Happy Easter!

Happy Easter :] I hope you all enjoyed your holiday and spent it with loved ones.  I just finished my Spring Break so I am a bit tired from going back to school today.  I missed the kids though and my set schedule [now I can try to eat healthier!]

 

Cute bunny picture found on www.cutenessoverflow.com 

 

I want to share first that right before my spring break, we had such a special visitor at our school.  Sweet Hudson [the Railroad Puppy] who was in an "accident" with his sweet brother and sister.  Hudson has a prosthetic leg and will live with that for the rest of his life.  To read more about his story, please visit his facebook page, as I do not know who my audience is and I do not want to reveal any information that is too much for children :]

 

Hudson and his daddy Mr. Nash make visits all over the area and all he asks is for donations to our local Mohawk Humane Society.  Look at all the donations that my wonderful school provided.  And they kept pouring in! I love animals so much and to be able to share that love and show our children how wonderful of a dog Hudson is meant the world to us.  It teaches children about disabilities and I love that they were so accepting with lots of caring questions to ask Hudson!  

 

My students are developing so much in their reading and writing.  I am so proud of them!  Here are their sneaky E puppets that they made before break too :] We are going to start working on a lot of sneaky E words to reinforce the short vs. long vowel sounds!

If you haven't checked it out, you HAVE to look into Deanna Jump and Deedee Wills' Writing Units for Kindergarten... very worth money, and can be used year after year for your students.  Here is an anchor chart that the students still love referring to with how to writings. :] I love to see themselves as young writers and writing about what interests them!

 I also have to share our bulletin board with our Rainforest animals... this freebie can be found HERE and there are so many different ways you can use it! I decided to have each student focus on one part of the rainforest and research it.  They all went by the type of animals that lived there, and LOVED it!

Enjoy your week :] I hope to have a BIG giveaway sometime soon... follow me here and on my facebook page to stay updated!

Santa Claus is Coming Town

So excited to show off our Santa Claus's that we made today : ) I absolutely LOVE Deanna Jump's Christmas Unit because it is filled with fun activities for math and literacy.  She is very detailed and knows what the kiddos like!

Something else that I have fallen in love with is the wonderful Rachelle's Holidays Around the World Unit.  This is worth every penny and definitely focuses on the basics and importance of holidays in many countries.  You can click HERE to purchase Units 1 and 2 bundled at a discounted price!

Clogs from the Netherlands

The poinsettia from Mexico 

And just for fun, here is my Lily after her bath yesterday.  Poor thing.. but she's so good : ) And then lets me (tolerates me) blow drying her so she's not a shaking little peanut!

 I also baked cookies... yum! It's always important to take time for yourself (ha, I should take my own advice!) especially around the holidays : ) Take care, love you all!

My Christmas Unit is on Educents right now! 43% off! I hope you can check it out : ) Click HERE if you would love to purchase it on TPT... ho ho ho!

Gigglebellies

Hello friends! I have not had the time to sit down and blog, but of course, on a Saturday night, why not!

Here is who takes up most of my time: my sweet baby Lily!! Already 5 months old!

 

And I had my 28th birthday:

 

I first have to begin my blog post about something that is very dear to my heart (and my kinders)... Gigglebellies! Have you heard of Gigglebellies? If not, you need to check them out! Gigglebellies is made up of some wonderful animal characters that are upbeat, fun, and sweet! Some of my kids' favorites are Kissy Moo, Bucky, Peanut, Teeny Weeny Spider, and Fribbets!

Gigglebellies was created by 2 best friends and let me know tell you, some of the nicest gals I have ever met.  I bought the second DVD because those are the songs that my kiddos were most interested in.. I can't wait to save up to buy more!  To check them out, they have many videos on youtube as well.. along with previews to their songs (those are what sold me)... My students' youtube favorites are :

Old McDonald

Peanut

Wheels on the Bus 

(I just saw that the Wheels on the Bus song has over 81 million views! WOW!)

Definitely how we begin our day every day, and a good investment to look into.  The creators, Kerry and Pauline, are so sweet and enthusiastic.  They want nothing more than to get children excited about learning and movement!

[The creators of Gigglebellies did NOT ask me to write this blog post, it was completely voluntary on my behalf to share my love of this music!]

What are you doing with your kiddos for Thanksgiving?  A little head start I gave my kiddos is Deanna Jump's Thanksgiving Unit... we made Long-legged turkeys! They absolutely loved this, and Deanna's unit was very easy to follow and I was able to switch out some of the materials to meet my needs :) 

 

Don't forget! My Educents Grade 3-4 ELA Bundle is out and if you purchase (ANYTHING) on Educents of 10$ or more, you receive 5$ off towards a future purchase : ) 

Hope you can check it out!

Weather, Apples, and Freebies

Hello from the world of Kindergarten! We have been studying weather, and I just had share this adorable FREEBIE with you from the fantastic Laura Martin : ) This can be used with many grade levels depending on what you would like them to learn (and write) about each weather word! Some of my kinders' writing is really coming along, and they thought of each definition by themselves.  They were so proud!

 

Who doesn't love Cara Carroll? She is so talented and friendly, and oh so cute! I LOVED her Write the Room activities! My kids enjoyed finding the words around the room as something fun to do!  It really motivates some of my friends that don't love writing yet : )

Deanna Jump, an inspiration, a star! She has the best products, you have to agree! Her Halloween Math and Literacy Unit is just as fabulous as all of her others... I know she is so successful because each holiday or themed unit is just as creative and great as the next.  Thank you Deanna for making Kindergarten so wonderful for me and my children this year!

  

Check out my TPT STORE for my updated products and newly listed ones.. there are a few great Kinder freebies too! : ) 

And just a little side note, my coworkers and I got a Keurig, and these Half-Caff's are PERFECT for me.... yay! : ) Hope everyone is enjoying their October!

Here's my little baby Lily.. she's getting so big! I love her so much and I am so blessed to have her : )

More pictures of my 2013 Kindergarten classroom

I have more pictures from my classroom : ) I finished my first week and I am TIRED... I felt like I had a little bit of a sore throat, so I decided to sleep in today after taking out my new puppy (Lily)... and then I took a cat nap later today.. I must've slept a total of 15 hours between the whole thing! I was a little more exhausted than I thought ;) I have a wonderful group of Kinders and I am very excited for this year.  A great start!

I couldn't re-find these adorable Table labels on TPT :( but they were so cute for my kiddos to put their books in for math and daily 5)

Here is our Clipchart that I created : ) You can find it HERE on Teachers Pay Teachers

I found these adorable labels on TPT found HERE [freebie!] and they were editable so besides saying "I am o-fish-ally in Kindergarten" I personalized them. So cute!

Here is one of my favorite areas - calendar! I have used so many amazing products for calendar.. one of them includes Georgia Grown Kiddos and her Calendar Time and Morning Meet Activities... I am in love! Couldn't have asked for a better product at the time!

From my Good Enough Teacher, there are some great calendar sets! I love the pink and blue stars and apple set that can be found HERE, but you can also buy her calendar deluxe bundle that she has! So cute, and EVERY holiday and special occasion is featured.

 

Here is my classroom library and book bins.. I am working on building a bigger library, but with only 12 kids, I don't need too much : ) There is always the library!

My wonderful friend Primarily Au-Some has these great classroom
jobs available (check them out here) I love how she used Melonheadz graphics because she's amazing too! It's cute and easy for my Kinders! Lots of jobs to choose from :) Sarah also has these adorable chevron labels that I used for my classroom supplies!

 

 I made these labels myself using cute chevron borders from Ashley Hughes : ] she has wonderful, wonderful products! And 61 freebies! Can you say generous?

And my schedule pieces that I will use year after year.. you probably have seen this product more than once, because I believe it is the #1 rated or downloaded product on TPT.. Cara Carroll is absolutely amazing, and her products are completely worth every penny.  However guess what?...these schedule cards are FREE.. free, yes I said it.  How great!

I just have to share some of my bulletin boards from this year thus far.. and all the pictures come from DEANNA JUMP.  She is the #1 seller on TPT for a reason - very talented, enthusiastic and sweet! 

These are the products that are featured below:

Literacy and Math Fun with Names

 Back to School Math and Literacy Fun 

Colorful Cats Math, Science, and Literacy Fun

And I also have to include her Chit Chat Messages that are perfect during Calendar time too : ) 

Aren't they so cute?! I am so proud of my kiddos...

I teach full-day Kindergarten and have 12 total students. Some of those students are "K wraps" which means that they come to me for only half the day for enrichment, and they go to their other school for half day kindergarten. I love that we offer full day kindergarten because the kids are totally capable and they do great things.  I love them!

Common Core

Hi all! :] It is almost midnight, but since I am on February break I have been staying up late and trying to be productive.  I just had some fabulous ladies help me out by checking over my Reading Common Core Task Cards, and I am happy to say that they are live up on Teachers Pay Teachers and Teacher's Notebook! Please check them out :]

The Common Core learning is very important so our students stay on track.. working at a private school, it is not emphasized as much as the public schools, but I make sure to stay on top of it because I want my kiddies to be successful - I love them, and I want to give them all I got as a teacher so they are prepared for 4/5th grade.  I am proud of my ELA Common Core Pack as it has been selling quite nicely over the past couple days.  :] Thank you SO much to all of you for your support and love. I have re-did my Government Unit, Poetry Unit, and now Weather Unit.. all new and improved, better content, fonts, and additional resources.  It took me a LONG TIME but I am so glad I did it since those 3 units are my "Top 3 Sellers".  Please check them out at both my stores!!

I wanted to show you FIVE Common Core products that I think are just fabulous... Please check them out!!

From What the Teacher Wants.. Rachelle has amazing common core checklists for a few different grade levels!! Here is the one for first (one of her best sellers!)

From 3rd Grade Gridiron.. my girl Dana has a 89 page pack full of assessments for ELA for third grade.. Amazing! You need to get this if you are a 3rd grade teacher!

From Deanna Jump... the most talked about TPT seller and millionaire :] She has one of the best all time Common Core sellers for Kindergarten out there... Already has over 2,000 feedback messages! WOW! Such a sweet gal too :]

From Rachel Lynette... she is my go to girl for task cards.. she has the most AMAZING bundles and for such a cheap price!! I have a few of her task card sets, and this is one of my favorites.. perfect for the Common Core, please check these out!!

From One Extra Degree... let's not forget about Poetry!! There are 75 pages from Amanda's Poetry Centers, aligned with the Common Core!! Amanda is another talented lady with many amazing products out there.

 

Don't forget about my GIVEAWAY that I am having.. you can win $25 to TGI Fridays [yum!] and any two products from my teacher store!! Tell your friends!

 

By the way, my Pinterest is under construction.. I have finally decided to divide all my teacher delights that I have found into appropriate categories.. boy, I wish I had done that sooner than later!! It has taken me a few days, and I am STILL not done :[ Advice - if you have not already created a pinterest and you want to, do NOT bunch all of your activities into one category.. organize first ;]

I also messed up my Pinterest account by trying to pin from my blog from my Kindle Fire.. do not do this because now it won't let me pin at all from my blog because of "spam/inappropriate content." I was so excited to pin that I tried over and over and over.. and finally, it cut me off.  I can't wait until they respond and I can start pinning again!!
Come follow me anyway!!! :] http://pinterest.com/lauralove2teach/