25 February 2012

They Like Me! They Really Do!

My {school} kids, that is.  Well, most of them do anyway.  17 out of 23 to be exact.  We had a mock election today and the votes were tallied…Mrs. Carroll by a landslide :)  This week we learned about our country & state and threw in some fun activities from my little Pint-Sized Presidential Fun Unit.  The kids had a blast!

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We read these books….one a day…and filled out some fun little graphic organizers.

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The kids got to choose one of the characters from each book…Grace, Duck, or {ahem} Mrs. Carroll, y’know, from My Teacher for President :) …to campaign for.  We made little campaign posters and hung them all over our room. 

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For our culminating activity, we held a little mock election today and the kids got to vote for either Grace, Duck, or me!!  17 of my little friends voted for me.  Those are the 17 I said can stay with me til the end of the year :) HA!  Just kidding.  Duck got 1 vote, Grace got 2, and one little friend turned in an empty ballot.  I guess none of us seemed like good options!!!  HA!!  2 of my little friends were at home fighting the flu…BOO. 

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As the kids were coming up to vote, they had to show me their Voter’s Registration Cards.  Hilarious.  I was the voting deputy and I sent them “home” {to their desks} if they forgot to bring their cards. 

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They got little “I voted” buttons to decorate when they were finished and then we tallied and graphed the results. 

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Earlier in the week, my kids wrote about what it would be like if they were President.  I got some hilarious answers!!!  They did this fun little craftivity from the same unit to go with their writing…

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Such a fun week!!!

Next week we’re going camping.  Oh, yes friends.  CAMPING.  In the classroom.  And I can’t wait to share our fun with you!!!  Stay tuned to see WHOOOOO will be hanging out in our classroom next week :)

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We’ll be learning about lots of woodlands mammals…life cycles, habitats, and more.  We’ll be using lots of fiction & non-fiction books to use with some pretty stinkin’ cute craftivities that I’ll be sharing with y’all.  This past week, I introduced the difference between fact & opinion with some activities from my Fact & Opinion Fun  Unit and we’ll continue that as we move into our fiction & non-fiction fun next week.


We’re also starting fractions!!!!  Last year I was TERRIFIED to teach fractions, but it turned out to be SO much fun!!!  We’re bustin’ out a lot of the activities from my Fraction Action Unit and I can’t wait to get started!!  I’ve got my Domino’s pizza boxes waiting in the wings for some fun pizza style fraction activities next week.  We’ll also be making our little “fractionpillars” which will fit in great with the little camping unit we’re doing! 

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Yeeks!!  I can’t wait!!!  S’mores, tents, campfires…I’m getting’ a little excited people!!

  Why are the short weeks always the longest?!  For real?!?! I couldn’t be happier it’s the weekend & I’m SO excited about my little lunch date today with two of my teaching heroes…Kelly & Diane from Made for 1st Grade!!!!  They’re here in the Metroplex and I can’t wait to spend an afternoon with them at my favorite little Mexican restaurant!  Good food & teacher talk?!  Sounds like a perfectly perfect Saturday to me!!!  SO pumped!!! 

Hope y’all have a WONDERFUL weekend!!!  Only 2 more full weeks of school until Spring Break, but who’s counting?!?!?! 

33 comments:

  1. I've been meaning to ask you what kind of school you teach at? I'm teaching 1st grade at a Title 1 school and it is so tough to do all the fun ideas that you share. I also have NO parent support to volunteer to to donate all the squiggly eys, cotton balls, etc...you know what I mean. Anyway, just wondering how you do all the fabulous things u do? Happpy weekend and have a yummy lunch!!

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    1. Brandi, you sound like you teach at my school!

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    2. I teach at a title 1 school and experience the same lack of support. My team usually come together and share project expenses. Of course, we cannot do them all. When we do, we split the materials up and each purchase one or two items to make the project complete. Then we share it with each others classes. Keep your head up!

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    3. I teach at a title 1 school and experience the same lack of support. My team usually come together and share project expenses. Of course, we cannot do them all. When we do, we split the materials up and each purchase one or two items to make the project complete. Then we share it with each others classes. Keep your head up!

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  2. Oh my goodness gracious! Cute, cute, cute! All sorts of fun has been happening in your room. A big treat in my classroom is when I pull out my campfire and we roast marshmallows. I also allow my kids to bring in a flashlight for story time. It's a blast!

    I LOVE YOUR IDEAS! You are amazing!
    A Year of Many Firsts

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  3. ADORABLE~ As usual! :) Can't wait to see pictures from your week camping!
    Can I be in your class?? Pretty please??
    Kerri B
    teacherbitsandbobs.blogspot.com

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  4. Awwww! Your kiddos are so lucky. Have a fun week camping! The best part is you get to go home at night and sleep on your soft bed instead of the hard ground like in real camping.

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  5. Bought it, pinned it! LOVE it! I love how all of your units are so educational and cute at the same time. I literally get giddy when I see you've posted something new! (I swear I do have a life-Ha!)
    I love this unit. Thanks for being so creative!
    Sarah
    Sarah's First Grade Snippets

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  6. Love your President's Day ideas! I wish I had seen this sooner....my kiddos would have loved it!

    Laura
    Kinder Kraziness

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  7. this would be a perfect addition to our voting day in Nov! yay!
    Rachel

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  8. love your ideas! you're in mckinney right? I'm in Frisco. what is your favorite mexican restaurant? I always love trying new places. have fun with Diane and Kelly!

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  9. This all looks so fun! I can't wait to see your camping unit! I just finished my Forest Expedition Unit!! :)

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  10. My son is in kindergarten and I love reading your blog for ideas of things I should be working on at home with him. This looks like so much fun! I kind of want to have an election and see if I can beat my husband jk ;)

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  11. I love the Presidential Unit. :) And that Owl is too cute!

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  12. Everything you do is just so stinkin' cute!!

    Jodi
    fun-in-first.blogspot.com

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  13. I love, love, love it - I put it in my shopping cart!!!!!

    Hope you had fun today with your bloggy friends - you should definitely take and post pictures. I had such a fun time at our Michigan Bloggy Bash...can't wait to do it again! :)

    Holly
    Crisscross Applesauce in First Grade

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  14. This is a great addition to my voting ideas that we usually do in the fall. Gotta put that President's Day unit in my list of gotta have's for next year! Thanks for the great ideas!
    Robynn
    BusyBees

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  15. Super cute! I love those little cutie Presidents :)

    Natalie
    Teachery Tidbits

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  16. How fun! Your new packet looks terrific, like EVERYTHING you do!
    Jenn
    Finally in First

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  17. Super cute as usual! Love your "If I Were President writing/craftivity.
    I seriously CANNOT wait until you post about your camping adventure.
    Dragonflies in First

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  18. I love all your President's Day activities. They are soooo cute, just like everything else you do.

    Susie Q

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  19. Love the election idea!! (and that owl!!)
    Jennifer

    First Grade Blue SKies

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  20. Love love love it! What a great idea! Adding to my ever growing wishlist. :)
    Meeting up with fellow bloggers is so much fun. Enjoy!
    Jessica

    Apples and Papers

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  21. I love the mini election including you! :-).

    We also do a camping theme. It is jammed packed of learning!! My favorite activity is secretly writing a bye to parents and asking them to write letters for camp week. The parents get really creative. I mean I had a parent that write he letter in mud and signed it from a child's dog!!! Our custodians dress up like mail me. And deliver the letters. We of course work on letter writing and write back!

    Enjoy your week! I also copied some of your fraction action items to use for next
    Week. I love the little fraction book. I just use the Ellison to precut the shapes!

    -Danielle
    Http://lasotaslittlelearners.blogspot.com

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  22. I ate(---- Ahhh! For real I wrote hate there!).
    my auto correct! It is too late and I'm too tired to fix my post! Please use your sweet teacher decoding skills to Figure out my Post! :-D

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  23. Great unit! Any chance you can remind us when election day gets closer? I intend on using this but will probably forget!! I'm also looking forward to seeing what you come up with for camping. Like Brandi (1st post) I have to limit the crafty stuff so I love that you have so much that is cute & fun for firsties but still so educational. Please keep it up!

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  24. This is awesome! I am locking it in to memory for November!

    Ashley

    firstgradesmartcookies.blogspot.com

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  25. Love your blog! Thanks for adding all the photos-they are great!

    Kelli
    http://talesfromatravelingteacher.blogspot.com/

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  26. I LOVE your little voter registration cards and the "Vote for ____ for President" posters!! The unit is a little high for my kinders {no time telling or syn/antonyms for us!} but it's another great one for other first graders. I love love love your products. Keep 'em coming!

    Little Miss Glamour Goes to Kindergarten

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  27. Just saw this and I am so excited to use it to prepare for the upcoming election! Love all the activities (and I know my students will too)!

    Sara :)
    Smiling In Second Grade

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  28. Thank you so much for sharing. We used some of your ideas after school while learning about the election. I've shared your link on our page of Resources for learning about Election Day. Here's the link http://theeducatorsspinonit.blogspot.com/2012/11/go-vote-resources-for-teacing-kids.html

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  29. Thanks so much for creating such a great unit! :) It was perfect to use when teaching my 3rd grade ELL students about Election 2012. We live in rural Alaska so the candidates didn't make a lot of sense but using book characters certainly did! I'm writing a blog post this week about the results and plan on giving you complete credit for my success! Keep working hard and keep posting.
    Happy Wednesday,
    Annie

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