Friday Freebie and a Shout Out!

Now THIS is the kind of work I don't mind doing on a Friday night!  I love making things that other teachers can use...and the best part is that it's FREE!

I beefed up my very first TPT store item compound word sandwiches and made it better for you. Click on the picture to grab your copy! Enjoy!

I also wanted to give Heather over at Heather's Heart another little shout out!  She's having an awesome giveaway...it is a must see!  Hop on over!

Happy weekend and apple on!

Heather's Heart Shout Out!!!

I love, love, love Heather's blog!

She was one of my first followers and has helped me remember that those little bodies in my room have little hearts that need tending to!

Heather is having an awesome giveaway!  She is giving away 3 gift cards...1...2...3!  WHOA!  Thanks to you Heather and I feel blessed to be able to follow your blog too!

Good luck everyone! Oh and it's almost FRIDAY! Apple on!

Failure and a TPT Update

Time has totally flown by the past week...I have been soooo busy and have barely checked my blog or blog stalked like I usually do!  I wanted to just check in and give a quick update.

I am disappointed as of late...I wasted alot of time working on this...my plan to have my students look for sight words in a bottle rice completely and utterly FAILED.  I don't know if the sight words were too big or if the lamination kept them stuck together but after rolling and shaking the bottle for quite a while I couldn't even see one sight word.  So if anyone out there has any ideas for beautiful rice send them my way...I'd love a new idea!

Next, I want to share some pictures of my new student center in my classroom.  I LOVE the way it turned out.   It may not be pretty looking but it sure is functional. My students can get paper, erasers, writing mats, sharpened pencils, and colored pencils.  Also they put taken away toys, notes to the teacher, broken pencils, eagles (school incentive), box tops, and their backpacks all in this area. It is awesome!

Finally...and not so disappointing...I have updated one of my free products in my TPT store.  If you loved the first monster bag face there are now more funny faces to enjoy!

 

Click here!

       
Apple on!

Tell Me Something Good (Linky)

I'm linking up with Rowdy in First Grade to remind myself that there are blessings everywhere I look.  This school year started six weeks ago and boy has it been rough.  My to do lists are piling up and as soon as a finish a task and feel all accomplished I realize that I have more and more to do. It's time I looked around and realized that there are GOOD things happening too!

My something good from school:

My class is THE best.  All 27 of them.  They are the best class I've had so far! It's nice to go to work and have expectant little ones that WANT to be there and that LOVE to learn.

My something good from home:

My husband made dinner last night AND he gave the doggie a bath today.  What more could I ask for?  He is so helpful!

Apple on!

Check this out!

Happy Monday to everyone!  I was blog hoppin' stalking as usual this evening and came across this awesome giveaway at Coffee, Kids and Compulsive Lists. 

Click HERE to check it out!

Apple on!

 

A Funny, Short Vowels, and a Bulletin Board

I love sharing my first grader's funny moments...here is one from the other day.

S1: "Mrs. C...my mom is pregnant she just found out last night. She took a test."
Me: "That's exciting."
S2: "You mean the kind of test you put in your mouth?"
S1: Stares at S2 and then looks at me
Me: shaking my head no at S1

Student 1 and I seemed to have an understanding that not everyone needs to know how a pregnancy test is taken.  I laughed inside while I was shaking my head.

Well here are some short vowel things I have been working on as I promised! First I have these great Short Vowel Fluency Pages.  I use these pages at the beginning of the school year A LOT.  Here are some ideas...use them to make classroom posters of each vowel as we review/ learn them, use them as an assessment, use them for a reading center (refer to this post), or use them to have your students practice their short vowel fluency. 

Click the picture to get your Short Vowel Fluency Pages!

 Next I have a Blending Words with Short Vowels  power point that includes 10 words for each short vowel and 5 sentences for each short vowel as well...that's 75 total slides!  The red counters move up one at a time at the press of a button.  You can choose the speed that you want your students to say each sound.  Then the arrow shoots across to let the students know when to put the sounds together as a word!  My walk to read class has really benefited from using this daily.

Click either picture to get your Blending Words with Short Vowels!

Finally I wanted to share my new bulletin board that I have to show off my students work. I dyed clothespins for a little over a day in some food coloring, vinegar, and water.  After they were dry I hot glued tacks to the back and wall-LA!  Now I have clips for all my students work and I won't need to use a stapler!  I do have to warn you to make sure you measure out a 13X13 square for every clip to hang at the top of.  If you don't your student's papers won't fit both directions and also you might have to go to the art room and measure out more paper and move your border after you have already put it up...irritating I tell you.  I plan to pin the objectives associated with our work on the star clip in the top right corner.

orginal idea found here

Apple on!  Back to work tomorrow!  I love Mondays!

Freebies - TBA's Open House Week

It's FINALLY Friday!  I don't know how the short weeks happen to feel like the longest.  I wanted to show you how I use my Number in Word Form Labels...and then you can go and get yours for free!

I have a large number line above my calendar area that I place the labels on.  I'm sure there are other ways that you have thought of but this works best for me.  This freebie has the numbers 1-20 in word form and then 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, and 100 also!

 

Since I am just getting started with TPT....right now I have more freebies in my TPT store than stuff you have to pay for...so head on over and tell your friends!  I am also going to be working on some short vowel powerpoints this weekend and I hope to present those to you soon!

And now a funny picture before I go to bed at 9:00 on a Friday (lame)...

This is how my Kiwi feels when I do my work...I understand Kiwi...I understand.



Have a happy weekend!  Apple on!

Bulletin Boards- TBA's Open House Week

When I linked up with TBA and knew I would have to post about my bulletin boards my reaction was...uh-oh.  When it comes to bulletin boards...I'm not so good at them.  I always have ideas that I want to use but I never have the time to actually use those ideas!  I always have a bulletin board at the beginning of the school year so I thought I would post pictures of my back to school bulletin boards from all 6 years (so far) of teaching.

 1st year of teaching...so dull...boring...blah

2nd year...a little better...those dang popcorn kernels were a pain to cut though!

3rd year...now enter the silhouette digital craft cutter from QuicKutz...one of the best Christmas presents a teacher could ever receive! My QuicKutz machine cut the stars and the letters.  Isn't that awesome?! The border around this one was created by my students and I have done this activity every year since.  Each kiddo gets one strip of manila card stock about 3x12 or 3x9 depending on the amount of room I had.  They write their name HUGE and decorate it however they want.  This border stays up all year.

4th year...hmmm...can't find the picture but I think it was similar to my 3rd year.

5th year...more help from my QuicKutz craft cutter and the owls are by Carson Dellosa! The student created border had not yet been made.

6th year...added another tree to have more space for more kiddos.  The student created border had not yet been made.

One of my favorite bulletin boards isn't actually a board at all!  At the end of the year we study the lives of the Ancient Romans.  The students are given a take home project for homework where they create an Ancient Roman shield.   The parents and the kids really get into this.  We have a feast and go all out for the end of the year.  Here are some pictures of some shields that the kids have made for the past two years.

Aren't those awesome?  I love how they really get into project based learning.

ONNNNEEEEE more for the road.  Last year we decorated our door for Love of Reading week.  Each kid made a pocket and answered a question about the story on their traced out hands.  We won first place with this door!  Do you have door decorating contests at your school?

Have a good  night...it's almost the weekend! Head back tomorrow for some freebies!  Apple on!

Parent Handouts- TBA's Open House Week

I have two awesome parent handouts that I use all the time in my classroom!  I write a weekly newsletter that I attach to homework for the week.  The kiddos love it because they also get some recognition in the newsletter.  This handout is available in my TPT store.  Click the document to get yours.

Every year I have parents ask what can they do at home to help their child with reading.   When I give them this they seem to really understand it.  I don't want to overwhelm them with every single strategy but just using these simple strategies will help their child become a better reader. Click the picture to snag yours!

Apple on!

TBA's Classroom Pictures Tuesday

Apple on!

TBA's Meet the Teacher Monday

I am new to the teacher blogging world...one of the first things I did was ask my fellow Facebook friends what blogs I could stalk follow. The second thing I did was start Google-ING left and right (I had to write Google-ING like that...it is not yet an actual word...although it should be).  Whilst Google-ING I came across Teaching Blog Addict.  What a wonderful site to find fellow bloggers!  This week I am linking up for "Open House Week."

 Link up here!

My name is Alyse.  I really do love apples...hence the name of my blog.  I even have my kitchen decorated with apples!  This is my sixth year teaching first grade.  It's all I have ever taught and I love it!  Even more than teaching I love my husband and my pets.  My husband is one of the smartest people I've ever known.  He is also soooo sarcastic which I love. We love to visit the small rural town where we grew up and hope to move back there someday to be closer to our family and to raise our own kids there (when we have them that is :).

My teaching style is very strict at the beginning of the year.  It is very black and white...matter of fact....guess you'd better think about that before you do it again!  As the year goes on and as I get to know my students (and they get to know me) we become more of a family with the learning, love, and of course the bickering that goes right along with it.  I am also very structured and organized and I require my students to become that way.  It takes a while for some kids to get organized but I notice a big difference once they get there!

Apple on!