Peek at Our Week

Happy Easter, friends! Hope everyone had a wonderful day celebrating our Savior. He is risen!

I just heart the heck out of Spring Break!! It comes at just the right time! We had a fab time at the beach and are all settled in for the remaining 8 weeks of school! Let's do this!!!

Since summer is right around the corner, I came up with a blog series schedule for the summer and I'm super excited about it! I think I may even do a linky! I am secretly scared of them...why do you ask? Well, I am afraid I'll do it wrong and I'm afraid no one will actually link up! HA! So...if I do a linky, please do it, okay? :)

Let's take a quick peek at our week, shall we?

MATH - Measurement

Here is a quick and cute {and free} Math Work Station!

PHONICS - Vowel digraph /oo/

Check out my What a Hoot! {Vowel Digraph /oo/} 

Word Work unit.

WRITING - How To

I am so excited to start with how to! One of my fave things to teach in first grade! We are kicking it off with how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich! We make cute flip books during our how to writing unit - more on those in the next post! :)

COMPREHENSION - Retelling

We are smack in the middle of The Wizard of Oz! Can't wait to pick up Abby's unit when we are done! Getting through this chapter book def warrants a little Oz celebration! :)

SCIENCE - Rainforest Habitat

Thank you, Brain Pop, Jr, thank you! LOVE kicking off our units with Annie and Moby! We will learn lots about the layers of the rainforest, learn lots of facts about monkeys, parrots, toucans, snakes, sloths, frogs, and more. Such a fun unit!

Hope you have a happy week! :)

Let's Get Acquainted! :)

Happy Tuesday, friends! It is rainy and gloomy here in Bama today and coupled with the Spring Forward time change, my little firsties are TIRED! It is our last week before Spring Break {SO excited!!} and we are filling our week with some St. Patrick's Day fun!

We will be making Shamrock Shakes with our 4th grade Tech Buddies tomorrow! YUM!

We will making these cute little leprechauns from Cara - circa two years ago! They are still adorable! Click on the link above for patterns - isn't she the best??!! :)

We will be reading all about the old lady who swallowed a clover, too! :)

I was excited to find a linky party to join today! :) 

I needed a little something different in my blog post today! Thank you, Mrs. Reed! 

Sooo...let's get acquainted, shall we?? :)

My initials are KMB. 

K - Hmm! This letter always stumped me when I was growing up, too! You know the first day of school game: My name is Kelli and I am...Krazy. Kooky. Klutzy?? I always just did something with a /c/ sound. And I am going to do it again - ssh! Don't tell! :) CRAFTING! I am loving some crafts these days! I am doing to attempt a burlap bunny door hanger this weekend! So excited!

M- Monograms, hands down! Speaking of my initials!! 
This southern girl loves a good monogram! :) 

B- the BEACH!!! I can't wait to breathe in salt water air next week! Ahhh! AND the Bachelor!  

Have a great week, y'all! :)

Lollipops and Lemondrops :)

Hey y'all! Hope you've had a great week! :)

Tomorrow is our Dr. Seuss birthday party - complete with 
Seuss Juice {source: presh idea from Cara Carroll last year}, 
Thing 1 cupcakes {source: Pinterest} since we are 1st graders, and Truffella trees {source: Pinterest}. 

We are SO taking the Lorax stache pics { source: Seusstastic Classroom Inspirations} too - makes me laugh out loud!! :)

I have a new little Facebook venture: Lollipops and Lemondrops! I am making digital party printables for sweet soirees and heat press tees...you know Southerners are all about monograms and shirts with names all over it!! :) Head over to Facebook to check it out...only 1 like away from an Easter heat press shirt giveaway - and yes, I will ship to y'all outside of Bama if you win!!! :)

 I smile every time I get a like on FB - same as when I get a new follower here on Castles and Crayons! I am so, so, so very blessed by the support of L and L in such a short time - it is a dream come true! :)

Oh and speaking of giveaways -- Roll and Read Fluency Phrases {Beginning Blends} winners are below. The unit will be 20% on TpT tonight and tomorrow! :)

Happy TG-so very close-F!!! :)

Roll and Read {Beginning Blends}

Happy Monday, y'all! 

We are gearing up for a fun filled Dr. Seuss week, 

complete with his birthday party on Friday! :) Pics coming soon! We read my very favorite Dr. Seuss story this morning, Gertrude McFuzz. Gertrude is smarter now and so are my firsties!! :)

The newest Roll and Read has been added to my TpT shop. There were so many requests for this beginning blends set and I thank you so much for being oh so patient!! :)

You can click on the picture below to check it out!

I will also be bundling all of the Roll and Read units into a mega pack zip file coming by the end of the week! It will have all 5 of the Roll and Read units with some savings, of course! :)

{Short Vowels}

{Long Vowels}

{Consonant Digraphs}

{r-controlled Vowels}

{Beginning Blends}

**I will send this unit to five people on Wednesday, February 27.

Just comment below with your email address! 

Hats off to a spectacular Seuss week! :)

Five for Friday

Happy weekend, friends! I am linking up with sweet Kacey at Doodle Bugs Teaching for a little peek at the week in review! 

1. ERIN CONDREN

I am OBSESSED with Erin Condren! Last year I didn't use a planner at all - I decided to the iPhone route. Well - I decided this year to hop back on the paper planner bus and I am SO GLAD I did! Rumor has it she is coming out with a August 2013 - December 2014 planner for us teachers! FAB!

2. MARDI GRAS

Mardi Gras is a big deal here in Alabama...especially in the Mobile area! We ended our Sweet Home Alabama unit with some delicious King Cake .... straight from NOLA! A sweet mom had the cake Fed Exed to us. It was so delicious!!!!

3. BEE MINE, VALENTINE!

Love these precious bumblebees from Teri! I love her crafts and writing prompts!!

4. I CHEWS YOU, VALENTINE!

Teri did it again! LOVE THESE! They make my heart happy!!

5. SMORES VALENTINES FOR MY KIDDOS

I loved these so much last year, I had to do them again!

Have a wonderful weekend, y'all!

Tech,Tech Baby!

Happy Tuesday! RAIN, RAIN, GO AWAY!!!
I seriously think this might be a record breaking year of the number of indoor recess days here in the Southeast!
Speaking of indoor recess - have you checked out Adventure to Fitness? My sweet teacher friend introduced this website to me on the 99th day of indoor recess this year. 
Super fun and the kids totally rock it! 

It is free but I did notice that it uploaded faster when you were logged in to an account! 

---
Our district has a Technology Conference next Monday.  I have heard from a bird that the theme is Tech, Tech, Baby!! HA!!!! Yes, please! I know every single word by heart to the orig! 
I am presenting. EEKK! No matter how many times I get up to speak in front of adults, I break into a sweat. Turn magenta. Develop a stutter. It really is ridiculous! If anyone in the room is over the age of 7, I start to get clammy! Anyone else on this struggle bus with me?

I am presenting about taking Brain Pop to the next level in your classroom. I LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT BRAIN POP, JR! I can't get enough of Annie and Moby and neither can my kiddos. I honestly think Annie can teach some concepts better than me...like inferring for example. She rocked it! 

Brain Pop and Brain Pop, Jr is pricey but worth. every. penny. Write a Donors Choose for this people! I use it all. the. time.
If you have clickers {We have ActiVotes} you can run the online quizzes with them! AWESOME! We did the lesson on comparing numbers this morning and then used the ActiVotes during the quiz. It was quick {less than 5 minutes} and I was able to export the results to Excel. Much better than a paper and pencil mid unit assessment! 

Brain Pop also has a great section just for educators! If you click on Brain Pop Educators, then Graphic Organizers, they have a ton of great organizers ready to print!

Be sure to check out Katie King {Queen of the First Grade Jungle} and her Techy Tuesday linky party!

 

Fave Five Phonics Apps

Hey y'all! :) 

Be sure to check out Katie King {Queen of the First Grade Jungle} and her Techy Tuesday linky party!

In my classroom, we have access to an iPad lab with a class set of iPads that we use once a week, but we have one iPad that stays in our room. During The Daily Five, the iPad is used as a Word Work choice.

The app they use changes based on what unit we are on, 

but the apps below are my fave five phonics apps to use all year long!

{WORD MAGIC}

This is a fun way to practice making words. You can choose for the students to fill in the missing initial, medial, or final sound, or you can choose random! 

{WORD WALL HD}

This is a good app for kiddos to make new words by adding the missing initial or final sound. It is good for word families!

{PHONICS TIC TAC TOE}

LOVE this app from Lakeshore! This game explores vowel sounds, syllables, blends, digraphs, and more! 

{PHONICS RHYMING BEE}

This is good *free* app for rhyming words and word families! The sounds are pretty cute! ;)

{WORD HEN SPELL}

This is a great spelling app where can kids can make words or spell words. I love the hen's cute little voice!

Enjoy the rest of your week! :)