately, and typed up some cute first grade sight words.  I am also using them for vocabulary words that we learn with each theme/unit.  They, of course, will have an adorable corresponding picture... and as soon as I get it converted to PDF, I'll have it posted for everyone to snag.

Here's what you do to get in on this fun little giveaway {it will be the easiest entry around}:

1. Become a follower of my blog: Beg, Borrow, Steal for one entry

2. Post about this fun little giveaway for another entry

I will pick a winner on Tuesday, April 5!

Good Luck and THANK YOU!!!