Happy Sunday Fun-day Friends!

Well it is almost 2:00 here in Florida and I just finished cleaning the house.  My weekly chores are mostly finished...all except my piles of laundry.  This was on my to-do list yesterday but when I went to turn the water on to start the laundry, nothing happened.  So as of now my washer machine does not work. Hopefully, hubby can fix it when he gets in from work.  The trials and tribulations of being a homeowner sometimes stinks!    But for now I am not going to worry about school or home because today is my Sunday Fun-day and all there is left to do is enjoy some good company, play cards with some good friends, watch the EAGLES beat the giants (hopefully Vick will get it together for this game) and eat some good football food.  I just bought my new Eagles attire for this season and I can't wait to where it proudly today.  Check them out...

Well, this weekend I went a little Amazon crazy, not only did I buy Eagles attire for myself but I also got some for the hubby and in my wishlist I have an Eagles jersey for my dog.  (That will have to wait until next pay day, sorry Buster.) But my favorite thing I bought was the new Kindle Fire HD!  I am so excited, I can hardly wait.  I loved my old Kindle Fire and used it all the time at home and in the classroom.   I even used it at the beach this summer and that was not such a great idea because my kindle fire kinda went swimming in the ocean and I have been with out a Kindle ever since.  My smart hubby did buy me the protection plan so I was able to get a new one and upgrade for hardly no cost at all!  I only spent about $50 out of my own pocket to buy another two-year accidental plan.   Knowing me this is WELL worth the investment.  For some reason technology and me (and water) are NO good together.  I have lost plenty of phones, one ipod, and now a Kindle to pools, oceans and even toilet water.  My husband is now so used to these accidents that everything we buy now comes with a protection plan or insurance:)



I can't wait to start using this with my kiddos again.  They absolutely loved it last year.  I hope to get my new students used to using the Kindle because my school has purchased about 30 ipads for us to share and use in the classroom.  I plan to use the Kindle until all the ipads are set up and ready to go.  This way when they are ready my class will be too!  I would love to hear about any great apps out there that you may be using in the classroom.  Please leave me a comment and let me know which is your favorite app.  Thanks for reading and go E-A-G-L-E-S!

Great Giveaway!

You don't want to miss out on this giveaway.  Dana from Fun in 1st grade is giving away over 50 prizes with the help of many bloggy friends.  You have to go check it out.  Click on the picture below to head on over to her blog and start entering to win!

Common core number workbook finally finished!

Does anyone else feel that this school year is already starting off CRAZY!   With so much to do in the classroom I barely have time to get on and post new blogs.   I have become a casual blogger, but I promise I will make more time in the future to get on the computer and read everyone's wonderful posts.   So the not so good news is... I have developed carpal tunnel in my right hand and man oh man does it HURT!  Who knew that carpal tunnel could be so painful.  Thankfully today my hand has felt a little better so what is the first thing I decide to do?  Of course it involves typing and blogging about what's happening.  

I am just loving common core!  I love the fact that most of us are teaching the same standards and we are on the same page.  It allows us to share so many more wonderful ideas and the students all over the country are learning the same material.  What a magnificent concept!  

We started adapting to common core last year, but this year we are in full common core mode.  With many of our standards changing I found that I was left with some missing resources, especially in math.  Therefore, I started to create my own common core math assessment and practice workbook.  I just posted my numbers and operations workbook to my TpT store this week. It is very similar to my geometry packet but this one has over 20 worksheet that correlate to the Counting and Number standards.  And wait for it, wait for it...The best part, it is on sale all this week.  Feel free to click the link below to go directly to my TpT store to snatch this up for only $2.50.

Click HERE to purchase this packet.

Good things are happening and Fun Friday Linky!

After a very long stressful week, I ended the week with some good news, good friends, and a great idea for my personal developmental improvement plan.  So the good news is I received a Futures grant for $500 to improve my Kindergarten Team's science materials.  With this grant I am going to purchase some really awesome already made science centers from Lakeshore learning center that correlate with the new common core standards.  I can't wait to go shopping and to use these new materials with my little Kindergartners! 

Next, I got to relax (Well I relaxed as best as I could since I was the hostess)  with some great friends as we celebrated one of my favorite people: Lisa from Learning is Something to Treasure, who is our Teacher of the Year.  I am so excited for her, she really deserves it. 

We needed a little relaxation after Friday's professional development day.  We sat in a meeting for a few hours on Friday morning discussing and learning about how we should develop our personal improvement plan.  We always had to do some kind of personal improvement plan but this year we are learning how to complete our personal improvement plan using a new system.  I think the meeting went very well because now I know what I want to do for my students this year.  I am going to focus on writing skills with my students.  This has always been one of my most challenging subjects to teach.  It is just not my favorite subject, but I created a few items this year to help my students become better writers.  And to help me become a better writing teacher!

(Writers Eye Poster is available for Free on my TpT store and My first writing journal is available for $3.00, click below to check them out.)

Click HERE to download for FREE

Click HERE to download for $3.00

Now, onto Fun Friday linky hosted by Cynthia over at 2nd Grade Pad.  We all know as teachers we love Fridays!  Every Friday is Fun Friday in my classroom.  This is the day I usually give my students extra time during centers (this helps me complete my one on one kindergarten assessments), science movie during snack time and Fun Friday crafts.  This week we had a teacher duty day on Friday, so therefore, we had a Thrilling Thursday instead.  For our "Fun Friday" craft activity my students completed their Macaroni Mm's on Magenta paper.  Next week we are learning the letter S, so we will be making sequence letter Ss's. Wish my luck this can get messy.  My students love making things, they are so crafty and artistic this year.  (And actually pretty neat overall... no major messes.)  As the year proceeds, I incorporate sight word games that are quick and easy games like "Around the World" and "Sight Word Survivor", both games students challenge one another using sight word flash cards.   I think in my Fun Fridays to come I am going to incorporate Cynthia's Splat activity.  It is so adorable, check out her post she is giving this activity away for FREE and don't forget to join in on the linky fun. 

Here is a picture of my students completing their Fun Friday craft. 

Until next time friends:) 

I have been a bad blogger lately:(

Hello everyone!  I missed you guys, I have been a very bad blogger lately.  I guess you can say that the start of the school year is always so exhausting.   I feel like I am running a marathon, and each time I see a little water break in my near future they take it away, I just can't catch my breath this year.  So today, I decided to just sit back, relax and do something I enjoy...like going to the gym and blogging.  (OK, so I skipped the gym and took a nap instead).  It's an all about me afternoon so NO school work.  Yea right, like that last comment is even possible.  

My little ones are well on their way to a successful year. 

I loved this name tile idea so I decided to make some for my students this year. (Sorry, I can't remember where I found this).  My students are really starting to recognize the letters in their names and the names of their classmates.  They first had to complete their name with letter tiles and then I let them pick another friend from the bin and spell their friend's name.  They loved it.  

Click HERE to grab a FREE editable version from my TpT store.        

Another great love of mine is an oldy but a goody, It's my TV center!  That's right I said TV CENTER!! Myself and my students LOVE this center.  My students rotate to this center and watch Leapfrog, between the lions, and other educational videos.  I think it has really helped my students over the past few years with letter recognition, letter sounds and much more. If you do not have a TV center I have to tell you, you are missing out:) 

Ahhh...It feels good to be back in the blogging world!  Until next time friends...

My favorite freebie linky...

I know, I know, I am posting twice in one day which is a big NO, NO but I am stuck in bed sick... what else is a girl to do?  Firstly, I want to thank those who have commented already on my Common Core Geometry assessment freebie, I look forward to your feedback.  I am still giving some more away so If you hop on over and comment I would love to share this piece with you.  

Now onto this lovely Linky Party hosted by 2nd Grade Pad.

My favorite freebie has to be my What do good writers and readers do poster pack.  

The story behind it: I saw this picture on Pinterest and I wanted to create something like it to go with my Jungle themed classroom.  

I created a few different versions and all of them are FREE!  Go to my TpT store to check out many other freebies too!

It's my favorite because:  I absolutely love my new bulletin board that I created.  I have already started to refer to these with my new little kindergartners and I think it is going to be an awesome resource for my learners.  I can't wait to get more into the writing and reading process with my little guys.  

Now to use it:   I created a bulletin board near my guided reading table to refer good writing and reading strategies.  I plan on making a writers checklist for my students as the year progresses that looks similar to my writer's eye strategies.  But I have some time before I have to create that, we are still practicing writing out first names. 

If you have freebie to share or want to take advantage of all these wonderful freebies hop on over to the 2nd Grade Pad and link up.  

Common core geometry assessment FREEBIE!

So I have been hanging in this weekend due to an awful head cold.  But that leaves me plenty of time to start working on some common core assessments.  We are almost done with our geometry and sorting topic in Math and I have been observing my students and making notes through out our unit but I always like to have something more than just an observation checklist... I need artifacts!   

As a teacher in Volusia county we have a lot of new things to tackle and learn.  We are starting a new grading system using Pinnacle and we have totally adopted common core.  The WAVES keep on coming...so what should we do?  I know! LEARN TO SURF!  This is our school's motto this year.  We can't stop the waves from coming but we can learn to SURF.  So ladies and gents this is me SURFING through common core and a new grading system:)   I just created this Kindergarten assessment/practice packet this weekend under some really good cold/flu medicine.  I am sure there are bloopers (no matter how many times I read and check it over).  This is where all my bloggy friends come in handy.  I would love for any feedback on this packet before I put this item on my TpT store, so I am offering this packet for FREE to the first 10 bloggers who comment and follow my blog.  Please leave your email in the comment box.  Thanks again and I hope this can be useful to you as well.

Keep SURFING!

Sight Word Paint Dots

How cute are these!  Mrs. Cole from Cole's Little Pups created these Sight Word Paint Dots.  These are one of her top sellers.  You totally have to stop by her TpT store and check them out.  I am sure these will help those little ones that struggle to learn their sight words.  Here is an example of one...

If you are quick to follow her blog and post about these, she is giving them away for free to the first five bloggers. 

Happy blogging friends!

Stay Strong!

The week is almost over.  So on that note here is something to smile about...

Does anyone else feel more exhausted after a four day week than a normal five day week.  I swear four day weeks are sometimes harder because I am trying to cram five days worth of activities into four.  

On another note, it's week three of school and I started the school year with my old behavior plan/routine.   My students change their color card for misbehaving but there is no positive changing of the cards for good behavior.  I do however have plenty of rewards in place for those students who make good choices.  Right now my students can earn marbles from their mini gumball machines and add them to the class marble jar.  (We got our principal to buy our team a class set of gumball machines a few years back)

They love this reward system!  I do think this system still works for me and my little ones but then I got to thinking about all the nice clip-chart behavior boards.  I though to myself wow, super cool, I want one!  So I created a jungle themed behavior chart to fit my classroom but I just introduced my students to my old way of doing things.  I think I will either wait till after the holidays to introduce this system or wait until next school year.  If you use a clip-chart behavior system in your classroom I would love to know how it has worked for you.   

Click HERE if you want to purchase this for $1.50

Thanks for blogging with me friends and don't forget STAY STRONG!   

Currently...September already??

It's that time again!  I am linking up with Farley from Oh' Boy Fourth Grade to tell you all about what I am doing currently.  But before you read my currently I have to say my three day weekend started off fabulous (beach, BBQ with friends, supporting a good cause, more BBQ's) and it got really "crappy" towards the end.  Read my currently if you want to know why my "crappy" is in quotations.  Needless to say September currently is not starting off really well.  Here's hoping it gets better soon. Now currently ...