#LAeveryday2014 Week 1 Recap

Find out all about #LAeveryday2014 here and remember to follow me on Instagram (msleslieann01). This week didn't feature a whole lot of school because I'm trying to savor EVERY last drop of Christmas break, which was entirely too short. :)

{Day One}

I started off 2014 by having a dinner with my sweet family. Here's my gorgeous cousin, Emily

{Day Two}

Back to work bright and early with a faculty meeting

{Day Three}

Friday night was SOO cold, so I decided to stay in and catch up on my magazines 

{Day Four}

Fedex surprised me with a Saturday delivery. I decided to pull a Carrie Bradshaw and order myself a new pair of shoes. Too bad I ordered the wrong size :( They are gorgeous though, so hopefully it won't take them too long to return to me.

{Day Five}

Sunday morning. Perfection. 

Week one was short because the new year started on Wednesday, but I'm going to do weekly recaps every Sunday so next week will have all 7 days :)

Follow along with me on Instagram (msleslieann01)

New Year's Resolutions Activity and Winter Centers

Cara's 100th Day people are quite possibly my favorite craft ever and I always loved recreating them for New Years and having the kids write resolutions. Here's a couple of pictures from an old post so you can get an idea :)

I did this activity with my 5th graders today. I didn't remember to cut out the hats with scrapbook paper so they didn't turn out near as cute, but I LOVE reading their resolutions. After actually talking about what resolutions are and examples of common ones people always making, we wrote our own. As I was looking back through my first grade resolutions it's so neat to see how different 1st graders think than 5th graders! :) Here's the 5th grade version:

If I had remembered scrapbook paper this would have look precious with this great garland I found after Christmas for 75% off! It worked great for the hats. 

After we each made our own resolution, we decided on a few class goals that we wanted to work hard to accomplish this semester. I created a chart with each of my three classes, but forgot to take pictures of that! :) 

1st/2nd grade friends, don't forget to check out my Winter Math and Literacy Centers. These were created last year, but I'm working on some new ones right now for upper grades. Here's a preview of the activities

Click here to get my Winter Fun! math and literacy packet. Below is a preview of what all is included. 

Y as a Vowel word sort

 Odd and Even Sort using number words

 What's the missing number center activity

 Number order activity (can be used greatest to least or least to greatest)

 Which Number is Greater? Can also be used for Which Number is Less?

 Number/ Number Word Match Activity **An oldie but a goodie! I love this activity. My kids ALWAYS need help with recognizing number words

 Long/Short Vowel Sort

 Beginning Blends Activity

 Syllable Sort

 Synonym Match Up Activity

 Antonym Match Up Activity

 Sentence or Question Sort

Happy Weekend, y'all! 

Dip Tray Centers

If you're a long time follower of Life in First Grade, then you'll probably remember this post, where I first talked about using dip trays as center activities. I discovered this fabulous idea when I had the opportunity to watch another teacher teach reading. I now have the privilege to teach with this teacher! She has the BEST ideas. She used the dip trays for dictionary skills, but since I was teaching first graders at the time, I decided to create a story elements version. You can download the patterns to create your own here, but I decided to update my trays with my new little cameo. I LOVE how they turned out and it was so super simple to recreate. 

{Sidenote: another New Year's resolution of mine was to start using my good camera instead of my iphone, so just be warned that there will be pictures from ALL angles. haha!}

I also made another activity using these fun trays. This one focuses on using a thesaurus. The kids roll the dice, find which word they're working with and get busy! If you would like copies of the word lists I use, just ask and I'll post :) 

What to see my new favorite lip colors? Head over to Southern Belle Inspired :)

Remember, follow me on Instagram to see #LAeveryday2014 

New Year's Goal and #LAeveryday2014

I love making New Year's Resolutions. We all need a fresh start sometimes and now's the perfect time! I always try and resolve to exercise and eat right and while those are on my list this year, my number one goal is to blog more often. I was looking at the blog archive the other day and I had no idea just how little I blogged these last few months. Life in First Grade and Life in Fifth Grade (along with my fashion/beauty blog) are so important to me and I need to make more time for them.

My goal is to blog at least 4-5 times a week. I love sharing with all of y'all the things that are happening in my classroom and I love seeing everything that's going on in y'alls. One new way I'm making a conscious effort to post more is something I like to call #LAeveryday2014. If you read Shay Shull's (The Bachelor Sean Lowe's sister) blog then you're probably familiar with #Shayeveryday2013. This takes place on Instagram and Shay posted one pic everyday for the entire year. At the end of 2013, she had 365 pics, one from each day of the year. She did this as a way to document her year and I absolutely loved this idea! Thus, #LAeveryday2014 was born. At the end of each week, I'll recap my weekly pics here if you don't have Instagram and still want to follow along, but if you do, be sure and follow me (msleslieann01). 

I'm now off to savor my last few hours of Christmas break, which has never been as short as it was this year :( When do you go back to school?

Hope everyone had a wonderful NYE! :)