Happy Fall and Happy Halloween Everyone!! I've got a fun fall FREEBIE for ya as well as a little blurb about our crazy week in K/1.

This week was a short one for us and I can't complain about how nice the timing worked out :)
 (no crazy kiddos here at school on a sugar high).

We had a 2 and half day week!!! Thats right, only two days and yesterday was a half day. We have parent teacher conferences today and tomorrow so instead of dealing with sugar crazed kids, we get to meet with their parents and the kids get to work off their sugar highs at home.

Unfortunately I don't get to be home tonight to pass out candy for our trick or treaters, but I'm sure my husband will be up for the challenge. I was really looking forward to it since it would be our first halloween in our new home, but alas, work trumps holiday activities.

Here is a little peek into our classroom and what we did during our super short week.

On Monday we made pumpkin pie from scratch. (which I am now kicking myself for not taking pictures!!)

We also made these super cute crazy pumpkins. I found the idea on pinterest. When I tried to look up the link so I could cite the source it directed me to website with recipes and no trace of the picture so this is the best I can do.
 Here is the link if you want to see the original idea. Crazy Pumpkin Faces!

Here are some of our really cute pumpkin faces:

     The pumpkin on the far left is supposed to have braces! (I thought it was hilarious!)

  The pumpkin on top is supposed to have a big black mustache (so stinking cute!)

We also managed to plant our own little pumpkin patch in our classroom which turned out so so cute!

(I found this sign in a free unit all about pumpkins thats on TPT, I loved all the resources in it!)

            I'm really hoping to keep these seeds alive and growing until they sprout so I can send them home with the kids. I confess I don't have the best track record of keeping things alive (plants and pets) so this is a major test to see if I can it!
If any of you have any suggestions on how to keep these seeds alive, please feel free to comment! I will welcome your advice and feedback!

And last but not least, here is the fall freebie I promised: 

Fun Fall Writing Activities Freebies

This is the first mini unit I've ever created and needed to make a freebie before I could start creating larger units.

And so without further ado-- Happy Halloween, my fellow teaching community!

So Many Updates!

 


 Well my life has been very busy and full of exciting things since the last time I posted anything on this little blog. I admit I am embarrassed I haven't posted anything on here since 2012!!! 
But alas, its a new school year and I'm working on setting new goals, so this is my latest attempt at growing as an educator and documenting the learning process as I go along. 

    I thought it might be a good idea to fill you in on all the exciting things that have been going on in my life, which might also explain why I was so absent in the blogging world.
In the past year and a half, I got engaged, became a homeowner and got married. The long months leading up to the wedding were full of DIY pinterest projects, many (probably too many) Etsy purchases,  countless hours researching wedding and teaching blogs, discovering a new love for teaching and travel and getting settled into a new home.

This past summer, I got married to my best friend (who happens to be my co-worker). I teach kindergarten/first grade at a K-12 private Christian school and my husband teaches 6-12th grade Spanish and Algebra. So I guess you could say between the two of us, we've got all the departments covered. 
  Because our school community is so small and we are close to many of the families, we decided our wedding wouldn't be complete unless we were able to share it with our students so we invited my class (K/1 kiddos) as well as many elementary, middle school and high school students to join us in celebrating!

It was a perfect day!! Here are just a few of many photos. It will definitely be hard to pick our favorites for our wedding album.

We had our reception at the beautiful Cline Cellars in Sonoma, CA.

We had such a crazy, hilarious, wonderful wedding party! 

A pic from our honeymoon in Maui, Hawaii.

That about sums up my life for the past year. Thanks for stopping by and giving my blog some lovin!!

Later this week I will be posting some fun teaching resources so stay tuned and check back in to grab some fabulous freebies!!!

So I realized after a couple of blog posts I never really explained why I decided to start this blog and what the meaning is behind the name.

I have been so inspired by other teachers who generously share their creative ideas and awesome worksheets that I decided it was time to contribute what I've discovered and created in my 3 years of teaching.

So here is a little info about me. I will be starting my fourth year of teaching this fall. Since I started teaching, I have taught a combined kindergarten and first grade class. So that is where the idea came from to name my blog: steppin up to first grade. Most of my students start with me as kinders and then "step up" to first grade and I get to teach them for another year. There is actually something really special about being a child's teacher for the first two years they are in school. I love having the privilege of watching them learn and grow. They mature so much by the end of first grade. One of my favorite things about first grade is that they start the school year with reading readiness and finish it as readers!

It always excites and inspires me to watch kids discover the joy of reading and grow in their confidence to take learning into their own hands.

I can't wait to see what next year will look like. I couldn't be happier to be a kindergarten and first grade teacher and I look forward to sharing the journey with you!

President's Day and the 100th Day

Here is a picture of an art project I did with my kids last year. We ripped up red, white and blue tissue paper and then crumpled it into balls which we glued on the profile's of Lincoln and Washington.

We discussed how shadowing and color contrasting is used in art to help show variation. We used different colors for the president's hair and skin to show the difference between them.

When we did this activity, I divided the class into two teams. The kids loved working together to create our master pieces!

This picture was taken on the 100th Day of School. I tried to find an item of clothing that I owned that looked like it had at least 100 circles on it (I think this dress had more than enough!).
I'm also holding up a poster I had each of my students make on the 100th day.  They had to add 100 things (paint dots, feathers etc.)

And We're Off...

Well here goes nothin. I decided to finally start a teaching blog where I could share my ideas and join the blog community officially.  I have been following several blogs for awhile and have been so inspired by the incredible teachers who find the time to create, share and inspire.  Two of my favorite blogs are by the inspired apple and the first grade parade. I cannot get enough of these two blogs and am so grateful these teachers are both creative and generous with their resources. Thank you so much for all the worksheets you have created and shared! They have made this year so much easier.

I hope to share some of my own ideas that I have implemented in my classroom as well as some cute projects and units I have found and loved. Feel free to follow me on this new adventure!