Literacy and Fall Sale

Hi everybody! How are you? My Kindergarten schedule is kicking my butt! I absolutely love it, but I try to put 150% into my day, and it leaves me tired and not much energy to blog.. so I apologize for that!

I wanted to share a few pictures with you all from what we have been doing in K : )

Since it was Johnny Appleseed's Birthday on 9/26, it was only appropriate that we paint apples and watch a youtube video about Johnny Appleseed ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=484AJlOnOnc)

Read with Me ABC had a great product on TPT (for free!) to go along with Wemberly Worried.  I love this book so much, maybe because I am a worrier and can relate ;) Check it out! My kiddos had so much fun making Wemberly! 

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Wemberly-Worried-Back-to-School-Activities-800617 

 

Do you know the author David Wiesner? Well, let me tell you.. I learned about him in 2008 while I was finishing my masters, and I absolutely LOVE the illustrations and imagination in Flotsam.  This is a book I am so glad I bought because ANY AGE LEVEL can appreciate this picture book..

 

Has anyone heard of Laurie Berkner? She makes amazing songs for younger students! My kids love "Victor Vito" so I made up a quick template using my girl Kimberly Geswein's fonts and had them tell me how they would make Victor Vito spaghetti.. I sure have some chefs in the making! ;)

And who doesn't love Mo Willems?! Can you say... MY FAVORITE? 

 

What an amazing writer and illustrator.. did you know that Mo Willems makes his illustrations easy for kids to copy?  Well, I tested this out and drew the pigeon from "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!" and the kids did AMAZING... see below! I was SO proud of them, but more importantly, they were proud of themselves.

Another classic that we read 2 weeks ago was Rainbow Fish : ) The students made these adorable rainbow fish (using construction paper and aluminum foil!)

 

 

FALL IS MY FAVORITE SEASON...

Not only will it be my 28th birthday on November 10th, but I also love getting excited about the holidays : ) The weather is crisp and the colors are beautiful.  Me and my significant other's anniversary also falls in fall (hehe) It'll be 4 years! : ) Time sure flies...

To celebrate FALL I will be throwing a sale from 9/30-10/2 at my TPT store....20 % the entire store! I hope you can pick up some Common Core activities or Fun printables to add to your collection ;) Thanks so much for all you do to support me! I love you all!

Cute graphic from my friend Jessica Benson : ) The Littlest Scholars

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!

My Kindergarten Classroom

Hello! I am so excited to announce I had my first day of teaching Kindergarten : ) It went pretty well, and even though I am worn out, I am ready to go back for more tomorrow!  I only have 11 kiddos (I know you are all VERY jealous ;) ) but that's one of the perks about working at a private school.. smaller, individual setting. Here are some pictures of my classroom!

 

Here is my birthday chart that I created using Creative Clips clipart, and I cannot seem to find the pennant template I found on TPT for the months :[ but there are TONS of great products!

 These are my kiddies! And this is the product I made on TPT for "Leaping into Learning" :) great for a bulletin board or name tags [editable]

 We are getting brand new tables, but for now these wonderful rectangle ones will do :) the new ones will be square and I'll be able to separate them a little bit more into smaller groups

 My reading nook is my favorite!

 I try to stay organized! Always trying to save space too by stacking and moving things

 

Bare now, but soon it'll be full of student work and anchor charts ;)

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT

My 2 favorite products: Deanna Jump's "All Set" Unit and Hadar Maor's "Songs in the Classroom" Unit.  They are both wonderful!

 I bought these adorable bags from the Target Dollar Spot for book shopping and/or math centers or games.. I am not sure ;) I can use them for multiple things though!

 

Wonderful Miss Erica Bohrer and her FREE Whole Body Listening product! Love it!

 

Speaking of Erica Bohrer and her greatness, I LOVE her word wall sets that are available in SO many different designs.. I love Chevron, and a lot of my classroom was Chevron, so I stuck with those : ) The word wall cards I was able to print 2 pages on 1 page so they were small enough for me to fit more words (using less space.) 

 

Everyone needs a Finished and Need to Finish bin.. even in Kindergarten (even if it helps me stay organized)

We did the Kissing Hand today, so here is one of the projects we did together : ) My kids are so sweet and this was one of the sweetest stories.

We introduced manipulatives today and started with counters - we counted together and talked about who has more/less, and made patterns with red/yellow/red/yellow, etc.  Once I let them explore and move htem around and practice proper behavior with them, one of my lovely students said "We could even make letters with them to help us with words"... I gave him the biggest hug! Good for him :)

 Really qui8ck in other news - I got a puppy!! I've had a dog my whole life, but never my own [only my parents].. it's a sheltie-pom and I named her Lily. She is perfect and I love her so much.  She's only 3 pounds right now, and she's said to only get up to about 12-15 lbs (they said probably 12 because of her paws.) What a darling.. so this is what I will come home to every day to help me to relax and bring me sunshine!! Don't mind the picture of me below.. it was my first day of work and I had been going since 6am!

September Currently

I am linking up with my girl Farley for her Currently for September :] I am of course late for the party since it's the month of SEPTEMBER.. I know many of you are back to school, but my summer time is July-August.. and I go back a little bit later this year anyways - September 9th.  Meetings start tomorrow and the Back to School bash for my school is Friday, but I am spending most of my time trying to make my classroom look perfect for my Kinders.  It's my first time teaching Kindergarten full time... I have worked in a Kinder classroom, and I have taught Reading K-6 for a few years, but this is it's own world :] I am very excited... and I have had SO many amazing K-2 teachers helping me along the way.  I feel SO blessed and I wish I had the money (and the time) to thank them and shower them with gifts! ;]

I cannot wait to post pictures of my classroom! It's smaller than most of yours, but I am hopefully going to make it cozy and inviting for my kiddies.. I have a wonderful feeling about this year.  I invite you to share any ideas of art projects and creative K ideas though! :] I am sure I will need it!

I want to thank all of the Kindergarten and first grade teachers that have helped me out SO MUCH with resources.. honestly, some of the best people.  That goes along with second through sixth grade teachers as well (and my clipart loves!) for their friendships and advice.  I feel great about this new journey in my life because of all of you!! Blogging and TPT are two of the best things I have ever started because I have met the BEST people!

My 3 loves that I need to do for myself (even though there are a lot) are work out AT LEAST 2 x a week.. I know that's not a lot, but I am a workaholic so it will be a challenge for me.  Spend time with my boyfriend Michael as well and not do work for 14 hours a day is a necessity.. this whole summer was work,work,work.  I don't want life to pass me by without enjoying a little bit of it! And I want to watch at least 30 minutes of TV a night (without doing work) I don't remember the last time I've done that.  Sigh.  I am so glad Farley had that little segment because we all need to remember to love ourselves!!