Made It Monday and Favorite Song Linky, Plus a Freebie.

This week I'm joining Tara @ 4th Grade Frolics, once again, for her "Monday Made It" linky party.

I have been working on things for the classroom since I report back on Wednesday.

The first thing I have made I got from this pin.

I loved this poster! When I was working on mine, I decided to get  most of my words from the Great Expectations Life Principals. So if the life principle is curiosity, I put curious. I made a few words to start with and I'm thinking about adding one word a week to make sure the kids will know each word. Here a picture of some of my words. As you can see, I haven't actually made the poster. I just got the pages laminated. Hopefully I'll get it on my board tomorrow. 

I also worked on a set of motivational quotes that are in my TPT store. Here are a few that are printed, laminated and trimmed.

My last Made It came from Math Coach's Corner. she has blank ten frames you can print. Then you use colored dots to make cards for the students to practice subitizing. This was a very easy made it thanks to Donna.

I also wanted to link up with Barb from Grade ONEderful and share one of my favorite poems/songs. When I used to teach kindergarten, it was always the class' favorite song out of all of the songs we would learn. I found the song in a Mailbox magazine years ago, I don't know who to credit. You can grab a copy HERE if you like.

The kids love the song and as you can see it also has some wonderful vocabulary to introduce.

Enjoy your freedom, while it lasts, I go back Wednesday.

It's Time!!! When do you go back? Linky Party and a Freebie

I'm joining Jessica from Literacy Spark for her linky party, "It's Time!! When do you go back?".

Link up and share with us when you officially start back at school.  How many days of work do you have before the students come back?  What do you spend those days doing?  How are you feeling about going back...?!

I officially go back to school on July 31. Yikes, that is this Wednesday!!! We get one day to work in our room and we have two days of professional development before the kids come August 5.

I'm kind of torn about going back. There is a part of me that is always ready to go back, I do love teaching! There is another part of me that loves the freedom that summer brings. In my district, we have a very strict curriculum guide that we are supposed to be following. After looking at it last night, I'm not looking forward to school as much as I was.

I have a little freebie to share this morning. My principal says this to our staff a lot. I asked if it was her original quote, she said no, but she couldn't remember where it came from. I made it with four different background colors. Pick one up HERE if you like it.

Thanks to the following:

Some of the backgrounds were  By- Jessica Stanford MrsStanfordsClass.blogspot.com 

The chalkboard frames: © Graphics Created by The 3AM Teacher http://the3amteacher.blogspot.com/

If you are interested, I just posted a group of 32 motivational quotes using these same chalkboard frames, you can check it out on my TPT. 

If you pick up the freebie, I would appreciate if you would leave me a comment or follow my blog. Then I'll know if people are interested in more of the same type of things.

How Cool Is That? and Freebies!!!

About a week and a half ago, I got an email from SmileMakers. They offered to let me choose any item from their catalog if I would review it on my blog. Well I was just beside myself with excitement! They definitely made me smile. ;P I got online to look at their catalog and narrowed it down to 6 items. They have so many wonderful products, it was hard to choose.  I wanted to get something that I would use, not just leave it in the box collecting dust. After thinking about it for awhile, I ordered the 

Jumbo Magnetic Spinner. 

Since it is magnetic, I can hang it on my whiteboard.  It comes with 3 double-sided write on wipe off cards. there are also a list of ideas to use for classroom management or for reading or math games. I have several learning games that need spinners so I thought the spinner would save a lot of time making different types of spinners. Once I got it out and looked at it, I realized it will work perfect for my sight word graphs. In the past, I have use a large, foam dice covered with paper and every week I would either put another layer of paper on it or cover last week's words with stickers. the write on wipe off card will be sooo much easier, plus the kids will LOVE it! I, also, won't have to worry about a stray dice being thrown a little wildly. ;)  I took it up to school with me  to take some pictures. My daughter graciously agreed to act as Vanna White. The first few pictures are showing the different cards available.

Card with 12 spaces

 Card with 32 spaces

Card with 8 spaces

 Card with 4 spaces

Card with 6 spaces

 It is very easy to change out the cards and the marker erased cleanly. When my daughter turned the spinner, it stayed in place, she didn't have to hold it, so it has a nice strong magnet. If you would like to check it out, you can find in online HERE. I absolutely LOVE it!!!  Thanks SmileMakers!

Check out Smile/makers, they have a lot of great products and they offer special perks for teachers.  : )

As I promised, I have a freebie for you. Here is a blank sight word graph, if you don't have one of these spinners, you can use a large dice with stickers. Write the sight words you want the children to work on at the bottom. The kids take turns spinning or rolling the dice. The first word to the top is the winner.

Sight Word Graph

 I also made a poster for the hallway using my sock monkey theme. It will print on 8 1/2 X 11. I'm going to print it poster size using 9 sheets of paper. You can grab a copy of it HERE

Favorite Pins Friday

I'm joining Cara @ first Grade Parade for her linky party, "Favorite Pins Friday!" It's easy, just share your favorite pins from Pinterest. Please link to the original source.

I totally love the idea  HERE Use colored plastic bracelets in a bag. The students pick a bracelet and are grouped by colors. It would really promote learning to work with others.

The teacher HERE used a magnetic towel rack on her white board to display anchor charts. I like that idea!

This is a freebie found HERE. I love the chalkboard print, but even more I love the saying.

The next quote HERE goes along great with the one above.

The anchor chart found HERE would be a great first day or week activity.

This cute Venn Diagram found HERE would be great during the first week of school. Pair up kids who were not in the same class last year.

I love the idea found HERE. I have a rake without a handle and some gardening tools. Now I just need to figure out where to hang it. I might have to look for some old tools that are weathered. I really like that look!

This came from HGTV HERE. That is the tub from a washing machine. I really need this, it's so cute!!! I just hope Rascal, my dog, can't get the hose out and chew it to pieces.

I love the hammock found HERE. Delaney has a loft bed, she would absolutely love having a hammock hanging under it. Hmmm, maybe her next birthday.

I just think this one HERE is hilarious. I think I'm going to take a picture of Delaney like that for my phone.

Have a great weekend!

Picture Book Linky Party #4

I went up to school yesterday and started working on trying to unpack all of my boxes. The movers came in on Monday and Tuesday and moved all of my boxes and my old furniture back in to my old, newly renovated classroom. I think I can scrounge up enough tables to get rid of my desks, but it does make me a little nervous. I just want to make sure I have a place to store all of the students books and supplies. I decided I needed to move all of the desks out to get a feel for the space if I went with tables. For some reason, a bunch of extra desks got put in my room, so about 42 desks later, my back was hurting. I felt pretty good with my progress. I got the furniture that is in the classroom sort of arranged, I still have to get some more tables out of storage. That is going to be interesting, the room is jammed packed. I emptied about 23 boxes. Most of them are put in their permanent home, I do have a few things that I have sorted by subject until I can decided which cabinet I want to store them in.

I'm joining DeAnne @ First Grade and Fabulous for her Picture Book Linky Party. This week it is all about rhyming books.

The first two books go together. The Hungry Thing and The Hungry Thing Returns by Jan Slepian and Ann Seilder are excellent books to get kids rhyming. The Hungry Thing comes to town with a sign that says "Feed me." When they ask what he wants, he says "Shmancakes". None of the townspeople can figure out what he wants, but a little boy in the crowd finally says , "Shmancakes sounds like Fancakes, sounds like ....Pancakes," The kids love guessing the food.

The Hungry Thing Returns also by Jan Slepian and Ann Seilder

A Beautiful Feast For a Big King Cat by John Archambault and Bill Martin Jr. is one of my very favorite books. I used to read it so much that not only me, but the kids would have it memorized.

"Big cat, big cat, catch me if you can. the mouse teased the cat and ran, ran, ran."

I pretty much love any book by Audrey Wood. Ten Little Fish by Audrey Wood and Bruce Wood is a rhyming and counting up to ten and back down to one book.

Each Peach Pear Plum  by Janet and Allan Ahlberg combines rhyming, fairy tales, folktales and hidden pictures all into one excellent and entertaining book.

I love the book I Like Bugs by Margret Wise Brown. It is a terrific book to use as a pattern for the kids to write their own poems.

I actually have one book that is fairly new. The Underpants Zoo by Brian Sendelbach is a silly, rhyming book that has all of the zoo animals in wacky underpants. My kids adored this book.

See you later, Alligator! ;P

Liebster Award

I am so excited that I have been nominated for the Liebster award by a few different people!!!   

OK, so there are some rules to follow when you receive the Liebster award.                                         

They are:                                                                                                                                                   

1. Link back to the blog that nominated me 

2. Nominate 5-11 blogs with fewer than 200 followers 

3. Answer the questions by the blogger that nominated you 

4. Share 11 random facts about yourself 

5. Create 11 questions for the bloggers whom you nominate 

6. Contact the bloggers you nominate and let them know how to proceed 

Here's the first set of questions from Sara @ First Grade Funtastic.

1.  What grade do you teach? I teach first grade.                                                                                

2.  When does school start for you? I report July 31, kids come back August 5. Yikes that's         coming quickly!                                                                                                                                      

3.  Do you like to shop?  I love to shop, now if only I had some money....

4.  What social media sites do you follow for teaching? blogs, Facebook and Pinterest

5.  Who was your favorite teacher and why? My favorite teacher was Mrs. Reville, she was my high school English teacher. I loved her class! She was always fun, but I still learned lots. 

6.  What grade levels are in the building you teach in? Our school has Pre-K to 5th grade.

7.  What is your favorite clothing place to shop at?  Catos

8.  If you had 1000 to spend, what would you buy? A new camera and an Ipad.

9.  Do you have any other family members that are teachers? One cousin, other than that no. My sister just went back to college to get a teaching degree.

10.  How early do you go back into your classroom before school starts? I like to go in at least 3 weeks before school starts, if I can get in.

11.  What is your favorite children's book? That's a hard one. I love reading the Miss Nelson books to the kids. Why? they love the books, but I also like watching them when they realize who Viola Swamp was.

Here's the questions from  A Pair of Teachers

1. What's a funny thing a student said to you this past school year? I had a little boy that was a little odd, one day he was leaving early. As he was leaving, he turned around and said, "Everyone eat a tomato." We were all just kind of scratching our heads on that one.
2. What's one of your favorite books? I love Jane Eyre.
3. If you were given one thousand dollars right now and had one hour to spend it, what would you buy? A new camera and an Ipad
4. Where is your happy place? Pretty much anywhere when my daughter and I are doing fun things together.
5. What is the cutest decoration you have in your classroom? This year, I'm decorating in bright and colorful sock monkeys. They're so cute!
6. What's the best advice you would give a fellow teacher? Make sure parents know you care about their child.
7. What's one of your favorite professional books? The Morning Meeting Book
8. If a parent brought you lunch from anywhere, what would it be? Chicken Fajita Enchiladas from El Chico
9. What is one of your pet peeves? Ask my daughter, leaving dirty clothes on the floor of the bathroom.
10. What do you do in the summer to relax? I love to do yard work.
11. Have you ever won anything? What? I've won several things from blogs. I won one of "The World's Quietest Pencil Sharpeners", I've won some really cute classroom decor from several fellow bloggers. It's always exciting to win! :)

11 Random Facts about me.

1. I love to sing. I have an Ipod, but seldom use it. I like to listen to music, but I really like to sing along so unless it is hooked up to a speaker, it just doesn't work for me.

2. I am left handed. I broke my left wrist when I was in 5th grade. It seemed like I had my cast on forever. I started writing with my right hand and I still do.

3. I don't really like Italian food, not even pizza. I will eat it if it is served, but I never ever crave it.

4. On the other hand, I love Mexican food. I think I could eat it every day and never get tired of it.

5. When I was a kid, we had some opossums for pets.

6. I went to high school with Garth Brooks. I helped his girlfriend decorate his house during football season.
7. I just got poison ivy for the first time in my life this summer. : (
8. I am a HGTV junkie. My favorite show is Love It or List It and for some reason, I'll watch episode after episode of House Hunters. I love how they walk into a giant bedroom and say, "It's kind of small." haha
9.Speaking of houses, I think the thing that sold me on my house was the screened in patio. I just love it!
10. I have never traveled outside of the US.
11. My daughter ♥Delaney♥ is the greatest blessing in my life.

I am nominating the following bloggers.

1. Jamie @ Teaching Tidbits

2. Mrs. Bartel's School Family

3. Teaching in the Tongass
4. First Grade Carousel
5. Lovely Little Learners

OK so here are the questions I'd like you to answer.
1. If you had to live in a different state, what one would you choose?
2. Do you have any pets?
3. How long have you been teaching?
4. What made you decide to start a blog?
5. What is your dream vacation?
6. Would you ever want to be a principal?
7. What is your favorite subject to teach?
8. Do you use a basal or are you free to create your own curriculum?
9.What's your favorite food?
10.What is the last movie you saw?
11.What do you do to relax?