March is Over Already?!?!?!

Oh-EMM-GEE!!! I can NOT believe that March is done-zo!  I have 2 months left with one of my favorite classes.  2 months to cram their little brains full of info.  2 months to get my act together and pull off our class play....AKKK!!!!!

Anywho, as I sit here and freak let me share with you a few things that I created over spring break and that my kiddos have been enjoying.

My class has really enjoyed reading their Fry Phrases.  I've dolled them up for each holiday and by-golly they think it's something fancy (plus I hype them up about what amazing readers they are and how reading these daily will help our brains).  I made the first and second 100 sets for April.  (click on the picture to head to my store)

Next up, I created addition and subtraction puzzles for my kiddos.  I needed my kids to practice their fluency with addition and subtraction so I figured, why not?

A few of my babes have been struggling with the basics so I made number and ten-frame matching puzzles, capital and lowercase letter puzzles, and beginning sound puzzles.  They really enjoyed putting the puzzles together and it was a really good quick assessment for me.  I plan to use them at the beginning of the year next year as a quick assessment, yet they think they're just playing a game.

Oh and as a wee little (secret) treat for me, I ordered a new Vera Bradley computer bag...shhh! Don't tell the hubby!

It was a wonderful and productive spring break....9 1/2 weeks left until S-U-M-M-E-R!

A Sale? Say WHAT!!!!

Teachers pay Teachers is having a sale!  Thursday Feb. 27-Friday Feb. 28th and my store will be on sale too.

I'm super excited to put my "Number of the Day" on sale!  I use this packet with my class daily.  I do a whole group lesson on our number and we look closer at the number. Together we write the number, the word for the number, tally the number, decide if it's odd or even, we do tens/ones for the number also.  (Of course, I deleted the picture before I downloaded it, grrr) 

There's also a lot of other great products for sale, check them out!

An InLinkz Link-up

A Super Bowl Sale!!!

I honor of the super bowl tomorrow I'm throwing a sale!http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Amber-Burns

Click above to get to my store (fingers crossed I linked it correctly).

Reflections

As I sit here, reflecting back on the past 3 weeks of school since Christmas break I am reminded about the art and craft of teaching.  I have a student teacher right now who is trudging along.  It has been a good reminder to myself of what a blank slate I was 10 years ago when I was student teaching and a pat on the back of how far I've come.

When a teacher stands up in front of her students, we don't really "think" about teaching as a step-by-step process, for that matter we don't really "think" it just comes naturally.  My students know my different tones of voice, they know my expectations, they know my routines, they know all of my favorite things, they know ME!

I have to remember that we, as teachers, had to start somewhere.  One day  I hope my student teacher will be able to reflect on her career as I have been doing lately and feel successful about it.

Even though I have the frustrations of new expectations, more work load, naughty kids, kids who don't have stable homes, helicopter parents, I can proudly say.....I AM A TEACHER and I L-O-V-E my job!

100 Days Smarter!!

I simply can NOT believe that my students are 100 days smarter already!  This year I seriously have the best class ever!  I'm a little sad that my year is more than half way over.  This is the first year in many that I have not had any serious behavior problems.  I have a great group of high, middle, and a few babes that we're working on.  I have truly been blessed! (Especially after last year was one that made me question my career choice)

Anywho, yesterday was the 100th day.  Normally it's a Kindergarten "thing" and first graders just get a little pouty and reflect on how awesome Kinder was and how badly we want to go back to Kinder for the day.  Meanwhile Mrs. Burns is usually like, UGH 80 more days!!!!  Well this year I have a student teacher so I put her in charge of finding something small to do with the class.  They made little booklets about the 100 things they'd do if...  We got a surprise visitor at the end of the day.  Our principal came around and passed out $100 bill bookmarks and celebrated students with perfect attendance thus far....sad to say, the plague loves my classroom, so I only had 1 child with perfect attendance.

All in all, I must say, I'm pretty proud of my blooming firsties and how far they've come this year.  It was a scary start looking at their test scores coming to me.  

Cheers to 80 more day!!!!!

Resolutions!

Cheers to 2014!  WHAT! That's just crazy talk, I can NOT believe it's already 2014!  So I've noticed everyone's writing resolutions and well, after a few days debating if I wanted to do this publicly or not, I decided to go for it.
First of all I will do the typical, "get healthy, lose weight, go to the gym more" resolution.  I must say that we joined the gym in June and I was great at going during the summer, then school hit and well....I'm lucky to go a few times a week.  I am a mom, I have 2 girls in after school and before school dance, AND I'm a firefighters wife....add all of that together and I'm pretty limited on my time at the gym.  SO my goal first off is to really get back and focus on my eating, not just shoving food in my face, THEN I plan to get my buns off this couch and hit the gym.
Second, I want to spend more time with my family.  I've realized that I'm too "plugged in" and often busy reading blogs and such and don't really listen to what they're saying.  I want to "be present" when they're awake.
Third, I really want to work on blogging at least once a week.  Again, I have a hard time sitting down and writing my own blog but I love read other's blogs.
I really could go on and on with what I want to do this year rather than what I should be doing.

I really feel that 2014 will be a great year!  I will focus on life more and enjoy the next 365 days!!!

Holiday Recovery

So I literally blinked and life fast forwarded from Thanksgiving straight to Christmas.  I only had 15 teaching days between the two holidays which ended up including 2, 2 hour delays and 1 snowday on the Friday before break.  I tried to cram as much as possible into those precious days.  My class started out by having a gingerbread week the first week of December, we made, ate, graphed and did science experiments with gingerbread cookies.  The second week we did Grinch week and we wrapped up with Polar Express week (thank goodness we had our movie and PJ day the day BEFORE the snowday).  That leads to me break.....it's Thursday already folks!!!  YIKES!

I was checking my email when I received a feedback email from TpT.  I thought, hmm, what was this for?  So after a little investigation I realized that I sold my 1st product!!!!  WHAT the WHAT!?!?!?!  This instantly motivated me to get my butt on the computer and blog and start creating.  I was feeling like my creations were just a waste, other than for my own students who truly enjoy them....apparently someone else may believe in me too!  It's a small start....very very small but it's a start and I'm excited!

So check out my latest sight word phrases for January here.