End of the yearFirst Grade Smiles: End of the year

Showing posts with label End of the year. Show all posts

One Word Changes Everything

Reflecting on another school year is always filled with a mixture of emotions for me. This year, maybe more so than any other.

I'm going to get a little personal here - I hope you don't mind.

I had a year filled with many ups and downs.
Tough decisions. Impossible goodbyes. Laughing and crying - sometimes both at the same time.

There is one thing - one word - that seemed to surround so many events in this past year.
That word is cancer.

I would almost bet that nearly every single person who reads this has had a loved one or at least someone they know battle cancer. Though there are numerous survival stories, there are that many more who were not so lucky.

My school year began with two losses. One was the father of a dear friend and colleague of mine. The other, a kind, sweet paraprofessional at our school. Both of these amazing individuals had battled cancer for quite a while and had already beaten many odds. The end came quicker than anyone expected and left holes that could never be filled. I still have the memory card from the paraprofessional who passed, so appropriately named Star, sitting on my desk at school, in the exact same spot that I first placed it. I just can't bring myself to move it.

Around that time, my aunt was diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer and was taken very quickly from us - only a few months later. Her loss is still so difficult to fathom. She was young, beautiful, warm, loving, and selfless.

Shortly after, my father-in-law AND one of my former students also found out this year that they too would be battling this stubborn, cruel disease. Thankfully my father-in-law's treatments went very well and we are all optimistic that he might be able to kick cancer's butt. His latest scans showed that he is cancer free. Yahoo!!!! We will continue to pray for these results with each new scan because we need him and these girls need their grandfather.

And finally, my former student (one my absolute favorites - even though we aren't supposed to have favorites - I can't help it because she's an amazing girl). She is only 17 now.
Sev-en-teen!!!!
The strength and courage she has already portrayed is beyond admirable and I am just so proud of her. She still has a battle ahead of her, but I know with her faith, family, and friends behind her, she WILL be able to beat cancer. And if you are reading this and are the praying kind, she could use any and all prayers that you have to spare.

This is a picture of her in 3rd grade dressed up as a cheerleader for Halloween.

In the final weeks of school, I also very sadly lost my grandma (not to cancer, but certainly important enough to mention). I know I have some pretty amazing angels up in heaven right now, but I sure do miss their warm hugs, listening ears, and endless amounts of wisdom to share.

So this year is over.

And while I enjoyed my students, loved the time I was able to spend with my family, had some wonderful moments and memories ---- my heart just feels like it has been broken many times over. Broken for the loved ones I lost, for others who lost their loved ones, for those still battling this awful disease. I'm just going to say it - CANCER SUCKS!!!

So what do we do in the midst of so many things we can't control?
Pray. Hug. Spend time with our loved ones.
Enjoy the NOW but also look forward and keep moving.

Summer is here and I am so ready for it!
But I will never forget this year.
I am hoping next year will be filled with much more of some other words like:

Life. Love. Laughter. Happiness.
Family. Friends.
Hope.

Thanks for allowing me a moment of life outside of teaching. I'll be back soon with some more teaching fun. There's another word I could use some more of -- FUN!

Hmmmm --- do you think I could find some of that in Vegas??? ;-)

Father's Day, End of the Year, and a Freebie

Hi again ----- hello ---- anybody still there??

I know I've been somewhat absent the last couple weeks, but I have a little present for those of you who continue to come back for more. I just wanted you to know that I appreciate your visits so much! Keep reading to get your freebie :)

I'm really just here for a super quick update of what I have been doing and will be doing as our school year winds down. Yes, I do realize that there are some schools who might be on summer vacation already. If that's you, just know that I'm super jealous - we still have 19 days left! Ugh!!!

As we all know the end of the year is jam-packed. With all the testing, paperwork, and last minute cramming to get everything in --- it can be soooo exhausting! So if you're anything like me you start finding ways to make life a little easier for yourself. In my last couple weeks of school I will be digging up some things from last year, using some of the new things I made, and also getting some Ah-mazing little items that I picked up from some of my favorite bloggers ready too.

Here's a quick rundown of how I will be surviving my end of the year craziness:

Father's Day

I just finished a little pack I will be using for Father's Day this year.

It includes a gift book, tool box craftivity, and a couple printables. My husband really liked this one so I might be making it with my little girls for him for Father's Day too! At least I already know he likes it :)

I also bundled it together with my Flowers for Mom Mother's Day pack for a great discount.

End of the Year

For the end of the year I will using my Farewell Firsties pack from last year.

This pack saved my butt last year when I was grasping for fun activities to keep us happy as the temperatures were rising and our motivation was falling. If you want to see more of this pack, you can CLICK HERE to go to a blog post from last year. I also have a Kinder and 2nd Grade version of this pack in my store now too.

I've also enlisted the help of some of my blogging buddies and scored these perfect packs:

And finally, to keep some order in the classroom I try to keep as much routine as I can. This means that we keep truckin' along with literacy centers and math centers. I made some buggy math centers to go over some skills that really needed to be reviewed before the year was out:

But I still needed some literacy centers and I found the BEST pack to keep us going. Sarah is a lifesaver!!!! Even though these are for May, they can continue right into June too.

AND FINALLY....

One last center JUST FOR YOU!!!

Here is a lemonade themed math center FREEBIE.

Again, another skill that my kiddos needed to practice and maybe yours do too :)

Click the picture below to grab it.

Happy end of the year my friends!

I hope I was able to provide one little bit of sanity for you with an item I suggested or with this freebie.

Thanks for stopping by :)

Feeling Appreciated

Teacher appreciation time is back again! Don't you just LOVE it???

I know that each school is different in how they recognize their teachers, but no matter what your school does, it's just nice to be appreciated. Even in some small way like a thank you card or a hand drawn picture from a student.

To celebrate the season I started searching on Pinterest for ideas that I could make for my daughter's preschool teachers. I went a little Pin-crazy and even started a new board - Teacher Gift Ideas. If you're looking for some Pin-spiration you can check it out. It seems like you can make any small gift adorable with a super cute card or tag. It's all in the presentation - that's what I've learned from Pinterest.

Here are just a few of the fun things I found:

You may or may not already know that Teachers Pay Teachers is big into showing appreciation for teachers, too! So they have a kickin' sale for just that reason.

I enjoy joining in for a good sale and would also like to show my appreciation to all the teachers out there who find my products useful for you and your students. So if you click on the picture above it will take you to my store, which will be on sale May 6th and 7th. You could head over now and add some things to your wish list if you want. :-)

Here are a couple things that you might want to check out for this time of year:

My Farewell Firsties unit was a best seller last year and I had some requests to make ones for Kindergarten and 2nd Grade - so here they are:

One big difference between the pack for First Grade and the other two is the pack of review printables included in Farewell Firsties. I haven't had a chance to include those in Kindergarten and 2nd Grade yet, but I do plan to when I get more time. As for now all 3 packs include a memory book, 26 different awards, end of the year writing activities, and 2 craftivities.

I hope you stop by my little store and check out some end of the year fun!

You can be sure I will shopping at the sale too!

And if you'd like to see who else is having a sale, here is a link-up for you to check out hosted by the wonderfully, amazing Jessica Tobin of First Grade Nest and Latoya Reed of Flying into First:

Have a great Teacher Appreciation Week and just know that you have touched hundreds (possibly even thousands) of people just by being you!

xoxo

Schoooool's....out...for...summer!!!

Well, I am now into the 1st week of my summer vacation and I couldn't be more excited to have this time off. Last week was sad, of course. It always is. I know all teachers find it hard to say goodbye to the little kiddos who have called your classroom home for a year. I have spent 7 hours a day for 180 days with them. That's A LOT of time together! I have watched them laugh and cry, make new friends and gotten their feelings hurt. I've been there to see the smile stretch across their faces as they learn something new or find success in even the smallest of things. I can pick out their handwriting when given a line-up of 20 other papers. I've hugged each of them goodbye 180 times (and sometimes more for those little sweeties who need an extra hug or two). There is always that worry I get at the end of each year ---- Did I teach them everything I could? Did I make the most of the time we had together? Did I take the opportunities to celebrate our learning and not just rush on to the next thing? Did I allow them to develop a love of learning? Did I create a classroom where they felt safe and confident in who they are? I'll never really know, but now that another year is gone ---- I just hope I made a difference and an impact in some way for each of them.

Here is one of my favorite quotes that I think of at the end of each year:

By the way, in case anyone was wondering.....my last week went great! :-) We had a lot of fun with our Field Days (which was a rain date), Beach Day, and our End of the Year Party. We played Minute to Win It, which was absolutely hilarious!!! (I will post pictures another day because I don't have my camera with me right now. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of pictures. That is definitely something I need to work on next year.) I gave out classroom awards. We talked about our summer plans and talked about what we liked the most about our year. It was the perfect end to a fantastic year!!! I will miss you my little firsties :-(

So now that I'm into my summer mindset, I have a mental to-do list that literally has at least 100 things on it. What I need to do is sit down and actually write out my to-do list and then prioritize, because, let's be honest - I will never get everything done that I want to. Maybe if I didn't have 2 little girls (who I wouldn't trade for anything in the whole world) then I could accomplish more on the list. But what would I rather have at the end of the summer --- a completed to-do list all checked off OR memories and time I can never get back with my beautiful girlies! We all know the right answer to that one!

Many of the things that will be on the priority part of my list are planning units and ideas for the next school year. I know I won't be able to plan and create everything I want to, but I need to start now so I can get going. I've been spending my mornings (now that I don't have to get ready right away) in my PJ's, with my cup of coffee, blog hopping and revisiting my pins on Pinterest for inspiration. I have found and pinned soooooooo many amazing ideas, I don't even know where to start. Does anyone else out there feel like this? I can't be the only one. There are so many ideas I have for how I want my year to go next year, but I am becoming very overwhelmed because, AGAIN, I can't do it all.

Are we seeing a pattern here????????

So, I've decided that I will not let myself be disappointed at the end of the summer. I will put my family at the top of my priority list for every day, and whatever I have time for after that will just have to do. I will do as much as I am able to do and I will be happy with whatever that may be. Nobody can do it all and it's way too stressful to try.

Phew - I feel better now that I've decided not to try to be perfect. It's exhausting!!!

So I hope you are all enjoying your summer so far ---- a summer that is, and will be, perfect in spite of our own mediocrity!!!!

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Last full week of school-Yahoooo!

Slowly, but surely - the last day is approaching. My mind knows it's the end of the school year. Each day I count down the days with my students and at the end of each day we pop a balloon on our countdown. We started when there were 10 days left. I pick 2 students each day to pop the balloon and they get the candy inside. Just a fun way to count down the days.

This is not my picture, but ours looks a lot like this.

Anywho - as I was saying...my mind knows it's the end, but it hasn't hit my heart yet. Mentally and physically I am exhausted and soooo ready for summer, but emotionally I am not there. This is my first year teaching first grade and I have fallen in love with these little cuties. Each day I run down the hallway to the 2nd grade teachers to share a little story or bit of info about my little darlings. I could write a book about each child - what they like, dislike, what they order for lunch, what color their sneakers are, when they go to the bathroom each day. Ok, I know that's WAY too much information, but let's be honest - some kids are just regular!!!!

So yes, I know next week when it finally hits me that I am saying goodbye to these little kiddos, I will be devastated. Four of them are actually changing schools too, so I REALLY have to say goodbye to them :-(((( I will see the rest in the hallways and get some familiar hugs, but it won't be the same and we will have all moved on. It's very bittersweet!

Moving along so I can fight back the tears.

Back to our Calendar Countdown!!!!

We have had a VERY rainy week!!!! Many of our activities have been rained out this week, but we still had some fun despite the rain.

Monday - Reaching our Goals.

We first started by discussing our September goals and New Year's resolutions and see how we had done now that we are at the end of the year. They all wanted to become better readers (or just readers for some) and they DID! They wanted to learn how to add and subtract "bigger" numbers - and they CAN! We reviewed some of the fun projects we've done throughout the year and units we've worked on. This was a great lead in to our 1st Grade Memory Book (you can find it in my Farewell Firsties pack). We spent a little time each day reminiscing and filling out the information in our books.

We also talked about our goals for next year in 2nd grade. I read them an all-time favorite: Oh, The Places You'll Go by none other than Dr. Seuss.

Then we made these balloons to share what we were most excited for in 2nd grade.

The plan was to play a kickball game against the other 1st grade class for some fun, but it was raining. Instead, we played some more Red Rover, Red Light, Green Light, and What time is it Mr. Fox? in the gym.

Tuesday - ZOO field trip

Not much to say except --- guess what ---it RAINED!!!!! It wasn't a total wash out, but it never really stopped drizzling. The best part was ALL of the animals were actually out and active instead of hot and sleepy. So that actually made it one my favorite trips to the zoo.

Just a couple pics.

The penguins were SO interactive. They were following the kids fingers wherever they went. So fun to watch!

This little baby monkey was unbelievably cute I had to include his picture. Most of the time he was being carried by his mom, but here you can see how small he is. Precious!

Wednesday - OY and OI

The kids of course loved bringing in a favorite toy and sharing it with the class. We had cuddly blankets, stuffed animals, dolls, magnets, a guitar, Pokemon cards, and of course one kid had to bring in a video game cartridge. During math we used coin stamps to make a little flip chart - sorry no pictures :( We also sorted coins, played Money Memory, and Collect $1.00.

Thursday - EE

Today we had an assembly where we honored our school volunteers in the morning. This is always so nice because the whole school is together and claps for the volunteers while they each get a certificate. We LOVE volunteers!!!! We also voted on classroom awards. First I read the book No More Pencil, No More Books, No More Teacher's Dirty Looks! by Diane deGroat. This is an adorable book about the end of the year and how each kid gets an award in the class.

Then I have the kids vote (privately with me) on which awards should go to each student, including themselves. I tally up the votes. I try to give each child the award they voted for themselves for because obviously it was something that meant something to them. Of course, I only do this if it fits the bill. Then I give them another award that the other kids voted for. Each child gets 2 awards this way. I tell them they are the two awards that had the most votes. Here are just 2 of the 26 different awards I have (also in Farewell Firsties).

Finally, today was supposed to be Field Days, but guess what the weather was ----- Yep, RAIN!!!! So we have a rain date on Monday. We'll have to see what Mother Nature throws our way.

Here is what I had to ~~pull together quickly~~ worked tirelessly on for Father's Day. I took pictures of the kids holding signs. They could choose You're the Best, Best Dad Ever, I love you Dad, or Happy Father's Day. I have a couple kids whose father is not in the picture for one reason or another so they could choose Happy Father's Day for a grandpa or someone, or You're the Best for anyone. I also changed the poem for them and just printed one out without the word Daddy on it. They did turn out cute!

Happy Father's Day to all the fathers out there. I hope you enjoy a day of golfing, watching sports, fishing, or whatever it is you like to do. I'm sure your families will make you feel special!

Only 4 more days of school left for me!

Winding down should mean less to do....

Let me pretend I'm from the south for a minute....

Ohmiword!!!!!

Where have I been and what in the world have I been doing?????

Ok, back to being an upstate New Yorker- (but secretly, I wish I could pull off that southern drawl because it is so fun).

You know it's the end of the school year when.......

YOU HAVE MORE ON YOUR TO DO LIST THAN YOU HAVE DAYS LEFT!!!!

I know I'm not alone (although, some of you out there are already into your summer vacation and I am J-E-A-L-O-U-S!!!). But even those of you who are already done, surely your last month or so of school was just as crazy, right? So here's a laundry list of what I've been doing for the last month (yes, it's been a month since I posted last :-(

-Assessments

-School Fair (which is a district-wide open house in our High School)

-Meetings, and lots of them

-Assessments

-Planning a Character Education Assembly (it was my turn)

-Assessments

-Creating next year's class lists

-Assessments

-APPR paperwork

-RTI paperwork

-Student portfolios

-Scoring assessments

AND

-Report Cards

.....did I mention Assessments????

We have 9 days left of school and I am still finishing up those last few at the bottom of my list. So as I sit here surrounded by piles of papers, I thought, Hmmmmm, maybe I should take a minute and write a little bit about winding down on my first year teaching first grade.

Here is quick look at what I put up for our School Fair. I also made a slideshow with pictures from the whole year, but can't put that on here. It's great when it's all up on display, but it is A LOT of work!!!

For our Character Education Assembly I made an i-Movie wrapping up the 4 key points of our program this year, which is from Rachel's Challenge. For those of you who do not know, Rachel's Challenge is a group that comes to schools to propose ideas of how we can make our schools a better place to be. Rachel Scott was the first victim in the Columbine school shootings. The four challenges are: Use Kind Words, Do Nice Things, Include Others, and Start a Chain Reaction. If you have never heard of it, I encourage you to click on the link above and read more about it. It was really amazing!!!! I can't really show you the movie I made though, because I don't have permission from everyone in it. It included pictures and videos of our whole school. It came out great, but I am happy it is over now :-)

So, since the rest of my list is not at all picture worthy (who wants to see pictures of assessments, RTI, and APPR???) - I will show you a little of what we have planned for our last month. I had found on Pinterest a while ago how some Kindergarten classrooms wrap up the end of the year by reviewing a letter a day and tie it into something fun, like B is for beach day or C is for class campout. Since first graders are beyond single letter sounds (hopefully ;-), I decided to do the same thing but by reviewing some of the letter combinations and vowel teams that we have worked on throughout they year.

So far we have made it through our first week on this calendar.

Silent e Day was so fun!!! We read joke books and the kids got to tell their favorite jokes. We all laughed a lot that day! We did some review centers and activities with telling time and also played What time is it Mr. Fox? outside. We also played other games like Red Rover, and Red Light, Green Light.

Tuesday (ai day) we went for a walk on our Nature Trail out back.

Tootie Fruitie Day - Wednesday was the kid's (and my) favorite! We all brought in our favorite fruits. Then we graphed them. I brought in a whole bunch of different fruits and we had some taste testing. The best part was making smoothies!!! We had two blenders going and mixed a whole bunch of fruit together. The flavors we sampled were: Strawberry Raspberry Banana, Strawberry Kiwi, Blueberry Peach, Blueberry Strawberry Orange, and finally Tootie Fruitie, which was a mix of everything - strawberry, raspberry, blueberry, watermelon, orange, banana, peach, kiwi, and mango. It was quite tasty!! It was a hectic day so I don't have pictures - sorry :(

Thursday was our Character Ed Assembly and our school Festival at night. Unfortunately it rained so the festivities were all inside, but we still had a great turn out!

Finally, Friday was Show and Tell. I had a math training all day for Singapore Math so I wasn't there for that one and I REALLY wish I was. I'm sure the kids were so excited!!!

Next week should be equally as fun with our Zoo field trip and Field Days. On Monday, we will discuss our goals we made back in September and see how well we did to achieve them. We will also be playing a kickball game against the other 1st grade class. Thursday is a school-wide assembly to honor our volunteers. We will also take some time to talk about our peers and nominate each other for classroom awards. Awards will be given out at our party.

I hope you will all be sticking around this summer, because I hope to be better with the blogging and looking for tons more interesting ideas that I can implement next year. I plan on getting on Instagram (I'm actually on it but haven't done anything yet). I also need to sort through my pins on Pinterest and see what ideas I want to find or make.

If you are still not done with school like me, just know that I am right there with you and sending thoughts of poolside fun your way!!!