First of all...

I can't believe it's already 2015 and my firstie babies are about to be second graders. 

I'm not gonna lie- I was super dreading coming back to school this week. It's really nothing about the kids or my job- I feel so blessed to be in the profession that we are in...

It was because of my incredibly soft bed, and my adorable new puppy that gives the best morning snuggles!

Oh wait, you haven't heard the hubs and I have a new puppy!? 

He's no joke the cutest dog in the world. :) 

...Back to School... 

Today I'm linking up with the fab DoodleBugsTeaching for her Five for Friday!! 

 I made it- and survived the first day WEEK back! And to my surprise, it has been a FABULOUS week! I was worried about the nonstop talking, and dreading the amount of review I was going to have to teach {including that this classroom is a still a no nose-picking zone!}but my kids have been ROCKING it! 

With all of this review, we also dove 2 webbed feet first into our penguin study using this fabulous resource from Heidi Dickey! 

After starting with a KWL, we split up into 5 penguin groups to study different kinds! The kids were pumped to do independent research and present their findings :) 

Y'all. I had a conference call with GoNoodle on Saturday!!  The Co-Founder, Aaron Briggs reached out to Erin Klein {OMG!} and myself. Can I just say I may have screamed when I read the email? I can't say enough how amazing social media is!! SO thankful for Twitter and Instagram and for the connections I've been able to make with teachers around the nation! 

SO. MUCH. FUN! 

Erin and I are avid GoNoodle PLUS users, and Aaron was hoping to get some feedback on some things that we love about GoNoodlePLUS, as well as pick our brains about some things we would change. 

Even MORE great things are coming, guys! Just wait!! 

{Don't know too much about GoNoodle and these amazing brain breaks for your class? Check out my GoNoodle post here!}

Every year, I tend to be stuck on what resolutions I want to have for the year, this year- I finally wrote them down! 

My students made their resolutions for the year as well. Not gonna lie, I was super impressed with their goals for themselves! 

So if you live in Texas, you have probably heard about the ridiculous amount of earthquakes we have been having here in Irving. So far, I think we have had 20 in the past two months. On Monday, we had 3!! My students have been asking and wondering what's happening. 

"Is our house going to fall down in a large crack in the ground and land in hot lava?"

--No joke-- He was genuinely concerned. 

After researching earthquakes on pebblego.com, we learned that buildings can withstand the tremble of quakes if they have a strong base. We were challenged to make our own structure to see if our buildings could withstand the shaking... 

Sidenote: Jello = Ground :)

Too much fun, y'all. And yes, we totally grabbed spoons and ate the jello afterwards!

 A huge hit in my classroom this week was Sight Word Head Hunters! 

I used this game as a review of some sight words we've learned this year. Super easy to create! I put a list of my students on one side of the paper- and random first grade sight words we've learned on the other side. Each student received a sight word from the list- and we taped it to their heads. Kids walked around the room trying to match the sight words to their friend's names. 

THEY LOVED IT! 

Anything to get them moving, right? 

It was a fabulous formative assessment that I will definitely do again. 

This game had me thinking so many other versions... 

Math Fact Head Hunter

Vocabulary Head Hunter

Onset Blends Head Hunter 

...oh the possibilities! 

Well in a nut shell, that was our week here in first grade. Glad we survived it and now we are praying for a snow day this weekend. 

If you haven't already, head on over to Doodlebugs teaching and link up to her Five for Friday linky! 

Have a great weekend, y'all! Stay Warm!