Frogs in First: class pet

Monday, August 18, 2014

Teacher Week 2014--Who?

I am excited to be linking up with Blog Hoppin' for Teacher Week 2014!
I love discovering new blogs and learning more about my favorite teacher bloggers.

Here's a little bit about "WHO" I am.

I am the wife of this wonderful man.

We were engaged 11 days after we met...

24 years later I can't believe it took us so long. ;)

These amazing people call me Mom.

My oldest is 22 and my youngest is 12...yes...she really is 12.

I live in such a beautiful place.

This is Mount Timpanogas in Northern Utah.

Simply breathtaking!

My love of diet Coke is not new info...

Sadly, this is a close to my name as I am going to get.

I've shared the story of how I got my class pets here.
This summer, when I brought home my little frogs and put
them in our home vivarium, we discovered we had a breeding pair.
Now, we have 16 well cared for tadpoles living in the windowsill of my kitchen.
I have no idea how this happened to a nice girl like me. :)

Well, that's a little bit of how I roll.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Teacher Week 2013: Classroom Digs

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Welcome to my classroom!! School starts for me one week from today. My room is getting close to being ready, but there are still several things I want to do:) Here are some of my favorite things so far. Check back later in the week as I finish a few final summer projects.

My Daily Five/Cafe tree was inspired by Marissa at First Grade Glitter and Giggles.

This kiva is my favorite thing in my classroom! I taught with the incredible Sheree Peterson for a bit, and she had an amazing kiva in her classroom, and because I want to be her when I grow up, I wanted one too:) So, I sent my sweet, unsuspecting hubbby (Mr. Fix It/Build It) to take a look and see what he could build for me. He built it in three pieces, but it is still super heavy. I hope I never have to move out of room 105 because the thing is a beast:) I love having my little kiddos close to me, and sitting on my kiva is much more comfortable than the floor. I do close to 75% of my whole group teaching here. I won't complain about having extra storage on the back either!

I have been thinking about this project for a while. I have been storing my books and CD's for my listening center in crate seats. Let's just say it wasn't working out so well. I needed a way to access them quickly and store them where they wouldn't get damaged. I had thought about using the hanging bags you can buy, but those little buggers are pricey!

Here is what I did. I attached (ok...Rob attached while I watched) closet rods to two Ikea bookcases. Then it was just a matter of using clear packing tape to tape a child's hanger onto a ziploc bag. Voila! Now I can find my listening center books, and between the two rods, I have stored almost a hundred books with room for around fifty more.

I shared the story (here) of how I became the happy owner of two gorgeous dart frogs named "Jack" and "Annie". My frogs are a lot of fun and my kiddos are so fascinated by these beautiful little animals. Best class pet ever!

My youngest daughter had a huge collection of stuffed animals. She is going to be in fifth grade this year. and in the middle of last year decided that she had outgrown most of her stuffed friends. She donated them to my classroom and the first graders have loved reading to a fun, furry buddy!