Let's try this again!

I got an idea from Kristen Smith over 

@ A Day In First Grade

She's releasing a new product and is giving away a free copy of it to someone who leaves her a comment and is chosen at random.  I'm sure many of you either do that on your blogs with your products or have seen it before but it's new for me (blushing).  I'd like to do the same thing but with a TwIsT...

I'd love for you to check out this new resource by downloading a preview over at my TPT store.  But I'd also love to give a few away....yep, a few!  

So here's what to do:

1) Go on over to my classroom website.

2) Figure out "Where in the world did I get engaged?"

3) E-mail me your answer: firstgradebloom@gmail.com

4)  I'll give away 10 of them (the first 5 who e-mail me and then draw 5 randomly) and e-mail it to you!

I'm excited to see how this works :-)

Rock Stars & Birthdays

Can you imagine if teachers were rock stars?

Well we kind of are.  We are on stage everyday with an audience.  

We love what we're doing but it's tiring and we put in long hours.

I saw the Red Hot Chili Peppers tonight in concert and it was AWESOME!  I listen  to them while doing long bike rides and runs.  And although I was enjoying myself and shakin' my head to the music, two teaching thoughts ran across my mind:

1) I would love to do my job on a big stage with awesome music and just dance all over the place!

2) I found my mind wandering away from some songs and focusing, instead, on the great visuals that were taking place on a huge screen behind the band...I bet that's what some kids do in our classrooms too :-)

Now to introduce my 5-year-old to their music...hee, hee, hee!

And I'm still thinking about birthdays because I finished something I've wanted to do in my classroom for years but only got about 25% of the way with it.  I've created a "Birthday Bag" pack that includes photos of what mine looks like and all the directions, labels and pages needed.  The reason I suddenly worked on it and finished it is because I found a treasure at Lakeshore this summer, which I'm using at the actual Birthday "bag".  So check it out if you're so inclined.

And I have a question for everyone out there:  What/How/When do you celebrate summer birthdays?  I've done half birthdays and I've also done "Last Week of School Summer Birthday FIESTA", but I'd like summer birthdays to get to take home the Birthday Bag too.  Plus, my little guy is turning 1 on August 17th, which (in a few years) means he won't get to celebrate his birthday at school and will be a summer birthday kid :(

So how do you do it?

Birthday Books

Today is my un-birthday!  You remember that scene from Alice in Wonderland, right?  Well I watched that movie with my 5-year-old recently and that must've put a bee in my bonnet because I'm working on something I've always wanted to do in my classroom: A Birthday Bag.

I've almost finished getting it ready for TPT & TN but I need some help:

What book(s) do you read to your students -or- your own child on their birthdays?

Please leave a comment to let me know :-)

P.S. Happy Birthday to my little brother Jason :-)

Made It Monday!

Made It Monday is now going to be on the first Monday of each month over at Tara's fantastic blog:

My blog has been as quiet as a sleeping infant lately because I gave birth to my son Max about 2 weeks ago, so life just got busier and I haven't found the time to blog...until now!  

So this project was completed prior to Max's arrival and is a spin-off of something I've seen from several people doing Monday Made It.

A Birthday Pot

First, I sprayed painted an old flower pot, filled it half way with polished rocks and put star stickers on the outside.