100 Acts of Kindness

Happy Wednesday! We're over halfway to Friday! This was my first week back at school and it's fun to be back with this class. Monday morning the first boy who came in the room Before I tell this story you need to know that I have a boy in my class (let's call him El) who is funny, outgoing, and very dramatic! I have another student (let's call him Eq) who is also very expressive. So, Monday morning El was the first one in the room. He walked in and proclaimed (the best word I can think of to describe it), "I'm so glad to be back here! I missed this room!" The other boy, Eq, came in a minute later, threw himself across the table and said, "I'm so glad to be in here!" What a way to start the day!

I told both boys I was happy they like school so much. About 15 minutes later kids went to sit on the rug. El was the first one there. He laid down on his square on the rug and said, "I missed this rug!" My thought, "Oh brother! Really? You missed the rug?" I didn't say anything and the dramatics didn't continue, but... what a group this is. They have so much personality that they could give some away and still have plenty. I enjoyed my time off, but I missed how funny they are too. Hopefully you've had a good week or two back as well.

We're learning about Martin Luther King, Jr. this week. We will try the directed drawing from Mrs. Miner's Monkey Business tomorrow. Can't wait to see how they come out! 

On Tuesday I'll start the project Living the Dream: 100 Acts of Kindness that I found on readwritethink.org. The project challenges kids to complete 100 acts of kindness between Martin Luther King day and Valentine's day. I found this book to kick it all off. It's called Kindness is Cooler, Mrs. Ruler.
It's about a teacher whose students are acting up in class. She challenges them to go home and perform 5 acts of kindness for their families and to share them at show-and-tell the next day. After those students share, other members of the class want to perform acts of kindness too so Mrs. Ruler turns it into a class project. The book is fun and the illustrations are very cute. The jacket cover says the class is kindergarten, but the book never refers to the age of the class.

I'll send a letter home explaining to parents how the project works and then keep track of the students 100 acts of kindness on this poster.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1WlMNXUXAS2YlZ3ZFktSU9yeVU/edit?usp=sharing
There are 5 pages all together that I'll tape on my cabinet door just inside the classroom. I also made a first page that just says 100 Days of School and one that just has 100 in case you want the poster for another purpose. Just click on the picture to grab it. But please leave a comment if you do. It's nice to hear from you.
The complete project can be found here and the resources include a one-page chart you can use to record the acts on. I just wanted a cuter one that I could write on better.

Let me know if you try this with your class. I'd love to hear how it goes!

I also wanted to share a resource I won from Jessica over at Tales of a First Grade Teacher. I can't wait to use it with my class! I'll print it tonight. It's full of arctic activities that fit perfectly with what we're doing right now- place value, graphing, and fact families, a long i/short I picture sort that's super for my reading groups, and a cvcv game that's perfect for my highest readers. There are more activities you might enjoy too. Please stop by and visit Jessica's fabulous blog and store!
Thanks, Jessica!

What are your favorite Martin Luther King activities?



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Martin Luther King, Jr freebie (re-post)

Happy Saturday! My husband I and are off to take a drive past a local lake and out into the country for the afternoon. I thought I'd post a quick reminder that I have a Martin Luther King, Jr. freebie available. It's a book where kids write and draw their dreams for themselves, their family, and the world. I'm looking forward to getting back to school Monday although I will terribly miss my lazy days and staying up late at night. Anyway, here's the freebie I posted last January.

http://firstgradefoundme.blogspot.com/2013/01/martin-luther-king-jr-booklet-freebie.html


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Currently in January

Happy 2014! So far this year is wonderful. An easy morning watching the Rose Parade, a little blogging, and we may go see Frozen this afternoon. I hear it's terrific! It's been a few months since my last Currently post. I was looking forward to one for January so here it goes:

Listening: It's so peaceful this morning. Nice and quiet outside. Inside my kitty is snoring next to me. Ahhh.....
Loving: It's wonderful  to be home! We left last Monday afternoon to spend Christmas with family and came home Thursday afternoon. We left again Saturday for my mother-in-laws to finally learn how to make her fabulous spaghetti sauce! She moved to Panama a few years ago with her husband and my husband and I really wanted to learn the recipe before... well, before we can't anymore, and she never wrote it down. We stayed with her, took her to the airport Sunday for her early morning flight out on Monday, then we headed home. I enjoy being gone, but it's so nice to come back home!
Thinking: About loving time off, but how strange it is to want to go to work too. I need to go for a day to prep for January. Maybe tomorrow. We'll see.
Wanting: Well, that said it. Do you have a favorite place to get comfy shoes? Any suggestions?
Needing: Oh boy. There are lots of decorations to take down. They look so pretty, but I guess it's about time. The yard takes about 20 hours to set up. Luckily it comes apart faster.
Memory: Our trip to Scottsdale, AZ at Easter was fabulous! We relaxed, visited a ghost town, and spent some time with our very good friends. 
Tradition: We still bake Christmas cookies at Mom's house every year. It's so much fun and such a special tradition to me. This year we made the must-have Peanut Butter cookies and Magic Cookie Bars but added oatmeal-cranberry and chocolate nutella cookies. OMG were they good!

I hope your day is wonderful and relaxing too! Any suggestions for a good online shoe store?


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