13 in 2013

It is hard to believe that in just a few days that 2013 will be over. This has definitely been a year for the books for me!

I am excited to link up with Hadar, Kristin, and Traci for their end of year link party to highlight some of the things that happened in 2013. 

thirteen. favorite article of clothing

Hands down it would have to be leggings. I love that I can wear them with a longer shirt, with a dress, or with a t-shirt and they are all acceptable. 

twelve. favorite move you watched

 Catching Fire. No contest. I think I may have liked this one even more than the first one if that is possible. 

eleven. favorite TV series

I have no idea how they are able to film this show. There is no way I could ever be serious enough to make that happen. I just love Sheldon Cooper. 

ten. favorite restaurant

I live in a small town that has very limited options. Subway is usually my first choice when I want something to eat. I could eat sandwiches everyday and be okay with it. 

nine. favorite new thing you tried

I am not really sure what I tried new this year. Does Sour Cream count? I used to think it was horrible, but now I do not mind it on food. 

eight. favorite gift you got

I may have bought it for myself, but I say it counts. :)

My MacBook Pro!!!

seven. favorite thing you pinned

six. favorite blog post

The one where I shared pictures of my classroom. 

five. best accomplishment

This is hard because I have several this year. 

I walked across the stage in May with my Masters in Education with Principal Certification.

I passed my Principal Certification test on my first try in July. 

four. favorite picture

These are the three best friends that a girl could ask for. We were all at a friend's wedding and there was a photo booth. This just sums up our craziness perfectly. Not sure what I would do without them. :)

three. favorite memory

April 4th…I went to the elementary school to talk with the principal about a possible transfer to the campus from the middle school. I expected to have to go through the entire interview process again, but five minutes later I was offered the 1st grade position. 

two. goal for 2014

I attended a Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University Class this past year and I would like to follow it with fidelity in 2014. Any tips? I want to do 12 budgets and use the envelope system. 

one. one little word

faith.

I want to trust His plan for my life and really dive deeper into His word.

Currently December

You can bet my cart is full for the upcoming Teachers Pay Teachers Sale! This new 1st grade teacher has to load up when she can! My entire store will also be 20% off. 

I am also super excited to be joining Mel and Michelle for their Elf on the Shelf Linky that they will be having each Sunday night. I am hoping that there will be an elf waiting for us in my classroom tomorrow morning, but I think we will have to wait on the magic of Santa to get him there. :) The first linkup will happen this Sunday, December 8th. 

Last, but not least I of course had to link up for the last Currently of 2013. Did I really just say that? December???? Where the heck has 2013 gone? It has definitely been one for the books for me! 

Listening: House Hunters is a pretty much a nightly tradition for me. There is not much on TV at 10 p.m. I have also been listening to Christmas music since November 1st. I am so thankful that my kiddos love listening to it at school too. 

Loving: Is there seriously only 15 more school days before it is time for Christmas Break? That seems impossible to me! We have lots of fun things planned over the next three weeks and I cannot wait to celebrate the holidays with my firsties.

Thinking: I cannot wait to see the faces of my kiddos tomorrow when they find our new friend in our classroom. I did this with my 6th graders last year and they loved it, so it is bound to be a hit in first grade. 

Wanting: These have been on my wish list for a long time and I think it is finally time to bite the bullet. Christmas present to myself…I think yes!

Needing: More time off!!! I am beyond jealous of those of you who had the whole week off! That is something that I have never had as a student or teacher. However, I am glad that I did not have the chance to mess my routine up too bad since the break was shorter. 5:45 a.m. will not be as bad. 

Favorite Tradition: Each year for as long as I can remember we have gone to the store and picked out special Christmas jambes that we wear on Christmas Eve to bed. Yes, I am 25 and I still love this. I cannot wait to do this with my own kids one day, but I think their Elf friend will leave them for them on Christmas Eve instead. :)

5 for Friday- Saturday Edition

 It feels so great to be linking up with Kacey again, just don't judge that today is not actually Friday. 

One. Character Parade

We had our Book Character Parade on Friday to celebrate the end of our book fair and I had a blast. At first I was not sure what or who I wanted to be, but was very happy with how my costume turned out. 

 Two. Cold Weather

I just love cold weather and we got a serious blast of it in Central Texas on Friday. It was in the mid 30's pretty much all day and we did not even go outside for recess. Currently we are under a Winter Weather Warning and there is a possibility for snow on Monday. Fingers crossed for a late start since we are one of the few districts in the area that has to go to school through Tuesday. 

There is also just something about spending the evening at home with a fire in the fireplace. 

Three. Christmas Music

It is pretty much my favorite and we listen to it daily in my classroom. So blessed to work in a district where it is okay to celebrate the holidays. 

Four. Whole Brain Teaching

It is completely changing my classroom and our behavior. I promise to share more in the coming weeks about what works and does not work for my classroom. The biggest thing to remember though is that you have to make it your own. Just because you see a video does not mean that your classroom has to run exactly like that.

Five. The Little Things
I have absolutely loved every minute of teaching 1st grade. There are for sure days that are harder than others, but my students make it all worth it. On Friday as we were leaving for the day, one of my friends had a bit of an issue that we had to take care of before she could leave. As she is getting ready to leave, she asks if I would walk her to her bus. I told her absolutely and then she grabs my hand as we are walking. When I got to the gym door with her she turns and tells me with a big smile followed by a hug that she loves me and she loves being in my class. She melted my heart and really made me realize why I do what I do. It is these little moments that make what we do all worth it. 

Whole Brain Teaching…I'm Sold!

I am sold on Whole Brain Teaching and everything that goes along with it! I actually began implementing the five rules and the "class-yes" portion of WBT in my 6th grade classroom. I have been using these same two components in my 1st grade classroom since Day 1. I knew that I wanted to implement more, but I was not really sure how to do it. That is when I came across this video. 

I bit the bullet and implemented the scoreboard last week. It was a hit on day one and the kids were sold on it. It was awesome when they walked in today and their first question was if they were going to win the game again. :) Day by day I am getting better at implementing the scoreboard and becoming more religious with rewarding points for both good and bad. We got over 30 marks on our board today which was quite exciting. 

Today I introduced the concept of mirrors. Another huge hit!

I promise to keep sharing with you all on my WBT teaching journey! I am also going to be participating in a WBT Book Study that will begin in January! Be on the lookout for more posts about WBT!

November Already?

Is it seriously November? I have been a horrible blogger lately, but I have just been so busy. I actually missed four days of school last week because I was sick. That was no fun at all!!! Let's just say that my kids were super excited to see me on Friday. 

We have been up to so much lately. We have learned a little about…

bats

spiders

pumpkins

fire safety

being drug free

how to make applesauce

and so much more!

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the past few weeks! 

We absolutely love our ball chairs! :)

We are launching  math stations this week so I will be sharing how that goes in the next few days as well as updating you all on how the Daily 5 is running in my classroom. 

Attention Texas 1st Grade Teachers!!!

If you are a Texas 1st Grade Teacher there is something amazing happening in January in our great state that you are not going to want to miss! 

As soon as I found out about the Conference for Texas First Grade Teachers I told our team leader about it. I was thinking that we would have to pay for it out of pocket, but I knew that she would be interested in going as well. She told me she would throw the idea to our principal and see if a handful of us could go at least. Several weeks had gone by, but today we got an email from our principal not only saying that we could go, but that the whole grade level was going!!! We definitely did a happy dance in the hallway today and gave lots of hugs to our principal. I still cannot believe that I really get to go. :)

I cannot wait to see some of my all-time favorite bloggers and TPT friends present! There are some great ones there including:

Reagan from Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits

Deanna Jump

Rachelle Smith from What the Teacher Wants

and some other greats like...

Donna Whyte

Dr. Debbie Silver

Melissa Dickson

Laureen Reynolds

Tamika Jordan

If you are going to be there, please let me know! I would love to meet some other bloggers and TpT sellers while I am there!

Currently October

I cannot believe that it is already October 8th and I still have not linked up with Farley!!! What am I thinking? The year has been great, but I come home every day absolutely exhausted!

As you may have noticed, one of the biggest changes in my classroom this past week has been the addition of stability balls. We are now a chair free classroom and I love it! The best part is that the kids do too! More to come about that soon!