Christmas Addition Fun

My kiddos loved the Turkey Addition sort we did at Thanksgiving. Here is one for Christmas that is just TOO, TOO cute!

graphics by Scrappin Doodles

Please remember to check out my AWESOME giveaway! Click here to learn more about winning one of these ADORABLE shirts!

This post is short and sweet! We had our staff Christmas Party tonight and the food was DE-LISH! There were homemade sopapillas that were so yummy! I ate 8 of them and they are now expanding in my tummy...I think I am too full to go to work in the morning! =)

I would LOVE a heart note for this little Christmas math *freebie*.

Teach ME

I cannot believe the first semester is almost over... where did the time go??? For many of us, the end of a semester means ASSESSMENTS...YUCK! We can see the growth ALL of our kiddos have made even if the assessments may not reflect that. I really wish the people who force us tell us what assessments we have to give need to give had a clue about what a typical 1st grader is like. They write this curriculum and have NO IDEA who the audience really is! I am all for teaching more rigorous thinking but that is not taking into consideration who the child is and what they bring with them into our rooms. To me, I have FAILED a child if I have not taught them to be more compassionate, helpful, and respectful. Yes, many of them come with so many burdens and a home where those qualities are NOT taught. I understand those tough situations do not make an excuse for a child's behavior but does help explain it. If we don't teach them that there is a better way, the cycle will continue.

Yes, I teach my curriculum but I also teach a unique and precious blessing who deserves to be a child and learn through playing, singing, exploring, and laughing.

If I forget to look at that child with Eyes of the Heart than I am not teaching that child. Because if I want to teach that child I must first touch a heart!

Remember the giveaway to win one of these FAB shirts! Click here to learn more about it!

Please leave me a heart note...it would touch my heart. =)

Ho, Ho, Ho and some SNOW

When I came across this ADORABLE snowman today, I had to use him right away. He is from Melonheadz Illustrating. You MUST go check out this blog treasure!!!

When we come back after Christmas (on January 2nd....how yuck is that!), we teach contractions. We have already talked about them in several of my reading groups but have not talked about them whole group with my train wreck story....and they L-O-V-E that story!

Here is a little *freebie* for a matching game. I hope you enjoy it! I love ALL of the D.J. Inkers snowmen....too bad we rarely see snow in East Texas!

clip art by DJ Inkers and Melonheadz Illustrating

Here is a fun little *freebie* to use in your math stations during the next few weeks. My kiddos LOVE this game. If you want to grab my other 50 chips games, click here.

Please don't forget about my AWESOME giveaway! Here is one more shirt that Sewing Sassy can make!

Click here to go check out the giveaway!

I would LOVE a heart note if you grab these *freebies*!



An AWESOME GIVEAWAY

I am so super duper excited about my first giveaway! My teaching buddy Carla....I also call her my shipmate because we are ALWAYS in the same boat together...also makes the CUTEST shirts EVER. She is helping me in my giveaway and you will definitely want one of her shirts for yourself or for a gift. Here are some of the pictures of the different shirts she makes.

She can make them to fit your grade level too! Check out her store Sewing Sassy on etsy if you want to see more!

Here is what 3 lucky bloggers will win:

*a shirt from Sewing Sassy

*any 3 items from my TpT store

Here is how to enter into the contest- You will have an entry for doing each of the following:

1. Leave a comment telling me you follow my blog.

2. If you have a blog, add Heather's Heart to your blog list and leave a comment telling me you have done this.

3. Leave a comment telling me you follow my TpT store.

4. Like Sewing Sassy's Facebook page and leave a comment telling me you do.

5.Like Sewing Sassy's etsy page.

6. If you have a blog, give a shout out about the giveaway on your blog and leave a comment telling me you did! =)

7. If you get a friend to follow Heather's Heart, leave a comment telling me" My friend ___________now follows you too!"

****So if you get 20 friends to follow me, you just got 20 more chances to win!!!!!!****

The contest ends on Friday, December 16th at midnight.

Please continue to stop by for TONS of more *freebies*. =)

10 1/2 days until Christmas Vacation....WAHOO!!!!!

Dive into Endings

I LOVE clip art and fonts! I have been restraining myself from all of the CUTE Christmas clip art on Scrappin Doodles. I have a serious addiction to fonts too. Ummm, I might be beyond addiction....I have downloaded 1,222 fonts. Yes, my name is Heather and I am a FONT FREAK!!!!

I am a beach freak too. The beach is one place I can totally relax. I love the sound of the waves as I read a great book. So, this beach clip art makes me VERY, VERY happy!

This is a game that can be used any time of the year....and I like that. My different reading groups have been working on word endings: s, ing, ed, and magic e plus blends and digraphs. This group of kiddos are going NUTS over word reading games we play during reading groups. You can mix and match these cards depending on the skills your kiddos need. There are s, magic e with s and ing endings. The cards with the ed endings are a mixture of the 3 different sounds ed can make (ed, d, and t). All they do is read the word. We also play it where they have to say the word in a sentence. This is great for your ESL kiddos and a great way to develop vocabulary. =)

If they get the shark card, the game is over. =(

clip art by Scrappin Doodles

I would LOVE for you to take the time and leave me a heart note. :)

Jingle A-Weigh

This is ALWAYS one of my kiddos favorite math stations. Several years ago I bought LOTS of jingle bells from Hobby Lobby when they were on sale. There are lots of different sizes but I use the small ones. Since we do non-standard measurement in 1st grade in Texas, this is perfect! All you need are jingle bells and different objects you have in your classroom. I hope your kiddos love to Jingle A-Weigh too!

If you are still blog stalking, please consider following me....I have a really awesome giveaway planned for later this week! As always, please leave me a heart note if this makes your bells jingle! =)

One Day....what we REALLY are teaching

I LOVE Conscious Discipline (and P-L-E-A-S-E go read those posts if you haven't already!) but Our Family Circle Time has been short and hurried lately because and I am soooooo, soooooo, SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO stressed because I have not been getting in everything "they" say I am supposed to during a day. Hmmmmmm, HELLO- I am NOT a magician....READ MY LIPS....It is NOT possible!!!!! So, today we were busy bees but I took the time to celebrate all of the kind and helpful behaviors that my kiddos are always doing and I noticed how much they are doing this without me even having to say anything. I have been so caught up in trying to meet benchmarks and get them "where they need to be" that I took for granted the values and characteristics I would want someone to say about me and I want my kiddos to learn as well.

One of Our School Family jobs is the "Kindness Recorder". This person gets to add kind flowers to our flower pot. When they notice someone doing a kind act they go to that person and say "I am going to add you a kind flower for __________________" and the person answers them "Thank you for noticing that." We have around 12 flowers and when the flower pot is full the Kindness Recorder empties it and we start over. We had to empty the pot 5 times today. And I heard the sweetest things such as:
*I am going to add you a kind flower for remembering to use your heart words.
*I am going to add you a kind flower for rolling Natalie a paper towel.
*I am going to add you a kind flower for sharing your crayon with Joshua.
*I am going to add you a kind flower for remembering to say I am sorry.

I realized that the curriculum is important and they need to know how to read and do math but the smartest child is not really going to be successful if they are mean, greedy, hurtful, and rude. We have the chance to teach our kiddos so much everyday by how we react to them and the example we set. I had to remember this poem I wrote because we are so much more than a teacher who just teaches them knowledge and facts....we must truly touch their hearts first.

I hope this poem inspires you too! I would love a heart note if this touches your heart as much as it still touches mine. =)