Thrills and Frills in First: December 2013

We Are Back!

Saturday, December 28, 2013

Sorry, we have been missing for a while. Between school and the holidays we have been super busy. We figured we would take this time to introduce ourselves! We've been blogging for about 2 months now, but have never really told you who we are, or how this little journey began. Well, my friends... here is our story...

This is us...

Dana & Lauren... Dana's the brunette and Lauren's the blonde

This inevitable connection started 12 years ago at the University of Rhode Island. You know that quote, “Every brunette needs a blond best friend”, well that’s us! We are the peanut butter to each other’s jelly, the macaroni to each other’s cheese and of course the thrill to the others frills.
We are…Jersey’s Firsties…best friends, sidekicks, sisters, and teachers of 1^st grade!

We both have a strong passion for education, and as fate would have it, both became 1^st grade teacher in NJ (Dana's originally from NY). No matter where we are, our conversations always lead to stories only teachers would have, and understand.

To be honest, this whole idea really started in a car ride up to Connecticut to visit one of our besties. The traffic was unbearable, yet the foliage was glorious LOL. (but seriously, Lauren wouldn't stop commenting on it) Regardless of where we are, Jersey, NYC, CT or our favorite vacation spot MIAMI, our conversations naturally circulate around our silly students, hunky husband, or our fabulous friends. On that car ride, we were discussing our newest creative crafts that we were working on in our classrooms, some new and exciting purchases that we made on teacher-pay-teachers, and joking about how we should totally get online and share our ideas... when suddenly there was a shift in the universe, haha…

I think it was a combination of the car horns blarring, the brakes slamming, and the horrendous traffic, but there is was… the adverbial light bulb over both our heads…. It was at that moment when we turned to each other in slow motion and shouted in the words of Rob Schnieder “YOU CAN DO IT!”… and that my friends is where this all began. Our little sprout has flourished into our blog, our Instagram obsession and our TPT store.

We are so excited to begin this new journey in our lives and can’t wait to share it with all of you!

We hope you enjoy our materials, humor, and discussions!

Cheers! Lauren and Dana

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Tis' The Season

Friday, December 13, 2013

This week has been exhausting... When I woke up on Tuesday and looked outside, this was my reaction..

Why? you may ask... well because it was SNOWING and we HAD school...WORST.FEELING.IN. THE.WORLD ...After being in school for an hour I took a picture outside my classroom window.. Yes, it is beautiful and all, but I would of much rather of been on the couch, eating cereal in my PJs....

Anyways.. can you believe Christmas is only 12 days away?!?!? This week we have been busy finishing up our persuasive letters to Santa, which is part of our Winter Writing Unit. I was so impressed with how well they turned out.

We also just happen to stumble across a newspaper classified ad from Mr. Chris Kringle himself, (weekly paper and a little photoshop does the trick). Apparently, he is in need of elves and had an online application. My students nearly died when they heard that they could apply to be an elf. They took the application VERY seriously. (This is NOT my original idea, I am not sure who it originally came from, but I had to alter it a bit to fit my needs) Below is the Elf application Freebie

Click HERE to get this freebie

Recently, I've seen a bunch of posts about presents for students, and it reminded me to share with all of you what my students give as presents to their parents. I have been doing this since I taught preschool 7 years ago. The parents absolutely love it. I first hot glue 5 popsicle sticks together, and two on the sides. Once the glue cools, I have the students paint it brown. The following day I take a picture of each student, in full winter gear, sitting with their legs straight in front of them and their hands in the air. Following this, I, not the students, carefully cut it out and glue it onto the sleigh. Some years I hang a little ribbon from it so it could be an ornament. I get a huge kick out of how they turn out every year.
Below is a sample from 2010.

We have been working on our In-School Snow Day Unit and just finished. We are so excited to tell you all about it, but first we will need to get through Christmas =)

If you want to browse though the In-School Snow Day Unit click HERE

Next week we have another fun-filled week. Grinch Day and our holiday breakfast. Making pancakes in the classroom = GOOD TIMES!

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That Sneaky Little Elf

Sunday, December 8, 2013

This week we got a special package straight from the NORTH POLE! My students were beyond excited when they saw this box sitting in our classroom.

Together we opened it and out popped our new friend. To be honest this guy is a tad scary, something about those eyes freak me out!

Once we calmed down from our sheer excitement we had to name this little guy. Since we are a democratic school society, we said the best way to name him would be to take a vote. Children were allowed to make up names and then we voted on which one we liked best. Majority ruled, so our new sneaky guy is named JINGLES...which I am very happy with, because honestly if the elf was named Patrick or Steve I would feel a little cheated.

Well, he may seem innocent, but this little guy has been causing CHAOS in my classroom, I told my class that I may have to send him back to the North Pole if he keeps it up. =) Below are some of the ways we found him.....

Using out garland as a swing

Stealing from our treasure chest

Sitting in one of our desks and wrote us a little note

My students have been trying their hardest to impress this little guy, so he will give Santa a good report.

Since we were on the topic of Santa, we began our letters to the big guy today. To begin this activity I read " My Pen Pal, Santa" to the class. The book is about a little girl named Ava who writes a letter a month to Santa. Following this, together we brainstormed what we want for Christmas, and each student thought of different reasons why they deserved the present.

This one student said shoes, because last week his shoe broke...

We then began our rough drafts for our letters to Santa. This week we will finish our letters.

To get our winter writing unit click HERE

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Reindeer Games

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

As the holiday season kicks off, my Santa sack is filled to the brim with holiday treats, crafts, and activities. During this season I am OBSESSED with finding ways to link the spirit of the holidays to the lessons we learn in the classroom. I start this month by transforming my hallway into a winter wonderland.

(This is still only phase one!)

Right before the holiday break we read and watch the Polar Express and do some heavy duty comparing and contrasting, retelling, generating questions and making predictions. The best part is that we do all this while wearing our favorite pajamas and drinking hot coco.

To provide the students with some background knowledge about all the holidays and celebrations during this holiday season, the students will participate in 7 days of holiday mini-lessons. There are 7 teachers on my 1^st grade team, and over these next two weeks our kids rotate from teacher to teacher to learn about different holidays and celebrations around the world. Each teacher sees a different class everyday for the last 45 minutes of the day. From Hanukkah to Kwanza, Christmas to New Years, our students have the opportunity to learn and explore a variety of different beliefs, religions, and celebrations. My classroom is designated for American Christmas traditions, symbols, and celebrations. Today we read a few Christmas stories, one of them being my FAV Olive, The Other Reindeer. To end our lesson we made some reindeer food, which I found purchased here from Step into 2nd Grade,and some reindeer cookies.

Since I am feeling filled with the holiday spirit, here is a freebie for all! I use these in my class to practice addition and subtraction fluency with numbers within 20. Each week my students work to pass their minute math test and move on to the next challenge. Enjoy!

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Blog Hoppin Linky.. We have a shopping problem

Monday, December 2, 2013

We are linking up with Blog Hoppin to show the a-maz-ing things we purchased today. We may have to go back and add more after seeing what others have purchased. When it comes to sales I just can't help myself... but lets be honest, who can resist a good deal...

Don't forget to stop by our store to pick up our new units...

This writing unit has everything to get you through the winter season. This unit includes a "How To Make Hot Chocolate" Sequential writing and with craftivity, a persuasive letter to Santa activity and labeling activities for your writing center.

To read more about our Non- Fiction Unit click HERE

This is an all inclusive winter unit for your Math tubs. Topics are all Common Core Aligned. I can't wait to start these in my room.

Click HERE to go to our store

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Currently.. Craftivity...SALE

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Is it Sunday already?? Back to reality tomorrow...

This is the first time we are joining Farley's Currently Linky Party ....

We also just uploaded our new writing unit, WRITING IS SNOW MUCH FUN... just in time for the TPT sale. The unit includes 3 different types of writing activities.

A How to Make Hot Chocolate writing craftivity, a persuasive letter to Santa writing project and Label Me writing center activities.