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Friday, May 8, 2015

Blow painting and STEM and Mother's Day-Oh My!


WOW! What a crazy busy week it has been in First Grade! I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for five for Friday because there are so many amazing things that I want to share with you about our week!!
Last week we started working on writing our very last narrative writing of the year! I knew I wanted to do something really engaging so that my kiddos would write really good stories! When I saw this idea I just HAD to try it! I quickly through together some stories I had about times that different characters were scared and after reading we brainstormed things that scare us! I am really proud of my kids for writing some really awesome stories to go with their really awesome pictures! I plan on writing a long, detailed post about this project as soon as possible, so stay tuned! 

 




This week has been packed full of so many STEM activities for me! I am a part of the STEM committee at my school and we have been working hard to come up with some cool project ideas for next year. I started an aquaponics project with my kiddos earlier in the week and then got to visit another school to learn about an exciting hydroponics project! I am pumped up about STEM right now and have so many fun project ideas! I can't wait to create some fun projects to share with all of you :)

We have been getting ready for Mother's Day with lots and lots of crafts! We loved doing other Mother's Day direct drawing by First Grade Blue Skies earlier in the week and then we added to our Mother's Day Books with a few other ideas too! I was so happy to find this writing pack to go with our pictures! 


We had a preview day this week where each grade got to move up to their new grade for an hour and see what it is like! I had a blast doing some Mo Willems activities with the group of future firsties that I had visit my room! We read pigeon stories and then got to draw the pigeon! I wanted them to get a taste of directed drawings since we do so many in my class! 
      

Today we went on the most exciting field trip of all time!!! Today was our county-wide STEM day and when I was trying to come up with a good idea for our kids, my brilliant husband reminded me that one of the high schools in our county is a STEM highlight school and they have a lot of cool things going on. After thanking him for his smart brain I quickly got on the phone with my principal and asked if please pretty please could first grade go visit the high school for a STEM field trip?! Needless to say, she loved the idea and after a few short e-mails we had the day planned! In my head I was thinking we would go, tour the school, see their program and greenhouses and they kids would see a bigger scale of what we do at our school. I was absolutely BLOWN AWAY by how much more this field trip would mean to me and my kids. The high school STEM staff and students planned an entire day packed full of fun science activities for our kids. They paired up one-on-one with our students and helped them plant flowers in recycled water bottles, make paper rockets to shoot with straws, and make tornadoes in bottles. My kids left the field trip with three priceless souvenirs and a newfound passion and excitement about science and IT.WAS.AWESOME!!! I could honestly write pages and pages about how great our day was, but for your sake I will just let the pictures show you! 



      




I hope that your week has been a great one! Thanks for stopping by! :) 

Monday, May 4, 2015

Liebster Award!



WOW! I am beyond excited and thankful to Kirstin from Hip Horray in K AND Jessica from A Passion Driven Teacher for nominating me for the Liebster Award! I have only been blogging for such a short time and was seriously thinking the other day "Is anyone really reading this?!" So it was incredibly encouraging to receive two nominations in one week! 

The Liebster Award is passed from one beginning blogger to another in order to get to know each other better and spread the love. It provides a path to discover new and upcoming blogs as well as make connections with other bloggers! I would love to continue the tradition and nominate a few blogs as well, check those out at the end of my post! 

1.            Why and how long ago did you start blogging?
 I used to blog all the time over on Tumblr and then life got crazy and it got away from me. When I got a new teaching job this year and started getting involved on TpT, I knew I wanted to start up a new blog! I've only been here at Stomping Through First for a little over a month, but I love it and can't wait to keep growing! 

2.         What one word sums up the heart of your blog and why?
Creativity. I am always on the lookout for creative ways to teach my kiddos and I love collecting those ideas and using them with my class! I am always trying to come up with ways to make each lesson exciting and my kids love adding their own creative flair to everything we do! 

3.         Is there something you learned late in your blogging journey you wished you knew before?
I completely agree with Kirstin on this one! I would LOVE to learn how to make blogging friends and get to take blogging to a personal level! I see meet-ups and blogging friends and would be so excited to be a part of that! 

4.         What is your favorite pastime other than blogging?
Hanging out with my husband and our fur babies! I love curling up on the couch for a movie or binge watching Netflix :) 

5.         How many hours a week do you dedicate to your blog/TPT?
I am still working on finding a good balance between school work/TPT/blogging/spending time with my husband. I always have a million ideas of posts I could write and products I want to create and I am hoping to spend time this summer really scheduling out my time better so that I can dedicate enough time to everything! :)

6.         What category of blog posts do you enjoy most?
I truly enjoy reading anything and everything. From cooking to life to teaching to organizing to craftivities to new classroom technology- I'm a blog junkie and I will gladly admit it!

7.          Where does your blog inspiration come from?
I can't say that there is one specific place that my inspiration comes from. I am inspired by every teacher who is passionate about their students and who loves sharing their ideas with others!

8.         Which post that you’ve written are you most proud of?
I am so new to blogging that every post is still a huge accomplishment that I am proud of!

9.         Is there a post you have been planning to do but have been postponing it for a while now?
My kiddos have been working on a really awesome writing project that I can't wait to share!! We finally finished up our project today so be on the lookout for that post later on this week-I promise you won't want to miss it!

10.     What is your favorite aspect of blogging?
I love having an outlet to share my ideas! It is nice to have a place where I can share my excitement with others who feel the same way that I do about teaching- and I can't wait to make some blogging friends! ;)

11.         Which idea from a blog would you like to try yourself?
Right now I am getting ready to work on some Mother's Day crafts with my kids! We are starting off with some directed drawings from First Grade Blue Skies! :) 

I would love to nominate the following teacher-bloggers for Liebster Awards:
Brogan from Brogan's Bits
Chris from Famous in First
Miss Giraffe from Miss Giraffe's Class
Jessica from Pride and Primary 
Diana from My Day in K