Inspired By Blogland...

I've got to say that I love blogging and I love the blogging world!  This blog has opened my eyes to the teaching world so much more.  I love all of the great ideas and creative people who are willing to share their talent...it makes me love teaching that much more.  This post is a shout out to some of those wonderful people. 
A few weeks ago when my class was talking about weather, I decided to spend one day having a "rainbow day".  Our math center (I had a parent there to help with this) was graphing skittles.  My kids thought it was such a fun math idea...who can blame them?  We made these rainbows using tear art and wrote what each color reminded us of.  This idea came from Made for 1st Grade.  We also did the Roy G. Biv featured on their site.  That activity got things rolling by introducing the colors of the rainbow.

 Inspired by none other than Babbling Abby at the Inspired Apple, I decided to use her great popcorn idea to bring adjectives to life for my firsties.  My kids were amazed that you could pop popcorn in anything other than a microwave and I have to admit this was my first time {ever} using an air popcorn popper.  YIKES!

I love this next idea!  Isn't it funny how when you use a word like "PARTY" everything is suddenly more exciting!?!  My kids saw a package of gum and a package of balloons on my desk and asked if they were for them.  Of course they were, but I had to leave them guessing so I told them they were for our balloon party.  To a first grader, I am sure they were picturing balloons and confetti.  I must say they weren't too disappointed with our activity though.  As of today this idea became my current bulletin board and the teachers around the school were loving it.  Right now as part of our writing unit, we are teaching the kids about the writing process using the words First, Next, Then and Finally.  This project was perfect for reinforcing the skill and it is a FREE download at TpT thanks for Lesson Plans SOS. 

When I brought out the gum and told them we would be chewing gum {in class} and practicing blowing bubbles some of the kids just about died.  They wanted to know if the principal knew we were breaking the rules and if we would be getting in trouble.  You have to love the innocence of a 1st grader!