The Wheels on the Bus & a MeCorder GIVEAWAY!

Is it really the end of July?!? Yes! the wheels on those big yellow busses are gonna start turning round & round before we know it! {insert pAnIc aTtAcK- aughhh!!!} Between working on the big gia-normous mess in my classroom & trying to enjoy the last few weeks of summer with my kiddos, I've also been working on some of my back-to-school centers. "The Wheels on the Bus" includes 8 ready-to-go math & literacy centers and more fun activities! Just click the pic to check it out!

I'm super excited to share this fab*u*lous GIVEAWAY with you..... I am thrilled with the chance to review some of  the new 2012 products by Learning Resources. The "MeCorder-Mini Video Recorder" is a nifty lil gadget that allows students to record themselves. And what kid doesn't love to record themself? It is really easy to use-just plug it into your computer's USB port to charge it up. Oh ya! NO batteries! That is a big plus for me! If you want to save a file, it's that easy also-just plug it back into your computer & save the file. I started thinking about some of the ways that you could use the MeCorder in the classroom:

• to practice sight words
• speech/articulation practice {great for students to see mouth formation}
• to record directions at a center
• assessments
• sentence writing assistant {Many students have difficulty writing a complete sentence because they sometimes forget some of the words in their sentence as they are writing. The MeCorder is very helpful to those students-they can record their sentence and then play it back as many times as needed until they have successfully written the entire sentence.}
• to record messages to send home to parents {I think it would be really cool to record a kiddo that has had a super day saying something like, "Hi Mom & Dad! I did a great job in school today!" All you have to do is plug it right into your computer & attach the file in an email to the parents. Imagine how excited that parent will be when they get a compliment plus a lil video clip of their child! I can't wait to try this!!!!}

If you would like to find out more about the MeCorder Mini Video Recorder, just click HERE!

Giveaway has ended! Thanks to everyone that entered!!!
Alright, now for the part you've been anxiously waiting for...Learning Resources has so generously offered to award a lucky First Grade Fever follower a MeCorder of their own. It possible for you to get 6 entries for this giveaway. {Hurry-when July ends, so does the giveaway-Winner will be announced on August 1st!} Just leave a lil comment saying that you do the following:

• Follow my lil Blog-First Grade Fever - 1 ENTRY
• Follow my TpT Shop - 1 ENTRY
• Follow Learning Resources on Twitter - 1 ENTRY
• Like Learning Resources on Facebook - 1 ENTRY
• Follow Learning Resources on Pinterest- 1 ENTRY
• Follow me on Pinterest- 1 ENTRY

That's 6 chances to win! Be sure to include your email address on each entry-good luck!

Fact Family Math Center FREEBIE!

Hey all!!! Gonna apologize right now because I feel like I should be posting a little more often but I feel like I have a bazillion things that I'm trying to juggle right now! (I confess, between everything at school & my own kiddos, I haven't even had time to do real grocery shopping in quite some time-Hello Pizza Hut delivery!) Whew! Are you feeling those stresses too???

How 'bout those FACT FAMILIES? We have been working on relating addition to subtraction so I decided to bring out those french fries again. Back in September I posted a FRENCH FRY ADDITION FACT FREEBIE that I used with my firsties to practice addition. This time I'm using those french fries to practice building related math facts. This seemed to be just the ticket for some of my kiddos that were struggling a bit with this concept.



Click the pic to download your FREEBIE center!

Oh ya, it is a FREEBIE! (I just LOVE freebies! They're almost as good as a shoe sale!!! Don't ya think?) If you download this center, I just ask that you leave me a lil comment below. All your great feedback really helps me out when I'm creating new activities!!!

Ok, I'm gonna try to sneek in a few minutes of Pinterest before I go to bed. That site has got me seriously addicted!!!

S'mores, Pumpkins & Hayrides...FAB-U-LOUS Fall Centers!

Hey everyone! There is a chill in the air, so...grab your favorite cozy sweater & a mug of hot cocoa and get ready for some "Fab-U-lous Fall Fun"! I just love bonfires & toasting marshmallows! How 'bout you?  So I was thinking "Why not bring some of that fall fun into the classroom?"  {The S'mores word work center is my fav!}

Check it out at my lil shop at Teachers Pay Teachers or Teachers Notebook. Also, I just finished up a few Fall Sentence Scramblers-just click the pic to grab your FREEBIES!

Have a great Wednesday! {Only 2 more days til Friday-Woo Hoo!}

French Fry Math Center FREEBIE & a Super-Big Thank You!

A big "Hey!" to everyone! First, I want to give a super big "Thanks" to Miss Bowers over at First Grade Jabber for awarding me the "Versatile Blogger Award"! WOWsie! I'm honored-you are just too sweet!

And I'm really excited to share one of our fun math activities that we worked on this week... "French Fry Facts"! We've been working really hard on addition and finding different ways to make numbers. This was a really fun activity! I started by cutting yellow construction paper into strips to make french fry counters. Then I had the kiddos separate the fries into two groups and come up with addition facts.

Then the students worked in groups & I gave each group a French Fry Sum Card. They worked together to find as many addition math facts for that sum as possible and then wrote those math sentences on their construction paper french fries. We then placed the addition facts in the correct french fry box. {I kinda came up with this display below at the last minute so don't look too close at those french fry boxes...they are a little bit crooked! Oh well-my firsties LOVED this activity anyway!}

Okay blogging friends, here is the math center FREEBIE!!! Gotta LoVe those freebies!!! Just click the pic below to download your copy! Sure do hope your kiddos enjoy this center as much as mine have!!

Just one more lil thing I want to mention...The Clutter Free Classroom is hosting a "Peek Into My Planbook" linky party. So...I've linked up my math activity to this great collection of classroom plans. Head on over to check them all out!

It's Time for Some Apple-licious Fun!

Oh, my! Had a very stressful evening...my computer went BlAnK!!!!! Yikes!! I was flippin' out! {you know you would be too!} All I could think was "Oh no! How will I log onto my blog? Will I be able to save any of  that super-cute clipart?" Seriously, I felt sick & wanted to cry...but after a phone call to my computer-genius friend Kim & a little research, I was able to drain my excess power, remove the battery & it STARTED right back up!!! I now have my clipart collection saved on a zip drive!!! {I'm not chancin' the loss of that stuff again!} Still not sure what the problem was but...the good news is I was able to load my "Apple-licious Fun!" mini-unit. My firsties love doing the apple taste test & the sentence-building activity! {Check out that awesome punctuation!}

The unit includes a ready-to-go math center, ABC center {2 levels}, graphing activity, apple craft & sentence-building activity. Check it out at my lil shops at TEACHERS PAY TEACHERS & TEACHERS NOTEBOOK! Happy birthday Johnny Appleseed!

WILD ABOUT SCHOOL! Jungle unit just posted! plus a FREEBIE!

Woo Hoo!!! All of this computer organization stuff is acually coming together! You know how it is during the school year...trying to be organized but just can't quite seem to get there. Well, I'm feelin' pretty darn good about finding most of my jungle unit stuff-yeah! I just posted my WILD ABOUT SCHOOL unit on my store at Teachers Pay Teachers and also on my new lil shop on Teachers Notebook. If you haven't visited Teachers Notebook, you need to check it out. It's similar to Teachers Pay Teachers and...they have FREEBIES too! Gotta love those FREEBIES!!!  Our school-wide theme is "Wild About Learning" this year and I'll using these activities right away in August. So, I'm sure I'll be creating some more activities to add to it. (Can't help it...I'm addicted to all that stinkin' cute clipart!) If you purchase this unit, please give me a shout out and I'll email you any additions that I come up with.

And speaking of FREEBIES...here is a FREEBIE from the Wild About School unit! Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think!!!

Click HERE for your Sentence Scrambler FREEBIE!!!

Happy Summer!