To Heroes & Super Seconds!!

Is it just me, or has this entire last year just breezed by so quickly that we just barely blinked our eyes?? 

And yet, so much has transpired throughout 2013!  I have been so caught up in all of it! 

This past month, I bid farewell to my Super Second Graders as their Mrs. Lowenthal returns in the new year from maternity leave and I to my kindergarten class. I'm ultra proud of "my" Super Seconds! :)  They've really worked hard, learned tons and grown right before my eyes. Their determination and undying efforts had proven them to become such creative writers, focused mathematicians, thoughtful readers and serious investigative scientists in our classroom.

They are whole heartedly an amazing group of kids!

Speaking of amazing!!! I am blown away by so many of my educator colleagues in the blogging world!! I have to admit, that as busy as I have been these past couple of months, I approached my own daily~work burn~out limit which is why my blog here had to take a back seat. 

There are several favorite educator bloggers who I follow such as the delightful Sarah Cooley, the amazing Cara Carroll and the inspiring Deanna Jump to name a few. I am constantly amazed by all that they do!! I love these ladies and I don't even know them!! Because they inspire so many great ideas and make our job even more special in all they do and I am empowered to strive to do my very best.  They're my heroes!!! 

So, In Honor of My Heroes and My Super Seconds, Cheers to 2013!!!!

Mixing it Up

We've really stirred it up in our classroom cauldron! My monster mixers made many concoctions. From sprouting pumpkin seeds, creating wonderful Witches Brews, writing Monsters~On~The~Move descriptive stories and making estimates with candy corn to guiding their big buddies on How To Make Apple Pie.

And now we're off to the Pumpkin Patch, some tennis and Disney's Passport To Adventure with my lil Chi~Chi's!

Felicidades Semanas!

  

All For One And One For All! But Does It Float the Boat??

Known for being the lightest and the fluffiest candy bar on the block, will the Three Muskateers Chocolate Bar FLOAT UP to the test???

{Click Image To Download For Free}

My students stepped up to the challenge! Our SWEET investigation began with the afore mentioned bite~sized chocolate bar and several cups of tap water.

We asked our "fluffy" questions and made our "fluffy" hypothesis.

The results were "FLUFF"ULOUS!

Spider Science & Math Fun!

Spidey Senses were tingling today as we embarked upon our Spider Science & Math Unit.

We kicked off our eight~legged arachnida bonanza with a class survey inquiring whether spiders can make you flinch or cease to phase you at all.

Tallies were taken and totaled. Even I admitted to being a bit scared at times 

(they really DO give me the 'hee~bee gee~bees' ha ha!).

Click to Download Spider Science Math

Our results were graphed and made note of within our Science Journals. 

My Spider Sleuths shared their Spidey Schema (fancy words for divulging what they already knew about spiders). As it turned out, they knew quite a bit to boot! We dispelled only a few misconceptions. 

Our anchor chart was filled to the "brim" (also our Word~of~the-Day today) with many creepy crawly facts about spiders. I have Deanna Jump to thank for her sensational spidey ideas on the anchor chart and camouflage including my culminating assessment at the end of our learning; Thanks Deanna!

We shared and discussed so many spider facts and stories such as "Creep and Flutter: The Secret World of Insects" by Jim Arnosky. It provided some awesome images and illustrations for our visual learners!

I used Deanna's assessment and added some additional spidey webs as the children reflected on the spider slurpee approach to capturing and devouring their prey ... oh my!

It was indeed a creepy crawly kind of day! Ha Ha!

In The Mix One Step At a Time :)

Typically I'm the type that loves to have a running start. I do get a bit impatient while my initiative is "Gung Ho" and I Really wish to just get going, I still must remember to slow down, pace myself and be reminded that all things will happen in good time.

So going forward (at an even keel), we kicked off our literature reading Julie Danneberg's, "First Day Jitters". As we shared our jitters, worries and tell~tale excitement, we also toasted to the new school year with a complimentary drink called "Jitter Juice" to wet our whistles. Our version of a Shirley Temple broke the ice and became a most welcomed refreshment!

So I dawned my best Martha Stewart hat and the children made careful review of our recipe as we each made our own drink. Afterwards, the children recounted the ingredients and wrote each step in the process which culminated into a fun expository writing kit. It was indeed refreshing! The children were in tune to carefully mixing it up each step of the way. I was so proud of them!

Click Image to Download Kit

As Martha would say, "It's a Good Thing!"  (I think she would be quite proud of me:).

Cheers! :)

Ready! Set! Go!

We're all set for the First Day of School! Even Pete The Cat is ready!

There's so much to anticipate! Overall, I'm tremendously excited! I'm SO looking forward to meeting my lil cuties! They are in for a great first day and at one of the best schools ever!

As Pete The Cat would say, "It's All Good!"

Cheers To The New School Year!!!

Goodbye Old! Hello New!

A whole new look!  And here it is!  Welcome to my new page! 

Thanks to Beth and The Cutest Blog On The Block team http://thecutestblogontheblock.com/, my page has bloomed into quite a work of art! It's bright and beautiful and has much to offer. I am absolutely proud of this collaboration and its culminating product! Thank you Beth and the TCBOTB team!

Some finishing touches to come here and I'm learning so much about how to apply things like watermarks and navigation bar pages. It's certainly a work in progress and I'm so excited to be able to share it with the learning community!

Beth introduced me to http://www.picmonkey.com/ PicMonkey. OMG! I'm a huge fan now! It's a fantastic photo editor and has so, So, SO Many bells and whistles. Check it out!  You will love using it. And the best part is, it's FREE! Whoot Whoot!

So as I bid adieu to my original creation, I am grateful for change and all there is to come ahead. 

Cheers to the exciting adventure ahead!!

It's Back To School Time!

Getting "Geared Up" here to begin a new school year! I'm planning some fun and exciting Getting~To~Know~You activities for my shining stars. They will feel right at home when they step inside the classroom!

And I can't wait to meet them!

In addition to getting settled, taking a tour and sharing some very important school safety tips, we'll be mingling with our school friends and playing some Classmate Bingo.

Our school stars will also have a chance to fill their All~About~Me~Tote Bags with all of their favorites things to share with each other. You can get both of these free at my Tpt venue.

It's going to be A.Great.KickOff!!!

CHEERS TO SCHOOL!!!

Meet The Teacher

It's Teacher Week in the Blog Hoppin' world! Now here's my opportunity to toot my little horn....

I LOVE my work! And I especially LOVE working with children! There is definitely a big kid inside of my heart and soul in all that I do. I definitely love having a classroom filled with laughter and smiling hearts. I thrive in creating, crafting and discovering new things. Life is so full of wonder and whimsy that I just can't help but incorporate as much of those awe inspiring ideas into my curriculum and projects.

I grew up in between an older sister and a younger brother. I have the most fun-loving and supportive family in the world! They always encouraged me to make good choices in life. I certainly maintain the same mantra for my own little family and my classroom of super stars.

When I'm not in the classroom or burning the midnight oil on a project or at the computer, you will always find me hanging out with my Sweet Heart, Sweets and Snooky Cookie. They are everything to me! I can't imagine life without them. The Good Lord knew what he was doing when he placed them in my life. I am blessed!

These days we love to play tennis, soccer, go camping, biking, read books, cook tantalizing food to eat and enjoy life with our family and friends.

For now... I'm off and running... I've got to make ready my new classroom. It will be a work in progress over the next two weeks before our opening day of school. I'm eagerly anticipating all of their big smiles on their sweet little faces. It's going to be A. Great. School. Year!!! 

Happy Teaching All!!!

Start Your Engines!

A new day dawns on a distant shore! 

It was a "collision of worlds" when my lil racers performed their Cars Countdown Performance.







Mom's, Dad's and relatives came to watch and were "Wow'd" by these cool cars. The children practiced their routine for three whole weeks! They glitter painted cars bibs, sticker-ized cars wheels (wire wreaths), hand painted the big "Grand Prix" banner and checkered flags. AND before we knew it.... they Buckled Up, Started Their Engines & Swerved On In.

Our Radiator Springs board sprung to life with mini 3-D race cars rolling along. Wheels attached with brads and the signature smiles of Lightning McQueen, Finn McMissile, Holly Shiftwell and Tow Mater greeted our guests in the Parent Parlor.

We honored the Disney's Cars Show with a smashing line up of their soundtrack hits; "My Heart Goes Vroom", "A Collision of Worlds", "It's Finn McMissile!", "Life is A Highway" & "Polyrhythm" for the ending Cast Call.  

I'm exceptionally thrilled that my rolling race team made it to the finish with flying colors. They definitely Rocked the Tarmac! Vroom Vroom!!

Rock On!

Ready to Rock!

Here are our little Rockstars as they made ready for their rocking Cars Countdown Performance.  They each made their own strumming guitars which our lovely Mrs. Quinn supplied complete with sparkly strings, shimmering gems and their choice of Disney's Cars Stickers Mania.

 I can't tell you just how much I love my Mrs. Q. She's quite a sparkly gem to work with!

As our lil Li~Li would say ..."Me encantaron las guitaras de Mrs. Queeeeeeen!" 

We're so so proud of each of our little stage~goers. They Got The Beat! So let's Rock On!!

Star Spangled Summer Sizzle

Sparks are flying in our little classroom as we shoot for the stars!  We celebrated the 4th of July with a bang! We enjoyed firecracker pretzels, marched to the tune of Yankee Doodle Dandy and hand stamped stripes for our American Flag banner.

The children LOVED the patriotic atmosphere!!! It was Spectacular!!

Their spirited little hands painted paper plates, glued feathers, beaks, googley eyes and helped build our Angry Birds display. Feathers were flying when they also had the opportunity to stack their very own Angry Birds (by Mattel Games) cup/block towers and trebuchet our quarky little birds to knock them down again. It was a BLAST!

As this season is just heating up, we are also revving up our engines and practicing our Cars Countdown performance for Moms & Dads. As our mini cars take to the road, this little classroom's Radiator Springs sprang to life. So start your engines and buckle your seat belts. It's sure to be a Grand Prix Performance! 

Our summer is certainly Sizzling!

Let Your Fingers Do The Walking!

Whew! My little hands have had themselves in the mix lately! Some say "Busy Hands = A Happy Heart". Keeping busy here, to say the least. I've bid farewell to my little ones and here is our class circus. For each little one that has graced my beloved classroom throughout the school year, I've imprinted their little thumb smudges in joining our Thumb Print Circus using various colors of glitter paint. I came across this idea in Ed Emberley's Fingerprint Drawing Book. Thanks Ed!

Afterwards, I embellished them a bit with some characteristic details pertaining to their personal affinities for animals and whatnot.

Viola! Here is our finished product! Framed and memorialized for years to come. In addition, I color
copied a smaller version and distributed them to each child's family in Year-End Thank You Cards along a picture book gift.

The school year has truly been a circus albeit, an adventurous and fun one! :)