Friday Flashback Link Up on Sunday

 I am linking up with Amanda from Teaching Maddeness for Flashback Friday.  (A little late but at least I have joined the party!)This last week was sooooo much fun studing the election! My little firsties had very strong opinions about who was going to win and on Wednesday and Thursday there were a wide range of emotions to talk through and most important a great teaching moment for writing! We wrote letters to President Obama and we will mail them to the White House this week! My cadett teacher taugtht the lesson using an example letter on an anchor chart!

You can follow the Teacher to the Core for a great resource to common core and a link the election freebies I incorporated in my lesson plans. Here are links to my election and post-election activities! 

Post Election Activities and Pumpkin Spice Coffee

 

Last night I stayed up WAY to late watching the election coverage but it was worth it to see all of the live covereage!  Needles to say I needed an extra cup of pumpkin spice coffee this morning and maybe another cup after school.(shhhhhh)

My new obsession with pumpkin spice started after a co-worker and I made a trip to starbucks and I was immediately hooked on pumpkin spice latte. (Usually I order black tea/lemondate) In a perfect world I would make a trip to Starbucks every morning but their isn't one on my route to school! (Probably good for the budget!) On a late night run to wal-mart for craft supplies, I found Pumpkin Spice coffee from Dunkin Donuts and Pumpkin Spice Creamer which has been a FABULOUS way to start my mornings this fall!  

Tomorrow my teacher cadett will complete a follow up election activity with my class on writing a letter to the President! She has already prepared an example letter on a poster board to use as an example and the students will get a chance to write their own letters! This group has totally blown me away with their enthusiasm, opinions, and creativity with the election activities! I can't wait to see the look on their face when we tell them the letters will be mailed to the White House on Friday!!!!! I cannot take credit for this activity but this has been a great addition to our week of election activities!

 

 

 This was another amazing activity from Teacher to the Core! 

Check out her blog to see all of her other fabulous ideas!



 

 We are out of school on Friday for Arkansas Education Association meetings so tomorrow is our Friday! Have a fabulous weekend:)

 

Election Day and a Link to a Giveaway

 

Happy Election Day! We held a mock election in our classroom and this is the voter booth I created from a shoe box, spray paint, poster board, boarder, a puppet stant, and a few different TPT freebies!  Thank you to First Grade Fever by Christie  for the election posters she created in her Let's Vote-Classroom Election Kit which were perfect for my voter booth! 

A teacher cadett from our high school taught the lesson on voting and passed out the ballots from  Teacher to the Core Election Fun Common Core Math Graphing Freebie!   As we were discussing what is means to vote, a students stated "Voting is when you go to the races and choose a horse!" I had to contain a smile at this comparison but it was such a sweet honest answer!

 

This was a fantastic resource and my Teacher Cadett did an incredibel job of presenting the lesson.  As I said yesterday, I am so excited for her to have this opportunity before going to college!

After the ballots were cast and counted, the student completed this math graph which was a great way to complete the lesson! We also held a school wide election and the students were so excited when the canidate they chose for the classroom also won in our overal school wide election! 

I hope they haven't stayed up as late as I have to hear the canidate speeches or it will be a really long day tomorrow! Congrats to President Obama on his re-election and thank you to Govenor Romney for his hard work at running for President! I have respect for anyone who is willing to take on the job of the presidency and most thankful to live in a country that gives me the opportunity to vote!

On a side not, if you need some retail therapy after tonights election or you want some celebration therapy, head on over to Teaching Maddeness for a great giveaway from Grateful Bags!  A teacher can NEVER have to many bags! Have a great Wednesday!

Winner, 50th Day of School, and Halloween

The last month has been cra-cra-crazy with school and life! Last week was parent teacher conferences, 50's day, Halloween, and a trip to a NASCAR race!!!! That was just one week so you can imagine the last month!  I am very happy to announce that the winner of my giveaway is Julie@Lattes & Laughter!  She will be receiving two gift cards because it has taken me sooooooooo long to announce the winner! Lucky for her she will have twice the fun at the at the container store:)   Check our her cute blog and wish her a happy late birthday!
Monday kicked off with parent teacher conferences, and Tuesday I got up a little earlier to get ready for the 50th day of school!

 

Celebrating 50th day of school with my class was and co-workers was so stinkin fun!!!  My husband took this pic as I was running walking out the door and sent it to everyone!  All of our elementary school dressed in 50's clothes and there were poodle skirts, scarfs, letterman jackets, pony tails, head bands, greased hair, leather jackets, and sun glasses everywhere!  My class along with many others made coke floats, had hula hoop contest, and dance to 50's music!  My inspiration began with Cara Carroll's 50th Day Mini Unit and grew into a school wide event!  We wrote about how to make coke floats, made a 50's word wall, and a doubles cart that ended with 25+25=50 and 50+50=100!  We also made a books of all the different ways to represent 50 along and it was a day to remember! We are over halfway to our 100th day celebration! Any ideas for the 100th day of school?

 

After a fun filled 50's day, we celebrated HALLOWEEN! We can only observce two Holidays a year with a classroom party and Halloween is not one of the days but we found plenty of ways to incorporate Halloween into our learning activities! This is a picure of our Frakenstein activities inspried from Teri at A Cupcake for the Teacher's  Frakenstien Craftivity! I bought the mask at Marshalls and painted it before spraying a light coat of silver spray paint. The green Frakenstein shirt you see in the background came from Kirklands and it really a chair cover!

The past 3 weeks I have had a teacher cadett from our high school coming to observe and one of her task was to create a bulletin board.  I gave her the frakenstein chair cover and she came up with the phrase "Mrs. Livers' Class if Frankly Spooktacular".  I wanted to show you the full display but for some reason the picture will not download onto my page:(  I think it is awesome that students can attend a class in high school and have the opportunity to observe, create projects, and teach a few lessons before going off to college! What a way to have an opportunity to discover your passion before enrolling in your first college class!