Wednesday, June 17, 2015

A Summer Afternoon with Maggie

So I was sitting on the couch, enjoying my completely unscheduled summer afternoon, when Maggie says to me, "Hey mom (she calls me mom), I want some treats."
 
 
 
Unfortunately, we were completely out of her usual treats, so I quickly looked up homemade cat treats and found a recipe that I had all of the ingredients to make (It must have been fate!).
 
It features tuna, which is Maggie's absolute favorite thing ever! She very rarely gets to have any tuna, so I let her sample a bit while I was mixing up the batter.
 
 
After mixing everything up, it looked pretty unappetizing, but smelled much like something Maggie would eat, so I continued on.
 
 
I got them in the oven while Maggie waited very patiently about one foot away from the oven.
 
 
Then it happened... I took them out to flip them over and my sweet kitty the wild beast went crazy! She was yowling, pacing, trying to get on the counter and very nearly climbed up my leg. Ouch!
 
 
 
They ended up being way bigger than expected... but I left them to cool while I kept the beast busy with her feather wand.
 
 
 
Then it was the moment of truth, Maggie waited to sample the first treat...
 
 
...mmmm... smells good...
 
 
...rejected.
 
 
At this point, I figured I would try the whole "throw the treat so the cat chases/eats it" thing...
 
 
...which was apparently not enough incentive for Maggie to eat my amazing homemade tuna treats.
 
Fine. Maggie doesn't want my treats, then-
 
 
until the ones I just ordered online arrive on Friday!
 
Before I go, here's a little preview of what I'm working on for Monday Made it next week!
 
 

Saturday, June 6, 2015

Word Family Printables Giveaway!

Well, school has been out for a couple of days and I have just finished one of my biggest projects for next year!
 
I wanted something that I could use with my first graders at the beginning of the year as morning work. One of my main criteria for was that it needed to be something that could be done independently, while giving them good practice with early first grade phonics targets. I wanted something that I could explain/demonstrate once, then let them work on their own while I work with small intervention groups.
 
Each word family has the same activities in the same format, which allows for easy word family practice.
 
 
 
There are seven pages for each word family, including: 
secret code spelling
word family sentences
word hunt
word frames
word building
spin and write
spin and say
roll and record
picture labeling
rainbow writing
emergent reader with comprehension questions
 
 
This includes printables for 28 different short vowel word families, so that should keep the kids practicing for a while!
 
I am so excited about finishing this project that I am giving away two of these bundles!
 
Check out my Facebook page to enter the giveaway! 2 winners will be chosen and emailed the printables on Friday, June 12.

Sunday, May 31, 2015

End of Year Gifts and Summer Review

 
 
Well, we are finishing up another year here, only 2.5 days left! We are having our building repainted this summer, so the last week or so has been very hectic with packing, moving furniture, etc.
 
Luckily, I managed to carve out some time to put together my end of year gifts for the kiddos!
 
 
I am giving each student a green or pink bucket filled with summer goodies!
 
Each bucket includes:
 
Polka-dot water bottle
Popsicles
Book
Bubbles
Play-dough
Fancy Pencils
Smarties
Lei
 
I have also been working on putting together some summer review items. I printed/copied pages from my Summer Reading Comprehension set and my Summer No-Prep Math and Literacy printables to make these booklets.
 
 
 
 
 



 
 
My kids this year were very interested in free-writing, so I made some labels and gave them some of my extra notebooks to use as journals this summer.
 
 
 

 
 
I am really looking forward to giving the kiddos their gifts on Wednesday and hope they will enjoy them!