Time, Character Traits and Advent

 We finished our time unit off with some little culminating activities (such as the ones above from Amy Lemons). The kids made flips books and sorted different activities that would take About a Second, Minute or Hour.


In Language, we began to discuss character traits and how we all have character traits, which form our personality. We read the book "How I Became a Pirate" and listed all of the character traits of "Jeremy Jacob", using examples from the text (as a class).

Using Amanda Nickersons Character Trait write-ups, I broke the students into small group. Each group received a write-up and had to uncover the character traits of that character. As a class, we read each one and added any missing character traits.





 HOT CHOCOLATE WRITING
MAKES A RETURN!
Made hot cocoa for each of the students. LOVE, LOVE, LOVED (of course). The grade ones had to create a list of descriptive words and the grade twos had to make a connections (what did drinking this hot chocolate remind them of and why). The final product is up in the hallway, which I will post this week.




ADVENT.... Preparing for Jesus' Birth.
We made our Advent Wreaths this week. On Monday we will light the first candle. 4 weeks until Jesus' birth-- CHRISTMAS.



Finally, a BIG THANK you to Anna @ Teacher Spice and Everything Nice for nominating us for the Liebster Award.

Here are her questions for us:

1. What grade do you teach? Kaitlin- grade 1/2 combined
Christine - grade 3.

2. What are your hobbies? Kaitlin- coaching, reading, working out and going out for dinner and drinks with my awesome friends and incredible husband (drinking wine, playing scrabble, watchng movies and eating snacks).
Christine's- baking, cooking, making fun lesson plans and crafts.

We both love going into the school on the weekend, setting up our classrooms and lessons to wow the students the following week. A lot of people say we're crazy and ask us why we do this (saying you don't get paid for that), but we love it and enjoy it. Our goal is to always gear the kids up for an exciting week of learning. Sounds cheezy, but we love what we do. It was a gift teaching together for a year. We hope to teach together again one day :) Until then, we continue to help each other out and brainstorm unique ideas that we could use in the classroom.

3. What advice would you give to a first year teacher? Don't try to do everything in your first year! Add a new idea every few months or once a year-- and do it well. Be creative- Yes, we all have a curriculum, but kids need to have fun while learning. Share your ideas and thank others for theirs.

4. Do you have a teachers pay teachers store?  YES :)
If so, what is your favorite product? Our Newest Product- The Melted Snowman- http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/The-Melted-Snowman-Writing-Activity-Craft

5. When did you know you wanted to be a teacher? Kaitlin- When I was in Kindergarten. I played school and church with my sister all the time. Not until University, did I think about it a lot more seriously. Best-decision-ever. Love my job!

Christine- I was in Kindergarten and fell in love with the teacher and the classroom and began playing school at home. Since then, I have never dreamed of being anything else. Still can't believe how lucky I am to be in a job that feels like a hobby!

6. What TV series do you like? Kaitlin-Top Chef, Project Runway & Biggest Loser.
Secret show-- Dancing with the Stars- Love anything with dancing! :) Makes me happy!

Christine- Friends, How I Met Your Mother and Tudors. Also, Anna and Christina's cooking show, where the test out different cookbooks.
7. What is something a student did to make you laugh?
There are TOO MANY....... Anytime they talk about their parents is funny or use an adult word out of context! lol.


8. What do you do for fun on the weekends? A perfect weekend is relaxing with family (for a movie night and making homemade pizza)/going out for dinner-- or having friends over for dinner and drinks.

9. Why did you decide to start a blog? We were spending a lot of time planning and creating ideas--we decided that since we were following other teachers, we should also share our ideas too. Maybe it will inspire one teacher or many. It helps us stay focused and oraganized.

10. What is your favorite blog to check up on?
Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits- http://tunstalltimes.blogspot.ca/
A Cupcake for the Teacher- http://acupcakefortheteacher.blogspot.ca/

THANK YOU AGAIN for nominating us, ANNA! :)

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND, EVERYONE!

Comments

  1. Hot chocolate ~ what a good way to get the writing flowing. I am new to blogging and I'm trying to organize a Winter Wonderland Exchange project with classes throughout the country. I am hoping you will consider joining the fun. Please hop over to firstgradecarousel.blogspot.com for more info. Thanks, Maria

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks, Maria!!
    I wrote back on your blog :)
    Thanks for stopping in. We're your newest followers!
    Kaitlin & Christine

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi we just added you to the nomination list and saw you had already been nominated. Love your Blog!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Mara and Lauren, Thank you for your nomination, we are very excited about it. I was looking at your blog and can't believe the damage done by the hurricane. We are in Ontario, Canada and we haven't experienced weather like that. So glad your both ok. We like your blog very much. Consider us Followers!

    Christine & Kaitlin

    ReplyDelete

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