A Sale for You!

Teachers work so hard and we spend a lot of our money in our own classrooms.  You are appreciated, so now is your time to save!  Head over to Tpt and save on your purchases today and tomorrow!  I have a lot of items on my wish list and I am headed over to start shopping.  You can too---here is the code!

click on the image above to go to my store!

Student Achievments

Are you a cheerleader for your students?  Do you have a special wall the lets them 'shout out' their accomplishments?  Do you have little celebrations for skills that are met?  I would love to hear how you celebrate with your students.

My students and I cheer when skills are met in our classroom.  It only takes a few seconds, but the feeling the student has and the memory from this short time will last a very long time.  The students in my classroom who master these skills are considered 'experts' and the other students go to them if they need help.  For example, if a shoe needs to be tied, I could easily do it--but the rewards are much greater when a child helps this student.  The same goes for the computer expert--the only child who seems to know more than me about computers--which isn't that hard to do!  Or maybe the word speller because they know all they sight words or they can really listen well to the sounds of each word.  This doesn't mean they don't come to me for help anymore, but during the 3rd and 4th quarter it does help to free up a little time so I can listen to students read or help them stretch words apart when writing.  But, you know what?  My students also volunteer to be the listener of a story if another child didn't get their reading homework completed the night before.  They are so eager to help each other out!

I decided to make an expert wall and I used my zoo/jungle theme.  I have a picture of an animal cracker box that I created stapled to the bulletin board (next time I will staple to a snack bag).  

All the animal cookies would be stored inside the baggie and would be easier to transport home!

I am able to give them this as a treasure from our time together in kindergarten!  Love it!!

Each time a student masters a particular skill, I give them a construction paper animal cracker to put in their animal box.

I have this product listed in my TpT store if you would like to purchase it---and it is editable!  Let me know what you think about it!

Update on our 100th Day of School

I really need to get in the habit of writing again, but life is so busy!
 
My kinders were so excited about the 100th day activity we did and LOVED seeing what they will look like when get 'old'.  We brainstormed about things we would do when we are 100 years old. Then the students wrote about what they would do and it was hilarious, I thought I would share a few.  Pardon the pictures, I took them on my phone and the lighting was not kind!

Gaven said, "I will do whatever I want like McDonald's and then after I'll get what I want."

Datan said, "I will go hunting for bears."

You can find the original post here.

98 days and counting...

We are so close to the 100th day of school!  I have my papers printed, games planned, and snacks to make this weekend...I can't wait!  The last 20 minutes of the day today were hilarious! I discovered an app that lets me take a picture of my students and change them to look like they are 100 years old.  We laughed so hard...and then I took pics of my teaching buddies after school!  That was even better!  You might have already hear about it, but here it is...and it's FREE!  Can't get better than that!  I'll post pics later...I need to make sure that they don't care if I show their 'aged' faces.

Here is a paper I made that you are welcome to have....FREE

I Blinked....

We had a snow day today (happy dance) and I jumped on the computer to say hi to everyone and get back in the swing of posting again.  Well, guess what I found--a post that I started last September.  So I thought instead of deleting it, I would share my thoughts from a few months ago.  Sorry, but this gives me a little bit of a 'cheat' to get back in the swing of things again.  So, let's go back in time...way back to September when it was warm and the crayons were not a broken mess on the floor--lol!

....September entry:

Oh my, I had such high expectations back in July to get back in the swing of things....Well, 'post Florida' reality set in and we have not had a free moment!  The weeks have been packed with getting Devin to school so I can rush to my classroom (before the kiddos walk in) and then rushing home after school to get him to football practice.  Whew, I am even tired just talking about it!  Our weekends have been busy with football games and other various family activities. Earlier this month marked a year since my husband had passed.  His friends held a memorial golf tournament to honor his memory and everyone had a good time--a little bittersweet.  Awards were given away for the champions (2 man team) and they had a few funny awards that they handed out also.  Sorry about the pictures, my son's phone doesn't take the best pictures.

These were the champions.

 

These were the runners up.

Now back to school stuff--
I have A LOT of things that I still want to do and I am working on them so I can share with all of you.  I am so grateful for my class--another great group!  They are the reason why I love my job.  I will try to do better posting pics of the things we are doing.  We made fried apples and applesauce this week.  I was worried about a writing lesson that was coming up--it was about families.  I wasn't sure how I would do this, so I decided to draw a picture of  my three boys and Tyler's wife Megan.  This began a discussion of husbands and wives and they asked if I had a husband--this threw me for a loop and was unexpected..  What to do?  I said yes, but it is sad because there was an accident and he is in Heaven now.  I had a tear and they were concerned for me, but I switched gears and showed them pictures of they boys and Megan.  Usually five year olds have loads of questions, but not on this day.  We moved on and so far it hasn't been brought up again.  I don't mind talking about him and do everyday; I was just not expecting their questions that day.  I am sure it will come up again and that will be fine.

Rest and Relaxation

I know it has been a LONG time since I have been on here (kinda like 6 months or so).  My life is better, but some days are still a struggle.  I find that it is difficult to get everything done and I had so many things I wanted to accomplish this summer--I am still working on them, just not quite finished yet.  I refuse to leave my blog behind because my wonderful friends on here helped me a lot during our difficult time.  If you are new and not sure what I am talking about, you can go here and read all about it.

On to good news---my family is heading to Florida with my mom and my sister's family.  We leave late tomorrow and will be there for a week.  I am looking to recharge.  I was not very excited about this trip, and I might share why later, but I am really looking forward to it and hope that it will be the beginning of happier times.

Please be patient with me and know that I am working out things in my head and in my life so that I can be the best that I can be.

I will be back full force soon---don't say I didn't warn you!

Work Day and Zumba

We had a few meetings this morning, tree is down, new projects are ready, and goldfish are in the tank.  Here come our kinders!  I thought they might need to ease back into school with our shortened week (just like me).  I don't want to begin anything new, so we will be doing some fun projects, organizing our work spaces, and reviewing our procedures and things we learned the first half of school.  I will be posting pictures of our projects later this week.

Now, why am I still up??

I went to my first 'official' Zumba class and I survived.  I am sure it looked like I was having a seizure or something...but I did have fun.  I think I did pretty good considering it was my first time--I didn't fall down.  I am a little worried about how sore I will be tomorrow...  Thank goodness I do not have recess duty, I can go refill my coffee cup while they are playing.  I will definitely need the coffee since I can't seem to fall asleep.

I was tired after the class, but then all my energy kicked in and here I am--still up.  I guess I'll go read for a little while and see what happens.

Goodnight all!