Sunday, May 26, 2013

A Garden and A Library

Courtesy of dazeychic

I've shared some of our school garden pictures before, and now my class has its very own garden. It sits right outside our classroom door.

We're growing lettuce and cherry tomatoes.

This is one of several Earth Box® gardens we have growing throughout our school. Notice the signs that have information about mint, which is one of the plants growing in the box.

We even have QR codes on the signs, so students can learn more about each of the plants.

If you'd like to have your own classroom or school garden, click on the picture below.


The site has planting and gardening resources, too. The system is easy to use. My students planted and maintain the garden. I love the real world application of having one. We're soon to have enough vegetables to make a salad. How fun!

And to learn about growing plants, these are a couple of my favorite classroom gardening library books:

It's Our Garden by George Ancona
Children learn all about creating a school garden.

How Groundhog's Garden Grew by Lynne Cherry
Children learn about planting seeds, harvesting, and eating home-grown food as Squirrel teaches Little Groundhog all about gardening.

Another gardening book that I just love is one that a student teacher gave me one year.

Mrs. Spitzer's Garden by Edith Pattou
It compares tending to a garden with tending to a "garden of students." Both need to be tended to in a loving way, so they will blossom. I now give this book to my student teachers. It's a favorite.

I would love to hear about some of your favorite garden and plant books.

Happy Memorial Day weekend. All items in my TPT store are on SALE through Memorial Day. Click HERE to shop.



Sunday, May 5, 2013

Teacher Appreciation Sale, Art, and Recyclable Earth Day Projects

It's teacher appreciation time and Teachers Pay Teachers® is having their yearly Teacher Appreciation Sale.

Graphics by Zip-a-dee-doo-dah Designs
All items in my First Grade Schoolhouse store will be 20% off during the sale. Remember to use the code TAD 13 at checkout to get a total of 28% off!

Spring has been our topic of discussion and study in my classroom . . . frogs, turtles, and bugs included. Thought I would share some of the turtle line art that the students completed. This was a directed art lesson on drawing and lines.






The children all participated in the same directed lesson, but what makes them so special is the creative twist the children give to their drawings.

I also wanted to share our Earth Day projects. Instead of our regular homework, our first graders created either something useful or a craft out of a recyclable. We displayed our projects in the multipurpose room and invited other grades and parents to view them.

This is a sample of the variety of projects that the children created.

a bouquet of flowers made from egg cartons and plastic colored straws

This one is so practical . . . a place for everything.

a robotic toy . . . named Dude {made from a box that once housed a chocolate bunny}

pink piggy bank from a plastic liter bottle {stuffed with play money}

This is something I need. It scoops up dog food.

It was a fun and exciting way to end our week of Earth Day activities.

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday. 


Saturday, May 4, 2013

Teacher Appreciation Week Sale

Teacher Appreciation Week Sale at Teachers Notebook starts today. It will run from May 4th at 12:00 am CST to May 10th at 11:59 pm CST.



All items in my First Grade Schoolhouse Teachers Notebook store are on sale for 20% off from May 4th through May 6th, 2013.

You can enter daily to win a $100 gift card from Oriental Trading during the Teachers Notebook Teacher Appreciation Week sale.


Have fun shopping!

Thursday, May 2, 2013

May Currently Link Up

It's hard to believe that it's already May. I'm linking up with Farley's Oh Boy Fourth Grade May Currently.


I'm a total morning person. I'm one of those people who wakes up and is full of energy. I love the quiet  and, of course, a freshly brewed morning cup of coffee. I get so much done in the morning. One of the perks of getting up early is listening to all the birds chirping and singing as they start their day, too. That's what I'm listening to right now. Great way to start the day.

It's countdown for us. I'm loving that we only have a little over a month left of school. It's a BUSY, BUSY, BUSY time of the school year, but the anticipation of summer gets us through it. We have a countdown chain in our classroom. It was a suggestion of one of my students. We decided to make the chains in alternating blue and yellow colors. Yellow for the summer sun and blue for summer fun in the ocean and pool. It's an end of the day ritual now in our classroom - cutting a link off the chain.

The school year is coming to a close. I keep thinking about the running "To Do List" in my mind that keeps growing. Do you have one of those?

Memory Albums
Assessments
Report Cards
Volunteer Breakfast {I'm chairman of the committee.}
First Grade Play
Spring Open House
End of Year Field Trip
Etc., Etc., Etc.

The last trimester of school always seems to fly by. End of the year "To Do" things always get done, but I can't help thinking about them.

I just received a school iPad. It's for teacher use in the classroom. So excited! We'll have iPads for students to use in the classroom next year. Our kindergarten and first grade students will be sharing them. I don't own a personal one, but after getting one to use at school, I'd love to have one. Seriously wanting one.

Our days are longer now. That means more time for longer walks. Needing a new pair of walking shoes for afternoon walks and for "pug walking."

Relax, relax, relax. Enjoy the weather, family, and friends.

First and foremost, I just look forward to enjoying each day. I feel extremely fortunate that I have the summer off. I especially love the days that I have nothing specifically planned and can just enjoy a relaxing day.

Link up and find other May Currently blog posts here.