Spring is in the Air!

   It has been so long since my last post. I have survived the first week back from spring break. Boy was it a LONG one! The kids did not do too bad with transitioning back into the classroom. Of course I had those one or two who kept saying "I want to go home"... and it wasn't even 9am yet!
   Anyways I have been dabbling a bit on new ideas to put into my TPT store. I would have more if my computer didn't decide that this was the week it wanted to crash and stop working... I guess all those blog ideas and TPT finds really "weighed" it down. So I've been slowly trying to get my computer to love me again.
Grab yourself a freebie, Color by Word Family: Short I... I can't seem to figure out how to get a picture of the title page onto my blog. It seems I am not that blog savvy as I thought. While there check out my TPT SALE for April 15th ONLY (It's my dad's birthday).Leave me a comment while there. Enjoy! And Happy Spring!

100th Day!

It has been a long time since my last post, my apologies. I wanted to show some pictures of our 100th day celebration. What do you like to do? My kindergarten team LOVES to do Round Robins... We seem to do them for every holiday, which takes away some of the monotony of everyday life at school. Well we created a few things which were inspired by my findings on Pinterest. I feel like I should have blogged it under Made It Monday but our celebration was on a Friday.
I can't seem to get things to work for me today but I am just going to list what I used:
My 100th Day Counting Mat
If I had 100 dollars I would buy... (writing)
Race to 100
My Happy 100th day sign (the one I saw was horizontal and mine is vertical)-the kids got a chance to go through the zero and pose for their pictures.

Our kinders had a blast!

Happy New Year 2013!

Happy New Year to you and your family!

 I woke up this morning and thought I should ring in the New Year by updating my TPT store. I have added two new products in my store: Frosty's Letter Sorts and Frosty's Number Sorts. Of course as I write this I keep thinking of new ideas to add/update. However, I can't seem to figure out how to get a screenshot of what it looks like posted on here, sorry. But check out my TPT store because I am having a sale on my WINTER products, 20% off until Friday January 4th. See, I have to go back to school tomorrow so to make this week not be a dreadful week, I thought I would have a sale.

 There are other TPT sellers having a sale too. So ring in the new year with some new products:) Have a great day!

Hurry, hurry don't be late!

Have you been enjoying a fellow bloggers' 12 days or 25 days of Christmas freebies? Well I have and I have one for you that you need to click fast to go find. Hit in your search bar and look for First Grade a La Carte. Tonight is her last night of her 12 days celebration. She has been putting a time limit on her freebies and tonight it is just the same except you get an EXTRA hour.

 What is my fuss? You can go to her TpT store and pick one thing $5 or less and email her (go to her blog) for her specific instructions) and she will send it to you for FREE. Oh yeah! I love free too!

You have until 10pm EST. for those bloggers 3 hours behind.... Lucky you. But don't get busy and forget you need to track down the info and get something free! Enjoy!

Cyber Monday TPT sale! (plus Bonus Tuesday)

I did it! I am hosting my FIRST sale at my TPT store. It is quite exciting. So Teachers Pay Teachers is hosting a sale called Cyber Monday and Bonus Tuesday... doesn't that title make you think you are going to be online all day?

I think so because I already have stuff on my wishlist for things to buy on sale day. Many of my favorite bloggers are participating in this sale too. I can't wait to get the things I have been "drooling" over for months now on discount. So at my store you get 20% off including my 3 new products I just posted this weekend. I know, but it's my first sale! Go big or go home!:) And Teachers Pay Teachers is adding in 10% to my discount and you could get up to 28% off! See below for the promo code to use as you stock your shopping cart of fun things for you and your kiddos to do from now until the end of the school year. Click on banner to go to my store:)

Button by Ashley Hughes

  I am a little nervous about the sale but I feel a part of the "team" of tpt sellers. So don't forget to go shopping on Monday and Bonus Tuesday for some great buys. I have listed a few of my favorite sellers below:
            If you have a store, join the linky party (scroll down) and get your store some recognition.:)

While hunting for my faves, I found a new blogger... Teaching the Littles


 Happy Shopping! Enjoy!

Pinterest Creations

My goal this year is to try more things that I have found on Pinterest. Is it as addicting for you as it is for me? I can pin things like crazy but I was never daring enough to actually try it and see how it went unless it came with a template or something. Here are some things I have tried and actually completed with my kids. Now it is on to find Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa stuff. My motto (and my principal's motto) is to be MORE hands-on... we are sort of in a paper shortage again... now we have to get what we want copied approved!! I still have my own paper but now I want to use my construction paper!

Pinterest

Pinterest

This was another cute idea for Halloween/Red Ribbon Week. I needed myself to get into the Halloween spirit but we were also supposed to be doing more red ribbon stuff with our kids rather than Halloween. (Bummer, I know) But this way it fit into everything. The kids got a kick out of it and this was one of those projects that you have to let the kids "go" with it. I do find that difficult... to let go and let them do it how they want. You know when you see something (on Pinterest) and you want to copy how it looks exactly, but when you hand it to a child they sort of run with it in a different way... that is what happened here and for my next project.

Via Pinterest from Literacy and Laughter

 Aren't these cute? This project turned out great but boy did it take a long time... we had to postpone our ice cream party til Monday as our turkeys took the whole time. But if you click on the picture check out some of their answers. And I wrote exactly what they said (even that was hard for me). I'm a work in progress.

Speaking of our ice cream party... my kids are celebrating how many compliments that they got since the last party. I found this idea off a blog somewhere (if it is your idea please let me know) to hang paper chains/links  up for each compliment you receive and have it measure something across the room before you can have your next reward. Well my kids got 24 compliments in September (it wasn't even over yet) and our chain started at the top of the bulletin board and went to the floor. From there we started a new pattern color and used the edge of the bulletin board wall to the end of our carpet for the next reward (a cookie party). Then I let the kids vote on their next compliment prize and they voted for ice cream (popsicles and popcorn lost). In order to get that party they had to get the compliments to reach from the end of our carpet pass the green table. Maybe  I should have done a table further away but we were on a roll and I went with it. So now my kids have earned 94 compliments and it is only the middle of November. I still have 2 compliments to add from Friday. If we reach 100 compliments, I might have our 100th party early (our 100th day of school always happens around Valentine's day... boo!) I can see it now... asking the parents to bring treats so we can celebrate and practice counting up to 100- we sing our I Can Count to a Hundred song (Jack Hartman) every day, but to put it into practice would be great.

So after that celebration happens, does anyone have any other ideas for rewards? I might try to see if they would want to have double recess for a whole week... Double recess was our first September prize and they seemed to have liked that. I am open to all ideas. Thanks so much! Here is one more picture to leave you with... it is a labeling activity I had my kids do with a partner. They labeled "the teacher" then they labeled their partner.

Pinterest

Have a great weekend! Enjoy

Join the Giveaway!

Have you guys checked out the new blog Freebielicious? It is just like it sounds... freebies galore! If you haven't visited yet, you should as they are having a giveaway until 8pm EST. The blog is mostly made up of Pre-k to 1st grade freebies but many of the authors are giving away so many goodies. Especially some Halloween units you might want to do with your class in the upcoming weeks. So hop on over to sign up and give yourself a chance to win. It is very easy to enter, 3 ways (Pinterest, Facebook and become a follower), all three are good places to always stay on top of the freebies. Good luck!

Oh and if you follow them on Pinterest you already get links to some freebies you might have seen floating around Pinterest already. Especially the Candy Corn Match Up! I can't wait to start printing and laminating so it is ready for my students on Monday.

Pinterest and stations

 I know I haven't written in a while, like over a month. I have been trying to get things ready for my classroom. And many of you know how addicting Pinterest is. Especially since I can have it so handy on my ipad it makes pinning so easy. I pin a lot of new and fun activities that I often don't get around to use my files that I have been working on for years. How do you all do it? What do you keep from your old files and what do you throw away? Or do you even throw anything away and just pile in all the new stuff into your old files?
   See I have been trying to "organize" my classroom and my classroom materials. I even have a board on pinterest labeled "wishful organization". Because for someone who is a teacher pack rat organization is difficult for me. I got rid of my teacher's desk this year and of course my small group station looks nothing like it does in the Debbie Diller's Spaces and Places book. I am still trying to figure out what to do with the things I get coming into my room such as notes/memos, materials to use for the concepts taught for the week. Oh and the big one is where to store large construction paper projects when my basket is only so big?! Frustrating and we have only been in school for about 13 days. However, I am able to find more stuff now but I need to work on cluttering the small group table/teacher's desk. Has anyone ever put the ruffled table cloth or fabric around their table to "hide" storage underneath? I wanted to try it this year but I haven't had the nerve yet.
  I have also been doing literacy work stations while also trying to fit in our current reading program that we cannot deviate from only add things too. The stations part is working okay. I am having trouble with my pocket chart and magnetic station but I think when I add the name/picture sort in the pocket chart area it will be more exciting. And for the magnetic station I might have a solution to the reluctance to visit the station. Has anyone visited the Confessions of a Homeschooler website? Well she is awesome and does really fun and detailed activities with her kids. Well she has a preschool and a kindergarten curriculum for sale, however if you are willing to venture through her posts you can find many parts of her curriculum as FREEBIES. I stumbled last summer how she has a post for each letter of the alphabet with fun activities for reading, math and pre-writing. I love her lowercase and capital letter sorts and her magnetic page that goes with each letter.

You use the magnetic page with some pom-pom magnets (pom-poms and magnetic circles hot glued together) and you have an instant center. I am going to try that as this summer I made a set of pom-pom magnets that I forgot about that I recently remembered their purpose.

My purpose was not for a long post... now I need to get some sleep as I still have one more day of teaching to do. And I didn't even tell you about my class... another post I guess. They are doing well and I am happy for their progress. Enjoy!

A few things

  I know we all are busy trying to get our rooms together so we don't have time to blog as often as we would like. And I know many teachers are already back into their classrooms!! I am so glad that my school district does not have us go back this early. However, I am always jealous when some teachers get out in May... man I miss those days! (Preschool teacher)
 But I wanted to take the time to share some of the goodies that were sent to me this week. You guys probably have heard about the Kohl's Back to School 10% discount. Well if you haven't heard about it, they are giving this discount my readers... I know... we are lucky. And if you want to get your own discount for your readers just email me and I can try to pass along the link (it is for parents and teachers!) So how long can you use this discount code, UBLOGTEN?!? You can use it until October 24th so stack up your savings at kohls.com See more stores are catching on to what we need to get these kids dressed for success, Kohl's Back to School section helps us get more for less. And as a teacher I always like that motto. Click on the code UBLOGTEN or any link that says Back to School and check them out!

  As I was printing my pins from Pinterest I was linked to First Grade Parade, Cara, I love her!! But what a surprise something that I missed in my pins I really needed. But that isn't what really surprised me. It was the fact that her freebie, classroom labels, has more than I have ever seen all summer on posts for labels. Usually people just create the few that they need for their schedule but nope Cara created so many labels I don't know which ones to choose from. She even has a label for Centers or for me this year Literacy Stations. Plus she has included blank time cards so you could print, laminate and write/draw the time for each thing. Click here so you can download this wonderful freebie. Surprises are good huh? And if you have never visited Cara's blog First Grade Parade do so and even check out her TPT store as you might find some goodies you will like there too.:)

  Speaking of First Grade Parade... the reason why I ended up there was because I was checking out one of my pins about schedule cards. But I was intrigued about the time slot called Ketchup and Pickle Time and after reading about it I want to try it with my kids this year. (However if you need some library book labels, those are FREE). First Grade Garden has a time slot for Ketchup and Pickle Time. Are you interested in what it is all about?  I am only going to give you a teaser but it's about giving students a chance to complete unfinished work... Check out her post about it and see if you can have Ketchup and Pickle Time in your room.

 And for those who have a Five and Below in their town: My Five and Below are having a sale until 8/19, a buy one get one free. Now some things aren't really worth buying one just to get one free as you could just go to the Walmart and get it for less. But I usually go to Five and Below for my pencil pockets. I have looked everywhere else for them thinking that I could get them cheaper but no such luck. I stumbled upon them last year by accident and have been looking out for the same sale and here it is. So the pencil pockets are $1.50 buy one get one free.

Last year I got 26 pockets for $19.50 which for me was good as these pockets lasted my students all year! And since I have been pinning I have found some teachers use these pockets to put in station materials. I found one teacher use them to put different poems that students could use at the Poetry Station. My hope is to put the magnetic letters in them for Magnetic Station, poems for Poetry station and sorts for Pocket Chart station. Plus I want to have students practice sight words at home so some of the ones I buy will go in their home folders. Do you have any other ideas I could use these pockets for?

More Finds...

  In between blogging and "trying" to watch the Olympics, I keep finding stuff. I found a MEGA giveaway from Finally in First who has tons of blogger friends helping out. You have 28 things you could do in order to win the giveaway. I think your chances look good.:) What do you think?

  I also found a new supply store. I have sort of been disappointed with my teacher store here at home. I went today looking for frog stuff and I came out empty-handed and frustrated. All I found were bits and pieces of frog stuff and nothing that looked like a full set. I could find full sets of fuzzy monsters and even owls that everyone is fawning over but no FROGS. Now don't get me wrong I love owls... but when I am looking for something specific and all I find are owls, it can be very frustrating. Many times during my time in the store I questioned my theme like "should I be doing owls instead?" But then I had to stop myself and say NO!! I have to go against the grain and stick to what I like such as my blue and green FROG theme. But I bet you want to hear about that teacher supply store and not about my frustrations. It is called MPM School Supplies and the prices seem pretty discounted. I have been in the market for a new pocket chart and besides the Target Dollar spot charts (which are too small) I have found them to be about $25 and up. But here at MPM I found a standard chart discounted at $17.36. Yippee!! I may have new charts this year after all. So go check them out if you are in the market for new supplies like we all are every year.

  Another find: Fun in First Grade's Back to School Linky Party.

Link up and gain many new ideas.:) 

 First Grade a la Carte is doing a FREEBIE, a sale and a giveaway each day (for only a short time period) to celebrate back to school. Make sure to stop in tomorrow to see what the new freebie is but if you can't wait go back to the past PARTY Posts and snag some good gifts.:)

From First Grade Fever: Kohl's is giving her readers a 10% discount at kohls.com until August 23rd. You could find tons of stuff. Make sure to stop by the Kohl's Cares for Kids and get your Skippyjon Jones stuffed animals and books for $5 each!!

 I know I should be enjoy these last few days of my summer break but I am freaking out because I haven't found anything to put up in my room yet. I haven't finished my crate seats... I didn't have the right staples to fit into my staple gun:-( But I will finish!! I have to finish or I won't have enough seating in my room. So much to do. But some of my teammates will be venturing to the Lakeshore outlet in MD on Saturday and maybe hitting IKEA on the way back IF we haven't spent all our money in the Lakeshore store.

Enjoy!