A BIG Thank you from the Mr & Mrs!

Hey Friends!

I know it has been a while since the wedding... but I wanted to post everything at once for you to see.

The first people we need to thank are our amazing cinematographers! Eric & Chris Aumen! We have known them for years and I am so glad that we were able to have them with us on our special day!

Here is the highlight of our wedding day! You can find out full half hour video on their website.

AM Wedding Stories

Autumn and Davey // A Wedding Highlight from Aumen Media on Vimeo.

*a little sidenote.... I was trying to say my vows from memory and accidentally said, "You are the lucky one!" I meant to say, "I am the lucky one!" I was mortified being the perfectionist that I am - but my hubby finds it to be quite amusing! ;)

*on another side note... I still can't watch this without crying. I feel so blessed to be the wife to such an amazing man. 

Now to our photographer... Stacey Gillin is just down right amazing! Davey plays baseball with her husband, and luckily they thought of us when we got engeged. I could not have asked for a better person to capture our special day!

Stacey Gillin Photography

Thank you to our families who support us each and every day, to our friends who laugh and celebrate with us, and to all of you for being so thoughtful and kind! Davey and I feel very blessed to have such a great support system around us!


Love,

Mr. & Mrs. Zaminski

We need your help!

Hey Friends,

My happiness in life revolves around my ability to be creative. Teaching and everything that surrounds that gives me an energy and happiness about life. I try to surround myself with people who have the same passion for teaching because it motivates me, inspires me, and pushes me forward. Recently a blogger friend reached out to me and asked me if I was willing to join her and some other bloggers on a collaborative blog.

After talking it through with my husband, I knew it was a journey worth taking. I decided to join this group with 19 other co-bloggers! Now, we are really excited and ready to share with all of you but we cannot decide on a name! It is so hard to choose one name that describes all that we are trying to do.

We want to give teachers a blog that they can turn to for inspiration, instructional support, and just lots of imagination! So here is where we need you....

Now all you have to do is comment on this blog post with a name that you think would be perfect for our collaborative blog! If your name is picked you will win a free product from each blogger!!

Thank you for your support!

Guided Reading & Getting Organized

Hey there!

Guided reading can be very overwhelming for a new teacher! Last year I felt like I had a lot to learn and needed to change what I was doing. So, this summer I set off to figure out what I was missing.

My first goal this year was to get organized! I do not know about you but I work better when everything has a place!

I started off my shopping at Mrs. Jones Creation Station TPT Store!

I bought this Guided Reading Materials Pack

It has so far been the best thing I could have done for myself!

Then I started to realize that everyone needs to be able to adjust things to meet their own needs. 

I used what I bought and added to it to make it work for my own classroom. 

Here is an addition that I have added to keep everything easily organized and color coded :)

Click on the picture below to get a copy for yourself!

 These Items are FREE in my store for now! 

Make sure that you check it out! It is an editable document 

so that you can make sure it fits your needs!  

I will post some pictures of my binder tomorrow after school. I also have some other great resources that have helped me as I am planning my lessons. 

I am also having a 20% off sale for my ENTIRE teachers pay teacher store!

Convo Countdown!

Well the countdown has begun!

Just 5 days before I am in Texas for the 2013 Kappa Delta Pi Convocation!! This morning I am finishing up my speech and starting to pack.

If you did not do so already, will you please vote on the poll above ^ this post. 

Calling all Classroom Teachers!
If you are not sure what KDP is all about you can visit their website here.  If you are a classroom teacher, please please please check out the teacher grants that are available!! The deadline in October 31st! You still have time to apply!

Are you going to Convo? Make sure to comment below!

This year they have an app for Convo! This is exciting to me because 

I am always using my phone to take notes and make my schedule.

Click the photo below to get the app!

Once you have the app you can create your agenda!

You can also take notes, rate the presentation, and even 

post to Facebook right from the app!

I love how you can choose which category you would like to search through. 

Are you a pre-service teacher??

Please go to KDP website and check out the scholarships and awards! Trust me it will be worth your time! If you have any questions I am happy to email with you! firstgradeteacherlady@gmail.com

Bye now! I am off to pack anything purple and green that I own! :)

Pumpkin Investigation

Hey there Pumpkin! :)

Hope your day was as fun and filled with learning as mine was! (This week my pumpkin learning was a lot less stinky)

Today we had a great time learning about pumpkins and doing our Pumpkin Investigation! I actually got this idea from a great mentor teacher in college. Tammi was one of those teachers who changed your life! She taught me so much in such a short amount of time... so this post is dedicated to Tammi!

Well, you can't have a Pumpkin Investigation without a

fabulous pumpkin outfit! :) I found this baby at goodwill

and HAD to have it! Bringing back the vest! lol

The investigation started with 2 pumpkins!

our pumpkin & the pumpkin

Looking at these pumpkins and pulling from our schema,

we filled out the Old Information & Questions sections

in our schema folders. I completed a class folder while the students 

filled out their individual schema folder. (The free file is on my TPT)

Here is the inside of the student schema folder

Here are some student samples

We read this great book called how many seeds in a pumpkin?

It is an AMAZING book that gives some great information about how

to count the seeds, and how you can guess which pumpkin will have more seeds!

Next, it was time to get busy! We got to put our hands into the pumpkin

and pull out the seeds and pulp! What a mess... but lots of fun!

Once the seeds were all rinsed off we counted our seeds by 2's, 5's, and 10's

Then, I wanted to talk with the students about being a Scientist!

We read this book and went through the I am a Scientist song and

powerpoint from Dr. Jean. We discussed making a hypothesis.

We came up with a hypothesis based around the idea that our pumpkin

would have more seeds because it was bigger.

Then, we came up with another hypothesis that the pumpkin would

have more seeds because it is darker orange and has more lines. 

Then, we read Pumpkin Circle: The Story of a Garden.

If you have not read this book to your students it is a MUST! The

vocabulary is AMAZING! We were able to do a word hunt for adjectives!

To end the day the students got to read and color their own 

Pumpkin life cycle books. I made these quick for my class this weekend.

The file is also free on my TPT! 

Thank you for stoping by! Happy pumpkin fun to you!