A Leprechaun's Birthday ...A Compound Word Investigation

On Friday morning, we opened the breakfast cart and found a letter from Lucky the Leprechaun. In the letter he told us that he is having a birthday soon. Since all leprechauns LOVE rainbows, he sent us on a search to find the rainbows he hid all around the school.

As we found the rainbows, we talked about what kind of words we kept finding on the cards. We knew they were all....

COMPOUND WORDS

After finding all of the rainbows, we opened the TOP SECRET envelope.

Inside were riddle clues.

We got into our investigation groups and each team came and got a riddle to try and solve. The kiddos were able to look at the compound words we discovered on our RAINBOW HUNT to infer which compound word it could be.

When the mission was complete and all of the riddles were solved, we got to open the final envelope. Inside was a poem from Lucky.

Lucky the Leprechaun told us he left a birthday present for us...and it was a compound word treat. We brainstormed what the present could be. He also told us in the poem that the gift would be found in a place that was also a compound word. We thought it could be a classroom, the bathroom (ewwwww) or....

               THE PLAYGROUND

When we went out onto the playground we found this.

Inside were rainbow cupcakes and Leprechaun necklaces.

You cannot see the red layer but it was there.

Lucky the Leprechaun also left us some compound word activities to work on when we come back from Spring Break. He also told us to be looking when we come back because he just might hide a pot of gold for us to find! =)

Here is a closer look at what is in the fun and engaging packet...

I am joining together with the wonderful Miss-Kindergarten to give away my packet

AND

Her adorable compound word craftivity.

Enter below. The giveaway will end on March the 11th.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

March *Freebie* Fun...and Sound Racers =)

I love Spring. Here in East Texas we are already seeing the signs of Spring:  tulips trees, dogwoods, azaleas, and many other flowers are all starting to bloom. March also brings Spring Break, my birthday and my niece's birthday. But, I also start freaking out a bit....

3 months of school left???!!!???!!! Holy Moly...I need to see how much more I can cram into my kiddos heads. There are times I am feeling good about all of the progress my kiddos are making then....BAM!!! They say or do something that makes me want to go bang my head against the wall. Seriously, where have you been the last 7 months ????!!!!!????

One of my kiddos last week could not remember what this sign meant -....and this happened right after she just successfully finished a math sort that was mixed addition and subtraction. I had a 5 minute conversation with her that made me think I needed either an adult beverage or medicine for the migraine headache that was coming on. I felt exactly like this...

At times like this, all I can say is Help Me Jesus.

With Easter being in March this year, we will be doing a few of our leprechaun and St. Patrick's Day activities this week. Here are some of the *freebies* I shared last year.

Click on the picture above to grab your *freebies*.

My kiddos LOVE dice games. =)

Here is a subtraction sort....

And some ABC order fun.

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I finished this packet several weeks ago and just never got around to sharing with you about it. My kiddos love this and I am able to use it with all of my Guided Reading groups. The packet has around 300 words that focus on:

*short vowels and CVC words
*blends
*digraphs
*CVCC and CCVC words
*magic e
*r controlled vowels
*the 2 sounds of ow
*ou words like in mouse
*oo words like in boot
*vowel teams like ai, ee, oa, ay, etc

This is wonderful for RtI and is amazing at helping children blend sounds together to help decode words. The kiddos LOVE using little cars to drive over the sounds and then race and blend the sounds faster to read the word.

It is on sale this weekend. Click here to go check it out. =)

I hope you enjoy the *freebies*. I would love for you to leave me a heart note if you grab them. 

From My to Yours,

Booger Monkey, Purple Cow Head and *Freebies* Oh My!

Booger Monkey and Purple Cow Head are names that sent 2 of my kiddos into a snotty, crying puddle at the beginning of the year. It does not matter how illogical and silly it seems to us that anyone would get upset over this but they did and other little kiddos do too. Before Conscious Discipline, I would have said something about not being a monkey with boogers so it was okay and you just need to ignore that friend. Or I would have told them to go use their words and tell that person that you didn't like what they said.

Part of CD is helping children find their BIG VOICE. There is even a Shubert book that goes along with teaching children about their big voice.

(The Shubert books are a great place to start if you are wanting to do more CD in your classroom.)

Your big voice is not a yell or mean tone of voice but a very firm and confident way of letting someone know you do not like what is happening....it is your I mean business voice. You will need to help the children practice using this voice and making eye contact with whoever they are talking to. 

We read the book and then think of things that have happened in our room and we model what we would say. Just telling a child to go and talk to that person and use their words is really not helping to solve that problem for many reasons. One reason is that if the name caller was being mean or hurtful the child might be scared to go talk to them. Another reason is they have no clue what to say or the words they do know may not be very nice.

At the beginning of the year when a child came to tattle tell me someone called them a name, my first response was "Did you like it?". They looked at me like I had lost my mind and said no. I then told them to go to that person and say "I don't like it when you call me Booger Monkey. Please stop. My name is Heather." The child saying the hurtful thing then needs to answer that child with an okey dokey or I'm sorry or I can do that.....while making eye contact. 

This will take lots of you modeling and maybe even going with them at first to talk to that person. They will get it though and this eliminates a HUGE amount of tattling because they learn to stand up for themselves.

After talking and helping the injured booger monkey child, you then need to go talk to the child that was being hurtful. Most of the time there is something that happened that set this child off...and I am NOT saying that there is an excuse for hurtful, mean behavior because there is not. This involves mirroring back to the child what you noticed. For example, your arms are folded like this and your face looks like this. Your body is telling me that you are mad or frustrated . What happened? After you get to the root of the problem (like the booger monkey child took the pencil from the naming calling friend without asking), you help that child find a better way to solve the problem. For example, help the child practice saying "I don't like it when you take my pencil without asking. Please give it back to me."

I hope this gives you an idea of what you can do if you have a little one in your classroom who might be hurtful with his or her words at times. If you have any questions, just email me or ask in your heart note and I will try my best to help you out! =)

On to the *freebie*! And for those of you who asked, I create my activities in PowerPoint. I don't know if there is something easier but it works for me. When I finish, I save it as a pdf and then upload it to Google Docs. =)

My kiddos love dice games. This is a fun activity they can do after finishing other activities. All they do is roll 2 dice, add the numbers, and trace the sum. We play until all numbers reach the top...and it helps some who still have chicken scratch handwriting. I really think some of them like to try and do messy handwriting so I can bawk, bawk like a chicken and hand them back their work. =)

Here is a missing addends game. We are going to use some leprechaun gold to help us solve the problems. =)

My kiddos love sorting. We have worked on several addition sorts focusing on less than, equal to, and greater than. Here is a sort focusing on that with subtraction.

This little activity is putting leprechaun words in ABC order. I put 2 of the sorting words on 1 page to save paper. After they put the words in order, they are going to write as many words as they can in a sentence. I usually have my kiddos color those words with a crayon.

I hope you can use these with your kiddos. If you have any requests for things you might be wanting, please let me know and I'll see what I can do! =)

Thank you for always leaving such sweet and encouraging heart notes. Keep stopping by...I have the beginning of an inspirational poem rolling around in my head. =)

Your Head or Your Heart

Has it really been a week since my last post??? I have missed so much happening out there on all of the wonderful blogs I stalk and I apologize to all of my sweet and amazing bloggy friends for not stopping by and leaving you any comments. This week was filled with panic and stress because what some of you might call the Curriculum Cops were paying my school a visit.

I HATE people coming in my classroom and it worries my beyond words. I still get nervous when my principal comes in my room. I know what I need to work on and was ready to make a list of those things, tape them on my door, and then shut and lock my door. I was really worrying about if they would ask my kiddos any questions. Holy Moly....that is a ticking time bomb because who knows what will come out of a Firsties mouth.

I was also worrying because I know some of the things we are asked to do may not be developmentally appropriate for my kiddos AND there is also NO WAY on God's green Earth that you can get it all in. I am not a magician but feel like that is what we are asked to do daily trying to get it ALL in. The stress of doing all of that then turns me into a warden at times. I found myself at times this week having less patience than I usually do because I was trying to do things the way they think we should. And who cares that it was the week before Spring Break, Dr. Seuss' birthday, AND time to start our DRA assessments PLUS individual math assessments.

Many times it seems it comes down to following your head or your heart.

I want to do what is best for my kiddos. I know the Curriculum Cops who visited us want what is best for ALL of our kiddos too. But they also have people telling them what they need to be doing and what the children in my classroom need to be doing. No one seems to care about the number of ESL kiddos we might have in our rooms or the number of children who have been identified as at-risk or the fact we might have 7 children who might be dealing with burdens such as abuse, parents in jail, homelessness, poverty, or the fact they only meals they eat are the ones they get when they come to school. ALL children regardless of their circumstances are expected to make the same achievements and academic gains, right??!!????

My head knows what the expectations are and what my curriculum tells me I need to be teaching. Then I look out at the 17 little faces who look up to me and trust me. I think at times if I were to die tomorrow would I want people to say that I did a good job teaching my curriculum or that I loved my kiddos with all of my heart and tried my best to help each child reach their fullest potential AND feel successful.

It is so easy to forget and lose focus that we aren't teaching just a curriculum or standards. I am also not saying that you cannot teach the curriculum and make it fun and engaging because you can! I had to remind myself of this poem I shared a few months ago.

I will try my best to teach my curriculum but I will also remember that God put that child in my classroom. My job is to teach them reading, math, and more...but I also need to give that child my unconditional love, patience and understanding, and help that child know they can touch the lives of others by being kind and helpful.

Now for a fun *freebie*! =)

Hop on over to my TpT store and grab this fun March *freebie*! While you are there, I would love for you to follow my store. If you think you already follow it, please try again because I once had a link that didn't work! =) Click on the picture to go grab it from my TpT store.

While you are blog stalking this week, you need to go visit a few blogs that might be new to you.

First, you need to go visit Stacy at 2nd Grade Paradise. Stacy is a sweetheart and an awesome 2nd grade teacher. I would love for any of my Firsties to have her as their teacher. Stacy has just started creating *freebies* and they are so cute! =) Stop by and grab this game.

Next, you need to go visit Cheryl at Crayons and Curls. I LOVE Cheryl! She has followed me when I first started blogging and didn't know what I was doing....wait, I still don't know what I am doing! =) Cheryl is also a Texas teacher...WAHOO! She teaches Kinder and is so awesome. She is a great follower who will always help you if you are having a giveaway or just needing some encouragement.

These 2 ladies would love for you to go visit them and I promise that you will be glad you did! Tell them that Heather sent you! =)

I hope you have a fun and relaxing weekend. I would love for you to leave me a heart note. I also want to let each of you know how much I treasure each note that you leave me...thank you for blessing me. =)