Thank you, Pinterest:

This flowerpot is sitting in my windowsill behind my desk.  The one on Pinterest uses Pixie sticks for the stems and the kids can take their flower on their birthday.  But Pixie sticks and 1st graders? I think not.  Also, I don't want to give up my flowers because by the end of the year there would be not flowers and that just seems, well, sad.  

This is the dice addition activity I was talking about.  The kids did well with this other than the flying dice being strewn (accidentally) around the room.  The containers I mentioned are shown below.  Again, thank you Pinterest.  Now to just find some more at the Dollar Store...

Coming Soon To A Classroom Near You...

Just got these in the mail TODAY!

And what about these boys? It warms a first grade teacher's heart to see such enthusiasm for reading!