My Economics Unit is Complete! :)

I'm so excited to have finally finished my 1st TPT unit! It is a 46 page unit that covers goods, services, producers, consumers, trade, scarcity (making choices) and earning money. It includes money activities, a glyph and craft ideas. I'm really excited about it and am offering it to my bloggie friends for a discounted price through Sunday. Check it out at my TPT shop HERE!

Here are some samples from the unit just for you! :)

Producers and Consumers

Caterpillar Coin Game


Andrea

We have a winner!

Congratulations Pinky! Another giveaway is coming soon!  :)

Andrea

Beginning Money Bump

I made this to use when beginning a unit on money. My kids love the original Bump, so I knew they'd enjoy this as well. My attempt at a cube is kind of pitiful :), but what I did for my kids was cut out the coins and bill and attached them to some of the big foam dice I purchased from the dollar store. They work great!

I am trying to attach the documents on Google Docs now because many people were having a hard time opening scribd documents. I hope this helps! :)

Andrea

                                              Money Bump

It's Giveaway Time!

Yippee! It's giveaway time from Stepping into First Grade and What's the Buzz! Here's what you need to do to gain entries:

1 entry if you follow this blog and leave a comment!

1 entry if you follow What's the Buzz and leave a comment!

1 entry if you follow Jaime's Teachers Pay Teachers store!

One lucky winner will receive a $25.00 Dollar Tree gift card, Jaime's Frog and Toad unit and the End of the Year Friends game in her TPT store!  This giveaway will end Sunday afternoon at 5:00 EST and the winner will be announced Monday.  Good luck and happy blogging!



Coming Soon: My economics unit! :)

Andrea

Conference Tip

I just had conferences this week and wanted to share something that I do to help parents remember their date and time. I send home labels that say:

To the parents of __________________
Just a reminder that your conference is scheduled for this evening
at 6:20. I look forward to meeting with you! (Happy face, my name)

I stick the label on the child's coat or shirt and it has REALLY cut down on the number of parents that don't come. It's better than a note because we know they can get lost! Hope this helps you!

Andrea

Mother's Day

One of the teachers that I worked with last year made these and made me an example. The flowers are attached to craft sticks. A super easy present for Mom! :) Enjoy!

Andrea

Another Easter post!

I love Easter! We've been making bird nests, bunny bags and doing Easter math. Here is another Easter math sheet for you to enjoy!

Don't forget to follow me! Jaime from What's The Buzz? and I will be having a fantastic giveaway when we both have 75 followers! :)

Egg-stra Subtraction Practice

Egg-Citing Observations!

Last week, I was at an outdoor mall and found this egg that you keep in water, it cracks and a little chicken toy is supposed to hatch. I brought it in, made a little observation sheet and decided to try it with my first graders. I didn't tell them what it was. I just said I found it and we made a little paper nest. They were very concerned with keeping it warm so we added what we could find - cotton balls, yarn, etc. At first, some were a little skeptical. They noticed that it looked kind of like the plastic eggs we used during math. I left it out for the day and when they were gone, I put it in water (If it's not in water, it won't change or grow). The next day I took it out and it was cracking a bit. Even the skeptical kids began to wonder what it could be. By the 3rd day, it had many more cracks and even a little hole where we could see something orange. They were so excited and were convinced that they could see a beak! They even convinced each other that they could hear it in there! So precious! They all wanted to come back to school on Saturday to see what was going to happen! I love when they say that!
Anyway, I don't know how it will turn out, but I know that we are having so much fun! I am almost sad that it's not real!!
I was at Dollar Tree last night and they had them! So I grabbed a few for future years. Fun times in first grade!

**If you have not taken at look at the new Frog and Toad unit from Jaime @ What's the Buzz, go check out this adorable unit - she has a preview on her blog. So.darn.cute! :)

:) Andrea

Here is a pic of the egg from the Dollar Tree. It's not the same brand, but would probably work just fine! The pic isn't very clear because of the plastic packaging. It says Growing Egg on it. :)

If you are a first grade teacher, these books are MUST HAVES!

Freddie Fernortner, Fearless First Grader books are awesome! Thanks to Jaime from http://whatsthebuzzinfirst.blogspot.com/ for introducing me to these books. My first graders can't get enough of them. They beg me to read them and you could hear a pin drop as they listen to my every word! These books have been our favorites this year by far. If you haven't read one, it is about a boy named Freddie and his adventures with his friends. (He even has a cat that chews gum and blows bubbles!) Each chapter is only a few pages long and leaves you hanging. The kids can't wait to find out what is going to happen! LOVE THEM! :)
Author - Johnathan Rand (the author of Michigan Chillers and American Chillers)

Andrea

Bunny Mallow Graph!

I saw these cute bunny marshmallows at Walmart (they also have them at Meijer) and I bought them to make a graph with my class. I put them in snack bags. I can't wait to do this next week! My friend Sara is responsible for the cute graphics! Love them, Sara! :) 
Here is a pic of the Bunny Mallows:

Here is the graph. There are 2 pages, the first one is shown below. The first page has a tally table and graph. The second has questions. Enjoy! :)

Bunny Mallow Graph - Page 1
Bunny Mallow Graph - Page 2

Easy Easter Craft and Super Big Rice Krispie Treat

I saw this on Happy Home Fairy and thought it was just adorable! You just cut out 2 egg shapes. decorate the first one like an Easter egg and then cut it down the middle. Decorate the other with the face of a bunny. Decorate the back of the Easter egg like bunny ears or write words or both! Attach the two with a brad. So cute!

2nd part of post - My sweet friend from work knows how much I love Disney and Rice Krispie Treats so when she visited Disney over break, guess what she brought me? A monster-size treat. Yummers! Check it out!

7 of my Favorite Things~ Linky Party!

So here's how you play: write your own blog post with YOUR favorite 7 things and they can't be teacher-related. Once you post, go to Persnickety Pickles and link up!


Here are my 7:


1. Target (pronounced Tarjay of course). I can't leave that place without spending at least $50 and that's on the low end. It just sucks me in but I love it!


2. Chocolate - I gave it up for Lent and it has been really difficult. Especially when I see the Reese's PB eggs. They are to.die.for. Have you seen the really big one? Oh my...pure heaven!


3. Karaoke - Love it! Not really good at it, but I love it nonetheless. My favorite song to sing is Wannabe by the Spice Girls.


4. Pineapple whips that you can only get at Disney World. They are so good I told my husband that next time we go, we have to stop for 1 twice a day so I can get my fill.


5. I like a lot of reality tv - it's true. Right now my fave is Storage Wars - "Y....E....PPPPPP!" and I would love to bid on a unit. How fun would that be?


6.  Baking - okay 3 of my faves are food-related, but hey, I like to eat. I love to try new recipes. I love Cupcake Wars and am always up for trying a new cupcake.


7. The movie Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth. Actually anything with Colin Firth, although I haven't seen The King's Speech.


There you have it! That's a little about me. I can't wait to learn about you!

Time

We just started our time unit and so I made this activity to go with it. You'll need plastic eggs, (I got mine from Dollar Tree), and the worksheet below. I found printable clocks at http://etc.usf.edu/clipart/sitemap/math.php. Cut out the clocks and put one in each egg. The children need to open each egg and write the time on the paper next to the number that matches the number on the egg. Then, they should color the paper to match the egg. They can add extra decorations if you have time. I think my kiddos will love it. You could given them the eggs right away or hide them! We'll do it this week, but I wanted to share it today. Simple, but fun! :)

                                          Easter Egg Time

Check out this book!

It's called Swim! Swim! and it's by Lerch. My kiddos loved it and it had them cracking up! It's good for talking about dialogue - the fish is lonely and tries to talk to the pebbles, bubbles and an ornament in the tank. My first graders also had fun making predictions and luckily, (Whew! We were worried for a minute there!), there was a happy ending.
We loved it! :)

Fish Glyph

I'm thinking if I do this again, I might have construction paper for the children to use for all pieces, but this time I let them draw everything but the bowl and the fish. Enjoy!


Andrea

                                               Fish Glyph

Goldfish Pictograph

In our district, we have to teach the children how to create and interpret pictographs, so I made a graphing sheet using Goldfish crackers. They love anything with food...hey, who doesn't? :)


Andrea

Goldfish Pictograph

What Makes a Fish a Fish?

Here is a songbook that I created. I don't have pictures of the completed book, but it's very cute!


Andrea

                                 What Makes a Fish a Fish?

Fish!

We've been learning about fish! We started with a chart that listed our schema, questions and added new learning throughout the unit! I'm still learning about how to add pictures...


Andrea

Here we go!

I've been looking, (well actually blogstalking), for quite a while now and I think I'm finally ready to start my own. I honestly don't know how often I'll be able to update, I guess I'll just wait and see. I appreciate all of the ideas I've gotten from other blogs, and I look forward to sharing my blog with you! :)


Andrea