Friday, March 29, 2013

Another Alliteration Link-Up--Letter P!



Today I'm linking up with Primary Possibilities for another Alliteration Link-Up!  This time we're working with the letter P!



PLAYLIST 
I use a lot of Harry Kindergarten videos from YouTube which have great songs with them!  I also have a few Jack Hartmann CDs that we listen to quite frequently.  I'm pretty sure this is the one that is our favorite!  Without being at school to look at the CD, I'm not sure!



I'm also a big fan of Laurie Berkner!  I discovered her when my 11 year old daughter was a toddler and we've been fans ever since! Her songs are SO fun.




PLANTS
I might as well just leave this part blank.  I have a brown thumb.  I have never been able to successfully keep a plant alive.  I do plant some flowers in my flowerbeds and pots around my house, but I have to work pretty hard at keeping them alive, too.  Plants--can't do it!


PRODUCTS
First I'll share with you my favorite product of my own.  It's easy because I only just started creating products and I have exactly TWO to choose from!  My kiddos are going to be working on blends so I made this blend activity.  You can find it HERE at my newly opened Teachers Pay Teachers store! Right now, it's free!


My favorite product from someone else is a little tougher!  I've used so many great things this year so it's hard to choose just one! To continue with our blend work, we have started using these fabulous blend books from The Inspired Apple!

BlendBooksPREVIEW

We've done one of them so far, and my kiddos loved it and did a fantastic job! You can find this product HERE!

So there you have it!  My PLAYLIST, PLANT (or lack there of), and PRODUCTS!

Head over to Primary Possibilities and Link UP HERE!  Here's what you need to know!

 PLAYLIST- What kind of music do you play for your students? What is on your “PLAYLIST”? What do you use to “calm them down” or “pep them up”?
PLANT- What is your favorite PLANT? Do you keep plants in your classroom?
PRODUCT- What currently is your favorite PRODUCT? Let’s be fair... Choose one of your own and one of someone else.


Primary Possibilities

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Roll & Record Freebie!

 
I made an activity to use in my math centers when we return from Spring Break.  My kiddos love roll and record activities, but I wasn't sure they were really getting the concept that they were adding the two numbers shown on the dice together.  I think they were just counting dots!  I made this so that they had to record the numbers on the dice and THEN count the dots to add them together. 
 
I also have some kiddos that are pretty secure with addition of numbers less than 10.  I'm going to differentiate this activity by giving them larger numbers to add together.  I have some blank dice and I'm going to write larger numbers on them and provide some counters for them to use.
 
This is also my first attempt at Google docs, so if it doesn't work, please let me know!
 
 
 
 
I hope you can use this freebie!!

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

My First Product!!--A Blend Hunt

Well, I finally did it!  I've created my first product, opened a TpT store, and uploaded the product!  It only took me ALL DAY, but I did it!  I feel like a proud mama! 
 
I wasn't exactly sure what I wanted to create.  I've used a lot of activities from many different bloggers this year and I knew what my kids liked.  They love "write the room" types of activities.  Give them a clipboard and they are the happiest little people in the world!  I also knew that we are going to be spending more time working with blends when we get back from Spring Break so I combined those two ideas and here is what I came up with!  Since I'm new to this blog world, please let me know how it looks--the good, the bad, and the ugly!  I want to know it all!  My biggest fear as I venture into this new world is that I'm going to fail to follow blog etiquette and fail to give credit or create something too similar to someone else's work.  If you feel this is the case or I've done something wrong--PLEASE let me know.  I can't fix it if I don't know it!
 
 
You can download this activity FREE {HERE} at my brand new Teachers Pay Teachers Store!
 
I can't wait to hear what you think of it--remember, the good, the bad AND the ugly!!
 

Monday, March 25, 2013

Let's Get Acquainted--The Noun Game!

I'm linking up with Mrs. Reed at Flying into First Grade for her
 
 
 
This week, we are playing The Noun Game!  Share your favorite person, place, thing and animal!
 
Here goes  . . . .
 
Person
(OK, People . . .)
Well, I'm going to cheat a little on this one and tell you about my favorite people instead of choosing just one person!  These are the most important people in my life--my hubby and my kiddos.  Please excuse the goat in the picture--we are a 4H family and this picture was taken after the goat show at our county fair--Reserve Grand Champion!  If you're a livestock person, you'll get it.  If not, just admire my family and forget the goat! My husband is my best friend and I have great kids.  We have so much fun together no matter what we are doing!
 
Place
 

 
I love, love, love Walt Disney World!  This is my favorite picture from our Spring Break trip last year.  Ocean Isle Beach, NC would be a close second on this list and it would definitely be top of the list for my husband so for about the last 10 years, our vacations have either been to Disney or Ocean Isle Beach (and sometimes both!!)
 
 
Thing
 
This is a tough one because there are so many things I love!  I'm going to have to go with sports right now.  I don't play them, but I LOVE to watch them.  This has been a great weekend of basketball watching all the NCAA tournament games.  My beloved Buckeyes are moving on--Sweet 16, Baby!!  Our high school girls basketball team just made a great run in the tournaments and finished as State Runner-up for the 2nd year in a row!  They are so fun to watch--especially when I had some of the girls on the team in school!
 
 
Animal
 
 
PIGS!
As I mentioned before, we are a 4H family.  We also raise pigs to sell to kids to show in 4H.  Right now, there are probably around 200 piglets in our nursery!  Much of our summer is spent working with the pigs and showing them at shows and our county fair.
 
Well, I hope you know me a little better now and I can't wait to go read about all of you so link up!
 
 
Flying into First Grade

Sunday, March 24, 2013

SomeBUNNY loves Kindergarten Smiles!





Today, I'm linking up with Bunting, Books, and Bainbridge to show some bloggy love!



Although, I'm very new to being the blogger, I have been a blog stalker for quite some time!  This summer, I knew I was going back to a classroom after 8 years as a reading intervention specialist so I turned to blogs and Pinterest to get some ideas and get ready for Kindergarten! 

One of the first blogs I came across was the wonderful Caitlin Clabby at Kindergarten Smiles and I've been in bloggy love ever since!


Kindergarten Smiles
 
I just love everything about her blog, her units, and all her activities. I have even emailed her with questions a few times and she quickly and very sweetly replied to me!  I was nearly starstruck!  Honestly, most of what I've used with my kiddos this year has come from her.  I love that each unit has similar activities, but she upped the ante as we moved through the school year.  Because the activities were similar, my kiddos were able to work on the centers independently. 
 
I owe one of the highlights of our year to her!  My kids LOVED her penguin unit and they successfully completed an informational writing about penguins.  They were SO proud of themselves when they were completed!  They also loved watching the penguins live on the penguin web cam!  Read about her penguin unit HERE
 
 
 
So, who do you want to show some bloggy love??  Maybe you are on Spring Break, LIKE ME!!!, and you'd like to find some new blogs to follow!  Head over to Bunting, Books, and Bainbridge to see who other bloggers are loving on!
 
 
Bunting Books and Bainbridge

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Five for Friday (on Saturday!)


OK, I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching Five For Friday for the first time.  Yes, I know it's Saturday afternoon, but better late than never, right??!!

This has been QUITE a week!  In fact, this post will be lacking in pictures because I was so busy that I forgot to take any.  Boo. 

1.  This week was conference week AND grade card week for us.  Who planned that??  Needless to say, I was one happy girl when I left school Thursday evening (night 2 of conferences), knowing that I had survived!  Grade cards had gone home and conferences were over.  I have an awesome class and conferences went very well, but it's still a little overwhelming making sure you have everything organized and ready to share with parents.

2.  Yesterday I turned my Daily 5 time into Easter centers.  We had a great time!  One of the activities deserves special mention.  My intervention specialist (and blogging buddy--check her out at The Phonics Phenomenon)  created what appeared to be an Easter coloring sheet, but what the kids didn't know was that I had written sight words on it with a white crayon.  When they painted it with their watercolors--which was quite exciting all by itself--the words magicaly appeared!  So.much.fun.  And THIS would be the place I really wish I had thought to take a picture to show you!

3.  We also did a fun Jelly Bean Graphing activity for math that the kids LOVED!  I got this here from Simply Kinder on Freebielicious

 
 
I was thrilled with how well they did with this activity!  And again--NO PICTURE!  Ugh--so mad at myself!
 
 
4.  March Madness started this week!  I love basketball and the NCAA tournament is one of my favorite things.  I love filling out my bracket and watching all the games.  I've been known to pick a pretty mean bracket, but I'm afraid this year isn't looking great for me!  Who know there would be so many upsets??!!  The best part is that my beloved Buckeyes were ON FIRE last night and look poised to make a long run.  I don't care how busted my bracket is if my Buckeyes go all . . . the . . . way!!
 
 
5.  I'm on SPRING BREAK!!  That's right, folks!  No school for this girl until next Tuesday!  Nothing else needs to be said . . . .
 
 
 
Thanks for reading!  Now go link up!


Thursday, March 7, 2013

Music, Menu, Management Linky!

I'm joining the fun alliteration linky at Primary Possibilities!

 
 
Music
 
I must admit, I'm a country girl!  I was raised on Kenny Rogers and Johnny Cash.  Now my favorites are
 
            Luke Bryan                   Eric Church                      Jason Aldean
 
         

<sigh> Aren't they dreamy?? 
 
I also love some good classic rock (which my hubby much prefers over country!)

 
  
 
And, of course, with a tween daughter in the house, the occaisional One Direction song or Call Me Maybe has been known to pop up in my playlist!
 
 
Menu
I'm not a very adventurous eater.  I love me a good burger and anything deep fried!
 
Management
I use the Daily 5 and I love, love, love it!  I love that it gives me so much flexibility to work with small groups.  I love that it is, by design, differentiated so each student is able to work right at his or her level.  I love that they love it and are so engaged! 
 
As for behavior, I use the clip chart system and, again, I love, love, love it!  I use this one by Sarah Shelton at Kindergarten Korner.  My kiddos have totally bought into it and they live and die by what color their clip is on at the end of the day!  I love that it gives a student who has made a bad decision and moved down, to correct that behavior and move back up.  I don't have a lot of discipline problems in my classroom and I attribute a lot of that to this management system.
 
Thanks for reading!  Head over to Primary Possibilities to link up!
 
 
Primary Possibilities

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

My First "Currently!"

I'm so excited to be posting my first Currently! I love reading them all! I just hope I've done this correctly, but if you are reading it, then I guess I did!!


Here goes--


 
 
 
I love my pug, but, man does that dog snore!

We were supposed to get 4-8" of snow overnight.  We only got a few, but it came at just the right time for a SNOW DAY!!  This girl was worried when she looked out the window at 5am and didn't see much snow, but luckily we live in a very rural area where even a little snow will make the back roads bad! 

I always make big plans in my mind the night before a potential snow day.  And then then we get the snow day and my coffee, pjs, and computer win out over the to-do list!

Who doesn't want their house to clean itself?  Blogging and watching TV are so much more fun!

I'm very excited to start this blog.  It's something I've wanted to do for a long time.  However, if I'm honest, I'm pretty intimidated.  I'm pretty good with a computer, but I feel like there is so much I don't know about creating products, linking up, uploading stuff--yadda yadda.  But I finally decided the only way to learn was to jump in with both feet and give it a try!

As for my "like"--refer to the "loving" and "thinking" and "wanting" from above!
I LOVE lasagna and anything Italian for that matter!
I hate licorice--especially black!  Eww--tastes like medicine! 

Well--thanks so much for checking out my Currently and letting me join you all in the blogosphere!  Any tips you'd like to leave in my comments would be greatly appreciated!