12 Days of Giveaways - Day 1

Merry Christmas, y'all! It's the most wonderful time of the year - the season of GIVING! 

It's time for Castles and Crayons' second annual 

12 Days of Christmas!

This year will be lots of fun - I will giveaway a unit of your choice every day!

I will choose ONE winner today to win any unit of their choice from my TpT store! 

***The cutoff each night will be 2:00 am CST {12:00 midnight PST}

I will post the winner and email the unit the very next day when I post the next giveaway! 

Check back tomorrow for the winner of Day 1 and the chance to be one of 2 winners on Day 2! :)

Senses of the Season

Hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful! We are so stuffed and blessed!!! We hosted both families this year and the feast was scarfed down in 30 minutes {even though it took days to prepare!} 

Every year, my sister and I watch Elf Thanksgiving night and then we get our first Peppermint Mochas of the season together on Friday. I AM SO EXCITED FOR CHRISTMAS! It's THE MOST wonderful time of the year!

I am excited to share my newest unit with y'all! 
Click below to check out

Senses of the Season {Five Senses Christmas Fun}

It includes an activity for each of the five senses:

{SEE} Sights of the Season graphic organizer and book cover/sentence strips

{HEAR} Tinsel Tunes {printable} and Secret Sound parent note

{SMELL} Cinnamon Gingerbread ornament recipe and how to printable

{TOUCH} Peppermint Playdough {recipe, printable, labels for baggies}

{TASTE} Hot Chocolate {printable and graph}

I also *updated* my There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bell unit!
Click below to check it out:

These units will be 20 % off {along with all of my other units} on Cyber Monday and Bonus Tuesday!

My cart is full and I can't wait to click BUY! 

Happy Shopping!!! :)

Thanksgiving Bulletin Board :)

Happy Thursday...the last one before Thanksgiving! YAY! I am super thankful for our DELISH Thanksgiving lunch feast today! We are blessed with an amazing lunchroom staff. Seriously, I want to ask them for their recipes on multiple occasions! Their sweet potato casserole is to die for! :)

This year, my Thanksgiving hallway crafts came from 2 of my fave bloggers!

First shout out is to Hadar {Miss Kindergarten}

We made these pies the very next day after she posted this cutie! I ADORE the saying...'First Grade is As Sweet As Pie'! Super easy and precious...the perfect Thanksgiving craft! :)

Click {HERE} to check out her Sweet as Pie {Craft and Writing Templates}.

 I have recently gotten a few questions about the ruffle border! This idea is from one of my former co workers! She had this cuteness everywhere and I made her do a demo for me! :) It is hard to explain, but you cut strips of butcher paper about 4 inches wide {it doesn't matter how long the strips are}. Then, you hold the paper with both hands and scrunch it up using your pointer fingers and thumbs. Great description, huh?!?! :) The best part about the ruffle border is that it doesn't have to be perfect!!

Next up is Andi {Pencils, Glue, and Tying Shoes}

I found this cute little number last year and this was my second year making it! Ridiculously adorable...

Click {HERE} to head to the blog post to grab the patterns! 

If you have a few extra minutes {HA- funny, right???!!} over the next few days, The Legend of the Five Corn Kernels is a super quick, but impressionable, lesson. You can click on the pic below to snag it for free from TpT.

Have a great rest of the week! :)

Where It All Started!

Happy November, y'all! Hope you had a happy Halloween! Sugar high, anyone??? Put. down. the. Kit. Kats. and Milk Duds. and Butterfingers. and Baby Ruth. Oh, let's be serious...the whole dang candy bowl!  Ha!!!

Any Modern Family fans?? SHANTS??? I die! 

I also HEART the new show Nashville! So fun! My little sis lives there so it is fun to see all the hot spots in town on the show! 

Last November, I contacted Denyse at Scrappin Doodles and asked her to create graphics for all of the Old Lady books. I was SO PUMPED when she emailed back to say yes!!!! She is such a fabulous artist! The crazy Old Lady has been a fave of mine since my first year of teaching! I even made an old lady puppet for sequencing! *Will update with a pic tomorrow from school!

My very first Old Lady unit, I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie, needed a little sprucing up! TpT buyers and sellers..can't you instantly tell your first few units??? :) It kind of makes me cringe! HA! 

Click on the pic below to check it out! If you already purchased it, please download the newest version!

I have also bundled together a fall Old Lady pack with some savings...There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves, There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat, and I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie! 

Click on the pic to get the scoop!

Wishing you the happiest of Novembers! :)

Trick or Treat Flash Sale!

Happy, happy Saturday!!! :)

I am having a Trick or Treat Flash Sale in my TpT store the rest of this weekend...20% off from now until Sunday night, October 28. 

Check out other sales over at The Bubbly Blonde's linky!

Click on the pic below to head to my TpT store! 
Have a spectacular spooky weekend! :)

Write On! {Nonfiction} Graphic Organizer Freebie

Hey y'all! Hope today was great! 

I LOVE this time of year...my firsties finally know to put their papers in the zebra basket {HA!}, Daily Five and Math Work Stations are running smoothly, and all of our classroom routines are automatic...be still my heart! :)

I HEART using can-have-are charts in my classroom. I like that it gives firsties support with organizing their thoughts, as well as varying sentence structure, when writing nonfiction. I find myself reaching for these for almost every unit! So, I decided to put together a collection of can-have-are charts that I use throughout the year! My unit includes 53 graphic organizers and coordinating lined paper with 4 lines. 

The following topics are included in this unit:

FALL {Apples, Leaves, Pumpkins, Scarecrows, Bats, Owls, 

Spiders, Cats}

DINOSAURS {Bones, Dinosaurs}

FARM {Pigs, Sheep, Horses, Cows, Farmers}

THANKSGIVING {Turkeys, Corn, Pilgrims}

CHRISTMAS {Reindeer}

WINTER {Snowflakes, Snowmen}

HEARTS {Hearts}

WEATHER {Rainbows, Clouds, Raindrops, Tornados}

SPRING {Clovers}

EASTER {Chicks, Eggs, Rabbits}

INSECTS {Butterflies, Ladybugs, Caterpillars, Bees}

SPACE {Stars, Planets, Rockets, Astronauts}

OCEAN {Crabs, Octopus, Fish, Seahorses, Sharks, Dolphins, 

Shells}

RAINFOREST {Monkeys, Iguanas, Parrots, Toucans, Frogs}

PLANTS {Seeds, Flowers, Plants, Trees}

I will be adding more shortly...please let me know which ones you need in your classroom! 

Click on the pic below to check it out! This unit will be 20% off until Wednesday, October 24. 

Download the preview from TpT for a freebie! If you are not a member on TpT, sign up for free!

The freebie includes a graphic organizer for bats and owls, as well as coordinating paper with lines!

Have a great week, y'all!

Math Work Stations

Hey, y'all! Hope you had a fun fall weekend and a painless Monday! :)

This summer, I was on the fence about my Math block...do I stay with Math Daily Five or do I switch to Debbie Diller's Math Work Stations???????? I seriously couldn't make a decision! I think both have great qualities! BUT...I decided to make the switch and I am LOVING it! I wanted to devote a post to some of things I am liking about Math Work Stations my first year of implementation. 

Some things I am really hearting about Math Work Stations...

*THE TUBS

I found these tubs at Walmart this summer and I ADORE them! First of all, they are PINK! :) I wanted a lid so that everything wouldn't fall out! My firsties can easily open and close the handles. They are also big enough to fit larger items! They fit the big die I use for Roll and Graphs, as well as big game boxes!

*MULTIPLE OPTIONS

I like that there is no idle time! There is a sense of urgency for the kiddos to complete their first task so that they can make another choice from the tub! I display a flipchart during Work Stations that says what each tub starts with. Once the kiddos have completed the activity or one round of a game, they can then choose another activity from the tub. I keep previous games in the tubs that they can play all year long! 

*ELEMENT OF CHOICE 

With Math Daily Five, I liked that the kiddos chose their activity each day. Even though I tell the kiddos which tub they go to each day, there is an element of choice in the activities they do in each tub. It is also a lot more organized! They know which activity they start with and then they know the activities they can choose from afterwards! 

I have 19 students, so I have 9 tubs {8 groups of  2 and 1 group of 3}. My kiddos visit one tub a day, so it takes about 2 weeks to rotate through all 9 tubs. I wish they could visit 2 tubs a day, but for now, by the time calendar and our mini lesson is over, we have about 20 minutes for tubs. It takes us about 2 - 3 minutes to get settled, about 15 minutes of tub time, and about 2 -3 minutes of clean up.  I structure my tubs like this:

Tub 1 ~ Number Work 

Tub 2 ~ Game 

Tub 3 ~ Fact Fluency 

Tub 4 ~ Data

Tub 5 ~ Number Work

Tub 6 ~ Game

Tub 7 ~ Fact Fluency

Tub 8 ~ iPad

Tub 9 ~ Computers

Number Work is basically an activity with a recording sheet and manipulatives. I use these recording sheets as work samples and documentation. Fact Fluency is addition/subtraction activities all year long!  Data will also be an activity all year long--think class graphs or activities like Roll and Graph!

Here is a copy of the planning sheet I use! Click on the pic below to download a few versions from GoogleDocs.

I went to a conference a few years ago and the speaker told us not to wait until next year to make a change! You can make a change any day if it is what's best for your kiddos! So...if you didn't take the plunge to do Work Stations this summer...DO IT! Maybe start tucking things away, buying your tubs, etc and start in the new year in Janaury! It really is SO doable! 

Click on the pictures below to check out some of my freebies on TpT that are perfect for 

Math Work Stations! 

Have a fab week! :)