The BIG Thank You-PLEASE READ!

Hey yall!

 

I wanted to talk to you a little bit about something I hold near and dear to my heart....our troops.

 

There are hundreds of thousands of soldiers overseas each year, and you would be surprised at the amount that do not receive any letters from home. They spend the holidays away from their families in order to protect our freedoms. They put their lives on the line every single day, and I find it heartbreaking that so many of them go without words of encouragement.

 

Last year, my class became involved with a local Atlanta radio station to write letters to soldiers overseas. The show is called The Bert Show and they asked people everywhere to get involved. They called this The Big Thank You.

 



 

The goal of this campaign is for every single soldier to get a handwritten letter for the upcoming Thanksgiving holidays. Last year they sent out over 405,000 letters!

 

It is so easy to get involved with this campaign! Many teachers may already have their students write letters to the troops for Veterans Day or Memorial Day anyway. It really only takes a few minutes and means the world to a lonely soldier.

 

Want to get involved???

 

I just know that all of you amazing bloggers/teachers out there can help spread the word about this campaign....so I decided to start a linky party! What better way to spread the love, right?

 

 

Here's how to get involved:

 

*Have your students write a handwritten letter to a soldier. The letter should be written on an 8.5 x 11 size paper. It can be front and back, but please only 1 page. There can be drawings as well, but no photographs. Also, the letter should be free of any glue, tape, staples, cardboard, or glitter. Feel free to include your mailing address or email address. Some soldiers like to write back!

 

*DO NOT SEAL INDIVIDUAL LETTERS! Bundle the letters together in groups of 50, 100, or 250. These should be held together with 2 rubber bands-one lengthwise and one widthwise. If you have less than 50 letters, fashion them together with a paperclip. The top page of each submission should clearly indicate the amount of letters being sent.

 

*You can send your letters to a variety of places. There are 3 addresses listed below that are accepting letters.

 

All the Hits Q100 Atlanta
780 Johnson Ferry Road NE
Fifth Floor
Atlanta, GA 30342

 

i106 WNFN
10 Music Circle East
Nashville, TN 37203

 

Indy's i94
6810 North Shadeland Ave
Indianapolis, IN 46220

 

*Get your whole school involved! Last year, my school sent over 400 letters!

But HURRY, because the deadline to get the letters in is November 2!!!

 

Now, I know that doesn't give you much time, but it really will only take maybe 10 minutes or so to have your students write these letters. The radio station needs to make sure that they have all the letters by November 2 in order to ensure their delivery by Thanksgiving.

 

I hope you will ALL participate in this great linky! If you link up below, you are pledging to join the campaign! Please copy the picture below to share in your post and SPREAD THE WORD, PEOPLE!!!

 

 

For more information on The BIG Thank You, please check out this website!



Boo!

Hey yall!

 

I feel like I have been the world's worst blogger lately. I was so excited when I got a job, because I knew I would be able to share some fun activities with you guys.

 

But I have just been struggling to keep my head above water lately, and this little old blog is suffering from a case of serious neglect :(

 

Between all the craziness of starting a new year with a new class AFTER 35 days of school with other teachers, I have also started 2 new grad school classes.

 

Life as I know it....is over. Let the insanity begin!

 

So...I've been BOO'd, yall! By Elizabeth :)
 



 



 

So here are the rules:

 

1) Choose a fellow blogger that has more followers, another that has about the same number of followers, and someone that has less followers.

2) Blog about each of them and include this cute linky party icon in your blog.

3) Lastly, leave them love by offering them a goody from your store as their "treat." (If you have a store)

 

What a fun game! I love Halloween and all things spooky, so I am down!

1. Lyndsey from a year of many firsts. I love this girl and all her cuteness! She makes such awesome resources for the classroom, and I have a ton of her posters hanging in my room as we speak!


2. Kerri from Ms. Kerri and her Krazy Klass. I got the chance to meet Kerri when I was vacationing in her hometown of Gatlinburg, and we literally sat & gabbed for hours!

 

3. Rebecca at Landing in K. Rebecca is a new blogger and we got the chance to meet at the Carolina Blogger Meetup. She was so sweet and is doing some fun stuff with her kinders!

 



 

Go check out their blogs and leave them some love!

 



Batty Numbers Freebie!

Hey yall!

 

This is going to be a quick post today, because life has been hectic lately! But hectic is good :)

 

I have been working on my Halloween themed math centers this week and it is slow going. So in the meantime, please enjoy this little freebie! Its an activity from my unit, which will *fingers crossed* by ready by later tonight!

 

Click on the picture to get your copy!

 

Now I'm off to watch some Walking Dead!

 

 



Classroom Photos 2012-2013

Hey yall! Happy Tuesday!

 

Its only happy for me because my grad school class got canceled tonight. Well, actually not canceled, just rescheduled. It was supposed to be the last night of class, so I guess all its really doing is putting it off for a couple of weeks....but whatever, that gives me LOTS more time to finish my not-even-close-to-being-done almost done assignments :)

 

So I know that I have been promising you guys some photos of the new classroom, and I finally took some today!

 

Please keep in mind though....this room is NOT completely finished. I know in my head that I still have lots to do, but I guess it looks somewhat finished..?

 

Anyways, go easy on me :) because it was the end of the day...

 

...and I forgot to tell the kids to put down their chairs...

 

...and I didn't really feel like putting down 19 chairs...

 

...then putting them back up again after the pictures...

 

...sooooooooooo...

 

...there are chairs stacked on desks in these pictures :)

 

Onto the pictures!



Writing center, listening center, and meeting area. Still need a rug to go here! The writing poster is from the teacher wife and the peacemaker posters are from First Grade Parade.



My number posters above...kinda hard to see :(



Story elements and strategies posters from a year of many firsts. This is the door to our bathroom.



Student computers! I am supposed to be getting one more. Punctuation posters from What the Teacher Wants.



Love pinterest!



Our bucket filler board! This is actually the side of my filing cabinet, so I used magnets to hold up the buckets.



My desk area. Please ignore those boxes of junk :)



Love my desk area! I have lots of storage and room to work.



My owl print from Ikea! $10 well spent :)



My mom got me these cuties!

Birthday board {minus the students' pictures-took those today} and calendar area-this is still missing A LOT!



This table holds our supply caddies, special books we've read, and the student daily folders go in that pink crate.



This is where my students get pencils and turn in their papers. Notice, I haven't grabbed their work from the past few days! Bad teacher...



My very pitiful library. Not pitiful because of the amount of books, but because of organization. One day I will go through and organize them all...but not now...I also need a rug for this area!



Our small group table and student cubbies! I really, really, really hate that bright yellow :(

Sink area with class jobs on the cabinets above.



Close-up of our class jobs {some of them, anyway}



Back wall with student cubbies and standards-based bulletin boards. We have to have one for each subject....obviously, I'm still working on those :) Also my pretty alphabet is up top!



Birthday balloons! We aren't allowed to hang anything from the ceiling, so I was pretty bummed about my lanterns :(



But I found a couple of places to put them! Also have some inspirational posters here from all over.



Our WBT posters from a year of many firsts and our Hoot Loot board. I will explain Hoot Look another time :)



So excited to have a Promethean board! I'm still learning how to use it. Notice that whole grid of nonsense? Another requirement...don't ask me how I feel about it. But I was happy to find some polka dotted duck tape to use!



Our class schedule, clip chart, and transportation board.

View from my desk area looking left.



View from our meeting area looking right.



View from the front door looking right.



View from the front door looking straight.



View from the sink area looking left.

 

Whew! Did you hang in there????

 

I used pretty much everything from my Owls on Dots collection, and then tweaked some a bit to better fit my needs. I will also be going back to revise some of this stuff, so keep a lookout!

 

So what do yall think??? I was really happy with how most things turned out, and my littles especially love the bright colors :)

 

Well, the hubs is burning cooking dinner, so off to do some damage control eat!

Fire Safety Math Freebies!

Hey yall!

 

Quick post today, because I have been super busy and productive. The hubs and I cleaned the whole house, I worked on a little grad school work, and then I whipped up some math centers for my littles next week. Tonight is the BIG game against South Carolina, so I've got some friends coming over.

 

I wanted to share with you the math centers I made today. They are fireman themed, so they are *perfect* to use next week!

 

 

Included in these math centers are:

*skip counting by 2s

*skip counting by 5s

*skip counting by 10s

*even and odd numbers

 

We are actually moving on to geometry and fractions next week, but I have a couple of littles that really need some extra practice with their skip counting!

 

Click here or on the picture above to get your free copy!

 

Now, off to see the Dawgs eat some chicken for dinner :)

 



Currently and I'm in LOVE!!!

Hey yall!

 

Can you believe we are 4 days in October already? I'm lovin' it though, because October is my absolute favorite month of the year!

 

Why do I love this month so much? Let me count the ways...fall, pumpkin EVERYTHING, Georgia football, cooler weather, beautiful trees, and my most favorite holiday HALLOWEEN!!!

 

So I was super excited to see the start of this month, and definitely ready for this month's Currently!

 

 

Does anybody else love Parenthood as much as I do??? Seriously, it is the best show ever! And it never fails to make me cry....

 



 

My first week back in first grade is almost over and it has been crazy! Partly because I am in a new school and partly because I came 35 days into the year :)

 

But I'm wading through! I know it will take some time for me to get adjusted, but my littles are quickly becoming accustomed to me.



 



Want to know what has my heart pumping these days???

 

Well, I have 2 new loves as of late!

 

Love #1: My new Sanuks!

 

 

I got these babies at the outlet mall in Hilton Head last weekend. They were originally like $56, but I found them for 75% off and paid a whopping $12 for them! And they are the MOST comfortable shoes I have ever worn....oh whoops, they're not shoes...they're sandals!

 

Love #2: My new Erin Condren planner!

 

 

I decided to treat myself for finally getting a job, so I broke down and ordered one. I love, love, LOVE it!!!! Best money I've spent in awhile :)

 

That's it for me tonight, yall! I promise I will take some classroom pictures soooooooon....:)

 

Go link up with Farley!