Candy Corn Bandit Strikes Again!

A few years ago I discovered The Candy Corn Bandit packet by Babbling Abby over at The Inspired Apple. I am not big on parties and all the crazyness. So, I was SUPER excited when I found something that my kiddos thought made for "The Best Day Ever!"

Here is how are day goes: (I don't have pics of everything, sorry)

When we arrive at school in the morning there is a jar of candy corn for my kiddos to do some estimating with.

We then count out the candy corns into groups of 10 and see who's estimation was the closest.

Then it is time for some Candy Corn Bingo! *Not part of the packet*

 I made these cute little candy corn boxes with my Silhouette Cameo!

After Bingo it is time for recess. When we returned from recess our candy corn was gone and there was a note and a clue left for us. We completed the predictions pages before reading the first clue. 

Then we were off and hunting. I think this may have the the quietest line I have ever had ;)

I didn't get good pics of all our stops but here are a few.

 I LOVE our support staff! They are good at playing along. I think they get as excited as my kiddos do.

 Sorry this one is so blurry.

Once we returned to the classroom we talked about the clues and competed the writing and art project. I loved hearing about who they think the Candy Corn Bandit really is. Some of my kiddos even said that they saw him sneak into the classroom. This packet makes for a fun filled Halloween without all the crazyness of a party. My kiddos are already talking about how they think he will be back for Christmas. But, they will have to wait until February. I have also purchased the Sweetheart Snatcher for our Valentine's "party."

Side note: You will be seeing a lot of this handsome face this year. That handsome young man in my son, Parker. I am so lucky to get to be his teacher this year! We are having soooo much fun. I have learned so much about myself as a teacher and a mother :) If you ever get the chance to have your child in your class I suggest you do it. How many kids get to say "My mommy is my teacher?" Mine does. And he says it ALL the time!

Something Fishyyyy...

We had a field trip planned to our local fish hatchery for Oct. 10th but due to our government shutting down we had to reschedule and were able to go on Oct. 24th. The Salmon were still running but nothing like it has been in years past. We spent the week before learning about the life cycle of a Salmon. There are not many things out there. But, I did find this great packet from Journey of a Substitute Teacher. Click on the pic for the TpT link.

We were able to get a Salmon for our firsties to study and explore before our trip. Don't worry they were not alive ;)

 I did not know that Salmon have teeth on their tongues. Did you??

My kiddos had a blast. I think they may have taught the tour guide a thing or two about Salmon ;)

On a personal note....
I started a 30 day Squat Challenge on Monday. We started out with 30 squats, 30 pushups, 30 lunges, and 30 second plank. By the end of the month we will be up to 100 of each. BOY am I feeling it! I am not sure how I will be able to do 100 pushups by the end of the month but I will certainly try.

Tomorrow is Halloween and our district was sooooo smart this year. We have a teacher inservice day on Friday. NO KIDS the day after Halloween!!!!! I will be back this weekend to share some pics of Red Ribbon Week and The Candy Corn Bandit!

Treasure Word Wall & Oh No!

I just posted my Treasures Word Wall & Oh No! word cards. Check them out in my TpT store here.

YouTube Blocked??

Is youtube blocked at your school site like it is mine? I found a way to save those amazing teaching videos to your thumb drive so you can play them at school!!! Go to savefrom.net  Copy and paste the URL for the video you want to download and then click on MP4 360p option. The video will then be downloaded to your computer. On my MacBook I then choose the "Export" option in the quicktime player file menu. I can then export it to my thumb drive. Click on the "For Users" tab at the top for more detailed directions and helpful hints. Good Luck!!!! I went CrA-zzY downloading videos to use with my firsties this week. Their favorite is this cute video below about echolocation. We just finished up our bat unit.

Have a great weekend!!!!

Let's Talk about Me!

I am linking up with Blog Hoppin' for a fun meet and greet!

Here are a few things you may not know about me.

1. I LOVE my little family! My hubby and I met right after I garduated from high school. We have been together for almost 13 years and have been married for 7 years. Our amazing son, Parker, just turned 6. Yes, I believe he was a honeymoon baby ;)

2. I started scrapbooking a long time ago and I love it. This last year I sold my cricut and bought a silhouette. Absolutely LOVE IT!!!!

3. I have three younger sisters. All girls no boys. My poor dad will always be out numbered but I don't think he would have it any other way. 

Sister Sydney, Cousin Gabby, Sister Natalie, Me, Mom, Sister Rylee, Nana, Parker

4.  I lost my Papa 5 years ago.  He taught me so many things about life. I used to get so embarrassed when we would go somewhere and he would start singing as long as he could in the parking lot. I would give anything to have those moments back. 

5. I am a sucker for cop shows. I love CSI, Rookie Blue, The Glades... Oh, I can't forget the firefighters too, Chicago Fire. If it isn't set for DVR it is in my favorites on hulu,com

6.  I would rather get gifts like this...

...than flowers any day. My hubby can be very creative when it come to gifts. We had torn out a concrete path in our backyard and he used the pieces and the mini excavator to make a heart on Valentines day!!! KEEPER!!

7.  Family time on the lake is one of my favorite times! I have to admit, I usually get board and end up reading my book while the boys fish. I just don't have the patience to sit there with a pole in the water waiting for a fish to bite. But I enjoy reading my booking while floating around in the middle of Shasta Lake with my two favorites boys!!

8.  I enjoy making pinterest inspired stuff for my lil man! Hopefully he will remember it when he is older.

 Robot cake for his 6th Birthday!

Christmas morning breakfast!

9.  I completed my first 5k this last year. OK, I didn't actually RUN (those who know me know I am not a runner) but I did speed walked with a friend while the rest of our group actually ran! It was a blast.

10. I guess I am my Nana's grandchild. I LOVE me a good glass of wine!!! I don't really have wine for dinner but this made me laugh!!!!

So, that is me!! Kind of boring I know. But I love my life!!

Make sure to head over to Blog Hoppin all week long for more teacher fun!

Silhouette Fun!

I made this cute lil frame for the first day of school pics with my firsties. I think it turned out super cute! I have a few other banners in progress for my bulletin boards. I will share those as soon as they are finished.

Silhouette Cameo Vinyl!!

I have had my Silhouette Cameo for awhile now but I have been too scared to try and use the vinyl. Yesterday I pulled up a few tutorials on youtube and went for it. I did make a few booboos but in the end this is what I came up with:

This is the side of my desk that faces my classroom. I had so much fun. I can't wait to do something else in my classroom. I am thinking about putting a few things on my whiteboard. I will keep you posted on what I come up with.

Do you have a silhouette? What have you used vinyl for?


TGIF!!!!!!

Parking Lot SIght Word Game

I just finished creating a Parking Lot game to go along with the California Treasure program for First Grade. I have posted the Smart Start game boards as a freebie. Click here to get your copy. You can purchase Units 1-6 from my TpT store by clicking here. Enjoy!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Click on the post title to follow me on bloglovin.com or click the wiget on the right! I am still getting know how all this blogging stuff works so be patient with me :)

Reminder101!

I just found this Ahhmazing post! I am so excited and can't wait to use this app. Reminder101 is a FREE app that sends out reminder texts to parents. Check out 
Ms. Nordhof's Class for detailed instructions about the app. I already downloaded the app and printed the letter to add to my back to school packet!

SUMMER!!!!

I know it has been awhile. Man has life been busy. I am enjoying my summer and trying to relax. I have been busy cleaning out closets and cabinets at home. Pretty sure every teacher knows what that is like. It isn't Spring cleaning in my house. It is Summer cleaning. Besides cleaning I have been working on a few new things to help my little ones with our Treasures weekly sight words. I just posted a sticker book. Go check it out! Click on the cover below to take you to my TpT store. I will be back soon with more sight word fun for California Treasures!

Teachers Pay Teachers

I have been editing my "Rocket Words" that I created last year when my students were having trouble with our weekly high frequency words. I wanted something to add to our weekly spelling packets that my firsties would be excited about. With the help of my fellow first grade teachers I came up with "Rocket Words" and they were a HUGE success. Within the first week I noticed that my students were retaining the weeks words. After some encouragement from my colleagues I prefected them and they are now TpT ready. If you teach from the First Grade Edition of Macmillan/McGraw-Hill California Treasures you need to try "Rocket Words." You can download my SmartStart set for free. Click  here to check out my "Rocket Words." Please leave your feedback!

I have so much stuff still on my To Do list and only 3 days of Spring Break left!! This was my big project to complete. Maybe now I can complete the small things on my list. 

A little of this and a little of that...

So, I got the blogger app on my phone. I have made a few posts using it and was surprised when I logged on and didn't see my last post. I apologize that my Dr. Seuss pics didn't make it. We have been working on our district assessments for reports the last two weeks. I am excited that all my reports are done. Next week in parent conference week so it is going to be a long one. I always lok forward to meeting parents to talk about their sweet littles ones that I get the pleasure of teaching everyday. But I don't lok forward to all the sitting, talking , and long week. Here is what we have been up to.

Last week we read Yertle the Turtle and then completed the cute craftivity. We also read Horton Hears a Who and completed the super cute craftivity but I guess I didn't get a picture of it :( I can't find the link for where I got the super cute craftivities. I will look at school on Monday for the credits page that goes with it so I can give credit to the talented person who created it. I purchased a super cute unit from The Teachers' Cauldron on TpT. My kiddos had so much fun doing fish math and then getting to eat their fish for snack. I found it odd how their numbers varied from one page to another. I think there was a gold fish bandit in the room that day ;)

Thing One and Thing Two were inspired by a Pinterest post that did not have a link so I created my own templet. My kiddos giggled soooo hard when having their hands painted.

We finished off a fun filled week with some not so silent reading in first grade. My little ones had so much fun reading from their favorite Dr. Seuss books all week. It was exciting to see how they really got into reading during a time when millions of others kids just like them would be celebrating the same thing they were.

I have to share what I got to do yesterday after school. I have a new niece, Paisley who is 5 weeks old and I got to meet her for the first. AND I got to see her big sis, my sweet Taylor. Who I haven't seen since July! My hubbies sister and her family are moving from Washington to Florida and made a stop in California for a visit. I also got to see my other niece, Laina who is 5 months old. I got my baby fix!!!!

Here is one last pic...

This is how I am working tonight... A glass of wine, Footloose, and a little school work.