What is it?

Is it a porcupine? A headhog? Hedgie?

No, it's Mort the hedgehog!

Mort came to visit our classroom on Friday. It was so fun for my firsties to see, feel, and watch a real live hedgehog! (Even when he peed) 

And not to mention, I thought it was WAY COOL too!

My granddaughter Tiffany is one of my students and her Aunt Nikki has a hedgehog for a pet. After reading several Jan Brett books through out the year, I realized none of my kiddos really knew what a hedgehog was. So Nikki was gracious enough to bring Mort for a surprise show and tell. I loved watching the kids reactions as they petted Mort and learned all about a real hedgehog. Great motivation for writing. The kiddos are really excited now to write what they know. 

I hope you're having a fun weekend! 

Scrambled Sentence Freebie

I can't believe how fast this year has flown by. We are almost to THE END! My little ones are getting anxious. How about yours?
Here is a little scrambled sentence to help keep them occupied. There are 5 different ones. We've done several throughout the year and it's a great review of sentence structure and making sentences make sense. The graphics are from KPM Doodles! I hope someone can use it. Just click on the picture below to grab a copy.

Have a great Wednesday Hump Day!

Count the Tally Marks Freebie

Hey all! I  hope everyone has had a fantastic weekend. Mine has been super. The weather is sooooo nice. It's hard to be inside for more than a few minutes!

I've got a cute freebie for anyone who could use it. I just put it in my math stations this week. It's for tally marks and counting by 5's. It goes along with the new common core 1.NBT.1. Just click HERE for a free copy. The graphics are from Scrappin Doodles and From the Pond with fonts from Kevin and Amanda.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope everyone has a great week!

Fly Away Butterflies!

Today it finally warmed up enough so we could set the butterflies free!

Two of them wanted to hang around. One of them sat on my finger for awhile and let all the kiddos take a closer look. They thought it was so cool. I did too. Look how intense Tiffany is checking out that butterfly. I love doing  things like this! I love to see expressions like Tiffany's on the faces of my students. It's what makes teaching worthwhile. To see that thirst and excitement for knowledge  is a great pay check! Okay, it doesn't pay the bills but it makes me want to keep teaching and teaching!
I hope you have a great Friday!

Greater or Less Than

Today was a much better day! Sorry for the whining yesterday. We started our plant unit and planted seeds today. Even though it was still bad weather and we had to get messy inside with the dirt and all, my kiddos loved it and they were pretty well behaved.

In math we have been reviewing a lot. Some of the time we spent with greater and less than. So here is a little activity I'm putting in Math Stations for more practice. Very easy, hardly any prep. You roll 2 dice to make the numbers. We used 10-sided dice but you could use a 1-6 especially in the beginning. We also had one player roll one dice and the other player roll the other dice and together they decided what the number should be. We talked about cooperation and playing together. It worked well. If you'd like a copy just click HERE.

P.S. to my post yesterday on 10 more 10 less (click HERE to read it) about why it went better this year than other years. I think because of two things. I taught 10 more 10 less after a very big place value unit. More of the kids understood tens and ones in a number. Also, in the debrief portion of the lesson yesterday some of the kiddos noticed the patterns (34-44-54) and that the tens place had changes by one. This was a BIG ah-ha for some of the firsties.
Anywho, I hope you have a great Thursday tomorrow.
Thanks for stopping by. I hope you found something that you can use.

10 more 10 less freebie

So Sunday I'm walking out of church and standing there in the hall was Jonas from Survivor! Yeah, can you believe it.  I knew he was from Lehi but I didn't know he lived just a neighborhood over from me. When I saw him  he said hi and I said hi back. But I couldn't figure out where I knew him from. As we were walking away my hubby asked if I knew who that was. No, I can't place him. He really looks familiar, like someone I've talked to this week. Hubby couldn't place him either. Then my son comes up behind us and tells us it was Jonas. Oh my heck. I wanted to turn around and go ask him a bazillion questions about Survivor because I am a BIG survivor fan. I hope I see him next Sunday. I'll have my list of questions ready! lol

On to school things. My kiddos were so naughty today! I hope I can last 31 more days. It rained and we had an earthquake drill. So that didn't help. Our butterflies have all hatched so they are soooo excited about that. I had to raise my voice a few times today to get there attention because my mic batteries were all dead. Tomorrow my batteries will be charged, it's not suppose to rain, and we are setting the butterflies free. So hopefully we will have a better day!

We worked on 10 more 10 less today in math. It went really well. This is such a hard concept but we pulled out the 100's charts and really dug in. They really surprised me how well they caught on. In years past it seems like half of them just don't get it. We did a little activity after the lesson and I'm putting it in Math Stations for more practice. It's hardly any prep. We did it together at first so I gave them the numbers instead of picking a card. The cards are for the Math Station. Grab a copy if you think your firsties need the help. Just click on the picture.

Well, I hope your day was better than mine. And I hope tomorrow will be super for us all.
Thanks for stopping by.

TpT Tax Day Sale!

It's a sale! 15% my whole shop just for today. Hurry over and take a look.

I've just added a new noun packet too! It aligns with the new common core and includes Proper and Possessive nouns.

Click here to go to my shop!

Buggy Equals Freebie!

Well, my spring break is over- boo hoo! It's been wonderful to rest and relax but to tell you the truth I think I'm missing my little firsties. It's been wet and rainy the last few days here in Utah so I'm ready to get back to school.

I've been working on my math stations and have a new freebie to share. It aligns with the new common core 1.OA.7 Understanding the equal sign. My kiddos love to use the number balance scale to check their answers. I hope someone can use it. The graphics are by From the Pond and fonts are by Kevin and Amanda. Click HERE to grab a copy.

This is what a number balance scale is if you were wondering.

Have a great rest of the weekend! Thanks for stopping by.

Spring Break, Verbs, and a FREEBIE

Wow, it's been a while since I've posted. So sorry. I've been busy. We had tons to do in class with Easter party and all. And now I'm on Spring Break!!! I was going to blog before my break started but didn't get around to it. So here is a belated Happy Easter wish for all. I hope everyone had a super time. I had a great time watching grandkids hunt for eggs and spending time with my family. My spring break is going wonderful! This year we decided not to go anywhere. At first, I was a little down but not anymore. It has been so nice to just do absolutely nothing. Well, not quite nothing. But it's been great to sleep late, not rush around packing and getting ready for a trip. Hubby and I went to the movies, had a picnic, took a little scenic road trip, went to lunch twice, watched a few dvds, went for a long walk. It's been very relaxing and I've still got 2 more days!
Anyhow, back to my post. I've been able to squeeze in a little time for packet making today. Hubby had a wisdom tooth pulled so I got some time for myself. I've finished my VERB packet. I hope you'll check it out at my shops. It's only $4. Click on the word for a link to my shops. TpT or Teacher Notebook

There is a FREEBIE that goes along with it and you can only get it here on my blog. It's a fun little game called Verb Charades. Click on the picture below to grab a copy.

I hope it's something you can use with your kiddos!

Well, I'm back to my spring break. I'm not going to think about school for the rest of the week. Yeah, right! Well, maybe just a little.

Have a great rest of the week and thanks for stopping by.

Butterflies and Money Freebie

I love how first graders can make you feel like a rock star and it doesn't take much. I bought some caterpillars last week and my firsties went nuts! They are so excited to watch them grow and change. A couple of my darlings commented on what a wonderful teacher I am. "Mrs. Peterson, you're the best ever!" Like I said, it doesn't take much even a few caterpillar will do. Seriously, I'm even excited about the caterpillars. When my own kids were young we would go down to the empty fields and find monarch caterpillar. We'd bring them home and watch the magic. I'd always take one to school for my students to enjoy. But then houses went up in the field and we couldn't find any milkweeds. My curriculum also changed and my children grew-up. So I've missed the caterpillar magic. My son saw my caterpillar the day they arrived in the mail and started talking about the memories. I love when that happens. Anyhow, we are anxiously watching and waiting. I bought 'Painted Lady' caterpillars. They only have a life span of 3-4 weeks. Some of the little firsties are having a hard time with the fact that they will die but we are going to set them FREE so they can lay more eggs before they die.
Believe it or not but I got a great deal on the caterpillar on Amazon.com. You can check it out by clicking the picture below.

I got 5 caterpillars and they guarantee that 3 will make it to the butterfly stage. We are having a great time learning all about them. I made a fun butterfly packet and uploaded it to my shops. It has a non-fiction booklet in black and white or color. There is an observation page and a cute poem by Aileen Fisher. There is also a note taking page and butterfly sheet for our reports. You can check it out by clicking on the words- TpT  or Teachers Notebook.

We are working on more money practice this week. So I made a fun little board game. 3AM Teacher had some really cute graphics. Just click on the picture below to download a FREE PFD.

I hope you can use it! I hope everyone has a wonderful week. I know a lot of you are on spring break. Not me :( But ours is next week. So I'm counting the days and minutes. I need a break!